What I meant about not buying the first DVD edition of The Two Towers was that the more complete version would be out in a few months and it’s ridiculous to waste the money on the first one. What some here may not realize is that the Extended Edition will have ALL of the footage that’s in the first release (the so-called ‘theatrical version’), plus MORE. So you are getting the theatrical version (which most here have already seen I expect) PLUS the extra footage.
I mean, you wouldn’t buy and album this month and then three months from now go out and buy a single that’s on the album, would you?
Well, obsessive collector geeks might, but not normal peop…
randwill - It will have all the footage, but it won’t be the same as the theatrical version. It would be like reading the first edition of The Stand, and reading the current, longer edition.
StGermain pegged it… the theatrical releases and the Extended Editions are clearly closely related, but they are for all intents and purposes different movies. I know fans of the theatrical releases who dislike the extended editions, and vice versa. I myself happen to like both, for different reasons, and so I choose to own both.
And I’m not an obsessive collector geek… I’m a recovering obsessive collector geek! See, I have no interest whatsoever in those pricey bookend versions of the EE. Nope… none… whatsoever… ahem!
Seriously, since you can’t watch the theatrical version by buying the EE, it makes sense for people like me. who enjoy both, to buy both.
Those bookends statues look great though! They’re next to my complete DVDs of The Avengers, featuring Diana Rigg, which is next to my David Lynch released version (in a big black box) of Eraserhead on DVD, which is next to my Special Editon leatherette- boxed The Time Machine DVD (with the poster and the lobby cards and the actual frame of film matted and suitable for framing). But even I only need one version of the LoTR DVDs.
I just noticed that last year a lot of folks shelled out money for the first DVD release of Fellowship, and were taken aback when the Extended Edition appeared a few months later. Corporate America has no reluctance to bleed consumers dry. I’m sure they are working on a format that improves on DVD, so in ten years they can sell us everything all over again.
Hey, I love Citizen Kane, but I only need but ONE DVD of it.
But what if there were two different versions available of it, and you liked both equally? The problem here is that comparing it to some other movie isn’t accurate, as FOTR is the only film I can think of which has two versions, only available separately.
Legend almost meets the criteria, and for a long time I have owned videotape copies of both the American and British versions of the film. I like them both, but they are definitely so different as to almost be different films. Now, however, you can get the Legend “Ultimate Edition” which includes both versions in a single DVD package. Still, though… I like both versions of the film well enough that I want to own both. They just made it easier in this case by putting them both in one package.
Pretty much the same deal for Lord of the Rings, but without the convenience.
Don’t forget to check with your public library to see if they’ll be carrying it! I’m seventh in line for it, but since we’re ordering 16 copies I’ll get mine right away.
By now you’ll probably pretty far down on the request list, but if you’re one of those multiple-time renters, it’s one less time you have to pay.
Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Not everyone can be bothered to know of DVD news that came out four months before the theatrical version of the DVD. What were they supposed to do, though? Spend millions on advertising to make sure everyone knows? Wait until November, when the EE would be ready and release the complete six disc edition? I doubt that’d sell for much under $45.
Maybe it’s just me, but I would much rather have some form of the movie earlier than November, and have a choice about which version I buy. Would you have bought it if the ony way was the $45 six disc edition(or $80 gift set)? If you did, would you have been too happy about it?
It’s not like they kept it a complete secret. The back of the theatrical edition even mentions that there will be an extended edition. Wasn’t there a sticker on the front telling people about the rebate if you buy it and the extended edition?
Anyway, it’s not just the movie we’re talking about here. The theatrical version will have extras not on the extended edition. Suckers (like me) will have to buy both if they want them all.
Oh, it’ll be sooner than that. It’d be nice to have a video storage system that isn’t based on a fifty year old TV standard.
New Line bent over backwards last year to publicize that they were releasing two different versions of Fellowship last year. This has been rehashed in nearly every monthly “are they releasing 2 versions of TTT on DVD this year?” thread.
I am thoroughly in favor of buying BOTH DVDs. With Fellowship, for example, the extra material was very nice, but it really didn’t move as well as the theatrical version–and the opening to the theatrical version, IMO, is the hands-down winner between the two, and keeps the movie’s focus on Frodo, as it should.
Yep. Have you heard of HD-DVD yet? You want to get the most out of your new High-Def bigscreen don’t ya?
You’ll need a new high-def DVD player and all new HD-DVDs to get the best possible picture.
