Why So Blu?

The Lord Of The Rings / The Hobbit: Middle Earth 31-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Another holiday season, another brand new Lord Of The Rings box set home video release. Last year saw both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies debut on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format. This year, the Midde-Earth 31-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition arrives with an upgrade in packaging, some physical swag and a new bonus disc. Standard Blu-rays and digital copy codes are included again. Each film now features its own case and slip cover, housed all together in a magnetically sealed box that shifts into different shapes for different options with which to store on a shelf and display. Originally slated for release on October 26th, the set is now releasing on November 16th. While the disc content with the film has been covered previously on this site, links are provided for easy access. This review does include an unboxing video with my thorough look at the packaging on the set, which is the primary difference from the release that came out last year. If you’re looking to pick up this set, there is a paid Amazon Associates link following the review where you can click and secure yourself a copy in time for release.

Films

This set features Theatrical and Extended versions of all six films.  You can find reviews for the films from my previous 4K reviews on this site via the following links:

The Lord Of The Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray

The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray

And for some extra fun and essay reading, I did a restrospective on the history of the Tolkein books turned films back in 2014 on my old Naptown Nerd blog. It includes pieces/perspectives from several guests including Scott Mendelson, Aaron Neuwirth and Maxwell Haddad.

Naptown Nerd: The Lord of the Rings Retrospective

Video

Disclaimer: Screen captures used in the review are taken from the previous standard Blu-ray discs, not the 4K UHD Blu-ray discs in this release.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy

The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy

The feature discs are identical to the ones released in 2020. Therefore, no changes have been made to the transfers. You can find the spec reviews for them at the following links:

The Lord Of The Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray

The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray

Audio

The Lord Of The Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy

The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy

The feature discs are identical to the ones released in 2020. Therefore, no changes have been made to the audio. You can find the spec reviews for them at the following links:

The Lord Of The Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray

The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray

Extras

Watch the unboxing video above for a complete look at the packaging and layout of this release. 

Middle Earth 31-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition is a 31-disc set and comes with a redeemable digital code for each film and each version of the films. All 30 discs for the films, 4K or standard, contain no bonus features except commentaries which are found on the standard Blu-ray discs of the extended editions. If you redeem your code via iTunes, you will have access to all of the “iTunes Extras” for the Extended Editions of the films. Using other services like Movies Anywhere or VUDU will only offer 3 featurettes for each Extended Edition.

This Middle-Earth Ultimate Collector’s Edition release comes in exclusive packaging that is able to shift to different shapes to best fit your displaying or spot of the shelf. This set comes with a paperback booklet featuring costuming/character/prop/set designs and still images as well as a few small write ups. Included in the package are a set of cards relevant to a location from each film.

The only new disc extra is a standard Blu-ray disc with 3 featurettes honoring the 20th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Hosted by Steven Colbert and held over zoom courtesy of the Alamo Drafthouse, Middle-earth’s finest were reunited for three special conversations. Also on this disc is The Festival De Cannes Presentation Reel. All special features come equipped with English SDH, Latin Spanish, Canadian French and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles

Alamo Drafthouse Presents The Lord Of The Rings Cast Reunions

• The Fellowship of the Ring (HD, 39:39) – Features Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Sean Astin and Elijah Wood.
• The Two Towers (HD, 32:25) – Features Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortenson.
• The Return of the King (HD, 29:50) – Features Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis, and Peter Jackson.

Festival de Cannes Presentation Reel (HD, 26:55)

Summary

When announced, the Middle Earth 31-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition was met with frustration and disappointment from Tolkien enthusiasts. It was believed that Peter Jackson was working on some big special edition with the old featurettes and some new material in a loaded set. Essentially, Middle Earth 31-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition is a (admittedly pretty impressive) packaging upgrade. And its a pretty expensive one at that. I’m not sure the bonus disc of reunion Q&A’s is anything close to pushing the needle for people who bought last years’ sets to upgrade. And if you’ve not owned these before and were holding out for this release, you may now be looking back at the previous release either in standard or steelbook edition. However, if you’re a fan of bulky, fancily packaged releases (Raises hand), then there a great aesthetic here for this new release. Take a look at everything and make the choice of which release fits you best. The transfers and audio on these are worth owning and upgrading at the bare minimum.

Below is a paid Associate’s account link