Synopsis:

My goal was to make a miniseries edit that didn't simply feel like a chopped up version of the movies. Overall this worked surprisingly well without too much editing, though the Return of the King had to have some extra reordering of scenes to make it work. The vast majority of each movie is retained, though I changed a handful of things that I thought weren't so well done in the movies (Bridge collapse leaning, Frodo and Sam "rock" cloak at the Black Gate, etc). I cut a few other scenes that were from the extended editions that I felt did not add to the movies at all (extra Gimli humor, Merry and Pippin drinking water to get taller, etc). And lastly, I rearranged some scenes to help the pacing of each episode. With the new format this was needed, mainly in the Return of the King. I added chapter titles to every episode and they appear within the first 10 minutes matching how the original movies did it, I kept the short 45 second intro credits and "Lord of the Rings" Title sequence for each episode, and then added a shortened 60 second credit sequence for each episode.

Intentions:

I've had this idea for a while now and was recently inspired again to work on it after seeing a post from Stromboli Bones about his own miniseries edit. I think I prefer these as movies still, but this was a fun experiment and a nice choice to have if I don't have a ton of time to commit to the movies. Also, my favorite edit of the Hobbit is Stromboli's 5 part edit, and having the Lord of the Rings available in similar length episodes makes watching the whole series like this more cohesive. The episode format works better than I expected too with each part having a solid story arc rather than feeling like a chopped up movie.

Change List:

E1 - A Long-Expected Party - 66min Follows the introductions to the Hobbits and Gandalf, the start of Frodo's journey up to getting saved by Aragorn, and then departing with him. * Used the Hobbit Bilbo footage to replace the original footage of the flashback to him finding the ring (Credit to TriggeredPuppy) * Heavily shortened the awkward wizard fight * Trimmed the Black Rider chase sequence so he never gets crazy close to Frodo right before they make it to the ferry * End as the Hobbits leave with Aragorn with a long zoom out shot E2 - A Knife in the Dark - 59min Follows Frodo's attack by the Nazgul, to the forming of the fellowship, up to entering Moria. * Rearranged a couple shots so the transition from the Hobbits getting their swords to them getting attacked by wraiths does not happen immediately. This cut one small scene of Gandalf on top of Saruman's tower, but the transition works better now * Cut Aragorn throwing the torch into a Nazgul's face. I don't think the effects worked well in this shot * Trimmed Arwen's escape with Frodo so the Nazgul never get too close to them and almost grab Frodo * Trimmed the magic water horses so that they hit the Nazgul quicker and they don't look like they are just waiting to get hit * End just after they enter Moria on another long zoom out shot that I slightly extended E3 - The Bridge of Khazad-dûm - 75min Follows the group escaping Moria, then meeting Galadriel, and finally escaping the orcs and the Fellowship splitting. * Cut nearly all scenes of the Hobbits killing orcs. They still have moments of bravery but are not competent fighters * Trimmed the bridge collapse sequence so Frodo and Aragorn don't lean and make the tower move with them * Cut Sam's song for Gandalf, and Legolas awkward line saying how his grief is too much. Partly to shorten this movie, but also I don't think the scene fits the tone very well * Cut the orc running montage as they travel down the river. This didn't really add anything to the movie * Cut all instances of Merry and Pippin knocking down orcs with rocks. It makes the orcs look really weak * Cut the shot of Legolas shooting an orc after it tripped and was already falling down * End on the original Fellowship ending. Extended credits trimmed to just include the song "In Dreams".

Additional Notes:

I didn't want to majorly change anything in these movies. The only bigger cuts I made were a handful of scenes that I thought were poorly done in the movies (like the leaning on the pillar while escaping Moria, or the rock cloak for Frodo), and then some of the extended scenes that I thought detracted from the movies rather than added to them (extra Gimli humor, and extra Merry and Pippin antics). I tried to retain as much as I could from the movies while putting it into this new format.

Other Sources:

My sources for the movies are Dwalin's color corrected Fellowship of the Ring from OriginalTrilogy forums, and then the blurays for both The Two Towers and Return of the King. I also took one small change from TriggeredPuppy's Less Extended Edition for adding a quick shot of Martin Freeman's Bilbo for the intro of FOTR. And lastly ArtisDead for the beautiful cover art!

Special Thanks:

Dwalin (OriginalTrilogy) ArtisDead for the wonderful artwork! TriggeredPuppy