In the EE, if memory serves, it happens after Denethor's dead, so it could go either way, I suppose.

ita, I thought there was some weird reordering too, especially with the battlefield and Houses of Healing scenes. When I watched ROTK (theatrical) for the second time, I was surprised that so much happened between Eowyn killing the Witch-King and Theoden's death scene; my memory wanted those two scenes to be adjacent. So now in the EE, there's an even longer gap between those scenes, which confused me anew, and I'm wondering just how long Theoden lay there on the battlefield quietly dying until Eowyn finally made her way over to him. And you're right that setting the scene in which Pippin finds Merry on the battlefield after the Houses of Healing scene is also confusing. I don't know how I'd recut it to make it better, though, without cutting up the Houses of Healing bit into two or three scenes, which they clearly didn't want to do. In the TE, was it day or night when Pippin found Merry?

In my head, the Houses Of Healing does take a fair amount of time, but it seemed compressed unneeded. Most of the other time issues were better, though. Also -- Osgiliath confused the hell out of me -- how long did that take? Wasn't there enough time in the EE, mid-battle, for Rohan to ride to war? It does make Faramir look better, the idea that they held out for a while. And, speaking of lying dying -- Faramir's second in command seemed to have been felled during fighting, but killed once everyone else had cleared out. Again felt like a lot of time.

And was Gothmog so crippled in the theatrical? Is there a backstory to that?

Refresh my memory: which one is Gothmog?

Head orc this time round -- with the missing fingers and obscured eyes. Oh, and how does he die in the theatrical?

I really lament the lack of Lurtz. Not that he needed to live past the end of FotR, just that he was a charismatic (or is my sickness showing) baddie, and TTT especially lacked anyone that brutal and bad, yet sexy.

Ah, I thought that might be who you were talking about. I never got his name. In the theatrical, I'm not sure we do see him die. At least, I had the same question you did when [Aragorn?] killed him in the EE. I think we just lose track of him in the TE.

As for charismatic baddies, I have to admit to having a slight crush on one of the Haradrim mumakil-drivers. The actor was in at least one of the docs I watched yesterday (Shane someone?)--very cute. He was listed as "Harad something #2" but he was the only one I remembered or recognized. He's the one who blows the horn when the mumakil come storming onto the field. Pity he gets killed so quickly.

eta: heh, my memory clearly sucks. I blame it on being sick.

cereal:

I'd have to rewatch to figure out the timing of the taking of Osgiliath, the attempt to reclaim it, and the eventual siege of Minas Tirith vs. the timeline of events in Rohan; I wasn't paying very close attention. Regarding Faramir's second-in-command, though, I didn't think there was any difference between what happened to him in the TE and the EE. Did you think he was wounded earlier in the EE?

In the theatrical version, I remember the second in command going down and being killed. In the EE, we see him fall, cut away to the retreat (at least, there may have been more), and then it's in an empty Osgiliath that he gets offed. It may have been empty in the theatrical, I just don't remember seeing it empty. So it felt briefer.

That mumakil driver freaked me out. But I did remember him.

Although the taking of Osgiliath takes much longer, going into late morning, it doesn't make any more sense. You know, when you are being attacked, and your attackers are being sneaky, there isn't much reason for YOU to be sneaky in return. It's OK to yell and use arrows at that point.

(The whole day/night/time shifting made sense to me, in some ways, but in other ways, not. And you know what? At the key moment when the Rohirrim show up? Sun still rising in the northwest.)

Also, Strider's speech before the Black Gate makes even less sense in the EE than in the theatrical. In the theatrical, it represented wishful thinking; in the EE, it turned into something tantamount to a lie.

More about Gandalf: I liked his humanity and imperial nature here. I wasn't a big fan of Gandalf the Grey -- he was a bit mundane. I did like him more as the White, and even more with the EE stuff.

I want to find Bernard Hill and tell him that the excised Saruman scene wasn't his best one. Sure, it was good, but the death scene and FORTH EORLINGAS!! -- golden and magical. In fact, I think Aragorn's Black Gate speech didn't stand a chance.