Timeline speculation: the bomb test
- Thread starter Burke
- Start date
MarxBrosFan
New member
TheMan said:
Even though I wouldn't like the Ark being used so briefly, that sounds better than Indy jumping into a refrigerator during a nuclear explosion.
herr gruber
Guest
Thought I'd reach 1000 posts with a blast.
TennesseeKorben
New member
Based on the 90 card trading set, here is the timeline to the movie.
OPENING SEQUENCE
Hangar 51 (and no, they are not looking for the Ark, though Indy does spot it)
Rocket Sled
Doom Town
THE REAL ADVENTURE BEGINS
Marshall College
Trainstation
Arnie's Diner
Chase Through Campus
Indy's Home
Peru
Chauchilla Cemetery
Interrogation
Sand Pit
Jungle Chase sequence (the Jungle chase, Jungle Cutter, the swordfight, and Giant Fire Ants, this sequence is gonna be huge!)
Akator Temple Big Finale
Marshall College
THE END
I can provide a more detailed heavily spoilered explanation of the timeline and story later if people wishes. I can post it publicly or private message you if you inform me. I haven't wrote it up yet, but it would take me some time and I couldn't start on it till later tonight!
OPENING SEQUENCE
Hangar 51 (and no, they are not looking for the Ark, though Indy does spot it)
Rocket Sled
Doom Town
THE REAL ADVENTURE BEGINS
Marshall College
Trainstation
Arnie's Diner
Chase Through Campus
Indy's Home
Peru
Chauchilla Cemetery
Interrogation
Sand Pit
Jungle Chase sequence (the Jungle chase, Jungle Cutter, the swordfight, and Giant Fire Ants, this sequence is gonna be huge!)
Akator Temple Big Finale
Marshall College
THE END
I can provide a more detailed heavily spoilered explanation of the timeline and story later if people wishes. I can post it publicly or private message you if you inform me. I haven't wrote it up yet, but it would take me some time and I couldn't start on it till later tonight!
TennesseeKorben
New member
The Man said:
Well, I have the Journal also and they both mention the Ark. From what I can gather from both items is that he see's it while trying to escape and notes it in his journal so he can come back for it at a later time.
Erik Pflueger
New member
Having just seen the film, and done some research (thank you, Wikipedia), I think I can offer some additional info. The nuclear test was likely carried out as part of Operation Plumbbob, a series of twenty-nine nuclear test detonations carried out at the Nevada Test Site reservation in Nye County, Nevada from 28 May to 7 October 1957. As seen in the film, some of these tests were intended to observe the effect of nuclear detonations on military and civilian structures, and like in the film, mock neighborhoods, called ?doom towns,? were constructed for this purpose.
It is somewhat difficult, without further information about the time of year, to determine which of the twenty-nine detonations was the one Indy faced, but the fact that it was a tower shot - a test where a nuclear bomb is dropped from a high tower and detonates on impact with the surface - narrows the possibilities down to eight. The following list comprises all the tower shots conducted for Plumbbob, identified by test code-name and date:
Boltzmann (28 May 1957)
Diablo (15 July 1957)
Kepler (24 July 1957)
Shasta (18 August 1957)
Smoky (31 August 1957)
Galileo (2 September 1957)
Fizeau (14 September 1957)
Whitney (23 September 1957)
The possibilities could be narrowed down still further if or when information becomes available as to which of these tower shots were conducted in the daytime - as with the test seen in the film - and which were nighttime tests. To use photographic evidence is not enough - all the photos of the Plumbbob detonations look like they're shot at night, but who knows if the effect of the extremely bright just makes everything around it seem dark as night by comparison?
Some food for thought. Hope this can help others to push the research still further.
It is somewhat difficult, without further information about the time of year, to determine which of the twenty-nine detonations was the one Indy faced, but the fact that it was a tower shot - a test where a nuclear bomb is dropped from a high tower and detonates on impact with the surface - narrows the possibilities down to eight. The following list comprises all the tower shots conducted for Plumbbob, identified by test code-name and date:
Boltzmann (28 May 1957)
Diablo (15 July 1957)
Kepler (24 July 1957)
Shasta (18 August 1957)
Smoky (31 August 1957)
Galileo (2 September 1957)
Fizeau (14 September 1957)
Whitney (23 September 1957)
The possibilities could be narrowed down still further if or when information becomes available as to which of these tower shots were conducted in the daytime - as with the test seen in the film - and which were nighttime tests. To use photographic evidence is not enough - all the photos of the Plumbbob detonations look like they're shot at night, but who knows if the effect of the extremely bright just makes everything around it seem dark as night by comparison?
Some food for thought. Hope this can help others to push the research still further.
tupogirl
New member
School was in session, so I would think it would be an August or September date.
I was glad to hear Oppenheimer referenced. In fact, when I read the Lost Journal, I wondered if he didn't work for Oppenheimer. Now I get it, but I thought that was cool.
And for further reading: 109 Palace East about Robert Oppenheimer and his secret scientists working on the bomb.
I was glad to hear Oppenheimer referenced. In fact, when I read the Lost Journal, I wondered if he didn't work for Oppenheimer. Now I get it, but I thought that was cool.
And for further reading: 109 Palace East about Robert Oppenheimer and his secret scientists working on the bomb.
ValenciaGrail
New member
So by now you all know that the fridge was lead-lined, explaining how he was sheilded from the blast's radiation.... right?
While lead would protect you from radiation effects, if the fridge was close enough to the blast site it would have been simply incinerated by 2,000,000 degree heat which turns sand into glass....
It's a bit like expecting a rubber raincoat to protect you from a lightning strike. You'll end up with melted rubber, not insulation.
When I see the movie tonight, I'll have to note how far the fridge was from the nuclear device....
While lead would protect you from radiation effects, if the fridge was close enough to the blast site it would have been simply incinerated by 2,000,000 degree heat which turns sand into glass....
It's a bit like expecting a rubber raincoat to protect you from a lightning strike. You'll end up with melted rubber, not insulation.
When I see the movie tonight, I'll have to note how far the fridge was from the nuclear device....
ChromiumBlue37
New member
True.
The Ark Ghost could have destroyed Indy and Marion along with the Nazis, but didn't. Afterall, Indiana Jones was the one responsible for initially finding and disturbing, (by being the first one to retreive it from the Well of the Souls), the Ark of the Covenant in the first place.
The Ark Ghost could have destroyed Indy and Marion along with the Nazis, but didn't. Afterall, Indiana Jones was the one responsible for initially finding and disturbing, (by being the first one to retreive it from the Well of the Souls), the Ark of the Covenant in the first place.
ValenciaGrail
New member
ChromiumBlue37 said:
I think there were somewhat different, supernatural machinations here, namely that the power of the Ark - God's power - was not indiscriminant as is a nuclear blast.
Indy & Marion demonstrated wisdom and humilty by not attempting to look upon the power of God, while Bellog showed vanity and pride by beleiving he could comprehend God by controlling the Ark's power. The rest of the melted Nazis probably exhibited a combination of arrogance and ignorance.
It has been explained that Moses had the grace to look upon God due to his extreme humilty before Yahweh.
Erik Pflueger
New member
What's this Ark business? Aren't we talking about nuclear bombs here? 
Erik Pflueger
New member
Some further research may have yielded an answer on the bomb test and timeline placement:
Remember that though there were twenty-nine tests during Operation Plumbbob, there are ways to narrow down the results to something more manageable. The test was a tower shot, and it was during the daytime.
Most of the tower shots concted for Plumbbob were carried out just before, just after, or at 1200 hrs. GMT, i.e., and all the photographs from these tests give the impression that they were detonated at night (though the nature of camera lenses then may have meant that the flash of the blast could simply make everything around it seem night-time dark by comparison). Ony one shot that I could determine was done at any other time: Fizeau was conducted at 1659 hours GMT (someone else will have to determine what that was in Nevada time) on 14 September 1957. The photographs of the detonation of Fizeau clearly indicate a daytime shot.
The timing for this works in many ways: Those who have the Lost Journal of Indiana Jones will note that the page where Indy makes a note that he has found the Ark again - which happened the day before the atomic bomb test - is the page immediately preceeding one where he has taped a letter from Short Round - a letter dated 15 September 1957, the day after the Fizeau test. This indicates that soon after he returned from Nevada, he received the letter from Shorty, which would have arrived several days after he mailed it, depending on the time for the postal service to get it to Indy and on where it was sent from.
The next sequence, the one at Marshall College, takes place three weeks after the Nevada sequences, according to the novelization, so this means early October 1957. Factoring in the travel times and the duration of the events of the rest of the film, it can easily work out that the Lost Journal - presumably recovered by a member of Spalko's unit that survived the film, would have made it back to Moscow and been entered into the KGB files on 10 November 1957, just as the Journal says on the label.
So whaddya think? Comments, counter-arguments? Anyone?
Remember that though there were twenty-nine tests during Operation Plumbbob, there are ways to narrow down the results to something more manageable. The test was a tower shot, and it was during the daytime.
Most of the tower shots concted for Plumbbob were carried out just before, just after, or at 1200 hrs. GMT, i.e., and all the photographs from these tests give the impression that they were detonated at night (though the nature of camera lenses then may have meant that the flash of the blast could simply make everything around it seem night-time dark by comparison). Ony one shot that I could determine was done at any other time: Fizeau was conducted at 1659 hours GMT (someone else will have to determine what that was in Nevada time) on 14 September 1957. The photographs of the detonation of Fizeau clearly indicate a daytime shot.
The timing for this works in many ways: Those who have the Lost Journal of Indiana Jones will note that the page where Indy makes a note that he has found the Ark again - which happened the day before the atomic bomb test - is the page immediately preceeding one where he has taped a letter from Short Round - a letter dated 15 September 1957, the day after the Fizeau test. This indicates that soon after he returned from Nevada, he received the letter from Shorty, which would have arrived several days after he mailed it, depending on the time for the postal service to get it to Indy and on where it was sent from.
The next sequence, the one at Marshall College, takes place three weeks after the Nevada sequences, according to the novelization, so this means early October 1957. Factoring in the travel times and the duration of the events of the rest of the film, it can easily work out that the Lost Journal - presumably recovered by a member of Spalko's unit that survived the film, would have made it back to Moscow and been entered into the KGB files on 10 November 1957, just as the Journal says on the label.
So whaddya think? Comments, counter-arguments? Anyone?
Aggie Crusade
New member
ValenciaGrail said:
I've always been under the assumption that Indiana Jones had some sort of divine protection, possibly as a reward from God for saving the Ark. I mean, he's certainly had a lot of luck in the past movies. Perhaps he even got the divine protection from drinking out of the grail, like as if you might not become immortal, but good things happen to you.
Aggie Crusade
New member
Like I said, divine protection. If ANYONE could survive a nuclear blast, it has to be Indiana Jones.