If anyone still hasn’t heard, Amazon bought the rights to make a series based on the work from Tolkien’s Middle Earth, focusing on events prior to those seen in The Lord of the Rings. It will be the most expensive show ever made so far, and Amazon has committed to a five-season series, at least. The show has finally gotten a release date of Friday, September 2nd, 2022.
Some people may have been wanting to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson, for some time now, but saw the long runtime and told themselves they’d get around to it later. And then there’s always the question of should they watch the theatrical release version or the director’s extended cut?
In an already long and confusing movie (especially for those who have never read The Lord of the Rings books or even seen the movies), having other fans tell first viewers that they have to watch the even longer and more confusing extended versions may have turned some people off from the idea of watching altogether.
But with the series coming out, it may be the perfect time for those who having been putting off watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy to finally see what every fantasy fan has been talking about for almost 70 years since the first book was released (1954). And to be honest, as sacrilegious as it may be to super fans, the theatrical version is a much better choice for those who are not familiar to the story, characters, or world.
In the extended version, there is an additional scene in the prologue that shows viewers what happens when someone puts on the Ring. This cuts the tension developed in the scene at Bilbo’s birthday party when he also puts on the Ring and shocks all his friends and family members, including Frodo. After a viewer already knows what happens when someone puts on the Ring, then it is fun to go back and watch the extended version to watch the added scene.
There’s also an added scene in The Fellowship of the Ring that reminds the viewers of something they may have forgotten, which again cuts the tension later during a character’s supposed death scene. For people who don’t know anything about the books and are watching the movies for the first time, the theatrical version will cut out a few scenes that actually make the story a bit more suspenseful in the first film.
In addition to making a first-time watch more suspenseful, the theatrical version cuts out less important details to help make the story and its characters more digestible and understandable. Once first-time viewers have seen the theatrical versions, if they like them and want to find out more, they could watch the extended versions. However, there are a few changes from book-to-movie that if someone wants to know about, they can read the books.
Unless a viewer is already a fan of Tolkien’s work and The Lord of the Rings books, the theatrical version is a better first-time watch as well as a better movie. Most of the scenes in the extended versions were cut because of pacing issues, and most of the scenes only served as fan service and a nod to a detail from the books. For movie fans who don’t care about the books, the theatrical version is the way to go.
But for those who never rewatch a movie once they’ve seen it and are planning to only watch The Lord of the Rings movies once and never again, then they might as well watch the extended versions since they are only a little longer anyway. To watch the trilogy in one go, a viewer would be looking at 9 hours and 3 minutes for the theatrical version, and 11 hours and 36 minutes for the extended version.
If a viewer really loves a movie, then why not have more of that movie and those characters they really love? Fans of the story and its characters know how perfectly cast the movies were, so seeing some of the extra scenes where more information was shared about a side character in the extended version is worth the extra time. But again, the theatrical version is a better introduction to Middle Earth.
No other extended version of a book-to-movie adaptation has gotten this much fan hype before, but there are several funny or interesting bonus scenes added to the extended versions that make rewatching The Lord of the Rings a fun time, so it’s easy to see why fans love the extended versions.
And if a viewer is already a fan of fantasy and complex stories, then extended may be for them. But for movie fans who just want to dip their toes into The Lord of the Rings before the Amazon series comes out, the theatrical version is for them.