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The extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring added a lot more background and color to the theatrical release, but did not provide anything vital, did not correct anything that was missing from the original version.  By contrast, the extended edition of The Two Towers was desperately needed in order to correct the two chief inaccuracies of The Two Towers.

First, in the book, the ents make a much greater contribution to the war against Saruman’s uruk hai than they do in the film.  The extended edition does not correct this entirely, but it does go about as far as it can in that respect and is certain to bring loud cheers from fans viewing it for the first time.  They are more involved and Treebeard, in particular, gets more character development.  Treebeard also has occasion to recite some of Tom Bombadil’s lines in a newly added scene, which will placate fans who were disappointed by that merry old fellow’s absence from Fellowship.

Second, in the book, Faramir is never tempted by the Ring.  Tolkien sets him up in contrast to his brother Boromir who tries to steal the ring from Frodo, but Peter Jackson has Faramir capturing Frodo and taking him all the way to Osgiliath with the intention of taking and using the Ring of power.  The extended edition gives us a flashback sequence with both Boromir and Faramir establishing the contrast Tolkien intended.  The bonus discs also give us a good explanation for why Jackson portrayed Faramir as he did, and I have to say I find that explanation satisfactory.

The book, The Two Towers, is as far from a screenplay as you can get.  Half of it takes places entirely in Rohan and Fangorn.  The other half entirely in the outskirts of Mordor.  Jackson probably had to do more scriptwork in this film than in the other two combined in order to follow both of these storylines simultaneously.  The bonus discs give him the opportunity to explain his decisions and have convinced me even more than before that he should have won Best Director for this film.

As a player in the Society for Creative Anachronism (a group that attempts to re-create the Middle Ages through tournament, dress and art), I was also impressed with what the bonus discs tell us about costume design in the film.  Clothing and armor were designed separately for all of the different races and regions of Middle Earth.  The designs were so intricate, in fact, that even King Theoden’s leather armor <I>under</I> his breastplate was specially designed though it was never seen by anyone but him.

The crowning achievement of the film was, of course, the creature Gollum.  Never before in cinematic history had an animated character given such an acting performance.  He probably would have even garnered a Best Supporting Actor nomination if the academy could have figured out which actor, artist or technician to nominate.  The bonus discs explain, in detail, everything that went into the development of Gollum.

The Fellowship of the Ring was the superior film, but the extended edition of the second film in this trilogy brings it much closer to the level of the first.

By Dan Singleton

November 30, 2003