Digital Bits Indy DVD news: "...aliens and Hobbits still hold far more interest..." (1 Viewer)

Kain_C · May 6, 2003

"...aliens and Hobbits still hold far more interest for us on DVD in 2003..." -Digital Bits 5/6 news in reference to the Indiana Jones Trilogy DVD annoucement

Can someone explain to me WTF that means?? I assume that more people care about an Indy trilogy DVD release then Lord of the Rings. And I also assume HE believes that more people care about LOTR DVDs then having the Indiana Jones films on DVD. I for one don't give a rat's *** about LOTR DVDs but the Indy movies on DVD really light up my day. These films on DVD represent my #2 entry under my DVD wish list(under Star Wars ORIGINAL Trilogy). That statement confused (and kinda ticked) me and I was just trying to understand.

Also, what 'aliens' is he talking about??

Michael St. Clair · May 6, 2003

He would be talking about the Alien Quadrilogy box. Odd to be more excited about that because at least those films have been on DVD for years.

Frankly, the Indy box will almost certainly be the best-selling DVD movie box released so far.

I'm looking forward to all of them and I don't understand the 'Bits throwing mud in this situation. I'm also not sure why they criticized Fox for releasing Buffy Season 4 in OAR.

Ruz-El · May 6, 2003

I believe he was talking about special features and extras, on top of the actual release of the movies themselves (without DTS). the alien set is rumored to be the most extensive set ever released period, so that was probably an unfare comparisson, as will as the LOTR as those were produced with DVD in mind, as opposed to the Indy films.

That said, I'm buying all of them!

Dave Molinarolo · May 6, 2003

I assume that more people care about an Indy trilogy DVD release then Lord of the Rings. And I also assume HE believes that more people care about LOTR DVDs then having the Indiana Jones films on DVD. I for one don't give a rat's *** about LOTR DVDs but the Indy movies on DVD really light up my day.

Well first of all you assume wrong. Many people care about the LOTR DVDs and the Alien Quadrilogy. The Alien set gets 9 discs and the Indy Trilogy gets 4 discs?

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Michael St. Clair · May 6, 2003

Wow, now we call it 'bare bones'?

I remember when a 'bare bones' disc had just about nothing but a subtitle track and maybe a trailer.

I love movies. Sometimes I think a lot of DVD collectors just love DVDs - the fatter the better.

Nobody even considers the possible quality of three hours or more worth of extras. It's all about the number of minutes.

Richard Kim · May 6, 2003

Sure, it means that the 4-disc Extended Edition of The Two Towers and the 9-disc Alien Quadrilogy box sets will have more "Wow!-Factor" than this apparent bare-boned Indy boxset.

Yeah, 3 + hours of extra features is bare bones alright. :rolleyes

It's a well known fact that Speilberg doesn't do commentaries, and DTS isn't really a necessity. The Digital Bits reaction to the IJ press release seems a little too harsh to me.

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Beast · May 6, 2003

The movie is what's important, the extras are just extra cheese on my DVD pizza. Sort of a silly analogy, but it seems to be the case to often that people care more about the extras then the actual film. Including buying terrible movies that they even say they hate, just because they have "Cool Extras".

I love extras as much as the next person, including audio commentaries. But all I really want is the movies and whatever they give me ontop of that is gravy. Besides, I swore that Lucas and company had done commentaries for all these. I remeber either him or Spielburg commenting that Lucas had tried to get Spielburg into the recording study, and he declined.

Randall Dorr · May 6, 2003

Bill goes on to say:

Honestly... we can't help but feel a little underwhelmed. Lucasfilm's made us wait so damn long for these films on DVD (along with another infamous trilogy), that the discs REALLY need to deliver big time. So the whole "less is more" approach seems a little puzzling. EACH of these films should have been given 2-disc treatment in our opinion. And, to us at least, the lack of commentary and DTS is immediately disappointing. Here at The Bits, we were hoping for something a little more special... something that was worth the 6+ years of waiting. The bar is so much higher these days for DVD special editions. So tell us, again, why this box couldn't have been released a few years ago, back when we might still have been impressed with a trio of bare-bones, movie-only discs and 3 hours of featurettes?

I couldn't agree more. Why in the world did it take Lucasfilm this long to put out (what looks to be) a pretty average release?

The perpetual waiting for Indy (and you-know-what-else) has almost pushed me to the point of not caring. Sure, they're great films, but I've seen them a million times, and I'd rather focus attention on films I haven't seen that, for all I know, I will enjoy infinitely more than Indy.

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Beast · May 6, 2003

Because Lucas is busy, and so is Spielburg. They have families and films that they want to work on outside prepping a DVD of one of their older films to be produced. You know, Lucas with the Prequels and Spielburg with the various movies he's made over the years. Since they are both so hands on with all aspects of their films, you have to be patient with them when it comes to getting these things out. I mean seriously, give them a break. They don't exist merely just to please rabid impatient fans.

John Alderson · May 6, 2003

I like thedigitalbits.com and have always respected Bill Hunt, but come on, I love MOVIES more than special features. This news just made my day, and 3+ hours of features is FAR from being bare bones.

As to why this couldn't have been released before, well, there was no Indy 4 on the horizon before

GuruAskew · May 6, 2003

Look at it this way: with the Indy trilogy, each film included gets 1.33 DVD's of content on average. With "Alien Quadrilogy", each film gets 2.25 DVD's per film on average, and "The Two Towers" will get 4 DVD's devoted to a single film. DVD-wise, the Indy trilogy doesn't look too impressive. Of course, the films should be the main draw, but I can understand why they wouldn't be as exciting as LOTR:TTT and the new "Alien" set.

WillG · May 6, 2003

Yes, It's great to have these movies on DVD, but since we have all seen these movies dozens of times, give us something to get excited about again. I know it was a long shot to get Speilberg to do Commentaries, but Lucas is willing to do commentary and he found time to do it for 2, majority opinion, lackluster Star Wars Films. And in my opinion, if you can make time to do Commentary for TPM and AOTC, you should very well make time to do it for far superior films we have been waiting on for years on DVD. I would even have settled for a text commentary, but negatory on that as well. No Deleted scenes, no DTS. I have to say, this release sounds very Speilbergian (with the exception of the lack of DTS) A Bare Bones movie(s) disc and a disc of extras with some documentaries and such, only this time it is just one extra disc for 3 movies instead of just one.

On the other hand, I am salivating (no pun intended) over the Upcoming Alien set. Obviously Fox pulled out all the stops on that one. And yes I know they are replacing a previous set, some would say double dipping but at least they are going balls out with this new one, and not just adding a few extra things to for milking.

Randy B A · May 6, 2003

I think all three of these sets will get along just fine on my shelf.

Randy B A · May 6, 2003

oops, double post

Jeremy Conrad · May 6, 2003

No Deleted scenes

How do you know there aren't deleted scenes on disc four?

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RobD · May 6, 2003

I dont care much for most extras but I share Bill's irritation at this release, it has taken so long to get a merely mediocre set of DVDs.

Seth Paxton · May 6, 2003

Because Lucas is busy, and so is Spielburg.

Yes, that was the reason given BEFORE as to why we had to wait, with the assumption being that those two people would need to be involved in putting something like an Indy super SE together.

Now that we see that its not that and we see a DVD set that is less impressive than WORKING DIRECTOR Fincher's SEs of Fight Club and Seven, it makes a lot of people say "Why were we waiting on those two to get involved again? Why didn't they just go ahead and put out these versions that seem to have required A LOT less involvement than something like Minorty Report even, as well as the prequel DVDs."

As far as most of us can tell, this 4 disc set doesn't represent the level of material that actually requires the waiting for personal involvement from those two.

And to be perfectly honest, if we look at what Spielberg's been putting out the door on DVD (CE3K, ET, Minority Report, Catch ME over the last year) this looks a lot more like Lucasfilm dragging their feet for fear of bootlegging, etc. than it does "Steven doesn't have the time."

Spielberg's films on DVD have been much more timely and just as content-loaded (if not more) than the Indy trilogy. Since he has long since stopped holding off with any of his other works (except putting together the Schindler thing which sounds like it should be very personal), then its hard for me to buy that we were all just waiting on Spielberg to make some time.

Lucas thinks we are all going to steal his work and he will somehow go broke. To me that is the only reason at all that these films took this long, and is exactly what is holding back the OT.

Can you imagine a 4 disc OT set? After all this time? Then why shouldn't people be bugged by this too?

I'm as happy as the next guy to get the films. I'm thrilled to hear that its still going to be "Raiders of the Lost Ark", but I also think "this is it? this is what we waited years for?" That's where the resentment comes from...the Lucas BS train.

Maybe extras for SOME films are worthless and more doesn't mean better, but the Indy trilogy is not one of those films. This is the pinnacle of filmmaking basically. Would 2 discs per film really have been so much?

The cynic in me would say that they could put together a 2nd disc just showing the MARKETING of each of the films, so let's not act like there is no content. This films had a lot of storylines surrounding their making, even the first one that brought the two biggest names in film together. We aren't talking about a surprise hit where no one was paying attention during the making of it.

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WillG · May 6, 2003

"How do you know there aren't deleted scenes on disc four?"

I don't but it has not been reported and Speilberg doesn't really do Deleted scenes, at least on the DVD releases of his newer films

Sam Davatchi · May 6, 2003

With all due respect to everyone, I think this topic is unnecessary.

Bob Black · May 6, 2003

I'll be first in line to get these awesome films!

Some people just aren't happy unless they're bitching about something. They're upset when they're not available, then they're upset that they aren't available in a super-deluxe 3 disc set with more extras than are worth watching!

I like special editions as much as anybody, but the film itself and the quality of the video and audio presentation are the most important selling point for me! A four-disc set of the Indiana Jones films will be the crown jewel of my DVD collection, and rightfully so!

I can't wait until November when the usual suspects will start bashing the quality of these sure-to-be stellar DVD's, claiming "EE" and "halo effects", and lamenting the lack of DTS! I've already read the ridiculous posts like, "Only available in a box set - No purchase for me!"

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