A friend of mine had the same issue with his Sony player. His disc played fine on his Pioneer DVD-ROM. Between his version and mine, there was no difference in UPC. The whole thing is rather boggling. I’m surprised more folks haven’t spoken up about it.

Thanks to Steve and Warbridge, above, for your comments about DVP’s. It’s nice to know when a problem is universal … to a degree, misery loves company!

I sure wouldn’t wish this on anyone though. It’s no fun.

I have yet to test this on our other DVP, which is a much newer Pioneer 5-disc changer. I think I’ll go do that now, actually. That means I have to take the DVD out of my laptop though. I’ve enjoyed having it there at my fingertips whenever I wish.

One of my favorite spots: To see the Elves arrive at Helm’s Deep. Pure fantasy on the movie writers part, but I love it. I am no Tolkien purist. I say that this is just part of the story that Tolkien failed to write about, but it really did happen 😉

Well, I googled “The Two Towers skips” and this is the only real report of this I’ve found looking through the first page of returns. I’ve tried a few others search parameters, and come up with nothing. Weird.

I had the same problem only this is with my Sony PS2, on Chapter 51, when Gandalf says the word swift, it cuts about 20 seconds into chapter 52, then continues just fine. You’d think that since sony owns the patent on CD & DVD technology they’d test DVD’s and their stupid copy protection crap on their stuff first. I’m writing them a nastygram, and I want my PS2 replaced at their cost.

It isn’t just Sony, but judging by the messages it seems to be Sony more often than not. IGN has a short piece up regarding their readers complaints baout not being able to watch the movie. See the link. Not much detail wise, but hopefully there will be more news.

dvd.ign.com/articles/436/436356p1.html?fromint=1

And replacing your PS2 won’t help. It isn’t likely to be the player’s fault, although a PS2 is not a replacement for a full fledged DVD player, but if it plays most other things fine then it is the disk, not the player.

Bad new for us now. The third copy of TTT we bought, worked flawlessly the first few times.

I watched it the other night when I couldn’t sleep, and dozed a few minutes only to find I was watching chapter 26 next, though I’d been way past it last time I recalled being awake.

So, handy dandy remote in hand — I ran through chapter selections and finding chapter 51 and yep, it skips, but only back to chapter 50 I think it is, when Frodo [and Sam] is in Gondor. This error keeps repeating now, just like that.

I’ve tried thing in fastfwd modes, and slowfwd modes, on the fastest forward it goes through, on the other ones it either hangs and then skips ahead into chapter 51 leaving gaps in the little Gandolf speech, or it hangs and hangs, or it hangs then goes back to chapter 50 with Frodo in Gondor.

Weird. In regular play, it won’t play through now, but on X2 fastfwd it plays it. No other forward speed will, and the glitch is different depending on which forward speed used.

We give up. No more returns.Has New Line Cinema said anything yet? I haven’t checked to see. I will later.

There is something going on with this disk that is way beyond my knowledge of how DVD players work. Here is my case history: bought the first copy of The Two Towers, played it on a Denon 2800, experienced freeze and lock-up, returned disk and got second copy, experienced freeze and lock-up, played dvd on Panasonic DVD player – no problems. Contacted Denon, I had problems with the 2800 before, Denon sent me a replacement unit, a 2800mk2. This player also has problems with the disc. Played the disc on a second Panasonic player (older, non-progressive)no problems. Whatever the problem is, only certain players seem susceptible to it. Denon has been fantastic in terms of support, but I wonder what the issue is.

Thanks for the update. I’ve had the same experience, and have been searching for the cure. After returning the disk twice I’m glad to see the flaw has been recognized by the manufacturer.

Thanks for posting your experience as well! We bought ours at Circuit City. Definitely all WAMO discs.

We are still unresolved on what to do for the #4 fix … exchange with the store, or send the disc through the mail … or …

Our problem with the Two Towers DVD: A skip in an early part of the movie: the Uruk-hai camp, Pippin and Meri (sp?) are tied and talking about having made a mistake leaving The Shire. The picture jumps. Exchanged the disc and the second one had the exact same problem.

The manufacturer is Nippon Herald Films, Inc.

I just exchanged my first TTT and the second skips. I have an RCA DVD Player. It’s about two years old. Both copies would not play Ch.15 -19 on the first disk. The second disk played but skipped intermittently throughout. I even bought a lens cleaner for $20. I decided to check out the web to see if anyone else was having problems. It was a major disapointment to get about an hour into the movie and have to deal with the exchange biz. I’m going to try my third out tomorrow. I’m going to try it out at the store before I bring it home. I guess they produced twice as many TTT than the felowship. A year ago my First fellowship skipped and my second played fine.

Ben,

We have the Extended Version of TTT but haven’t tested it [read: played] yet. Though I did just run and put the first appendice in the Sony DVD Player, that’s the third disc. It played the menu and the first thing we clicked, but we stopped it then, since it did work. [we are going to watch it later].

So, how old is your Goldstar DVD Player? My Sony is old, and is the one that had the problem with the theatrical release, 3 times, and we just never resolved the problem. It played fine twice, then never again. I can watch it fine on my computer, or on the other DVD player we have, which is a Pioneer DVD player.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Extended version has problems or not. Keep us updated as to what you find.

I just got off the phone with zenith support.
They told me that the firmware on the player has to be updated.
The new piracy protection on the disks is what they are blaming the problem on. The support person asked me to box up the unit. She is sending Ups out to pick up the player and they will update it then send it back.
I got the info from the support url listed on the back of the two towers paper index. support.interactual.com then went to the link “home dvd players” located on the left colum of the web page. This finaly directed me to zenith’s support phone number.
Hope this helps anyone else with the problem.
Kelly

Yep, same problem here, won’t read disks 3 and 4. Mine is a Sanyo dual DVD/VCR, not very expensive but fairly new. What DVDs will this work on, or will I have to just watch it on my computer? Very annoying.

This is the fifth copy that I have bought. My husband is an English teacher and has been teaching it in his class. When we get to chapter 51 it just stops. Does any one know if the disk will be replaced somehow and who do we need to contact to get it replaced? If you know email me at tamu38260@yahoo.com it will help me very much thanks.

I talked with Zenith Customer Service today. They are aware of the problem they are having and also with Sony and Hitachi units. The person I spoke with said they are still uncertain if they will release a firmware upgrade on a disk that can be loaded into the machine or if they will put out a recall on the machines and we’d have to ship them in. He said to sit tight until February for it all to get worked out.
The Zenith Customer Service Number I called was: 1-877-993-6484 option 1.

I feel all your pain zenith owners, same problem. Disk 3&4 don’t wanna run.Here’s to hoping theres a solution. Cheers!

I’m having the same problem with discs 3 & 4. I have a Sanyo dual dvd/vcr. Sarah, is your Sanyo a DVW-5000? Anyone else with a Sanyo player having this problem?

Similar problem with discs 3 and 4. They run but with periodic cuts.

No problem with chapter 51.
Player: Sony 405

Excellent movie, reccomend it to all!!

We watched this recently too… Not on my list to watch again. Batman has always been my Superhero of choice. And still is. He’s kinda this normal average type of guy (although very wealthy…) for starters. Didn’t have to have anything “mutate” him to fight evil-doers. That appeals to me most. Plus, he has a cool car. 😉

Uhm…I have quite a problem with spiders…I wouldn’t say I’m phobic…but others might!!! LOL I don’t like Gothic but I can look passed it on the screen. Black was a favorite color though. I’m getting passed that too. 😉 Now, if you could put Batman “in the big city”…!!!! 😀

You can’t see what being a Christians has to do with the movie … hmmm. Another person who dis-believes in having a Christian Worldview. 🙁

Understand my entire post up there, and you will understand some of what I said, but you missed most of it, due to my “Christian Worldview”.

I have appreciated enough, other films, without reading the books or comics behind them. I have also seen films and been pushed to find the written material that it was based on, the movie creates a desire to learn about it.

DD flunked … thing is, that’s not only my opinion. I didn’t read “reviews” of this until just the other day. Wow! Compare it to X-Men. A much smaller percentage of people like DD compared with the many who like X-Men/X2 on film, for example.

So lets get this straight. I’m talking about MOVIES. What the movie is like.

Another example, you can watch LOTR trilogy without reading the books. Most people that have done that enjoy the movies. Some do not, but most do. People that have read LOTR enjoy the movies too, some don’t, but the vast majority do. In fact the vast majority of reviews are in favor of each LOTR movie.

What’s that got to do with it? It’s not a “book to movie transition” — movies are “adaptations” of books. Big difference.

It’s the differences in what’s in a book or comic books, and bringing it to the screen and making it appear real, living, breathing, wonder.

So back to topic, my views, are mine. Yours are yours. If you are a Christian, I encourage you to seek out info on what having a Christian Worldview is. You can’t truly look at the world objectively, apart from Christ. If you think you can, you are fooling yourself.

And then if you aren’t a Christian, I surely encourage you to seek Christ.

All I’ve shown in my original post is that I cannot see a storyline of redemption, or true justice coming in future editions of the movie. It’s dark and hellishly icky. It’s not that I can’t appreciate dark movies, for goodness sake, you can’t base my movie likes on ONE little post. What other movie can I recall with a dark, horrid way about it? High Plains Drifter (Eastwood 1973). It’s a weird film. But Eastwood makes it work. It’s not about “comic book to screen” adaptations, it’s about any movie, whether originally a short story, book, comic book, play, or script. Making it into a film is a gamble.

IF DD as a film is so wonderfully like the comic book, that’s why I don’t like it, I am not drawn to read any of the pages of the originals. If it TAKES reading DD things to appreciate DD, then DD is for DD readers, not for the general populace.

And finally, personal attacks? Please reconsider how you reply to someone that challenges your beloved films.

This was a great movie. Ben Afflek played his part beautifully. Any other actor would not have done this movie justice. You have to understand DD’s a vigilanty b/c his father was a boxer. Not a “Christian” sport. Christians aren’t always right.

Tim,

Another question is what does Bush view Christianity as. He has made much of his faith, but question is faith in what? God of the Bible?

Many would say no based on several of Bush’s comments.