Why Infernal Machine is like Indy IV

The Tingler said:
I disagree entirely with the idea that the Tomb Raider films were better though. They were awful. I remember walking out of the cinema after seeing the first film and asking my friends: "Apart from Lara Croft, can you name any other character in that movie?" They couldn't, neither could I.

Maybe I can see your point about the first Lara Croft movie, which really didn't have a solid screenplay. The story itself wasn't that bad, but the movie was poorly written, the dialogues weren't exactly convincing, and so on...

But... the charisma of Pandora's Box used for evil purposes... against the "yeah, I've already heard this same story thousands of times" of the alien-made Crystal Skulls????
Sorry, there's no comparison!! "Cradle of Life" beats "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" hands down, no doubts about it!!
With this I'm not saying that "Tomb Raider 2" is a perfect film, exactly as I'm not saying that "Indiana Jones IV" sucked. They are both mediocre movies, with their ups and their downs. It's only that "Cradle of Life" surprisingly pleased me a lot... while "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" disappointed me soooo much that now I'm no more sure Indy's saga is the best of all times.

Dust McAlan said:
"Cradle of Life" is actually a damn good adventure movie that makes up for the horrible first film, and had it made some money it might have been enough to warrant a third.

Tingler, you see what I mean?? :D :D

DiscoLad said:
You make a Damn good piont... very good piont indeed, they coud've used Infernal Machine..But, Why use A game when people know what's going to happen...

I don't understand if there was any sarcasm in that sentence... or if you were being serious. :confused: Anyway, I never said I wanted them to use exactly the "Infernal Machine" storyline. I was only saying that if "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is the result of all of these years of waiting, then I would have preferred a stupid videogame rip-off. You know, at least "Infernal Machine" had a plot...
 

The Tingler

New member
This isn't the place for Indy IV-bashing or even Tomb Raider-defending. I admit I haven't seen Cradle of Life in a while and if I see a really really cheap copy I'll pick it up then talk to you about it, but the first time I saw it I remember not being in any way impressed.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Finn said:
I still recall Hal Barwood mentioning that while penning up IM, they had to shelve some story idea because Lucas thought "it could be used later for a movie or something".
Hal says, "Originally I wanted to have Jones go after flying saucers, but word came back to me from on high -- "don't go there.""
Well, now we know.
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
So, having a correct hunch as usual.

Does this also mean we have a new guy to blame for raping a ton of childhoods last May?

Kind of ironic really. UFOs came from Barwood, C.G Gophers was Spielberg's idea. Is there anything at all left haters can pin on Uncle George concerning this film?
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
Finn said:
Kind of ironic really. UFOs came from Barwood

...no, they came from Lucas. I think the idea is that Barwood's story was rejected for the video game because it inadvertently turned out to be a bit too close to what Lucas was coming up with for Indy4 in the meantime. I guess whenever you pit Indy up against Soviet bad guys in the Cold War era, the alien scifi stuff just seems to come naturally out of that.
 
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Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
I first heard the "Indiana Jones 4 in space" (aka Saucermen from Mars) rumor in the mid-90's, years before Infernal Machine, before I was online. How did Barwood not?
 

The Tingler

New member
I'm guessing he was treating it as a rumour, or was busy! I first heard about that rumour only sometime in the last couple of years, and I'm a big Indy fan.
 

Grizzlor

Well-known member
The rumors didn't start until around 1995, after Young Indy was over with, and before the Star Wars SE/Prequel stuff started. The game was released in 1992 I think, but obviously the angle was on Lucas's mind even then.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Grizzlor said:
The rumors didn't start until around 1995, after Young Indy was over with, and before the Star Wars SE/Prequel stuff started. The game was released in 1992 I think, but obviously the angle was on Lucas's mind even then.

'99, actually.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
A new interview with Hal Barwood sheds a bit more light on the subject:

Interviewer: Is it true that the initial concepts for Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine have once originated from some loose ideas for a fourth Indiana Jones movie?

Hal Barwood: Nope. Independently of George, I got interested in propelling Indy into the cold war environment of the 1950s with Russians as antagonists and flying saucers as the prize. George vetoed the idea, reserving UFOs for what was to become Crystal Skull. I kept the cold war, but veered away to Babylon for the prize.

So, both Barwood and Lucas came up with the Soviets/alien stuff independent of each other, and Lucas told Barwood to back off for the game because of the similarities (at the time) with the Indy4 concept. It's not so wildly coincidental as it might seem at first glance - once you come up with the idea to bring Indy to the 50s, the other stuff sort of follows suit.
 
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