Random set of the day: Temple Escape
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 7623 Temple Escape, released during 2008. It's one of 11 Indiana Jones sets produced that year. It contains 554 pieces and 6 minifigs, and its retail price was US$59.99/£46.99.
It's owned by 4,914 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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54 comments on this article
The Indiana Jones theme is why I started collecting as an adult way back then. Regrettably I passed on buying this set. I’d love to see a remake including a more detailed float plane.
Ah yes, one of the most iconic scenes in all of cinema. Really wish I had this, although I say the same thing to all the Indiana Jones sets.
I always see people wondering if Duplo parts and Lego parts will ever show up together in the same set, but technically they already have? That big hollow ball piece (seen here as the iconic boulder) was originally designed for the Duplo ball and tube system and had already begun appearing in regular Lego sets as early as 8269.
Also, despite looking dark grey on this box art, the actual boulder in the set is light grey. Not sure what that’s about, probably a lighting issue.
Still on my wanted list...sigh...
"Once again Doctor Jones, you prove there is nothing you possess that I cannot take away!"
I always loved the use of the baby T. rex in this set.
@Monopoly: I had no idea that ball started life as a Duplo piece! I've only encountered it in 7418, so thought it was a System piece.
A friend of mine gave me an unopened copy of this set earlier this year that he’d had for years but never built. Good friend.
2023 Indiana Jones sets reveal coming soon? :p
So Indiana Jones is just a total thief with this artifact, right? Aren't the still living indigenous people the ones who put that idol there? It's not like it sat there for thousands of years buried in rubble after they all died off. All the traps still work, they even revere the idol when they see it, and then hunt Indy down because of what he's done (although Beloq also does tell them to do that when he has the idol). He's a great hero and icon, but in this moment, he's kind of a jerk for desecrating their stuff and saying it should be in a museum. Beloq's no better, but you know, he's the villain, he's supposed to do bad things.
Oh yeah, Alfred Molina has another figure in the LEGO universe (besides Doc Ock)
@gorf43 said:
"2023 Indiana Jones sets reveal coming soon? :p "
Do we know if we’re supposed to get Indy sets for the new film? That would be great.
Awesome! I wish I had collected more from the Indy theme.
@MCLegoboy said:
"So Indiana Jones is just a total thief with this artifact, right? Aren't the still living indigenous people the ones who put that idol there? It's not like it sat there for thousands of years buried in rubble after they all died off. All the traps still work, they even revere the idol when they see it, and then hunt Indy down because of what he's done (although Beloq also does tell them to do that when he has the idol). He's a great hero and icon, but in this moment, he's kind of a jerk for desecrating their stuff and saying it should be in a museum. Beloq's no better, but you know, he's the villain, he's supposed to do bad things."
You’re the reason adventure movies are no fun.
Also, Indy is a bit of a scoundrel. He’s got a heroic side underneath the gruffness, but it’s no secret that he’s after fortune and glory. I think him just shooting the swordsman like it was nothing is a good way to highlight that he’s far from an ideal hero.
Love that the box art shows Satipo being skewered by the spear trap. Wholesome family fun!
This is one I may have to add to my collection someday. I wish I got it back in 2008, definitely one of the best for that theme.
@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"Ah yes, one of the most iconic scenes in all of cinema. Really wish I had this, although I say the same thing to all the Indiana Jones sets."
You know it’s influential when it’s featured in UHF.
Best Indiana Jones set ever! Akator may have been bigger, and technically the flagship for the theme, but this featured the entire opening temple run from Raiders. More effort probably went into representing this cold opening scene than into the second or third films respectively.
@Monopoly:
I always thought that came from Mindstorms, but I’ve never dabbled in Duplo. And it seems that its first appearance in a Mindstorms set came the year after it debuted in Duplo.
Yes, the color is light-bley. It looks like they photographed it with a lot of sidelight, and very little (possibly none) from the camera’s POV. This would help reduce glare that would read like lightsources in the photo, as I quickly learned with my first digital camera (took ~1000 pics the first day and deleted every single one because of how bad the glare was on mostly black Technic pieces).
Anyways, another example is the first Bricktober promo, which involved collecting four of the promo-exclusive Duplo 1x2x2 bricks (at least last I checked these has never been used in a regular Duplo set), a 2x8 brick to link the two stacks at the top, and a 2x8 plate to do the same at the bottom.
@Vladtheb:
I’d keep my eye on him. He’s clearly not right in the head. You don’t have Mad Cow Disease or brain-eating amoebas in the area, do you?
@MCLegoboy:
I mean, if you’ve watched the Young Indy series, he literally borrows from the Howard Carter school of archaeology, harvesting relics from all over the world to smuggle back to his local museum. I had a college friend who got his Masters in archaeology and his PhD in anthropology, and while he loves the Indiana Jones movies for their depiction of contemporary pulp fiction, he told me there’s zero respect for Jones’ methodology in the archaeological community. Daniel from the original Stargate film gets more respect.
@madforLEGO:
Sapito from this set, Doc sock from the Spiderman 1 sets, and Sheik Amar from Prince of Persia. If you exclude voice work, he was tied with Warwick Davis for the most at three, until they made a minifig of Griphook from Deathly Hallows.
@PixelTheDragon:
No, Indy really does believe that all this stuff belongs in museums, no matter how much archaeological history he needs to destroy to recover the treasures (he even insists on it multiple times in both Raiders and Last Crusade). I think they mention at one point that he’s just donating the stuff to whatever museum is near the university where he teaches. He also has clear reverence for the artifacts he finds, unlike Belloq and Fedora/Garth, who are just in it for the money.
@WemWem:
It’s all fun and games until somebody dies. And then it’s hilarious!
@madforLEGO said:
"Oh yeah, Alfred Molina has another figure in the LEGO universe (besides Doc Ock)"
He’s also got Sheik Amar from the Prince of Persia theme.
Love this set. I bought this set and when I was building it realized that the planes motor housing and wing supports were black and grey pieces. Complained to TLG and got the corresponding white pieces to match the front picture.
@Monopoly said:
"I always see people wondering if Duplo parts and Lego parts will ever show up together in the same set, but technically they already have? That big hollow ball piece (seen here as the iconic boulder) was originally designed for the Duplo ball and tube system and had already begun appearing in regular Lego sets as early as 8269.
Also, despite looking dark grey on this box art, the actual boulder in the set is light grey. Not sure what that’s about, probably a lighting issue."
Think they had some color issues between the folks who took the pictures and the pieces it actually shipped with. See my post above.
Funny thing is: CTV Sci-Fi channel here in Canada's running all of them back-to-back on a 'loop', while Show Case is running Star Wars: prequels, 'side-stories', and THE MAIN EVENT(S):) (watching 'Empire' right now:)), that said...
Looking at this set...Hmmm...didn't know the Temple was so 'open'. I mean, Jock can just fly the plane down and Indy could just whip a pontoon to get outta there (which would also by-pass the chase through the jungle...oh, and losing the idol to Belloq...)
@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"Ah yes, one of the most iconic scenes in all of cinema."
Before that, it was an iconic scene devised by Carl Barks for the Uncle Scrooge comic book "The Seven Cities of Cibola." George Lucas was a big fan of Barks, and made the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark as a direct homage. If you're unfamiliar with Barks's work, waste no time in acquainting yourself! He was one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century, and it's little wonder his work reverberated on.
Probably my favorite set of all time
Ooh, those leaf pieces over the skulls, never seen those in black before!
I think Lego's one of the few companies that's gotten better over time about Photoshopping box art, meaning they use less of it. Some of those plants in front, overlapping the model, feel a little sneaky. Their integration is so good it took me a moment to confirm they weren't pieces.
They seem to have dialed it back in recent years, being more clear about what's in the box vs. what's embellished artwork. Every so often I can even pick out a tiny imperfection, like two pieces that aren't 100% mated, on the box art. And I respect that, feels more honest.
@PixelTheDragon said:
"Also, Indy is a bit of a scoundrel. He’s got a heroic side underneath the gruffness, but it’s no secret that he’s after fortune and glory. I think him just shooting the swordsman like it was nothing is a good way to highlight that he’s far from an ideal hero."
So are you calling Indy a scruffy looking nerf herder?
@Collector_Nonas said:
" @gorf43 said:
"2023 Indiana Jones sets reveal coming soon? :p "
Do we know if we’re supposed to get Indy sets for the new film? That would be great."
Yes, we are, if the rumors I've read are true
@Frobozz:
You mean the dark-bley bamboo sections? You still haven’t seen them in black.
And they’ve just gotten better about hiding the fact that pretty much every piece of box art these days is CGI (except for stuff like Hidden Side, where it’s very obvious). If you study it enough, you can sometimes find obvious clues, but they’ve been using CGI for packaging art to some degree for over 20 years. The original Bionicle sets were noted for having impossible poses (single-piece arms and legs had elbows and knees that were bent at the wrong angle). However, I know the original Batman theme still used photos for the box art as late as 2008, because Greg Hyland was sent the Harley Quinn from the photos to use as a model for the comic strips he drew for that theme. Presently, the only actual photos are probably ones that include stuff like real humans, furniture, or plants in the shot.
I really wish I had this set. I did manage to score 4 Indy sets off of Facebook several years ago and must say it is an incredible line. Not quite as good LOTR, but I feel like these sets evolved into that line. I sure hope that they revive the line with the upcoming movie.
@MCLegoboy said:
"So Indiana Jones is just a total thief with this artifact, right? Aren't the still living indigenous people the ones who put that idol there? It's not like it sat there for thousands of years buried in rubble after they all died off. All the traps still work, they even revere the idol when they see it, and then hunt Indy down because of what he's done (although Beloq also does tell them to do that when he has the idol). He's a great hero and icon, but in this moment, he's kind of a jerk for desecrating their stuff and saying it should be in a museum. Beloq's no better, but you know, he's the villain, he's supposed to do bad things."
One could imagine that the idol was not placed there by the Hovitos but was there from an ancient time, and the Hovitos lost a few good men trying to get it (as there are skeletons in the chamber before Indy and Satipo arrive). Perhaps they believe that whoever holds it has "reclaimed" their lost deity and has earned the right to keep the visage of their god, since such a man must cheat and outwit death to claim it. And thus they deify the "worthy" one who can claim it (as they leave Belloq alone after he says something triumphant in their tongue and they all bow and tremble). So perhaps they see Indy as a defiler and heretic and thus pursue him at the command of Belloq, fabled reclaimer of their god.
Or maybe I'm overanalyzing an old adventure movie I dunno.
@GBP_Chris said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"So Indiana Jones is just a total thief with this artifact, right? Aren't the still living indigenous people the ones who put that idol there? It's not like it sat there for thousands of years buried in rubble after they all died off. All the traps still work, they even revere the idol when they see it, and then hunt Indy down because of what he's done (although Beloq also does tell them to do that when he has the idol). He's a great hero and icon, but in this moment, he's kind of a jerk for desecrating their stuff and saying it should be in a museum. Beloq's no better, but you know, he's the villain, he's supposed to do bad things."
One could imagine that the idol was not placed there by the Hovitos but was there from an ancient time, and the Hovitos lost a few good men trying to get it (as there are skeletons in the chamber before Indy and Satipo arrive). Perhaps they believe that whoever holds it has "reclaimed" their lost deity and has earned the right to keep the visage of their god, since such a man must cheat and outwit death to claim it. And thus they deify the "worthy" one who can claim it (as they leave Belloq alone after he says something triumphant in their tongue and they all bow and tremble). So perhaps they see Indy as a defiler and heretic and thus pursue him at the command of Belloq, fabled reclaimer of their god.
Or maybe I'm overanalyzing an old adventure movie I dunno."
Perhaps we could ask them…if only we spoke Hovitos…
@GBP_Chris:
Sounds reasonable to me. Look at the accumulation of dust and spiderwebs in that place, and the flesh and clothes have rotted off most of the skeletons. It is _not_ new. Belloq clearly got chummy with the Hovitos, while Indy used guides who probably live…er, lived, in whatever passes for a city in that region. We don’t know what Belloq told them regarding the nature of the statue, what promises he made to them in exchange for their aid, or how he managed to get out of there without surrendering it to their tribal leaders, but it does seem like they’re at least familiar with what it represents. And since he shows up later, we must assume he did leave with the idol, since there’s no benefit to him to travel all that way just to spoil Indy’s plans and give up the treasure to the locals.
@Brickalili:
Right. _You_ go there and study with them, and when you get back you can teach the rest of us. The real mystery in this scene is how Belloq managed to learn their language and develop a working relationship with them without them just killing him. I mean, dude was clearly an anthropological genius if he managed to pull that off on short notice _just_ to swipe the idol from Indy.
This is a really great set, loaded with play features and recreating all the important bears of the sequence in the film (even if it does lack a single Hovito minifigure that had been considered for inclusion in early development). It’s also a great parts pack. I wish I’d gotten multiples; it’s actually the only boxed retail set from the Indy line that I got only one of (somehow, despite having little money back when the theme was first active, I managed to get not only all sixteen boxed retail sets, but got duplicates of fifteen of the sixteen - this is the only one I never got a second copy of).
@GBP_Chris said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"So Indiana Jones is just a total thief with this artifact, right? Aren't the still living indigenous people the ones who put that idol there? It's not like it sat there for thousands of years buried in rubble after they all died off. All the traps still work, they even revere the idol when they see it, and then hunt Indy down because of what he's done (although Beloq also does tell them to do that when he has the idol). He's a great hero and icon, but in this moment, he's kind of a jerk for desecrating their stuff and saying it should be in a museum. Beloq's no better, but you know, he's the villain, he's supposed to do bad things."
One could imagine that the idol was not placed there by the Hovitos but was there from an ancient time, and the Hovitos lost a few good men trying to get it (as there are skeletons in the chamber before Indy and Satipo arrive). Perhaps they believe that whoever holds it has "reclaimed" their lost deity and has earned the right to keep the visage of their god, since such a man must cheat and outwit death to claim it. And thus they deify the "worthy" one who can claim it (as they leave Belloq alone after he says something triumphant in their tongue and they all bow and tremble). So perhaps they see Indy as a defiler and heretic and thus pursue him at the command of Belloq, fabled reclaimer of their god.
Or maybe I'm overanalyzing an old adventure movie I dunno."
FWIW, though not stated outright in the film, the idol is meant to be a relic of the ancient (and real) Chachapoyans, while the “present” (1930s) indigenous people Belloq exploits are the (fictional) Hovitos, so not exactly the same… though the latter are also meant to be the descendants of the former, so… yeah?
But yes, as fun as the movies are, Indy is really a looter. His methods are partly a deliberate creative choice to portray him as a somewhat shady, not-entirely-reputable, morally gray character, partly a result of general creative embellishment of the field for the screen, and perhaps partly a reflection (and exaggeration) of a less careful archaeological practice of the 1930s, as compared with the 1980s (or today).
My all-time favorite set.
Really captures Raiders opening scene so well.
Still have it on display for over 13years!
Every time I look at it brings a smile to my face.
Are they redoing this set in the upcoming new Indy line?
One of those iconic sets. Like a lot of people here I wanted it because of that back in 2008. But it was an 'exclusive', meaning I couldn't find it for sale in any store here. Back then we regularly missed out on entire themes (looking at you, Aqua Raiders!) So it wasn't that surprising.
Now I don't feel too miffed on having missed out. While a set and license like this were special back then, nowadays we've had so many 'iconic' things depicted in lego that ones like this (which was still above most, mind you) don't feel as special as they used to.
That said, this is a great set. I love trap play features and this one has a lot packed into it despite its large size. The designers really did the scene justice here. Throw in the plane and we have a very complete playset.
@Blondie_Wan:
Yup, these days the shiny bits lure people in to museums, but archaeologists value pottery shards more because they tell you a more complete story of what these ancient cultures are like. If you can examine them in context. That’s hard when the temple collapses on itself because someone set off a bunch of doomsday traps.
On the other hand, the complexity of the traps involved here are probably well beyond anything any real ancient culture managed. Egypt was more fond of ones that “locked the door”, dropping multi-ton bricks to block off passageways so you just couldn’t advance, or hiding the entrance to another passageway where you wouldn’t think to look for it because you were lured in to a decoy chamber. But actual death traps? Probably the worst they managed was sealing chambers off so long that the air became unbreathable, but all it takes to fix that is to let the chamber air out a bit. And a fan wouldn’t hurt.
@Blondie_Wan said:
"But yes, as fun as the movies are, Indy is really a looter. His methods are partly a deliberate creative choice to portray him as a somewhat shady, not-entirely-reputable, morally gray character, partly a result of general creative embellishment of the field for the screen, and perhaps partly a reflection (and exaggeration) of a less careful archaeological practice of the 1930s, as compared with the 1980s (or today)."
Honestly by the standards of the 1930s Indy’s desire to put things in museums rather than selling them for profit or private collections means he rates fairly highly as an archaeologist. In the 1930s we’re not that far removed from Heinrich Schliemann bulldozing Troy to find gold, and have only just had many of the systems we use today invented in the first place (thank you Flinders Petrie). Was still a bit of a cowboy era for archaeology
Ah yes, the bootleg Johnny Thunder.
I expect an elaborate remake version of this for the new adult Icons range. I also expect a price tag between $239 and $399.
@PixelTheDragon said:
"You’re the reason adventure movies are no fun."
Okay rude. I hadn't really thought about this until now.
@PurpleDave said:
"I mean, if you’ve watched the Young Indy series, he literally borrows from the Howard Carter school of archaeology, harvesting relics from all over the world to smuggle back to his local museum. I had a college friend who got his Masters in archaeology and his PhD in anthropology, and while he loves the Indiana Jones movies for their depiction of contemporary pulp fiction, he told me there’s zero respect for Jones’ methodology in the archaeological community. Daniel from the original Stargate film gets more respect."
I wish I had, but it was literally right before my time/just when I was coming into the world. I'd love to watch it, but I guess the only way is to watch the reedited movie compilations instead of just the normal episodes, I don't know if that makes a difference.
@GBP_Chris said:
"One could imagine that the idol was not placed there by the Hovitos but was there from an ancient time, and the Hovitos lost a few good men trying to get it (as there are skeletons in the chamber before Indy and Satipo arrive). Perhaps they believe that whoever holds it has "reclaimed" their lost deity and has earned the right to keep the visage of their god, since such a man must cheat and outwit death to claim it. And thus they deify the "worthy" one who can claim it (as they leave Belloq alone after he says something triumphant in their tongue and they all bow and tremble). So perhaps they see Indy as a defiler and heretic and thus pursue him at the command of Belloq, fabled reclaimer of their god.
Or maybe I'm overanalyzing an old adventure movie I dunno."
This is actually pretty good, I like it.
Did anyone have problems keeping the ball balanced on those two tubes for the whole run without falling off as looks a bit fiddly?
Fantastic set! The front artwork is quite messy, it's harder to see exactly what is in this set than Hidden Side boxes! I also love the use of 1x2 brick with two holes as a supporting skull emblems, that works really well here!
This is one of the first sets which branched me out of just Star Wars themed. I now have a reasonable sized collection across many different themes.
@Vladtheb: Pay no attention to what @PurpleDave said. You have an awesome friend; the rest of us wish we had a friend like that.
@ambr said:
"Did anyone have problems keeping the ball balanced on those two tubes for the whole run without falling off as looks a bit fiddly?"
I found it OK until the green plant piece holding it up broke!
@PurpleDave said:
"And they’ve just gotten better about hiding the fact that pretty much every piece of box art these days is CGI"
Most of the time, although they’ve had some hits and misses. The CGI box art in the 2020 Harry Potter sets was… not great. Everything was so glossy! Although I thought that prior to this they still used photos, so even into the late 2010s, as this was due to Covid? You seemed to suggest they stopped using photos years ago, which I don’t think is the case but I may be wrong.
GUTTED! I lost the dark grey ball for this set!
I found this set as part of a lot I received, have all the parts except the ball, they probably didn't realize it was Lego. Anyway to replace the light bg ball on bricklink is crazy expensive, with the dark bg ball being one tenth the price.
@MCLegoboy said:
" @PixelTheDragon said:
"You’re the reason adventure movies are no fun."
Okay rude. I hadn't really thought about this until now."
The truth seems rude only if it's inconvenient.
The one that got away... Hope they make a new one this year! I actually used the name of this set for my one big LEGO animation on YouTube. Starred Johnny Thunder and got 450.000 views before they took away the sound for copyright infringement over the «Raiders March». Good times!
@Brickalili:
Don’t forget chopping up King Tut’s mummy (Howard Carter) to get at the burial goods inside, and because they had so much trouble removing it from the sarcophagus. That was only 1925. Indy met him in 1908 at Petrie’s excavation of Ka’s tomb.
To be fair, in the early 20th century, lots of ancient Egyptian sites were being destroyed at a rapid rate because Egypt hadn’t yet realized their value. Standard practice seems to have been to loot it all as quickly as possible so it could be studied at leisure in a museum setting. It’s just that these museums always seemed to be located in Western Europe, not Egypt, and by the time Egypt realized it could be a tourism draw there wasn’t much left in their possession. I even remember hearing about one Egyptian mummy that ended up being on display in the US, in a gas station or something similar, because nobody realized it was a missing pharaoh.
@ambr:
Basically you just had to “tune” the rails a bit until the boulder would ride them all the way to the end. They’re flex-tube, so their length is not exactly precise, but the lower end was just held in place by a clip, allowing you to lengthen or shorten the run as needed.
@TheOtherMike:
Would _you_ just give a sealed copy of this set to someone else, barring a fever running so high you were later found wandering naked in public?
@sammy_zammy:
Discussions about CGI box art have popped up here several times, even prior to the pandemic. It helps that all of these parts are extremely uniform in shape, and they had also switched to creating instructions via digital modeling, so it was really just a matter of running the final builds through the right rendering process. Doing this eliminates any risk of dust, fingerprints, or stray hairs, and you don’t have to fight gravity when posing stuff in flight.
@Brickalili said:
" @Blondie_Wan said:
"But yes, as fun as the movies are, Indy is really a looter. His methods are partly a deliberate creative choice to portray him as a somewhat shady, not-entirely-reputable, morally gray character, partly a result of general creative embellishment of the field for the screen, and perhaps partly a reflection (and exaggeration) of a less careful archaeological practice of the 1930s, as compared with the 1980s (or today)."
Honestly by the standards of the 1930s Indy’s desire to put things in museums rather than selling them for profit or private collections means he rates fairly highly as an archaeologist. In the 1930s we’re not that far removed from Heinrich Schliemann bulldozing Troy to find gold, and have only just had many of the systems we use today invented in the first place (thank you Flinders Petrie). Was still a bit of a cowboy era for archaeology "
Sure, Indy doesn't ask before taking, but in Raiders, Last Crusade, and Kingdom of the Numb Skull, he's not the only one trying to find these artifacts. If he doesn't get there first, the Nazis will, and we know we don't want that!
@tne328:
And he does end up restoring the Sankara stones to their village in Temple of Doom, and allows the Grail to be lost forever in Last Crusade. He doesn't live a life of riches and power, instead being a university professor who even resists the doe-eyed advances of his besotted female students. But yeah, absolutely during Raiders and Last Crusade there were concerns with what would happen if the Nazis got their hands on these artifacts. And if you watch Young Indy, you get a much better view of his entire character and sense of values. He's not perfect by any means, but he puts his own life on the line several times over when other people are in danger. I don't recall him ever once intentionally abandoning someone else to die (not even obvious villains) just to get his hands on some relic.
@MCLegoboy:
You can still buy the entire series on DVD, plus it looks like it's all on streaming. Prior to the DVD release, there was never a complete release of the entire run. I'd heartily advise buying the DVDs (3 box sets, running between $30-40 each). They can't delist them like a streaming service, and they come with a crazy ridiculous amount of documentaries (5 years were spent just to create these) that put all of the people, places, and events he encounters into context. Some people consider this bonus content (about 3/4 of the total runtime of the DVD releases) to be the jewel of the DVD release because of how informative they are.
Most of the series has two edits. The original run consisted of hour-long episodes, but the series was cancelled with eight left still in production. The George Hall bookends (playing a one-eyed Indy retelling stories from his life at age 90) came from the hour-long edits. When the series was cancelled, another network picked up the rights, but wanted everything to be converted to feature-length films by pairing up two episodes and stitching them together. The unfinished eight episodes were therefore only ever aired in this paired format. I've seen conflicting claims regarding whether any George Hall bookends existed for these, but since they were stripped out of every episode during the pairing/reediting process, the only ones that were publicly released were Flanery bookends for Travels With Father (which I think they've since removed). One episode had bookends done by Harrison Ford, which they did leave intact, but I think any of the George Hall footage that's still out there was taken from recordings of the original broadcast. The film edits also included new bridging scenes in some cases, which were meant to help link the two stories together.
Some of these pairings worked better than others. Among them were some of the two-parters, but the original broadcast of Curse of the Jackal paired two stories (one with Carrier, one with Flanery) that share an important secondary character, set 8 years apart. The reedits split these up so they could be paired with other episodes, at which point seeing the returning character is a bit jarring. The original run made no attempt to keep everything in chronological order (like SW:CW, it jumped around a lot), and the reedits did a questionable job of trying to put everything in order (some episodes were time-shifted to justify more thematically appropriate pairings). I think I noticed one instance where reversing the order of two episodes created a continuity error, which is probably what set me into looking for a chrono viewing order in the first place.
Originally, Lucas planned out stories for 70 stories showing Indy's life from age 5-24, and less than half of these were actually produced. The Dracula episode is silly, and the Kafka one is painful, but for the most part these are a really fun addition to the theatrical films. Whether you watch them in DVD order, or try to jump around to keep them in chronological order, I highly suggest any serious fan of the films try to pick these up.