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LOTR:Return Of The King Trailer

Posted by Hemos on Mon Sep 29, 2003 07:01 AM
from the one-ring-to-make-AOL's-q4-profits dept.
noda132 writes "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King trailer is now available! I just found it on theonering.net. It's only 9mb big, but it's a start." You can also get it from AOL as well. Update: 09/29 20:13 GMT by S : The official site now has the new trailer as well.
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  • Obligatory analysis (Score:5, Informative)

    by TopShelf (92521) * on Monday September 29 2003, @07:01AM (#7083514) Homepage Journal
    The frame-by-frame analysis can also be found here [theonering.net].
    • by gowen (141411) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Monday September 29 2003, @07:03AM (#7083526) Homepage Journal
      I'm not entirely sure thats frame-by-frame...

      Frame 2: Very like Frame 1. Everyone has moved very slightly...

      Frame 3: Very like Frame 2. The camera has started to move. Very slowly...
    • by Vindicator9000 (672761) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:32AM (#7083656)
      didn't seem like it had any shots of the Shire after the battle and the destruction of the ring... Does anyone else think that Peter Jackson is going to totally screw up the original ending *really bad*? I keep hoping that he keeps it more or less as written (I'd love to see a small army of Hobbits trouncing Sauruman's henchmen), but given what he has cut out already as "non-essential," I can't help but have some misgivings.

      Don't get me wrong, I actually thought the first two movies were quite entertaining. I didn't really mind him cutting out Bombadil, and I'm willing to overlook the horrible treatment of Treebeard, but something tells me that they're just going to totally screw up the beauty of the original ending.

      • by bzzzt (313005) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:37AM (#7083680)
        I believe it was announced 2 years ago that the movies would not contain the "scouring of the shire" chapter...
          • Under the premise that "Scouring" scenes have been shot at all, some "Extended DVD Collection" will contain the "bonus" ending scenes.

            Shots of ruined Hobbiton were shot, at least, for Frodo's vision in the mirror.

      • Someone asks this in every LOTR article.

        For the last time, Peter Jackson announced years ago that there would be no Scouring. They included an homage to it in the Mirror of Galadriel scene.

        The reason is because he didn't want another story after the main climax.
        • One sequence that will not make it from the book into the film despite the hopes of many fans, according to repeated statements by Jackson, is the "Scouring of the Shire", in which the Hobbits return home at the end of their quest to find they have some cleaning up to do. The fall of Saruman originally takes place at the end of this scene, so it is not clear where it will occur in the movie.

          From: Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]

          I agree that it should have been filmed and put in an extended DVD version (if not the theatrical

      • but something tells me that they're just going to totally screw up the beauty of the original ending.
        Dude, PJ has already said he axed the Cleansing. From what he said, they didn't even film it for the extended edition. Too bad. I'm looking forward to the "Phantom Edit" equivalent for LotR.
  • OneRing is /.'ed but AOL is tortoising along at 1.5kb/s. By 8:00am I'll be basking in the glory of the Return Of The King trailer.
  • Rumors tell that over 3 or maybe 4 hours? Anybody heard anything "official"?

    Regarding the trailer, I think that this will be the most fantastic part of the whole. My favorite scene from the trailer is when Aragorn reclaims the Narsil from Elrond ... man, that scene has some real power in it (if you read the books, ofcoz) :)

        • What I want to know is, will they call it Anduril?

          I think the whole point is that Jackson is trying to draw the transformation of Aragorn from ranger to king closer to the climax of the story. I can see the appeal of that.

          Aragorn in the books is a flawless, comic-book hero by the time of the Council of Elrond, and is waving Anduril around at every opportunity (at Eomer, at Hama, etc.) The only real moment of any drama concerning Aragorn (as far as I'm concerned) is where he shows himself to Sauron and the
  • by Davak (526912) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:07AM (#7083547) Homepage
    Am I the only one that saw the first LOTR movies before reading the book? What was I thinking?

    It totally destroyed the experience for me as the movie's images were stuck in my head as I read.

    At least I didn't screw it completely up and read the book before this last one.

    Davak
    • Doh, typo.

      At least I didn't screw it completely up since I read the book before this last one.

      Davak
    • by davebarz (546161) * <{david} {at} {barzelay.net}> on Monday September 29 2003, @07:10AM (#7083565) Homepage
      It's much worse a phenomenon than that. Prior to the movies, I'd read the whole trilogy at least 5 or 6 times. Nevertheless, when I read it now, I still picture all the movie characters. I can't even remember how I used to picture them. On one hand, it's a testament to the quality and immersive brilliance of the movies. On the other hand, it's really annoying that they stole from me the images of characers I've treasured since childhood.
      • They should just release a new printing of the books, and call it "The Author's Cut."

        As for myself, I've probably read LOTR 15 times or so, and have been blown away with how good a job they've done with the films. Sure, there are things to complain about (I'll reserve my judgement on the whole Faramir thing until I see the extended DVD this fall), but by and large Jackson took on a monumental task and succeeded admirably.
  • Uff... I feel dirty....

    seriously though, I got the trailer in seconds fom there, one ring is only 1/4 through and I've allready watched it!

    now I just have to wait till december 17th :(
  • by Sandman1971 (516283) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:09AM (#7083558) Homepage Journal
    Has anyone seeded this on a bittorrent tracker yet?
  • ONLY! 9Mb (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MosesJones (55544) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:11AM (#7083569) Homepage

    I know that isn't really very big, but it did make me realise how much the internet has kicked on in the last few years, and how high-compression technologies like Wavelets etc have been superceeded thanks to broadband connections.

    9Mb isn't huge by todays standards, but it is worth considering for a second how much our viewing habits have been changed. No-longer do we go to a movie JUST to see the trailer... we download it. We all know that soon you'll see 100Mb full quality trailers being available.

    Prediction of the day.... within 3 years someone will post on Slashdot that a trailer is "only" 100Mb.
  • by mschoolbus (627182) <travisriley@NospAM.gmail.com> on Monday September 29 2003, @07:12AM (#7083576)
    Please do not put direct links to movies on slashdot...

    Unless you find some movies on SCO's page, then feel free.

  • Here's the .torrent for the new trailer [utwente.nl] as all the sites are bogged down already.
    Be sure to keep your download running to help others with their download!
    • Re:Torrent here! (Score:5, Informative)

      by jrest (539296) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:32AM (#7083655)
      My download through this torrent link is corrupt. At 1:42 into the movie the sound becomes distorted and video stops.
      I'm using BitTorrent 3.3, the newest as far as I'm aware.
      I tried it twice. Did not help. Is anyone else having problems?
  • by Anonymous Coward
    The Japaneese version of this trailer (identical but with subtitles and ads on the side) has been available for weeks around the net.

    Also, the quality on this seems funky but if it's on AOL streaming, I guess it's for real.
  • by bigmouth_strikes (224629) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:21AM (#7083613) Journal
    Here's the torrent for a 12 min preview by Peter Jackson. It includes most of what is in the trailer and then some background goodies.

    http://bittorrentmovies.de/~supernova/torrents/2 33 /ROTK_Preview_(12mins).torrent
  • hmmm (Score:3, Interesting)

    by fjordboy (169716) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:32AM (#7083653) Homepage
    Did anyone notice the reforging of the shards of Narcil in the trailer? I was under the impression that aragorn already had his sword, and jackson just cut it out...hmmm, is this anywhere near the chronology of the books? I thought his sword was reforged before this point...
    • Re:hmmm (Score:3, Interesting)

      no, it is no where near the chronology of the books. as i recall, in the text, Aragorn took the re-forged Narsil with him when he left Rivendell. The elves then don't show up until after the final battle when Aragorn and Liv Tyler get married. I think Jackson wanted to keep the love story at the forefront so the eowin (sp) storyline would be more bittersweet, and so shifted this aspect of the story.
      • Jackson has done a fair amount of tinkering with the chronology and action in other parts of the film. For the most part I think he has done a splendid job in bringing out aspects of the story which Tolkien left un-developed. It is rather like seeing the same story through the eyes of a different story teller.

        In this case, I think that the tinkerage with the chronology could be rather fine - in the books the reforging of Narsil is a rather ho-hum affair. But Jackson appears to be bringing it center stage

    • It was reforged and given to him when he left Rivendell, but I think what is seen in the trailer may just be part of a flashback. I don't think that is a terrible idea, because it is more topical in "Return of the King" anyway, especially when you consider that those who see the movies and don't read the book might forget the significance of Narsil.
  • Norwegian mirror (Score:3, Informative)

    by Stig_Soleng (584809) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:42AM (#7083712)
    You can get it from http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~stigespe/lotr3_trlr_dl.mo v [stud.ntnu.no]
  • by kiddailey (165202) on Monday September 29 2003, @07:57AM (#7083801) Homepage
    There are at least three versions of the trailer floating around that are NOT the 12 minute preview or the short montage that was part of that preview (from TTT DVD)

    • There's a very poor quality, so-dark-you-can-hardly-see-it version with Asian type all over the frames (ROTK_Trailer.mpeg)

    • There's the better quality, 320x240 version that AOL released last night at midnight EST (lotr3_trlr_dl.mov)

    • A Danish site released a BEAUTIFUL, 19MB, 480x280 version (rotk_trailer_480x280.mov) ... but it's downloading at 2.8k/s at the moment :(

    • TORN mirrored the file from the Danish site, but it was corrupt and was cut short at 11MB. They've temporarily removed the link.

    • There's a few Torrent links mentioned here for the 480x280, but it is a copy of the corrupt version. Make sure the one you're grabbing is 19MB
  • by cyranoVR (518628) <cyranoVR@@@gmail...com> on Monday September 29 2003, @08:23AM (#7083945) Homepage Journal
    I started to watch the trailer, but I couldn't finish. I just couldn't...I want to save all my enthusiasm for the actual movie which - based on both the last two movies and what happens in the book - can't NOT be good. I was watching the trailer and I was like "I don't need a trailer to know that this movie is going to ROCK." So you guyz can have my bandwidth :)
  • Another mirror (Score:3, Informative)

    by Mayk (538523) on Monday September 29 2003, @08:27AM (#7083974) Homepage
    Another mirror to /. [zonation-design.net]
  • by epicstruggle (311178) on Monday September 29 2003, @08:32AM (#7084019)
    ... is the inclusion of any significant number of elves to battle sauron. The reason armies of elves should not be there for me, is that this is where humans are supposed to redeem themselves for the mistake of Isildur, who should have destroyed the ring when he had the chance.

    Does it bother anyone else? Its minor, but why not bring an army of dwarves too, if we are rewritting things.

    All in all, still a great adaptation. You go PJ.

    later
    epic
      • by dswensen (252552) on Monday September 29 2003, @10:57AM (#7085342) Homepage Journal
        That's totally unfair and uncalled-for. Peter Jackson is an ENORMOUS Lord of the Rings fan, and that's about the only reason you're not hearing Frodo say "talk to the hand" and Gandalf drinking a refreshing Pepsi-Cola (TM).

        Stanley Kubrick himself once called the Lord of the Rings completely unfilmable -- and, in the books' original form, he's right. Many things which make the book great will simply not fly in a movie medium. You might think they will -- thirty minutes of a guy in a yellow jacket and pointy shoes talking about sheep and Goldberry, and Faramir finding Frodo and Sam in Morder and going "aw shucks! Get out of here with that Ring of Power, you scamps!" In a lengthy, leisurely book like Lord of the Rings, that's fine, but in a movie that already clocks in at three hours a pop with tons of stuff cut out, you'd be bored out of your nitpicking skull. I love Tolkien dearly, but most of his material is as dramatic as a flapjack, because Tolkien was ultimately a lover of the slow and pastoral life of the English countryside. Which is great, but doesn't make good film. Sorry.

        Consider how moving and exciting the Lord of the Nazgul scenes from RotK would be if Jackson adapted them faithfully. He rides into Gondor, Gandalf says "you cannot come in here," a rooster crows, some trumpets play, and the Nazgul turns and leaves. Yeah. Thrilling stuff. The crowd would be on the edge of their seats.

        Listen to Jackson's DVD commentary on Fellowship sometime, with the other two writers, and how much they agonized and labored over every change that they made, and how many things Jackson wanted to leave in but simply couldn't and deeply regrets. He even laments having to take out Glorfindel and Gildor Inglorion.

        I am a big fan of the books, and I was disappointed with a few of the changes too, especially in Two Towers. But Jackson and everyone else have labored very hard to bring as faithful a movie adaptation as they could to a book that is, fact's a fact, completely impossible to adapt faithfully and still have it be any good. Go watch the Rankin-Bass or Ralph Bakshi adaptations of LotR sometime if you want to see how truly, awfully BAD an adaptation could have been. Tolkien fans got very, very lucky when Peter Jackson landed this project, and sorry -- he deserves better than "oh he probably never even READ the books." That is pure bunk.
          • by dswensen (252552) on Monday September 29 2003, @12:13PM (#7086157) Homepage Journal
            If you want to make a point, try doing it without the ad hominem attacks next time, thanks. You have no idea what I do or don't understand, or my appreciation of subtlety, so let's not pretend you do.

            I understand perfectly well how literature can be translated to the screen. I also understand part of the reason for LotR's enduring popularity is that it is different things to different people, and additionally, that any film adaptation of a work of literature is the interpretation of one person, or, in this case, three (Jackson, Boyens, Walsh). Jackson's vision of Lord of the Rings is not the same as my own, nor should it be.

            Insofar as the scenes mentioned are concerned -- in some sense you are preaching to the choir. The changes made to Faramir, especially the trip to Osgiliath, was by far my biggest gripe with Two Towers. I was extremely irate about it, but on further reflection, could understand why Jackson made the decision. I just wish he could have handled it differently. For my part, I found the encounter with Faramir in the books to be devoid of suspense -- but likewise found the movie version swung too far in the opposite direction. Because I support Jackson's privilege to make changes to the original doesn't mean I worship them all as immaculate.

            As far as the Lord of the Nazgul scene goes, that remains to be determined -- I am anxious to see what Jackson does with it. In my opinion, the strength of the written word is that it can support the sort of subtle, existential horror and dread such as you describe far more reliably than a visual medium, because they rely on the reader's imagination.

            You can bank on that tension more or less forever in the written word -- in Tolkien's work, the Nazgul are mostly a non-existent threat until the (very brief) confrontation on the Pelennor Fields, where the fearsome Lord is undone by a stab to the ankle and one swipe from a sword. To his credit, Tolkien still manages to pull them off as dreadful despite the fact that they never actually do much but ride around and slaughter the occasional Prancing Pony bed-bolster.

            While this approach might work for the die-hard enthusiast (as might a 15- or 20-hour faithful adaptation of the work), the LotR film is an expensive project that needs to make a profit, and that means placating the majority of moviegoers who expect a bit more action from their fantasy films. I think it's the price we pay for having a film adaptation at all, and though I have problems with Jackson's interpretation as well, I think we as an audience could come off much worse than we have. Again, I point to Jackson's precursors, Bakshi and Rankin-Bass. You want to see a filmmaker taking some liberties with the story? Watch Bakshi's LotR sometime. Saruman becomes "Ahriman" (sometimes), Treebeard is supremely comical, Elrond wears a tee-shirt to the council at Imladris, and Boromir is a shrieky nincompoop who dresses like Hagar the Horrible. Jackson is a purist by comparison.

            I didn't go into the Lord of the Rings movies expecting the book to be retold in movie form. Not only is that impossible, it would hold few if any surprises for someone who's read the books as many times as I have. If I wanted that precise experience, I'd just read the book again. Instead, I got to see Boromir as a slightly more sympathetic character, Faramir as slightly less (again, that didn't work out so well), Aragorn a bit more conflicted, and the Nazgul a little more active, and a pretty fantastic Watcher in the Water, while still (in my opinion) maintaining quite a few (not all) of the book's original themes.

            It's not a faithful adaptation, but I don't believe a faithful adaptation could or should be filmed, nor would it be interesting even if it was. That's just my opinion. I believe that people who want the experience of the novel should read the novel. A movie of the novel is going to involve some retelling and some shuffling of the elements, because one medium is of the eye and ear, the other is of the imagination. Anyone goin
            • I'd agree with that comment if you substituted "Tolkien geeks" with "geeks". Unless you're a member of the Tolkien Society or the like, I don't see how you can claim to speak for the Tolkien geek collective :-)

              I liked Jackson's "Fellowship" for its stunning sets and cinematography, but not very much else. However, if it encourages viewers to discover the books for themselves, that's a great positive. Some of the deviations from the narrative of the book are understandable, but most are not. Even foregoin

  • by galaga79 (307346) on Monday September 29 2003, @09:51AM (#7084716) Homepage
    ** SPOILER WARNING FOR THAT THOSE HAVEN'T READ THE BOOKS **

    Is it just me or does it look like the movie won't have the rangers of the north? I am making this assumption because the part of the preview (on the Two Towers DVD) that obviously shows them about to enter the Path Of The Dead has Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas but no rangers (or the two elves that come with the rangers).

    It will a real bummer if there are no rangers in the film, because not only did they sound like bad ass warriors in the book but they also give Aragorn something very important, which relates to Aragorn and Arwen love story which the movie makes such a big deal about.
  • ffmpeg workaround (Score:3, Informative)

    by noda132 (531521) on Monday September 29 2003, @11:38AM (#7085777) Homepage
    ffmpeg's SVQ3 decompression seems to crash with the 19MB version of the trailer. The workaround: use the win32 dlls. For mplayer:

    mplayer return_of_the_king_trailer_480x280_fixed.mov -vc qtsvq3 -vf pp=al
    • Re:Yah MPAA!! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Silverhammer (13644) on Monday September 29 2003, @08:14AM (#7083890)

      Blockquoth the poster:

      Yah! Lord of the Rings and Matrix trailers! Yah we love the MPAA this week 'cause they made stuff geeks like! Yah! Next week we'll go back to hating them for being evil! yah consitency!!

      Read the FAQ. [slashdot.org]