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- Lord of the Rings, The: Book VI – The End of the Third Age
Lord of the Rings, The: Book VI – The End of the Third Age
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2003
Original Running Time:
251
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
47
Time Cut:
204
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
The final chapter 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.
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 VI, apart from only following the journey of Frodo and Sam, several small cuts have been made, including the near-removal of Sauron’s electric lighthouse-eye. The events surrounding the destruction of the Ring have also been recut, and custom credits with new music have been added to the very end of the film.
Release Information:
- DVD
- Digital
Special Features
“The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen” (approx. 17 min.)
Cuts and Additions:
- The edit opens like the book, with Frodo in captivity in the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
- Added some sound effects as Sam passes the statues outside the tower.
- Cut Frodo’s line “I’m so sorry Sam”, since he didn’t send Sam away in Book IV.
- Added “Book VI – The End of the Third Age” title over Sam and Frodo leaving the tower.
- Sauron the Floating Eyeball has been minimizedThe searchlight has also been cut as much as possible, but can still be seen, faintly, in some shots.
- Removed the shot of the orcs moving off. They move far too quickly, and the bit is not needed since we do not intercut with the rest of the Fellowship’s diversion.
- Removed some wide shots from the Mount Doom sequence. The focus here should be on the characters, not the scenery.
- Removed Sam’s “Come on!” after “… but I can carry you!”. I feel it is much more effective without the final bit.
- Sam’s fight with Gollum has been shortened, both because there’s no good way to merge the two parts of the fight, and because Sam would have received some serious injuries from the thrashing Gollum gives him. Now Sam just slices Gollum’s belly with Sting.
- The Mount Doom sequence is not intercut with the battle in front of the Black Gate.
- Added some flashes of the Eye of Sauron (from FotR) to keep Sauron’s presence in the sequence without having the electric searchlight-eye.
- Removed Sam’s line “Throw it in the fire!”
- Gollum and the Ring are destroyed immediately upon hitting the lava.
- Shortened Frodo dangling over the lava. Sam now pulls him up immidiately, without Frodo considering suicide.
- Reordered the consequences of the Ring’s destruction. Mount Doom erupts, the Nazgul are destroyed, Sam and Frodo escape from Sammath Naur and then witness the destruction of Barad-Dur.
- After Frodo’s line “I’m glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee. Here, at the end of all things” we cut to the end of the battle in front of the Black Gate.
- Some of the fades to black or white have been removed – the remaining have been shortened.
- Gandalf’s “Now come the days of the king. May they be blessed” and Aragorn’s speech at the coronation have been cut.
- Aragorn’s reunion with Arwen has been recut. Since that story has such a small role in these edits, the original scene felt too out of place.
- The final shot of Frodo has been cut.
- New credits with new music – “Bilbo’s Last Song” from the BBC dramatization.
- Added some sound effects as Sam passes the statues outside the tower.
- Cut Frodo’s line “I’m so sorry Sam”, since he didn’t send Sam away in Book IV.
- Added “Book VI – The End of the Third Age” title over Sam and Frodo leaving the tower.
- Sauron the Floating Eyeball has been minimizedThe searchlight has also been cut as much as possible, but can still be seen, faintly, in some shots.
- Removed the shot of the orcs moving off. They move far too quickly, and the bit is not needed since we do not intercut with the rest of the Fellowship’s diversion.
- Removed some wide shots from the Mount Doom sequence. The focus here should be on the characters, not the scenery.
- Removed Sam’s “Come on!” after “… but I can carry you!”. I feel it is much more effective without the final bit.
- Sam’s fight with Gollum has been shortened, both because there’s no good way to merge the two parts of the fight, and because Sam would have received some serious injuries from the thrashing Gollum gives him. Now Sam just slices Gollum’s belly with Sting.
- The Mount Doom sequence is not intercut with the battle in front of the Black Gate.
- Added some flashes of the Eye of Sauron (from FotR) to keep Sauron’s presence in the sequence without having the electric searchlight-eye.
- Removed Sam’s line “Throw it in the fire!”
- Gollum and the Ring are destroyed immediately upon hitting the lava.
- Shortened Frodo dangling over the lava. Sam now pulls him up immidiately, without Frodo considering suicide.
- Reordered the consequences of the Ring’s destruction. Mount Doom erupts, the Nazgul are destroyed, Sam and Frodo escape from Sammath Naur and then witness the destruction of Barad-Dur.
- After Frodo’s line “I’m glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee. Here, at the end of all things” we cut to the end of the battle in front of the Black Gate.
- Some of the fades to black or white have been removed – the remaining have been shortened.
- Gandalf’s “Now come the days of the king. May they be blessed” and Aragorn’s speech at the coronation have been cut.
- Aragorn’s reunion with Arwen has been recut. Since that story has such a small role in these edits, the original scene felt too out of place.
- The final shot of Frodo has been cut.
- New credits with new music – “Bilbo’s Last Song” from the BBC dramatization.
User reviews
21 reviews
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
8.4(5)
Audio Editing
10.0(5)
Visual Editing
10.0(5)
Narrative
9.8(5)
Enjoyment
9.1(21)
Overall rating
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
5.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
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.
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
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
M
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
As with the rest of this edit, I enjoyed the final chapter. The story moves along briskly without jumping away of dwelling on extraneous stuff. Removing the Eye of Sauron and the searchlight bits was effective; it was still oppressive enough without that.
The last fight over the ring on the slopes of Mount Doom almost seemed too short. Almost. In the end it worked well, and got right to the final climactic fight. Followed on by the quick end of the battle at the Black Gate; could have been considered short changed, but since that is now irrelevant it held the correct amount of attention.
The postscript section even feels long in the books, and the edit does a good job of moving things along.
I sat through the end credits because of the new music added. I had not run across it before, and enjoyed the different feel it gave from the original.
The last fight over the ring on the slopes of Mount Doom almost seemed too short. Almost. In the end it worked well, and got right to the final climactic fight. Followed on by the quick end of the battle at the Black Gate; could have been considered short changed, but since that is now irrelevant it held the correct amount of attention.
The postscript section even feels long in the books, and the edit does a good job of moving things along.
I sat through the end credits because of the new music added. I had not run across it before, and enjoyed the different feel it gave from the original.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
R
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
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!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
G
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
As with the previous five edits, this is likewise brilliant. Yet again the editing is flawless, and Kerr does what he intends to do. It is great to have these edits as an alternative, and, as neglify states, if you are a fan: check them out!
Highly recommended, all six edits. I might as well throw in a recommendation to Kerr's edits in general, because they are consistently well-edited.
Highly recommended, all six edits. I might as well throw in a recommendation to Kerr's edits in general, because they are consistently well-edited.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
M
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I loved these. Not to much to say about it that hasn't been said by other reviewers, but if you're a Lord of the Rings fan, check these edits out.
(Watched this a couple years and forgot to review.)
(Watched this a couple years and forgot to review.)
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
N