I have just finished watching the 4 DVD LOTR special edition of the Two Towers. It was a great experience and in my opnion it is a must have for fans. The success of the movies is not an accident. Everything of this production has been thought out well. Every little aspect got attention.
For me that works and I bought both the original and the special edition versions of both parts I and II and have trouble waiting for part III. I don't have the feeling that it was just a clever packaging of something they already had in store. It has the overall feeling of something new.
The movie is more than 40 minutes longer than the original. Those additional scenes were of a very high quality. It wasn't just a "let's just glue some extra scenes which we had to cut in the original and reuse sound effects and music". Scenes were shot especially for the DVD, new special effects and sound were added and new music was composed and recorded.
The documentaries are unique to the special version. The ones on the original DVD are not added to the special version. They actually made new ones, although some (but very few) interviews (or parts of it) reappear.
The above sounds much like how the product is advertized. That's because for once the ads are no lie.
The Netherlands is just a tiny spot on the map, but the Special Edition contained a partly Dutch cover and the subtitles were Dutch (no other language available). Voices and menus stayed English. Good enough to make us happy. I can only assume that other countries get the same or better treatment.
No, I will not spoil it for you by telling what I've seen. The only thing I can say is that the creators are perfectionists. And maybe you can call them mad. Nobody that works for 7 years as hard as these guys did can be called sane.
The only thing that worries me is that I have no idea why Elrond is in the Matrix and Smith appears in the Lord of the Rings.
I have just watched most of it and I loved every second. There are still several commentaries that I haven't seen. Please excuse me. I need to see some more.