LOTR : -which movie version to buy

Cafe Society
1

I was thinking about movies to watch over the Yuletide break, and decided the LOTR extended editions should be on my list.On various DVD sites, I’ve seen 4 different versions of each of the LOTR films. This is confusing. So I’m thinking that there’s the original version, the wide screen version, the extended edition, and the limited edition.

So I seek the wisdom of dopers on the following points :-

  1. Is my understanding outlined above correct ?

  2. Am I correct in thinking that the difference between the limited edition and the extended edition is a load of extra behind the scenes stuff, and the limited edition contains the extended edition ? Bear in mind the extended edition has 4 discs per movie, the limited edition 2.

  3. Which would people recommend ? To be clear, I specifically want the extended editions of the movies.

To clarify your answers to question 3, these are going to be shown on a 42" widescreen TV with a 7 speaker sound system.

2

I think that the extended edition DOES have four discs per film, but only TWO of them are actually ‘the movie’ (with additional scenes from the original theatrical release) - the other two discs are the extra, behind the scene stuff. (These are the ones that I have, but, alas, I’m at work, and can’t check to see which version it actually is.)

3

I am aware of two releases; the theatrical release and the extended editions. I’m not familiar with the “Limited Edition”. The theatrical release is two discs per movie, with the film on one disc and extras on the other. It’s available in both the original 2.35:1 (widescreen) aspect ratio as well as in 4:3 (fullscreen).

The extended edition features four discs per movie with the film on two discs and extras on the other two discs. It contains all of the footage in the theatrical release plus many additional and extended scenes. I believe that it’s only available in widescreen. IMO, this is the release that you want.

4

Edit: I looked at the limited edition at it seems to include two discs that contain both the theatrical and extended editions as well as an 85-minute exclusive documentary that is not available in the other editions. However, this edition lacks the other extras that are available in the theatrical and extended releases.

5

I’ve got the extended and I’d go for that, if only for the added scenes. For example, in the extended version, there’s a scene in Rohan where Aragorn frees the stallion Brego to escape. So when later Brego comes to the unconscious Aragorn after his tumble over the cliff into the river, it makes more sense that the horse would give two manures about saving the man.

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