You are not a bigger fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark than Jamie Benning is. Don’t even bother trying. Out of nothing more than love for the film, Benning has released his own 2.5-hour documentary on the making of the film that goes more in-depth than any doc approved by Spielberg or Lucas.

I don’t know how he did it, but Benning’s film, Raiding the Lost Ark, is chocked full of incredible details, footage, and even interviews Benning conducted himself, that have never been seen by the public until now. It’s a staggering achievement, considering Benning had no access to the Lucasfilm archives or any of the big names responsible for making the film. Ten months in the making, Benning devoted his own time, money, and resources into reading, interviewing, and gathering every fact he could find, all to create this incredibly comprehensive, entertaining documentary. It contains collected materials from videos, stills, tie-in comic books, original animations and artwork, and much more.

If you’re trying to remember where you’ve heard the name Jamie Benning before, then you probably saw one of his previous documentaries. He made one each for the films of the classic Star Wars trilogy, which proved wildly popular on YouTube — until Fox’s legal hounds had them yanked. (You can still watch all three of them on Vimeo).

Read more about his work on Raiding the Lost Ark at Empire Online, and watch the entire film above. Follow Benning’s future work at Filmumentaries.com.

Indiana Jones Engagement Ring

This piece of jewelry is not an ordinary gift, though. A guy going by the name Homerliwag on Reddit gave the ring to his girl friend when he popped the question. I suppose that not all girls will appreciate being presented with this Indiana Jones engagement ring, but if you think about it, the thought and work that was put into the ring might very well be enough to impress a lady! Of course, if that lady can’t resist Indiana Jones, then the story ends right here.

Homerliwag did put a lot of effort into his engagement ring. One look at the schematic can tell you that!

Indiana Jones Engagement Ring Schematic

Indiana Jones Engagement Ring in Box

Plus points for creativity! Now what theme would you choose if you were to give a similar gift? Think, and choose wisely. V-Day is coming up.

Via The Mary Sue

Stop-motion animator Jeff Gurwood has recreated the iconic opening sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark for the 30th anniversary of Indiana Jones.

Clocking in at six and a half minutes, this loving tribute to Indy is a perfect, shot-for-shot remake of the scene starring Harrison Ford and Alfred Molina. Apparently, he used art store supplies to craft the sets and props, and Hasbro action figures (G.I. Joe, perhaps?) for the characters.

Want to see more? Check out Gurwood’s Facebook page for some fascinating behind-the-scenes pictures, that show things like how his remarkably accurate sets were built.

Buy-N-Large

Buy-N-Large mosaic

The logo of the corporatized world from WALL-E, cleverly made out of brand logos. [Source]

Darth Vader

Darth Vader mosaic

Comprised of images from all six Star Wars movies. [Source]

Harry Potter

Harry Potter mosaic

Made using images from the first seven Harry Potter movies, to celebrate the eighth. [Source]

Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones mosaic

Uses only images from Raiders of the Lost Ark. [Source]

iPhone

iPhone mosaic

10,000 app icons make up this image of a first-generation iPhone. [Source]

Mario

Mario mosaic

Created using 7,000 screenshots from Super Mario 1, 2, & 3. [Source]

Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle mosaic

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch, NASA commissioned this mosaic, which uses pictures of the people, projects, and technologies that contributed to the shuttle program over its first 25 years.[Source]

Star Trek

Star Trek mosaic

The new Star Trek movie’s logo made using images from the classic TV series. [Source]

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs mosaic

The late Apple CEO is recreated here using Apple logos, products, and portraits of the man himself. [Source]

Summer Glau

Summer Glau mosaic

This mosaic of the geek goddess (Firefly, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse) uses over 400 existing photos of Glau. [Source]

How do you make Indiana Jones fans and Star Wars fans sit down together to watch their favorite movies simultaneously? You create a live action show that mashes the two together based off fan fiction.

The show happened at Disneylands “Star Tours” attraction and follows a fan made collaboration of both Indiana and the Star Wars cast.

Here’s the official Synopsis from YouTube:

This is the Full Show Best Version utilizing three different cameras.

A special Last Tour to Endor event was held at Disney’s Hollywood Studios during Star Wars Celebration V. In “Raiders of the Lost Jedi Temple of Doom – A Fan Film of Epic Proportions”, a writer and a director come together to create a special show where the worlds of Indiana Jones and Star Wars meet for the creation of the world’s greatest fan film.

Seth Green (Robot Chicken) and Anthony Daniels (C3PO) guest star and George Lucas is in the audience. Watch for George’s reaction to the show at the end.

You’ll see Indiana Jones take on Boba Fett, Darth Maul, Darth Vader and more and he tries to save Princess Slave Leia.

Apparently the show is a big deal, guest starring Seth Green, Anthony Daniels and Big Poppa George.

Here’s the video:

What do you think about the mashup, It’s a bit funny, a bit disturbing, but definitely worth a watch for both Star Wars and Indiana Jones Fans

[ToplessRobot]

All formats

If you’ve seen the new Indiana Jones film you might just want to take after your hero – and bearing in mind that it’s not very safe to start using a whip indoors then you might want to consider this game.  It might just be right up your street.  As with the previous (and up and coming) Lego games, the characters and elements of the game are made up of those wonderful, colourful little blocks we all used to play with.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an adult or a child – the simple control scheme means that just about anyone should be able to pick it up and have a go.  Simple however in this case still means fun, as it can be hugely rewarding when you get a puzzle or action sequence right.  Naturally you’ll get plenty of both of the previous elements as well as building things out of Lego (hammer that button!), fighting with the ubiquitous whip and of course hunting for artefacts in the game.

There’s a certain charm to shrinking the characters down to pint-size proportions and then marvelling at the little details on their square(ish) heads – such as the stubble on Indy.  They’ll very quickly raise a smile and it’s unlikely to leave you as you play through the game.  Of course, Indiana isn’t the only one – in fact you’ll find 60 Lego people in here just waiting to be discovered.

Similar to previous games in the ‘Lego’ series, the game works on the premise that you’ve got at least some awareness of the film to get the most out of it.  That isn’t to say that you won’t have a good time if you’ve not seen any of the Indiana Jones films, but you’ll get a lot more out of it if you have.  For a quick example, there’s a scene where he gets chased by a (now Lego) boulder down a decline.  It’s humorous and quirky, but this could be lost on someone who hasn’t seen it before and won’t truly appreciate the in-joke.

Gameplay wise, there isn’t a huge amount of time needed to complete the game – but you’ll have a lot of fun doing so in the various interactive environments.  There’s less fighting in there than the Lego Star Wars games but just as much fun to be had.  If you’re a hardcore gamer, maybe it’ll appear to the geek in you.  If you’re more ‘casual’ in nature then I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun with this.

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is available now and is suitable for ages 3+.