I got the very excellent Return of the King this weekend and watched it last night.

However, right on the next to last scene on the first DVD, where Aragon is gathering the ghost army, I got a “Disc Read Failure” error. I kicked back out the main menu, and got it again. I’ll have to attempt to return the set tommorrow and get a replacement, which I’m sure will be loads of fun.

[MINOR SPOILER]

I really enjoyed all the additional footage, except where Frodo and Sam are swept along with the marching army of goblins and orcs, are almost spotted, but cause a distraction and escape.

I didn’t like this, because there’s no way they wouldn’t have been noticed by the goblins marching around them. Even if we overlook the smell, say because they were wearing goblin armor, it would have been clear from appearances they were not goblin.

Believe me, I’ve done a lot of marching, and most of the time there not much else to do but stare at the dude in front of you or glance left and right to make sure are in line and in step.

[/MINOR SPOILER]

So, that kind of took me out of the story. But only briefly, because everything else was fantastic (except the DVD read error!). I loved the additional footage, and what of the DVD extras I have seen (I haven’t been thorough them all, I like to savor them!). And I loved being able to pause the movie to run to the bathroom!

I had heard that if you got the super-platinum extended edition collector’s set or whatever, then you could get a coupon for the small model of Minas Morgul that was otherwise unavailable. What I didn’t know was you also need another $75! Damn, isn’t that just a little bit high?