The Fellowship of the Ring

An ancient Ring thought lost for centuries has been found, and through a strange twist in fate has been given to a small Hobbit named Frodo. When Gandalf discovers the Ring is in fact the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron, Frodo must make an epic quest to the Cracks of Doom in order to destroy it! However he does not go alone. He is joined by Gandalf, Legolas the elf, Gimli the Dwarf, Aragorn, Boromir and his three Hobbit friends Merry, Pippin and Samwise. Through mountains, snow, darkness, forests, rivers and plains, facing evil and danger at every corner the Fellowship of the Ring must go. Their quest to destroy the One Ring is the only hope for the end of the Dark Lords reign!

Stuart Townsend. was originally cast as Aragorn, but was replaced by Viggo Mortensen after four days of shooting due to creative differences.

Ian Holm, who plays Bilbo Baggins, was the voice of Frodo Baggins in the 1981 BBC Radio adaptation of "The Lord of The Rings".

Producer Tim Sanders left the project after principal photography had commenced.

Elijah Wood dressed up in breeches and a flowing shirt and went out into the hills to shoot his audition tape. His friend George Huang, directed the video.

Although David Bowie was said to be keen on playing Elf Lord Elrond, the part went instead to Hugo Weaving.

Daniel Day-Lewis turned down the role of Aragorn.

In the prologue scene John Howe and Alan Lee can be seen as two of the nine human kings.

The two most renowned Tolkien artists are Alan Lee and John Howe, and so it was important to Peter Jackson to have those two on board. Lee was tracked down to a tiny little village in Dartmoor, England and was FedExed a package of Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures" and a letter outlining his intentions. They monitored the progress of the FedEx package every step of the way, but were somewhat surprised when Lee rang them only 3 hours after delivery to say he'd love to work with them. Howe meanwhile was living in Switzerland, and because someone hadn't worked out the time differences between Europe and New Zealand correctly, was rung about 2am. He says that the biggest frustration with that phone call was waiting for Jackson to finish his pitch before he could say yes.

After much deliberation, it was decided to do away with a prologue as it would have been so overstuffed with information. It was only after production had wrapped and Peter Jackson had flown to London to start working on the scoring of the film did he get an instruction from New Line, the film's backers. Which said there had to be a prologue. So, while Howard Shore was recording the music track, Jackson and his editor John Gilbert would be huddled in a corner with an Avid machine, compiling the footage that he had originally dispensed with.

New Line insisted on a prologue of two minutes. What they got was one that lasts for seven and a half.

Wherever possible, costume designer Ngila Dickson followed J.R.R. Tolkien's descriptions of the characters' clothing to the very letter. One such example is Bilbo Baggins's waistcoat which does indeed sport brass buttons, as referred to in "The Hobbit".

Originally the narration at the prologue was to be spoken by Elijah Wood, but it was felt that the information imparted had little bearing on the character of Frodo. Ian McKellen also recorded a narration but once again it was felt that Gandalf wasn't the right character to speak it. They eventually settled on Cate Blanchett as Galadriel as it emphasizes the timelessness of the elves.

The bridge in Hobbiton was built by the New Zealand army out of polystyrene.

Ian Holm was always Peter Jackson's first choice to play Bilbo Baggins.

Every actor in the film wore a wig apart from Billy Jackson, the director's toddler son, seen listening wide-eyed to a tale told by Bilbo Baggins at his birthday party, had the perfect Hobbit hair.

There were supposed to be 144 Hobbits at Bilbo Baggins's party. Due to budgetary constraints, there are actually only 100.

Bilbo Baggins's birthday cake has 111 candles on it and they eventually set fire to the polystyrene cake.

Two sets of Bag End, Bilbo Baggins's home, were built. One to accommodate the Hobbits, the other 33% smaller for the full size Ian McKellen, right down to smaller versions of the books on the bookshelves.

Peter Jackson has the entire Bag End set in storage, hopefully for future use.

One of the stuntmen dislocated a shoulder in the scene where the Hobbits tumble down off the road to escape one of the Ringwraiths. This was also the very first day of shooting.

Peter Jackson can be glimpsed outside the Prancing Pony holding a carrot. Originally it was supposed to be a pipe, but after a couple of puffs, he felt sick and went for the carrot instead.

Some of the customers in the Prancing Pony are walking around on stilts to emphasize the height disparity with the Hobbits.

Fran Walsh provides the screams for the Ring Wraiths. She had a throat infection at the time which added to the weirdness of the sound.

Aragorn battling the Ring Wraiths at Weathertop was Viggo Mortensen's very first day on set. It was also the first time that Mortensen had ever handled a sword.

Boromir's speech at the Council of Rivendell is read from a sheet of paper sitting on Sean Bean's lap as it was only given to him the night before.

John Rhys-Davies is 6 foot 3 (which is actually the perfect proportional height for Gimli in relation to the Hobbits).

Although Bill the pony is a feature of the novel, the writers initially decided not to include him as the Fellowship make their journey for the simple logistical reason of transporting a horse deep into the mountains. The problem was solved in the more difficult shots by using the classic pantomime trick of dressing two people up as a horse, one at the front and one at the back.

John Rhys-Davies suffered from a reaction to his prosthetics - usually inflammation around the eyes - that meant that he could never be shot on consecutive days but would always require at least a day off for his skin to return to normal. He was never anything less than 3 hours in the make-up chair.

When Gandalf has his big stand-off scene with the Balrog, Ian McKellen is actually acting to a ping pong ball.

The ironic part about the Fellowship mourning the loss of Gandalf was, at that point, none of the cast members had met Ian McKellen, let alone seen him dressed up as the wizard.

The big trees in Lothlorien forest are made of rubber.

The climactic fight scene was shot in the middle of a heatwave, with temperatures in excess of 100 degrees. Many of the actors playing the Uruk'hais had to be carried off the set with heat exhaustion.

Legolas's arrows in the final battle are computer generated. It would not have been physically possible for the most gifted archer to fire off so many arrows so quickly.

Sean Astin's scene underwater didn't really happen. He was filmed in a dry studio, with fans making his cloak billow. The water effects were added in afterwards by computer.

Security was tight on the set: at least 3 people were arrested for attempted break-ins.

The Tolkien estate was never in favor of Jackson's film adaptation but seeing as J.R.R. Tolkien signed the rights away in 1968 for $15,000, there was nothing they could do about it. Tolkien's grandson Simon came out in support of the production and was disowned by his relatives. Tolkien's son Christopher later retracted any opposition.

It is estimated that filming of the trilogy pumped about $200,000,000 into the New Zealand economy. The New Zealand government even created a Minister for Lord of the Rings, whose remit was to exploit all the economic opportunities the films represented.

Liv Tyler had never read any of the books when she was approached to appear in the film. She quickly boned up on Middle Earth lore, to the extent of even learning some Elvish.

Fans were offered the chance to have their names in the special edition's hugely lengthy closing credits for $39.95.

Although the film received a PG rating in the UK, it was with a disclaimer that some scenes might be unsuitable for young children. After "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park", it was only the third film to receive such a disclaimer.

Enya's lyricist Roma Ryan learned Elvish for the two songs she contributed to the film.

The film stayed in the US top ten grossing films for 13 weeks.

In August 2002 the DVD/ video release set a UK record when it chalked up sales of 2.4 million.

Hobbiton was made a year before production began to make it look like it was a natural, lived-in place, complete with real vegetable patches. The greens department regulated the length of the grass by having sheep eat it.

When you see Frodo and Gandalf sitting on a cart at the beginning, forced perspective means that Elijah Wood is 3 feet behind Ian McKellen.

The large tree that stands above Bag End was built especially by the production department. Every leaf had to be manually attached.

1800 Hobbit feet were made for the production.

29 Ring Wraith costumes were made in total.

During the Council of Elrond, leaves are continually falling in the background to suggest that this is a meeting that is taking place outside. This meant about half a dozen crew members were positioned above the set, dropping leaves at various intervals. This also meant that the production department had to collect sacks and sacks of leaves during autumn, and of course dead leaves turn brown fairly quickly. Which also meant that every single one of those leaves had to be individually painted.

A rubber puppet with a horrific face was superimposed over Ian Holm's face when Bilbo Baggins catches a glimpse of the ring again in Rivendell. Holm was so delighted with the puppet that the design team had a cast iron version of it made for his mantelpiece and gave it to him as a parting gift when Holm wrapped all his scenes on the film.

While the rest of the Fellowship struggle through snow drifts, Legolas walks on the top of the snow.

The illuminated door that leads to the Mines of Moria was painted with the same substance that cats' eyes and road signs are made of.

Production designer Grant Major personally supervised the translation of all the writings in Balinn's tomb into Dwarvish. He was then horrified to learn that a visiting Tolkien scholar had taken great offence at seeing the phrase "Joe was here" amongst the writings. They scoured the contents of Balinn's tomb and found nothing, only to learn that the scholar - who was overly serious about everything to do with Tolkien - had been told this by a crew carpenter who has having a joke at his expense.

Galadriel's home at Lothlorien was the largest miniature set built for the trilogy.

Large amounts of horsehair had to be imported into New Zealand for all the wigs.

Sean Bean is wearing a fiberglass bodysuit underneath his costume for his death scene to stop the arrows sticking out of him from wobbling.

That's a silicon shell of Sean Bean that goes over the waterfall at the end.

The New Zealand government brokered a new tax deal when New Line threatened to pull the production.

Orlando Bloom landed the role of Legolas two days before he finished drama school.

Cate Blanchett's role as Galadriel required her to film for only a month.

Before production began, it had to be determined whether computer effects could convincingly create battle scenes featuring thousands and thousands of warriors. Peter Jackson invested his own money in the pursuit of this software.

Although Bilbo Baggins's opening scenes are in Hobbiton, Ian Holm never actually worked on the location. His scenes were all done against blue screen.

The nocturnal screams of possums were used for the screeches made by the Orks in the mines of Moria.

The main sound elements for the cave troll were a walrus, a tiger and a horse.

In the mines of Moria, the battery for Ian McKellen's illuminated staff is hidden within the folds of his robes.

Orlando Bloom spent two months learning how to use a bow and arrow.

Elijah Wood never wore a full chain-mail Mithril vest, only the top half.

Ian McKellen hadn't read the books when he was first approached by Peter Jackson to play Gandalf. It was Jackson's enthusiasm for the project that won him over.

Miramax was the first studio to express an interest in Peter Jackson's interpretation of the books but they wanted to do it all in one film. Jackson refused, leaving him with four weeks to find another studio for funding, touting the project as two films. Calling upon his friend Mark Ordesky, who was an executive at New Line, a pitch was set up with New Line President Robert Shaye. His only quibble with the presentation was that it had to be three films.

The scripts were essentially being rewritten every day of the 15 month shoot, most of which with the added input from the actors who were all now heavily involved with their characters.

The shots that were too visually complex to be conveyed on a storyboard where rendered digitally on a computer in a stage known as pre-visualisation. Jackson received a lot of pointers on this from George Lucas and his Star Wars producer Rick McCallum at Skywalker Ranch. When he returned to New Zealand, he hired a lot of recent digital artist graduates to help him create his previz concepts.

Co-producer Rick Porras's wedding ring was the template for the One Ring.

The total crew amounted to over 3,000 people of which approximately over 300 were in the art department alone.

Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop made over 45,000 individual items from prosthetics to armor for the films.

The Weta Workshop produced 58 miniatures which were so large and detailed they were nicknamed "bigatures".

The design for the Hobbits's feet took over a year to perfect. Over 1800 feet were produced for the 4 lead Hobbits alone, and each pair would take about an hour and a half to be put on over the actors' real feet.

Costume designer Ngila Dickson had 40 seamstresses working for her, creating over 19,000 costumes.

A scene involving the Fellowship escaping the Uruk'hai via some river rapids had to be abandoned as extreme flooding in the Queenstown area had washed the set away.

John Howe, brought in to work on the production because of his longstanding reputation as being one of the great artists of Tolkien's work, was given the task of designing the Moria Orcs himself.

About 28 separate Hobbit holes had to be built for the Shire. Each one had to be different.

John Howe designed Bag End to resemble a perfectly English home even though he's never actually been to England.

Viggo Mortensen joined the film when it was already shooting, never having met Peter Jackson before, nor indeed having read the Tolkien books either. It was Mortensen's 11 year old son Henry who was the chief instigator in convincing Mortensen to sign on as Aragorn.

The four actors playing the young Hobbits would have to go into make-up at 5am and stand for an hour and a half while their prosthetic feet were being applied. Sean Astin's personal make-up artist doing this was called Sean Foot.

Sean Astin reckons that there were 50 separate days of the 15 month shoot were the Hobbits had their prosthetic feet applied and they were never seen on camera.

It's common practice with a high budget feature film to have more than one unit shooting at any one time, usually two or three. With "The Lord of the Rings", there were occasions when there would be between five and seven units shooting at any given time.

There are 47 chimneys in the Hobbiton location.

Weta Digital is named after the Weta spider, the heaviest insect in the world.

Usually on a feature film, when the director comes to view the dailies, there's about 20-25 minutes of footage to be seen. Because of the number of different units out filming at any one time, the dailies for "The Fellowship of the Ring" were about 3-4 hours long, ie, the length of the finished film.

Composers are usually involved with films for about 6-8 weeks. By the time "The Fellowship of the Ring" was released, Howard Shore's involvement was stretching back for 2 years.

For the musical background to the chase in the mines of Moria, Howard Shore wanted some heavy chanting so he added some large rugby players to his Polynesian choir.

The overall budget for all 3 films was $300 million. Add another $200 million for the publicity and marketing of all 3.

Veteran sword master Bob Anderson called Viggo Mortensen "the best swordsman I've ever trained".

The extended DVD version represents the first time the film's original composer has returned to add more music to the existing film.

When Arwen escapes from the Black Riders through the river by flooding them, the spell she speaks isn't subtitled. According to the Encyclopedy of Arda (see External Links: Miscellaneous 58), she says: "Nîn o Chithaeglir lasto beth daer; rimmo nín Bruinen dan in Ulaer", which means roughly "Waters of the Hithaeglir, hear the word of power, rush, waters of Bruinen, against the Ringwraiths"

The elf theme used in the score originally appeared as a God/Heaven motif in Dogma, which was also scored by Howard Shore.

During filming, most of the members of the Fellowship took up surfing in New Zealand in their spare time. Among them was Viggo Mortensen, who wiped out terribly one day, and bruised one whole side of his face. The next day, makeup tried to mask the bruising and swelling, but were unsuccessful. Instead, Peter Jackson opted to film Mortenson from one side for the entire scene. In the scene in the Mines of Moria when they find the grave of Gimli's relative, Aragorn is only seen from one side in the whole scene.

The chapter titles "A Long-expected Party", "A Short Cut to Mushrooms", "The Bridge of Khazad-dum", "Lothlorien", and "The Breaking of the Fellowship" from "The Fellowship of The Ring" are spoken lines at their respective points in the storyline with the exception of "The Breaking of The Fellowship" which is foreshadowed during the scene at "The Mirror of Galadriel". "Riddles In The Dark" is also mentioned - the name of a chapter from "The Hobbit". In the extended version released on DVD, the prologue title "Concerning Hobbits" was mentioned by Ian Holm (Bilbo) in the opening scenes at Bag End - before the first chapter is named.

Peter Jackson originally contemplated having the character of Tom Bombadil, a character that was in the book but never made it to the movie, incorporated into a cameo scene in which the Hobbit's are walking through the forest and see a man with a feathered cap dart through the tree's, then they hear Tom singing and begin running through the forest, but ran out of time to film it.

Orlando Bloom originally auditioned for the part of Faramir. He was called back and subsequently cast, instead, as Legolas.

New Zealand's army was cast as extras for large battle scenes in the film, but was forced to back out due to having to serve as peacekeepers in East Timor.

When the trailer was released on Internet on 7 April 2001, it was downloaded 1.6 million times in the first 24 hours.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King were filmed simultaneously. The back-to-back shoot lasted a record-equaling 274 days, in 16 months - exactly the same time as taken for the principal photography of Apocalypse Now (1979).

Hobbiton was filmed in the Hinuera Valley near Matamata, New Zealand. The village was constructed and plants and trees were planted a year before filming so the set had an aged look as though Hobbits had lived there for hundreds of years.

For high-tech tasks, a computer program called Massive made armies of CG orcs, elves, and humans. These digital creations could 'think' and battle independently - identifying friend or foe - thanks to individual fields of vision. Jackson's team could click on one creature in a crowd scene of 20,000 and see through his "eyes". Different species even boast unique fighting styles.

The Orcs were originally going to be digital creations.

The original cut ran four hours and thirty minutes.

The hobbits needed to appear about three to four feet tall - tiny compared with the seven-foot Gandalf. This was often accomplished using forced perspective, placing Ian McKellen (Gandalf) consistently closer to the camera than Elijah Wood in order to trick the eye into thinking McKellen is towering.

In order to make "forced perspective" a bit more interesting, the filmmakers devised a totally new system consisting of a pulley and a platform. When the camera moved (which is normally impossible as the forced perspective would become obvious) the actor(s) also moved, and the perspective (7-foot Gandalf - 4-foot hobbits) would always be okay. They also used three differently sized props (large, medium, small) to interact with the different sized characters

Viggo Mortensen lost a tooth while filming a fight sequence. He went to the dentist on his lunch break, had it patched up, and returned to the set that afternoon.

1,460 eggs were served to the cast and crew for breakfast for every day of shooting.

More than 1,600 pairs of latex ears and feet were used during the shoot, each "cooked" in a special oven running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There was no way of removing the feet at the end of the day without damaging them and so each pair could only be used once. The used feet were shredded to prevent a black market in stolen hobbit feet but apparently Dominic Monaghan (Merry) kept a pair.

During filming, Liv Tyler left her pair of prosthetic ears on the dashboard of her car. When she returned they had melted.

Dominic Monaghan (Merry), wore a fat suit made of foam. He drank three liters of water a day so he would not dehydrate.

Sean Astin gained 30 pounds for his role as Samwise.

Viggo Mortensen did his own stunts. He also insisted on using only the real steel sword, instead of significantly lighter aluminum sword or safer rubber sword which were manufactured for battle scenes and stunts.

Orlando Bloom (Legolas) did most of his own stunts and broke a rib in the process.

John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) developed an allergic reaction to his makeup.

While filming the scene where Sam rushes through the river after Frodo, Sean Astin stepped on a shard of glass that was sticking up from the riverbed. It pierced his foot, even through the prosthetic foot, which bled so much he had to be airlifted to hospital.

The map Gandalf picks up in Bilbo's study is a reproduction of the map Tolkien drew for the book "The Hobbit".

Sean Bean starred in a UK TV series as a soldier during the Napoleonic wars by the name of Richard Sharpe. He subsequently appeared in a series of commercials where he would allude to his earlier role, saying things like, "Sharpe idea". In this movie he continues the joke: after touching the Sword of Elendil he says, "Still Sharpe."

Christopher Lee reads "The Lord of the Rings" once a year and is the only member of the cast and crew ever to have met J.R.R. Tolkien.

As well as being the only member of the cast and crew to have met J.R.R. Tolkien face to face, Christopher Lee was also the first person to be cast in the trilogy because of his extensive knowledge of the books. He frequently visited the makeup department and often gave tips about the facial design of the monsters.

Eight of the nine members of the Fellowship got a small tattoo, the Elvish symbol for "9" at a tattoo parlor in Wellington, New Zealand, to commemorate the experience of the movie. The ninth member, John Rhys-Davies, declined and sent his stunt double in his place. Elijah Wood's tattoo is on his lower stomach. Sean Astin and Billy Boyd have the tattoo on their ankles (to commemorate all those hours in the hobbit feet). Orlando Bloom, who plays the archer elf Legolas, has his on his forearm. Ian McKellen's is on his shoulder. Dominic Monaghan's is on his shoulder.

John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli the dwarf, is the tallest of the actors who play members of the Fellowship. He is 6' 3".

After the New Zealand premiere, director Peter Jackson joined the actors who played the nine members of the Fellowship by getting a commemorative tattoo of his own. While their tattoos were the Elvish symbol for "9", Jackson received an Elvish "10".

Peter Jackson gave one of the rings used in the movies to both Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis as gift when the shoot was finished. They both thought they had the only one.

The three trolls which were turned to stone in "The Hobbit" are in the background during the scene where Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Strider/Aragorn are resting after fleeing from Weathertop/Amon Sul.

During the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, twenty minutes of the film was shown to a crowd at a nearby castle, including members of the production - the first time the film's actors had seen any completed footage.

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, changed its name to Middle Earth for the film's opening.

This film was the first recipient of The American Film Institute's Movie of the Year Award.

Peter Jackson's two children are listed in the end credits as "Cute Hobbit Children".

The original plan was to film the trilogy in two movies. Miramax said that it had to be done in one movie so the producers went to New Line Cinema. When their presentation was done, one of the people at New Line told them that they were crazy and that the film had to be done as a trilogy. This caused the producers to go back and rewrite the script.

Cate Blanchett joked that she took the role of Galadriel because, "I've always wanted pointy ears".

Director Cameo: [Peter Jackson] As the belching peasant, outside the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree.

Ian McKellen based Gandalf's accent on that of Tolkien himself.

Gandalf's painful encounter with a ceiling beam in Bilbo's hobbit-hole was not in the script - Ian McKellen banged his forehead against the beam accidentally, not on purpose. But Peter Jackson thought McKellen did a great job "acting through" the mistake, and so kept it in.

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), who is trilingual in English, Spanish, and Danish, requested the script be revised to let Aragorn speak more of his lines in Elvish.

The Orc blacksmiths shown beneath Isengard are actually the WETA Workshop staff who made the weapons used in the film.

The Elvish language lines spoken in the film are not just quotes from the book, they were derived from Tolkien's own limited dictionary of that language. Dialect coach Andrew Jack used actual recordings of Tolkien reading his books to guide the actors' pronunciation.

The different colors of blue for the elves' eyes revealed what race they were. The Lothlorien elves had light blue eyes, and the Rivendell elves were dark blue.

About 3,100 shots (78% of the Super 35 film) were color graded at Colorfront in Wellington, NZ using 5D Colossus software after being scanned by an Imagica XE scanner full 2K resolution (2048*1536). The color-graded shots were then recorded on Kodak 5242 intermediate film by two Arri Laser film recorders at 10 bits per channel. Because only 78% of the film was digital, a digitally squeezed anamorphic print could not be made for the whole movie. Instead, the digital shots were recorded on an inter-negative hardmatted at 1.77:1, intercut with the non-digital original negative (which had been color timed by The Film Unit, NZ), and printed to 2.39:1 anamorphic Kodak film using an optical printer at Deluxe, LA. Fuji 3519-D was used for release prints.

On the film's first theatrical release, a story circulated (and was reported in the goofs section) that when Sam tells Frodo that he is now the farthest he has ever been from home, a car is visible driving by in the background (top-right corner of the screen). Arguments ensued. Some said it was smoke from a chimney, others said they saw the glint of sunlight reflected from the windscreen of a fast moving vehicle. In the version of the film released on DVD there is definitely *no* car, only chimney smoke and a one-frame flash of light which *could* conceivably be a car, but not in any sense that could be considered a goof. Jackson says (in the commentary track on the Extended DVD) that he looked at every frame on a computer and has never seen anything resembling a car and claims that it's nonsense (and certainly the original sighting remains unconfirmed by IMDb goof spotters). In the documentary of extended DVD version, John Gilbert, the editor, says that there was a car in the background, but they thought no-one would notice it. They got rid of it in the DVD version. In a subsequent magazine interview, Jackson agreed that the car was there.

Bilbo's cake caught fire as he was about to leave the party, but Ian Holm gamely finished the scene.

Over 12.5 million plastic rings were made in order to fabricate simulated chain mail for the movie. Two crew members spent the length of the shoot linking the rings by hand into suits of armor. By the end of production, they had worn the fingerprints off their thumbs and index fingers.

Twenty of the 30 minutes of the unusually long credits at the end of the Extended Edition, are dedicated to listing the Charter Members of the Official Lord of the Rings Fan Club. Included as Charter Members are Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Sir Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, and many other cast and crew members.

The portraits hanging above the fireplace in Bag End are based on the likenesses of director 'Peter Jackson' and producer 'Frances Walsh' .

Viggo Mortensen kept his sword with him at all times off set so that he could remain in character. He was questioned several times by police after reviewing his training sessions with the sword and being spotted by members of the public.

When Frodo falls on the snow and loses the ring, a close-up of the ring with Frodo in the background is shown. In order to keep both the subjects focused, a giant ring (6 inches of diameter) was used.

Bilbo says the words, "I'm not at home," when some relatives bang on his door. "Not At Home" is also a chapter title from The Hobbit.

The scream of the Ringwraiths is actually 'Frances Walsh' , the co-writer and co-producer of the film.

One of the indistinct words that Gandalf whispers to the moth when he is trapped by Saruman is "Gwaihir", the name of the eagle that later rescues him from the tower.

The cast often had to fly to remote shoot locations by helicopter. Sean Bean (Boromir) was afraid of flying and would only do it when absolutely necessary. When they were shooting the scenes of the Fellowship crossing the snowy mountains, he'd spend two hours every morning climbing from the base of the mountain to the set near the top, already dressed as Boromir. The crew being flown up could see him from their helicopters.

Whilst filming the scenes on the River Anduin, Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen were swept out of their boats.

Peter Jackson shot many scenes directly from the earlier, animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings directed by Ralph Bakshi

At the birthday party, when Bilbo is naming various hobbit families, he says "Proudfoots" and a hobbit calls back "Proudfeet", with his large feet in the foreground. The shot was deliberately framed to imitate the shot used in The Lord of the Rings, as an homage to the film that introduced Peter Jackson to Tolkien's works.

Gollum is different in this movie, because scheduling forced those scenes to be filmed based on an early design. He is only seen in brief glimpses, partly due to this discrepancy, and partly to tease audiences before his entrance in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Peter Jackson (jokingly) said in the commentary on the Extended DVD that sometime in the future he would enjoy creating a 'Special Edition' (a la Star Wars) where this inconsistency could be fixed.

Movie theater prints of The Fellowship of the Ring were labeled "Changing Seasons" on the film can and the actual reels.

Peter Jackson's original plan was to exclusively hire British actors for the roles of the hobbits. As it turned out, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan were the only ones, and one of the tasks he charged them with was to coach Elijah Wood and Sean Astin in the ways of British pub culture.

There is a hidden extra in the 4-disc version of the Region 1 DVD. It is a spoof of the Council of Elrond, prepared by MTV and starring Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar. You can find it by going to the chapter index of the first disc, going to the last chapter "The Council of Elrond" and use the down arrow to go a gold ring immediately under that chapter. The gold ring only appears when the cursor is there. Press play and you'll see Peter Jackson presenting this feature.

The MTV Council of Elrond spoof easter egg does not appear on the UK version of the 4-disc set. This is because the BBFC would have required a "12" certificate for the set had it been included, instead of a "PG" certificate. For the same reason one of the documentaries has had some swearing cut out.

There is a second hidden extra in the 4-disc version of the DVD. It is the preview of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, that was attached to theatrical prints of Fellowship of the Ring near the end of its cinema run. You can find it by going to the chapter index of the second disc, going to the last chapter "Official Fan Club Credits" and pressing "down". An icon of The Two Towers appears. Press play and you'll see Peter Jackson presenting this feature.

When Frodo is leafing through Bilbo's Book in Rivendell, a page with dwarven runes is shown. The runes translate thus: "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole." This is a reference (actually a direct copy) to a map in the book "The Hobbit" and the runes tell of the secret entrance into The Lonely Mountain.

While filming the trilogy, Viggo Mortensen got so into character that during a conversation, Peter Jackson referred to him as "Aragorn" for over half an hour without him realizing it.

Christopher Lee broke his left hand after he slammed it on his hotel door.

Sometimes when there is a close-up of the ring you can hear a gruff voice chanting. This is the voice of Sauron and the words he is chanting are, "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them," in the language of Mordor.

Originally licensed to Miramax, who wanted to make only 2 movies, each only being 2 hours long.

When the hobbits are on screen, they always walk from the left of the screen to the right, never the other way around (because of the movie convention that West-East travel is represented by left-right movement)

During Bilbo's party Pippin can be seen in the band playing a guitar.

When the firework blows up in Merry and Pippin's hands the high-pitched scream is actually Billy Boyd who didn't know the firweork was going to explode.

Dominic Monaghan (Merry) originally auditioned for the role of Frodo Baggins.

The moth that Gandalf whispers to was born shortly before filming that day, and died soon after the scene was finished.

Galadriel's opening narration was originally supposed to be provided by Frodo.

Dominic Monaghan suffered from hay fever while filming the scene in the cornfield.

When Bilbo finds the Ring at the start of the movie Gollum shouts "My Precious" however Andy Serkis wasn't on set that day so Dominc Monaghan stood in for him.

When Bilbo makes his farewell speech at the party Dominc Monaghan read the speech for the reaction shots of the hobbits.

When Pippin is being hit with the apples after asking about second breakfast, it is Viggo Mortensen himself chucking the apple at his head. They had to shoot the scene 16 times to get it just right, and 'Billy Boyd' says he believes Mortensen enjoyed himself immensely.

The voices of the Black Riders (Heard when they reach the shire, before Gandalf returns, and when Arwen carries Frodo across the river) were provided by Andy Serkis, the voice of Gollum.

In the scene in which Merry asks where Aragorn is taking them after leaving Bree, and he replies "Into the wild," Viggo Mortensen accidentally bumps the tip of his bow into the camera.

In one of the most obscure references to the books, Bilbo states proudly to Gandalf that Frodo is "...a Baggins, not some blockheaded Bracegirdle from Hardbottle". Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, the relative who knocks on the door during this scene, is mentioned in the books as being born a Bracegirdle from Hardbottle.

During the council scene in Rivendell when the fate of the Ring is being decided, when Boromir makes his plea for the Ring to be brought to Gondor, the "Gondor theme" can faintly be heard; in "Return of the King", when the characters finally reach Gondor, this theme is heard as a full orchestral piece. Composer Howard Shore didn't plan out that this Rivendell background music would develop into the "Gondor main theme" by the third film, but it ultimately did evolve into it.

Ian McKellen teased Ian Holm that his old age make-up made him resemble Judi Dench's mother.

Gimli's line "Nobody tosses a dwarf!" was filmed after the "Toss me" line in The Two Towers

Stuntwoman Lani Jackson doubled for Arwen for some fight scenes that were cut from the film. Jackson does appear in the film trilogy as various stunt orcs.

In each film in the trilogy, the subtitle of the film is incorporated as dialogue. In this instance- Elrond: "So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of The Ring".

Revealing mistake: As Frodo runs from the orcs, his cape is clearly supported by a string to make it look flowing.

Continuity error: As Boromir lies dying, Aragorn leans over him. In the shots over Aragorn's shoulder, looking at Boromir, Boromir's right hand rests on Aragorn's left shoulder. In shots looking at Aragorn, the hand is not there.

Continuity error: While the four hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin) are at The Prancing Pony in Bree, Merry returns from the bar with a pint and Pippin takes off to get his own. When the angle changes to an over-head shot, Merry is no longer at the table and Pippin is suddenly back in place. This was obviously a shot that carried over from the previous scene (prior to Merry's return from the bar).

Continuity error: When Sam reveals to Gandalf what he overheard of Gandalf's and Frodo's conversation, a map disappears and reappears under his right shoulder. The fallen books on the floor also change position between shots.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Arwen and Aragorn are alone together on a bridge in Rivendell, her lips are moving while he is speaking.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the dwarf mine, when Gandalf sits outside the three doorways and talks to Frodo, Frodo's close-ups are taken from reaction shots to Gandalf's speech so that we see Gandalf's beard moving as if he was talking, even though no sound is heard.

Revealing mistake: As Aragorn leads the Hobbits through the woods after leaving Bree, the pack on his back bumps the camera.

Continuity error: When Aragorn's pack bumps the camera, it's on his right shoulder, but in the next shot you see it's on the left.

Continuity error: Throughout the movie, Frodo's fingernails are very bitten down and short, but a close-up when the Black Rider tries to sniff him out shows neatly manicured nails.

Continuity error: The positions of Gimli's axes as he stands in Balin's tomb.

Revealing mistake: The forced perspective trick becomes visible while Gandalf and Bilbo are having tea. As Bilbo is pottering about, Gandalf sits on a Hobbit-sized chair at a table that is too small for him. As he shuffles slightly to get comfortable, his knees move the table, but only his, smaller, half moves - the other half, where Bilbo is seated, is further away from the camera, and stays put. It can be seen that this gap between the two table "halves" is concealed behind cleverly placed, bottles, plates, etc. Then, when Bilbo is about to pour hot water in the teapot, Gandalf lifts the teapot lid for him. The lid is not on the teapot, but placed on a spike nearer to the camera to create the forced perspective. It is also clearly visible when Gandalf puts the lid back.

Continuity error: Gandalf's belt repeatedly switches between being tied and untied as he speaks to Bilbo.

Continuity error: The rope handle of Gandalf's staff jumps around his hand between cuts during his meeting with Saruman.

Continuity error: When Gandalf first appears riding on his cart, there is a long grey-green cloth hanging from the lantern on the right-hand side of the cart, with Gandalf's staff on the left. In the next shot, the lantern and cloth have switched sides with the staff (which itself moves back and forth between shots as Gandalf and Frodo travel into the village). It would seem that the first shot has been flipped so that the "road" bends round to the left to match the curve of the road as Gandalf approaches Frodo in the next shot.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: As Saruman reveals the Palantir to Gandalf, he lifts the cloth while speaking the line "Why should we fear to use it?" As he finishes the line, his mouth is still moving.

Revealing mistake: After the huge orc battle, one of the "dead" orcs sits up and has a good look round before lying back down. This has been explained away in all manner of different ways, but it strikes a sufficient number of viewers as incongruous that it seems more likely to be a genuine error than not.

Revealing mistake: When the Black Rider comes into shot while the hobbits are hiding under the tree-roots, he appears on the left-hand side of the tree without first being visible on the right-hand side (though it has been claimed that this is intentional).

Continuity error: The statues of the two kings also seem to have switched their helmets when they are shot from behind. When the fellowship sees them up front the left one has four "spikes" on his helmet, the right one has two. When viewed from behind the helmet with four "spikes" is again on the head of the statue on the left side of the screen and the one with two on the right.

Revealing mistake: During the final big battle, Legolas shoots six orcs in quick succession. The fifth falls before Legolas releases the arrow.

Revealing mistake: When Frodo removes the spear that the cave troll supposedly stabbed him with, you can see he had it wedged between his arm and torso.

Continuity error: During the battle with the cave troll, Legolas hits it in the head with several arrows. Yet in most subsequent shots, there are no arrows sticking out of his head.

Revealing mistake: After Isildur severs Sauron's fingers and Sauron releases his energy wave, the hair of an elf can be seen to be blowing wildly in the wind, but none of the other soldiers standing nearby are affected by the energy wave/wind until they all collapse.

Continuity error: Boromir's shield continually disappears and reappears during the battle at Balin's tomb.

Continuity error: During the Mirror of Galadriel scene, Galadriel is still holding the vase that held the water for the mirror, there are several shots of her as Frodo looks into the mirror and she never moves. When Frodo falls backwards there is a full body shot of her and she is no longer holding the vase.

Revealing mistake: In the theatrical version, Saruman's lower legs disappear for a frame or two as the camera swoops toward him when he is standing on the summit of Orthanc, bringing the lightning down on the mountain. This has been corrected in the extended edition of the film.

Revealing mistake: When Boromir cuts his finger on the broken sword, the blood is visible on his finger behind the sword before he gets cut, and as the sword is pulled away, his undamaged fingertip is visible through the blood.

Revealing mistake: After fighting the Cave Troll in Moria, Aragorn is crawling towards the camera, and bumps a 'rock' with his left elbow, causing it to wobble.

Revealing mistake: When Bilbo takes Gandalf's hat and staff at Bag End. The staff has been erased behind Bilbo, preventing it from getting a false perspective in the composited scene

Continuity error: In the Extended Edition, Sam and Frodo change places between shots when they see the Wood Elves leaving.

Continuity error: Before the water creature attacks, Frodo is facing the lake/facing the mine entrance between shots.

Continuity error: When Frodo crouches back from the Ringwraiths on Weathertop, the Ringwraith closest to him has a sword in his right and a knife in his left hand. After Frodo puts on the Ring, the Ringwraith's left Hand can be seen - but the knife is gone.

Revealing mistake: When the dragon-firework Merry and Pippin have stolen goes off, the fuse is still burning. Several inches of fuse clearly remain, yet it launches.

Revealing mistake: During filming 'Christopher Lee' broke his finger. As Saruman is summoning the lightning when the fellowship are climbing the snowy mountain, as the camera swoops past Saruman you can see Lee's heavily bandaged finger.

Continuity error: During the introduction, Isildur's father is smashed against a rocky hill, the same place where the one ring is cut from Sauron's hand. The overhead shot that follows, shows no such hill.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the troll grabs Frodo by the leg, Frodo calls for Aragon but his lips don't match what he's saying.

Revealing mistake: When first in the mines of Moria, Gandalf is walking along a ledge right before he explains what the dwarves' mine for, you can see him kick the wire that lights up his staff.

Continuity error: When the four Hobbits enter the Prancing Pony, there's a book on the counter with nothing on it. In the following shot, there is a feather lying on the book and a little bottle of ink next to it.

Continuity error: When King Elendil is hit by Sauron and falls to the ground, his helmet is on his head, when Isildur runs to him, it is lying beside him.

Continuity error: At Bilbo's party, when Gandalf is first seen picking up fireworks from the back of his wagon, he is hatless. In the next shot, when he sets off the butterfly fireworks, he is wearing his hat. When he goes to grab Merry and Pippin by the ears for stealing a rocket, he is again hatless.

Continuity error: In the final fight between Aragorn and the chief Uruk Hai, Aragorn is thrown against a tree and we see his sword fall from his hand. The next shot shows the Uruk Hai throw his shield pinning Aragorn to the tree and again we see his sword fall from his hand.

Continuity error: After Gandalf pounds his magical staff into the stone on the bridge of Khaza-Dûm, a wideshot is shown in which the head of the staff is on the left side of his face (our left), but in the following close-up, it is on his right

Continuity error: When the Balrog snares Gandalf at the bridge of Khazad-Dum with its whip and pulls Gandalf to the edge of the broken bridge, the bridge surface is smooth and no ridges are visible all the way to the edge of the broken bridge. The tracks left by Gandalf's hands in the dirt on the bridge further indicate that. However, in the next shot when Gandalf is clinging to the bridge, just before he says, "Fly, you fools," there is a ridge that Gandalf uses to grab on that is not present in the previous shot.

Revealing mistake: As Elrond is explaining the quest, the close-ups of the Ring reflect the top of the set on which it was filmed.

Continuity error: When Gandalf arrives at the hobbit village, he lauches some fireworks and the children cheer and jump with their hands in the air. In next shot, at least one of them (to the right of the screen) has both arms pressed to her body.

Continuity error: Immediately after the Riders are overthrown in the river, a shot of Arwen shows her right arm (holding the sword) lowered. In the next shot, her arm is raised high over her head, as though she were still challenging the riders.

Continuity error: As Frodo catches a ride on Gandalf's cart through the Shire, in close-ups, sunlight is brightly shining on Frodo's face from the right, but in close-ups of Gandalf sitting beside him, the sunlight is coming from above and left.

Revealing mistake: At the end of the film, there is a wide shot showing Merry being carried off by the Uruk-hai. It is clear that the full-sized, 5' 7" Monaghan is in the shot rather than the scale double - his feet hang way down below the Uruk-hai's hips.

Continuity error: When Boromir is running to save Merry and Pippin from the Uruks, he is clearly shown with sword in hand. However, when he reaches them, he has no sword - both hands are free to stop the swing of an Uruk's axe.

Revealing mistake: When Aragorn is leading the hobbits through the Midge-water Marshes and Pippin falls flat on his face you can see the prosthetics on his foot falling off.

Continuity error: When Gandalf knocks on the door at Bag End, there is a small leather pouch attached to his satchel. When he is walking through the door, it has disappeared.

Revealing mistake: In Hobbiton, Gandalf's cart pulls away from the Hobbit children who are begging for fireworks. When the camera angle is looking back at the children from the viewpoint of the cart, there are treaded tire tracks in the dirt of the road.

Continuity error: In the beginning of the movie when Bilbo is calling to Frodo the movie cuts to Frodo reading a book under a tree. Frodo then hears Gandalf coming and runs to him. The book Frodo was reading has vanished by the time he got to Gandalf.

Continuity error: In Moria when Frodo is stabbed be the cave troll he is stabbed in the stomach, when he falls the spear is clearly through his left armpit and when he sits back up, the hole in his shirt is near his right shoulder.

Continuity error: When Arwen is challenging the Ring Wraiths at the ford, her hair alternates between hanging down in front of her and hanging down her back.

Crew or equipment visible: As Gandalf opens the gate to go to Biblo's home, you can briefly see the shadow of a boom mike on his shoulder.

Continuity error: When Galdalf and Saruman are fighting in the tower, the bloody cut on Gandalf's forehead disappears and reappears between shots.

Continuity error: After Bilbo's birthday party, Bilbo enters his house and takes off the ring. He then steps over to a walking stick, picks it up with his left hand and transfers it to his right hand. In the very next shot the stick is back in left hand, and what appear to be a couple of small maps are now in his right hand.

Continuity error: When Gandalf approaches the ring after Bilbo drops it, the close-up shows it sitting next to a grout line on the floor. When Gandalf reaches down to pick it up, the ring is clearly in a different position away from any grout lines.

Continuity error: The distance at which Gimli is kneeling from Balin's tomb changes between shots. In one shot he is close enough to lean his head/helmet on the tomb, in the other shots he is much further away.

Revealing mistake: As Legolas, Aragon, and one of the hobbits enter the woods of Lothlorien, you can make out tire treads in the grass starting at the lower right hand side of the screen.

Continuity error: During the fight between Gandalf and Saruman, Saruman closes all the doors in the tower. During the fight Gandalf is thrown around a lot and you can see one of the doors open, but in the next shot Saruman is thrown at this door which then breaks open (again).

Continuity error: After Boromir is shot with two arrows and is still trying to fight the Uruk-hai, the arrows disapear completely, then one can be seen (the one in his shoulder), then finally two again. When only the one arrow is seen, you can still see the blood stain from the second arrow, but the arrow is not there. When he is hit by the third arrow, all three arrows are visible. When Aragorn is kneeling over Boromir, after Boromir dies, and starts to stand up, there only appears to be two arrows in his body at that time.

Continuity error: When Gandalf and Frodo are first discussing the history of the ring in Bag End, Frodo is pouring the drink. In the next shot, he's already sitting down with a drink in his hand.

Continuity error: When the council of Elrond are arguing and Frodo says, "I will take it," Gandalf jumps from arguing and gesturing to perfectly still between shots.

Continuity error: When Everard Proudfoot sees Gandalf coming into Hobbiton on his cart, his wife walks beside him and gives him a dirty look. Then a few fireworks go off to impress the kids behind him, and the shot goes back to Everard Proudfoot, who's wife walks beside him again and gives him the same look.

Crew or equipment visible: Reflectors can be seen in the Lothlorien scene, in the mirrorbowl as well as the watercan.

Continuity error: When Bilbo opens the door of his house to greet Gandalf, the wizard raises his hand from his side when he says, "Bilbo Baggins!" However, in the next shot, his hand is back at his side as if he hadn't moved.

Crew or equipment visible: In the scene in Amon Hen when Aragorn finds Frodo after Boromir has been tempted by the Ring, a green screen is visible beyond the trees behind Frodo.

Continuity error: When Frodo saves Sam from drowning, they clasp each other in the "acrobat-grip", they both clasp the other one's wrist, a very tight grip. However, when Sam's hand is pulled above water, his arm has turned 180 degrees.

Continuity error: The ring on Argorn's forefinger moves from the left to the right forefinger several times during the movie.

Continuity error: Legolas's eyes shift from dark brown to blue during the movie (this is happening during al three LotR movies).

Audio/visual unsynchronized: As Gandalf and Bilbo smoke "the finest weed of the Southfarthing" Bilbo blows out a ring of smoke that Gandalf watches, after that we see Bilbo's mouth saying something, but there's no audio.

Continuity error: In the palantir scene between Gandalf and Saruman, Saruman says that the eye of Sauron sees past all, including flesh. In that shot a ring can be seen on Gandalf's finger (one of the three elvish rings). Then Saruman says, "You know of what I speak Gandalf," and in the very next shot, the ring is gone.

Boom mike visible: Just as Gandalf arrives at the front of Bilbo's house, we can see a boom mike at Gandalf's left shoulder as he sighs

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Frodo meets Bilbo in Rivendell and hugs him, you can hear Bilbo say "Ohh!" in delight of seeing Frodo again; however his mouth doesn't move.

The members of the Fellowship are shown wearing matching green cloaks and leaf-shaped pins after they leave Lothlorien. A sequence showing the Fellowship receiving their cloaks from Galadriel's people in Lothlorien was shown in some promotional stills and in the Sci-Fi television special, but does not appear in the final movie.

In the trailer, two young women can be seen prancing in the woods with others far behind. There is also a short glimpse of the ceremony at Lothlorien where the fellowhip recieves their gifts.

One photograph from unused publicity shots shows the four hobbits making their way through a swamp, presumably the Migewater Marshes from the novel. This sequence does not appear in the final cut of the movie.

In November, a special edition DVD will include approx. 30 mins. of deleted footage approved by director Pete Jackson.

The Extended Edition DVD includes the following changes to the film.

* During the prologue, more is shown of the ambush and death of Isuldur, emphasizing his betrayal by the Ring.

* After the prologue, we open with a closeup of the Middle Earth map and pan to hear Bilbo writing his book, starting with a description of hobbits. This voices over scenes around Hobbiton and Gandalf and Frodo's meeting. Much of the Gandalf-Frodo dialogue is removed

* When Gandalf and Bilbo are in Bag End, Bilbo notes that the people knocking on his door are the Sackville-Bagginses.

* During the party, Bilbo greet a guest, then hides from the S.B's with Frodo. He tells Frodo how much the latter means to him.

* After the Ringwraiths set out, the Hobbits are shown dancing and singing in the Green Dragon Inn. References are made to troubles in the outside world and Frodo encourages Sam about Rosie Cotton.

* After Frodo and Sam set out, they hear singing and run to find the woodelves leaving for the Gray Havens.

* After the company leaves Bree, they pass through the Midgewater Marshes. Later, Aragorn brings a killed deer to the hobbits. Frodo wakes up late at night to hear Aragorn singing about Beren and Luthien.

* The stone trolls are show in close up and mentioned by Sam.

* Dialogue between Aragon and Boromir during the "still sharp" scene with Narsil.

* In the Council of Elrond, Boromir mentions his dream and reaches for the Ring. Gandalf recites the poem "One Ring to rule them all.." in black speech, causing the ground to shake and sun to go dark and provoking Elrond.

* After the Council of Elrond, Aragorn visits his mother's grave and remembers Elrond telling him of his destiny. This followed another scene in which the company are sent off by Elrond and the elves.

* Gandalf stops Frodo as they approach Moria to warn him about the Ring's power growing.

* In the mines, Gandalf mentions mithril and lights up an old mithril mine. He notes the value of Bilbo's mithril shirt.

* Additional fight scenes during the battle in the Chamber of the Marzabul.

* Lothlorien is completely revised. The company are first on Haldir's flet with the Elves distrusting Gimli and leery of Frodo.

* Scene of the elves and the company approaching Caras Galadhon

* More dialogue when Celeborn and Galadriel meet the company

* Sam recites a poem verse about Gandalf

* Galadriel acknowledges her possession of one of the elf-rings

* As the Fellowship leaves, Galadriel gives them each a personalized gift that will end up being critical to their future. Legolas gets a special bow, Sam gets some elven rope that comes in handy when he faces a giant spider in The Two Towers, and a touching moment between Gimli and Galadriel.

* Celeborn gives Aragorn a knife before they leave and warns them they are being tracked by something

* Boromir spots Gollum following the boats. Sam tries to get Frodo to eat or sleep. An exchange between Aragorn and Boromir about going to Minas Tirith before setting off for Mordor.

* Extra action in the final battle.

* An important extra line of dialogue in Boromir's final scence.

* The SE also includes 10-15 minutes of fan club credits.

In March 2002 a 3-minute preview of the sequel, The Two Towers, was added to the theatrical release right before the end credits, making the film's running time 181m.

One photograph from unused publicity shots shows the four hobbits making there way through a swamp, presumably the Migewater Marshes from the novel. This sequence does not appear in the final cut of the movie but is included in the Extended Edition DVD

In the Extended Edition, the opening includes Bilbo Baggins describing the nature of Hobbits.

In the Extended Edition, the opening title, "The Fellowship Of the Ring", appears while Bilbo is writing "There and Back Again: A Hobbit's Tale", contrary to appearing while Frodo is reading in the theatrical release.

In the extended DVD, the discussion Gandalf and Frodo have in Moria about Gollum has several more lines. In particular, Gandalf tells Frodo Gollum's original name, Sméagol, and that Gollum was once a Stoor Hobbit. Frodo's knowledge of this becomes important in the next film, The Two Towers.

The extended version was originally planned to be rated R, but due to most of the new scenes focusing on more character development than extra violence. The PG-13 rating remained intact, if not slightly more intense.

In the extended version there is actually a line missing. In the very beginning of the movie Gandalf mentions Hobbits as being ignored, thing of which he is most thankful; this line is not in the extended DVD version.

In the theatrical release and the Extended DVD, when Aragorn is fighting the Uruk-hai that killed Boromir (Lurtz), Aragorn stabs him in the leg with a knife, the uruk-hai then pulls the knife out of his leg and licks the blood off of it before throwing it at Aragorn. This scene is cut out of the Theatrical Edition DVD.

In the extended edition, the nature of Bilbo's party plan is very different. In the original, the film made it seem like Gandalf was in on the joke and was keeping mum about it with Frodo, keeping the happy air of the Shire scenes. However, in the Extended Edition, further close ups and different dialogue takes show that Gandalf not only is unaware of the trick but actually is concerned about it.