Raiders of the Lost Skull

Ah the power of music!

Aside from positive reviews I sought out NJVC's Indy 4 edit mostly out of curiosity to see how well the score was replaced. Audio is always the most challenging aspect of fan editing with music sometimes difficult to isolate. However I was blown away to see how well NJVC integrated the Raiders score, simply marvellous!

With the original score, right from the opening scene you feel like your in an Indy film. Thankfully this continues as cues are carefully selected.

Cuts are seamless and with 32 minutes cut I was surprised that the film didn't feel rushed.

Highlights for me include the opening, Indy's Crystal Skull nightmare sequence (which brilliantly utilises some of the footage cut earlier in the film including the iconic shot of Indy and mushroom cloud), editing of the jungle scene which is reduced to the bare minimum and the ending which now feels more epic with the replaced score.

Nit-picks would be not seeing the new title (Return of the Crystal Skull) in the opening credits and the one shot of the flying saucer in the nightmare sequence.

This edit is more than watchable, NJVC has created an enjoyable Indy adventure!

Hi there!

I am not an expert as far as fanedits go, but I have watched some fanedits.

About IJKS, I did not dare to watch one until I read the description of your project.

Changing the music was a superb idea, and it works. From start to finish.

The cutlist was great and despite some messy stuff during the car chase, I could enjoy (enjoy!) this edit of the movie during all of it.

The ending was superb and the hard work must pay off.

Thank you! All thumbs up.

Some small criticism would be that the use of Raiders "Mystery" theme was excessive, but that is a small shadow in an overall pristine work.

Thanks again, never thought I would enjoy any of this material.

The looks of audio and video are also excellent.

Shame on Kaminski, shame on Koep, glory to you, man!! NJVC!!

this has got to be the best version yet. i thought the flow was fantastic and the overall editing superb!

I had started a cut of this movie like a year ago, but never finished it. I was always saying to myself, its still not as good as I think it could be so I just let it sit, that in mind.....

The Intro was cut just like I thought of, all the way to teaching in the university.
You did exactly what I did for the fridge seq too... HAHA..... Very very awesome intro, felt more like an Indy movie from the start. No more kids trying to race a military convoy and elvis presley music just doesn't belong in an Indy film.
Music inserts all over the film where awesome and you chose perfect places to add subtle reminiscent Indiana tones, as well as complete changes of the action sequence's scores, as well as a few other places. Again made it feel more like the other films.

Grave scene – I love that you removed the stupid fight with the tribal guys... scene was lame & pointless.

Nice hypnotized skull scene, I had just cut it, but you used it and made it a useful & an interesting scene... It actually plays well for things that happen later on in the film, well done...

I still hate that ant sequence, but there is little you can do about it.. You did a similar cut as I did, except I just stopped at the close up of Indy. I didn't show him even going into the ant pile/nest.

I also cut the chase sequence a little different, kept in the sword play, but I did a little bit different with the swinging thing... I cut around it, and it worked out well. But your was fantastic, that scene always looked like a projected background.

Well done with the ending, no UFO and crap.... It plays out much better now and I love that you just started the theme song and rolled the credits right after Indy's line..


This was really awesome, I was gonna finish the cut I started a year ago after my T4 but forget it, after seeing it, Its great... This made it much more enjoyable and more keeping in the Indy genre. This is my go to copy from now on... I'm just gonna delete what I've done.
Thx for sharing man.. really well done.

(DISCLOSURE: Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed and still enjoy the official cut KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Yes, it has problems, but it still an enjoyable ride in my opinion. All that being said, I do think RAIDERS OF THE LOST SKULL is an even better movie, from a classic Indiana Jones standpoint.)

This is a great edit of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! I was absolutely thrilled to hear the soundtrack from Raiders in this! The removal of the more goofy and silly moments was done very nicely, and made the overall narrative flow better. The action scenes are re-edited well, and felt like classic Indiana Jones. The escape attempt action scene in the Hangar flowed so much better with that pointless dialogue ("D--n, I thought that was closer"; "YoU dOn'T kNoW hIm!") cut out. The camp scene where the skull's looking into Indy's mind (or something) with the different Soviet Union, nuclear blast, etc clips cut in with Spalko's monologue was genius and blended in perfectly. Mutt, Oxley, Marion, and Mac are edited into better characters, which I appreciate heavily, especially for Marion since she is the best Indy love interest.

However, I do have some complaints, but most of them are minor. For starters, I could still hear little portions of Elvis' Hound Dog at the beginning. This probably couldn't be helped to much, so I overlooked it mostly. I would rate the audio editing an 8.5/10, but it doesn't allow that, so I had to settle with 8/10. Another thing is those stupid faces Indy and the Commie Colonel make on that speeding train thing. I do wish that was completely cut out. I wish more of Mutt's dialogue in Indy's house was cut, with him asking Indy if he's 80 and all that. Finally, I wish the wedding sequence was still in this cut (without Mutt about to put on Indy's hat of course), because it worked well from a storytelling standpoint that Indy would want to settle down from adventuring and be with Marion.

Even with those things I had to say at the end, I still love Raiders of the Lost Skull, and I would recommend it to anyone who is disappointed with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.