Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn are standing atop the wall and Legolas says, "Your friends are with you Aragorn," in this close-up we can see that Legolas' right braid is loose and half undone. As Legolas lets loose his first arrow in the rain, his right braid is perfect again. Various close-ups were done in pickups long after the principal photography. (01:00:40 - 01:04:05)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: In the extended DVD, when Gimli quips, "That's not bad for a pointy-eared Elvish princeling!" the back shot of Legolas shows him 'toying' with his bow, but in the front shot, his hands are apart holding the bow. (01:39:00)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: First a shot of the Uruks shooting up the second anchor to the Keep, then there's a shot of a line of Uruks pulling on the cable. In the next shot, an Uruk has his arm wrapped around the frame, between the rungs of the ladder. We can also see the feet of another Uruk, standing on the horizontal ladder. This 'real' ladder has a much narrower width than the CG ladder, we see going up in the next shot, which is wide enough to hold 3-4 Uruks, side by side, as it's being raised to the Keep. Then when it reaches the top of the Keep, it's the 'real' ladder again. There is a very noticeable difference between the real ladders and the WETA CG ladders, top or bottom. (01:17:10)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: When the ladders are being raised to the Keep, we first see a wide shot of two ladders going up. The one on the right reaches the top of the Keep first. The next three quick shots show it differently. In the second quick shot, there are two ladders at the top already and a third ladder on their right, that is just hitting the top of the Keep. All those ladders are close together. Then just after Legolas grabs an arrow, the next far shot of the Keep shows two ladders spaced far apart, with a third one in the middle being raised. This is the one that Legolas causes to fall with his arrow. (01:17:20)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: When Sam lifts Frodo and says, "That there's some good in this world Mr Frodo and it's worth fighting for", Sam's face is wet with tears and his eyes are red and teary. In the next shot, when Faramir walks over, Sam's eyes are still red and teary and his face is still wet, but in the next shot, when Faramir kneels, Sam's face is dry and his eyes are no longer red and teary. (01:36:55)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: Merry wakes up to find Pippin drinking the Ent water. During this scene, Merry's cloak changes, to either with or without leaves on it and the amount and position of the leaves vary too. (01:08:15 - 01:10:00)

Super Grover ★

Revealing mistake: When the Uruk-hai are running through the rock canyon while carrying the Hobbits, the Uruk with the painted white hand on his face holds up his right fist. In the theatrical release and regular DVD, a second Uruk then asks of the painted one, "What is it, what do you smell?" and he answers, "Manflesh." The very next shot is of Pippin saying, "Aragorn," followed immediately by the second Uruk saying, "They've picked up our trail." The Uruk who should have the painted hand on his face no longer does. He gives a low growl, then all the Uruk-hai run again. However, in the extended DVD, same scene, when the painted Uruk holds his fist up, it cuts to the Orcs hiding behind the rock, and the very next shot is of those two Uruks, and just like in the regular DVD, the Uruk who is supposed to have the painted hand on his face, does not. It is that Uruk who later in the scene says, "Manflesh," and unlike the regular DVD, without the painted hand on his face. Side note: It may be a different Uruk standing next to the 'second Uruk', in the questionable shots and that's why he doesn't have a painted face, but either way, it's still a mistake between shots. (00:14:50)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: Merry's shirt is untucked under the front bottom of his vest when Pippin chases him and then as he sits on the roots of the tree. The tree starts to devour them. Just after the shot of hairy Hobbit toes, there is a close-up of Merry's jacket and vest, before panning to his face. It shows that his shirt is now tucked in, as well as in the far shot later, when Treebeard rescues them. (01:10:10)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: After the tree has buried Merry and Pippin in its roots, the close-up of those roots (gnarled and twisted) do not look anything like the roots of the tree in the far shot (straight and broad), when Treebeard says, "Away with you, you should not be waking." Not a case of distance - in the wide shot when Treebeard arrives, just after they're let go, you can compare that shot to the shot just before, and the roots are very different, regardless of the Hobbits' size. (01:10:45)

Super Grover ★

Revealing mistake: Soon after the Uruk-hai breach the wall with the ladders, Aragorn uses his sword to slice the leg off of one of them. In the wide shot, the Uruk has leg guards on, but in the close-up of the leg being cut off at the knee, no guards are on that leg. Also, visible in the close-up, it is obvious that the 'leg' is prepped to be cut in half. (01:05:30)

Super Grover ★

Trivia: At Helm's Deep, the one-eyed man who shouted, "Fire" after Theoden gives the order for a volley, really is missing an eye; it's not a CG effect. Director's commentary, extended DVD. (01:04:15)

Super Grover ★

Trivia: Haleth, son of Hama, is played by Calum, son of Philippa Boyens. When it was time to do the ADR for the movie, Calum's voice was much deeper by then, so another young boy's voice was dubbed to say these powerful lines, "...The men are saying we will not live out the night. They say that it is hopeless." Director's commentary, extended DVD. (00:56:40)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: In the first shot of the Uruk-hai running away fom Helm's Deep, towards the trees, the shot of Helm's Deep in the background is correct. The Causeway is littered with many bodies and the ladders are leaning against the Keep and the Deeping Wall with the break in it. However, in the next shot of them, as they are entering the forest of trees with Helm's Deep behind them, the Causeway has no bodies on it and there are no ladders leaning against the Keep. Also visible when Theoden is shouting, "Victory, we have victory." (01:38:00)

Super Grover ★

Continuity mistake: Just before the trees start killing the Uruk-hai, we see the backs of Gandalf and the rest of the heroes on horseback as they're watching the forest. Gandalf is holding his staff up in his right hand. Next close-up shot, he's lowering the staff in his left hand. Extended DVD. (01:38:20)

Super Grover ★

Revealing mistake: At the Dead Marshes, Frodo tosses to the ground a piece of Lembas bread, for Gollum to eat. However, Gollum doesn't reach for the 'tasty' food in the same place that Frodo tossed it. Extended DVD. (00:43:25)

Super Grover ★

Trivia: When Sam's cooking the rabbit stew, Sam says, "Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish," and Gollum spits. Andy Serkis is very proud that something of his is on screen, because it is his spit we see, not a CGI like the rest of Gollum's body. Appendices of extended DVD. (01:42:20)

Super Grover ★

Trivia: Elijah Wood describes this as "spontaneous, violent love." Apparently Viggo Mortensen and some stunt men enjoyed greeting co-workers by 'head-butting' each other. One night he persuaded stunt man Sala Baker to head-butt Orlando Bloom, who jokingly swears he saw 'white light', after their heads smashed together. A bright red mark on Bloom's forehead was not appreciated by the make-up artist the next day. Mortensen was amused because Bloom had the "perfect, pale Elven complexion." Appendices, Extended DVD.

Super Grover ★

Trivia: John Rhys-Davies is missing the end of his middle finger on his left hand due to a farming accident as a child. The make-up artists made artificial, gelatin fingertips for him to wear in the movies. Davies one day, cut the tip in half, put 'blood' in it and closed it up. He went over to Peter Jackson (unaware of the gelatin tip) and said, "Boss, I've had an accident, look what happened". Jackson saw a small cut, but Davies bent the tip back and it split open, gushing.

Super Grover ★

Revealing mistake: When Gandalf, Aragorn, Theoden, Legolas and Gimli all ride up the hill on horses towards the end, there is a man on a horse on the left of the screen. Who is he and why is he there? He's Éomer's body double (Karl Urban was unavailable) and at some stage they were going to put Éomer's head on him digitally, but they never got around to it. Director's commentary, extended DVD. (01:43:05)

Super Grover ★

Trivia: The Warg scene that includes the infamous shot of Legolas leaping onto the horse, was filmed on the same day that Orlando Bloom fell off his horse and cracked his rib. He landed on a rock and Gimli's scale double (Brett) fell on top of him. So the filming crew could not film Bloom actually jumping onto his saddle, because of the injury. Later in post-production, about six months before the release of "The Two Towers," Bloom had grown a beard, for the filming of "Ned Kelly" (2001). He was not permitted to shave, which meant he could not do the pickups for this scene in "The Two Towers," so the CG animators at WETA created a CG Legolas to do the actual springing onto the horse. (00:10:35)

Super Grover ★