**The Return of the King Extended Edition**

[Sapphire_Flame]

Ah, Kransha, well said!

Originally Posted by Rochelle

The mouth of Sauron was hysterical in my opinion. That wide, toothy grin was something that's for sure. I wasn't quite sure if it was grinning to be spiteful or if that's the natural position of the mouth! *lol*

I really liked how his mouth moved, actually. It pulled your attention there, which is where it should be. Mouth of Sauron, gettit? I really liked his mannerisms in the film; I believe the way he was to be played was that he was basically a puppet (maybe dead at that point?) being controlled by Sauron. The jerkiness of his movements really helped to give that impression.

Originally Posted by Dûrbelethwen

2. Did Gimli bumb Legolas's bow on purpose during the Corsairs scene? I noticed the camera focused on that fact.

That definitely seemed to be the case! I thought that was really clever; if Legolas doesn't want to hit something, he doesn't. It's a funny excuse for the shot to go awry. I know a few people are a little annoyed by that, but just remember, PJ is the corsair being shot! ^_~

(Just kidding, PJ! You're wonderful, really! *hugs*)

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[ElanorGamgee]

I’m afraid that this extended edition was more of a disappointment than a treat for me. There were a few scenes that I really enjoyed, but I felt like I was waiting around for hours for certain scenes that never came.

Favorite additions:

- The statue of the king at the crossroads that is “re-crowned.” Very beautiful.

- Gandalf’s brief history lesson concerning Númenor, including allusions to the fall of the Númenórians and their culture of death as described in The Silmarillion.

- Saruman’s quote about “brigand’s brats who roll on the floor with the dogs” (sorry, don’t have a book handy to look up the exact quote). Makes me laugh :-P

Problems:

- My major disappointment was with the portrayal and treatment of the Mouth of Sauron. First of all, he didn’t scare me; he was just disgusting. He wasn’t portrayed as a twisted, lost man (which would have be a hundred times more eerie), but as a specialized orc. More importantly, Aragorn’s sudden and relatively unprovoked beheading of the MoS was barbaric. It was an unnecessarily violent and thoughtless action that added nothing to the plot and was certainly not indicative of kingly, noble character. That Jackson could derive such a scene from a source text that emphasizes mercy and fair play on the part of the protagonists puzzles me.

- I was looking forward to the Houses of Healing and a developed relationship between Faramir and Éowyn, but the extra scenes were only tantalizing, not satisfying in the least. The developing love between Faramir and Éowyn was shown so briefly that it may have been better to leave it out altogether. It suggests that Éowyn, knowing that she couldn’t have Aragorn, settled for the next handsome man. Very poor character development.

- This may just be a personal peeve, but what was the point of having Éomer tell Éowyn that battle was man’s domain? To further develop a feminist theme simply not present in the original work? Probably so. Nonetheless, I did not appreciate the point being made at his expense, as if to make a bigot out of one of Tolkien’s greatest heroic figures (not in the sense that his statement is necessarily a bigoted one, but in that it is meant to be interpreted as incorrect and chauvanistic). I am a woman, but that doesn’t mean I need a pep talk at every movie I go to. I love Éowyn as a woman who is fighting for her people and for renown, fighting as a person, not as a cause.

- Why does Gandalf have to order everything “into the abyss?” That phrase seems a bit overused (if not melodramatic). His staff being shattered was simply awful. It draws ties to Saruman that are less than flattering. And I can’t imagine Tolkien’s Gandalf ever being knocked over like an old man, no matter how fearsome the foe, and certainly not because some flying reptile screamed at him.

- I understand why Jackson left out the Shire at the end, and I almost liked his version of Sharkey’s End. Right up until he fell off Orthanc and landed on that spike. That was just gruesome. Rather poor taste if you ask me.

- What was up with the avalanche of skulls in the paths of the dead? Major overkill. Does Jackson realize how many people those skulls would add up to?

- And finally (probably to your relief )…enough with the Gimli slapstick! Sheesh.


In conclusion, it seems to me that Mr. Jackson still hasn’t gotten past his horror, B-rated genre days. LotR probably helped him get out of the rut, but he’s still too wrapped up in gross-out and shock-and-awe scenes for their own sake to truly, in my opinion, do justice to a work like LotR. A little subtlety can go a long way. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve enjoyed these movies, but in the end I find my admiration waning under disappointments that just kept piling up.

[Iaurhirwen]

After watching it last night I have found that I give the movie a 9.5 out of 10.

The scene with Saruman and Grima at the Orthanc I really enjoyed. You can really tell that Saruman is one of us with the awsome performance that he puts out. To me, he just embodies what I envisioned in my own mind of what Saruman would be like. As to the question posed as to why Legolas shot Grima who was in the process of "offing" Saruman, it is because he was killing Saruman and they wanted him alive so that they could get more information out of him. Even though the scene in the Shire was not there, Saruman's death was a nice replacement for that.

But what I feel aided the movie most of all where the little scenes that were extended/added to the theatrical version. The additional interaction with Faramir and Denethor where some of the saddest moments in the movie, even though I didn't like the development of Denethor's character. They still made the movie so much more special to me. The additional scenes with Pippin and Faramir and Gandalf were really touching. And Merry offering his sword to Theoden is one of may favorite scenes.

Me, being the crazy person that I am, watched the entire movie, including the credits and the insanely long list of members of the fanclub. Towards the end of the credits there is a statement thanking all the people that made the movie possible, or something along those lines. And then there follows some lines written in another language. I'm not sure if it is Elvish or not. If it is, its not any that I can recognize. The quote goes as follows:

Me Mahara Tonu Tatou Nga Uri-Apakura No Tuanuku Nei,
No te Waoto, te tu kekehua ana o nga Eldarin kua Hohou mai i te Uri-Moaka

Of course, we can all recognize the word Eldarin, but I am curious as to the actual meaning of the phrase. To me, it reminds me more of Japanese than of Elvish, but what do I know. I believe that I got the quote correct, I could never pause the DVD in the right place so the image was always a little blurry. Any ideas as to the meaning????

[Elianna]

Originally Posted by Iaurhirwen

The quote goes as follows:Me mahara tonu taatou nga Uri-aapakura noo tuaanuku nei, noo te waaotuu te tu kekehua ana o ngaa Eldarin kua hohouu mai i te Uru-moana.
… Any ideas as to the meaning?

I tried to figureitout on my own, had no success, and looked elsewhere. So, lookie what I found at theonering.net:

Ataahua writes: Here is a copy of the Maori text in the end-credits of ROTK, with a translation provided by someone who is fluent in the Maori language. He said it was difficult to translate as the passage included metaphors which had to be interpreted, but once he knew it had to do with Tolkien’s Middle-earth the translation came easily:
Me mahara tonu taatou nga Uri-aapakura noo tuaanuku nei, noo te waaotuu te tu kekehua ana o ngaa Eldarin kua hohouu mai i te Uru-moana.

“Let us dedicate our memories to the spirits of the Eldar who came to us from the Ocean that lies to the West.”

My thoughts on all the Extended-ness will come later.