LotR Original vs Extended Edition

Which is better? Why?

I can't help but feel like many of the scenes from the extended edition are unnecessary nerd pandering to make extra money.

For example, at the council of Elrond, the added content completely jacks the tone of the scene. You can really tell which bit was poked in there afterwards.

I prefer the extended. Yes, most of the stuff added is just fanservice, one bit that is out of place is Merry pledging his service to Theoden which he did in the book, but they were good friends in the book, in the film they aren't.

But then you have scenes like Saruman's death which shouldn't have been cut. I actually thought they were going to do the Scouring of the Shire when I first saw ROTK because Saruman didn't die.

FotR, Extended.
The other two original.
There are one or two great scenes in the extended editions, but most of it is out of place forced humor that not only ruins the atmosphere, it's also so painfully unfunny it makes you cringe. Jackson has a very dull sense of humor.

Personally I prefer the Extended Edition, but the cinema versions are legitimately good movies as well (unlike Kingdom of Heaven).

First viewing: Theatrical
Ever other viewing: Extended

I really disliked the way they handled Saruman's death. The dialogue felt forced, him falling to a spike is like it's from a video game. I'm sort of glad it got cut.

Scenes like Mouth of Sauron, Gifting, Aragorn singing of Beren and Lúthien, Frodo asking to go left or right to Mordor, Faramir and Boromir flashback,etc are too good and overshadow the few shit scenes.

I wish they made Aragorn's age known in the theatrical, but not in that shitty lol she can't cook scene they did.

Extended for all three, especially Two Towers, which had a Boromir flashback that was actually an important part of the plot and Faramir's character. Harry Potter is pretty much the only film series that's better as the original/theatrical cut.

Mouth of Sauron was shit though.

Extended for Fellowship is okay. Most of the scenes added are good if you're an LOTR nerd.

Extended edition for Two Towers is mandatory. The scenes it adds are extremely important and add so much to the lackluster character of Faramir.

Extended edition for Return is shit. The scenes that are added are low quality and fuck up the tone of the parts they're in and they're just not good to watch.

I wish there was an easy option to decide which scenes to keep and which ones to remove on the Extended editions. Watching TTT with Boromir scene but without the weed jokes on hobbit scenes would be perfect. But I suppose the only way to do that is to carefully edit the movie manually.

Theatrical has better pace, so that one.

>Extended edition for Two Towers is mandatory.

my nigga

...

Don't let Christopher Lee hear you day that. He deems that as one of his greatest acting moments of all time.

He even refused to watch the premier because Jackson cut the scene.

extended.
extended is always better.

i need her to be my Nienor.

Certainly it was better than just having him disappear from the story with no conclusion

It's not the acting, it's the way the scene is written and shot. The way he falls down is done to show off special effects.
Sure, but I wish it was done better. It was one of those scenes in the trilogy where Jackson's cheaper side was more apparent.

Half of the extended scenes are great for character development and should never have been cut, the flashback with Boromir, Faramir and Denethor for example.

The other half are cool tidbits for fans but really needed to be cut for the sake of pacing / drama like the Galadriel gift scene and the Mouth of Sauron scene.

Ideally there would be a combo of the two.

Some scenes were too fantasy/silly like all the trees moving to Helm's Deep.

I prefer the extended, but that scene always makes me cringe.

ur dumb

>too fantasy
>in a fantasy series
user

This. That shit felt almost as forced and cringy as Gandalf using black speech in the council of Elrond.

>saruman's shitty fanfic-tier dialogue
>theoden's horrible acting when he has to feel sad hearing Saruman talk about...something that i can't even remember
>"grima, come down."
>haha i will kill Saruman because i now realize he's an asshole after he bitch slapped me
>saruman's video gamesque fall
>nobody seems to give a fuck about his dead body on a stick

The theatrical cut is so much better
we don't need to know what the fuck happened to Saruman. He's locked in his tower. That's it.

>forced and cringy as Gandalf using black speech in the council of Elrond.

elaborate

Felt like a theatre play rather than a movie scene. Where the hell did it come from? Gandalf just starts spouting some weird cringy dialogue out of nowhere for no reason

>Gandalf using black speech in the council of Elrond.
>out of nowhere for no reason

watch out bois we've got a sophisticated scholar of arts here!

wtf?

He was clearly using it to make others realise the gravity of the issue and stop their petty quarrels.

It was a good scene

>spouting some weird cringy dialogue out of nowhere for no reason

This is criticism on Sup Forums in the current calendar year. Can we just nuke this shit hole of a board already?

/film/ when?

>cringy
you sound self-conscious

This is accurate.

Extended for Fellowship isn't required. The movie holds up on its own. It's recommended if you want to nerd out a little.

Two Towers is mandatory, even if it's just for the added Osgiliath scene with Boromir. It fleshes out Boromir and Faramir so much more and introduces Denethor.

Return of the King just isn't necessary. It didn't add anything of substance.