Does the digital version have the commentary and the appendices?
I just finished watching the first disk (first half of the movie) on my laptop. Soooooooo much better on the little screen. Everyone was at a more comfortable scale - not larger than life and in-your-face 3D, but simply good folk in a good tale.
And now off to bed. I'll watch the other half tomorrow.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
I own the DVD, and I am pretty sure that Elen and sf own the BluRay. And Dave too, maybe.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Yep, we have the Blu-Rays (3 disc 2D versions). I've watched some of the Appendices, but haven't listened to the commentary yet. Just haven't had time to sit and concentrate on it properly yet!
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
I finished watching the second disk just now and my first thought was, "Well, I'll never have to watch Goblin Town again, I can just fast forward from now on." But I think I'll watch it one more time, to hear the commentary.
Except for aforementioned GTown, I liked this movie much better the second time around. It was, for the most part, slower paced and more character developing than DOS. But I might think better of DOS when I see it on the small screen as well.
And Rivendell was more ravishing than ever. Like Yosemite on steroids. Wish I could go there. But I suppose if it existed in this day and age, it would be full of pesky tourists.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
I listened to the commentary by PJ and Phillipa. As someone mentioned before, pretty thin content. But I enjoyed it, because in the back of my mind, when watching a film is always the question, "Wow, how did they do that???"
They did have some good justification for using more sets and fewer on-location shoot. For example, in the scene where they just got out of the mountain after escaping the goblins, it was at sunset. The light was that beautiful golden orange light at a low angle. But in real life, that lasts a few minutes, and it took them one and a half days to film this few minutes of footage, so they needed to control the lighting for that long.
They also stated that Ian Holmes and Christopher Lee were too old to travel to New Zealand, so all of their shots were in London, either in front of a green screen, or in front of bits of the set. In the case of the council scene with Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman, there was a double for Christopher Lee, and he was superimposed into the film later.
Almost all of the goblins were digital, as were many of the longer shots with the dwarves. But the motions were much more lifelike than in past films.
A new technique they used for getting the size differences between Gandalf and the hobbits and dwarves was to simply film Gandalf in real size, then in post production, cut him out like a paper doll, enlarge him, and stick him back in the scene. In other places they had him act on green screen, then popped him into the scene.
PJ also mentioned a super duper extended box set of everything at some later date, perhaps facetiously, perhaps not.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
I just watched the EE for the first time (got it for Christmas but this was my first free evening since then). I enjoyed it much more than I expected. (This is subjective—my experiences watching a film I have a stake in for the first time are always tense.) But it flowed much better for me this time/this version. I only saw the TE once (life again, don't talk to me about life), but I felt that this flowed much better and I could focus better on the details. No HFR and no 3D may have helped, frankly. But the emotional moments worked much better throughout, and I loved the additional details in the prologue, Hobbiton, and Rivendell.
I'm sure much of what I liked, I just missed the first time through; but I appreciated the acting much more (especially Martin Freeman), and I could kind of suspend my esthetic judgment in the (unfortunately extended) Goblin Town sequence.
There were five of us watching, including a Tolkien book fan (my daughter's boyfriend) who had seen DoS with us last month but missed AUJ entirely; and Mr. Prim, who (no fault of the film's, life was rough that week) slept through much of AUJ in the theater and said he really liked catching up on the back story. I think we all enjoyed it, and I look forward to exploring the extras as soon as I can.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
I think you'll enjoy the extras. Hours and hours of how the story and characters were (re)developed, filmed, and animated. And lots and lots of the soundtrack remixed and augmented and weaving throughout. I've still got the music in my head. Not that I'm complaining.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
Sounds lovely! Planning to make time. I so remember watching the LotR EE extras and enjoying them quite as much as the films themselves, which is saying a lot, for me.
I really didn't think I'd be this excited about the extras. I think this viewing has reconciled me to the film (plus good feeling left from watching DoS, which which I had many fewer problems than I did with my initial AUJ viewing).
Dark Thorin FTW.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Everyone was at a more comfortable scale - not larger than life and in-your-face 3D, but simply good folk in a good tale. 
