Quote
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
To be honest, I think the extended versions were what turned me off to Lord of the Rings. I was only casually into it to begin with, but I've seen so many different versions and packagings and box sets that I just decided to forget it. And that's really the problem with most movies nowadays is that there are all these "UNRATED!" or "EXTENDED!" versions. Damnit! I just want to buy a movie! I don't want to have to choose door number one or door number two! At least George Lucas waited 20 years before he started throwing out special editions.
I'm with TheSessler, not entirely sure what you are complaining about. I presume you had nothing against the Fullscreen/Widescreen versions so I wont include them in my tally... That leaves two versions, Theatrical Two-Disc and Extended Four-Disc.
It definitely isn't what I would call flooding the market and in fact each release was specifically targeted at different markets. The two-disc was just for casual fans (or collectors who must have everything and who would only complain if they didn't have multiple versions to collect) and the four-disc was for hardcore fans or those very interested in filmmaking. I would have hated it if they didn't release the huge amount of extra material found on the four-disc set, but Joe Average would have also hated paying $30 instead of $15 for each movie just to receive a whole bunch of stuff he doesn't care about.
So Joe Average never had to make any decision, it was two-disc all the way (and likely Fullscreen), cheap, smaller package for the DVD shelf, no disc change and no wait. Did they disservice the fans by having two versions, the second released a couple of months later? I don't think so. For starters they always made it quite public that the second version was coming and what would be on it. Secondly neither version contains any of the same material as the other, different cuts and different extras so collectors both get something to collect, but don't have any of that annoying overlap.
Now, there was a third way to get the movie, in a special collector's box much like Star Wars, Spider-Man and The Matrix has done. These all contain the DVDs available in cheaper packs but in a big box with other material. These packs included books and/or sculptures/busts/bookends, stuff that only hardcore collectors cared about and stuff only hardcore collectors could afford as they were usually twice as much as the regular versions. The LotR sets did include a fifth disc, but most of the material was already covered on the other discs sufficiently, were available separately or most people didn't care about! FotR contained a National Geographic documentary (available separately and seen on TV), TTT contained a disc about Weta Workshop and how they created the Gollum statue in the pack (which if you don't have the statue I'd doubt you'd care) and RotK contained a disc about the LotR Symphony that toured around for a while. None of the discs have much to do with the making of the movie so I don't care about any of them.
But really, two versions for two very different markets. This isn't like all those other movies that get release after release with very few changes to the extras at all like The Fifth Element or.... Star Wars!
[edit]Hehe, I knew I shouldn't have left my computer mid-post! Now there was this response....
Quote
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I don't mean that. I mean the regular release, the special release, the different box sets, the ultimate box sets, the leatherbound-looking box sets... just too many different ways to buy.
That really is still only the two and a half versions. There is zero difference between the individual discs and the box sets except that they are in a cardboard box and slightly cheaper. I don't get your point as obviously they originally had to be released individually as the movies were made (much like the Star Wars prequels), and of course they will give you the option of buying the set together, everyone in every industry does that, the Star Wars OT, the Star Wars prequels and entire set when Ep III comes out, tons of other movies and TV series do it, books are in sets, music CDs, games, etc, etc. Simply the cheapest way to buy any product.
Would you prefer if all series were only released separately? This means more expense, more chance your local video store will be missing one or two discs (either unordered or sold out, as I keep on running into with the Superman movies) and no box to put them in which the collectors will just love. OK, obviously that doesn't work, so lets not release individual movies and only release box sets. Well, if I only liked A New Hope, The Matrix or Superman I and II and hated the rest of the movies in those sets then I'm stuck, I have to buy the whole set. Or if I liked The Phantom Menace I would have to wait six years to get it! OK, so I also like Indiana Jones so I go to buy the movies. Unfortunately they aren't available as they are working on a new movie in the series. Fast forward a couple of years... but I still can't buy them! Apparently there is the slightest possibility of another sequel as the last was popular. No plans for a sequel, but you never know! Well, George, Steven and Harrison are all looking a bit frail, hopefully they will all die soon so that possibility is wiped out!
Hehe, so yeah, all I'm really saying is I still don't get why this situation has made you dislike LotR!
[/edit]