I think it’s splendiferous! I was particularly impressed by the Two Towers preview. As I mentioned in another thread, Gollum is going to ROCK! The same actor who’s doing the voice is also doing the movements for the CGI. He seemed so into it. The presentation of the movie itself is awesome: DTS and widescreen. Such clarity. Well, they wouldn’t dare skimp on this. Haven’t found out yet if there are any Easter eggs.
We got our copy for $15 at Circuit City. Can’t beat that!
I haven’t watched it yet as I got my Simpsons Season Two DVD last night too. Looking forward to seeing it though.
Hiya Rilchiam.
Yep, loved it. Thought the whole menu thing focusing on the RING with that spooky plangent melody going on in the background was indeed splendiferous. Watched a bit of the prologue with the stereo on and it was almost as good as the big screen. The TT preview did look cool – especially the extra scenes, not seen in the teaser trailer – I’ll have another look at them when I get home. I was a bit disappointed cos I was expecting a director’s commentary, however. And the preview to the extended version makes me want to buy that one too. Ah well.
I’ll have to rent it. I ordered the Collector’s Edition that comes with the polystone Argonath figures, and it won’t be released until November 12th.
Miraculously my local Blockbuster still had copies at 7:00 last night. You only get it for two days, so it’s a lot of stuff to watch in that time. I’ll probably check the IMDb before I get home to make sure there isn’t anything on the 2-disc set that’s not on the 4-disc one.
Regarding the DVD, however:
I SO need a bigger TV. And a surround system. 
Come on Amazon hurry up with my copy!
Ordered LOTR with the Simpsons Season 2 and Directors Edition Start Trek II, Wrath of Kahn.
KKKKAAAAAHHHHHHNNNNN!
I have a 5.1 surround system.
I’m getting a 36-inch flatscreen TV this weekend.
I just bought **Simpsons Seasons ! & 2, Them, **and Wrath of Khan at Best Buy.
My BF is giving me the 2-disc LOTR for my birthday (8/18).
Life is sweet.
I got TLotR from Netflix last night. I only have disk one but now I can watch the movie and hold on to it till the extra special edition comes out.
I really want to see TTT trailers though.
I don’t have a DVD player. I will, however, buy the video today, as my parents didn’t catch on to my subtle hints yesterday (“Mom! Dad! FOTR is out on video! Buy it!”).
I’m going to try to talk dad into buying a DVD player in time for the November edition. Whereupon I’ll move out to get married. Bother.
Harry Knowles claimed he noticed one difference in the DVD(yep, a Lucas-esque special edition!).
Anyway, I had an early copy of the dvd(disc one only) about 3 months ago I noticed no difference. I now have the new one and I can’t tell.
Okay, in the scene where Sam says, “If I take one more step, I’ll be further away from the Shire than ever…”, there is a cut to a wide angle and you(supposedly) can see a car driving away in the upper part of the screen. Now to me, it’s tough to tell.
It looks more like smoke from a chimney. It’s still there in the DVD, but it looks like it might be slightly changed. Tough to tell…
They did change it. It was originally a chimney, but apparently looked too much like a car kicking up dirt. They altered it to look more like chimney smoke.
I love it! My daughters saw it for the first time last night, and now they’re all into it as well. My nine-year-old was full of questions for me about what happens next. 
What made it even better was that I got it practically free… Blockbuster had a deal where I paid $25.00 for a card that entitled me to 10 movie rentals and the LOTR DVD, which means I got either the rentals or the DVD for free. Works for me!
I agree with you about Gollum, Rilchiam… it looks like he’s really going to rock. Since he has a much bigger role in Two Towers, I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out. I think it’s going to rock (and be a far cry from the digital travesty of Jar-Jar Binks!).
Anyway… the DVD simply rocks.
Rilchiam:
Actually, you probably can - at Costco. That’s where I get all my DVDs (but I haven’t been there yet since last week, which is why I’m not certain).
Rilchiam , is yours really in DTS? I didn’t think they were doing any in DTS until the November release? According to Amazon.com anyway. The copy I bought is in Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, but I want a DTS copy if they’re out there.
I love the DVD, watched the movie and all the documentaries / featurettes last night. The documentaries overlapped somewhat with the same interviews in all three taped documentaries, but the preview of the Two Towers was great, like you said. I would have liked more info on how they did the forced perspective shots - where the Hobbits appear to be only 3’6" and Gandalf is huge, and stuff like that. I am probably going to buy the Platinum edition in Nov. too, that exra footage will be worth it.
I’m sure some of that will be in November’s “Special Edition,” but if you want to know now, Cinefex issue #89 had extensive coverage of how they did most of that stuff. Fascinating reading, really, and a very substantive article on the subject. Highly recommended.
Almost afraid to ask, but how much is that going to cost?
I watched The Simpsons Season 2 DVD last night instead of LoTR- I was too pissed after spending 10 minutes trying to remove the “theft protection” crapola attached to the case.
Of course now that all the good DVDs are released the heat wave ends. It’s hard to justify spending 3+ hours indoors when it’s 78 degrees and bayootiful outside. I might have to stay up late to watch it and call in to work with a bad case of the Hobbit Flu tomorrow.
I can’t believe Attack of the Clones and Lord of the Rings come out on the same day in November.
I can already hear George Lucas laughing because his sells more…completely ignoring the fact that semi-fans of LOTR are contented with the 2-discer that’s out now.
FYI, the Nov 12 release will contain ONLY the Director’s Cut, while this release contains ONLY the theatrical release. Also the Nov 12 release will have totally different special features, which will NOT include the material offered w/ the theatrical release.
Buy 'em both. You know you wanna.
Disclaimer: I do not work for a major retailer selling this title… Oh wait, I do.