Dan had folks over to watch the new extended edition of LOTR: The Two Towers on DVD Friday night. It was an ambitious undertaking for a Friday evening, after a long work week. We had to take an intermission at the disc change for pizza, and another break later for pie and ice cream just to avoid passing out.
The added footage explains the story with greater clarity and adds details that readers of the books will welcome. It gives the story the heft and pace of a quest or a long journey, more similar in feel to the novels, and it added some moments of levity which were needed in the extended version. At times, all of us would totter, eyelids growing heavy, like Frodo whenever the ring tightened its hold over him, but the movie was good enough to pull us through. Those who napped could feel like they had gotten a few hours of good sleep and awaken to find a few hours of movie still remaining: "Wait, you mean they still haven't started the Battle of Helm's Deep?!"
I'm ready now for The Return of the King. And, in a way, I feel a bit less anguish about not having tickets to the Trilogy airing on Dec. 16th. I've seen the first two so many times now that to sit through both of the extended editions again, back to back, might be so draining that it would detract from the ROTK viewing. Bring on da king.
[Footnote: my complaint to AMC about their Trilogy ticket sale fiasco didn't go on deaf ears, and I was given the opportunity to purchase a few tickets to the opening morning 11am showing of ROTK at Cinerama on Dec. 17 before they went on sale to the public. I decided that the 2:30am showing was just a bit too sadistic. Maybe I'm getting old.]