In the mid-1950s, J.R.R. Tolkien's novel "The Lord of the Rings" was published in three volumes. The first of the three volumes was called "The Fellowship of the Ring," and it was followed by "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King." Tolkien envisioned "The Lord of the Rings" as one long continuous story, but it was his publisher who insisted on spreading it over three separate volumes.

Working in New Zealand, filmmaker Peter Jackson simultaneously shot screen adaptations of all three volumes of the "The Lord of the Rings" as three separate movies. In 2001 the first of the three movies was released in theaters under the title "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," and the second and third movies in the sequence are scheduled for theatrical release in 2002 and 2003, respectively. The first of the three movies has now been released on DVD, and when I watched it at home recently I enjoyed it immensely.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" takes place in an alternate world called Middle-earth, where the talking inhabitants have lifestyles rather similar to those of Europeans during the Dark Ages. One such inhabitant is a gentle, pure-hearted soul named Frodo (Elijah Wood), who is a Hobbit, a peace-loving, human-like race whose members are roughly half the size of humans.

Through a series of events, Frodo happens to come into possession of a magic ring that imparts great power to anyone who slips it on his finger. But the good wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) realizes that Frodo has the one-of-a-kind Ring of Power, which inevitably corrupts its wearer. Furthermore, if the Ring is not destroyed in the fires of a mountain deep inside the territory called Mordor, the entire world will fall under the domination of an evil sorcerer, resulting in terrible suffering.

Evil forces called Ringwraiths are already trying to obtain the Ring when Frodo travels to a nearby town, where he is fortunate to encounter a brave man named Strider (Viggo Mortensen). Soon Frodo, Gandalf, Strider, and six others form a Fellowship and embark on a quest to destroy the Ring.

During their quest, the Fellowship becomes embroiled in a series of perilous situations, including fighting fierce creatures, such as an army of Orcs, a cave troll, and a Balrog. These encounters take their toll, and two of the members of the Fellowship end up dead or missing, two are captured by evil forces, and the remaining five are split into two groups. As the movie comes to an end, the goal of the Fellowship's quest still seems far away, and Frodo, accompanied by only a single Hobbit friend, walks toward Mordor with the Ring.

I found "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" to be dazzlingly cinematic and intellectually engaging, and Ian McKellen is superb as Gandalf. Stunning location shooting and terrific special effects bring Tolkien's novel to vivid life on the screen. Because of the density of the material, I enjoyed this movie even better on DVD than in the theater.

One of the special features on Disc Two of the DVD I enjoyed the most was "A Passage to Middle-earth: SCI-FI Channel Special." There are lots of other special features on Disc Two, but the same footage is reused far too often in several different features. I was very disappointed that there's no feature-length audio commentary track on this DVD set, and a film of this complexity really needs one.

I should warn you that two other DVD versions of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" are scheduled for release November 12, 2002. The movie on these DVD versions contains about half an hour of extra footage that was not included in the theatrical release. Also, these DVD versions are advertised to have four feature-length audio commentary tracks. Furthermore, one of these two other DVD versions is advertised as having two discs of all new special features. You'll have to make up your own mind about which of these versions you want to spend your money on.

Selected Special Features on the DVDs:

• Two-Disc Set
• Welcome to Middle-earth: Houghton Mifflin In-Store Special
• Quest for the Ring: FOX TV Special
• A Passage to Middle-earth: SCI-FI Channel Special
• Featurette: Finding Hobbiton
• Featurette: Hobbiton Comes Alive
• Featurette: Believing the World of Bree
• Featurette: Ringwraiths: The Fallen Kings
• Featurette: Rivendell: The Elven Refuge
• Featurette: Languages of Middle-earth
• Featurette: Two Wizards
• Featurette: Music of Middle-earth
• Featurette: Elijah Wood
• Featurette: Viggo Mortensen
• Featurette: Orlando Bloom
• Featurette: Cate Blanchett
• Featurette: Liv Tyler
• Featurette: Ian McKellen
• Featurette: Weathertop: The Windy Hill
• Theatrical Trailers
• TV Spots
• Enya "May It Be" Music Video
• Special Extended DVD Edition Preview
• Behind the Scenes Preview of "The Two Towers"
• "The Two Towers" Video Game Preview