A bit of info...first, digitalbits reported yesterday that they went to a screening of the EE and to be on the look out for a review.
Second...this "review" was posted at TORN...take it for what you will....
The Two Towers Extended Cut Review!
leo @ 9:44 am EST
Ringer Spy CJ wrote in what must be the first review we have from the Extended Cut from The Two Towers that will appear on the Exteneded DVD (available from November 20th)! Mind you, it does contain a lot of spoilers!!
I saw the Two Towers Extended Edition over a week ago and am happy to report that fans are in for a treat. I cannot go into the events the led to my wonderful good fortune, or I might end up like an orc trying to flee Helm's Deep.
I thought the Fellowship EE did a nice job of fleshing out the story and adding things that fans would have liked to have seen in the original but I thought Two Towers EE was a more substantial improvement over the theatrical release. Many of the new scenes really helped explain dialog or events that were in the original cut. A small example is when Frodo and Sam are eating Lembas near the beginning of the movie and Frodo says to Sam something like, 'Sam ,there is nothing that can dampen your spirits is there?' and Sam looks over and says 'Those rain clouds might.' In the theatrical release, the next scene shows Frodo and Sam wandering through the fog, soon to realize they are going in circles. In the extended edition, the next scene shows the Hobbits sitting under their cloaks getting drenched which follows a comment about pending rain much better than a fog bank. It also serves as a nice intro to Gollum as he peeps over a rock ledge from above (I'm pretty sure I have seen this shot posted). I will not try and go through everything I remember- I must say I really enjoyed being surprised by the stuff I was not expecting. But for those of you who like to know in advance here are a few new scenes:
When Merry and Pippin are drinking the ent draught, they wrestle over the jug it is in and fall at the roots of a tree which proceeds to suck them in until Treebeard shows up and pulls a Tom Bombadil and rescues them. I am not sure if the literalists will appreciate this nod to old man willow (it did not look like a willow tree to me), but I liked it and it emphasized that the forest is dangerous and edgy which made it all the more cool when the forest started off to Helms Deep and then when the orcs ran into the forest at the end. The final forest shot reminded me of the shot of the orcs who are taking Merry and Pippin to Saruman at the beginning of the film, right after one exclaims 'It looks like meat is back on the menu boys!' No flying organs, but a mass of violent writhing. Ironic, but a nice link... and very PJ.
There is more dialog as Gimili, Legolas and Aragorn enter fangorn in which Legolas says that the Elves originally taught the trees to talk and Gimili exclaims that he can't think of anything trees would have to talk about except squirrel crap. I thought his comment was a bit awkward, which is probably why I remember it, but most of the new dialog was great. There were many new (more successful in my opinion) humorous moments which I thought really fleshed out the movie since so much of it is dark and violent.
For example... Merry and Pippin make several comments about good 'pipe weed' and there are some Flotsam and Jetsam scenes at the end where they find apples and what looked like a turkey or big chicken floating in the flood and follow the goods into a storage room where they find barrels of the good stuff. There is a funny scene where Treebeard walks up to the open door in the ruins and peeks down through it. All you hear is Merry and Pippin having a good time in the room with clouds of smoke billowing out into the air.
There is a scene with Wormtoungue riding back to Isenguard. Wormtongue describes Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimili to Saruman who asks about Aragorn. Wormtongue describes Aragorn's ring and Saruman looks it up in a book and says something to the effect of 'So Gandalf thinks he has found the heir of Isildur... No matter...' That's what he thinks!
This extended edition includes more than 43 minutes of new scenes and footage, added by director Peter Jackson just for this DVD release. As with the Fellowship extended cut, these new moments add tremendous depth and development to certain characters, give a greater sense of epic scope to the journey, provide wonderful new moments of humor and greatly enhance the intensity of the major battle scenes. Here's a detailed rundown of the new footage you can expect to see on this DVD:
A new opening scene, after Gandalf's fall in Moria, in which we see Sam and Frodo climbing down a rocky crevasse using the Elven rope (the title The Two Towers now appears at the start of this scene).
Sam and Frodo getting rained on in the mountains as Gollum watches from a cliff above them.
Gollum's good and bad selves fighting over whether or not to lead Sam and Frodo to Mordor.
The Orcs arguing about their orders, and Pippen asking them to give a wounded Merry some water.
More of Saruman the White overseeing the construction of his Orc army, including his ordering the destruction of Fangorn Forest to fuel his furnaces, as well as the Wildmen pledging allegiance to him.
More of the villages of Rohan being plundered by the Wildmen.
Éomer finding a mortally-wounded Théodred at the scene of a great battle with Saruman's Orcs.
More of Gríma Wormtongue banishing Éomer from Rohan.
More of the Orcs fighting over whether or not to eat Merry and Pippin, including the realization that they believe the two Hobbits are carrying the Ring.
Gollum complaining of his hunger in the Dead Marshes, eating a worm and playing on Frodo's knowledge of the Ring.
Leoglas talking about the trees in Fangorn Forest, and how Elves first raised them into intelligent creatures long ago.
More of Gandalf the White's return in Fangorn, in which he talks about what's happening in Edoras and how, because of Merry and Pippin's arrival in the forest, the Ents are going to wake up and fight.
Treebeard reciting Ent poetry to Merry and Pippin, which puts them to sleep.
Gandalf telling Aragorn about events to come on the way to Edoras: "Sauron fears what you may become." Gandalf says Sauron doesn't suspect that the plan is to destroy The Ring rather than use it.
Merry and Pippin drinking a potion in Fangorn that causes them to grow, then getting trapped in the roots of a tree until Treebeard saves them.
Treebeard telling Merry and Pippin why there are so few Ents left.
Wormtongue spitting on Aragorn's outstretched hand before he escapes after being spared in Edoras.
Aragorn calming a horse named Brego in the stables of Edoras with Elvish talk, as Éowyn watches.
Saruman grumbling about Gandalf's reappearance, then learning of Aragorn's existence from Wormtongue.
King Théoden promising that they'll return to Edoras before leading his people to Helm's Deep.
More of Faramir capturing Frodo and Sam.
Aragorn and Théoden talking about Éowyn on the road to Helm's Deep.
Aragorn and Éowyn talking about his great age over a bowl of bad stew.
Extended flashback moments of Aragorn and Arwen together in Rivendale.
More intense footage of the battle with the Warg Riders.
Éowyn checking on the meager food stores upon arrival at Helm's Deep.
More of Faramir telling Sam and Frodo of Boromir's death, and of finding the Horn of Gondor broken.
A major new flashback scene in which we see Boromir and Faramir after reclaiming Osgiliath for Gondor. We learn that their father, Denethor, disapproves of Faramir. Denethor tells Boromir about the meeting that's been called by Elrond in Rivendale - the Ring has been found. Denethor sends Boromir to the meeting, and orders him to bring the Ring back to Gondor to save their people.
Faramir's men beating Gollum before questioning.
Aragorn and Éowyn talking before the battle of Helm's Deep. Éowyn says she wants to fight at his side, and basically admits that she loves him.
More of the Ent council in the woods - it's already night, but the Ents have only just finished saying "Good morning" to each other.
Much more intense footage during the battle at Helm's Deep.
The trees of Fangorn Forest marching to Helm's Deep, to get revenge on the Orcs.
The Orcs fleeing Helm's Deep, only to be swallowed up by the trees which have blocked their escape.
A very funny moment between Legolas and Gimli in which they brag to each other about the number of Orcs they've each killed in the battle.
Merry and Pippin discovering a pantry filled with food after the battle at Isengard.
And finally, Faramir leading Frodo and Sam out of Osgiliath. Sam tells Faramir that he's finally shown his quality - the very best. Faramir threatens Gollum as to what will happen if the Hobbits come to harm. As they depart for Mordor, Sam is kind to Gollum for the first time, telling him that Frodo only meant to save him by letting Faramir's men take him prisoner.
So that's a rundown of all the new footage. As far as the bonus discs, we only stayed to watch Disc Three. But what we saw included incredibly in-depth documentaries on J.R.R. Tolkien's development of the story of The Two Towers, in the context of The Lord of the Rings as a whole, how the filmmakers struggled to adapt this second book and the changes they had to make in order for the story to work on-screen, and the incredible efforts of actor Andy Serkis, the team of special effects artists at Weta Digital and the writers to bring the character of Gollum to life. You might think you know how much work was involved in creating the first digital character to give a realistic dramatic performance on film, but it was even tougher than you can imagine."
Hey everyone, I'm a big lotr fan from Belgium and currently there is a big contest going on in my country in which you can win two tickets for the rotk premiere in New Zealand....however the questions u need to answer are extremely hard if you don't have TTT extended edition (and it's only coming out on thursday over here) so that's why I need your help, please.
here are the first 2 questions
1) How did they make the sound of the ents (you know the yelling they do when they're to attack Isengard
2) when Aragorn find the pile of burnt orc bodies he yells out of sadness because he thinks he failed Merry and Pippin ... but there is also another reason
a)he hit his foot against an orc helm and hurt some toes
b) he burnt his hands on a hot orc helm
I would really appreciate if you could help me, thanks