LOTR on Blue Ray - finally!!

[Lidless]

The Bakshi film comes out on BlueRay on April 6

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/ ... ated2.html

I watched it again last night. I really can't see the point of a blu-ray transfer. The animaiton is of such nature that it is doubtful that any extra layer of detail woudl be revealed by an HD transfer.

It's better to watch it on YouTube. On fact, I'm surprised Bakshi*'s version hasn't made it to fail.org.

[Alatar]

Good review on Digitalbits of the Trilogy on BluRay:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviewshd ... 32310.html

Look... I'm not gonna lie to you. Would I have preferred the Extended Editions on Blu-ray? You bet your battle axe I would. And I get that some of you don't want to be double-dipped again. But for me, as a HUGE fan of these films, the chance to see even these Theatrical Editions on Blu-ray in 1080p with lossless audio is simply NOT something to be passed up. So I say find a really good sale price (Amazon has the set for 30-40% off as I write this and you can bet there will be LOTS of retail discounting on this title), bring 'em home and enjoy! For my money, there just isn't a better way to kill off a whole day's viewing on the Blu-ray format.

[sauronsfinger]

I see where Costco will sell it for $65.00 US. That comes out to $22 for each film and is really not a bad price at all. Target usually has the lowest price on these things during the first week of release so it will be interesting to see what they sell it for.

[Alatar]

For those who like such things! (That's me by the way.)

Exclusive Packaging Options

[Frelga]

Whoa! How big is the sword?

[Alatar]

Letter opener sized I think! Don't get too exited.

[Elentári]

Very nice...

Did anyone see this article on TORn regarding what changes have been made for the Blu-Ray editions, and the sort of extras they are saving for future releases?


http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2010/04/09 ... -releases/

...we spoke with one of the DVD/BD project’s actual participants, longtime Peter Jackson collaborator Michael Pellerin, who provided some real insights into the process of bringing the films to Blu-ray for the first time.

In addition to his work with Jackson on documenting The Lord of the Rings films, the producer and director has worked on countless featurettes and bonus materials for other films as well, including Tron and Fantasia for Disney. But Pellerin offered some surprising revelations about the new Blu-rays, including some specific and unexpected improvements that most audiences wouldn’t even know needed to be made. Additionally, he hinted at the reservoir of content that has yet to be released, but seems destined to appear on some sort of massive Lord of the Rings boxed set hopefully in the not-too-distant future – although much like the fate of The Hobbit, those specifics have yet to be fully ironed out.

[Primula Baggins]

[Elentári]

Michael Pellerin talks about THE ULTIMATE LOTR BOX SET!!!

Michael has been involved in the creation of a number great DVD editions as well and, like many special edition producers, is now working on Blu-ray titles too. Arguably his best work - certainly his most well known - is New Line's trio of much-loved 4-Disc Special Extended DVD Editions of The Lord of the Rings films...

Truth be told, even with the six Appendices discs on the original Extended Edition DVDs, which we packed to capacity with content, we knew there would be a lot of material we just could not fit onto the original DVDs. So we purposefully held back some of the best stuff for later use. Every idea we had, Peter vetted and was placed into one of two categories: 1) Stuff to put it on the Extended Edition DVDs - or 2) Stuff saved for the HD Box Set.

We had made a very conscious decision to make everything on the original Appendices Supplemental discs very specifically about the technical process of making the three films, as told by the many, many voices of the people who made them. Therefore, anything that was not specific to that goal, or approach, we saved for the Box Set.

What kind of stuff?

One of the crown jewels was to be Peter's documentary. Peter had always talked about creating his own feature-length documentary, that tells the whole process of creating LOTR chronologically, from his - the filmmaker's - point of view: what he was thinking and why he made decisions, and inviting us to walk with him on that journey, from beginning to end.

We also wanted to present the lighter side of LOTR as well - the experience of living, working and breathing The Lord of the Rings for the better part of 10 years. Very funny, very off the wall stuff, to be sure: Lots of anecdotes; shenanigans on and off screen; practical jokes, the gag and outtakes reels (which are myriad), and the stories only people who were there know about. Much of it was captured on tape and film, and we got everyone to sit down and tell those stories during the making of the films, while they still remembered them.

We wanted to finally get around to telling the incredible story of the long road how these films got off the ground in the first place. That and other stories that were too politically sensitive at the time to tell.

We had planned actual new narrative content, with new production, which I can't comment too much on at this point - but it presents exciting possibilities, to be sure.

We had also designed a few things you could only really do given some distance from the film over the years.

These are just a few examples, but eventually, this amassed into about 20 hours of ideas, and material we set aside for the Box Set to create this whole other experience someday. Over the years, Peter has mentioned the Box Set in various interviews, on the DVDs, in the media and to the fans - but as of yet, it still remains in the "to do" list, until the studio decides it's time.

There has been a lot of interest in the release of the Extended Editions on BD, but right now, there honestly isn't anything to discuss. WHV is just concentrating on the theatrical releases at this point. What I do hope is that fans will eventually get to see the rest of the story on the Box Set - as it would be nice for it to see the light of day, to see it done and finally out in the world and on the shelf.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/ ... index.html

[Alatar]

ooh, thanks for that Elen. Lets hope if its ever done that its done properly and not as a quick cash-in.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I agree, Al. What a shame it would be to waste all that effort and forethought, but with Warner's in charge rather than New Line, it is a real possibility.

[Primula Baggins]

Keeping my fingers crossed. I will not be buying a Blu-Ray set until and unless this one comes along, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Our Blu-Ray player upconverts the discs we have very nicely, so I'm not interested in buying Blu-Ray versions of more or less what I already have; the quality difference is incremental. It's the new content that would bring me back to the store. New content like what's described in the article would make me willing to pay a premium price.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I noticed that elsewhere people are complaining about how terrible it is that PJ held back so much good stuff in order to milk the system blah blah blah. I find that attitude extraordinary. The LOTR EEs had more quality content than any other DVDs in history. The care and love that was put into them was amazing (regardless of whether one likes the actual films). To complain that they saved good stuff for future release really misses the point, I think. After all, they could not include everything. I think it took great foresight to preserve particular items for the inevitable future release, rather than leaving it to be just a rehash of what came before. I might not buy a blue ray player for this, but that doesn't keep me from appreciating the attention that they have put towards making this yet another quality product (assuming they are allowed to do so).

[Elentári]

Hear, Hear!

[vison]

I noticed that elsewhere people are complaining about how terrible it is that PJ held back so much good stuff in order to milk the system blah blah blah. I find that attitude extraordinary. The LOTR EEs had more quality content than any other DVDs in history. The care and love that was put into them was amazing (regardless of whether one likes the actual films). To complain that they saved good stuff for future release really misses the point, I think. After all, they could not include everything. I think it took great foresight to preserve particular items for the inevitable future release, rather than leaving it to be just a rehash of what came before. I might not buy a blue ray player for this, but that doesn't keep me from appreciating the attention that they have put towards making this yet another quality product (assuming they are allowed to do so).

I agree. I don't often look at any of this sort of stuff for other movies at all, but in this case, I think it's going to be terrific. The movies were made with such fanatical attention to detail! I might not love the finished product as much as I should ( ), but I do think they were beautifully made and am very interested in seeing some of the inside dope.

[yovargas]

I waaaanttsss it....
Maybe by the time it comes out I'll have been able to splurge on all the requisite equipment....

[eborr]

I think V points regarding multiple releases is perfectly valid, as long as there are people wanting to buy the stuff why not release it. It's not as if you had to sign some kind of pact with the devil to buy every LOTR product when you bought your first copy of the FOTR.

I will give this blu-ray edition a miss, not because of any specif protest against it's release but rather I think it will spoil my enjoyment of the blu-ray extended editions. I would also have to agree that the earlier version have been terrrific value, I guess if I were to measure the time that PJ disks have sat in the dvd player, they would represent a massive return on my investment

[Padme]

I take it PJ has been talking to Lucas.

PJ: How do I make as much money as possible
Lucas: Release a newer better version every two years.
PJ: Will it sell?
Lucas: Have you seen my Star Wars Empire? I'm still selling little green frog men.

[Primula Baggins]

I think if he were copying Lucas he'd have released a lot more versions by now, and the TE Blu-Ray would be announced as the last chance to buy the TE: "Never again will you be able to buy the version you loved in the theater!" And he certainly, certainly would not be talking about any future edition better than what was just being released. Every one would be the best one that ever will be, never be another one, nuh uh.

[WampusCat]

Yeah, and he'd be talking about doing a prequel -- heck, maybe even more than one movie.