I have similar feelings about the different releases. The 2009 bluray release is far from perfect, but it represents to closest representation of what was seen in the cinema in 2001-2003. Despite the obvious flaws in the transfer of FOTR, I am forgiving of them, because 1) at least we got an HD transfer of the theatrical version unlike for Star Wars, and 2) FOTR not having a DI meant they had to go back to the negative and do a brand new scan and digital color grade the film from scratch for a better quality release. I was disappointed by the extended cuts for FOTR and TTT. I really disliked the green tint in FOTR and the black crush kind of negated the increase in detail by going back to the negative. While the green cast was less of a problem in TTT, I couldn’t really get past Theoden’s green beard. With regards to the 4K release, I really liked the new HDR color grading, which while different in some ways it isn’t stylized like the extended blurays and still grounded in a sense of realism. The additional DNR is a huge let down. I wish Peter Jackson would have just given us the extended bluray masters with the new HDR color grading. That would have been awesome.