The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition) [Blu-ray] [2001]

Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite movie series of all time, and this BluRay version is absolutely gorgeous.First a couple of technical comments about the BluRay version (I have the Extended DVD version of LOTR as well):1. Each movie is split into two BluRay discs for a simple reason - this allows for a lower degree of compression so that the native resolution and visual quality of the movies can be better maintained. The resolution is especially important if your system has the software to tweak the sharpness and color settings and your screen has a higher resolution than the native 1080p of the BluRay (I watch all my movies on my desktop computer with 30inch 1900 x 1200 native resolution monitor). The result is an outstanding degree of sharpness (without graininess) throughout the movie - better than I can get for my "Avatar" BluRay. I can see every hair and skin cell, it seems, in the close-up shots!2. Regarding the comments from others about the "green" tint in this BluRay - it must be your BluRay player. I have not had any problems, but then, the video quality of my computer system can be adjusted at three levels - the monitor, the Nvidia graphics card, and the video playing software.3. Despite the sharp increase in resolution, there are surprisingly few CGI or other glitches visible. Almost certainly, somebody went through this movie with a fine tooth comb to clean up the high resolution details. I only noticed a few minor glitches still - Isildur's scene at the beginning where he puts on the ring and vanishes still looks like it was shot in front of a green screen (there's a subtle mismatch between his lighting and coloring and that of the background), the Army of the Dead move a bit too CGI whenever they ride out in a horde, and at the end, where the pirate ships have an unnatural looking interface with the water.Now for some thoughts about LOTR and this movie series:It has long been apparent that Tolkien based LOTR on the history and mythology of Great Britain and Europe. And so it finally dawned on me one day that Numenor spelled backwards is "Ronemun" a near-anagram for "Roman", and the Numenoreans must indeed have been the Romans who invaded Middle Earth/Great Britain.The serial invasions of Britain by various European peoples and the themes of constant warfare, and of existing people being displaced by new peoples are integral to both LOTR and the history of Great Britain. History is written by the victors and the losers are invariably demonized in those accounts. And so today the Romans are remembered in much the same light as the noble Numenoreans of LOTR and their enemies remembered as savages. It is worth noting that despite their frequent portrayal as the Founders of Modern Western European Civilization, the Romans slaughtered and enslaved millions in their conquests and displaced vast numbers of peoples.It is thus possible to see that buried beneath the themes of good vs. evil in LOTR is the deeper story of human evolution through eternal warfare. Were the Wildmen of Dunland truly evil? Or were they just fighting to regain their lands taken from them by the Numenoreans and Rohirrim? The true story of Queen Boudica and the Iceni versus the Romans comes to mind here.Were the Orcs and Goblins and Uruk-hai truly deformed, evil monsters? Or were they just coexistent species of near-humans, fighting for their right to exist in Middle Earth? We know now that the line that became modern humans evolved alongside many other side branches of near-humans in what surely must have been a Darwinian death struggle. Are the myths of such monsters merely a racial memory from human pre-history?As I watch this wonderful movie series once again, I do see things in a different light. I had just finished HBO's "Game of Thrones" series, which also featured Sean Bean, in a another role as a sword wielding nobleman. Both stories are set in similar fantasy worlds based on Medieval-era Europe, but their story themes are quite different.LOTR has a simple linear plotline detailing the triumph of good over evil. You know the good guys will remain good guys, the bad guys are utterly evil, and then there are those few in between who struggle with being on one side or the other. The good guys win in LOTR, those in between who fail to overcome the temptations of evil are destroyed, evil is destroyed, and everybody who is good goes on to live happily ever after, although not all stay in Middle-Earth.Having created such powerful forces of evil in his tale, to accomplish that happy ending, Tolkien had to resort to several deus ex machina plot devices to save the overwhelmed good guys - the charge of Eomer's Riders straight into the long pikes of the Uruk-hai to save Helm's Deep (not likely to be successful in the real world), the Great Eagles to save Gandalf and Frodo/Sam, and the Army of the Dead to save Gondor."Game of Thrones" is very different, none more so than the character of Sean Bean, who plays a thoroughly decent, honest, and good man, and yet comes to an untimely end. Who is good and evil in this tale cannot be so easily sorted out, as everyone has a different agenda, and it is just a mass free-for-all struggle for power and survival. The few who appear to be truly good in this tale get crushed in the struggle.History and life are indeed more like "Game of Thrones" than LOTR. But in my heart, I still love LOTR more than something like "Game of Thrones", which although fascinating to watch, makes me squirm. LOTR remains closer to an idealized fantasy myth world.There are some things I wish for, though. I wish Saruman could have had a chance to tell his tale, of why he chose the path of science and industrialization (which after all is what produced technology like this BluRay movie), why he chose to ally himself with these species of near-humans and breed the Uruk-Hai. I wish the Wildmen and the Easterlings had a chance to tell their tale, for surely they had reasons to ally themselves with Saruman and Sauron. There are hints of this back story in the Appendices and other works of Tolkien, but only hints.There is another tale to be told there, I'm sure.

I was really worried when I read comments about a "green tint" to the Fellowship of the Ring for this box set. I even saw some videos and photos online that show the difference between the extended blu ray edition vs. the theatrical blu ray edition. So you know what I'm talking about, just watch this short video clip of the color difference between the two: Go to youtube and type in "LOTR - Green Cast Comparison" and it should come up as the first video.So after watching that video clip I finally got this in the mail today and popped in the Fellowship of the Ring to see if it's as bad as the video made it out to be. While there is a slight color change, it is not nearly as bad as what the clip shows on youtube. Perhaps it's my tv settings, but all the colors are what they are supposed to be. The sky is blue, Gandalf the grey is grey (meaning his clothes), white is white, etc. Again, there is a slight change, but if anything all I really notice is that it is darker, which isn't a big problem to me. In fact, I'd say it looks better than it originally did. So don't be scared if you are like me and watched any videos of the color difference or saw any photos. They are exaggerated.As for the box set itself, it is extremely nice. It's not like other box sets such as Avatar where it's a pain to get the movies out whenever you want to watch a movie. With this box set it is held with a magnet and easily pops right open whenever you want to pull out one of the movies. I give them a lot of credit for coming up with a box set that easily allows you to access the movies. It seems like such a little thing to some, but for me that's a big issue when you have a flimsy box set that you have to struggle to get open every time. So they did a great job with this one. This is the best box set I have ever owned.I like the fact that you can easily take the blu-ray logo off the top, making your box set look even nicer. The front of the box has the title embossed and the ring itself is also slightly embossed. The blu ray cases inside are black for the US version and blue for the UK version (I live in the US, so I got black. I prefer the black, but that's just an opinion).People have been complaining about the movies being on 2 seperate discs each (so each movie is split into part 1 and part 2). What people need to realize, and I've read up on this with several sources to back up this statement, is that if they put each movie on a single disc the quality would have been reduced, which basically kills the entire point of blu ray. So they are doing us a favor. They are giving us the highest quality they can by splitting the movies up onto 2 discs. Besides, let's not be lazy by having to get up once during the movie to change the disc. I understand that people don't like interuptions during their movies, but how long does it take to change a disc? 30 seconds? A minute at most? I just don't feel it's as big of an issue as many people have made it out to be. If better quality means I have to get off my butt for a minute to switch discs, then I'll take it no problem.Overall, it's a beautiful box set for any LOTR fan and it looks great on your shelf. I highly recommend buying it. It is well worth it.Oh, and one last thing, do not pay over $70 for it. You can get it right here on Amazon for $70 and I even saw some on ebay for around the same price. I was in Best Buy the other day just to see the price tag on it. It's $100 at Best Buy and it's also $100 at Borders. Don't waste your money there. Get it at Amazon and save yourself $30 with free shipping.