With The Return of the King, the greatest fantasy epic in film history draws to a grand and glorious conclusion. Director Peter Jackson's awe-inspiring adaptation of the Tolkien classic The Lord of the Rings could never fully satisfy those who remain exclusively loyal to Tolkien's expansive literature, but as a showcase for physical and technical craftsmanship it is unsurpassed in pure scale and ambition, setting milestone after cinematic milestone as the brave yet charmingly innocent Hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood) continues his mission to Mordor, where he is destined to destroy the soul-corrupting One Ring of Power in the molten lava of Mount Doom. While the heir to the kingdom of Men, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), endures the massive battle at Minas Tirith with the allegiance of the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and the great wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Frodo and stalwart companion Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) must survive the schizoid deceptions of Gollum, who remains utterly convincing as a hybrid of performance (by Andy Serkis) and subtly nuanced computer animation.
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How do ordinary people find the strength within themselves to change the course of the future? What inspires a reluctant hero to become a courageous leader? Profound questions like these are the basis of The Return of the King. History has known many great leaders, and now, National Geographic delves beyond the film to provide a historical context for Aragorn's struggles. Through exclusive film footage and powerful interviews, surprising connections come to life between our world and The Lord of the Rings, helping us to better understand both.
-from Amazon.com website

DVD Features: (C) MMII New Line Productions, Inc. The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, and the characters, events, items, and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. DISCS 1-2: The Feature: A new version of the second installment includes 43 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film. (approx. 223 minutes) Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens Commentary track by the design team Commentary track by the production/post-production team Commentary track by 16 cast members, including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, and Miranda Otto DISCS 3-4: The Appendices: Two discs with hours of original content including multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries with thousands of images to give viewers an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DISC 3: Adapting the book into a screenplay & planning the film Designing and inspiration for locations in Middle-earth Storyboards to pre-visualization Weta Workshop visit: See sculptors in action as they create weapons, armor, creatures, and miniatures from the film Atlas of Middle-earth tracing the journey of the Fellowship An interactive map of New Zealand highlighting the location scouting process Galleries of art and slideshows with commentaries by the artists DISC 4: Sending the actors into battle: sword fighting Principal photography: Stories from the set Digital effects including motion capture and the computer program to create the armies of Orcs Bigatures: a close-up look at the miniatures Galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and personal cast photos Post-Production: editing it all together Sound design demonstration DVD-ROM Content: Includes access to exclusive online features Widescreen anamorphic format Number of discs: 4
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DVD Features: * (C) 2002 New Line Productions, Inc. The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, and the characters, events, items, and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Four-disc Platinum Series Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord of Rings: The Two Towers Collectible Gollum polystone statue created by Sideshow Weta Exclusive bonus DVD on the Weta Workshop and how the Gollum statue was created Exclusive printed companion piece showing how Gollum evolved from pencil sketch to digital character Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord of Rings: The Two Towers DISCS 1-2: The Feature: A new version of the second installment includes 43 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film. (approx. 223 minutes) Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens Commentary track by the design team Commentary track by the production/post-production team Commentary track by 16 cast members, including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, and Miranda Otto DISCS 3-4: The Appendices: Two discs with hours of original content including multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries with thousands of images to give viewers an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DISC 3: Adapting the book into a screenplay & planning the film Designing and inspiration for locations in Middle-earth Storyboards to pre-visualization Weta Workshop visit: See sculptors in action as they create weapons, armor, creatures, and miniatures from the film Atlas of Middle-earth tracing the journey of the Fellowship An interactive map of New Zealand highlighting the location scouting process Galleries of art and slideshows with commentaries by the artists DISC 4: Sending the actors into battle: sword fighting Principal photography: Stories from the set Digital effects including motion capture and the computer program to create the armies of Orcs Bigatures: a close-up look at the miniatures Galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and personal cast photos Post-Production: editing it all together Sound design demonstration DVD-ROM Content: Includes access to exclusive online features Widescreen anamorphic format
-from Amazon.com website

DVD Features: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Exclusive 10-minute behind-the-scenes preview of The Two Towers Three in-depth documentaries that reveal the secrets behind the production of this epic adventure, including: -"Welcome to Middle-earth" (in-store special as shown by Houghton Mifflin) -"The Quest for the Ring" (as debuted on the FBC Network) -"A Passage to Middle-earth" (as premiered on the SCI-FI Channel) 15 featurettes originally created for lordoftherings.net, which explore the locales and cultures of Middle-earth and include interviews with cast members Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, and others Enya "May It Be" music video An inside look at the Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Preview of Electronic Arts' video game, The Two Towers The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Documentary "On the Set: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (Starz/Encore special) Documentary "Return to Middle-earth" (WB special) Eight featurettes originally created for lordoftherings.net: "Forces of Darkness," "Sounds of Middle-earth," "Edoras & Rohan Culture," "Creatures," "Gandalf the White," "Arms & Armor," "Helm's Deep," and "Gollum: Andy Serkis, Bay Raitt" Emiliana Torrini "Gollum Song" music video Short film by Sean Astin "The Long and Short of It" Exclusive 10-minute behind-the-scenes preview of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Preview of video game, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" An inside look at the Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DVD-ROM features: Exclusive online content Widescreen anamorphic format Number of discs: 2
-from Amazon.com website

Like the previously released DVD Master of the Rings, Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's "The Two Towers" delivers all that it promises and more. Perfect for home or classroom viewing, this hour-long, British-made program begins enticingly with archival film of Tolkien describing his serendipitous creation of The Hobbit. What follows is a thorough survey of the second volume of The Lord of the Rings, spanning every aspect of The Two Towers, from geography (via computer-animated maps of Middle-earth), language, dominant themes, cultures and races, character development, and literary influence. Host Grant McTavish may seem a bit too solemn, but the program is so densely informative that any quibbles (such as occasional redundancy) are easily forgiven. Preeminent Tolkien authority Michael Stanton and historian David Doughan provide astute analysis, complemented by the popular artwork (also compiled in a separate gallery) of veteran Tolkien illustrators the brothers Hildebrandt. Other highlights include audio clips of Tolkien reading from The Two Towers (who could do it better?), making this a worthy appreciation of Tolkien's timeless literary legacy.
-from Amazon.com website