Howard Shore's thematic, rousing score is pervasive throughout, reminding us of the hope and courage of the band of heroes in this film as they fight (and largely overcome) all odds, often by the skin of their teeth. But everything rests on Frodo getting that ring destroyed as both he and Sam come to think it will be the end of them.

Every time Frodo puts on that Ring and gets sucked into the lure of Sauron's fiery eye, your whole living room will come alive with dark overtones and brooding menace.

Now back when the theatrical edition Blu-ray was being promoted – just prior to release – there was a big ‘net hubbub about how these were going to be remastered transfers. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - The Extended Edition includes a new transfer of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , which was remastered from the original 2k digital files, and it all comes in multi-disc elite packaging inside a premium rigid slipcase. Much of the furor about the colors related to some pre-release screen shots; in particular, one that showed a white screen which now boasted a distinctly pea soup orientation. which allows one to sample the seven layers that went into creating the soundtrack for the battle, along with an eighth final version option.

If you’ve never encountered any of these before then, suffice to say, it’s one of the most comprehensive extras packages that I have ever encountered in a decade of reviewing. In theory, if this was done as an overall correction, you could just knock down the green channel a couple of points to compensate (essentially adding magenta). Unfortunately early reports then showed what appeared to be a significant change to the colour timing, leaving the entire movie bathed in an unmistakable green/blue wash; darkened somewhat more than it was before. It’s not like Fellowship suddenly looked like The Matrix; the green tone tended to be pretty light, and the movie already used a stylized palette. Disc Four is “The Appendices, Part IV — The Battle for Middle-Earth Begins” and beings with an introduction from Elijah Wood (1 min.The second is the more standard "making-of," where they cover the difficulties involved in making the picture (especially the money sequences), though producer Barrie Osborne does mention that since all three were shot at the same time, it's sometimes hard to differentiate between what was for what. Here Frodo and Sam finally get to Mount Doom, while Aragorn and company go to Denethor (John Noble) in Gondor, where they are not welcomed with enthusiasm. The bottom line is, if you're a fan of Lord of the Rings – or cinema in general – and care at all about video and audio quality, this is a must-own collection.