In honor of the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Paramount has re-released the first three entries of the classic adventure franchise. They are now available on DVD, sold separately on the format for the first time, with featurettes not found in the box set. ***

Temple of Doom is the third film in the Indiana Jones series, originally released in 1989. It's been roughly 3 years since Indy foiled the Nazi scheme to get the Ark of the Covenant. While searching for the Holy Grail, Indy's father went missing. The globetrotting adventurer must now not only find his missing father, but also stop the Nazis once more - they too have their sights on the Grail. ***

Raiders of the Lost Ark was a masterpiece. Temple of Doom was fun to watch, but noticeably weaker and darker than Raiders. Last Crusade is a massive step up from Temple of Doom, due in no small part to Sean Connery's part in the film as Indy's father. The chemistry between him and Harrison Ford is one of the greatest strengths of the film - as pretty much any fan of the series will tell you. It isn't quite as good as Raiders, but it's a very close second in the original Indy trilogy. ***

The animated menus are not at all unlike those of the box set DVDs. It wouldn't surprise me if these menus were designed by the exact same crew. ---

Image And Sound:

From what I can tell, this is the same transfer Paramount used on the desk featured in the box set. And it's a fabulous transfer that more than does the film justice. The picture clarity is amazing throughout the film, with only a few little scenes here and there suffering from grain issues (and most of this is so small and unnoticeable you probably won't even see it.) Hands down, this is the best the movie has ever looked on a home video format. ---

The question on everyone's mind is “If I already bought the box set, should I buy these reissues for the sake of the bonus features?” I'll give my two cents on the issue after a brief explanation of what features are included in the set. ***

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - An Introduction by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas Each one of the reissued 2008 DVDs has a featurette with Lucas and Spielberg describing their experience on the film, and what things looked like going into the project. Here the twosome discusses their initial thoughts on creating a third film in the beloved action/adventure series. ***

The Women Every Indiana Jones film has its share of female characters, and this featurette takes the leading lady from each film for a “looking back” interview of sorts. Definitely worth checking out for these actresses reflections. ***

Friends and Enemies A look at the various characters from the franchise, good and evil alike. Considering there are a lot of people to keep track of in the series, this was a much-needed feature, and probably my favorite feature on this particular disc. ***

Storyboard Sequence - Opening Sequence Each one of the new DVDs features a scene from the film, shown with accompanying animatics. In the case of Last Crusade, we get the now legendary opening scene. This is entertaining to watch, though it's difficult to read the text that goes along with the footage. ***

Galleries Four Galleries are presented on the DVD, which you can scroll through with your DVD remote. The galleries featured are illustrations/props, production photos/props, effects/ILM, and marketing. These galleries deliver what they promise, nothing less, nothing more. If you're at all a fan of Indiana Jones, you're going to enjoy checking this stuff out. ***

Lego Indiana Jones Trailer and PC Game Demo A brief, minute-long trailer of the forthcoming game is featured here, from the same crew at Lucas Arts who brought us the Lego Star Wars games a few years back. Additionally, if you have a PC with a DVD-ROM drive (and what PC these days doesn't?), there is a brief, playable demo. This same featurette appears on all three of the 2008 DVDs. **

And now, for the immortal question. Should you buy these discs if you already have the movies on DVD? While these are good features, I don't quite think they merit the double dip. Total, there's well less than an hour's worth of new features. If you bought the box set, there's no need to give in to the double dip, unless you're the most die-hard of Indy fan who must own every piece of information ever produced on the series. If you don't own the movies yet, though, I would recommend getting these “sold separately” versions over the box set, and buying the box set bonus disc separately from a used DVD store or a site like Amazon. I, for one, am sick of being double-dipped like this by Lucas, but I'm not going to turn this review into an anti-Lucas rant.

Final Words: