COMIC-CON: Previewing THE RETURN OF THE KING: EXTENDED EDITION

By: Patrick Sauriol and David Wharton
Date: Monday, July 26, 2004

When the special extended edition of THE RETURN OF THE KING arrives on store shelves close to the end of this year, it will feature 50 more additional minutes of footage not seen in the theatrical cut. That was one of the secrets revealed at New Line Home Video's panel about the extended KING DVD release this past Saturday at the San Diego Comic Convention. The movie will ship in a dark blue case, matching the green (FELLOWSHIP) and burnt red (TWO TOWERS) of the previous two extended edition movies.

A trailer was shown for the new edition which included snippets of many new scenes. Among the images spotted:

Aragorn in the Houses of Healing, squeezing water onto Eowyn's face with a rag.

Aragorn confronting Sauron via the Palantir. He holds the Palantir in one hand, then raises his sword and tells Sauron to behold the sword reforged.

Shots of an incredibly creepy Mouth of Sauron, bedecked in armor and robes, with almost nothing but his mouth visible beneath his helm: sharp teeth, pale yellow-white skin, generally quite nasty. He is confronting the heroes at the Black Gate.

A shot of Gandalf facing down the Witch King, the king of the Nazgul, inside the gates of Minas Tirith. Gandalf orders him to go back where he came from, but the Witch King responds that it is "his hour." He raises his sword to the blackened sky, and the sword ignites in flames.

Frodo and Sam marching in a formation of orcs, dressed in orc armor. Frodo appears to be on the verge of collapse, with Sam helping him to stand.

Shots from the final confrontation between the fellowship and Saruman. The old wizard is atop his tower. Gandalf tells him to come down and he won't be hurt. Saruman responds with a blast of fire from his staff.

A quick shot atop Saruman's tower. Saruman bitch-slaps Wormtongue.

Sam and Frodo in Mordor. Sam gazes up at the dark clouds and gives a little speech about there still being beauty and light up there, somewhere.

A scene of the courtship of Eowyn and Faramir, where the are clearly falling for each other.

A scene between Pippin and Faramir, where it's revealed that Pippin's tower guard uniform once belonged to a young Faramir. Pippin tells Faramir that he believes that Faramir is strong in his own way, and that his father will see that strength eventually.

An amazing alternate ending to the Paths of the Dead sequence. After Aragorn entreats the dead warriors to fight for him, instead of agreeing (as they do in the theatrical cut), they laugh and fade back into the walls. As Gimli calls them cowards, the cave begins to shake. Suddenly, the tomb begins to pour out thousands and thousands of skulls. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas struggle for the exit while being nearly buried by this huge avalanche of skulls.

A great little speech from Merry, talking about how he knows he can't save the world, but he doesn't care: he only wants to help his friends, and hopes he'll get to see them again someday.

Based on the footage shown at the con, director Peter Jackson may indeed have saved the best of THE LORD OF THE RINGS film experience for the very last. The extended edition of THE RETURN OF THE KING will arrive on store shelves sometime in December.


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