So far the extra scenes have been great. The introductions to Beorn in two's right from the book. WK being buried in the tomb. I have not seen a scene yet that they should have cut from the film.

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The only scene I was unsure about was a scene between The Master and Alfrid (when you've seen it, you'll know it). Whilst I thought it was quite funny, and gave some nice insight into the Master and Alfrid as characters, the inclusion of an obvious swear word (though I happily swear like a trooper in real life, so it's not that I'm opposed to such things) seemed out of place in a Middle Earth movie, which have always strayed away from such things. But that said, it's an old, proper Anglo Saxon word, used appropriately in a context where it would not have been considered inappropriate historically. It's just the extra, out of context modern connotations that took me out of the film for a while and made me a bit unsure about it, ultimately.

The film is improved though - the first half is the most heavily extended, and it's much more satisfying as a result.

When seeing the trailer yesterday I realized that the SEE has already been out for nearly two weeks. So I went after school in Bree-like rain to town and got it. I only saw the first half yet but all the scenes are amazing!
I'm really glad it's weekend now, I have more than 9 hours bonus material!

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Really enjoyed all the new/extended scenes and back-story. The behind the scenes stuff is very good.

Steven Fry is very funny in the bit I've seen. I'm looking forward to watching it again on my own (won't have to explain who's who )

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Enjoyed the extended version, and have just started watching the extras. I have been surprised by what they show in the extras that they could have extended some more scenes. Specifically, Tauriel healing Kili in Bard's house. It seemed like they had enough to extend the scene but for some reason didn't.

Need to have two screens going, I am constantly shifting discs to go from the extras to the scene in the movie to watch that part again more closely.

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I really enjoyed finally seeing Thrain the Broken. It gave great background!

I watched the Extended Film and six hours extras on friday after school and the rest yesterday and I am really, really pleased!
I love the extras, I always loved them. The locations, scenery and costumes are simply the best that you can find in any film. Although I must say I missed parts about the costumes and design in the extras. Maybe they left them for the third film or they didn't do anything that they have the WETA chronicles for...

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The extra scenes certainly improved the movie, and running at some 3 hours in total, I'd have left them for the theatrical edition really.
Some (Beorn introductions, stream, white stag) may not be very important for the storyline, but they are good for the characters and will be enjoyed by those loving the book. Thrain's knowledge of the danger at Erebor, on the other hand, seems very relevant given the army at Dol Guldur and the Necromancer's plans as partially shown in the trailer for the last movie...

Loved the EE (much more than the first one) and to be honest felt the movie could have been released as this to the theatres but hey-ho we've got it now and much like the LOTR this will be the only version I ever watch.

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Indeed, having seen the EE now, it does seem like they skipped out on a lot of the fluffy book stuff for the regular edition. However, some of the EE stuff seemed like it would be really helpful for those who have never read the books and only have the background given in the movies. Especially a conversation between Beorn and Gandalf, as well as Thrain and Gandalf.

I also agree that all these scenes could easily have been kept in the regular edition....

The removed scene of Beorn coming in at night and Bilbo seeing him standing in the kitchen, though brief, I don't know why they could not leave it in as it doesn't hurt the new scenes. He may or may not have known that they were sleeping in the other room still, and either way Gandalf even says thank you for hospitality, you may have noticed we took up lodging yadda yadda... they don't advertise that they cut scenes to extend others.

I have not watched the film again, but I think they also took out the scenes of Gandalf dispelling Dol Guldor and the orcs talking about how he will find them, am I right? if so again, I don't know why that scene would have to be removed to include the thrain scenes.

EDIT - I watched today, the orcs talking and the dispelling is still there, must have been when I went to get some food for a minute so I didn't see it but saw the Thrain Scenes.
Still don't like any of the Lake town scenes, meaning the entire laketown story.

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In a nutshell, is it worth getting ?

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Yes, absolutely

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I've watched the extended & its great..loved all the fashbacks...but I decided after the AUJ EE that I would save my pennies.

Be it next year or in 5 years, we all know that there's going to be a HUGE Hobbit/LOTR/Middle Earth Box set released with all the Extended Editions, interviews, blogs, behind the scenes etc.

That is what I'm waiting for.

I'd then bring it back to my citadel to be kept safe. Hidden. Dark and deep in the vaults, not to be used. Unless at the uttermost…end of need.

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I watched the EE today for the first time and enjoyed it tremendously. As it is technically a Christmas present though I'm not allowed to watch the extras until December 25th. Something to look forward to.

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On my 'To Get' list.

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I bought the EE as my Christmas present from my wife, so she has hidden it and told me to forget I ever saw it. Ho hum.

I just want to get into the bonus features and start making Laketown.

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Dagster

I will say that all the extra scenes really helped the film out and improved it greatly. In fact I was somewhat sad after the first half of the movie because most of the extra stuff is there! So watching the second half was slightly less enjoyable, but great nonetheless.

Also, I didn't know that Thrain was part dwarf part Wilhelm......the inclusion of the scream when he was...absorbed by Sauron really took me out of the moment.

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The Wilhelm scream is one thing that needs to stop. It always ruins whatever scene it's in, whether at Helm's Deep, Goblin Town or Dol Guldur, or even in the Star Wars Universe. Just stop.

I liked it, but the extra Lake-Town scenes were so weird. In all of LotR, we had one thing that might have been considered an innuendo: Bilbo saying that a mother of 8 kids at his party "had been very busy". AUJ had Dwalin telling Kili "That's not a maid" (which honestly isn't anything, and it fits the dwarvish personality pretty well, still seemed out of place) and them bathing (again, it fit, the hobbits seemed to be naked quite a bit in FotR). Then DoS had "I might have anything down my trousers" "Or nothing". Then the EE added '[word deleted]' (which isn't actually an offensive word in America, I don't think most people even know what it means), the very obvious use of the word 'cock' (which is well known in America, and wouldn't have been anything if he hadn't burped) and finally, Bard implying that the Captain of the Guard's wife was well 'known' to all the men of Lake-Town. Then TBotFA adds in '[word deleted]'. Why is it that the Hobbit trilogy is less kid friendly than the Lord of the Rings trilogy? The entire series went from only having one sexual innuendo to having one swear word, 7 sexual innuendos and some nudity. Just weird.

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The DoS EE is great. Definitely improves the film. We loved more time with Beorn, and Thrain in Dol Guldor is one of the best parts.



Funny isn't it? PJ takes out violence etc. for younger audiences and replaces it with vulgar language and sexual references? Maybe it was thought educational for the kids?

AUJ was alright. Burping and snotting is innocent enough, and works with the Hobbit being ultimately a children's story. In the books, Tolkein's characters sometimes bath nude. The DoS though was bad, and BotFA was worse. Tolkein would never approve of these crude additions.

Elladan & Elrohir

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