[Protoclown]

Peter Jackson cut 1 hour and 5 minutes from the rough theatrical cut of ROTK to get to the finished print we saw in the theater. Take also into account that he probably set aside some footage straight off the bat that he only ever intended for the extended version. Ian McKellan has recently said that he believes that the Extended version of the movie could be 5 hours long. I'll certainly believe it could end up that way and I hope they add as much back in as is possible without the narrative screeching to a halt.

Kevin, what those Tolkien geeks must have been referring to was the part where Sam gets the ring for a little while as Frodo is held captive in the tower of Cirith Ungol (I only remember that name because I have the soundtrack and there is a track by that title...oh, and yes, Pippin's singing is on it). The only major difference between that part of the movie and the book is that in the book Sam actually USES the ring to turn invisible and sneak into the tower to save Frodo. But that's it. Sam doesn't end up with the ring. The events where the ring is dealt with once and for all are pretty much depicted exactly as they are in the book.