Posted on 12/17/2003 10:06:13 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
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Are you saying that it won't be included in the extended version, or that a disservice is being done even if it is included in the extended version?
1. It wasn't a "disservice.' If itwas it was a necessary one.
More than half of the many reviews I have read have niggled at the "multiple endings" or "drawn-out endings." Can you imagine what the reaction would have been had the "Scouring" been included and dragged out the movie for another 20-30 minutes AFTER the climax of the film?
It would have been brutal. And probably rightly so.
The "Scouring" is a wonderful chapter - one of my favorites - and one that works well in the book. But it is simply not practical to include it onscreen. It's too anti-climatic.
Jackson made clear from the very beginning that the Scouring was not even in the script. Remember that the original script was for a two movie project for Miramax. The scripts had to be very tight to get all that in TWO movies, so there was no Scouring then either; when New Line greenlighted three movies, there still wasn't room to include it. The fact that Jackson didn't care much for it was almost beside the point.
So no: it was never filmed. You won't see it in any edition.
What *was* filmed? Latauro over at AICN has some hints...and I think the first rumor about the Extended Edition being cancelled is bogus, by the way. The Two Towers shipped almost one million copies of the EE DVD in the US alone on the first DAY.
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OUTTAKES FILMED (Likely a partial list)
- Word is that New Line are balking at the price for another Extended Edition, and may be farming out the FX to El Cheapo American FX House Inc rather than the high-quality excesses of WETA... our scooper (Toss the Dwarf) pointed out that this is strictly rumour-mill stuff, but remember who told you first.
- This one isn’t going to come as a surprise, but for the record: we’ll be seeing Gandalf and his Power Rangers confronting Saruman after the Helm’s Deep battle, followed by the multi-coloured one falling to his death.
- Merry will pledge his allegiance to Theoden in a scene similar to the Pippin/Denethor bit. Toss points out that shots from this scene have appeared in an early ROTK teaser, as well as a *very* early LOTR teaser from way back in the beginning.
- Following his acceptance of Anduril from Elrond, Aragorn uses the Palantir to reveal himself to Sauron. Sauron shows him a vision of Arwen’s sickness. This stuff was used instead during the dream sequence just before Elrond arrives at Dunharrow in the theatrical cut.
- From the horse’s mouth: ‘Remember the scene in which the Witch King is asked what he’s going to do with Gandalf, and he says I will break him? This pays off big time in a battle between the Witch King and Gandalf as Gandalf and Pippin ride to save Faramir from the pyre. At the end of the battle, the Witch King breaks Gandalf’s staff and then the Rohirrim turn up and the Witch King gets distracted. The beginning of this confrontation is one of the $$$ shots in the ROTK trailer: the Witch King’s fell beast landing on the ramparts in front of Gandalf and Pippin on Shadowfax.’
- ‘We see Gamling die on the Pelennor Fields theres a quick shot of Eomer bawling in the ROTK trailer.’
- ‘In the Houses of Healing, Aragorn heals Faramir, who then meets Eowyn and they fall in love. Aww.’
- ‘A disguised Frodo and Sam join a column of marching orcs on the way to Mt Doom. Their master is a ferocious orc captain with a whip. Remember the line heard over the sweeping shot of the orcs marching down through Mordor right after the Cirith Ungol sequence? That’s him, yelling Come on you slugs!.’
- ‘The Mouth of Sauron scene changes the emphasis of the entire final battle between men and orcs at the Black Gates. In the theatrical cut, Aragorn and Co. ride up to the gates, they open, and orcs come out to fight. In the extended version, they are greeted by the Mouth of Sauron (played by the Matrix’s Train Man, Bruce Spence), who has pointy teeth and a pointy helmet that covers his eyes (he doesn't need them, see? He's just a mouth). He rides out to show the heroes Frodos mithril vest, recently stolen by the orcs at Cirith Ungol, and to let them know that Frodo is dead and the ring is on its way to Sauron. Aragorn believes him, and the heroes despair. Going into battle at the Black Gates, the heroes have no hope at all it’s their last stand for sure, and Aragorn’s line for Frodo refers to his sacrifice, not to buying time.’
Either way it is certainly a continuity problem.
I thought the horses bolting at the Dimholt was a mistake. They stay with them in the books because they need haste to intercept the Corsairs before it is too late. Otherwise they would have to march half the length of Gondor ON FOOT.
Still: minor niggle. Maybe we will learn more in the EE.
Oh OK, so it was an inside joke type thing. If you had seen the first one, you were 'in the know'. I like Vin Diesel; enjoyed A Man Apart quite a lot, but didn't see Pitch Black. I'll have to put it on my Netflix queue. I just love action movies; have always been a Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis, Ahhnold fan.
ROTFL!!
That was Merry, and he said that because after drinking the ent-draught, he was again taller than Pippin.
Yeah, I wondered about that shot! It wasn't in the theatrical release, though it was in the trailer. Also the one where Sam and Frodo are sitting on the side of the road in orc gear; that's not in the theatrical release either!
LOL! You're right!! When the trailer began, and I heard the voice, I knew it was Judi Dench, then it was like cultural whiplash when I realized it was a Vin Diesel movie. I just LOVE Dame Judi!!
Works for me! I'll be buying it!
I deeply sympathize. The same happened to me. I was very hard pressed--I had a talking troll and his chattering orc-ling directly behind me. They sighed and complained all through the ending scenes, too.
But, you can see it again. And these characters will return to WWW, as is their proper venue. I don't understand why they bought tickets in the first place.
There is a personality disorder that seems to require the petty little vanities to draw attention to themselves--sort of a performance art? A dare to those audience members to interfere with their self-indulgence? I don't know why. I'd rather have a crying baby, a cougher, a paper-rattler, anything but a chatterer behind me.
I'll second that!
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