LOTR:Trilogy on TNT HD and TNT SD

[rockymtnhigh]

On Sunday December 17, TNT HD and TNT will air the Lord of the Rings trilogy uncut and without commercial the weekend of December 15 - 17th.

They will air ROTK on Dec 15 and then do a LOTR marathon on Sunday. I checked the HDTVMagazine guide and sure enough it is there, listed in HD.

Here is part of the press release:

TNT will host the commercial-TV premiere of "The Return of the King" on Friday, Dec. 15. The movie will replay the following two nights.

In preparation for the premiere, TNT will air "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" this weekend. All three movies will air back-to-back starting at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 17.

"We are very proud to offer not only the network television premiere of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,' one of the most honored movies in history, but also to be able to pair it with the first two films in a full day," TNT's Ken Schwab says.

TNT and TBS were part of the initial deal The WB made for the movies in 2002 (the cable nets, like The WB and "LOTR" studio New Line, were all part of Time Warner at the time). Time Warner has a 50-percent stake in The CW, the network built from the ashes of The WB and UPN (CBS Corp. owns the other half).

Let the battle for middle earth begin!!!!!!

 

[Pepper]

Since it's on TNT, will it be "real" HD or just their normal Stretch-O-Vision?

 

[vinnyv07]

Wow....without commercials! I can't wait. I think and hope this will be real HD. I kind of remember watching LOTR on TNT before and loving it.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

All I know is that I am going to need to clear 10 hours off my DVR!

 

[BFG]

where's the part that says its commercial free, cause that's no where to be found and highly doubtful

 

[vinnyv07]

where's the part that says its commercial free, cause that's no where to be found and highly doubtful

I agree.....that's a ton of cash being passed up by TNT....from start to finish with commercils would be like 24 hrs!! Only kidding. All three movies put together have a running time of 9 hrs and 17 minutes. Add commercial breaks to that and it would all at least a couple of hours to the running time if not more.

 

[BlackHitachi]

All I know is that I am going to need to clear 10 hours off my DVR!

Me too!! Great find Great POST!

 

[animalhouse]

If it were commercial free, I might watch it. But, then I have the Collector's Edition of the movies at home. Got it for Christmas a year or two ago and sat watched all three back-to-back-to-back!

Now that I have a widescreen HD TV, I may have to watch them again.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

My bad.

I stand corrected. It does not say without commercial interruption. It does say "Viewers will then have a perfect opportunity to catch the entire trilogy from start to finish Sunday, Dec. 17, beginning at 12:30 p.m. (ET/PT)."

It DOES say that it will be broadcast in HDTV. "Offering the movie in high-definition will also ensure that fans with HDTV sets will be able to see it in the sharpest image possible, making for an eye-opening movie experience."

If there are commercials I am not bothered; as it is easy enough to skip through them. I am looking forward to seeing the film in HD as opposed to upconverted DVD.

 

[ripnbigc]

Let's see, 9 hrs of programming, 9 hrs of ads. Just kidding. Would like to see the difference between the HD and my upconverted Dvds.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Let's see, 9 hrs of programming, 9 hrs of ads. Just kidding. Would like to see the difference between the HD and my upconverted Dvds.

Well, I guess we'll get to see. I'll probably test it out myself with my DVDs.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Fellowship is playing on TNTHD right now. The picture did not look stretched; but the audio was in DD2.0

 

[BlackHitachi]

DD2.0

My goodness This movie should never be played in anything less then 5.1!

 

[rockymtnhigh]

My goodness This movie should never be played in anything less then 5.1!

I agree.

 

[TNGTony]

The HD version is the 35MM film with a slight crop at the top and bottom of the screen. I am looking at both the HD and SD channels simultaneously. You have a little (and I mean a little) missing from the top and bottom of the HD version and a bit of the sides missing from the SD version. The HD does look nice.

See ya
Tony

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I never thought to check the SD version. Thanks for that!

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The Two Towers is on now, and it is in full DD5.1 sound.

Picture is crisp.

 

[dfergie]

Lord Of The Rings on TNT

Starts Tonight on TNT, All 3 are on Sunday...

 

[BlackHitachi]

Starts Tonight on TNT, All 3 are on Sunday...

ONE: TWO: THREE:

 

[kstuart]

Nothing wrong with this...

... but anyone who has already seen these films in the theater want to see the Extended Editions in HD.

Most of the additional footage is important and worthwhile, the films were just already too long for theatrical airing even without the cuts.