The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Extended Edition

The trilogy end cap does not feature a new transfer, but it may be the best looking overall disc in the trilogy, even if the sheer detail levels aren't as amazing as 'Fellowship' and its new appearance. What's on display here is the most film-like appearance of the trilogy, even if it has a few minor troubles.

Close ups are absolutely superb, and picture depth is no slouch this time around, with amazing clarity on tap readily and constantly. Little pores on fingers from midrange? You got it. Wear and tear? Nonstop. Edges are absolutely splendid the third time around, even if some other tampering exists. The clarity of the picture is so good that special effects start to look poor, with the flooded Isengard being the most obvious special effect failure of the series, with water that looks, well, nothing like water. Artifacting and banding are nowhere to be found in this nearly five hour cut, and skin tones are constantly pitch perfect. The varying color schemes, from the greens of nature to the grays and whites of cityscapes, as well as the browns and blacks near Mordor, all come through brilliantly, vividly, and make the aesthetic changes obvious and wonderful to stare at. Best of all, this time around, the mists that are green were actually supposed to be green. How awesome is that?!

'The Return of the King' isn't perfect, as there are some very minor traces of DNR from time to time still, while noise pops up on more than a few occasions (interestingly enough, most prominently behind Gimli in each of its appearances!). But taking into account the optimization of the disc, with commentary tracks replacing dubs and subtitle tracks, and the video portion of these two particular discs benefit greatly from the wide open space to breathe. If all three films in this set looked like this, you wouldn't hear any complaints from any reviewer.

The original Blu-ray release of 'The Lord of the Rings' had a minimal amount of extras available (or none at all if you bought the Wal-Mart exclusive versions), mirroring the already heavily aged original DVD releases by stealing their supplement discs and repackaging them. This Extended Edition set does the same thing, in essence, by taking two discs from each DVD version of the first releases of the book packed Extended cuts, as well as the documentary found on each of the second release versions of the Extended Editions (which also came with the Theatrical Cuts, the only editions so far to do so), packing three discs per film with the two discs for each film (which contain four commentaries each!), to create a monolithic supplement package that definitely rules them all.

Discs 1 and 2: Commentaries

• Four tracks, again with writing/directing (Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens), designing (Grant Major, Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor, Alan Lee, John Howe, Dan Hennah, Chris Hennah, and Tania Rodger), production and post (Barrie M. Osborne, Mark Ordesky, Jamie Selkirk, Annie Collins, Rick Porras, Howard Shore, Jim Rygiel, Ethan Van der Ryn, Mike Hopkins, Christian Rivers, Alex Funke, Joe Letteri, Randy Cook, and Brian Van't Hul), and cast (Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Lawrence Makoare, Smeagol and Gollum). The Jackson commentary flows perfectly, with the director dominating the track, with his compatriots giving him slight breaks, egging him on to make other comments. It's informative, especially in providing context to the other films, the books, or the actual experience in filming. The design team commentary isn't as interesting, as it feels very "matter of fact," focusing on the minutia rather than the big picture, harping on minor details that are somewhat insignificant. This track gives more of a technical look at the film, from costumes to effects work, with some short, random anecdotes, but nothing significant in terms of story or plotting. The design commentaries may not be the best listens unless you work in craft or have a severe obsession with creation. Production fares a bit better, with cuts discussed and explained, compositing moments revealed, themes analyzed, and tricks of the trade, goofs included, hinted at. The coverage is solid on this third track, the flow is easy, and the comments are worth listening to, not jarring random thoughts like the design track. The fourth and final track for 'Return' is the cast, and it includes Andy Serkis along with his two alter egos in the film. Sadly, there isn't too much from the fictional characters, mostly just the cast discussing what's on screen, with some random anecdotes, a few attempted gags, and a fast pace. This could have been more. If anything, this could have been all Andy Serkis. It probably should have been!
  

Discs 3: The Appendices, Part 5 (SD)

• "The War of the Ring" (SD) -- Tolkien's desired name for the third book -- is the first Appendix for 'Return of the King,' with the standard intro, and six categories: J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-Earth (29 min), From Book to Script (30 min), Designing and Building Middle-Earth (119 min), Home of the Horse Lords (30 min), Middle-Earth Atlas, and New Zealand as Middle-Earth (16 min). Yep, same categories, again, for the most part. As always, the Tolkien feature is a must watch, focusing on the linguistics, the structure and creation of the novels. The scripting has two features, with storyboards of Aragorn facing off against Sauron and a different ending for the one ring, as well as the feature discussing the changes, rearranging portions of the books, some of which for the better, some for the worse. The designing features are plentiful, with three featurettes and two galleries. We start with the creation of the sets and settings, moving on to miniature work, separated into sections about each setting that utilized non-CG elements. Weta is up next, and the third time around doesn't feel all that much different than the first two times we focussed on the craftsmen who design the fantasy elements of the flicks, before ending up at costume designing and design galleries. I said it before, I'll say it again: the costuming is a definite must watch, to truly understand how big an undertaking this big. The Horse Lords feature is a great look at the animal use in the films, an often understated, underappreciated challenge in the series. The Atlas feature is the same as before, with the four paths you can follow to trace the Fellowship's journeys. Wrapping up this disc is the New Zealand feature, where real life locations are shown as their Middle-Earth doubles.
  

Disc 4: The Appendices, Part 6 (SD)

• "The Passing of an Age" is an apt title for the final Appendix disc, as I feel as though I've been viewing these features for weeks instead of days! Aside from the final intro, we have five more categories: Filming 'Return of the King' (73 min), Visual Effects (43 min), Post-Production: Journey's End (85 min), The Passing of an Age (25 min), and Cameron Duncan: The Inspiration for Into the West (15 min). The filming portion has a camera feature as well as a photo gallery, where we see the difficulties, the twists and turns in production, the varying choices and unexpected good and bad fortunes. With VFX, there's another Weta feature (digital), as well as a demonstration. Really, halfway into the Weta feature, I had enough, as this is the sixth Weta feature, and it all started to blend into being the same damn thing over and over, but the demonstration of course is great, with an optional commentary track where six screens are combined into one final scene. In post, we get four extras, with the editing taking the first turn, where Jackson's longtime editor comes back for the final 'LOTR' flick, while the music focus, Shore's third bow in the extras, yet again shows us the recordings, the planning of material and themes. The soundscape once again shows us how many sounds were recorded in the silliest of practical manners. The final portion of post shows how much was happening at once, which must have been a real difficult few months for Jackson and company. The Passing of an Age covers the final premiere for the film, in New Zealand, a splendid event indeed. The Cameron Duncan features are really not related to 'The Lord of the Rings' all that much, just a couple bits of footage that are too big to be trailers, and are too boring to be watchable.
  

Disc 5: Costa Botes documentary (SD, 112mins)

• Witness why Jackson was a tad overweight as he loads plates full of bacon! Meet the caterers, the assistant directors, the makeup people, the various crew members who make the film work, as you're delved deep into the creation of the film, with each and every element given a peek, putting you on the set, in a way. It's so fun seeing cars on the set where everyone is in costume alongside their horses, it's neat watching the monitors while Jackson shouts instructions, and it's even more fun watching the orcs dance on their barges, goofing off between takes in their full regalia. With Jackson getting a cameo in this third film, we see him in the chair briefly, before quickly cutting away to the construction of a city, of sorts. Move forward with Frodo in the cave, tangled in spider webs being assaulted by prosthetic spider legs, and then onto the various orc encounters in Mordor. When it's all said and done, we see Jackson address his crew one more time. No expense is spared, no miniscule portion of production ignored; the Costa Botes documentaries are a fan's dream come true, putting you on the set, to witness the randomness, the light spirits and the tricks behind the magic. Also, you get to see Gollum on the can, briefly. I'm sure that wouldn't fit into the time period of the film.