In the mid 1980s, my brother and I rented all four Rocky films and watched them back to back. The experience included the unexpected pleasure of seeing actual motifs connecting all four films -- shots of dripping water pipes in every training montage, for example. The LOTR films have been analyzed enough already that most of such things are probably already known. Still, I think the fun of noticing and appreciating them is best experienced in a marathon session. We plan on partaking in one as soon as ROTK gets unwrapped next Saturday!

Wow, a whole Lord of the Rings marathon. Be prepared for about eight hours of this. I love the series, but I don’t think I’m yet ready to watch all of them in one sitting.

We have our Extended copy and are planning a Marathon of our own on Christmas day! I think it will be ab out 9 to 11 hours long! Can’t wait!

My 23 year old came home from the DLI (Defence Linguistics Inst., USAF, studying Arabic) for a two week break on Friday night; we got to sleep ~4:00 AM. Yesterday, we started the exteneded version fo The Fellowship at 11AM, followed by The Two Towers (extended version, of course) and topped off with our very first showing of The Return of the King, extended version, which we started ~8PM. As a Psychiatrist, I am happy to say it was a crazy thing to do, but as a recent emigre from Middle Earth, all I can say is that it was a magnificent experience that was over much too soon. All in all, the watchers went from age 11, 16, 20, 23 (my children) to 53 (myself) with a couple of their friends in between. The universal wish is that this be an annual Christmas time event. We watched on large screen HDTV and it is even more vivid than I recall from the theaters, and the sound is incredible as well. Go for it!

Wow, large screen HDTV. Must have been great. I don’t think we have the extended versions, yet.

We watched the Extended Edition of ROTK last Friday, and I think the movie works better "Extended" than it did in its theatrical release. (The same is true of the other two films, too.) What surprised me is that even with 50 minutes added to it, it is just as relentless as the theatrical version. The theatrical version felt like a series of battle sequences strung together. The Extended Edition provides more context, but it’s not mere padding. The film still manages to be one of the most intense movies I’ve ever experienced.

My family did all three LOTRs in one weekend. My wife and I had seen each on the big screen as they came out. Seeing them back to back to back absolutely helps keep all of the dots connected. I heartily recommend it! What a magnificant experience it was.

Not a marathon exactly but re-viewing of the trilogy. A small point, perhaps, but notice how the characters have aged over the several years of production. In the context of this extraordinary war story from the pen of J. R. R. Tolkien, who served on the western front in the First World War, it seems most appropriate.