Product Details

• Actors: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Sean Bean
• Directors: Peter Jackson
• Format: Widescreen, NTSC, Subtitled, DTS Surround Sound, Box set
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), English (DTS ES 6.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 12
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• DVD Release Date: December 14, 2004
• Run Time: 681 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,533 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000654ZK0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #654 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #9 in Movies & TV > DVD > Fantasy
  • #12 in Movies & TV > DVD > Documentary
  • #49 in Movies & TV > DVD > Action & Adventure
• For more information about "The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit Frodo Baggins and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. With new and extended scenes carefully added back into the film the 12-disc set also includes hours of bonus features.Running Time: 785 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY UPC: 794043734724

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,734 of 1,798 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate DVD set for all time!, October 26, 2004

By 

Distant Voyageur "Nicholas Computer" (Io) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended Edition) (DVD)

I already reviewed the regular "Motion Picture Trilogy" containing the non-extended editions of the legendary Lord of The Rings masterpieces on one set. However, this newest edition is a grand improvement on the previous edition. This item is a much, MUCH better investment than the old theatrical counterparts and is perhaps the greatest DVD purchase one will likely ever make.

A lot "Director's Cut" scenes are usually just added footage that doesn't do a whole lot to add onto the theatrical edition of movies with examples like Star Wars, Manhunter, or even most of the "Aliens" movies as well. The extra material is just that, extras, that wouldn't kill me to never see again.

It's a totally different story altogether with the "Lord Of The Rings" movies altogether. While the regular theatrical editions were mind-blowing, the extended cuts of the same films do wonders in fleshing out the story and expanding the characters a lot more. Several characters that were not much more than background people are shown much more screen time, stories are greatly expanded, other scenes are much more meaningful, and the movies overall have a totally different feel altogether thanks to all of the extra footage that was not included on the theatrical editions. Now as I watch them, the old editions of them are rendered almost completely obsolete due to the chopped up nature of them. I sometimes wonder if Peter Jackson grimaced when he had to leave a lot of extra shots out of the movies to fit them onto the theatres when they were released.

"Fellowship" has 30 minutes of extra footage included to a length of 3 and a half hours. "The Two Towers" was extended 43 minutes to a total of 3 hours and 42 minutes and finally "The Return of The King" is extended by a grand 50 minutes and the ultimate result is a whopping 4 hours and 11 minutes long! I don't know about you but I don't know how one can make a longer movie like this but Jackson did it! The grand total of all three extended editions is at least an astronomical 11 hours long! This is just the movies themselves.

As for all of the extras on the "Extended Editions", there are over a days worth of extras for surf through on the latter two discs of each film set. The things on them are too great to explain in detail with this review.

Whether you buy them individually or all at once on this massive gift set, "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy goes down as the greatest trilogy of all time. You could not make a better purchase. I swear it!

1,791 of 1,875 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOTR - FAQ for the Blu-ray Extended Edition, April 18, 2009

By 

A. Dent "Aragorn" (Minas Anor, GD) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring / The Two Towers / The Return of the King Extended Editions + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Q - Is it worth it, especially if I already have the DVD edition?
A - To me it is because I like to watch movies at home on the biggest possible screen at the highest possible resolution. I still have the DVD editions - which I'm keeping because I like the artwork - and the quality gain on the Blu is significant.

Q - Could this edition be viewed as 'the gold standard'?
A - Yes. It has the extended cuts at the highest resolution with the best sound and the most extensive collection of special features.

Q - How many Blu-ray discs are in the box?
A - There are SIX Blu-ray discs. The additional 9 'extras' or 'bonus' discs are DVDs.

Q - Are the movies delivered on one disc each?
A - No. See above. Like the DVD extended edition, the movies are delivered on 2 discs each.

Q - Why aren't the movies delivered on one Blu-ray disc each?
A - Most Blu-ray players can only read single layer (25GB) and dual layer discs (50GB). Each of the Extended Edition movies require more than 50GB. Compressing them to 'under 50GB' would have degraded the quality of the picture and sound track.

Q - Is the audio superior to the DVD editions?
A - Yes, the movies sound track is DTS-HD 6.1 MA.

Q - Are there alternate soundtracks?
A - Yes. Each movie disc includes 4 additional commentary sound tracks: Director & Writers, the Design Team, the Production and Post Production Teams and Cast commentaries.

Q - Is BD-Live supported?
A - Yes, on the movie discs.

Q - Is the BD-Live content specific to LOTR?
A - No. It contains WB promotional material.

Q - Will the Extended Blu-ray edition allow us to play the Theatrical cut?
A - No.

Q - Is the Extended Blu-ray cut be in any way different from the Extended DVD cut?
A - No.

Q - Are the bonus discs in the Extended Blu-ray edition in any way different from the bonus discs found in the Extended DVD edition?
A - Yes. There is an additional 'Special Features' disc for each movie holding the Costa Botes documentaries from the Original Theatrical & Extended Limited Editions.

Q - Are the commentaries different from the Extended DVD Edition?
A - No.

Q - Are there subtitles?
A - Yes, subtitles are available in: English (for the hearing impaired), Spanish and Portuguese.

Q - What spoken languages are available?
A - English and Portuguese.

Q - Are the Digital Copies on disc?
A - No. The Extended Blu-ray Edition has access codes for downloadable Digital Copies.

Q - What are the Digital Copies for?
A - iTunes or Windows Media.

Q - Will the Digital Copies be available to download forever?
A - No. The Digital Copy offers expire on June 26, 2012.

Q - What is the resolution of the Digital Copy?
A - For iTunes, it's 853x352 (less than DVD).

Q - Will there be separate Extended Blu-ray editions for each of the three movies?
A - Yes.

Q - Why get the Extended Edition instead of the Theatrical Edition?
A - The Extended Edition adds about 2 hours to the Theatrical cut.

589 of 627 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves more than 5 stars, October 27, 2004

By 

Daniel Geer (Lansing, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended Edition) (DVD)

For all of you who think owning the theatrical editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy is good enough, think again. These editions are not like any other director's cuts or special editions of films that we've seen in the past. Usually, when a film has a special edition, we don't get a whole lot more added in, and it's stuff that doesn't really add anything significant to the story.

But with these editions, just the opposite is true. The extended editions of the first two Lord of the Rings films proved to enhance the plot and characters so much more than anyone ever anticipated. Characters and their journeys become so much clearer and more interesting. The story makes so much more sense. And the whole thing has been re-edited with new music for new scenes and extended musical scores for extended scenes! It's absolutely seamless! Everything that's added in really makes me wonder how I could've enjoyed the films in their original theatrical release. These extended editions make THAT MUCH of a difference. And I have no doubt that The Return of the King extended edition will prove just the same, based on previews I've seen and what's been proven with the extended editions of the first two films.

The Fellowship of the Ring has 30 minutes added in. The Two Towers has 42 minutes added in. The Return of the King has 50 minues added in. Can it get any better? Well, of course! With each movie, you get two discs of bonus features! And these are not features that are boring to watch. You really get a first hand look at the journey that many, many talented people took when making this trilogy. Everything from adaption of the books, to special effects, to the music, to the editing process, to stories that happened on set, etc. The bonus features make a whole story in and of themselves!

For some of you, you may be thinking that 3 hours was long enough for these films. I guarantee you that it was not. When you watch these extended editions, you'll seriously re-evaluate your standards for how long these films should be. And besides, it's not like your sitting for 3 1/2 to 4 hours on your butt in the theater with no break. This is DVD. It's a different medium that allows you to pause it, take a break, cook dinner, or do whatever else you want to do and then come back later to finish it. They won't seem as long, especially when you actually see how great the footage is that they added back in. Simply breath taking.

Of course I didn't wait for this box set to come out to own "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" extended editions. The theatrical versions of those two films alone WERE plenty good to motivate me to buy their corresponding extended edition DVD sets. But I'll probably buy this set anyway and sell the extended editions of the first two that I bought, just so that I can have the trilogy in this nice collectors box.