Scene Selection — Geoff Carter — Value of DVDs rings true with ‘Lord’

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

Three years ago, before I got my first DVD player, I didn't buy movies. Even when I worked in a video store, I couldn't bring myself to purchase a VHS copy of a movie I'd seen in theaters that year, even if it was an instant favorite. If you played a VHS tape even once, it was compromised.

DVD appeals to me in a way VHS or even Laserdisc never could: It is the media equivalent of a Modern Library edition, with unabridged content delivered in a way close to the author's intent. Collateral materials, such as the filmmaker's commentary tracks, function as a glossary and insular analysis of the work: An artist can explain his or her intentions directly to the viewer.

And if the viewer isn't interested in knowing what the filmmaker was hoping to achieve, the explanations can easily be bypassed. DVD gives only as much information as the viewer requests.

In the case of the "Special Extended Edition" of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (New Line Home Entertainment, $39.99), the volunteer aspect of DVD is taken further still: Jackson not only offers more information on the making of the film -- almost seven hours' worth of documentary -- but a new and superior version of the film itself.

It doesn't replace the version of the film that played in theaters: New Line has already released a DVD of that version and has no plans to scrap it.

Nor is it a version of the film hobbled by the re-addition of cut scenes -- Jackson has said the film that played in theaters was the film he wanted to make. But when you draw from source material as rich as J.R.R. Tolkien's sprawling mythology, fans will want more of whatever you've got.

Jackson will satisfy those fans, and nearly everyone else, with this spectacular new cut. The original cut of the film was 178 minutes long, the new version 208 -- and even at 3 1/2 hours, "Fellowship" is one of the best-paced adventure films of recent times.

Characters are fleshed out, backstories are better explained, and the epic quality of the film grows exponentially with its running time.

Sean Bean's character, Boromir, benefits most. In the original cut his motivations are nakedly apparent from the outset, but in the new version we can see him at war with his emotions.

He wants to do right, but his mind isn't his own, and the added portions of Bean's performance make his ultimate redemption all the more heroic. Ditto John Rhys-Davies as Gimli -- his expanded performance adds an emotional layer to his character.

I'm still viewing the documentaries and will be for some time so I can't speak to their overall quality, but the first few -- detailing the story's journey from Tolkien's pen to Jackson's film -- are thoroughly engrossing. The last place you'd expect to find a philosophical discussion of the nature of evil is in a film's making-of special, yet it is present nonetheless, and it fits.

A must for fans of the film and the DVD medium alike, the "Special Extended Edition" of "Fellowship" raises the bar for DVD releases and Hollywood storytelling. I'd wager that if you combined the thematic and behind-the-scenes elements of "XXX," "8 Mile," "Scooby-Doo" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" you wouldn't get seven hours of compelling documentary.

Perhaps Tinseltown should spend the forty bucks and figure out where their compromising began.