I really loved this post--it was funny and astute, but also full of a warmth and generosity toward our fandoms, embarrassing as they may be (and yes, I am Team Star Wars).
The EE FOTR is the only really good EE because of the additional depth it lent to Boromir and Aragorn’s conflict; the other two theatrical releases are superior to their EE counterparts. I’ll die on this hill!
Not a chance. Without the EE RotK, you don't get the Mouth of Sauron. That's nonsense!
I'll confess that I could have done without the extra footage of Aragorn making out with his horse. But otherwise the extended versions are all superior to the theatrical cuts. I care enough about that to argue with a stranger on the internet!
See, there are plenty of scenes in all the EEs I would go to bat for - the full version of Éowyn’s song at Theodred’s grave makes me cry every time. But in terms of what the whole collection of scenes does for each individual film, FOTR is the only one that continues to feel just about as tightly-paced and cohesive with the extended scenes left in. EE ROTK is a perfect example, to me, of how thin the line is in films between “sprawling” and “slog”.
The Mouth of Sauron totally owns, though. That’s undisputed.
Okay, that's fair. I can definitely see the line drawn between value for the superfan and value for the casual observer. I'm always ready to go to bat for the power of adaptation in movies.
As a superfan, I'm definitely going to go to the EE for each film, every time. And I'm going to subject newbies to them as well (and have done). But, yeah, I can see where some would see them as a slog.
Though, the extended Bilbo's birthday can potentially fall into "slog" territory for the under-appreciative as well, I'd argue.
You are not wrong re: Bilbo’s birthday party! I wonder if I remember that one as dragging less because it comes at the beginning of the film – the second and third movies stack up more of their extended content toward the middle and end, so the drag might be more noticeable there.
All I'll add to this is that I LOVE the Extended Editions and I will eventually (now) write about The Fellowship of the Rings and none of the other movies.
This may dovetail with my longterm but yet unfulfilled desire to reread Lord of the Rings for the first time in twenty (!) years.
Maybe I should've been writing about that instead of A Song of Ice and Fire...
Also does our least favorite mean that we are the opposite of that? My parents watched Star Trek reruns (the show not the movies tho) and I’m told that as a toddler I would run screaming from the room and refuse to come back whenever Spock appeared. They think it was the ears. They thought it was hilarious but I dunno I think I’m damaged.
I hate the torture porn films like Saw, but I grew up on slasher films like Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street and love all of those.
I was thinking of including those three here, but I'm not horrorfan savant enough to really thread the needle between what makes one franchise substantially different from the other (which maybe sounds like damning with faint praise, but I mean it genuinely).
But I would say that those three franchises are very distinct from Saw. The thrill from Freddie or Michael Myers or Freddie Kreugger come less from the violence and more from the dread.
That first time you spot Michael Myers off in the distance behind Jamie Lee Curtis is the kind of moment almost every horror movie has been chasing since.
Saw and Hostel and those kinds of things are just nasty. I actually think they fundamentally do not understand horror and instead dive deep into the pool of Grotesque and Revulsion.
I really loved this post--it was funny and astute, but also full of a warmth and generosity toward our fandoms, embarrassing as they may be (and yes, I am Team Star Wars).
Hope your toe heals quickly.
Wait, did we have to choose one? Oh man....
My original intention was to be very insulting!
But, alas: I'm a softy. And being performatively snide is less interesting than whatever it is I do here.
The EE FOTR is the only really good EE because of the additional depth it lent to Boromir and Aragorn’s conflict; the other two theatrical releases are superior to their EE counterparts. I’ll die on this hill!
Not a chance. Without the EE RotK, you don't get the Mouth of Sauron. That's nonsense!
I'll confess that I could have done without the extra footage of Aragorn making out with his horse. But otherwise the extended versions are all superior to the theatrical cuts. I care enough about that to argue with a stranger on the internet!
See, there are plenty of scenes in all the EEs I would go to bat for - the full version of Éowyn’s song at Theodred’s grave makes me cry every time. But in terms of what the whole collection of scenes does for each individual film, FOTR is the only one that continues to feel just about as tightly-paced and cohesive with the extended scenes left in. EE ROTK is a perfect example, to me, of how thin the line is in films between “sprawling” and “slog”.
The Mouth of Sauron totally owns, though. That’s undisputed.
Okay, that's fair. I can definitely see the line drawn between value for the superfan and value for the casual observer. I'm always ready to go to bat for the power of adaptation in movies.
As a superfan, I'm definitely going to go to the EE for each film, every time. And I'm going to subject newbies to them as well (and have done). But, yeah, I can see where some would see them as a slog.
Though, the extended Bilbo's birthday can potentially fall into "slog" territory for the under-appreciative as well, I'd argue.
You are not wrong re: Bilbo’s birthday party! I wonder if I remember that one as dragging less because it comes at the beginning of the film – the second and third movies stack up more of their extended content toward the middle and end, so the drag might be more noticeable there.
Oh, that's a really good point and so true. Especially in RotK, all that extended content is really coming as you're like 2+ hours in already.
All I'll add to this is that I LOVE the Extended Editions and I will eventually (now) write about The Fellowship of the Rings and none of the other movies.
This may dovetail with my longterm but yet unfulfilled desire to reread Lord of the Rings for the first time in twenty (!) years.
Maybe I should've been writing about that instead of A Song of Ice and Fire...
(I'll also give ground that it sucked that the EE versions on DVD were split between two discs. That was a real pain).
1. Godzilla.
Also does our least favorite mean that we are the opposite of that? My parents watched Star Trek reruns (the show not the movies tho) and I’m told that as a toddler I would run screaming from the room and refuse to come back whenever Spock appeared. They think it was the ears. They thought it was hilarious but I dunno I think I’m damaged.
I hate the torture porn films like Saw, but I grew up on slasher films like Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street and love all of those.
I'm not sure if that makes me a hypocrite or not.
I was thinking of including those three here, but I'm not horrorfan savant enough to really thread the needle between what makes one franchise substantially different from the other (which maybe sounds like damning with faint praise, but I mean it genuinely).
But I would say that those three franchises are very distinct from Saw. The thrill from Freddie or Michael Myers or Freddie Kreugger come less from the violence and more from the dread.
That first time you spot Michael Myers off in the distance behind Jamie Lee Curtis is the kind of moment almost every horror movie has been chasing since.
Saw and Hostel and those kinds of things are just nasty. I actually think they fundamentally do not understand horror and instead dive deep into the pool of Grotesque and Revulsion.
"You definitely own the Extended Edition but also know that the Theatrical Version is the best version of The Fellowship of the Rings."
You shut your whore mouth.
Geez... some motherfuckas always trying to ice skate uphill.