Lord of the Rings, The: Book II - The Ring Goes South

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Lord of the Rings, The: Book II - The Ring Goes South
Faneditor Name:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2001
Original Running Time:
208
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
89
Time Cut:
120
Time Added:
1
Brief Synopsis:
The second of a six-part edit made to bring Peter Jackson’s adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” as close as possible to the original book by J.R.R. Tolkien, this covers the last half of “The Fellowship of the Ring”.
Intention:
To separate Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy into six parts that adhere as closely as possible to the six books of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”. This is done by both restructuring the films to match the narrative structure found in Tolkien’s book, and by removing as much as possible of the material that has no basis in Tolkien’s vision of Middle-Earth. For Book II, this has meant removing most of Saruman’s scenes, altering Aragorn’s character so that he accepts his destiny, inserting some flashbacks that were cut from Book I to the Rivendell scenes, trimming some unnecessary action scenes, and altering the ending.
Additional Notes:
Again, this fanedit primarily intended for fans of Tolkien’s work. Its intention is not to improve the films in and of themselves, and viewers unfamiliar with the book will probably be left confused and unsatisfied, and would be better off watching the originals.
Release Information:
  • DVD
  • Digital
Special Features
- Book III Preview: A 3-minute excerpt from the upcoming edit, showing the arrival at Helm’s Deep
- Lothlorien Color Comparison: Similar to the feature on the first DVD, a side-by-side comparison showing the color change made to the Lorien sequence
Cuts and Additions:
-New title sequence. Since this is meant to be a separate instalment, not just the missing half of the previous edit, I decided to have company credits and titles for this one as well.
- We fade in on Frodo lying in a bed in Rivendell. He asks why Gandalf didn’t meet them, and we flashback to Gandalf riding to Isengard, and thereafter see all the Isengard sequences that were cut from Book I.
- Saruman does not claim that Sauron can’t take physical form. In the book, he regained his physical form slightly before the events of the Hobbit (I think). In Tolkien’s own words: “The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic.”
- Saruman does not mention the Nine having left Minas Morgul. At this point in the story, the Ringwraiths are yesterday’s news.
- Saruman is not shown contacting Sauron through the Palantir. As in the book, Saruman is working for himself, and isn’t merely a “puppet” of Sauron.
- The brief shot of Saruman in the caverns of Isengard has been cut, since he is at the top of Orthanc in the following scene
- Saruman is not shown breeding Uruk-Hai. In the book, Saruman did undertake various orc-breeding experiments, but these were separate from the Uruk-Hai. Also, it is highly unlikely that orcs of any kind could be bred in the manner shown in the film.
- Back in Rivendell, Gandalf’s line “Saruman has crossed orcs with goblin-men.” has been cut First, Saruman isn’t breeding Uruk-Hai in these edits. Second, the line makes no sense, since “orc” is just another word for “goblin”. The line is obviously taken from a mention of “half-orcs and goblin-men” taking part in the Battle of the Hornburg, and it’s equally obvious that PJ’s interpretation is far from what Tolkien meant.
- Cut Elrond’s line “Men are weak.” I feel that Elrond is portrayed as too much of a racist, which he absolutely wasn’t in the book. There wasn’t much I could do about it, but I think removing the one line helps slightly.
- Elrond’s flashback to the Battle of the Last Alliance is followed by Isildur being ambushed and killed by orcs, with the narration removed. This seems to be the best place to include the (vital) exposition of how Isildur lost the Ring.
- Cut Elrond’s lines “He turned from that path a long time ago… He has chosen exile.” As in the book, Aragorn accepts his destiny, and is only waiting for the right time to claim his birthright.
- The Council of Elrond scene has been moved, and now immediately follows the scene with Elrond and Gandalf. I feel that revealing Strider as Isildur’s Heir works better this way, especially since I had to cut Arwen’s line which originally identified him as the heir.
- Cut Aragorn’s line “Sit down, Legolas.” As mentioned earlier, Aragorn accepts his role and destiny.
- After the council, we cut to Boromir examining the Shards of Narsil. He does not ask who Aragorn is, since they’ve already met – He just casts an awkward glance at Aragorn, which hints at the fact that he may not have been entirely sure when earlier stating that “Gondor needs no king.” This also brings his character closer to the way he was portrayed in the book, where he accepted Aragorn as the heir of Gondor.
- The scene with Aragorn and Arwen in front of Narsil has been reworked. As Aragorn puts Narsil back on its display, Arwen says “Your time will come”, which leads to her Elvish lines (“The Shadow does not yet hold sway” etc.). Thus, Aragorn’s reluctance has been removed, without having to cut the all-important line “Your time will come”, which (sort of) explains why Aragorn isn’t king already.
- Added “,Aragorn” to the end of the subtitle for Arwen’s “The Shadow does not hold sway yet” to better match what she is saying.
- Cut the scene at Gilraen’s memorial.
- Aragorn does not partake in the hobbits’ scuffle with Boromir. I think the scene is better and funnier with just Boromir and the hobbits.
- Saruman is not involved in the Caradhras scene. In the book, the avalance was caused by Caradhras itself.
- The scene with the watcher in the water has been recut to match Tolkien’s book – The Doors of Durin open, the watcher immediately attacks, tries and fails to grab Frodo, Legolas fires an arrow at it, and the fellowship retreats into the mines.
- The dead dwarves are not discovered until they reach Balin’s tomb.
- The cave troll battle has been shortened. In my opinion, it goes on for far too long, and has some silly moments that should be cut.
- Cut Frodo’s faces of pain after being stabbed by the cave troll.
- The moria orcs are not shown climbing up and down pillars. Spider-orc, spider-orc, does whatever a spider-orc can… Eh, no.
- Cut out the scene on the crumbling stair in Moria. Pointless Action-Jackson invention. I did, however, keep Gandalf telling Aragorn to lead the fellowship on, which I thought was an important line to include.
- Used the theatrical version of the fellowship entering Lothlorien, but with the approach to Caras Galadhon from the EE. The alternate EE version has several problems – Gimli’s and Legolas’ costumes and makeup are different to the ones seen in the rest of the film, and some shots of the fellowship were reused in the mirror of Galadriel. I have no idea why this obviously unfinished scene was put into the EE.
- Galadriel’s telepathy with Frodo as they enter Lorien has been cut, to make Lothlorien seem less creepy and more pleasant like in the book.
- Changed the subtitle from “Haldir of Lorien” to Haldir of LÃ�rien”, which is the correct spelling.
- The Lothlorien scenes have been slightly recolored to remove some of the excessively blue tint.
- Galadriel’s telepathy (“Welcome, Frodo of the Shire… One who has seen THE EYE!”) has been cut. Again, to make Lorien and Galadriel less creepy.
- Galadriel does not tell Frodo that Boromir will try to take the Ring. Boromir’s fall works better if it seems a bit less inevitable.
- All scenes in Isengard have been cut. As in the book, we do not see Saruman again until the end of Book III.
- Aragorn doesn’t tell Galadriel that he would have Arwen take a ship to Valinor. The whole Arwen subplot differs radically from the book, and has thus been removed entirely.
- The Uruk-Hai montage has been cut.
- Aragorn’s argument with Boromir has been cut.
- The Eye of Sauron is not seen hovering above Barad-Dur.
- We do not see Sam underwater – it looks too fake.
- The edit ends like the book. Frodo does not meet Aragorn before leaving, and we do not see the attack of the Uruk-Hai, which will serve as an intro for Book III. Some people may disagree with me having cut the last scene between Aragorn and Frodo, and I agree that it is a wonderful scene. It did, however, not take place in the book. Also, the scene leads directly into the Uruk-Hai ambush, which has to take place entirely at the beginning of Book III in order to follow the book – and I really wanted to follow the book’s narrative structure as closely as possible. So that’s my rationale.
As Frodo and Sam walk down into Emyn Muil, we fade to a new “credit” sequence: End of Book II.
double disc cover art by Kerr (DOWNLOAD HERE)
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cover art by boon23 (DOWNLOAD HERE)
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cover art by AvP (DOWNLOAD HERE)
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cover art by AvP (DOWNLOAD HERE)
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cover art by AvP (DOWNLOAD HERE)
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User reviews

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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.5(6)
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10.0(5)
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9.8(6)
Narrative
 
9.6(5)
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9.1(32)
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Overall rating
 
8.8
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5.0
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10.0
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9.0
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10.0
--This review is about all six books, not only about this one--
So, I finally got to see Kerr's vision here. In total, it's about 7 1/2 hours long and therefore around 1/3 shorter than the extended editions.
That said, I don't think the pacing of this "Red Book" series is too fast, but the events told sometimes (really only sometimes, like the fellowship's voyage from Rivendell to Moriah, Frodo's encounter with Faramir or Aragorn's meeting in the path of the dead) feel a bit rushed - but that might also be just because I knew what's been cut out...
What I like about Kerr's approach is that his Middle-Earth landscapes feel bigger, more epic and more fitting to the story - yes, even though Jackson always gos for bigger, I really always thought the movies felt small regarding the landscapes! So wonderfully, Kerr achieves to let LOTR happen in more adequate geographic surroundings. This and his use of alternative music (besides of course the well-known various themes of LOTR) give his edit a more mythical and awestruck quality.
What I do not like is (and yes, I know it's this edit's trademark) - or put better, what didn't work too well for me was Kerr's approach to tell the several story lines each by itself and without switching from one to the other.
I mean, it's okay and one might like it, but imo it's one of the original book's strenghts and tricks to achieve a certain grandeur that gets lost when ignored.
Now for the cutting itself, I think it's rather flawless - Kerr is successfull in keeping in all significant highlights in all their glory and removing much of what could be considered lenghty, inadequately blown-up or simply unnecessary. He also changes the placement of backstories (or puts them back in the original book's order) in convincing style, meaning Peter's changes for the better of the movies themselves are all "corrected", and still Kerr's cut is not suffering from that, which is quite an achievement!
All in all, his LOTR feels more serious, more mature - but then again, I must admit I haven't seen the original Extended Editions for years, maybe these are not as overloaded as I remember them?
I also want to add that I saw Kerr's edit in compressed DVD resolution which just looks not too good on today's HD TVs.
I definitely can recommend this edit, and it was a joy to watch, but it won't be my go-to-version.

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
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10.0
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9.0
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9.0
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10.0
As with Book I, this edit accomplishes its goals. It follows the books much more closely than the original release, or EE.

I especially appreciate the alterations with the Elves, both Rivendell and Lothlorien. The Aragorn/Arwen love story felt forced in, and there is a reason Tolkien put that as an appendix. Removing it helps move the main plot along. Removing almost all of Galadriel's creepy telepathy worked very well. It always felt overdone to me and Kerr brought it down to just enough.

The cuts for Moria work well. Gimli's anguish at finding Balin's tomb really hits now. Cutting overlong battle sequences with improbable physics and the spider-orcs helped a lot.

The one place it felt a bit rough was the end. The edits were a little disjointed, but Kerr had to work with the material at hand. I had to check the book to refresh my memory on the first book's telling of the breaking of the fellowship. Sure enough, Kerr rearranged it to much more closely follow the book.

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Yes
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Digital
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I can only give this fanedit a perfect review since I just truly loove this version of LOTR so much more than the original cut / edit (both theatrical and EE). To me all of Kerr's 6 books are a masterpeace. Only thing distracting is that, as far as I know, there is no HD-version of it available, so when watching the Hobbit fanedit beforehand, the quality difference is noticable. Let's hope an HD version comes out someday. This will be the version I will watch from now on if I watch the LOTR. Thank you Kerr for the work you put in!

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Yes
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DVD
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Overall rating
 
9.8
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9.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Great, great editing! I really enjoy these book cuts and feel that Kerr has managed to trim the originals to closer mimic the books. Difficult to do at times, I'm sure, what with the limited material to work with. Sometimes it's just too hard to cut around one of Jackson's alterations. But all the changes and re-arrangements done by Kerr feels right. Well done!

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(Updated: September 16, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Review by Mr.Lovebucket — December 25, 2011 @ 12:50 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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