Lord of The Rings Extended Blu-Rays worth it?

I have the widescreen theatrical length DVDs of each LOTR film. Are the extended versions in the Blu-Ray set really worth buying? I like LOTR quite a bit, but I'm not a fanatic (I've read all of the books, plus The Hobbit and have seen all the movies). How much/what is shown in these extended scenes and do they add, or detract to the Peter Jackson showcase of LOTR?!?

 

I think the extended versions are far superior, especially The Two Towers and Return of the King. The Blu-Rays are amazing as well. I think you will be pleased if you buy them.

 

my friend really hates the fact that they added a green tint to some of it...I did not see it, but he is a BR fanatic...YMMV. I have the DVDs and I'm satisfied...

for those who are not...
http://fotrfix.blog.com/2011/08/20/a-guide-on-how-to-really-fix-the-fotr-extended-blu-ray/

 

Gee, I haven't seen the new Blu-rays and didn't know they were on the green side. In theory, if this was done as an overall correction, you could just knock down the green channel a couple of points to compensate (essentially adding magenta). I'm stunned that even the whites are affected; this looks like something went terribly wrong somewhere.

Usually when new transfers are done, we drag a digital file of the previous transfer alongside it, and pop it up for comparison now and then. If they don't match, it ain't right. In some cases, we can make it look obviously much better, and we go for that in mastering. But ultimately, it's the director's creative choice.

 

Discussion about the color shift on the EE edition blu-ray set in this thread, along with links to some videos that show the difference.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=180651&highlight=lord+the+rings&page=12

 

Reportedly it was done at the request of Peter Jackson.

 

Personally, I will never again watch the theatrical versions. I have not seen the Blu-Ray and cannot comment on visual quality. It is an epic tale with many characters that needs extra time to give them all adequate treatment. In my opinion the extended versions are definitive if you care about this series.

 

The theatrical versions will get you through the story but if you truly want to be immersed in Middle Earth, watch the extended cuts on Blu-Ray. There's definitely some differences in color timing on the extended Blus but not nearly as bad as some frothing-at-the-mouth reveiwers say; at least, not on my screen.

 

Yes - extended Blu-ray is the way to go, so much more content than the originals. As for the colour (color) issue - it didn't bother me as the changes seemed minor in respect to the long length of the films, and the 'feel' of only some of the scenes.

 

Jackson owns his own post-production facility, Park Road Post in Wellington, New Zealand, so he has total control over the way this stuff looks. The standard-def transfers were mastered at Warner Bros. in Burbank (by my old pal Pat Miller), but I think all the later work was done down under.

It's weird that they would make this choice; one wonders if maybe they had a slightly magenta-ish monitor, which would explain why adding green made it look normal to them. But stuff this green shows up on a scope, which is not subtle. Very strange decision.

 

They're worth getting even with the green tint on FOTR which I watched the other night. I just enjoyed the movie this time instead of worrying about the green tint problem. Definite improvement over the original EE DVDs and the theatrical Blu-rays.

 

The green tint was only for "Fellowship", and I thought its impact was overstated. From my review:

"Speaking of colors, pre-release Internet buzz indicated that parts of the film were retimed and given a heavier green orientation. This was accurate; I compared the Extended Edition Blu-ray to the theatrical version and definitely sensed a stronger green tone in some sequences.

Why did this change occur? Apparently director Peter Jackson approved of the alteration, but I couldn’t say why he did so. The additional green tint didn’t affect the whole movie, though, so it’s not like someone just flipped some switch and had the coloring cover the entire film.

Did the green tint affect my enjoyment of the movie? Nope. Honestly, if I’d not known about the issue in advance, I doubt I’d have noticed it. It’s not like Fellowship suddenly looked like The Matrix; the green tone tended to be pretty light, and the movie already used a stylized palette.

Much of the furor about the colors related to some pre-release screen shots; in particular, one that showed a white screen which now boasted a distinctly pea soup orientation. I think those screen shots overstated the green orientation. When I compared the white screen in question – from the scene where Frodo wakes up in Rivendell – I can see a smidgen of green in the EE Blu-ray, but not a lot. It’s certainly not the pea soup orientation indicated by the screen shot. As they say, your mileage may vary, but I thought the transfer looked great, even with some mild color alterations."

 

I got the EE of the trilogy, and I could care less about the green tint issue that was talked about. The BD quality is superb and makes me enjoy the movie even more. Once you've watched the extended version you will never go back to the theater version.

The DVD boxset I had of the EE I gave that away to my dad since he loves the movies also. Win win for us both!

Get the BD edition, you won't regret it.

 

The green tint didn't bother me either. I didn't really notice anything that different. These films are made for Blu-Ray in my opinion.

 

The only place I noticed the green tint was for about a minute and a half when they were in the blizzard on the mountain. I think the Blu-Rays are worth it for improved picture and sound.

 

If you do buy them make sure you check all the discs. I ordered 3 different sets and kept getting double disc 1 and no disc 2 for Return Of The King. I finally gave up and got a refund. It seems to be a common problem. Also don't just go by the labels because there have been problems with discs being mislabled also.

 

Don't worry about the green tint.
I'm sure it can be easily fixed by tweaking the TV color a little.

 

Ugh. Just watched the side-by-side comparison from that thread. That just SUCKS!

Seriously, that takes my interest in getting the BD's down a notch. I love the clarity on the right hand side of that example. The green tint on the left looks like a distortion to me. I see no advantage to it.

It's especially irksome that the theatrical BD's don't have this tint but the extended editions do. I love the extended editions but I'm not thrilled about the tint.

 

Thanks for that - that's a good solution.

 

I wish I could buy the extended versions without all the extras, as I already have that on DVD. I bought the DVD versions with the book ends, Gollum statute, etc., and really hate to shell out so much $ again, but probably will, as there really aren't that many movies that I like enough to watch multiple times, but these are three of them.

 

They did this same crap to Apocalypse Now!

I refuse to purchase Apocalypse Now on BD for this very reason. I've rented that one more than once, but I refuse to buy it on principle. I'm not going to reward them with a sale for pulling this bull*****.

I think it's just part of the current idiotic fad of teal/magenta color grading.

I see it everywhere. Its really annoying.

 

Like it or not it is the director's choice what tint gets used.

 

In a few years I'm sure there will be a new super-extended edit of the films with even more deleted scenes added back in.

 

Well - I'd guess that after the Hobbit Movies 1 & 2 are released for theatrical play, then we'll get stand alone BDs of the Hobbit (theatrical version), then we'll get extended versions - still stand alone BDs of the Hobbit.

THEN we'll get the all new packaged master director's uncut extended deluxe box set of both the Hobbit and LOTR.

By then and soon after, there will either be a reboot, remake, or some new HD media will come out making all previous discs obsolete!

Sauron does live........

 

and the green machine will be reversed....