Toht's Arm said:
...Nazis, yet Spielberg has no wish to go there with Indy anymore...
Nazis are played out. I for one hope Nazis are never again featured as a villain in an Indiana Jones picture/game/novel. It's a cheap and lazy plot device that holds the series back.
After thirty years of earth tones, Indiana Jones is in desperate need of a palette swap. A major palette swap. I've suggested elsewhere that a trip to China or one of the other Asiatic cultures and their open embrace of color is just what the series needs to kick off the cobwebs. Just imagine the thrill of seeing Indy amongst flashing reds, blues, and yellows!
Sakis said:
I'm much into a story that spreads around the globe like Last Crusade did.
Emphasis added. Where did this misconception begin? Was it the books? The video games? Somebody somewhere started to string together locales that have zero historical relation and this idea that every Indy adventure spans the globe stuck.
Just because
Santa Fe!,
Lagos!,
Bucharest!,
Kuala Lumpur! sounds cool, they bear no relation to each other. Any story you hang onto that framework is already contrived and ill-fitting. If the story centers around Chinese history or a Chinese artifact, then the locale is going to need to be fixed to Southeast Asia.
Attila the Professor said:
And if what I suggest is true, regarding Stalin's 1953 death, then we wouldn't be seeing China: Mao didn't die until 1976.
I believe I've mentioned before that there's a lot of ground to explore in the FBI's disbelief in Indy's credentials as a "Good American". Why? He had to have done something for the idea to come up; a globe trotting archeologist is bound to know a few of the "wrong people," but the idea was passed over.
Mao's death in 1976 puts China out of reach for a post-
Crystal Skull adventure. However, 1951-52 is a wonderfully chaotic time in China's history to drop Indy into. One one side you have the Soviets & Mao's Communists. On the other, you have Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and the Americans supplying him with arms & munitions. Again, lots of opportunity here for those willing to put in the effort. The timeframe also happens to be workable with both Harrison's & Indy's respective ages.