The Red Book of Westmarch Book III - The Treason of Isengard

****This is not my movie... Up till now it was only available on DO NOT DOWNLOAD IF YOU DID NOT PURCHASE THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY by PETER JACKSON. This is a fanedit by Kerr.

http://fanedit.org/5117/

Original film name: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
New film name: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Book III - The Treason of Isengard
Film studio name: New Line Cinema
Edit crew name: kerr
Date original film was released: 2002
Date edit was released: March 2009
Original runtime: 223 minutes
New runtime: 109 minutes
Amount of time cut/added: approx. 144 minutes cut, 30 minutes added (10 min. from FotR, 20 min. from RotK)

Changes:

* - New title sequence.
* - The edit begins with Aragorn facing off against the Uruk-Hai on Amon Hen, and we see the entire fight sequence at Parth Galen (with Frodo’s appearances cut)
* - “The Two Towers” title added over an overhead shot of Uruk-Hai storming down towards Boromir.
* - Most shots of hobbits throwing rocks have been cut.
* - Aragorn’s fight with Lurtz is shortened - Lurtz doesn’t lick his own blood off Aragorn’s dagger, nor does he pull Aragorn’s sword deeper into his own stomach.
* - Removed any mention of Aragorn letting Frodo go during Boromir’s death scene - as in the book, Aragorn never encountered Frodo.
* - Cut Aragorn’s line “I do not know what strength is in my blood”.
* - The three hunters run into the woods, and we cut to the running montage from TTT, with “Book III - The Treason of Isengard” title added. We follow Aragorn and co., without seeing what’s going on with Merry and Pippin (yet).
* - Gimli’s goofiness has ben cut throughout.
* - All the scenes in Isengard have been cut.
* - Cut Legolas’ “The red sun rises… Blood has been spilled this night.” It’s a good line, but too confusing, since we don’t know about the battle at this point in the edit.
* - The scenes in Rohan (Eomer’s banishment etc.) have been cut. Sadly, I couldn’t get these scenes to fit anywhere. (Also, they’re not in the book.)
* - The three hunters find the orc pyre, and Aragorn tracks the hobbits (shortened, and with the intercut hobbit footage removed). After Gimli’s “Fangorn… What madness drove them in there?” we jump back in time to the hobbits being carried by the Uruk-Hai. We now follow the hobbits exclusively until otherwise noted. The orcs are attacked, and the hobbits escape and meet Treebeard.
* - All the Treebeard scenes have been rearranged and recut extensively to better link the various scenes.
* - Several cuts made to the first Treebeard scene. Merry says that they’re hobbits earlier, and Treebeard believes him. The scene ends with “I am on nobody’s side, because nobody is on my side. Nobody cares for the woods anymore.”
* - After this we cut to Treebeard saying how the trees have grown wild and dangerous The scene continues with him talking about how they lost the entwives, after which…
* - …Treebeard starts to sing “The Dreams of Trees”. Just as he finishes his song (”…and say my land is best.”) we cut to…
* - …the destruction caused to Fangorn by Saruman. Treebeard yells out in anger, and we cut to…
* - …Treebeard talking about how Saruman once used to walk in his woods. They spot Saruman’s army marching out from Isengard, and we cut to…
* - …Treebeard laying the hobbits to sleep, as he says that he has “business in the forest” etc. Cut to…
* - …Treebeard and the hobbits arrive at the entmoot. “Now we must decide if the ents will go to war”, says Treebeard, and we cut to…
* - …Pippin struggling not to fall asleep. “You can’t take forever!” says Merry. “Don’t be hasty”, replies Treebeard. Cut to…
* - …Pippin tries to convince Merry to return to the Shire. “There won’t be a Shire,” says Merry. Cut to…
* - …Treebeard turns to face them. “We have just agreed.” As in the book, the entmoot decides to fight. This line cuts to…
* - …The huorns starting to move.
* - The ents march for Isengard, and we cut back to Aragorn and co. searching for the hobbits in Fangorn. Again, we now follow them until otherwise noted.
* - Cut Gimli’s line about squirrel droppings.
* - Elvish subtitle changed from “Something’s out there” to “Aragorn, something is out there”.
* - The flashback to the battle agains the balrog has been extended with the part that opens the original film.
* - Shortened Gandalf’s talk about the ents waking up. Most of that information is redundant at this point.
* - Shortened Gandalf and Aragorn’s nighttime talk in the plains of Rohan, to remove unnecessary dialogue and cut Gandalf calling Saruman “Sauron’s puppet”.
* - Theoden is not possessed by Saruman, and Gandalf does not exorcise him. This causes a slight continuity error, since I’ve cut Gandalf casting off his cloak to reveal himself to Saruman - so in one shot, he is cloaked, and in the next he’s not, although there is enough time between the two for him to theoretically have removed his cloak.
* - Final word of Eowyn’s dirge (”Bealo…”) has been cut. It sounds like the beginning of a new verse (also when seeing the translation), so the dirge works better without it.
* - Shortened the scene with Gandalf and Theoden in front of Theodred’s tomb. It’s a wonderful scene, but I feel that parts of it (”No parent should have to bury their child”, Theoden crying) do not belong in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth.
* - The subplot with the Rohirric children has been cut. Since I had to cut the first part of the subplot, there was little reason to keep it at all. We now cut from Theoden mourning his son to Gandalf saying “This is but a taste of the terror Saruman will unleash” (originally referring to the attack on the children’s village, now referring to Theodred’s death).
* - Theoden’s line “I will not risk open war” has been cut.
* - Theoden’s line “When last I looked, Theoden, not Aragorn, was king of Rohan” has been cut. As in the book, there is no tension between Theoden and Aragorn.
* - Going to Helm’s Deep is not considered to be a bad idea. Although not stated explicitly, we can assume that Theoden goes to Helm’s Deep to face the enemy from a more defensible location, and not to hide as in the original
* - Aragorn and Eowyn’s scene in the stables has been cut
* - Gandalf does not specify the hour of his return.
* - The scene where Eowyn gives stew to Aragorn has been shortened. To make it less obvious that Aragorn thinks the stew tastes awful, which is very out of character for him.
* - The warg attack has been cut. Not in the book, and the “wargs” look nothing like the wargs described by Tolkien.
* - The arrival at the Hornburg has been altered, so that we see Theoden, Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn arrive simultaneously with Eowyn.
* - The children reuniting with their mother has been cut.
* - Aragorn does not urge Theoden to send for help. Theoden should not, and does not, bear a grudge against Gondor.
* - Legolas doesn’t tell Aragorn that he must sleep.
* - Legolas does not despair before the battle.
* - Cut Theoden’s line “How did it come to this?”
* - Gimli does not try on chain mail. Stupid comedy moment. And why would he try what has to be a size XL chain mail? Besides, he was already wearing armor.
* - NO ELVES AT THE BATTLE OF THE HORNBURG!
* - Cut Gimli striking an orc in the groin.
* - Cut the orc carrying the torch. He looks ridiculous, and I find it hard to believe that master archer Legolas was unable to bring him down. Now, it’s assumed that the orcs placing the explosives lit a fuse while they were at it.
* - Cut redundant multi-angle shots of the exploding wall.
* - Cut Aragorn being thrown off the wall by the explosion, since he has to stay on the wall for his next appearance.
* - Cut Legolas’ shieldboarding trick.
* - No dwarftossing.
* - Trimmed the shot where the orc’s giant ladders are raised. In the original shot, the ladder that Legolas shoots down was to near the wall to possibly fall in the opposite direction.
* - Theoden does not despair during the battle. I’ve tried to make Theoden a stronger character, like in Tolkien’s book.
* - Legolas does not shoot a dead in a futile attempt to raise his “orc-slaying” score. Stupid comedy moment that doesn’t fit Legolas’ character. Also, I’m not sure if people in Middle-Earth knew what a nervous system was.
* - Cut to the flooding of Isengard, and Merry and Pippin looting Saruman’s store.
* - The crew rides to Isengard, and they reunite with Merry and Pippin.
* - Cut Gimli’s “Salted pork…?”
* - The subplot with having to discover where the final battle will take place has been removed, since it makes absolutely no sense. Gondor has two major cities - Minas Tirith and Osgiliath, one of which has been attacked already. Gandalf, and everybody else, should know what Sauron’s next move will be.
* - Cut Gandalf’s reaction shot after Grima stabs Saruman. His expression doesn’t really fit, and cutting it makes Legolas react a bit faster.
* - Cut Aragorn hesitating before drinking after Theoden’s “Hail the victorious dead!”
* - The drinking game has been cut. Pointless comedy.
* - Theoden does not doubt himself during the celebration at Edoras. Again, to make Theoden a stronger character.
* - Gandalf and Aragorn’s conversation during the feast ends with Gandalf’s “Do we know that?”. I hate how PJ always tries to make Aragorn wiser than Gandalf, so I cut Aragorn’s words of consolation here.
* - Pippin does not “catch a glimpse of Sauron’s plan” in the Palantir.
* - Theoden does not question why Rohan should come to Gondor’s aid.
* - Cut Gandalf’s line “Three days ride, as the Nazgul flies.” 1, it’s a weird thing to say, 2, Nazgul can’t fly, 3, the Nazgul’s “fell beasts” haven’t been introduced yet.
* - Gandalf and Pippin ride for Minas Tirith. Fade to “End of Book III”.

Intention for this fanedit: To separate Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy into six parts that adhere as closely as possible to the six books of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”. This is done by both restructuring the films to match the narrative structure found in Tolkien’s book, and by removing as much as possible of the material that has no basis in Tolkien’s vision of Middle-Earth. For Book III, this has meant removing all of Frodo and Sam’s storyline from the film, adding in footage from FotR and RotK, removing most of Saruman’s scenes, change Theoden’s character to make him more noble, removing the elves from the Battle of the Hornburg, completely reinventing Treebeard’s scenes, plus lots and lots of various other changes.

Software used:

* - Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
* - Adobe After Effects CS4
* - Adobe Photoshop CS4
* - Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD
* - AutoGK

Additional comments: Once again, and more than ever for this particular instalment: This fanedit primarily intended for fans of Tolkien’s work. Its intention is not to improve the films in and of themselves, and viewers unfamiliar with the book will probably be left confused and unsatisfied, and would be better off watching the originals. Several continuity issues have arisen when editing the film, some minor, some major - if you can’t live with that, don’t bother watching this.

Release info:
DVD:
NTSC Single Layer DVD
256kbps Dolby AC-3 2.0
approx. 109 minutes
4,35 GB

Xvid:
109 min. PAL XVID
640×272
2.0 stereo, 192 kbps MP3

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