Video/DVD
video@list.co.uk
TWO PERFECT GIFT IDEAS VIDEO/DVD
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - SPECIAL EXTENDED DVD EDITION (PG) 200min 00000 (film)/OOOO (extras)
The most interesting DVD extra has to be new film footage: deleted scenes, alternative endings etc. The Special Extended DVD Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring takes this idea a step further with a cut of the film which includes 30 more minutes of integrated footage (don’t confuse this four disc set with the two discs that contain only the original 171min cut). The Extended Edition features six new scenes and expansions of almost half those from the original film.
While none of the new material is integral to the storytelling, it develops existing characters (there’s more of Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel, for example) and the lands of Middle Earth (the film’s most thrilling segment, the journey through the mines of Moria, is expanded). This is in keeping with Tolkien who went to extraordinary lengths (1000 pages) to construct his mythical world. And there’s more humour in the new cut, too, particularly a great fart gag involving hobbits and magical Elven bread.
Surprisingly, even at a whopping three-and-a- half hours The Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t outstay its welcome - director Peter Jackson weaves new material into the old, pacing the film in such a way that it feels like a 90-minute adventure, and maintains the epic sweep of Tolkien’s tale.
Other extras should satisfy the completist: 17 documentaries, four commentaries (that’s 14 more hours of viewing), an interactive map, art galleries and storyboards. And just think, by 2004 you could own all three films on DVD and watch, the way Jackson intended, the lot in one go as a 10 and a half hour saga. (Miles Fielder)
I Out now thrOugh Entertaiririieiit. €29.95).
‘Even at a whopping three-and-a-half hours The Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t outstay its welcome’
STAR WARS EPISODE II: THE ATTACK OF THE CLONES - TWO DISC SPECIAL EDITION
(PG) 136min COO (film)/OOOO (extras)
Attack of the Clones had a legacy second only to Tolkien’s epic. While the fifth Star Wars instalment was top heavy and uneven it did bring to spectacular life several events much mooted in the original movie - the crumbling of the Republic and the outbreak of the clone wars provide the backbone and climactic sequence for the film.
As is the trend for DVD editions we have the obligatory deleted scenes - the eight here are helpfully explained away by George Lucas. Most are merely further plot exposition which only add to the already laborious detail of the Star Wars universe and would have brought little to the film. This is only the tip of a six-hour long iceberg however, as commentaries, ad campaigns and music videos give the viewer their money’s worth.
What is most interesting are the documentaries. ‘State of the Art’ tells of the previsualisation of AOTC: the painstaking process involved in constructing so many CGI’ed scenes. There are further expositions on sound design, the computer generation of characters and a 12-part web documentary diary on the making of the film. This is all well and good but offers us little more than a voyeuristic peek into the astronomical resources held at Skywalker ranch.
What is really worth seeing however, is a short spoof documentary on 82-02 entitled ‘Under the Dome’ where the likes of Steven Spielberg, Carrie Fisher and Francis Ford Coppola reveal tales of drink, women and debauchery from the three-foot high astro droid. Nice to see it’s not all painfully worthy and earnest. (Mark Robertson)
I Out now through Fox, l‘24.$)9. Both DVDs were supplied by GAMl . Europe's leading specialist retailer of computer games and PC software.
112 THE LIST 28 No; 1? [)m. Wit)?
tv@list.co.uk
DRAMA
THAT OLD ONE 8802, Fri 29 Nov, 9.50pm coo
Most people find it very hard to achieve anything of great worth in a ten- minute period. So. it's perhaps expecting far too much for a Tartan Short to deliver a completely fulfiling cultural experience. given that most films and dramas take that long for the opening credits to roll.
Still, the opener to this year's set of filmettes is a decent enough ride into an unfaithful man's paranOid hangover. Keyin McKidd plays Tom. who rouses from a drunken slumber to gradually realise that his night out With the boys resulted in him cheating on Trish iSusan Vidlerl with Jane (Laura Frasen.
And he ceiild easily have gotten away with his crime except he no longer has his wedding ring. Tom then (IOlleerS up ha/y images in his head of the best way out of his predicament: truth. v=olence, lies? And Just as it gets going, it ends. Still. That Old One is a Short that‘s fairly sweet. lBrian Donaldson)
DOCUMENTARY MOSES
8801, Sun 1 Dec, 8pm .0
My image of the man who led the Hebrews out of ngpt by pillar of
Kevin McKidd gets fingered in That Old One
fire and cloud is something like the dramatic illustration from my Children All Colour Bible. of a handsome. silver-locked wizard thrusting his staff across a slowly parting Red Sea. Now. after all these years of preSuming that Moses and the Exodus was just a sensational. metaphorical yarn. along comes the bloody spOilsport BBC to tell me that all the plagues and miracles have their basis in seience and histOry.
To add weight to proceedings. they've given presenting duties to former Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen. whose grasp of complex environmental phenomena is stunning. 'Of course. the Red Sea is much too deep for any wind to divide it.' he exclaims. before attempting to (ZOHVIRCO us that the Pharaoh's armies were Wiped out by a Simultaneous tsunami and CGl’ll’KlLlEikO.
There's lots of blustering music and reconstruction, although
genuine thrill-seekers are adVised to reViSit Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments. (Allan Radcliffe!
DOCUMENTARY DAVID BLAINE’S VERTIGO
Channel 4, Sun 1 Dec, 9pm 0000
ln a typical eXIstentially- fraught moment. David Blaine wonders aloud whether he maintains a deathwish. Proceeding to not answer the question by resorting to psychic babble. we can only conclude that actions speak louder than proper words. And Blaine's actions are blasts from the Houdini- like past.
Standing between two blocks of ice for days seems mad enough. But perched atop a narrow pole in the middle of New York for 40 hours borders on the lunatic. And almost on the insensitive: no one seems to have remarked that Just eight months prior to his lpublicityi stunt. round the corner people were jumping from great heights to choose a less fiery death.
Of course. whether
Swindled by reality TV