Ahoy, squirts. Quint here with my look at the nifty little TWO TOWERS DVD that is hitting shelves next Tuesday. Now I know that in a few months time, this edition will take a permanent rest on your DVD shelf when the TWO TOWERS EXTENDED EDITION comes out, but if you're at all like me then even though you know this is going to happen, you'll still be at Wal-Mart around 1am Monday night/Tuesday morning picking up your copy at their awesome sales prices.
And there is reason to grab a copy of this first TWO TOWERS DVD package. One thing that I like about the various special editions that have been coming out for LOTR is that the special features aren't repeated. On this 2-disc DVD you get the feature (which is worth the $15 by itself) and a second disc of extras like Sean Astin's short film, THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT, a behind the scenes of the making of that short, two documentaries that appeared on TV regarding THE TWO TOWERS, bunches of TV spots, trailers, previews of the ROTK video game (being put out once again by EA Games), the TWO TOWERS:EE DVD and a 10 plus minute preview of RETURN OF THE KING.
That last one is the one that'll get most of you out there Tuesday morning to get your copies, I'm sure... and let me tell you it's worth the purchase of the DVD... If that's your only reason for dropping your $15, then it's money well spent.
Below you'll find a detailed look at the extra features of the DVD with some of my personal insight from the time I spent onset. Particularly, there'll be a focus on the RETURN OF THE KING preview and the sneak peak at THE TWO TOWERS EXTENDED EDITION DVD... Let's get started, shall we?
-On The Set: "THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS" - Starz Encore Special:
Fun. That's all there is to say about it, really. See it once and that's all you need.
-Return To Middle-Earth: WB Special:
This is my favorite of the two documentaries included with this DVD. Lots of flash, nice budget, great behind the scenes stuff. It's also a kick for me personally as I recognize locations, sets, hallways, crew members, etc. If you remember Super 2nd AD Skot from my first two ROTK set reports, you can see him in this doc... he's the AD leading Sean Astin out of the water when he steps on that piece of glass from the end of FELLOWSHIP. And it's all narrated by TV's Lex Luthor, so... there you go.
-"THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT" A Short Film Directed By Sean Astin:
I've loved this film from the first time I downloaded it off of Sundance's website. It's not flashy or atmospheric. Instead, it's sweet and gives you happy feelings inside. It just makes me smile, I guess. Now when I watch it, I just get homesick for Wellington. That gray weather, those beautiful green hills with houses spattered all over them. Tip Top ice cream (I've been longing for Magnums since I left... Those in NZ and probably UK will know what I'm talking about... all the rest of you are probably thinking I've got a hankering for huge condoms... which I'm not denying... but it's up to you to decide which I meant. Ice cream? Or Condoms? hmmm)
-The Making Of "THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT":
Ah, the making of. I first saw this at the Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis's wrap party. They played it on a big, white screen in "A Stage" with all the crew and a few of the cast hanging around. They were very right to play this at Andy's wrap party as he steals the show in this behind the scenes doc. We see an amazing insight to him as a person, how he rises to power on this shoot only to have the power make him realize he liked himself better when he was at the bottom of the ladder. It's heartbreaking, really.
At the wrap party I found he had come to terms with himself, was comfortable with himself to the point where he was starting venturing into other creative avenues. I don't really follow hip-hop that closely... I wouldn't call myself any expert on the art of rapping, but I think this kid could go places.
-lordoftherings.net Featurettes:
These are entertaining, with great little interviews with the cast. They were originally released on the LOTR official website, so I'm sure most of you have seen them already. It's good to have them documented forever on DVD, though. My personal favorite is the first one. It's focused on the bad guys, so we get lots of Christopher Lee interviews. Cool.
-Theatrical Trailers:
Nothing much to point out... The teaser and regular trailers are included.
-TV Spots:
A whopping 16 TV spots are included in this section. As is the problem with watching a lot of TV spots in a row, they start getting repetitive. My favorites are DARKNESS, RETURN, COUNTDOWN, ONE WORD REVIEW AND GOLLUM.
-Emiliana Torrini "Gollum's Song" Music Video:
I've always loved this song, love it 10 times more than MAY IT BE, which I hold to be a great song. Gollum's Song gave me chills when I first heard it and it still sends goosebumps up my arms when I hear it today. It's a crime the song wasn't nominated and a flat out disaster that Howard Shore got gypped out of his nomination. Oh well... We have this music video that's not all that impressive. It's Emiliana Torrini singing inter-cut with various Gollum scenes from the film. Still fun to watch, though, just not life-changingly cool.
-Special Extended DVD Edition Preview:
Now it starts. THE TWO TOWERS: EXTENDED EDITION preview... It begins with Christopher Lee looking over one of his books. "So, Gandalf Greyhame thinks he's found Isildur's heir. The lost king of Gondor..." then goes right to Gandalf and Aragorn standing (I believe) on the edge of Fangorn at night. Gandalf: "Sauron fears you, Aragorn. Fears what you may become. So he will strike hard and fast at the world of men..." These clips were in early trailers and THE TWO TOWERS video game, but now you get a peak at them in full.
We see many dead Rohan soldiers... This is the finding of King Theoden's son. We see bits of Sam and Frodo using Sam's elvish rope to scale down a cliff... Frodo slips (but why? Could it be he's trying to catch something? Why, how would I know that? It's just a guess...) and Sam yells, "Mr. Frodo!!!"
Now this is my favorite piece of the Extended Edition footage... This was one of my favorite little details in the book. The next piece of footage we see is Merry and Pippin on Treebeard at the outskirts of Isengard. They hear something and turn to see a few thousand trees (not Ents, regular trees) in a mass exodus. One of the hobbits asks, "Where are they going?" Treebeard responds with, "They have business with the orcs." Those of you out there that have read the books know the impact the trees have in the overall story.
Then there's clips of scenes mostly involving Faramir... The flashback to him and Boromir in Osgiliath, the finding of Boromir's horn cloven in two, etc. Then begins the interview stuff. It's Peter Jackson and (producer) Barrie Osborne essentially explaining why they made an Extended Edition in the first place. Now, I don't mean this in any negative sort of way, but is it just me or does Barrie Osborne look like a Koala bear? He's got that squishy nose, high cheeks and eyes placed very centered on his face... Once again, I don't mean this in any sort of negative way. He's a handsome guy and a great producer... All you have to see to know that is the difference in quality of MATRIX and MATRIX RELOADED. I just can't help but think about Koalas when I see Barrie. Might just be me...
Next up is Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan talking about the Ent Draft sequence, then some footage of it. Merry: "You're taller!" Pippin: "I've always been taller than you!" Merry: "You did somethin'!" Then Billy does his classic little guilty smile/smirk.
Then you have Elijah Wood and Sean Bean talking about the addition of the flashback sequence between Boromir and Faramir... some footage of them mingling with the soldiers of Osgiliath, then the biggie. The introduction of Denethor. Boromir says, "He loves you, father!" Denethor shoots back, "Do not trouble me with Faramir. I know his uses and they are few." John Noble looks absolutely amazing and has the note perfect amount of venom and hate behind his eyes. Mark my words, this'll be the character from ROTK that stays with you.
Next up is a bit with Howard Shore, who I got to meet on my first expedition down to New Zealand back in April. He filmed his cameo for ROTK as a rider of Rohan and was putting the finishing touches on the TWO TOWERS: EE score.
Ah... the special effects part of the preview. This minute or so has the Oscar winning effects mastermind Jim Rygiel talking about the addition of effects scenes into the EE. During the pickups, Rygiel was always walking about, cringing every time a bit of blue or green screen worked its way into a shot... At the time I was there, he had a bundle to do. TWO TOWERS: EE shots, RETURN OF THE KING shots, Gollum's MTV acceptance speech, etc. Jim Rygiel and Dean Wright were the pair, always running around, trying to figure out the approach to completing these new shots in time for December. Great bunch of guys, though. Always took time aside to come and chat with Kraken, Mrs. Kraken and myself.
Anyway, Jim says that there are around 200 new effects shots going into TTT:EE. There's some footage of Faramir in Osgiliath holding Gollum against a wall by the neck, then throwing him to the ground. There are some shots of Treebeard. Nothing specific. I believe they are shots of Treebeard putting Merry and Pippin to sleep with his llllllooooooooonnnnnnnngggggggg stories. But I really can't tell because it's not like I've seen the EE or anything....
The last bit of interview stuff has to do with the Appendices section of TTT:EE. PJ says the docs are very much like the second chapter of a trilogy. Elijah comes on to say that the appendices are very much linked to the appendices from FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: EE... That it's all one long story. Then there's some documentary footage and behind the scenes type stuff...
The 5 minute TTT:EE preview ends with a collage of footage, which I'll leave a surprise. There is one quote from that footage that aptly describes us LOTR fanatics, though, so I'll quote it here... I'm sure you can guess who says it... "Once it takes hold of us, it never lets go..."
-Behind The Scenes Preview of "THE RETURN OF THE KING":
OK. Now for the big one. This preview of RETURN OF THE KING is over 10 minutes long, but of that 10 minutes, I'd say that maybe 2 minutes of it is footage. The rest is interviews and behind the scenes type stuff. Still exciting, but be prepared for that.
-BEGINNING/SHELOB'S LAIR-
The preview begins gliding through a hallway to the editing room where Pete and Jamie Selkirk are editing ROTK. The scene on the monitor is Frodo running through Shelob's tunnel, Sting in one hand and Galadriel's light in the other. PJ does his intro to the footage, saying it's basically a snapshot at where they are currently in the post production of the film. As he's talking, we get little snippets of from Shelob's Lair with Frodo looking about madly. There's a close up shot of the head of an upside-down shriveled orc covered in webbing.
Now, I walked on this set, investigated the piles of bones and stared in awe at this Orc hanging by thick webbing from the ceiling of the lair. It is really damn creepy and the shriveled Orcsie is something to behold. Really, really nifty.
The next bit of footage is Frodo on the ground, holding the light up. The camera is behind him and he slowly turns his head around to see... something he doesn't like, evidently, for he scrambles to his feet. There's quite a bit of little scenes now... most of it is small fighting stuff with the Orcs in Osgiliath. They fire a volley of arrows. We then see a completely different scene of Eomer in full armor charging the camera on horseback.
-GANDALF AND ARAGORN IN MINIS TIRITH-
Next is Gandalf in Edoras speaking with Aragorn and a few others. "Understand, things are now in motion that cannot be undone..." Clips of Minis Tirith streets, Aragorn in the Minis Tirith Throne Room, with its shiny black rock and polished white marble...
This was an absolutely gorgeous set. I first saw this set on Ian McKellen's first day of pickups. He had a scene with Aragorn and Gimli (kicked back and smoking a pipe in Denethor's black chair) where they're discussing how to give Frodo a chance... He suggests they march on the Black Gate. They know it's death, but it's a distraction he's sure Frodo needs. "Ten thousand Orcs lie between Frodo and the Mountain of Doom!"
What got me about this set most of all was the (seemingly) stone statues of past kings. You can see them in the brief glimpses of ROTK footage on the Two Towers DVD. These guys were intricately detailed and looked heavy as a house... But then the scene would turn around and instead of having a complete set rebuilt for the pickups, they just had one wall... So, when they needed the reverse angle for the scene filming, they'd just trade out the statues along the wall for the ones that would be along the other wall. It was so very odd to see one of the crew members just grab these huge sculptures and walk around with them. They must have been made out of Styrofoam or something similar... What a great trick, though.
Anyway, back to the ROTK footage... Gandalf continues, "If the ring is destroyed Sauron will fall, but if Sauron regains the ring his victory will be so complete that none can see the end of it while this world lasts." Lots of little clips... Close ups of Arwen, Aragorn and Co. running through the Paths of the Dead and finally a medium shot of Aragorn saying "He has gone unchallenged long enough." Then the title: LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING.
-PATHS OF THE DEAD-
Thus begins the interviews segment. Much like the Extended Edition preview, the interviews are inter-cut with bits of footage and behind the scenes. At the beginning we have Pete, Viggo Mortensen and the lovely Philippa Boyens (who, by the way, is a talented dancer)... as they're talking we see behind the scenes footage of Aragorn in the Paths of the Dead, Anduril in one hand and a flaming torch in the other.
Wait until you guys see the reforged Narsil... It's not very featured in this preview, but close up it's frickin' gorgeous. Absolutely the sword of a king.
Pete begins to talk about the haunted mountain Aragorn must enter in the film and we get a few seconds of footage of Legolas and Aragorn gazing into the black square entrance, which is bordered by jagged stones with skulls embedded in them. They understandably don't seem too keen on entering, but Aragorn leads the way.
-DENETHOR-
Next up is some discussions about Minis Tirith and the Steward's role in the monarchy. Of course that means the introduction of Denethor. Once again his vicious words are delivered perfectly by John Noble. "Word has reached my ears of this Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and I tell you now that I will not bow to this ranger from the north!"
-PIPPIN AND MINIS TIRITH-
We next see quite literally tens of thousands of Orcs emptying out of Mordor at dusk. PJ comes back to tell us that Sauron has come to believe that Pippin is the ringbearer, which puts the little hobbit in mortal danger. Next bit of footage is Merry and Pippin. Merry says, "Don't you understand? The enemy thinks you have the ring! He's coming for you!"
We come to find out that Gandalf takes Pippin to Minis Tirith, where he believe the hobbit to be the most safe. There's a lot talk about building Minis Tirith, both the set (which was constructed in the same location as Helm's Deep, and the Bigature. Now, I've seen this thing with my own eyes. It is an amazing piece of art. It was something special to tour the Bigatures stage. To see Osgiliath in ruins, Barad-Dur and Orthanc in all their dark glory...
It was actually very bittersweet, because I was told that all these beautiful pieces of art that any self respecting geek would love to see in a museum somewhere in the world were going to be put into storage. The Tolkien estate, apparently, has some sort of clause prohibiting the inclusion of any of these props to a museum. I don't see the logic of any of that myself. I think it'd be a major selling point for New Zealand tourism if they had the one and only official LOTR museum with Bilbo's stone trolls and the massive Corsair ship and real sets constructed for the film. I felt giddy joy when I was lead through WETA and the Bigatures area and I am deeply saddened that you folks out there won't get your chance... I suppose there's always the traveling LOTR exhibition, which I saw in it's final couple of weeks at Te Papa in Wellington... It's a good show, but it's only a quarter of the coolest stuff out there. The rest of it will just be sitting gathering dust and decomposing.
-PELLENNOR FIELDS-
Next up is discussion of Pellennor Fields... And yes, straight from the talented Alan Lee's mouth it is confirmed that the battle will have 200,000+ enemy forces. You don't just have words telling you about the massive enemy army, we get a glimpse at the pre-viz animatics where we see the orcs broken down into blocks of 200, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000. Seeing these early animatics really gives you the first inkling of the scope of this battle. Alan Lee says he's sure it'll be the most amazing battle scene ever filmed. I can not wait.
-MERRY, THE WARRIOR AND MO-CAP HORSES-
Dom Monaghan then comes on to talk about Merry becoming a warrior. We get a little look at Merry in his Rohan armor. Next they talk about the Riders of Rohan and their part in the final film. Two Hundred and Fifty horses were brought in for a charge... They show the behind the scenes of that (with Richard Taylor being his usual loveable goofy self) and begin to talk about they've adapted the Motion Capture technology they used to create Gollum for horses. It makes it easier to stage more dangerous and bigger battles to do it this way.
-LEGOLAS AND THE MUMAKIL-
Then there's an animatic of an Mumakil walking over Legolas and a few others on horseback, barely avoiding getting crushed underfoot. This is the beginning of the very first things I saw filmed back in April with Orlando Bloom. It was described at the time as the Legolas horse jump from THE TWO TOWERS times 100. It's going to be fuckin' cool... More detail forthcoming whenever I can send in my ROTK reports.
-FRODO-
PJ then comes back to say that even though there's all this fantastic battle stuff, the real power of ROTK lies in the more intimate and emotional part of the film. This segment has Phillipa, Sean and Elijah talking about the relationship of Sam and Frodo. Elijah: "Essentially you see the complete deterioration of Frodo to the point where Frodo ceases to be Frodo anymore."
-"HIS WILL WAS SET AND ONLY DEATH WOULD BREAK IT" & CONCLUSION-
Phillipa then comes in with a quote from Tolkien about Sam. "His will was set and only death would break it." Great line and there's some great stills of Sam from ROTK. It's about this point that the last bit of solid footage comes into play. It's about a minute long and has little bits from all over the third movie. From Gandalf in Minis Tirith to the ring, wet and surrounded by RIVER DIRT in someone's hand, (Whose hand could it be? hehe) to Gandalf talking to Pippin to the spine-tingling final shot... It's the mother of all the ROTK shots on the DVD... Since I've been so descriptive so far, I figure I'll let you guys discover this on your own. The footage in the part of the preview really needs to be seen first, not told.
-SHELOB'S LAIR/AFTERWARD-
The preview ends back in the editing room where PJ is watching another bit of Frodo in Shelob's Tunnel... The bit of footage we see is Frodo caught in a web (soon it will be... ea... nevermind. You didn't hear that.) arms up, Sting still in hand, struggling.
-EA "THE RETURN OF THE KING" PREVIEW:
The last thing on the disc is a preview of EA's RETURN OF THE KING game, which looks even cooler than their TWO TOWERS game, which I loved. I can't wait for it.
That's it from me, squirts. My yahoo email is still filling up every hour thanks to that Sobig virus, so if you need to reach me, click on my temporary contact email below. Email me if you have any questions regarding this article... or maybe questions regarding other articles that you may not have read. I bid you all a fond farewell and adieu!
-Quint
