An Archaeologist's Idea for the Next Movie

Z dweller

Well-known member
Interesting, it tallies with some points already made in the "Next Indy Lady" thread.

I like the idea that she would only reluctantly accept to work with Indy.

It can be used to generate conflict and comedic moments at the beginning of the story, and of course in the end she would learn to respect her older colleague, despite his unorthodox methods. (y)
 

Forbidden Eye

Well-known member
Given Kathleen Kennedy is running Lucasfilm these days and what we've seen of Star Wars, I do think they'll go in that direction.

Personally I'm not crazy about it. Most movies these days are forcing female characters these days in the name of "diversity", giving Indy a young female protege is a little too obvious, especially given Star Wars is already doing that. It would be tiresome.

A younger sidekick is inevitable, especially given Ford's age, but I think the character and dilemmas she describe could easily work just as well with a young male. I'd just assume they keep the sidekicks male. She mentions "civil rights" of the '60s, a black male might be interesting, but again, Star Wars is already tackling that.

The most interesting thing about her analysis, to me, is she says Kingdom is bad for the same tired and lame reason everyone states, "because it was about aliens", yet she offered no ideas about what the Macguffin would be. It's funny how Indy 4 haters always bash it because the premise of aliens yet they offer no suggestions on what the film should've been about or what Indy 5 should be about, which is why that criticism runs hollow. Many people trash Temple of Doom as well, does it really come down to the fact that the Macguffin has to be an artifact tied in to Christianity for Western audiences to get on board?
 

JasonMa

Active member
Forbidden Eye said:
The most interesting thing about her analysis, to me, is she says Kingdom is bad for the same tired and lame reason everyone states, "because it was about aliens", yet she offered no ideas about what the Macguffin would be. It's funny how Indy 4 haters always bash it because the premise of aliens yet they offer no suggestions on what the film should've been about or what Indy 5 should be about, which is why that criticism runs hollow. Many people trash Temple of Doom as well, does it really come down to the fact that the Macguffin has to be an artifact tied in to Christianity for Western audiences to get on board?
Skull is bad because its about aliens. Better options would have been the Altar of Victory, the Imperial Seal of China, or the City of Paititi.

Happy now?
 

TheFedora

Active member
Forbidden Eye said:
Given Kathleen Kennedy is running Lucasfilm these days and what we've seen of Star Wars, I do think they'll go in that direction.

Personally I'm not crazy about it. Most movies these days are forcing female characters these days in the name of "diversity", giving Indy a young female protege is a little too obvious, especially given Star Wars is already doing that. It would be tiresome.

A younger sidekick is inevitable, especially given Ford's age, but I think the character and dilemmas she describe could easily work just as well with a young male. I'd just assume they keep the sidekicks male. She mentions "civil rights" of the '60s, a black male might be interesting, but again, Star Wars is already tackling that.

The most interesting thing about her analysis, to me, is she says Kingdom is bad for the same tired and lame reason everyone states, "because it was about aliens", yet she offered no ideas about what the Macguffin would be. It's funny how Indy 4 haters always bash it because the premise of aliens yet they offer no suggestions on what the film should've been about or what Indy 5 should be about, which is why that criticism runs hollow. Many people trash Temple of Doom as well, does it really come down to the fact that the Macguffin has to be an artifact tied in to Christianity for Western audiences to get on board?

I agree about the younger sidekick angle too. And since LaBeouf is now damaged goods...but though Ford is getting older I do not think they'll try to do a direct replacement with the younger sidekick like they tried to set up for Mutt. I was thinking that if they wanted to go the Ph.D. route, maybe have Indy be her thesis advisor or something? Like he agrees to supervise field work she does, and thats where the beginning of the adventure starts.
 

IndyBuff

Well-known member
I wouldn't mind the idea of one of Indy's students being the next sidekick, or bringing back someone like Short Round, who would still be young but also recognizable and established. I'd also be interested in seeing the government come to Indy for help one last time, with Indy being naturally reluctant given his bad experiences with them in the past and demanding that they earn his trust.

I'm also curious why she thinks Indy doesn't publish articles or write papers. I would assume that's part of his job and maybe he talks about things he can prove instead of writing about the big adventures we see in the films.
 

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
Forbidden Eye said:
Personally I'm not crazy about it. Most movies these days are forcing female characters these days in the name of "diversity", giving Indy a young female protege is a little too obvious, especially given Star Wars is already doing that. It would be tiresome.
We've already seen Indy with two young male sidekicks (Shorty and Mutt), but seeing him with another one would be somehow less obvious and tiresome than seeing him with a young female sidekick?
 

Lambonius

New member
Randy_Flagg said:
We've already seen Indy with two young male sidekicks (Shorty and Mutt), but seeing him with another one would be somehow less obvious and tiresome than seeing him with a young female sidekick?

^^This.

Also, KOTCS was bad because it had a poorly written script with a terribly paced third act and atrocious "comedic" elements that fell very, very flat, turning the whole film into a parody of the original trilogy.

I liked the ancient alien MacGuffin, it was just executed horribly.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Lambonius said:
^^This.

Also, KOTCS was bad because it had a poorly written script with a terribly paced third act and atrocious "comedic" elements that fell very, very flat, turning the whole film into a parody of the original trilogy.

I liked the ancient alien MacGuffin, it was just executed horribly.

I think in hindsight the film was poor from the very first act. The film, from the moment we see prairie dogs, feels off. The moment that kind of cements, "Oh this isn't going to be good" is the warehouse crash where Mac is going "You don't know him! You don't know him! You don't know him!!" The fact that they build up the fact that there is danger here (Indy is playing chicken), and then, we see clearly that Indy's game results in a very bad head-on collision, and yet Mac walks away from said horrible crash moments later, without a single scratch, insults my intelligence.

The Fridge scene I actually like. It's an effective use of the 1950s era, it's the one scene that genuinely has tension, and I don't mean how unrealistic it is. If Indy can pull himself against the weight of a moving truck with his bare hands in Raiders, he can survive whatever.

But the stupidity of the car wreck scene, and the way it's handled, annoys me. The film has plenty of just plain dumb moments like that, that build up suspense and then don't deliver at all. That's the real problem with the script. No tension. No suspense. No climatic feeling of "Wew, I didn't think he'd make that one" except for the fridge scene.
 
Ironically, her idea sounds a lot like the character/plot for 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'...with the character of Carina. Not saying that it couldn't work...
 

Kai Hagen

New member
Forbidden Eye said:
The most interesting thing about her analysis, to me, is she says Kingdom is bad for the same tired and lame reason everyone states, "because it was about aliens", yet she offered no ideas about what the Macguffin would be.
I thought the alien direction was entertaining, but I can see why she has a problem with it. She is an archaeologist.
 

RaidersLovers

New member
The aliens wasn't Indianajonesque but I liked the relation of a Cristal skull to an alien head, and the advanced technology of the aliens to the mayans
 

Toht's Arm

Active member
I really like the idea she posits, mainly because we haven't seen Indy with a foil like this. With Short Round and Mutt, we've had two young guys - a child and a young adult. It would be interesting to see how he'd deal with a young, intelligent woman.

She'd have the out-of-her-element aspect a bit like Willie, but also extremely intelligent. She would be like Marion in that she doesn't put up with his crap, but can't handle herself in a fight. A bit like Elsa too, with her archaeology training.

And none of this precludes the possibility of having Short Round make another appearance, particularly as an antagonist(!)

And with regards to the aliens aspect of KoTC, my archaeologist friend said she had zero problem with the concept, since Indiana Jones had dealt with all sorts of other pseudo archaeology before, so this was a logical step... :)
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Forbidden Eye said:
Given Kathleen Kennedy is running Lucasfilm these days and what we've seen of Star Wars, I do think they'll go in that direction.

Personally I'm not crazy about it. Most movies these days are forcing female characters these days in the name of "diversity", giving Indy a young female protege is a little too obvious, especially given Star Wars is already doing that. It would be tiresome.
You can bet your hat that there'll be a girl in Indy 5. It's inevitable, unfortunately, and the 2 latest "Star Wars" movies are very telling indicators.

Randy_Flagg said:
We've already seen Indy with two young male sidekicks (Shorty and Mutt), but seeing him with another one would be somehow less obvious and tiresome than seeing him with a young female sidekick?
Forbidden Eye doesn't mean "obvious" & "tiresome" for the series itself but, rather, that it's increasingly common in action movies nowadays to have female leads. It would good if Indy 5 bucked the current trend by keeping it as a 'guys-movie' (however unlikely that will be). We already got a female villain in "Skull" so guess what's next?

Plus, this YouTuber wants to have Indy's fedora passed on to a young woman?!? Noooooo, thank you. (n)

IndyBuff said:
I'd also be interested in seeing the government come to Indy for help one last time,...
What gave me a chuckle is when she said, "the typical Indiana Jones thing where, y'know, someone from the government comes along and, uh, says we have this problem or this crisis...". Sorry, doll, but that only happened in *1* movie. It's not "typical". :rolleyes:

IndyBuff said:
I'm also curious why she thinks Indy doesn't publish articles or write papers.
It's probably because she isn't familiar enough with the movies to know what she's talking about. Why would Major Eaton call Indy "an expert on the occult" if he never published anything? Even Chatter Lal said he FIRST heard of Dr. Jones while he was at Oxford and called him an "eminent archaeologist". To be fair, it's not specifically stated that Indy writes papers but those are hints that he has already done so.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
He has a PHD, so at the very least, he would've had to write (and perhaps publish) a doctoral thesis, would he not? The wide latitude he's given by Marcus also suggests to me that he's respected enough in his field to be given a little wriggle room. He's not just some teacher, he's a professional. A Professor. We only see his hobby in the movies. For most of the year he's probably boring old Professor Jones.
 

Lambonius

New member
Ability to enjoy/be knowledgeable about Indiana Jones is inversely proportional to the ability to have a v agina, apparently. Lol
 
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