The Fellowship of the Ring: Remade
 a TRUE FANEDIT by SpelledarenThis version of Peter Jackson’s Fellowship Of The Ring brings out the best of this awesome movie, trying to improve on something that’s already great. The edit gives some more depth to the characters, in particular Aragorn and Boromir. It is not intended of bringing this closer to the books, but to build on what works in the movies themselves. member ratings: |
Loading ...
|
INTENTION:
To sidestep all the little oddities that PJ allowed in this one. The Fellowship is one of my all time favourite movies (and books), but there was still a lot of things that felt decidedly odd. The most prominent in the first movie was that the Nazgul were a bunch of losers. One sits right on top of it’s prey and does not notice them. They are outrun by hobbits, while the Nazgul themselves have horses. They don’t notice that the beds are stuffed with dummies. They don’t kill the hobbits even when given plenty of time. Five of them are defeated by Aragorn alone (why are we worried about these guys?). They see the flood coming and they turn to ride along the river, for long enough that they would have made it to the other side had they just kept moving, or turned back. They fail utterly at everything they do in this movie. That’s not very scary. I’ve tried to bring out the best of them, and portray them as the terrifying opponents they should be.
There are several other things that are silly or dumb, and I’ve given my comments to why I’ve changed things in the cut list below.
My overall intention was to bring out the best of this awesome movie, trying to improve on something that’s already great. Not a small task. I have had no intention of bringing this closer to the books, I am only interested in what works in the movies themselves.
I wanted to show the best of each character, and I think I’ve succeeded fairly well in that. (And how great is Sean Bean in this? Oscar for best supporting actor went to Jim Broadbent for Iris . Yeah. Sean was robbed!)
CUTLIST:
- Removed “Victory was near”. How could victory be near with Sauron left?
- Sauron exploding does not topple the entire army. It just seems like everyone close by should have been killed.
- Cut Bilbo searching franticly for the Ring. It doesn’t have to be overly clear yet about the rings effect. I feel it distracts from the feeling of the storytelling at that moment.
- Cut Gandalf banging his head. This cut is back! It’s a rather silly way of presenting the character of Gandalf.
- Cut Merry and pippin stealing a rocket. To make that work Bilbo hiding at the party also had to go, and we don’t see the dragon fireworks. Introducing Merry and Pippin can be done in other ways, this one I don’t like. Nor do I particulary like the dragon scene.
- Cut Frodo and Sam seeing the wood elves. Dialogue meant to introduce us to the world? But coming from them it feels odd. Also Frodo and Sam switch places during the scene, and that bugs me.
- Removed Gandalf running to several doors and them closing. It’s meant to heighten the excitement, but has the opposite effect.
- Cut most of the battle between the wizards. It’s a kinda silly battle. Now Saruman is obviously more powerful.
- The Nazgul does not sit right on top of the hobbits, nor do they distract it. Now it’s scary but not failed. Once the Ring is resisted the Nazgul moves off.
- Cut Nazgul finding hobbits in the forest. They are not slower than hobbits on foot anymore.
- Cut some of Sauron’s voice in the inn. It’s less scary with words.
- Removed some of the sleeping hobbits and posing Nazgul. They seem scarier when they are more to the point. Also I don’t like this kind of tension-heightener that the interposed sleeping hobbits and Nazgul images are supposed to be. It was overdone here, and I’ve shortened it.
- Removed scene with Saruman contacting Sauron. Saruman is more threatening as an independent player. That he starts building an army is because he wants the ring himself!
- Removed “The trees are strong my lord. Their roots go deep.” ” Cut them all down”. We understand anyway, don’t need this overly clear line. And I don’t like the orc voice.
- Only 1 Nazgul finds them on Weathertop. And it’s damn scary! Thank you Kerr for providing a crucial shot of the lone approaching Nazgul.
- Removed “What’s this? A ranger caught off his guard?”. Yeah, why is he? And it doesn’t make Arwen’s introduction more potent or interesting.
- Arwen and Aragorn do not argue about who will ride. They just know who is the best suited. And I get a chance to add a little romance by changing the translation of the spoken elvish.
- Removed “What are you doing? Those wraiths are still out there!”. Why is Sam so stupid?
- No goo on Frodo’s face during the chase, and the Nazgul don’t come quite as near. The goo is gone later on, so…
- Removed Nazgul claiming the halfling and Arwen challenging them. They are scarier when they don’t make demands like that.
- The flood hits them too fast for them to move out of the way. They aren’t stupid anymore.
- Cut Arwen getting very upset that Frodo is dying. She still cries out, but the worst parts are gone.
- Removed Frodo saying that he is ready to go home again. I want him to appear more effected already, not wanting to leave the ring.
- Cut any talk about Aragorn choosing exile. Men are not without power, and Aragorn is only waiting for his time.
- Time change, the council of Elrond. Two reasons. It makes the revelation of Aragorns heritage more potent. It makes the next scene with Boromir and Narsil much more meaningful!
- Boromir does not question Aragorn on who he is. Because he already knows.
- And we get to end the first part with a kiss!
Part 2
- Aragorn does not refuse his heritage. The burden is upon him, and he is ready to shoulder it.
- The Watcher battle at Moria is shortened. If it had more time it should have killed someone.
- Troll action is drastically shortened. Nor do the hobbits kill any goblins. A little over the top in some parts, and I really don’t get why the hobbits get to be action heroes.
- The goblins do not climb walls like insects. Do I need to?
- A little less of Boromir almost falling down. Didn’t add to the tension.
- They do not jump over a hole in the stairs. What an anti-climax! A long scene about jumping a hole when they are chased by a Balrog.
- Removed Haldir telling Frodo that he is not welcome and carries great evil. Why does Haldir say this? If he knows, Galadriel must have told him. And she would want to help them. So either he shouldn’t know at all (good) or help them. Instead it is the arrogance of Gimli that makes Haldir reluctant to offer any help. I know that some have big issues with this scene, clothes, make up, etc, but I think the scene is good in other aspects and worth keeping. That parts are used again the Mirror of Galadriel only underscores her words “some things that have been”
- Removed “The enemy knows you have entered here. What hope you had in secrecy is now lost”. Which enemy? And what do they know? This makes things more unclear and poses questions never answered.
- Galadriel does not say that “he will try and take the Ring” The temptation is back! But this part isn’t very good, or at least I think so. It is enough that the Ring will break the Fellowship.
- Galadriel does not explain about her Ring. No need to. Feels off.
- Removed Celeborn telling Aragorn about orcs spotted, and changed his parting words. Once again his words aren’t properly explained. Followed by whom? (Gollum, yes, but let us know that then.)
- Sam does not ask for a dagger. It’s not his character to question the gift of the mighty Galadriel.
- Elvish translation change – Aragorn does not wish for Arwen to go to Valinor. Galadriel speaks of Arwen’s choice and what it will mean for her life. Because he accepts her choice and her love.
- Cut the Uruk-hai running. Shout out to Kerr, I found this an excellent choice, and went with it myself.
- Removed Aragorn talking about Minas Tirith as “your city” to Boromir. He does want to go there, but not like this, with the ring.
- Cut some of the first blows Aragorn makes against the horde of Uruk-hai. He retreats instead to a better position.
- Cut Boromir’s first intervention to save the hobbits. It’s not a bad scene, but a little odd, and has hobbits stabbing a couple of orcs too.
- Removed Legolas killing orcs that fall over randomly. Why do they do that?
- Removed Uruk-Hai felled by magic hobbit stones, and other orcs randomly dying near Boromir. They are strong and scary, not fluffy bunnies. And they have helmets for “#*^’s sake!
- Cut short the execution aiming on Boromir. It just looks silly.
- Sam does not go limp with glazed eyes under water. That would mean too long time. This cut turned out better this time around.
In total there are about 80-90 changes. I hope that someone will get this and enjoy it in it’s present form.
Disclaimer: You must own the original movie before acquiring any FanEdited movie. We here at FanEdit.org respect the company’s copyrights, and don’t want to infringe on any company’s rights. Thank you, FE!
Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info (enter and download at your own risk and responsibility)
| FANEDITFORUM LINK | IMAGES / COVER ART | TECH INFO | VIDEOS / TRAILER |
review by boon23
Prologue:
There have been many LOTR fanedits since the movies were released. Many of them were not approved on fanedit.org for having huge flaws or truly bad image/audio quality. Then there are the famous purist/book cuts, which I never was a fan of, because what I have seen of them always destroyed the mood of the movies for me. I for one simply don’t care if it is closer to Tolkien’s original idea, but if it works as a movie for me and keeps me entertained. I am a huge fan of the original movies and no fanedit will change that. Still from time to time I enjoy watching a different take, so I sat down and watched Spelledaren’s version of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: EXTENDED EDITION. I did not read the fanedit info to see an unspoiled version and experience the movie as it flows. This is not always an easy task, especially not, if one knows the original really well. But I have made the experience that once I am getting into the flow, my comparisons stop and I can enjoy a present watching experience.
As for all my reviews: this is just my personal opinion of this fanedit. I cannot tell anybody else, if he or she will experience it in the same way or the opposite. So my review is not objective and does not reflect the opinion of fanedit.org.
!!!!This review contains heavy spoilers!!!
The edit:
Launching the DVD did not really put my hopes up, because the main menu is not great. It looks very simple and feels to me like the introduction to something amateurish. This continues, when there is a badly done title insertion that comes with a stutter. Then I was watching FOTR. Most of the things that were cut were very well done and I did not miss them at all. Audio edits are most of the time great and not audible. Same goes for most cuts. However, some cuts were obvious and I will point them out, where they came to my attention and whether or not they worked for me:
(Some of the editors intentions are pretty tough to pull off convincingly, so I am keeping that in mind)
1. Removed Gandalf running to several doors and them closing. It’s meant to heighten the excitement, but has the opposite effect.
2. Cut most of the battle between the wizards. It’s a kinda silly battle. Now Saruman is obviously more powerful.
The one time Gandalf fires back felt rushed. Otherwise this worked really well. Saruman seemed incredibly powerful.
3. The Nazgul does not sit right on top of the hobbits, nor do they distract it. Now it’s scary but not failed. Once the Ring is resisted the Nazgul moves off.
This scene did feel a bit choppy. It worked though.
4. Cut Nazgul finding hobbits in the forest. They are not slower than hobbits on foot anymore.
It worked very well for me, even though the riders have no introduction here.
5. Removed some of the sleeping hobbits and posing Nazgul. They seem scarier when they are more to the point. Also I don’t like this kind of tension-heightener that the interposed sleeping hobbits and Nazgul images are supposed to be. It was overdone here, and I’ve shortened it.
Good call. This scene really works better this way.
6. Removed scene with Saruman contacting Sauron. Saruman is more threatening as an independent player. That he starts building an army is because he wants the ring himself!
Again: good call. Saruman is in this edit much more than just Sauron’s servant.
7. Only 1 Nazgul finds them on Weathertop. And it’s damn scary! Thank you Kerr for providing a crucial shot of the lone approaching Nazgul.
It feels choppy and the image quality varies. Aragorn pops up from nowhere and the Nazgul is defeated really quickly. although I understand the desire to make the Nazgul stronger (and I agree that this would be needed), the new scene did not convince me.
8. Removed “What’s this? A ranger caught off his guard?”. Yeah, why is he? And it doesn’t make Arwen’s introduction more potent or interesting.
Arwen and Aragorn do not argue about who will ride. They just know who is the best suited. And I get a chance to add a little romance by changing the translation of the spoken elvish.
Removed “What are you doing? Those wraiths are still out there!”. Why is Sam so stupid?
No goo on Frodo’s face during the chase, and the Nazgul don’t come quite as near. The goo is gone later on, so…
Removed Nazgul claiming the halfling and Arwen challenging them. They are scarier when they don’t make demands like that.
The flood hits them too fast for them to move out of the way. They aren’t stupid anymore.
This all worked really well, with the exception of the flood. Event hough it comes a lot faster it still is a bit weird. But overall: great work.
9. Cut Arwen getting very upset that Frodo is dying. She still cries out, but the worst parts are gone.
Now that scene felt now particularly strange and incomplete and jumps to Rivendell. Didn’t work for me at all.
10. Cut any talk about Aragorn choosing exile. Men are not without power, and Aragorn is only waiting for his time.
Time change, the council of Elrond. Two reasons. It makes the revelation of Aragorns heritage more potent. It makes the next scene with Boromir and Narsil much more meaningful!
Boromir does not question Aragorn on who he is. Because he already knows.
I found this a bit confusing.
11. The Watcher battle at Moria is shortened. If it had more time it should have killed someone.
Troll action is drastically shortened. Nor do the hobbits kill any goblins. A little over the top in some parts, and I really don’t get why the hobbits get to be action heroes.
The goblins do not climb walls like insects. Do I need to?
All worked great, but the city part felt chopped.
12. A little less of Boromir almost falling down. Didn’t add to the tension.
The result is a choppy scene change. Very obviously cut. Not good.
13. They do not jump over a hole in the stairs. What an anti-climax! A long scene about jumping a hole when they are chased by a Balrog.
I always liked that scene kind of. It adds a bit if humor to a very sinister scenario. But it is not really missed, when it’s gone.
14. Removed Haldir telling Frodo that he is not welcome and carries great evil. Why does Haldir say this? If he knows, Galadriel must have told him. And she would want to help them. So either he shouldn’t know at all (good) or help them. Instead it is the arrogance of Gimli that makes Haldir reluctant to offer any help. I know that some have big issues with this scene, clothes, make up, etc, but I think the scene is good in other aspects and worth keeping. That parts are used again the Mirror of Galadriel only underscores her words “some things that have been”
Removed “The enemy knows you have entered here. What hope you had in secrecy is now lost”. Which enemy? And what do they know? This makes things more unclear and poses questions never answered.
Galadriel does not say that “he will try and take the Ring” The temptation is back! But this part isn’t very good, or at least I think so. It is enough that the Ring will break the Fellowship.
Galadriel does not explain about her Ring. No need to. Feels off.
All worked well.
15. Removed Celeborn telling Aragorn about orcs spotted, and changed his parting words. Once again his words aren’t properly explained. Followed by whom? (Gollum, yes, but let us know that then.)
Sam does not ask for a dagger. It’s not his character to question the gift of the mighty Galadriel.
Elvish translation change – Aragorn does not wish for Arwen to go to Valinor. Galadriel speaks of Arwen’s choice and what it will mean for her life. Because he accepts her choice and her love.
All good calls.
16. Cut some of the first blows Aragorn makes against the horde of Uruk-hai. He retreats instead to a better position.
Cut Boromir’s first intervention to save the hobbits. It’s not a bad scene, but a little odd, and has hobbits stabbing a couple of orcs too.
Removed Legolas killing orcs that fall over randomly. Why do they do that?
Removed Uruk-Hai felled by magic hobbit stones, and other orcs randomly dying near Boromir. They are strong and scary, not fluffy bunnies. And they have helmets for “#*^’s sake!
Cut short the execution aiming on Boromir. It just looks silly.
The Uruk Hai encounter felt very choppy and was one of the worst parts of the fanedit for me. I don’t think any of the cuts were necessary or did improve the tension.
17. Sam does not go limp with glazed eyes under water. That would mean too long time. This cut turned out better this time around.
Good call. It still feels unlikely that Frodo could have saved him without getting wet.
As you can see, there are quite a few inconsistencies for me. Most things worked great, others really did not. I was getting a bit bored in Lothlorien and think the theatrical cut is more to the point there. Overall I was mostly entertained and realyl impressed by some of the decisions of Spelledaren that worked great.
editing: 7 of 10 (some spottable unnatural scene changes, but most of all really well done)
entertainment: 7 of 10 (I was distracted by the things that did not work well for me, but always could get back into the movie flow without wanting to stop. (original: 10 of 10))
Image and video quality:
The video quality was in most scenes great. There were a few scenes with varying image quality in close-ups and a few stutters.
Video quality: 8 of 10
Audio editing and audio quality:
audio quality was great. I did not notice a bad audio cut, which is a great achievement in such a heavily scored movie.
audio editing: 10 of 10
sound quality: 10 of 10
resulting in a 10 of 10 for overall audio
presentation:
The fanedit comes on 2 SL DVDs, which is not a great choice for ONE movie. 174 minutes is long, but one DL would have been the better choice IMO, especially because the menus are not nice and look pretty cheap. The chapter selection menus have custom titles for each scene, which is a nice addition. Unfortunately there is a flaw on disc 1 that makes you click twice to go back to the main menu. The custom title was not well inserted and very obvious, especially because of the stutter that came with it. The end credits are cut super short and are not custom. There are no extras and no cover art.
To sum it up:
The presentation leaves quite a lot to be desired. For the presence of menus, custom title and chapter menus I am giving 4 stars.
4 of 10 for overall presentation
Final result: 7 of 10
There are some really well done scenes and it is an enjoyable fanedit and a quite well done and promising firstling. What I particularly like about it is that Spelledaren tried some truly daring cuts and alterations and succeeded most of the time. I was entertained by the fanedit, but will not watch it again probably.
Recommended for those who are interested in a fixed cut of LOTR other than the book cuts.
Thank you, spelledaren, for creating it.
Review by boon23 — March 7, 2010 @ 3:26 pm
With such an extensive review posted by Boon23, I doubt that I can add anything to what he has already written.
I would like to echo what Boon23 writes at the beginning of his review; I have never cared whether any of the myriad of LOTR fanedits are more closer to the books or not. (I have Kerr’s version and his updates and enjoyed all 6 “books”). I grew up reading LOTR and enjoyed PJ’s movies immensly. Liike Boon23, from time to time, I will get the desire to watch a LOTR edit. I have always been of a mind (with the books as well as the movies) that there is some fat that could be trimmed. This edit does that: gets rid of a lot of “bloat” and makes a nice turn or two in a some areas other edits haven’t really addressed.
I, too, was very apprehensive about the DVD menu, seemed very basic. The edit of this movie is actually very good (see Boon’s review for details). I definitely like the more “menacing” Nazgul and Saramon.
For my “two cents” worth, if you have not watched any version of the LOTR originals or edits in a while, then this will be worth your time. Is it better or worse than any other version – not generally – just a different take. There are a wide variety of edits of this movie out there and this is another one that is worth watching.
Review by flyboy707 — March 7, 2010 @ 10:40 pm