Indiana Jones The Complete Adventures Blu-ray - September 18, 2012 - Review

[Guydowood]

Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Media Distribution have set a September 18 release date for "Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures." You can check out the announcement below as well as the cover art and the previously-released trailer for the upcoming set.

In June of 1981 director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas introduced the world to Indiana Jones when the unforgettable Raiders of the Lost Ark debuted in theaters. Exploding to instant acclaim, the film has now been carefully restored, alongside remastered versions of the archaeologist’s other thrilling adventures—Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Prepare for excitement, adventure and snakes—why did it have to be snakes?—all with pristine picture and sound when INDIANA JONES: The Complete Adventures debuts on Blu-ray September 18, 2012 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Supervised by director Steven Spielberg and renowned sound designer Ben Burtt, Raiders of the Lost Ark has been meticulously restored with careful attention to preserving the original look, sound and feel of the iconic film. The original negative was first scanned at 4K and then examined frame-by-frame so that any damage could be repaired.

The sound design was similarly preserved using Burtt’s original master mix, which had been archived and unused since 1981. New stereo surrounds were created using the original music tracks and original effects recorded in stereo but used previously only in mono. In addition, the sub bass was redone entirely up to modern specifications and care was taken to improve dialogue and correct small technical flaws to create the most complete and highest quality version of the sound possible while retaining the director’s vision. The result is an impeccable digital restoration that celebrates the film and its place in cinematic history.

The installments in the franchise have won a combined seven Academy Awards®. Relive every heart-pounding thrill like never before as all four films arrive together, for the first time presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio accompanied by a collection of documentaries, interviews, featurettes and new bonus features.

indianajonesthecompleteadventures.jpg

[klauswhereareyou]

I hope they include at least a few deleted scenes, because there are some.

[kenkraly2004]

I like the cover art looking forward to the complete Indiana Jones Blu-Ray Collection on September 18th. I already have the set pre ordered at amazon.com

[Aquel]

Originally Posted by Guydowood

Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Media Distribution have set a September 18 release date for "Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures." You can check out the announcement below as well as the cover art and the previously-released trailer for the upcoming set.

In June of 1981 director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas introduced the world to Indiana Jones when the unforgettable Raiders of the Lost Ark debuted in theaters. Exploding to instant acclaim, the film has now been carefully restored, alongside remastered versions of the archaeologist’s other thrilling adventures—Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Prepare for excitement, adventure and snakes—why did it have to be snakes?—all with pristine picture and sound when INDIANA JONES: The Complete Adventures debuts on Blu-ray September 18, 2012 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Supervised by director Steven Spielberg and renowned sound designer Ben Burtt, Raiders of the Lost Ark has been meticulously restored with careful attention to preserving the original look, sound and feel of the iconic film. The original negative was first scanned at 4K and then examined frame-by-frame so that any damage could be repaired.

The sound design was similarly preserved using Burtt’s original master mix, which had been archived and unused since 1981. New stereo surrounds were created using the original music tracks and original effects recorded in stereo but used previously only in mono. In addition, the sub bass was redone entirely up to modern specifications and care was taken to improve dialogue and correct small technical flaws to create the most complete and highest quality version of the sound possible while retaining the director’s vision. The result is an impeccable digital restoration that celebrates the film and its place in cinematic history.

The installments in the franchise have won a combined seven Academy Awards®. Relive every heart-pounding thrill like never before as all four films arrive together, for the first time presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio accompanied by a collection of documentaries, interviews, featurettes and new bonus features.

Attachment 47198

Good to know they are all restored (though I wasn't exactly under the impression from the review on this site that Crystal Skull required a remaster).

[Beast]

Originally Posted by Aquel

Good to know they are all restored (though I wasn't exactly under the impression from the review on this site that Crystal Skull required a remaster).

It says the original is restored. The others are just remastered. Which is pretty much what we've heard from the start.

[doctorD]

I'm hoping for a DTS-HDMA 7.1 audio

[LimeiBook86]

Originally Posted by Beast

It says the original is restored. The others are just remastered. Which is pretty much what we've heard from the start.

That's interesting to note. I'm surprised that they wouldn't take much care to 'Temple of Doom' or 'The Last Crusade' when compared to the first film. Although maybe those two were in better shape? Or they did fix them up but they didn't focus on them as much...

Crystal Skull will probably be the same disc as the previous release. Either way I hope all of the films look great. I hope there's least a bonus disc or two of extras!

[Ryan1973]

So it sounds like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will have DTS-HD 5.1 instead of Dolby True HD that was on the first release. I am glad to hear that.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by doctorD

I'm hoping for a DTS-HDMA 7.1 audio

Which would be overkill. The original source should be 4 track stereo so a 5.1 track would be plenty.

[benricci]

Originally Posted by LimeiBook86

I'm surprised that they wouldn't take much care to 'Temple of Doom' or 'The Last Crusade' when compared to the first film. Although maybe those two were in better shape?

These two films already have pretty outstanding HD masters, so I doubt another round of cleanup was really necessary.

[PRO-630HD]

So if this is a 4 disc set better keep your Indy 4 bluray for the extra features disc! I am amazed that all of the 1st three films didn't get a new 4K restoration, but Lucas is such a cheap bastard I am not surprised. So much like Star Wars 4-6 looks like Indy 2 and 3 will be HD or 1.9K masters. Are these the same masters that Lowry did for these films a while back?

[kenkraly2004]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

So if this is a 4 disc set better keep your Indy 4 bluray for the extra features disc! I am amazed that the 1st three films didn't get a new 4K restoration, but Lucas is such a cheap bastard I am not surprised. So much like Star Wars 4-6 looks like Indy 2 and 3 will be HD or 1.9K masters. Are these the same masters that Lowry did for these films a while back?

PRO-630HD Read the press release it said Raiders Of The Lost Ark got a new 4K transfer and the other 3 are re mastered and Speilberg worked on it not Lucas.

[Maxwell Everett]

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

Looks like Indy 2 and 3 will be HD or 1.9K masters. Are these the same masters that Lowry did for these films a while back?

They date back to late-2008/early-2009 and as far as I know were only broadcast on WOWOW Cinema, a 24-hour movie channel in Japan. From what I understand, they were 2K scans and originally made for a complete set around the time Crystal Skull came out, but were cancelled by Spielberg himself at the 11th hour because he wanted a new 4K scan of Raiders.

Here's a link to some screenshots. You can tell they've been cropped from 2048 (2K) to 1920, to avoid scaling artifacts.

[Jay444]

Originally Posted by kenkraly2004

PRO-630HD Read the press release it said Raiders Of The Lost Ark got a new 4K transfer and the other 3 are re mastered and Speilberg worked on it not Lucas.

Exactly, and Raiders was released in a few locations last year for its Anniversary so they did proper restoration as it was being presented on some very large screens. The previous Jones films transfers are just fine and even the TV HD has been pretty impressive, so I don't think there is too much to concern ourselves with as far as image quality goes. Just because Lucas is involved doesn't mean its Star Wars. As I have always said, Lucas is exceptional when he works with others and Spielberg's involvment is a HUGE plus.

[mhp68]

I'm confused on this being a 4 disc set when Crystal Skull was a 2 disc set on it's own, does that mean the bonus features for Skull are not being replicated or the features details are not finalized yet.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Maxwell Everett

They date back to late-2008/early-2009 and as far as I know were only broadcast on WOWOW Cinema, a 24-hour movie channel in Japan. From what I understand, they were 2K scans and originally made for a complete set around the time Crystal Skull came out, but were cancelled by Spielberg himself at the 11th hour because he wanted a new 4K scan of Raiders.

Here's a link to some screenshots. You can tell they've been cropped from 2048 (2K) to 1920, to avoid scaling artifacts.

At AVS, there is a link to comparison shots where you can zoom in on them....all had fine, detailed film grain structure...looked great. Cannot wait for these on BD.

[hurm]

Originally Posted by Guydowood

In addition, the sub bass was redone entirely up to modern specifications and care was taken to improve dialogue and correct small technical flaws to create the most complete and highest quality version of the sound possible while retaining the director’s vision.

Here we go again!

[svenge]

Originally Posted by hurm

Here we go again!

Hopefully it's something harmless like ADR fixes. You would think that Steven has learned from the ginormous mistakes that his buddy George Lucas has continuously made for the last 15 years...

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Which would be overkill. The original source should be 4 track stereo so a 5.1 track would be plenty.

Slightly wrong. This film was released in 70mm 6-track Dolby stereo (Baby Boom format) so while there were only four full range channels (L, C, R, S) there were also two stage channels with low frequencies only (not to be confused with a subwoofer channel).

Now sometimes all they did was send Left and Center to channel two and Right and Center to channel four with a low pass filter. Other times, they sent specifically mixed effects to the two effects channels. I think for this film, there were specific sounds sent to the effects channels.

I saw this film in the original release in 70mm and the soundtrack as I remember it was really terrific. It had a refined quality. In the opening scenes, you really heard the rustling of the leaves and the score has a really sweet high end. And when the action happens, there was plenty of low end. But I haven't heard that in the recent TV showings and I have a feeling that the BD soundtrack isn't going to have that "refinement" either.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by svenge

Hopefully it's something harmless like ADR fixes. You would think that Steven has learned from the ginormous mistakes that his buddy George Lucas has continuously made for the last 15 years...

And SS has already gone on record saying: "he'll leave the wires on the planes in 1941"
Now don't get me wrong, SS has earned my trust, but I think it's safe to say that he has backed off that statement a little!