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....
Pre-order the Extended DVD to be released 11/12/02 Rated PG-13, thirty additional minutes...
Seemingly, the way it works is thay violence in a fantasy context is not as bad as say somebody getting their head chopped off in a war movie, or in a violent thriller.
Also, LOTR had no sex/nudity/strong language. So while the violence would have been R in any other movie, because it was fantasy and had no sex/nudity/language at all, it managed to get the PG cert.
BTW, are you going to buy a copy of the real DVD?
I sure am!
And the Extended Version too.
I just wondered. Me too.
I also wonder about their strategy since they seem to be pricing it lower than I would. My guess for that is anti-piracy crap on the DVD which may be a big pain-in-the-ass for a lot of people.
I don't know, weren't you 'turned on' by the Aragorn/Arwen sequence?!?
(Just a joke!)
Doesn't take you long to get rigid and set in your ways!... hehehe
I am looking forward enough to the regular August cut, but I can't imagine how fun it will be watching the Directors cut for the first time waiting for the first little new thing! I think we all would notice even the most miniscule 2 second addition to any scene by now don't you?
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