The Lord of the Rings Special Edition DVD

This petition concerns the release of a "special edition" DVD for the 1978 animated classic "J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings," directed by Ralph Bakshi. This film is groundbreaking for a number of reasons. Firstly, the film was done almost entirely with the rotoscoping technique. The success of recent films such as Richard Linklater's "Waking Life," "A Scanner Darkly" and Robert Zemeckis' "The Polar Express," which use similar techniques in equally major doses prove that Ralph Bakshi was always ahead of his time.

Secondly, it was the first screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," which, since its original three volume release in 1954 and 1955, has grown to become one of the most popular fantasy novels of all time, and adaptations based on the book will always have a market.

With the recent special edition DVD re-releases of Bakshi's other popular animated fantasies, "Wizards" (released by 20th Century Fox in 2004), and "Fire and Ice" (released by Blue Underground Entertainment in 2005), and the making of a new animated feature from the director, there has been a recent surge in interest in Bakshi's works, and what better way to add to this interest with a special edition of one of Bakshi's most popular films?

The combination of the number of Lord of the Rings fans with the number of Bakshi fans make this film a perfect opportunity for a special edition re-release. Surely, there must be enough additional features lying in the vaults that would make the perfect extras for this DVD release?

And, also, additional special features could be produced for this release, including an audio commentary with director Ralph Bakshi, and, perhaps, an additional audio commentary by a member of J.R.R. Tolkien's family, or a Tolkien expert, or a film critic would also be interesting and informative to fans? Or even an interview with fellow LOTR director Peter Jackson, who was introduced to J.R.R. Tolkien's work through Bakshi's 1978 film.

The current single-disc DVD edition (released in 2001) won't do. Lord of the Rings and Bakshi fans simply won't stand to see this classic film get the treatment it has received. The current DVD release doesn't even include a theatrical trailer (despite the fact that the back cover lists the trailer in its special features notes).

Please give this ambitious film a chance and give us fans the DVD release we deserve. There are many of us who would love to see a 2-disc or 3-disc edition of the animated "Lord of the Rings" feature.