Rating: 
Summary: National Geographic does a great job w/Fact & Fantasy on DVD
Review: National Geographic, Beyond the Movie Series has done a commendable job analyizing and comparing JRR Tolkien classic fantasy world of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy using Peter Jacksons passion & Tolkien detailed epic book to film Part I: The Fellowship of the Ring to our worlds past geography.This documentation brings up some interesting questions regarding Tolkiens fantasy world and his real life experiences. JRR Tolkien was a WWI veteran, Oxford Scholar, Professor of Languages and English Legends. He discovered that England was robbed of their early legends & history through 5th & 6th century invasions. Tolkien decided to re-create an entire world including an Elven Language (both written & spoken) which revolved around England & its mystical past using ancient castles & landmarks as references. National Geographic explains Tolkiens amazing world of Middle Earth vs our world, the struggle between good & evil, the familiarity of the places, heroes & villains, and the parallel challenges in our world! Using Peter Jacksons film clips adds to this fascinating epic story tremendously. Pure entertainment & very informative. A great addition to the "Lord of the Rings" DVD library. This DVD is a Full Screen presentation, approximately 60 minutes with no extras except National Geographic ads. The DVD transfer picture quality & sound are excellent!! Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite what I wanted.
Review: I purchased this DVD hoping to find an exploration into the historical and anthropological background to Lord of the Rings. Did it deliver? Well...sort of. It gives us some information (precious little) about the life and times of J.R.R. Tolkien - but nothing much that we did not all ready know: he fought in World War I, he was from the English countryside and was not a fan of industrialization, he was educated and taught at Oxford, etc. Some insight is provided into the historical aspect of the Trilogy. Tolkien was heavily influenced by Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon history. Most illuminating was the discussion of the Nordic Kalevala, and the possible roots of Elvish. (For all you MST 3K fans out there, the Kalevala is the source of the Sampo). Where I feel the documentary went wrong is that there is not enough of such material. Instead, it comes off as too much of a plug for the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. It is chock full of interviews with Peter Jackson and the cast and would certainly be at home as an extra on the DVD. It also tries to justify its existence by providing parallels between themes in the book (like nature conservation) and our world today. Unfortunately, we live in a time when we seem to be at war every other year. Sauron's and Saruman's abound. It is not too hard for us to find the parallels between Earth and Middle-earth for ourselves. As Christopher Lee puts it at the end of the documentary, "Where is the Ring Bearer now?" Where indeed?
Rating: 
Summary: LoTR Fans: Save Your Money
Review: This is getting one star because you can't give it a half star. The worst part about this DVD is that it doesn't do a good job at masking the fact that's its not really educational- it feels more like a long winded commercial for the movie. It hits on historical bits and points here and there but never goes into much detail. Additionally, it just seems to wander from point to point without a lot of structure. Sleep inducing, really. Save your money.
LoTR can easily sell itself without the help.
Rating: 
Summary: Anglo-Saxon Buffs, This is the DVD for you!
Review: If you're a fan of Tolkien's works, I mean a fan of the works beyond the movie and beyond the Lord of the Rings trilogy, then you might be interested in watching this DVD. If you're looking for a behind-the-scenes dvd about the blockbuster movies by Peter Jackson, then you might want to turn off this DVD after the first ten minutes and pick up a Fellowship of the Rings boxed set. This documentary fulfills its claim of going beyond the movie. It certainly does! This dvd goes beyond even the works of Tolkien and centers around the author's life and influences. If you're interested in languages and history, you might find sections of the DVD fascinating as National Geographics takes us to places like Finland and spends what seemed to me to be ages talking to people about language and myths. I'm not really a linguist, nor am I a historian interested in Norse mythology, but I am quite intersted in Tolkien and the things that influenced his works. For these reasons, I found this DVD to be filled with a wealth of information that goes beyond the shallow tv-style approach to movie backgrounds. This DVD explores several possible influences on the Lord of the Rings trilogy ranging from foxholes in World War II to epic poems such as Beowulf. It was very interesting to see how historians and archeologists can shed light on modern fantasy novels and can influence our interpretations of the events within them. I do have a few detractions for this DVD. It is true that when I purchased it, I expected more of a behind-the-scenes look at the films by Peter Jackson, and I think the cover and description is somewhat misleading in this way. I was surprised, and not unpleasantly, by the content, but some of the sections discussing language seemed to drag on for a while and leave the audience behind. If you're a Tolkien addict, check out this DVD. If you're a Peter Jackson addict...buy the boxed set of FoTR.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe a little misguided in spots.
Review: Having the National Geographic name behind a project certainly lends it a higher level of credibility, but also raises our expectations to a higher level as well. Some of the things presented in this production are contradicted by other sources - mainly about JRR's war experiences influencing the books. The section about "modern day Frodos" was a bit over the top for me, getting a little too "tree hugger-ish" for the over all theme. The sections about the loss of language and oral history was interesting, but I still felt like I was being preached to. There are other DVDs available through Amazon.com which cover Tolkien's life and works rather well, but this is the only work to really touch on Peter Jackson's film. The video quality was excellent, seeing clips from the movie makes me anxious for the DVD to be released. There's even some snippets from the next two films. I would have liked to see more of the 'Making of' and cast interviews and less of the 'horros of tropical deforestation' this is not the place for that sort of material. I read Tolkien and go to movies to get away from the daily worries of "should I recycle this or that" and the fears that my tuna fish sandwich may not be dolphin friendly. For the video quality and some of the 'Behind the Movie' material, I give it a 5 star rating, but for the rest of the content I have to knock my rating down a notch
Rating:
Summary: Has nothing to do with the film.Do not buy it.
Review: This National Geographic DVD has nothing to do with the actual film. It just compares the characters with real life characters.
Save your money and do not buy it for it is a bit of a con and is irrellevant.
Shame on you National Geographic for selling this piece of tripe.
Rating:
Summary: Has nothing to do with the film.Do not buy it.
Review: This National Geographic DVD has nothing to do with the actual film. It just compares the characters with real life characters.
Save your money and do not buy it for it is irellevant to the film. Tolkien repeatedly said that his Lord Of The Rings books were not allegorical and yet we still have those that like to use it to make up their own revisionist history.
Shame on you National Geographic for selling this piece of tripe.
Rating:
Summary: About history more than myth...
Review: How sad that so many so-called fans of LOTR don't want to think about the actual meaning of the story. Tolkien's passions, his influences, the things he most valued and most feared, permeate the Lord of the Rings, and it is his life and influences that this documentary explores, not a behind-the-scenes look at the movies. If you want to see how the movies were made, there are plenty of other dvds to watch. One review said Tolkien would be horrified at this documentary; on the contrary, he would probably be fascinated by all the "boring" parts about nature, language and vanishing culture!
Rating:
Summary: stupid and irrelevant
Review: What a rip off!. I was talked into buying the "Collectors DVD gift set" of FOTR on the basis that it was the only way to get my hands on this "superb" National Geographic documentary.
"Valued at $70 if you could buy it separately" the man in the shop said.
Well I wouldn't mind betting that they tried selling it separately but had too many returns. The documentary itself starts out with some tired stuff that most people will have seen before and then moves off on a very tenuous nature link.
What they think following some beardy guy on his mission to traverse the Amazon has to do with LOTR I'll never know.
"Beyond the movie" is an understatement more like "Nothing to do with the movie". Learn from this fools mistake and don't waste your precious cash on this second rate rubbish.
Rating:
Summary: Seeing the Big picture
Review: All of these reviews seem to be deeply offended that master Tolkien was made out to be an environmentally minded individual. National Geographic explores his outside influences that shaped his storytelling and yes, his love for the enviorenment and witnessing evils of mass deforestation during the early twentieth century crept into his epic 'Lord of the Rings'. The entire Ents plotline and Saruman destroying the foerst under the wheels and iron of the Orcs was a huge part of the philosophical side of the story. IT can also be found in the haven of the Shire and the horror the hobbits find at the end when Bilbo's party tree is leveled by the occupying Orcs. The Elves themselves grow so disenchanted with the ensuing progress enroaching on their woodland homes that they depart from the Grey Havens never to return. I mean really, you would have to be completely ignorant to ignore the fact that Tolkien was an environmentatlist at heart, and that doesn't make him or anyone else with that belief a "freak" or a "loopy tree-hugger".
I'm sure that Tolkien would've been heartbroken at the excessive crimes against nature inflicted by corporate powers and other "descedants of Orcs".
This is a pretty interesting piece that takes you to the root of Tolkien's influences in the early twentieth century from the industrialization of the world and horrors of two World Wars. It's for those who try to see "the big picture" and not for those who only wish to see special effects, and sword fights. Don't get me wrong those are fun too, but to wallow in ignorance is something Mr. Tolkien was never one to partake in.
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