Indiana Jones - The Adventure Collection (Special Editions of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark / Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom / Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

I grew up with Star Wars and Indy. Both beloved series held dear to my heart. I grew up and George Lucas became a very rich man because of kids like me who spent their allowance on star wars toys and at the movie theater to watch Indiana Jones. But as Lucas got more money Lucas became more greedy and the wonderful magic that he penned turned into garbage.

Lets just call it for what it is folks. The Star Wars prequels and the add ons to the original series are garbage. Nothing more than a money grab just like this new box set that Lucas has churned out.

I am no longer a fan of Lucas. I have no faith what so ever in anything with his name attached to it. All I can think about when I hear his name is money.

Great legacy Lucas.

C'mon George! Not another re-packaging of the same ol' stuff!

If the real draw to this "new" box set are teaser featurettes for the latest Indiana Jones film, why not just wait for the "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" 2-disc set to be released this fall?

Stick with your Indiana Jones DVD Box Set from 2003 and ignore the latest in a disturbingly long line of re-packaging ploys from Lucasfilm and FOX.

Tsk. Tsk.

Being a big fan of the Indiana Jones films I find myself conflicted about this new box set. While it's no surprise that the studio decided to re-release the films to coincide with the release of the new Indy film, they have royally screwed over fans by including a new collection of extras thereby forcing them to buy the films over again if they want them. So, is it worth it? Short answer: no. Nothing is going to beat The Adventures of Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark/ Temple of Doom/ Last Crusade) - Widescreen Edition's two-hour making of documentary and many of these new extras are nothing more than left over bits from it.

On the Raiders of the Lost Ark disc there is an "Introduction" that features Lucas and Spielberg talking about the genesis of the film. Spielberg wanted to do a globe-trotting James Bond-type story and Lucas introduced the idea of an archaeologist. They both agreed that they wanted to pay homage to the old 1930s cliffhanger sequels.

"Indiana Jones: An Appreciation" was done on the set of the new Indy film as Lucas, Spielberg, Harrison Ford, and Karen Allen reflect on the character and the trilogy - its impact on them and popular culture. Cast and crew from the new film also give their impressions and everyone recounts their favourite scene from the trilogy.

"The Melting Face" takes a look at how they pulled off the climactic scene when the Ark is opened and Toht's face melts. The effects artists who did it take us through the process and there is vintage footage of it being done.

"Storyboard: The Well of the Souls" shows illustrations from this sequence with footage from the film to show how close the two match.

There are "Galleries" that feature character sketches, props, behind-the-scenes photographs taken on the set, effects shots, like Matte paintings, and models used, various designs for the film's logo, and finally, posters from all over the world.

The Temple of Doom disc features an "Introduction" by Lucas and Spielberg. The director says that he had always wanted to make a trilogy of films and Lucas wanted this one to be darker and edgier, like The Empire Strikes Back (1980). They admit that Temple of Doom got terrible reviews but at least Spielberg met his wife on that one - Kate Capshaw.

"The Creepy Crawlies" examines how each film has some creepy element to it: Raiders with snakes, Temple of Doom with bugs, and the Last Crusade with rats. There are segments from each film are shown with a trivia track option.

"Travel with Indy: Locations" examines the various exotic locales seen throughout the films. We see how Hawaii doubled for South America and so on. This featurette can also be viewed with an optional trivia track. Associate producer Robert Watts takes us through key locations while dishing production anecdotes.

"Storyboards: The Mine Car Chase" allows you to view the illustrations for this sequence along with the actual scene from the film.

The "Galleries" section is identical to the one on the Raiders disc only pertaining to Temple of Doom.

The Last Crusade disc starts off with yet another "Introduction" where Spielberg admits that he wasn't crazy about the idea of the Holy Grail and suggested using it as a metaphor for the father-son relationship between Indy and his father. Lucas and Spielberg talk about the casting of Sean Connery and what he brought to the role.

Easily the most entertaining and engaging extra of the entire set is "Indy's Women: The American Film Institute Tribute" reunites the leading ladies from each film: Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw and Alison Doody. They talk about their characters and working with Spielberg. They all look great and speak candidly about their experiences. In particular, Capshaw and Doody talk about the reaction to their characters.

"Indy's Friends and Enemies" takes a look at the sidekicks, love interests, and villains in the trilogy. Spielberg speaks admiringly of the leading ladies and the strengths of each character. This featurette also explores the role sidekicks and villains play in the film with plenty of clips.

"Storyboards: The Opening Sequence" shows the sketches for the film's exciting opening action sequence with a young Indy (Phoenix) alongside the actual scene in the film.

Finally, the "Galleries" features a nice collection of snapshots from various aspects of the film like the galleries on the other discs.

The extras on these discs are well done and interesting to watch but do not warrant you double-dipping unless you are a hardcore fan that MUST have everything. If this is the first time buying the Indy films and you don't know which set to get, purchase the first one because each film does not share disc space with extras and for the two-hour making of documentary which is superior to all of the extras on this new set combined.

I'll start this review out by stating that these are some of the best action movies ever made. That's why it received the 4 star vote from me. It didn't get the 5 star vote because I really don't like the re-releases. But the real meat of my review has to do with a question on my part. The question being...why buy these movies again now, when you know that once the 4th movie goes to DVD there will be some massive 4 disc (or 8 disc if each were to get double-disc sets) on either DVD or Blu-ray Disc that will likely be the "definitive" set (if there really is a definitive set for DVDs anymore)? Just thought I'd put my 2 cents in there and say...save your 3999 cents. Thanks.

To preface this poor review, Indiana Jones is by far one of my favorite movie series. I am an Indiana Jones fan! I understand that they wanted to add something "extra" in conjunction with the new movie coming out in May. HOWEVER, if they are going to do that, why not just use this opportunity to create the best possible translation of the movies in a BLU-RAY disc set and not give us a regurgetated DVD set with a few extra nibbles? I'm hopeful that this Blu-ray set will come in the fall (November) when Indy IV is released. It just seems like they are "double dipping" to milk the franchise while the movie is out in theaters. They are doing the exact same thing with the soundtracks by rereleasing, the best of compilation when Extended versions of the out of print originals are supposed to be released later this year. "Capitalism Baby, Yah!." There are going to be quite a few people that will wish they had waited...