Lord of the Rings

Yesterday, I bought the Special Extended DVD version of The Two Towers, the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A much enhanced version of the theater version, and one that's sticking much closer to the original storyplay of the book. Therefore, I find the quality of the Special Extended movie much higher than the original movie. 42 extra minutes, including a glimpse on some new characters like Denethor, steward of Gondor, who will appear in Return of the King. And what a wonderfull collector's item ! I wished already that I've bought the Special Extended version of the Fellowship of the Ring !

I hardly can't believe I didn't add this earlier on my blog : the Encyclopedia of Arda is a great piece of work containing timelines, maps and detailled descriptions about everything - and I do mean *everything* - in Tolkien's Middle Earth. And it's even available on CD for your offline browsing pleasure.

Well, I got my edition of the Special DVD Edition of The Two Towers, and spent a lovely evening enjoying the second part of the LotR trilogy. One week after the release of this DVD edition (very clever), more details have been anounced of the Extended DVD editions. There will be, unlike with the FotR DVD editions, *two* Special Extended Editions :

1. The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers Platinum Series Special Extended DVD Edition.

• Discs 1-2: The Feature (208 mins)- A new version of the second installment in the epic trilogy! The film includes over 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film, made especially for this video release. Four audio commentaries by director and writers, the design team, the production team and the cast featuring more than 30 participants including Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom and Academy Award winners Richard Taylor, Howard Shore, Randy Cook and many more.
• Discs 3-4: The Appendices
  Two discs with hours of original content including multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries with thousands of images to give viewers an in depth behind-the-scenes look at The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

2. The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers Collector's DVD Gift Set

The following contents will be presented in packaging illustrated by famed artist, Alan Lee :

• 4-disc Platinum Series Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers.
• Collectible Gollum polystone statue created by Sideshow Weta
• "The Evolution of Gollum" exclusive:
  Bonus DVD on the Weta Workshop and how the Gollum statue was created, featuring interviews with Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, the cast and more!
• A printed companion piece showing how Gollum evolved from pencil sketch to sculpted maquette to digital character.

In december, the long awaited third part of the trilogy Lord of the Rings, Return of the King (RotK), goes into premiere. But most theatres will do more than that : the final episode is an excellent opportunity to replay the first two -extended- episodes of the trilogy, followed by RotK in a dazzling marathon. As you know that the movies take 3 to 4 hours each, the full marathon will take up to 11h ! These marathons will be played worldwide, with the support of New Line Cinema. There are already some details available about marathons in Holland, and I hope to get more info about Belgian LOTR marathons shortly.

It's vacation anyways, so why wouldn't you fancy a tour through Middle Earth ? The Middle Earth Tours site is a great collection and voyage through the mind of Tolkien. Nicely illustrated and documented with fragments from Tolkien books. Visit the people and places of Arda. And for our VIP customers, we'll have this magnificent cruise on the Anduin !

Find out your own Middle Earth name (elvish, hobbit, ...). My orkish name is Razhghash the Wicked, and I like my Dwarvish name even more : Lorin Lightningmallet !

This site has the Elvish 'lyrics' if you want, of the first Lord of the Rings movie. With an English traduction, luckily (my Quenya still sucks). Never thought that Elvish could be that sexy, certainly if it comes out of the mouth of such a sweetie like Liz Taylor.