Of course they'll be flippers, with the first half of the movie on one side and the second on the other. And you'll have to flip it whichever version you're watching, even the shorter theatrical cuts. How could it be otherwise? There's no possible way to get the entire extended cut of ROTK onto one side of a DVD.

RichC

Are you sure about that? I can burn 6 hours on a single sided dvd-r, why can't New Line do the same thing?

That's not necessarily true. Apocalypse Now Redux is 200 minutes on one disc, the Return of the King Extended Cut is only half an hour more. The only audio option will likely be Dolby Digital EX 5.1, no commentary, no dubbed languages, etc, but it could fit.

Bill Hunt says the video quality of these new transfers will be better than that of the 2-discers, but not as good as the 4-discers. MPEG-2 compression has advanced enough to allow for that. Also, all three films will be available separately AND in a boxed set.

And according to the official press release available at DavisDVD comes word that the 300 minutes of documentary content will be divided as follows:

• The Fellowship of the Ring will get 85 mins
• The Two Towers will get 106 mins
• The Return of the King will get 112 mins

--THX

That will mean that some material could be allocated to the second disc in regards to the actual film(s). No flippers could be happening (way cool), but I still don't see a dts track being included, sadly - still hoping they can nail that. Plus, the video quality is going to be better than the current 2-discers?

Cool.

Listen, guys, these will be flippers. Unless the press release is lying about seamless branching, they HAVE to be flippers.

(http://www.davisdvd.com/bin/press160.html)

Seamless branching means the movie starts at the beginning, and only segments of the film that are different from one another have two copies of the video on the disc. Therefore, the entire content of both the extended and theatrical versions are arranged more or less in order.

Since The extended version of ROTK is 250 minutes, and some of the material in the theatrical cut is different from the extended cut, it's reasonable to assume there will be at least 300 minutes of video. That, my friends, is a DVD-18.

Has anyone ever seen a "seamlessly branched" DVD with commentaries for both versions? I haven't. The press release specifies only DD5.1 EX and says nothing about commentaries, so I think it's safe to assume DTS and all commentaries will be dropped.

The attraction of this edition for fans, aside from the documentaries, will be the (presumed) ability to watch both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film "side by side," so to speak; watch a sequence, then go back and watch it again right away in the other cut. This too would strongly indicate that each version starts on Side One, and end at the same place in the movie before flipping to Side Two, where both versions again pick up at the same place.

Personally, I'd prefer a 3-disc set, laid out the same way but with disc art and no use of the dubious DVD-18 format. But the press release says two discs, with the movie on one and the doc on the other.

I suspect that the Disc Two's are being mastered that way (documentaries only) so that they wouldn't have to be remastered for a later, separate release.

RichC

As I am LOTR obsessed, I will probably buy these if I can find them at a decent price. The cover art is amazing, and it will be nice to have both cuts on the same disc. Though I adore the EEs, some parts were better handled in the theatrical cuts (such as the opening of FOTR, IMO).

My only disappointment with this release is that it will likely delay a HD/Blu-Ray release of the entire trilogy as one long movie. But oh well... more LOTR in any form will make me happy.

I wonder if the Fan Club credits will be on them?

Why, were you one of the lucky ones who's name is on the credits? If so that is so cool!

Yeah, all three. I am such a geek. I am really on the fence about getting these. I am an extras junky.

This is what I have thought. When we already have transfers that are about as glorious as they can be, a documentary-only release would be preferable. Don't appreciate having to spend more than double what that would cost just for the new content.

As rdclark mentioned, a 3-disc set would have made a nicer package. Though I'm not so sure each film will be split in two on a DVD-18. Considering what Bill Hunt noted about MPEG-2 advancements, and with the apparent absence of DTS and commentaries, I won't be surprised if both theatrical and extended cuts are squeezed together on a DVD-9. In any case, that's what I'm hoping for. Disc art makes for a more attractive package.

I'm really not sure about these releases, personally. Only reason to buy them is the new documentaries, and if there was nothing else coming this year, I might seriously consider them. But that's a good chunk of money--likely over $50--for movies I already have.

--THX

Not as good in quality as the four disc sets, not surprised. So that confirms it for me, I'll be passing.

I'll be Netflix'em.. & see if they are worth the $$

I'll rent the Fellowship (my favourite of the three) one ... to get a look at the transfer quality and quality of the documentary material. If they're good ... I'll sell up my original two-disc ones for the whole set. I just want a version of the original theatrical cuts in my collection somewhere, but don't see the point in owning the original two-discers and these new two-discers.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is being revisited once again. On August 29 all three movies will be re-re-released with both the theatrical and extended cuts on the first disc. The second disc of each set will contain NEW behind the scenes documentaries. SRP $28.98, MAP $19.95. Granted the packaging for each is quite eye-pleasing, but I have to wonder WHY?

I would have thought by now anybody interested in the extended cuts would already have these. Is anybody going to shell out the $$ for new documentaries?

I'm not!


I'll rent them though, if the internet reviews are positive.

I'm awaiting disc specs as well. If the transfers are truly better than the initial releases of the theatrical editions and the DD 5.1 isn't too shabby regarding the EE comparison to the dts, then I'll consider them.

I don't know yet, if the new docu delve into the editing process and feature deleted scenes that didn't make the EE's - I'm game, but until I see some reviews I probably won't buy them until I know a little bit more as to the new features of this edition.

No. My next purchase of LOTR will be on an HD format.

heard any rumours if the HD edition will be the theatrical cut or extended editions - I would assume HD-DVD could accomodate the EE, but Blu-ray space issue and codex would make it an inferior edition.

I might...if they are dirt cheap on new release night. I love the covers, and anything LOTR related, so I will probably buy yet another version of it.

Still haven't watched my extended editions yet since I didn't care for the theatrical versions, so there is no way I'm going to buy these again. Not even on HD DVD.

Exactly my response. It should be a poll option.

I only have the original non-extended releases and haven't even watched ROTK yet. Those are good enough for me.

Yep, will definitely revisit this one on HD DVD.