Indiana Jones : The Adventure Collection
05.07.08 By Collin DavidWhile watching the amazing Indiana Jones trilogy, I’ve realized that Indiana Jones and myself have a lot in common. We’re both part-time teachers, we’re both accidental lotharios, and we’re both collectors. Unfortunately for me, the similarities end there. While Indy’s weapon of choice is a well-aimed bullwhip, mine tends to be a well-timed barb in a blog somewhere. One of these things will save your life. I’ll let you figure out which is which.
With ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ coming out in just a few days, the nerd-world (or ‘nerld’, as I’ve come to call it) has gone Indy crazy. I admit, the fervor was so infectious that I found myself scooping up Indiana Jones action figures this weekend without even remembering the details of the films. Plus, who can resist ANY action figure of either Harrison Ford or Jonathan Rhys-Davies? Not me, sir. Not even if the likenesses are barely there.
To herald the arrival of the new Indy film, Paramount is re-releasing the original IJ trilogy in a handsome boxed set, including 1981’s ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, 1984’s ‘Temple of Doom’ and 1989’s ‘Last Crusade’, all presented in Widescreen format and packaged in three space-saving slim cases. For a DVD collector, space is a premium. Those Xena : Warrior Princess sets are huge, and very necessary, because I’m a lonely guy, and Amazons are comforting.
This set, ‘The Adventure Collection’, comes with a handful of new DVD extras. All three come with unique introductions by George Lucas & Steven Spielberg, and all three include the exact same trailer for the upcoming ‘Crystal Skull’, and the same LEGO Indiana Jones video game trailer & playable demo (which is playable on PCs only, and unsuitable for my Mac). These repetitious extras could have been dropped for some deleted scenes, or at least segments of the documentaries included with the 2003 boxed set, which are absent here. It’s all about the vintage, behind-the-scenes stuff, folks. How else are we going to live vicariously?
What we DO get are all-new mini-documentaries, two of which are special effects demonstrations - my favorite. There’s a reconstruction of the ‘melting face’ scene in ROTLA, as well as original construction footage, and a whole segment about the creepy animals used in the Trilogy, from snakes to bugs to rats, explaining (of course) that most of them are completely harmless, but a bit skeevy nonetheless. We’ve seen the actors talk a million times - show me the animal handlers and guys who make jello faces that explode! That’s exactly why I watch Mythbusters, and that’s what I love about these extras.
We’re also given one set of storyboards for each film, which is like the comic that the art team draws out to map out the film - another thing that’s easy to relate to and appreciate, but probably isn’t for everyone. There are photo galleries and sketches and models used for each film, and a mini-documentary about the wide range of exotic locations used throughout. Did you know that ROTLA was filmed in the exact same place in Tunisia as Star Wars : A New Hope’s Tattooine scenes? That’s a true story. Of course, we also have the cast reminiscences, contextualized by the arrival of the new film. I’m skipping these for now, because I want my Crystal Skull experience to be spoiler-free.
I can’t say that I ever appreciated the trilogy as much as it deserved, but I’ve now become an avid fan. It’s pretty astounding how often Raiders is referenced in pop culture, from melting faces in Scrubs to about a million scenes in Family Guy, most episodes of Duck Tales, and even a notable ‘Bart steals Homer’s penny jar’ scene in The Simpsons. Anyone who’s ever run from a huge boulder, or grabbed something from under a quickly descending door, or been chopped to bits by a plane propellor. It’s all there. There’s also the inherent appeal of the dual-personality thing that pervades so many superhero comics - Indy’s an awkward, regular guy when he’s not wearing the hat, but he’s one heck of a hero when he’s got it on.
I’m primed for the new movie with all scales of action figures, a fair knowledge of the films, and a sincere hope that George Lucas won’t stupid it up with quippy lines and butt jokes. You know, pull an Episode One. The set is due out in about a week, on May 13th, and if you don’t already have ‘em, it’s a pretty iconic addition to your movie collection.
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Article Tags: DVDs, George Lucas, Indiana Jones, review, Steven Spielberg================
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May 17th, 2008 at 2:00 am
[...] the new Indiana Jones DVDs are out, ‘The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ is due out shortly, and I don’t know about you, [...]