New Idea, Old Thread

I was thinking... A while ago someone posted a thread about Indy four regarding the way the story should unfold. They pointed out how Indy chased the item in Raiders and it kept switching hands, In temple it was partially held by the villiains from the get go, and in Last Crusade not seen until the end.

I was thinking about how Indy should find the item at the beginning, something major. Have the discovery be not so huge and Indy not fully understand the importance. Eventually news develops and whole armies come to collect, putting Indy on the run trying to understand what the item is...

I just thought that'd be cool...
 

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
I like it a lot. Instead of a race (as in Raiders and Last Crusade), it'd be a chase, and Indy would be the man on the run. He'd know the artifact he has in his possession has the power to do something drastic, and he has to keep it away from the wrong people. Cool idea.

Now, obviously he couldn't run forever, so would he have to destroy/neutralize the artifact, or destroy those who are chasing him? Persnally, I'd much rather see him have to destroy/neutralize the artifact (though he could kill a villains along the way, of course.)
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Rather interesting idea.

The only problem I see is that it could conceivably have only one section in the old Indy style, you know, ancient temples and what not. And also, Last Crusade was already very much a chase movie, this one is completely a chase movie.

However, if the execution is correct, and if it is a good enough story, it could work. Just so long as it doesn't corrupt him. How about he already is corrupted, and the artifact is a fake, which he doesn't realize until he destroys it.
 
The formula calls for a loss-of-everything feel just before indy wins. In Raiders, Indy is captured with Marion and tied to a post. In Temple he is given the Blood of the Kalima. In Last Crusade, Henry sr is shot. So logically we would have to come up with a Loss then Resurrection kind of thing. Maybe at the end Indy is caught, their taken to a temple or some location to "activate" the artifact, Indy is sure to die...

Then of course the 'resurrection' Indy and girl escape, take artifact (after artifact magically wipes out army) and run through collapsing temple, narrowly escaping to safety...
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
thegreatimposter said:
In Temple he is given the Blood of the Kalima.

Okay, I read everything you said, but this is what really appeals to me...perhaps Indy already has fulfilled the classical hero requirement of going into the underworld and coming back alive.
 
But you can't have a hero without the Hero's journey. Our hero MUST lose everything before he wins. It's classic second act stuff.

A thousand faces say so...
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
thegreatimposter said:
But you can't have a hero without the Hero's journey. Our hero MUST lose everything before he wins. It's classic second act stuff.

A thousand faces say so...

Sounds like new thread material to me...you seem to know a bit more about it than I do though, so I'll leave it to you to start it up... ;)
 

swords

New member
I like the 'destroy the artifact yourself' idea.:cool: Goes against Indy's principal, that is, giving everything back to the museum(exception being, ToD).

And although he had the Ark confiscated from him and saw the Grail get buried, his intention was to bring them back to the museum(before someone points that out;)).

It would be interesting to see Indy using a granade launcher(or projectile of some sort) and destroying the actual artifact for real this time(unlike Raiders).
 

bob

New member
I think that Indy getting an artifact at the beginning detracts from the aura and the power that is built up during the course of the movie; remember that fundementally the Indy movies are quest movies
 

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
swords said:

It would be interesting to see Indy using a granade launcher(or projectile of some sort) and destroying the actual artifact for real this time(unlike Raiders).

I think if Indy needed to destroy the artifact, it wouldn't be as simple as blowing it up. He'd need to take it somewhere, or combine it with another artifact. Either way, it would be through some method that allowed the movie to once again be a quest film. There needs to be a pay-off at the end, and it needs to be grander than just shooting the thing. Maybe he needs to return it to the Garden of Eden or Atlantis or some other fabled location... this way, he could still be searching for something, but there would be a new twist to how and why he needs to find it.
 

00Kevin

Indyfan
Usually the indy adventures (movie, books, comics, games) have a race around the world for peices of the artfact or items needed to find it......and often times these and the artifact change hands alot

(toD----actually it DID change hands alot, thuggues have the stones at first, then indy gets them but is captured....back to thuggies, then indy escepes (w/shorty's help ;)) and gets them back.....and the rest is history)


the chase Idea is cool, but I'ld say the Items 'round the world and things switching hands is the most indy-like
 

bob

New member
00Kevin said:


(toD----actually it DID change hands alot, thuggues have the stones at first, then indy gets them but is captured....back to thuggies, then indy escepes (w/shorty's help ;)) and gets them back.....and the rest is history)


ToD was a special case though, the movie was not so much about the Shankara stones but the defeat of the Thugee cult
 
It feels as though the Indy movies require that the item be found/discovered near the end, but that's actually not the case.

It was only Last Crusade that left the item as the last step of the quest. In Temple, the thuggees had the stones already, and in Raiders the item was found at the beginning of the second act, (opening the Ark was the final step.)

So basing the chase theme on Raiders, Indy could find the item at the beginning and not know it's true nature until some final showdown. (same as Raiders.) Except there would be more emphasis on the chase, the one-step-ahead principle.
 
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