The Extended Editions of The Lord of the Rings movies on DVD have a vast quantity of extras. I mean, hours worth. And all of it closed captioned, which is a huge plus for this deaf movie fan.
But I think all of this supplemental stuff (with closed captions) has spoiled me. The last few DVDs that I have bought all had extras, and at one time I might have even thought them fairly adequate. Not anymore.
Earlier today, I bought the DVD for the recent live-action version of Peter Pan, the one where Jason Isaacs utterly stole the show as Captain Hook. There were a fair number of extras (one or two of them actually worth watching), but generally, they were strikingly mediocre.
I wondered afterwards if my reaction to the extras may have been affected by the depth and quality of the extras that the LOTR EE DVDs have. I’m genuinely not sure. So I put the question to the Dopers who have these DVDs and collect DVDs in general: Have these fantastic LOTR DVDs become your new standard for judging the extras on the new DVDs coming out, and has anything that has come out since the Extended Editions have been released that has successfully measured up to this new standard?
I was think exactly the same thing when I bought X-Men 2. “What, only 2 hours of extra features and two commentaries?! I’ve been ripped off!”
I think LOTR was an exeptional case since a lot of the post production, set construction, costume, prop making, etc was done in Wellington. Makes it easier to organise everyone for the ‘behind the scenes’ docos and commentaries.
Anyhoo, hopefully, this will encourage more people to put out DVD releases like this.
I don’t usually buy movies because there are so few that I have any interest in seeing over and over to justify the cost. Lord of the Rings the complete set will be the exception.
I think the LOTR EE DVDs are too high a standard to judge others. Finding Nemo’s extras or perhaps Moulin Rouge!'s are a more appropriate standard. Finding Nemo has a hilarious “documentary” with Jean-Michel Cousteau, Dory, Marlin and Nemo as well as a Pixar short and other bonus material that are worth the time to watch.
It’s not just the extras that set the bar impossibly high for others to reach, it’s the extended footage that I can’t imagine the film being without now. I think that it’s essential, and it’s too bad that it would have made them too long to practically show as the regular theatrical version.
No, they’re not the standard to judge against. They’re the bar, to someday possibly be overcome. I think the LOTR EE DVD’s are the finest home video products yet produced. Period. I don’t expect much else to measure up to them, or be in the same league.
For most other DVD’s, I’m happy if they have *any *extras or commentaries.
If you plan on watching all three movies back to back to back, plus all the extras, it would take you a lot longer than a weekend. The extras almost seem endless. I have spent a great deal of time, over the past several weeks, and still have not finished. Anyway, enjoy.
I would agree. When watching the Harry Potter DVDs reasonably soon after the Extended Edition of the FotR, I was rather annoyed at what ended up in. I was practically talking to the DVDs, berating them for the fact that they felt the need for an entire extra DVD for that sort of material. A few pithy interviews and behind the scenes things. Heck, there weren’t even commentaries! At least it was better than the first movie, where you had to “earn” the deleted scenes (which of course, were nowhere near the stuff on the LotR EEs. But much better than those of the Phantom Menace. Yeah, that’s what I wanted to see. More pod racing.)
Personally, I don’t particularly care for DVD extras unless they stem from a really great movie (i.e. Lord of the Rings or This Is Spinal Tap). Most supplemental materials are boring…I mean, Bruce Almighty and Pirates of the Caribbean are both good movies, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch interviews or behind-the-scenes tidbits from their productions. On the other hand, being a big fan of the LotR books and such, I can appreciate the extra bits that go on the Extended Editions.
So, I haven’t been spoiled by LotR, because extra bits don’t usually make a movie more enticing to me.
I find myself spoiled when I wait for other DVD releases. Especially when I know some of the source material beforehand. For instance, in Attack of the Clones, there was a scene where the Jedi boarded a ship to turn off all the droids (like what happened in Phantom Menace). The kicker is that it doesn’t work, the bad guys have learned a thing or two.
I was really looking forward to this scene, but it was cut out of the movie. So I said “okay, I guess I have to wait for the DVD”. Ooops, wasn’t there either.
I still find myself doing that to movies like the Alamo: “oh well, I guess they’ll show Goliad in the DVD”.
The LOTR EEs have absolutely spoiled me, too. We watched all three Indiano Jones movies this weekend, and I was rather disappointed at the (lack of) extras. Yeah, there’s the extra DVD, but no commentary tracks. I love the movies (well, not the second one so much) and in particular I thought the sound was outstanding, but they could have done a lot more. And considering it took years for them to come up, it certainly wasn’t for lack of time.
