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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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LotR fans vent their frustrations at double-dipping

By | April 12, 2010, 9:19am PDT

Wow! Those Lord of the Rings fans are a scary bunch! Days before the trilogy is released on Blu-ray, fans blast it with over 2,800 1-star reviews on Amazon.com.

Fans are outraged because they feel that the studio is double-dipping them by only releasing the theatrical editions now, leaving space for a future release of the extended editions.

Reviewer C.BURNS puts it into perspective:

Some confusion among other reviewers that somehow we’re obligated to post a five star recommendation for the movie. This is an incorrect understanding of the review process. If I were reviewing the movie itself it would get a five. This review is for the product, as listed–in other words, I DO NOT RECOMMEND BUYING THIS PRODUCT/DVD. This product is being created FOR NO OTHER REASON than to dupe people into buying this movie twice…again. Those of us who were huge fans bought the original DVDs of the theatrical releases. THEN the studio FINALLY released the extended editions, even though they could have released both at the same time. Now that Blu Ray has won the High Def battle, the studios are salivating at screwing us all again the same way!

Please do not let them get away with pretending that Blu Ray can’t hold both versions on one disc–it certainly can! A simple menu option would let you watch the Extended Edition when you have time, or Theatrical Edition when you don’t.

Their other argument, that “Peter Jackson is busy working on The Hobbit and will work on Extended Editions later” is 100% total BS. He’s ALREADY DONE THE WORK–just copy what he did for the regular DVDs onto a new Blu Ray master!

BOTTOM-LINE: The studios will make whatever argument they think will fly to convince us they can’t put both versions on one disc, because they want to double their income on this movie. Which has ALREADY MADE THEM A BILLION DOLLARS. Don’t play along–let friends know not to buy ANY LOTR Blu Ray that doesn’t have BOTH versions on one disc.

Please do not let them get away with holding the extended edition hostage until everyone buys the theatrical versions. If you agree with my review, you can do your part to exert influence on the studio by doing the following:

Let’s not forget that most fans will probably have bought each movie twice already - the theatrical and extended releases of each of the movies on DVD.

Given the capacity of Blu-ray discs, combined with the fact that the extended editions have already been produced for DVD, this seems like pretty desperate money-grabbing to me.

I have to agree with with the rebelling masses on this one. this is taking the squeeze too far. Who knows, maybe Peter Jackson will do what George Lucas did and add some new Tom Bombadil to the movies at some later stage …

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Topics

Blu-ray Disc, Movie, Disc, Studio, Fans, Blu-Ray, DVD, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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Not Likely
Drakaran 19th Apr 2010
I remember when there used to be several rates (back in the strictly dial-up days), but competition did away with metering. With the competition now, and the push for everyone having broadband access, that's even less likely.
View in thread
0 Votes
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People need to calm down.
lostarchitect 12th Apr 2010
No one is holding a gun to their head and
forcing them to buy this.

I'm a huge LoTR fan. When the theatrical
version DVDs came out, I didn't buy them. I
waited for the extended editions. If I wanted
to see the film while waiting, that's what
Blockbuster and Netflix are for.

If the extended versions are released on Blu-
Ray, I'll probably buy them, but I won't buy
this version. I suggest these crybabies follow
my example.
0 Votes
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Agreed, In fact I'm so patient (i.e. cheap)
Bruce Lang 12th Apr 2010
that I'll first wait for Blu-Ray to get its "standard" format under control - assuming it will before "another standard" is born.
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I call that smart.
djchandler 12th Apr 2010
Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey would be proud of you.
0 Votes
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Re: People need to calm down
Dylock3 12th Apr 2010
You waited for the extended version, good for you.
These people aren't doing this out of blind anger (mostly). People are doing this to raise the warning flag to innocent buyers who aren't as wise.
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if, years after they were released...
lostarchitect 13th Apr 2010
these people don't KNOW about the extended
versions, they probably don't CARE about them
either. It's a self solving problem.
0 Votes
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I got burned, but I'm not mad now
eMJayy Updated - 12th Apr 2010
I was one of those who bought the theatrical versions. I skipped the extended editions since I didn't really see the point of having both hanging around on two separate disc sets. Now that LotR has made it to blu-ray, I'll replace the DVDs I have with the extended versions whenever they are released.

I understand why they're mad, though, and I can't blame them.
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I'd pay twice
ncted 12th Apr 2010
for Tom Bombadil that is.
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RE: LotR fans vent their frustrations at double-dipping
Loverock Davidson 12th Apr 2010
Rating LotR one star is actually pretty accurate no matter what version they release of it, theatrical or extended.
0 Votes
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I tend to agree
kcredden2 12th Apr 2010
with not buying the theatrical version. I personally didn't, but waited till the extended version, and it was well worth it. Please note I'm a major LOTR fan too. I read it in high school, and dozens of times before the movies.

But buying it again on blu-ray? Please... if a film is shot originally on HD, then it may be worth it. (LOTR would have) but taking a LD movie and just slapping it on a new format, just to sell more copies? Sorry MPAA, I don't have that type of money. Maybe if you lowered the cost of blu-ray players, and movies to below the cost of a normal DVD. Make sure as well, ALL "blu-ray" disks are true 1080, not a hybrid, or market a DVD as HD.)

I haven't bought a blu-ray player or burner (for my computer) yet, and won't till that's all there is. There isn't enough really good movies, and TV shows worth the extra cost. (Which I might add, the HD doesn't help the story, production, directing, which is what really matters.)

Talk to me again in 5 years or so, once the Chinese start making HD-DVD burners, players and disks. Maybe then it'll be worth at least buying a HD DVD storage disk for the computer.
0 Votes
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HD-DVD??
Tigertank 12th Apr 2010
Brother give it up. The civil war is over and the south lost.

In 5 years technology will have moved on again: probably right to digital
downloads and you'll be rummaging pirated HD-DVD kung fu movies on
canal street.
0 Votes
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In Five years...
Zorched 13th Apr 2010
...it's very possible that the net will be a metered experience (just like your cell phone) thanks to "Net Neutrality" being struck down.

(How so? Once the ISPs start analyzing packet contents to block or charge a premium for, people will gravitate towards encrypted tunneling protocols for their own security, which will then force ISPs to start metering to be able to make up the income. Not that they'll need this reason to start doing so but it'll make a great excuse for them)

Nobody will want to pay for both the bandwidth AND the streaming rights to a movie, so I suspect streaming will die a painful death, except those streams provided by your cable or satellite company.

I honestly can't blame them for ranting... I despise Companies that do that "squeeze blood from stone" technique.
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Not Likely
Drakaran 19th Apr 2010
I remember when there used to be several rates (back in the strictly dial-up days), but competition did away with metering. With the competition now, and the push for everyone having broadband access, that's even less likely.
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Isn't that really what BD is about?
itpro_z 12th Apr 2010
Ripping us off, I mean. DVDs have become so common that you can buy new releases for $15 or so, and anything else for $5. The movie studios have always been about trying to make us pay more. With BD, they can try to force us to pay more, many times for a movie that we already own simply because the quality is higher. Most people can't see the difference, but they keep pushing it anyway.

Next will be 3D BD, which will require a new player and, of course, new disks. After that will come BD-XL, the new and improved version, also with new players and new discs. When does it stop?

Well, for me, it already has. DVD was the last physical format that I will purchase. I buy very few discs anymore, preferring to download them or DVR them. No more filling up bookcases with physical media that eventually gets thrown away. No more buying a movie to watch it once or twice. Thankfully, we now have other options.

Up yours, Sony.
0 Votes
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Tolkien estate not happy either
The Star King 12th Apr 2010
Apparently they haven't been paid and are suing new line cinema
0 Votes
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Ridiculous marketing
djchandler 12th Apr 2010
Anybody remember the old George Carling schtick about "stuff?" We have too much of it already. When you get old like me, you ignore most of the marketing hype anyway, and secondly,you learn you can wait for a better deal unless the doctors are telling you that you have a limited time to live. Plus I have never quite understood "needing" to own a video library.

Life is short enough as it is without spending hours and hours watching something you have already seen over and over again. Add to that the fact that most videos, unless they are for children or have an instructional focus, tend to sit on a shelf until they end up in a garage sale or get donated to charity.

The local public library is my source when I want a movie to watch. I tend to pick ones I haven't seen before or are true classics (which does apply to LOTR). But I don't need to keep it.

The studios are making tons of money repackaging from VHS to DVD to BluRay. I'm at least going to hold out for the 3D version. That is if I don't die first.
0 Votes
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Why buy the Blu-Ray at all?
hornerea 13th Apr 2010
Didn't buy it twice to start with. Saw them in the theater then waited for the 5 disk DVD versions.

BTW, any REAL fan would have bought them THREE times because there are two DIFFERENT extended versions.
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wait. what?
lostarchitect 13th Apr 2010
2 different extended versions? I've never heard of
that. Please elaborate.
0 Votes
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Cry me a river.
Churlish Updated - 13th Apr 2010
Others have expressed impatience at the whiners who act as though DVD distributors are somehow robbing them at gunpoint.

Even though I'm a big Rings fan, I've never felt the cowlike compulsion to buy every single scrap of merchandise associated with the films. (Maybe this is because I view the story as an excellent book first and foremost, and only secondarily as a trilogy of well-made films.)

In any case, nothing forces anyone to buy the latest release of a DVD. If you're that much of a compulsive collector, then you have only yourself to blame.

Complaining about "double-dipping" with the Lord of the Rings series is especially silly, since we KNOW that the extended editions are coming sometime in the future. It's not like they'll be sprung on us like the endless "Director's Cuts," "Collector's Editions," and "Ultimate Editions" that marked many films' DVD history. If you prefer the extended editions, DON'T BUY THE THEATRICAL RELEASES. It's that simple.

If someday New Line, et al. releases a super-deluxe $800 One Boxed Set To Rule Them All (complete with a life-size living clone of Gollum), decide whether it's worth it to you -- no matter what editions you've bought previously. If it is, enjoy. If it isn't,
admire it from afar and save your money.

Just don't whine that they're double-dipping. It's a tough world with few guarantees. If wishing you'd held off for different DVDs than those you bought is the worst crisis you ever face, then you're leading a fairly charmed life ... and you won't get much sympathy from the rest of us.
0 Votes
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RE: LotR fans vent their frustrations at double-dipping
psakry 13th Apr 2010
This is absolutely greed related. It is though a reason to not purchase the just released theatrical blu ray and let them sit on a million copies no one wants (like that'll happen). It would be a good marketing lesson. Although we are such a consumer based society, marketing companies love us because we'll buy it anyway. DUH! We bought Enron DUH Lehman Bros DUH B of A DUH Wells Fargo DUH At least with this we'll get something, and then replace it with what we Really want. DUH. Wait a min! I won't buy it, not until the extended release is out, and I'll even double check to see it's actually the blu ray version and not a dvd in disguise because again we know that'll happen..
0 Votes
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Just say calmly: Netflix
ssaha 13th Apr 2010
That's what I'm going to do until the extended editions come out on BluRay. I don't buy lots of DVDs/BDs myself because most movies I don't want to see more than once or twice, and Netflix lets me indulge my cinephile tastebuds without enormous expenses of money or storage space. I DID buy the theatrical and extended editions on DVD, but only because I like to compare the differences between them. For the BD release, I'll spring only for the Extended editions.
0 Votes
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RE: LotR fans vent their frustrations at double-dipping
Macosh 13th Apr 2010
I'm not buying the Theatrical release again I don't even want to watch it because it is incomplete.....I'll wait for the extended BD.

Macosh

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