Re: (Next to no) discussion on extended version of TTT?

On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:59:47 -0500, "jere7my tho?rpe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Smaug69) wrote:
>
>> Yes. People can justify anything if they really want. Having seen some
>> of that (thankfully) excised footage of Arwen fighting at Helm's Deep
>> and listening to some of Boyens' comments- especially about the
>> Council of Elrond chapter of the book- and now the complete
>> elimination of Saruman from ROTK I have altered my opinion of that
>> writing triumvirate. I don't think they are real fans of the book,
>> just pseudo-fans(like those hippies in the 1960s running around with
>> Frodo Lives!) who like the idea of the story and the characters, but
>> not the execution or the depth.
>
>     They are fans who were faced with the realities of filmmaking.  
>Their decision (later recanted) to add Arwen to Helm's Deep was made 
>because they needed a love story when they started asking people to give 
>them $300 million, but couldn't have the primary love interest disappear 
>for an entire movie.  They eventually came up with the dream/flashback 
>solution, which worked much better, and gave us that lovely shot of 
>Arwen by Aragorn's tomb.
>
>     They tried for a long time, apparently, to fit Saruman into RotK, 
>but couldn't make it work for the theatrical cut.  I think Jackson 
>himself would admit that this will be a flaw of the theatrical release.  
>Nevertheless, Saruman will be on the EE, which is (obviously) the 
>version designed explicitly for fans of the book.
>
No. These are the versions that designed for Jackson -- and I mean
that as a good thing -- he's contractually obligated to deliver a
three hour cut for theatrical release, and the extended versions are
cuts that he's happier with, though he's been extremely circumspect
about ever labeling the extended versions as director's cuts, which
they plainly are, since the theatrical releases are also director's
cuts. 

People have focussed how more "stuff" shows up in the extended cuts,
and what I notice more often is that the longer cuts have an improved
rhythm and pace than the theatrical cuts, especially Two Towers -- the
extended version is 43 minutes longer and feels shorter, which is a
hell of stunt..

John Harkness