Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Bluray

Cafe Society
1

Mods, please feel free to delete this if necessary.

However, my brother just sent me this link, which goes to a page on Walmart’s website selling the LOTR bluray set for $9.86 ($1.97 shipping). There’s no picture, and it’s a preorder - so I’m thinking it’s either a new version that’s just the theatrical version, or they’re repackaging it for the upcoming Hobbit movie (there’s apparently also a coupon for discounted tickets to that on the package).

So just in case a price alert isn’t the most kosher of SDMB thread topics, how about… Is this a good transfer? Anyone have experiences with the previous bluray versions?

2

Hiya, thanks for your report. There’s no rule against price alerts on the SDMB. (In fact, there’s quite a thriving community for the frequent Steam deals in the Game Room.)

I’ve gotten several PMs about this topic over the years, so I’ll just quickly lay out the quick and dirty rule: We only mind if the poster stands to earn money him- or herself. Basically, advertisement. For those who do want to advertise, we have the Marketplace forums for paid-up members or the open possibility of taking out an ad. Anyone wants to do that, here’s the contact info for the Reader ad department. (Also found at the bottom of all forum pages.)

3

Excellent. Then in the interest of full disclosure, I should probably reveal that I am not, in fact, Sam Walton. Whoever had “Sam Walton” in the “Guess Munch’s true identity” pool needs to send in their $1.

4

On that same page is a link to the entire boxed set, Bluray, for the sale price of $89.95.

There is something fishy about offering this same set for $9.95…perhaps just the three films and no extras, and maybe just the original theatrical (non-extended) release format?

I just find it hard to believe they are suddenly going to knock $80 off that price for the same set…and if it sounds too good to be true, usually it is too good to be true.

5

The deluxe edition comes with nine discs of bonus features.

The basic edition is just the three movies with a few bonus features on the movie discs. $9.86 for all three is a low price but not insanely low. They routinely sell for around thirty dollars.

6

I’d wager that it’s a three disc theatrical release pack in a tri-fold box for that price. A nice price for nothing but the films but then again they are the shorter theatrical releases. I’ve seen them sold singley for $9/ea.

7

I’m hoping to find the Extended Edition boxed set in Blu-ray that I won’t have to take a 2nd mortgage on my house to buy. I loaned out my extended DVD sets and never got them back. Now that I have a blu-ray player and an HD TV, I’m ready to take a couple sick days and rewatch the trilogy.

StG

8

To the best of my knowledge, here’s what you get.

There are three versions of each movie. The original theatrical versions ran 178, 179, and 201 minutes. The extended versions ran 208, 223, and 251 minutes. Then there are the extended credits editions - these are the same cut of the movie as the extended edition but they have much longer end credits because they list the names of all the fan-club members who paid to have their names included in the credits. These movies run 228, 235, and 263 minutes.

On DVD:

  1. The theatrical versions - No longer in print but available for $54.40
  2. The Platinum Edition: the extended versions with six bonus discs of extra features (two discs per movie) - List Price: $80.95
  3. Original Theatrical and Extended Limited Edition: the theatrical versions and the extended versions but no bonus discs - List Price: $86.98

On Blu-Ray:
3. The theatrical versions - which includes the dvd and digital versions of the movie - No longer in print but available for $39.99
4. The Extended Edition: The extended credits versions with bonus discs of extra features - but the bonus discs are dvd not blu-ray and are identical to the dvd extended version bonus discs. - List Price: $119.98

Here’s what’s on the bonus discs

The Appendices, Part 1: From Book to Vision (The Fellowship of the Ring)
Peter Jackson introduction
J.R.R. Tolkein: Creator of Middle Earth
From Book to Script
Visualizing the Story
Designing and Building Middle Earth
Middle Earth atlas interactive

The Appendices, Part 2: From Vision to Reality (The Fellowship of the Ring)
Elijah Wood introduction
Filming The Fellowship of the Ring
Visual effects
Post-production: Putting it all together
Digital Grading
Sound and music
The Road Goes Ever On…

The Appendices, Part 3: The Journey Continues (The Two Towers)
Peter Jackson introduction
J.R.R. Tolkein: Origin of Middle Earth
From Book to Script: Finding a Story
Designing and Building Middle-Earth
Gollum
Middle-Earth Atlas interactive
New Zealand as Middle Earth (map with video location)

The Appendices, Part 4: The Battle for Middle Earth (The Two Towers)
Elijah Wood introduction
Filming The Two Towers
Visual effects
Editorial: Refining the Story
Music and Sound
The Battle for Helm’s Deep is Over

The Appendices, Part 5: The War of the Ring (The Return of the King)
Peter Jackson Intro
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth
From Book to Script
Designing and Building Middle-earth
Home of the Horse Lords
Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship: interactive map
New Zealand as Middle-earth: interactive map with on-location footage

The Appendices, Part 6: The Passing of an Age (The Return of the King)
Elijah Wood/Sean Astin/Billy Boyd/Dominic Monaghan intro
Filming The Return of the King
Visual Effects
Post Production: Journey’s End
The Passing of an Age
Cameron Duncan

All this assumes you’re buying the three movies as a set and not as individual movies. If you go with individual movies, there are other options. For example, you can buy the extended editions on blu-ray individually if you don’t care about the fan credits. In some cases, it can be cheaper to buy the three movies individually than to buy them together as a set.

Finally, I showed list prices. You can easily find them discounted at Amazon, WalMart, Best Buy, or other places.

9

I bought the extended edition blu ray set a few months ago for about $50 on June 2 from Amazon:

Shipping Speed:
Two-Day Shipping
Items Ordered Price
1 of: The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring / The Two Towers / The Return of the King Extended Editions) [Blu-ray] [Blu-ray]
By: Elijah Wood, et al
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$48.99
Amazon Prime: Two-Day Shipping is free

Item(s) Subtotal: $48.99
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
-----
Total Before Tax: $48.99
Sales Tax: $0.00
-----
Total for This Shipment: $48.99
-----

10

This is way, way inaccurate.

The theatrical editions are still in print (singly) for both DVD and Blu-ray. But the Blu-ray versions DO NOT include the movies on DVD. Various boxsets of the theatrical editions have been released over the years, they may or may not still be available.

11

When I was first starting my post, I planned on including an equivalent amount of information about the individual movies to what I posted about the sets. But by the time I was done with the sets, I really didn’t feel like continuing.

12

Sorry, missed that line. Still, I think it’s important to reiterate that buying the boxset for the LOTR trilogy is a bit of a hassle versus buying the three movies individually.