The original movie has 5 (or 6?) different endings to wrap things up, and I usually get antsy plowing through all of them. They are a big shift in tone and relatively dull after 3-plus hours of epic action. But set within this short episode, the endings are perfect. The bittersweet moods complement the Mordor scenes instead of competing with the Minas Tirath battle; they can shine instead of being washed out.

I like the deletion of the “eye” and its searchlight – even though it looks cool, it is too obvious a plot device. Without it, Sam and Frodo seem more deserted and desolate; the power of the ring seems more like a force of nature than a gimmick belonging to a fiery prison guard.

Rating for this episode: 10/10.

1 – I’m assuming that the extended ROTK still does not have that scene?
2 – As daunting as this task was to do (I imagine), will you be updating it when the BluRay Extended Cuts are available?

I was most drawn to this edit by its economy. I had only gotten around to watching the Fellowship extended edition, not the others. I think what kept me from rewatching these films was their staggering lengths. This edit brings all the material down from 11+ hours to a little over 7. With all this time trimmed and me having vague memory of the theatrical releases and no book memory to base it on, I was still hooked and found the plot easy to follow. I didn’t really get that odd sense I get with many fanedits that things are missing. Continuity was never a problem. The quality of the editing was flawless to my eyes. No hard cuts. The audio flows effortlessly.

On the other hand, the only time I got the sense that something should be cut was in RotK after Aragorn says “You bow to no one.” I had forgotten this scene and it floored me. All the moreso because of Kerr’s editing. I felt his breaking up of the stories into uninterrupted parts made their emotional impact that much stronger. As a result that scene had me in tears. I do love the remaining scenes and the ideas they explore. Also, I realize they’re in the book (otherwise, why would Kerr leave them?). Still, to me they dampen the impact of the aforementioned scene considerably. If this edit had been in deference to these works as films foremost, I would have expected the rest to go. But since this was not the aim of Kerr, he’s not to blame. He faithfully lived up to the goals of his project.

My significant other has never seen these films, but after having ensured their coherency and impact, I think they will be the best way to introduce her to this story.

Staggering work, Kerr. I highly enjoyed all 6 parts of this edit. Thanks for your work and inspiring me to pick up the books!

This part gets 8/10 from me. But the whole 6-part series gets 10/10. Bravo Kerr!

What continuity errors?

I’m trying to figure it out, and there are a couple of things that you could mean. Is it that some of the events in this movie take place after events in the previous one? That shouldn’t be it, since it’s just the narrative structure. Is it the scenes when Mt Doom explodes? Is it Frodo getting up to run very fast when Sam slices Gollum? Is it something else that I can’t even imagine? The original editors allowed for more jarring things than how Kerr handled those two things anyway.

The rest of the argument is fine, and I think Kerr would agree that it isn’t possible to match the originals. The intention wasn’t, I believe, to surpass PJ, but just to create a version as close to the books as possible. There was a demand for such an edit, and that Tolkien fan boys cheer this work isn’t very surprising…

I’m giving this 8/10. It does lack some for me to call it truly brilliant, but this is one damn fine edit in a row of fine edits.

Congratulations on making it this far.

This is a request for Boon23:
Please make a cover for part 6.
I wopuld be great to have the series complete with your covers.

Thanks