The People's Indy 4

Deadlock

New member
Well, my fellow denizens of the Raven... It's done.

All 119 pages of Indiana Jones and the Realm of the Dead are complete and ready for you! Remember all those speculative threads at the Indy 4 table? This is the complete package: the legend, the artifact, the villain, the ancient locales, the action, the nasty critters, and... the girl. ;) I've tried to build an Indy 4 screenplay that is worthy of not only the trilogy, but of the gold standard itself: Raiders of the Lost Ark.

This screenplay is truly a distillation of the years of musing here at the Raven. This work is was not only written FOR you, the true fans, but in a sense, it was written BY you as well. To reference Temple of John: the real Indy has stood up... and he's come from the Raven.

So, come join me in the Realm of the Dead...




This may bore you, but I need to crank out some quick acknowledgements...
* Thanks go out to Aaron and Canyon for getting the screenplay up for everybody to read.
* Special thanks to members of the Raven, past and present, for your ideas. (Bob and Attila, I owe you one. Each.)
* Super-duper thanks to Pale Horse and Joe Brody (the beers are on me, guys).
* Finally, ULTRA MEGA THANKS to my brother (you call yourself a film student?!) and my wife (I promise I won't mention "Indy" for the next six months...)
 

Paden

Member
Download it. Read it. Read it again. Contemplate it. This is everything that Indy IV should be. Through what was doubtlessly a tremendous amount of hard work and creative effort, Deadlock has given the fans of the Indiana Jones series an amazing gift. It is a masterpiece.
 

intergamer

New member
Hey, you came through. That's an incredible accomplishment, Deadlock.

I still feel I have the greatest opening scene for Indy 4, but I got stuck in the middle of writing it because of obsessing over an action sequence. Maybe someday I'll have a little more motivation, like Deadlock.
 

OhioJones

New member
That was amazing.

I loved almost all of it (slight problem: a little to similar to Raiders).

Good job.

I wouldnt mind seeing that at all.

In fact, to thank you, I made a "what-if" fan poster for you!

Realm.jpg


I give the script a 4.5/5- Pure Jones :whip:
 

Deadlock

New member
OhioJones said:
That was amazing.

I loved almost all of it (slight problem: a little to similar to Raiders).

The similarities to Raiders are very much intentional. The idea is to bring Indy full-circle. But I'm glad you liked it.

Thanks for the poster, but I'm picturing something darker, and not so... well... pink.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Paden said:
Download it. Read it. Read it again. Contemplate it. This is everything that Indy IV should be. Through what was doubtlessly a tremendous amount of hard work and creative effort, Deadlock has given the fans of the Indiana Jones series an amazing gift. It is a masterpiece.

What more is there to say. To me, Deadlock is a master of satire and good-humor, so I was pleasantly surpised with his great success in creating a story chalk full of emotional gravitas and perfect theme(s) for Indy IV. He also writes a mean action sequence as well . . .
 
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Deadlock

New member
Re-enter the Realm

With some of the content of this thread leaking into speculation about Indy 4, I thought I would resurrect this thread. (I crack myself up. :rolleyes: )

Anyway, the Realm of the Dead screenplay solidifies many of the themes and elements that I would like to see in Indy 4. BTW, this discussion can and probably will contain spoilers from the screenplay. So, if you'd rather not ruin it for yourself, go read it!

You've been warned... :)




Let's review, shall we?

Paden in "Ravenwood in Last Crusade" said:
To me, part of the theme of Last Crusade was Indiana being reconciled to his father. The fractured relationship between he and Henry Sr. was healed. It's fitting that in the last chapter, Indiana has to find peace with himself.

Pale Horse in "Ravenwood in Last Crusade" said:
To that end, what would be worthy of Indy's obssession? The only thing we have to go on to this point of the trilogy is Fortune and Glory. It is the one thing he hasn't experienced to this point, and as he comes to the end of his life, maybe that is what he longs for. A shotty professor whose only accolades are smitten females and apple kissing males vying for recognition? A black market archeologist who can't even acquire a legimate piece of history through traditional means?



In Realm, Indy's obsession isn't with any particular artifact. In my mind, that would be too predictable, too "been there, done that". I took a different approach. I find that with age often comes a new perspective on ones previous actions, a heightened level of introspection. (For example: if you listen to the difference between Sinatra singing "My Way" early in his career versus later... Early on it sounds like a boast; later, it sounds like an apology).

Since we saw Indy last, things have changed... and not for the better. Marcus is dead, Indy is no longer teaching, and as the film opens... Marion is being buried as well. The back-story for Realm follows what many fans have thought... Marion was always Indy's match: a fact that he finally acknowledges and begins acting upon in the years immediately preceding Realm. (In the revised draft of the screenplay [not available on the Internet], we find out that the two of them were actually engaged). Then Marion gets cancer and dies, leaving Indy behind. In having Indy take over for Marcus as the curator of the museum, that was an indication that remorse was already becoming his obsession, Marion?s death pushes him over the edge... and into a return to alcoholism (rooted in Raiders, and in turn to Abner [or my theories about him anyway]) linked with a newfound depression and violence.

When an opportunity falls into Indy's lap to shake the remorseful torch-carrier shtick and reclaim the adventurer's mantle, it seems that we're back to business as usual. We don't fully realize until the last 20 pages that the same obsession with guilt was driving him the whole time.

One of the things I like most about Raiders is the existential questions: not only about the main character (Who is Indiana Jones? Grave robber? Tweedy prof? Superhero?) but about his pursuit, the link between hero and villain: archaeology (in turn, linked with Ark). What is archaeology? What is it's purpose? It's value? It's place in the world?


"I'm going after a find of incredible historical significance. You're talking about the boogie-man."

"You and I are very much alike. Archaeology is our religion. Yet we have both fallen from the pure faith."

"...But if I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless!"

"What a fitting end to your life's pursuits? You're about to become a permanent addition to this archaeological find. Who knows? In a thousand years, even YOU may be worth something."

"All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your wildest aspirations. You want to see it opened as well as I. Indiana. We are simply passing through history. This, this IS history."



Belloq seems to offer the most insights, but it is clear (especially in the rocket launcher scene) that his and Indy's views "have not differed as much as you pretend." The next two Indy films barely address these deeper ideas. (Though Last Crusade's exploration of the human relationship in relation to archaeological obsession is fairly well-developed... just not as thought-provoking.) Putting the quotes from Raiders together, it is easy to see archaeology caught up in issues of life and worth...

With Realm, it's back to the existential questions. This time, I link archaeology not with life and worth, but with regret and obsession.


"I think that everything in the life of an archaeologist tends to become an object... an obsession. Nothing else matters. You ignore everything else... Obsessed with what's dead and gone."

"Mourn those who are gone... But don?t bury yourself with the dead"

"YOU lecturing me about ethical archaeology... there?s a laugh."

"...archaeology is the only life we?ve ever known. And that has left us with a long list of regrets... "

"...raising the dead is no substitute for living your life."

"One day, I finally woke up and realized: there is no God... But there is power, Indiana. Power over life and death. And, thanks to your help, we will cross the gulf that separates men from their gods. We will decide who lives and who dies. We will have that power."
 

Paden

Member
I really need to reread Realm (hopefully this evening) before I can offer any intelligent, in-depth comments. However, one thematic aspect that has stayed with me since my first reading of it is the ironic nature (at least, to my perception) of the title. One can certainly regard The Realm of the Dead in a literal sense, as referring to the "prize" that is found at the story's climax. However, I saw the title as also referring to the cynical shell of the great adventurer that we encounter at the story's opening, and his dark, lonely existence, accompanied only by the memories of deceased friends and past conquests. It also spoke to me of the the similar state of the fateful individual that Indy encounters once more near the script's end (I'm trying to avoid spoilers :p ) whose skills and energies have all been invested in locating something that can somehow undo the regrets of the past. In terms of theme, I saw these characters as existing within a dead realm, devoid of any quality of life or happiness, surrounded by the silent discoveries of history that they had spent their lives pursuing. Although the literal aim of the quest is buried once more through the destruction of an artifact, the true conflict of the story only finds resolution in Indiana's words to Grace at the story's close. For me, the idea of death (empty existence, or the absence of meaning/fulfillment) permeated the entire story.

Question: If I recall correctly, Henry Sr. is never really mentioned in Realm. Did you include any mention of him in earlier drafts? Thinking in terms of Realm's relation to the trilogy, I could see how Last Crusade resolved one of Indiana's chief mentor relationships, while Realm brings closure to the other.
 

Deadlock

New member
Paden, I really like your comments on the title. I'd fully intended there to be multiple meanings in the title, but I couldn't have fleshed out that nuance any better myself.

Henry Sr. was included in the some of the earliest concepts. In those concepts, it was his funeral at the beginning. But that wasn't surprising enough to me. (In fact, I expect that many people would be expecting to see "Henry Jones" on the headstone as the film opens.) In a slightly later concept, it is Henry Sr. that confronts Indy about his drinking at the museum. Once again, I felt this little scene was better as part of the development of Grace's character.

Early in the script, I want to show Indy as being isolated from his former support structure. However, it became to much to kill Marcus, kill Marion, brush-off Sallah... and then do what with Henry Sr? Kill him or brush him off? :rolleyes: It was too much of the same thing. Any attempt to just casually bring him up in conversation also felt too forced: I didn't want to treat such a previously important character so lightly.

Raiders is Ravenwood-centric and so is Realm. No room for the old man. :p
 

Indyologist

Well-known member
I got myself a cup of tea, pulled up my chair to my computer, and downloaded and read RotD last night. It is a true account of what would be a great Indy film. The writing was excellent and the action was supurb.

However, I read this script with some clear prejudices from the very beginning. I really, really want Indy and Marion to be married in the next film because I want to see Indy happy. I personally happen to feel that Marion is the only woman he'd ever really be happy with. I should have known better than to read the rest of the script when it opened with Marion's burial!! "My God," I thought, "how sad." I began sniffling immediately and it got worse when I saw that not only had Marcus died, but Indy was also had a drinking problem. It hurt to see someone as strong as Indy brought down by the bottle.

The rest of the script was amazing. Great characters, exciting locations. The traps Indy faces were really incredible. But you know, by the end of the script, even though Indy somewhat redeems himself, I didn't like Indy anymore. "Grace" was right on the money when she called Indy an a----led, because that's exactly what I thought of him. He was so cold, callous-- to the point of being cruel in the way he treated Grace and hurt Sallah.

The ending was brutal for me. I was filled with hope when Marion showed up at the gates of Hades and made her way towards Indy, but when he cut the strings of the lyre just in time to see her start to come back of herself, I was totally heartbroken. Why couldn't Indy have just grabbed Marion, THEN cut the strings and get out? Once the gate came down, none of the other dead would be able to get out. However, lest you think I'm niave, I know that having Marion come back from the dead would pose some serious problems. I mean, how would Indy explain Marion's return after her obituatry appeared in the paper?! But still, I wanted Indy and Marion to be together. It's just me. I hope you'll be kind when I admit this, but I cried bitterly for 1/2 hour after I was done reading the script.

I enjoyed the other aspects in the story, but I guess Indy's attitude in it and the way he loses Marion not once, but TWICE, was too much of a blow for me, personally. I guess for that kind of ending, I like IJ and the Sword of Arthur better.

Still, Dead, you did a really terrific job and you've outdone yourself. Please keep this marvelous fiction coming. You have a worthy talent. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us. I might be asking you some questions about this story on this thread in the future.
 

Indyologist

Well-known member
Dead, I would really like to read the events in your first draft that led up to Indy proposing to Marion and what she said. What can I say? I'm a die-hard romantic! I'd also like to read about Marion's pains and how, in your opinion, she got cancer and died. I might as well know the whole awful truth. Is there a way I you can get me the parts in the draft that relate to all this? If you want to e-mail it to me, send me a personal message here at the Raven and I'll give you my personal e-mail address. It would be much appreciated, Dead. Thanks in advance.
 

Deadlock

New member
Indyologist said:
However, I read this script with some clear prejudices from the very beginning. I really, really want Indy and Marion to be married in the next film because I want to see Indy happy. I personally happen to feel that Marion is the only woman he'd ever really be happy with. I should have known better than to read the rest of the script when it opened with Marion's burial!! "My God," I thought, "how sad." I began sniffling immediately and it got worse when I saw that not only had Marcus died, but Indy was also had a drinking problem. It hurt to see someone as strong as Indy brought down by the bottle.

I understand your sentiment. You’re a very kind and nurturing person, and only want Indy to be happy. But me? I’m a heartless jerk who wants to take Indy down a few pegs... ruin his life... and watch him struggle for redemption. :)

Besides my own taste in storytelling, let’s talk about audience expectations (keeping in mind that this is supposed to be a plausible attempt at Indy 4). After 16 years since Last Crusade, people are questioning whether Harrison can be Indy. So, I chose to take that seriously in Realm. I present an Indy that makes us wonder if he can hack it anymore. Secretly the audience really wants the answer to be “YES!”, but if I start things off with Indy still on top... people are going to dismiss the story. If I start things out with the fat, happily married Indy, there’s no hunger, there’s no journey. We just have the old duffer being dragged out one last time... And that’s been done. MANY times. TOO many times. (I can hear Danny Glover very clearly in my mind: “I’m too old for this s***.”)

The draft that's on the TR.N has been worked over a fair amount since I sent it to Gilles. It reads differently now, with more details about Indy and Marion, based on feedback from other readers. So, Indyologist, know that you were not alone in wanting more details about Marion. Here are a couple of lines from the latest draft that I think will help flesh things out a bit more.

In Sallah's truck:

SALLAH
(teasing)
Last I’d heard, Marion had finally convinced you to set a date... A move you should have made years ago, I might add.


In the camp HQ:

INDY
You were never there for her!
(beat)
I was there. I was there every day as cancer killed her. And I was there at the end...
(starting to break down)
Every second that ticked by in that g*****n hospital room made me hate myself for all the time I wasted running all over the globe.


Before they go down into the Devil's Throat:

GRACE
Indy... raising the dead is no substitute for living your life. Let her rest in peace. Don’t steal that from her.


At the gate:

INDY
This isn’t about Marion... and we both know it.



Indyologist said:
The ending was brutal for me. I was filled with hope when Marion showed up at the gates of Hades and made her way towards Indy, but when he cut the strings of the lyre just in time to see her start to come back of herself, I was totally heartbroken. Why couldn't Indy have just grabbed Marion, THEN cut the strings and get out? Once the gate came down, none of the other dead would be able to get out. However, lest you think I'm niave, I know that having Marion come back from the dead would pose some serious problems. I mean, how would Indy explain Marion's return after her obituatry appeared in the paper?! But still, I wanted Indy and Marion to be together. It's just me.

See, the thing is... I didn't want there to be some sort of overt consequences to bringing Marion back. She wouldn't have been a zombie or melted their faces or anything like that. Cray’s fear of the dead coming back was actually an unfounded one, but he voices what might be the expectation of the audience (I mean, c’mon... a movie that ends with supernatural forces tearing everybody up? I can’t think of a film that would make people expect that. :rolleyes: )

I wanted a view of wielding supernatural power that was cautionary strictly because of the effects on one’s self (and not in a face-melting sort of way). This is a film about obsession: Indy’s obsession with his own regret. If he brought Marion back, it wouldn’t have been for her sake, it would have been for his own. He wouldn’t have overcome his obsession and been able to go on with life, but would have instead INDULGED his obsession and remained enslaved to it.

Indyologist said:
I hope you'll be kind when I admit this, but I cried bitterly for 1/2 hour after I was done reading the script.

Not to be duplicitous, but I’m both sorry and glad that you had this kind of reaction. Why? Well, I’m pretty pumped whenever anybody has an emotional reaction to my work. But I’m sorry it was 1/2 an hour. (5 minutes? That would have been perfect. :) )

Indyologist said:
Dead, I would really like to read the events in your first draft that led up to Indy proposing to Marion and what she said. What can I say? I'm a die-hard romantic! I'd also like to read about Marion's pains and how, in your opinion, she got cancer and died.

Well, all of that stuff is back-story; it never had a written incarnation. Basically, I see Indy as having become a little weary of the constant upheaval in his life, both professionally and in relationships. I see him becoming disillusioned with the things that he relished early in life: Fortune and Glory, the endless parade of one night stands. So, if you go with the story that Marion owned a swinging New York club (which I had no reason to challenge), I thought that she might have come to a similar conclusion as Indy. I don’t know who would have called who, or how Indy and Marion might have bumped into each other. Basically they realize that after so many years of “looking for love in all the wrong places” they are finally ready to give their relationship (which worked on more levels than they realized) another try.

I never wrote the proposal, (mostly because I suck at that kind of mushy stuff. Just ask my wife. :p ) but I imagine it would read more like Indy begrudgingly giving into something he’d fought for a long time than a real romantic thing.

How Marion got cancer? She smoked a pack a day and hung around in bars for her entire adult life, sucking down second-hand smoke. Duh. ;) (You’ve stumbled upon the hidden intent of my screenplay: it’s an anti-smoking PSA. :D)
 

Indyologist

Well-known member
If what you say below is what you feel, I think Indy would have no regrets at all about marrying Marion! If I were Indy, I would be sick of all that junk, too.

Deadlock said:
Basically, I see Indy as having become a little weary of the constant upheaval in his life, both professionally and in relationships. I see him becoming disillusioned with the things that he relished early in life: Fortune and Glory, the endless parade of one night stands... I don?t know who would have called who, or how Indy and Marion might have bumped into each other. Basically they realize that after so many years of ?looking for love in all the wrong places? they are finally ready to give their relationship (which worked on more levels than they realized) another try.

IJ and the LC was about Indy's coming to terms with his relationship with his father. I'd like Indy 4 to be about Indy's coming to terms with love; that is, with Marion. It could have the obligatory mini opening adventure that would include jokes and snide comments from others about his age. However, we find on this mini-adventure that Indy still indeed "has it!" He comes back to the States, this time with the artifact he was looking for! He is lauded at the museum, but Indy somehow seems sullen-- like he's lost his luster somehow. He seems-- dissatisfied. Marcus, as in your story, has died and so has Indy's father.

We could see Indy walking aimlessly around the Museum of Antiquities after hours at some point, gazing at all the things he's found over the years. After his dad's and Marcus' death, he has lost vital parts of his life and he is beginning to question why he got into archeology in the first place. Indy considers his age and realizes that artifacts are just temporal.

Then, at one point, he gets The Call to the Quest for, well, whatever artifact could destroy the world if it gets into the bad guys hands-- you know the spiel :rolleyes: !

Whoever hires Indy assigns someone to work with him, someone who knows a bit about and is an expert in their field of X, whatever X is. Turns out, that expert is Marion! Here she has been hiring herself out as a guide, field researcher, or some other kind of field of expertise.

Well, they go together on their adventure, rekindling their relationship somewhat in the process. At the climax of the movie, Indy has to choose between the Artifact and Marion. He can't have both. One would ensure the Fortune and Glory he'd always wanted-- that would be guaranteed. The other, Marion, has something that no artifact, no matter how significant, could never give him-- love. Obviously, he chooses the Good Thing-- Marion.
(Perhaps in the end, though, he could get BOTH. The Artifact's power can only be used ONCE, then it is just reverts back to a powerless, yet extremely valuable, museum piece.)

He struggles whether or not to propose, still in the thralls of a midlife crisis, until a minor character that has accompanied them on and off reminds Indy that artifacts cannot love Indy back or truly give him happiness. The giving and receiving of love, it seems, is the ultimate adventure. Indy agrees and proposes to Marion who, of course, accepts.

They return to the States and are married. The owner of the Museum decides to promote Indy to the Museum's new curator. Indy hangs up his fedora as an adventurer, but continues teaching. Indy and Marion leave for their honeymoon which turns out to be something really wild and crazy (parachuting over a beautiful cliff in Guatalmala or jumping out of a plane in Hawaii or something) that would show the audience that even though Indy's hung up his hat, he'll always, always be an adventurer!
 

kongisking

Active member
I can't read it!!! HELP!!!

Deadlock, help me! My computer refuses to let me read or copy or print your story! For some dumb reason you put the story on Adobe PDF, and it does not allow me to copy it, make it smaller so it doesn't print so many pages, or save it on a floppy disc without stupid codes coming up! How did all you other Indy fans acess it and print it? Deadlock, why don't you put the script on Microsoft Word so us fans can actually print it and enjoy it for the rest of our too-short lives???

God darnit, someone help me! :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
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Canyon

Well-known member
Deadlock said:
This may bore you, but I need to crank out some quick acknowledgements...
* Thanks go out to Aaron and Canyon for getting the screenplay up for everybody to read.
* Special thanks to members of the Raven, past and present, for your ideas. (Bob and Attila, I owe you one. Each.)
* Super-duper thanks to Pale Horse and Joe Brody (the beers are on me, guys).
* Finally, ULTRA MEGA THANKS to my brother (you call yourself a film student?!) and my wife (I promise I won't mention "Indy" for the next six months...)

Deadlock, you know I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've read this thread, and I just want to say "thanks" for mentioning me. :eek: It is appreciated. :D
 

Deadlock

New member
kongisking said:
Deadlock, help me! My computer refuses to let me read or copy or print your story! For some dumb reason you put the story on Adobe PDF, and it does not allow me to copy it, make it smaller so it doesn't print so many pages, or save it on a floppy disc without stupid codes coming up! How did all you other Indy fans acess it and print it? Deadlock, why don't you put the script on Microsoft Word so us fans can actually print it and enjoy it for the rest of our too-short lives???

Sorry. I'm not tech support, so I'm afraid I can't help you with your Adobe woes. A PDF is the only format that gave me some of the security options that I wanted, so... sorry, no Word version.

Canyon said:
Deadlock, you know I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've read this thread, and I just want to say "thanks" for mentioning me. :eek: It is appreciated. :D

Anytime. ;)
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
I found the script. Go to the Raider.net home page, then to Indyfans, then fan fiction archive, then scripts then "Realm of the Dead."

Deadlock, it's a very well done script however I think it would bring more comfort to Indy's character, if Marion did cross the threshold for a moment and had a word to Indy to tell hm that it's ok for him to move on and that everything is as it should be. Just my two cents. This wouldn't be the ideal Indy IV for me. As Indyologist said, I want to see Marion and Indy together. This has all the more made me want to write my version of Indy IV.
 
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