Ring Ping!!
Order The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Widescreen)
Posted on 06/13/2002 10:21:10 AM PDT by maquiladora
Hey, little story to tell you...
Tuesday night, about 8pm, I got a phonecall from an old friend of mine and fellow Tolkien fan.
"Do you want to come over and see the Lord of the Rings DVD?", he says to me.
"Yes!...hang on, but it's not out till August?"
A slight pause. "I know, but I have it anyway."
I wasn't convinced. I asked him if he was sure it wasn't just one of those camcorder bootleg copies that I've seen already.
He assurded me it was a real DVD. I believed him, and set off to his place to check this out.
At about 10pm I arrived. He showed me the case. It looked suspect...very suspect. "Where did you get this?", I asked.
He told me his sister bought it 'somewhere', and that it was a gift for her husband who is a big LOTR fan. We were getting a sneak peak before he got it. :-)
Well, at this stage, judging by the weird sleeve cover of the package, I was expecting nothing more than a flickery, dull, bootleg from a local cinema.
My friend chucked it in the DVD and hit play.
My fears seem to have been realised...where was the menu? The options? The extra features?The second disc?
"Theres a second disc?", my friend said and then shrugged.
Just as I was about to comment on a wasted journey over to see a bootleg, I noticed what was appearing on the screen:
Property of New Line Cinema. This is a Screener, and is NOT for RESALE or RENTING. It is ILLEGAL to sell or rent this DVD...blah blah blah...if you have done so call blah blah blah at once...etc
That got my attention. Before I could say anything the animated New Line logo burst unto the screen amid musical cresendo and I realised that this was not the same way that it opened in the cinema (I have seen the movie multiple times, so I knew what I saw was different). So then the movie began proper, and yes, there was no doubt, none whatsoever, that this was an advanced copy of the actual DVD. The picture quality was incredible, so crisp and clear. The sound was even better, fantastic clarity. This was the widescreen version, as was pretty clear by the letterbox format. My only gripe was that I had to watch it on a 14 inch screen.
I was delighted. We paused the movie, I thanked my friend a thousand times, and we prepared for a great night in watching the Fellowship of the Ring DVD!
Coffee, Danish pastry and a huge tin of chocolates were layed out. We turned off the lights, got comfortable and man, it was just like being back at the movies again.
So what can I tell you? This was the standard edition, there was no new footage, and because it was some sort of 'screener' copy, it just had the movie, there were no other extra features that will be present on the retail version.
As I said, the clarity of the picture was astonishing, and I began to notice things that I could never really have seen at the movies or on an ultra-grainy bootleg.
The detail of Barad-Dur struck me, as did Isengard. The ability to focus your attention on smaller details in the frame on a small screen is a huge advantage.
The FX seemed even more impressive now, even more howdidtheydothat?-ish. We replayed a couple of scenes over and over, and it still blew us away.
Let me tell you, the battle in Moria with the orcs is fantastic on the DVD. On the big screen you feel sort of overwhelmed with the fast moving action and pacey camera-work, so overwhelmed that you only get the jist of whats happening, but the exact movement is a bit blurred.
None of that with the DVD, the fight scenes now can be seen in all their glory. Astonishing. We watched the fight with the cave troll about five times. Incredible.
The music and sound, top class. A lot of the dialogue might have sounded echoy or muffled at the movies, but not here. Crystal sharp clarity, and the atmospheric sound fx are equally impressive.
Ok, so it does lose a sence of epicness on the small screen, but thats to be expected. Nevertheless, it loses none of the original style and charm that you will have experienced at the movies.
In a word, it's perfect. The ability to replay your favorite parts over and over is priceless. The quality was beyond anything I expected. You really can appreciate the work that the film-makers did with this movie. It's astounding, and I still can't believe it failed to pick up the big gong at the Oscars.
You're going to love this folks, you really are.
I asked if I could take the DVD home for a day or two but he wouldn't let it part. His sister had to wrap it the next day anyway to give to her husband (lucky guy).
So I left, in the early hours of the morning, and went home delighted that I had the privilege of seeing this amazing DVD version long before most people. :-)
I had a great night on Tuesday, I hope to have many more great nights after August 6th.
And I'm sure you will too!
I doubt if you have any questions, but in case you do, I'd be glad to answer them!
Oh, and don't ask me where his sister got it, CAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA!
Hehehe....
Sounds like a really cool story already! I love it... Haven't finished reading your review yet! but wanted to thank you for the ping!
Really, the year is zooming on toward August!... and New Line is already pre-selling the extended version for November! - Can we wait? NO! - will we wait? You bet!
Ecurbh... you around to ping the ringers?
For some reason, the noise of Pippin knocking the chain/bucket/skeleton down the well in Moria sounded much louder than I remember it at the movies.
I heard the voice of the ring a lot better too.
I do know what you mean about picking up new things on the small screen... In the theater, sitting too close as I always do, I was always forced to focus on just one face, just one part of the screen... On the small screen you actually can see the "big picture".
Is there going to be one?
I hope you aren't disapointed if your rumor turns out to be false, they lopped the guy's head off already... What more do you want? :~D
Gee, who might that be??? ;)
Actually, the opening fanfare for the studio is new to me, but starting from the beginning of what was seen in the theater (the NewLine logo appearing with just a whisper and echo of sound) this sounds very, very familiar. I noticed the quality of the sound too, it's quite wonderful, even on my little computer speakers. It literally rumbles and vibrates my apartment at times....
Hmmmmm, come to think of it, I haven't actually sat down and watched it for a while, methinks another viewing is in order...
Yes and only 187 days, 10 hours, 13 minutes and 45 seconds till TTT!!
I am glad... I don't need any more violence... I want more happy parts! Is that just 'cuz I am a wimpy girl?
I'm certain it was different than the spooky, misty whispery logo that I saw at the movies. Yep.
And oh yeah, I forgot to mention, every 30 minutes or so some text scroll would scroll along the bottom of the screen saying "Property of New Line Cinema. Not for rent/resale"...
Or something to that effect. Hehe, I was too busy watchin the movie to pay much more attention.
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