Just how famous is Dr. Jones?

Indy's brother

New member
I've only watched the movies, I've never read the books. In Indy's world, is he a household name? Has he ever been on the cover of Time? All the way in Pankot his name is known, and that was before ROTLA. Or is he only well-known in academic circles? How much of his exploits are public knowledge?
 

Goodeknight

New member
Well, Chattar Lal says he first heard of Dr. Jones when he (Lal) was studying at Oxford, so that would be an academic circle. But during dinner, Lal references newspaper articles about Indy's tomb raiding, so that is some public recognition, though not very flattering.
 

DocWhiskey

Well-known member
I'd say Dr. Jones isn't well known to everyone, but is somewhat popular to those in his related field.

For instance, myself being an animation major, there are a lot of people I admire and did a lot for the field, but if you don't know much about animation, than their names probably mean nothing to you. Same goes for every major.
 

Indy's brother

New member
You would think he's been in National Geographic at LEAST once...

Edit: That would actually be a cool fan project, to write a Nat Geo article on either an artifact, culture, or relic accompanied by a few obscure on-set pics of Indy mixed with pictures of real locations...
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Brother, in the game version of "Fate of Atlantis", there actually is a "National Geographic" article about the c.1929 Jastro expedition in Iceland. Screencaps must be around here somewhere...There's also other instances where Indy is recoginzed but I can't remember exactly where.

Around the time the Indy 4 came out, someone made a decent '40s/'50s-era newsreel video which treated Dr. Jones as a known public figure with newspaper headlines, etc. Does anyone else remember this and know where to find it?:confused:
 

fenris

New member
Stoo said:
Around the time the Indy 4 came out, someone made a decent '40s/'50s-era newsreel video which treated Dr. Jones as a known public figure with newspaper headlines, etc. Does anyone else remember this and know where to find it?:confused:

Is that the documentary gag? "Indiana Jones, archaeologist or murderer?"
 

Stoo

Well-known member
fenris said:
Is that the documentary gag? "Indiana Jones, archaeologist or murderer?"
Not sure what the title was...:( and I'm not aware of the one you're talking about. What is it?
Indy's brother said:
Stoo, what you describe sounds verty familiar, while looking for it I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2voRgVo7LOk
Nice find but this is the beginning of the "Temple of the Forbidden Eye" TV special (which, if you want to accept as canon, provides an example of Indy's public exposure). The video I'm thinking of was fan-made and used vintage, WW2 footage + atomic-age stuff. There is a link to it somewhere deep in the BOWELS & dead threads of The Raven.:dead:
 

Exulted Unicron

New member
I would assume that there's alot of his adventures that would be recorded in print at the time, both by American and world papers. Take Raiders for example, I'm sure the Cairo papers would report the incident at Tanis as would the German papers.

Whilst alot of adventures would be reported, there'd be alot that wouldn't. Like the government silencing the reports on the Ark being in America or Indy finding both Area 51 and Doom Town.
 

Goodeknight

New member
As far as the movies go, what's to be reported and celebrated? Finding the Ark? He lost it to the government, which would certainly deny the find. Sankara stones? Dropped two, and then passed up the "fortune and glory" to win the real prize of returning the stone and the children to the village. Grail? He left the knight with a rather big mess to clean up. (As the knight waves, I always thought he was thinking, "First visitors I've had 700 years and look what they do to the Temple. Thanks for stopping by, guys. Sheesh.") Crystal skull shoots off to the space between spaces. Belloq got the fertility idol, and Willie was the last we see spotting the Peacock's Eye at Club Obiwan. After four movies the only significant relic that comes to mind that he got and kept is the Cross of Coronado. So then we're left with tomb robbing and murder for the papers to report. Good thing he and Marcus were such good friends. I think you can lose your tenure for shooting people.
 

IAdventurer01

Well-known member
While Indy regularly finds and returns with "good pieces," no word really gets out regarding his great finds. For all of his truly amazing discoveries (read: the ones WE know about), there is unfortunately no public evidence for, and therefore no fame.

Some common people may know of his name in passing, though it is not too likely. Among academic circles, he is rather well known - though in a good or bad light is debatable.

To me, his level of fame can be conveyed with Trottier's line in Fate of Atlantis: "Jones ... Jones ... Jones ...? I believe I have heard of you. Ah, yes! The famous archeologist!"
 

Webley

New member
Got this out of a book, INDIANA JONES THE ULTIMATE GUIDE

In the book it goes like this.

"The only glimpse of him on film is in a little seen John Ford western entitled Six Steps to Hell, in which he is dragged behind a covered wagon."

You can see this in Hollywood Follies.

So thay may know of him in Hollywood
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Indy's brother said:
It's pretty funny, here's a link to it.
Thanks a lot. That was well done, slick and very funny! I loved all the fake newspaper articles (especially the one about Indy losing his eye at 2:09). You can tell whoever made it knows their Indylore very well so this is a keeper. Thanks again for the link!
Webley said:
"The only glimpse of him on film is in a little seen John Ford western entitled Six Steps to Hell, in which he is dragged behind a covered wagon."

You can see this in Hollywood Follies.

So thay may know of him in Hollywood
Good one, Web! As far as I've been able to tell, "Six Steps To Hell" is ficitional and stunt men weren't normally credited during the silent film era but word of mouth goes a long way...The footage used is with the legendary, Yakima Canutt so maybe that was Indy's stage name!:p

Also taking Young Indy into account, he met people who were/would become very famous so his name could have spread around through them.
goodenight said:
"First visitors I've had 700 years and look what they do to the Temple. Thanks for stopping by, guys. Sheesh."
Everything you wrote was spot on but this made me laugh.:) Did you watch the video that linked to above? You'd probably enjoy it.
 

Dewy9

New member
I love the idea that there's the whole underworld of archeologists and grave robbers who all know about each other in the Indy movies.

I'd figure Indy would be as famous as any other notable college professor in our day. Aside from the attention seeking crazies like Warren Churchill, the general public would likely be unaware of them.
 

Exulted Unicron

New member
But another thing, Indy was well known to his very important friends growing up. So its quite likely that after he'd parted ways with some of them, he went back and visited a number of them later on in life. Sure, he probably didn't get chance to meet the likes of Tolstoy, Lenin, Freud, Churchill and others in the inter-war years. But its likely on his return trips to chicago, he ran into Elliot Ness now and then. Or probably after his trip from Pankot, probably paid a trip to Jiddu Krishnamurti again.
 
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