6 years later, they’re rarely talked about, even among Tolkien fans. Not even close to as much as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is still just as beloved today as it was 18 years ago, triple the time, and probably always will be.

To clarify: Personally, at least at the time, I thought the 1st one = great, the 2nd one = also great (Up until that bullshit cliffhanger ending), and the 3rd one...was mainly where things fell apart for me.

Like I said, haven't seen any of them since they first came out (I saw all 3 of them premier night, and I'm not even a Tolkien fanboy or anything lol), nor have I watched the later Extended versions, so who knows? I may very well hate them more than I remember, or perhaps even like them more in the case of 3, since I've heard supposedly the Extended version addresses certain things left out of the Theatrical cut (Odds are it doesn't fix the flow/rhythm of the entire movie tho... Srsly, who thought it was a good idea to start the movie with what should have been the climax of the last one?!).

There's a universe out there where the series is a duology directed by Guillermo Del Toro and held in just as high of a regard as the lotr trilogy...sad we don't live there.

Obligatory link to Lindsay Ellis' 3 part "autopsy" of the trilogy , which mainly deals with the milieu of production problems it had...like Jackson and co. being given literally no preparation time as opposed to the lotr trilogy where they were given years to prepare and lovingly create it.