Young Indy DVDs Lacking

007

New member
Am I the only one to find that the Young Indy DVDs are a bit lacking in the special features department? Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy all the historical documentaries, but where are the behind the scenes and making of Young Indy documentaries and interviews about the show? Does anyone else find that strange that we don't even have a single featurette about the making of the show?
 

gallandro

New member
I think Lucas is more interested in the series set as a teaching tool than a collector's item for fans. I know of at least three different schools in the Valley (Phoenix, AZ) which are using the discs to teach about events at the beginning of the 20th Century and WWI.


Yancy
 

Crack that whip

New member
They may be lacking in terms of areas covered, in the sense that there's nothing on the making of the series or how they fit with the movies or any of that, but the historical documentaries are amazingly extensive for a TV release like this. There are literally dozens of separate documentaries touching upon practically all the subject matter explored in the show, from archaeology to music to WWI to the Dracula myth to philosophy to painters to... you name it. There's a huge wealth of material on these discs (rivalling the series itself for its breadth); it just doesn't deal with the usual areas covered by most DVD special features (that is, the making of the show).

That said, yes, I, too, really would like to see more material on the making of the series itself. I'd also like the option to watch the original versions, or at least something close to them (i.e., retaining the bookends and splitting most of the movies back into their component episodic halves), but that seems unlikely to happen, alas.
 

Adamwankenobi

New member
Here's basically what my ideal set would contain:

1. The original series

2. The re-edits

3. All of the historical extras

4. Behind the scenes extras (including a two or three hour making-of documentary)

Basically, the series deserves the DVD treatment that Blade Runner got last year.
 

DocWhiskey

Well-known member
^And the Blade Runner briefcase costs just as much as one of The Young Indy box sets. Go figure.
 

Avilos

Active member
But a complete Young Indy set, even broken into 3 sets, would have MUCH, MUCH more than the Blade Runner set. Multiple versions of a single film vs multiple versions of every episode of a show that lasted over 2 years. It would be much more expensive to give that type of treatment to the whole show.
 

TalonCard

Member
I'm curious as to how well Young Indy works in a classroom format. Me, I'm a young Indy junkie and I'll watch the movies and documentaries 'til the cows come home. But two solid hours of Young Indy, which was designed for a one hour format, plus all of the educational material, plus any lecture/discussion the teacher might have prepared? Are the kids still going to be interested? Not to mention the random nudity in Travels with Father and Demons of Deception...

TC
 

Adamwankenobi

New member
Avilos said:
But a complete Young Indy set, even broken into 3 sets, would have MUCH, MUCH more than the Blade Runner set. Multiple versions of a single film vs multiple versions of every episode of a show that lasted over 2 years. It would be much more expensive to give that type of treatment to the whole show.

I doubt it would put a dent in Lucas' bank account. ;)
 

TalonCard

Member
I think that by "too expensive" he meant "for people buying the set". ;)

I'm just gonna try for a George Hall moment. "In my day we didn't have any of these 'special features'. We just got the #@!% movie and were happy to get that much! I remember when Remy and I..."

TC
 

The Tingler

New member
Speaking of George Hall and missing extras, they really should've included his segments, at least on Volume 3.

Apart from that and Making Ofs, maybe commentaries too, I would've liked to have had a feature on the unmade episodes. That would've been interesting.
 

phantom train

New member
No question, it would have been nice to have the original episodes, the re-edits, as well as some features on the making of the show in a DVD set.

However, what many people may not realize is that we're lucky to have these YIJ DVD's at all. I'm actually still surprised that they were even released.
After I got my first DVD player in 2003, I started searching for news on any future YIJ DVD release (after I realized that there were still a lot of episodes that hadn't been released on VHS), and, as time went on, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that these would NEVER come out on DVD.

When I first heard it announced that these were actually coming out (in Summer 2007), I was amazed. I still can't believe we have all three Volumes now.

I also am curious to know whether Lucas is making any $ off of these. As of right now, the sets aren't extremely easy to find in stores, but that may be because stores may not get a lot of sets in because of their expense, and because they take up more shelf space than other TV show sets.
 
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The Tingler

New member
I don't think it's cynical to say that the reason behind the release of Young Indy on DVD (however welcome) is because of the overwhelming hype for the new film. In short, there would be no better time to release them.

That's not to say I'm not very happy that they did!
 

phantom train

New member
Quote:

"I don't think it's cynical to say that the reason behind the release of Young Indy on DVD (however welcome) is because of the overwhelming hype for the new film. In short, there would be no better time to release them.

That's not to say I'm not very happy that they did!"


Definitely, I completely agree. If there were no new IJ film coming out I am 99.99% sure that these YIJC DVD's would never have been released. I don't see Lucas being able to justify their release otherwise. As you said, this is the perfect time to release them since the general public, who may otherwise not care about this show, may now be interested in buying them just because the new film is coming out.
 

gallandro

New member
Sorry to upset the cynics, but this DVD release has been at least 10 years in the making, this wasn't synergistic marketing tool cooked up by Lucas to tie in with KOTCS. Back in the mid-nineties, after the cancellation of the show, Lucas specifically mentioned how he saw the show as a teaching tool and planned to release the show along with a series of documentaries highlighting the people and events discussed in certain episodes.

In 1999 we saw the first wave of episodes on VHS released. Unfortunately sales did not warrant the release of the second wave... then came the advent of DVD.

By 2002 Lucas and Rick McCallum specifically talked about releasing Young Indy on DVD, but that they needed time to produce the documentaries which would supplement the discs.

In 2005 at Celebration III Lucas said the following: "We are working very hard on completing the entire series with about 100 documentaries to go along with it, based on the main historical characters found in the series." This was good year before KOTCS had gotten any type of green light.

Sorry but these discs would have eventually seen the light of day, with or without KOTCS. Now obviously Lucas is availing himself the opportunity to release the sets when interest in Indy is at a high, but that's just good business sense.

Yancy
 

Indy Smith

New member
gallandro said:
Sorry to upset the cynics, but this DVD release has been at least 10 years in the making, this wasn't synergistic marketing tool cooked up by Lucas to tie in with KOTCS. Back in the mid-nineties, after the cancellation of the show, Lucas specifically mentioned how he saw the show as a teaching tool and planned to release the show along with a series of documentaries highlighting the people and events discussed in certain episodes.

In 1999 we saw the first wave of episodes on VHS released. Unfortunately sales did not warrant the release of the second wave... then came the advent of DVD.

By 2002 Lucas and Rick McCallum specifically talked about releasing Young Indy on DVD, but that they needed time to produce the documentaries which would supplement the discs.

In 2005 at Celebration III Lucas said the following: "We are working very hard on completing the entire series with about 100 documentaries to go along with it, based on the main historical characters found in the series." This was good year before KOTCS had gotten any type of green light.

Sorry but these discs would have eventually seen the light of day, with or without KOTCS. Now obviously Lucas is availing himself the opportunity to release the sets when interest in Indy is at a high, but that's just good business sense.

Yancy

yes you are definitely correct, but they have timed the release of the DVDs very well to coincide with all the hype of Indy 4. So although if Indy 4 was not made these DVDs would still have been done, you can't deny that they have been released at a good time.
 

phantom train

New member
Quote:

"Sorry to upset the cynics, but this DVD release has been at least 10 years in the making, this wasn't synergistic marketing tool cooked up by Lucas to tie in with KOTCS. Back in the mid-nineties, after the cancellation of the show, Lucas specifically mentioned how he saw the show as a teaching tool and planned to release the show along with a series of documentaries highlighting the people and events discussed in certain episodes.

In 1999 we saw the first wave of episodes on VHS released. Unfortunately sales did not warrant the release of the second wave... then came the advent of DVD.

By 2002 Lucas and Rick McCallum specifically talked about releasing Young Indy on DVD, but that they needed time to produce the documentaries which would supplement the discs.

In 2005 at Celebration III Lucas said the following: "We are working very hard on completing the entire series with about 100 documentaries to go along with it, based on the main historical characters found in the series." This was good year before KOTCS had gotten any type of green light.

Sorry but these discs would have eventually seen the light of day, with or without KOTCS. Now obviously Lucas is availing himself the opportunity to release the sets when interest in Indy is at a high, but that's just good business sense."


Sorry, but I'm still skeptical. Granted, Lucas and co. may have been "planning" to release the YIJC on DVD at some point (whether or not a IJ film was coming out), but would these DVD's have actually come out if there were no new Indy film? The show is relatively obscure, and I'm not sure that Lucas would have wanted to gamble on the possibility that the DVD sets would sell very poorly if they hadn't at least had a new Indy film to raise visibility.
Of course, this is just sheer speculation on my part. I guess we'll never know.
 

tupogirl

New member
They *did* announce that they were actually working on the DVD's when they announced they were looking for an Indy 4 script. They said the DVD's would take a couple of years due to the special features.
 

Crack that whip

New member
phantom train said:
Quote:

"Sorry to upset the cynics, but this DVD release has been at least 10 years in the making, this wasn't synergistic marketing tool cooked up by Lucas to tie in with KOTCS. Back in the mid-nineties, after the cancellation of the show, Lucas specifically mentioned how he saw the show as a teaching tool and planned to release the show along with a series of documentaries highlighting the people and events discussed in certain episodes.

In 1999 we saw the first wave of episodes on VHS released. Unfortunately sales did not warrant the release of the second wave... then came the advent of DVD.

By 2002 Lucas and Rick McCallum specifically talked about releasing Young Indy on DVD, but that they needed time to produce the documentaries which would supplement the discs.

In 2005 at Celebration III Lucas said the following: "We are working very hard on completing the entire series with about 100 documentaries to go along with it, based on the main historical characters found in the series." This was good year before KOTCS had gotten any type of green light.

Sorry but these discs would have eventually seen the light of day, with or without KOTCS. Now obviously Lucas is availing himself the opportunity to release the sets when interest in Indy is at a high, but that's just good business sense."


Sorry, but I'm still skeptical. Granted, Lucas and co. may have been "planning" to release the YIJC on DVD at some point (whether or not a IJ film was coming out), but would these DVD's have actually come out if there were no new Indy film? The show is relatively obscure, and I'm not sure that Lucas would have wanted to gamble on the possibility that the DVD sets would sell very poorly if they hadn't at least had a new Indy film to raise visibility.
Of course, this is just sheer speculation on my part. I guess we'll never know.

Then why is there no trailer for the new movie on the DVDs? That's actually really unusual. It's pretty customary for a new DVD release of extant material to include a promo spot for any forthcoming new release of related material.

The original Indy movie DVD set included a trailer for a then-new Indy game, and the new movie DVDs similarly include a trailer for the latest Indy game. Similarly, the Star Wars DVDs all included game trailers for whatever Star Wars game was just released or imminent at the time those DVDs came out. Switching from Lucasfilm to Paramount, various Star Trek DVDs include trailers or promo spots for new series, movies or whatever (and one Trek DVD even included a spot for the first Indy DVDs (!)). Yet these Young Indy DVDs' extras do little more than mention the existence of the Indiana Jones movies, and lack anything one would consider a promo spot, even though in this instance it'd be entirely warranted.

And at the same time, the official site, which originally was a fairly full-featured site with info on the entire Indy mythos including Young Indy, has been transformed into a promotional tool for the marketing of the new movie, and any reference to Young Indy one could find there at all has been purged.

Here are the long-awaited Young Indy DVDs, and here's the long-awaited fourth Indy feature film, and rather than do any sort of cross-promotion whatsoever, they're marketing them like unrelated entities. If there is any attempt to capitalize on the new movie's coattails with the release of the YIJ DVDs, it's being made only in the timing (which I don't doubt is the case, actually, but still), and not in the content of any of the advertising or anything like that...
 
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