A long time ago, in a … wait, wrong movie.
Way back in the 80s, right after Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, three kids (Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, and Jayson Lamb henceforth known as “The Raiders Guys”) embarked on a project that would consume their lives for many years, rip their friendship asunder, and eventually stitch it back together.
They set out to remake, shot for shot, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
This was no small feat, and it took 7 years to finish (and they use footage from every step along the way). Shooting began in 1982, when the three Raiders Guys were only 12 years old, and continued over 7 summers. It was shot, as most movies are, out of order. This had the unintentionally hilarious side effect of having characters change ages dramatically over the course of several shots, sometimes even within the same scene.
When they started, Raiders was unavailable in the home market. They used a cassette tape recording of the audio of the film (illicitly obtained from the theater), magazine articles, publicity stills, and the official soundtrack LP,
They managed to recreate every scene (including the bar fire, complete with real fire! and the boulder scene, complete with giant fake boulder!) except for one. After the fiasco surrounding the bar fire, and the truck scene, they were not allowed to shoot the showdown between Indy and the german grunt, under the spinning blades of an experimental airplane.
Their deeds have gone down in the halls of fandom as legendary. “The Raiders Guys” are spoken of in hushed tones, the kind reserved for those special deeds that deserve both respect and wide eyed confusion. Their project, though not quite finished, still stands as one of the greatest monuments ever created by nerdkind. It is the ultimate labor of love, and a true testament to the devotion fans have for creative works.
Now, 30+ years after their project was initiated, The Raiders Guys are back. They are raising money on kickstarter to build a replica airplane and finish the project that they started all those years ago.
And the backer rewards are flipping sweat, include outtakes from every stage of filming, a digital download of the film as it stands today (direct from the BetaMax masters, in the highest possible quality! Leaps and bounds better than the only existing digital bootleg) and even a DVD of the finished project (including the long awaited Airplane Scene!)
This is your chance to own a piece of fandom (and remix culture) history. But they need your help. With 10 days to go, they are still $11,000 from their goal. Chip in, you know you want to.