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Indiana Jones coming to DVD in November
DaSpudMan writes "The "Indiana Jones" trilogy, one of the most requested film series for the DVD format, is finally slated for worldwide release Nov. 4 as "The Adventures of Indiana Jones -- The Complete DVD Movie Collection," a box set that will include a fourth disc specifically dedicated to bonus materials."
In true George Lucas maximum money-extraction fashion, you will not be able to buy the films separately, only as a box set.
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Nothing like submitting a story, only to find it posted when you get back to the main page.
Anyways. This is good, mostly-- nice to have the movies in widescreen, with decent quality. But there's a few problems, as I see it:
1. No commentary. I understand that Spielberg prefers to "keep the magic," as he's put it, but come on. These are for posterity. Let's get some thoughts. There's no way fifteen minutes worth of interview on a bonus disc is going to do it.
2. They're still trying to change the title of the first movie, and it pisses me off-- it's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," not "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark." Cripes. It's one of the most popular films of all time. If you don't already know who's in it, I think the front freaking cover is a fine clue, thanks.
3. We're gonna have to buy it all again after the fourth movie comes out, right?
On the plus side, the content of the movies themselves haven't been changed. In other words, Indy still shoots first.
More information and a peek at the cover art, if you're curious, can be found at DVD File.
a) BTTF is a Universal movie.
b) The discs have been fixed. Look for a "V2" (version 2) on the widescreen/full frame sticker.
c) You can send the old discs back to Universal for a free replacement.
BACK TO THE FUTURE DVD RETURNS
PO Box 224468
Dallas, Texas 75260
They will even pay for the shipping.
d) Stop Trolling.
It seems to me that they already have started replacing them. I bought the widescreen trilogy from amazon about a week ago and my copy just came today - it is the unfixed version, but I checked around the web looking for news of the fixed one.
In this story on a fan site Bob Gale talks about getting a copy of the new trilogy from Universal, just to make sure that he's happy with it before it gets released to the public. It seems like Universal has done a pretty good job dealing with the customers on this one - I'm waiting patiently for my free UPS envelope I will use to send the two affected DVDs back to Universal.
Anyways, I have a feeling that Amazon is selling the old versions because there is no way to check when purchasing them online. If you buy a copy and want to tell if it is a new version, check for a "V2" printed near the barcode on the back of the box, or look for a "V2" on either of the second two DVDs on the set. If you don't have "V2", call 1-888-703-0100 to get a new copy.
--Montag
Universal Home Video actually did fix the problem, and you can obtain free replacement discs for parts 2 and 3 by writing or calling Universal Home Video.
Call 1-888-703-0100 and they'll even send you a pre-paid mailing envelope so you don't even have to pay for postage!
For those of you buying a DVD set in the store, look for a small "V2" printed on the back of the box. The new discs also have a small "V2" printed on them, but only on discs 2 and 3. Disc 1 is not misframed.
It has been fixed. Oh, and it's Universal, not Paramount.
Want info? Go read The Digital Bits which is one (of many) websites that kept on top of this debacle.
Heck, my BTTF DVDs are still in shrinkwrap because of this...
The real debacle isn't that they aren't fixed - it's that the disks were released in other regions first (such as Australia) and were defective then. It wasn't until Universal released the movies in region 1 that they listened to the hue and cry about defective transfers -- and agreed to fix them. Note that they were released in Oz 4 months before release to region 1.
I really hate to stomp on your tirade, but I've already received my fixed discs from them. They were shipped *overnight* each in its own jewel case and tossed together in one of those bubble envelopes. This was only about 5 weeks after receiving a postcard from them stating that they received my defective discs and would be sending replacements shortly...
http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/i/indy4.php
I'm sure you're not aware, but Spielburg has NEVER, EVER done a commentary track. And he doesn't plan on it.
Lawrence Bouzereau is his faithful documentary guy, and he has done the docs on Schindler's List, Jaws, Jurrasic Park, [insert Spielburg flick here] and will be (I'm sure) doing one for this set.
Spielberg likes to allow the movie to speak for itself, though ironically he does do film school commentaries with an audience, to explain as best he can what he was trying to accomplish.
Spielberg, however, won't allow these types of commentaries to be included.
The press release says its because of bandwith issues, and that's simply a lie. No commentary, a small Dolby Digital 2.0 track, would ever take enough space to truly harm the picture.
Besides, video and audiophiles get their bandwidth-filled goodness with the Superbit line, something Paramount has yet to embrace. For now they simply say they leave off commentaries and exciting extras on each disc because "the picture will look better."
Of course, The Godfather has 9 hours of commentary, and you didn't hear them screaming "picture quality forever!" on that release, now did you?
Actually his given name was Henry, Jr. If you remember what Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery) said at the end of the 3rd movie, they named the dog Indiana.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
All these quotes courtesy of IMDB, seeing as how I couldn't remember them all *exactly*...
---- LOST ARK ----
---- TEMPLE OF DOOM ---- ---- LAST CRUSADE ----Replace "pseudo-Christian" with Christian and you have it. Trust me, 1 and 3 had more in common with the Nazi version of pagan mysticism than Christianity. Anyone who touched the Ark died instantly- no roiling clouds, flashing lights or malevolent spirits. And if God did decide to lock a saint up in a cave to protect a relic, he sure wouldn't set VC-style booby traps in it that could only be circumvented by a master "Trivial Pursuit Christianity Edition" player.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.