When I was at the Best Buy yesterday morning (some 15 minutes after they opened), the table that they had all the new releases set up on was already down to the last gift set, which I snagged. The girl standing behind it asked me what the big deal was with that version in particular, since "everyone's getting it instead of just the movie." She called back for a restock as I was heading for the register--I'm sure they had more in the stockroom.

The one in my town did -- well, I saw one.

She went into the back and everything -- she said they had FotR and TT ones, which strikes me as odd. Maybe I just shouldn't shop in Simi.

[SA, I was talking about the typo - " Dominica " made me picture Dom in drag .]

Le sigh. Mine has shipped, but now it's somewhere in the APO system, competing with all the Christmas gifts going to troops in Iraq. I can wait. As I've mentioned before, I don't have a TV anyway, which helps me be generous in my soul to our boys in the field. I just don't think I could bring myself to watch ROTK on my computer monitor.

I did get the 50th Anniv. edition of the book (solstice gift for husband) and it's beautiful!

Dani--ah. hee.

I'd have to say about Gimli that it wasn't the drinking game that bothered me -- so much as TPoTD which should have played out as real fear and not for laughts.

I agree that Faramir gets the best deal out of the added scenes. Of course, I wanted MORE. I mean we had that shot of Aragorn healing Faramir - but we never got to see it in the finished film.

I watched the film, "Cameras in MiddleEarth" and the one about the music (not the extra dvd but the disk four extra) plus -- baked cookies and made a salad for a potluck we're having at work today. So, I didn't get to bed 'til 1 -- and I'm tired, but it was totally worth it.

And I have to say that I should have trusted PJ about that "Eowyn's Dream" thing. I was releaved.

I also watched this on my tv -- which has a 13-inch screen. Naturally, I bought the widescreen version. I NEED to see it on a big screen.

I am also very happy that the "Lighting of the Beacons" is one of Viggo's favorite scenes too.

From a TV Guide Insider interview with Billy Boyd:

TVGO: What was it?

Boyd: It was the scene where we met Treebeard the Ent for the first time. We were told there was a rewrite because they wanted more comedy. I said, "Great." So we received these very official-looking script pages that had me and Dom climbing Treebeard, and he would awake and knock us off. As we fall down, our clothes are caught on the branches, and when we hit the ground, we're actually naked. Then Merry comes to Pippin and says, "Are you cold?" Pippin says yes and we hold each other to keep warm.

TVGO: More of that gay hobbit subtext!

Boyd: (Laughs) Dom and I had to drive five hours to the set that day. The whole time, we were going back and forth from "This could be really good and really funny," to "No, we can't do that! How can we do a naked scene in Lord of the Rings? Can this be real?"

TVGO: Well, sadly, that scene never appeared on screen.

Boyd: It was a joke, all made up. That was the day they got us back!

I agree with you sumi about TPoTD scene IRT Gimli.

One of my "yay!" moments was when Denethor was leading the funeral procession. He says "Gondor is lost" and we pan up to see one blossom on the white tree. I don't remember if that was in the theatrical version, but it was really neat.

I also liked the song they added for the Houses of Healing. Very haunting.

"Cameras in MiddleEarth" was the only extra I had time to watch since I rented it. This is always my favorite (serious) extra from all three movies (not including the easter eggs).

That white blossom wasn't in the Theatrical and I'm of two minds about it, because what Aragorn was waiting for, before he would be crowned was finding a sapling of the White Tree. Which he did, and then Elrond and Arwen arrived in Gondor and the Coronation and Wedding Happened. However, since in the movie, Aragorn clearly thinks that she is dead, I suppose that it is okay.

That song? That's the one that Liv Tyler sings!

Also, I did see the postcard for the Minas Morgul. And I want it. Yes, I do, but it costs $75.00 and it doesn't even come with a special cut of the movie told from the POV of Sauron and the Witch-King of Angmar!

One thing I'm curious about: When all of Rohan is camping, Aragorn has a dream in which he drops the evenstar pendant. Later in the movie when he confronts Sauron in the palantir and sees that Arwen is "dead" it appears he drops it out of his hand for real, but a few seconds before that it is securely fastened around his neck. Did he actually drop it or was he just recalling his dream?