Love this! I’m one of the increasingly few fans that prefers the theatrical cuts. The pacing is just so much better. I always loved how FOTR’s 3 hours FLY by. Such a feat!
The EE scenes, while nice on their own, make 3 hours & 48 minutes FEEL like 3 hours and 48 minutes (ie looong). I think you made some great choices about what to keep/drop. I agree, Concerning Hobbits is a treasure, but that much info dumped that early, makes the movie feel like an expositional chore, especially for folks who’ve never seen this trilogy before.
The only addition you’ve kept that I dislike is the Black Speech scene. Rivendell is another one of those feats of editing in which a giant exposition dump is actually rather dynamic/propulsive in the theatrical cut.
Can you clarify the Very Old Friends addition you kept? I can’t remember an extended scene here.