Indy without Indy?

Next week marks the release of the first volume of "Young Indiana Jones" on DVD. This incredible 12-disc set, which will encompass the first seven chapters of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", is highly anticipated by many fans, including me. (I know if my dad were still alive, he would have looked forward to this set, as this was one of his favorite series.) This will be followed by the second volume on December 18th (the same day as THE DVD release of the year, the awesome five-disc "Blade Runner" set), with Chapters 8-15 included in the set. And next spring, the third volume with Chapters 16-22 will appear in stores in time for the highly anticipated "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls" (say that one three times fast!).

But there is a big concern I have with the third and final volume. As you know, we're only getting the re-edited movie-length stories that George Lucas tinkered with in the late 1990's, though the official Indiana Jones web site references information from the original ABC-TV broadcasts from the early 1990's. Can we all say, "Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal", with three incarnations of Indy in the two-hour premiere? So of course, no George Hall bookends are in this set.

But there's one that's got me extremely concerned, and if you're an Indy fan, you should definitely be concerned as well. From the earliest news on the press release for the third and final set, "The Mystery of the Blues" has apparently been re-edited from its original broadcast. There is no mention of Harrison Ford's bookend segments in the press release description provided by TV Shows on DVD. If that's the case, then you should definitely be angry about this one.

If you recall, in 1993 the series was experiencing a serious slump in the ratings. While "Young Indy" was very well produced, it just lost the kick along the way. In order to provide a boost in the ratings, Harrison Ford came back to film bookend segments for "The Mystery of the Blues" in which he explains his love for jazz music. The bookends were also complimented by a return of the classic John Williams Indy fanfare and portions of cues heard in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". These segments were shot around the time Ford worked on his big-screen version of "The Fugitive" - the tipoff is the beard. There's been only two times Ford has acted onscreen with a full beard, the "Young Indy" bookend segments and "The Fugitive".

And yet apparently the third set will, for some reason, omit the Harrison Ford segments from the episode. If you ask me, that's a slap in the face to the man who for our generation is the one and only Indiana Jones, as the episode marked not only one of Ford's very rare TV appearances (along with the classic ill-fated "Star Wars Holiday Special" - how many of you out there remember that one?), but also his fourth time out as the man with the hat. I've got only one question to ask Mr. Lucas at this point: why is Harrison Ford's footage being cut out from the DVD? If you ask me, that's an insult to all the Indy fans out there, and it's just going to cause fans to seek out the original TV broadcasts in some unofficial (read: bootleg) format all the more.

Mind you, I'm not advocating bootlegging, I'm simply speaking the facts of what's going to happen if this is allowed. The thing to do is press Lucasfilm and Paramount to go back and repress "The Mystery of the Blues" with the Harrison Ford bookends included in the movie.

One more thought to share before I close: lately on all of CBS/Paramount Video's DVD box sets, there's been a running disclaimer that reads to the effect of, "Some of the episodes have been re-edited from their original television broadcasts." In the case of "Young Indiana Jones", they should reword it to accurately read, "ALL of the episodes have been re-edited from their original television broadcasts." That's the only way to truthfully tell the consumer what they're really getting on DVD.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to find my hat, leather jacket, and bullwhip and start searching for those buried treasures in my video collection...