Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates

Johnny Nys

Member
I remembered this was my least favorite book in the series when I read them the first time as a kid. I'm rereading them in chronological order of the Indy timeline and I've reached this one again and I can clearly see why I thought this way.

It's like Martin Caidin, the author, wanted a mix of "Independence Day" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". The plot is so unlike an Indy storyline. Also, it seems he started writing this, then noticed he wrote something that doesn't comply with previous books (the Rob MacGregor ones). Like he only read the other books after he'd written his, then added some explanations here and there.

I know it's difficult to continue a series you didn't start, even when you're not afflicted with terminal cancer. But it does make me wonder about the amount of freedom the Indy authors had while writing their stories. It often appears as if "anything goes" (except of course the obvious of killing the main character).
 
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Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Well, it's more of a spy, CIA agent or even Area 51 style of storyline. Even Indy's characterisation in the book is pretty off the mark.
 

Johnny Nys

Member
I've scrolled down the forum threads (sorry, should have done this before posting) and noticed another Martin Caidin discussion. So I certainly hope this won't develop into such a heated argument as that one did.

I was just wondering about this from a writer's point of view, because when you write about a character which is so well known and has been written so much about already, you'd think the original creators would have some kind of guidelines to follow, not official perhaps but more like a silent agreement or something like that.

I'm still reading the book and it has become a bit better. I guess you just have to realize it's a different approach to the subject. It's different because usually, Indy has no idea what the current mystery is about and you sort of discover everything along with him. This time, however, Indy has some secret information of his own but the reader is left in the dark and is forced to discover everything along with his team members.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Don't worry. I'm usually the only one who answers every single Indy novel thread. As for the original creator having guidelines, George actually did have guidelines. THese guidelines however were more tight on MacGregor the first writer. Basically, the only character he could work with was Indy and Marcus Brody, no one else. This however changed later on with Max McCoy who added Sallah to his stories. Another thing: no sex scenes. McGregor wrote a sex scene in one of the books and it was deleted. No heavy curses such as the f*** word. That was pretty much it. Oh and no stories were allowed to be set after LC.
 

Johnny Nys

Member
No stories after LC? Now that's interesting. Because I'm from Belgium, and the Indiana Jones series here includes the Hohlbein books, and they are mostly set after LC. Could this be the reason why these books weren't translated into English? Because they were set after LC? What could be the reason for that?

To return to Sky Pirates, I find the whole Indy learning to fly thing quite disturbing because it contradicts what we see in the movies (he can't fly in ToD, he can fly but not land in LC). Sky Pirates takes place in what I believe is 1930 (there's never an actual date but it says four years after his Amazon adventure (Seven Veils) which was in 1926. The plane trap of Lao Che happened in 1935. A long enough time to forget everything about flying, but that scene clearly shows he's never been in a cockpit before.

I must say the story is speeding up. It's becoming more interesting, as if it took some time for the author to really get in touch with the characters.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Yeah, the Holbein books as far as anyone knows are the only novels which are after LC however Holbein homself never had actual permission from the big man to do the novels, which is why it has not been translated into English. And due to that, the stories have no limitations set. I personally would love a English translation of the novels or to learn German and get a copy from somewhere just to compare it to the American authors.

Yeah, that's the one thing that destroyd Sky Pirates for me. The fact that he is being taught to fly. Same thing happens in the second Caiden book, White Witch however I personally like White Witch better than Sky Pirates. It's more in the realm of MacGregor's books. I found the same with Caiden taking so long with the development of characters. The main problem is he introduces too many characters at the one time. There is one major lesson I've learnt in writing: Don't have lots of good guys and barely any development, have less characters and more development. And it's easier for the audience to understand the plot and follow the characters if there's less of them.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
The ToD novelization suggests Indy could fly, but was being sarcastic to Willie. Still, the Sky Pirates plot found many contrived ways to interrupt his flight lessons. The only rule of fiction is don't break your own rules. That's why White Witch is the only book or comic I abndoned. Caidin established a secret hidden village, but soon everyone was driving in and out of it like it was the corner drugstore.

Thanks for the info on what was and wasn't allowed in the books. I understand time travel was omitted from Secret of the Sphinx, leaving some references to Indy's rapid aging unexplained. Meanwhile, the comics mostly took place afer LC, plus they got to use Sean Connery's character and likeness! I can understand his absence from the novels, but I have to wonder if the comics had freedoms the books lacked.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Indy has rapidly aged??? I never knew any of that! Yeah, I know that Dark Horse did comics after LC such Spear of Destiny and the FoA based on the videogame. I haven't been fortunate enough to have found any of the comics with Jones Snr. Are they any good? Story wise, I mean.

As for Indy's Dad in the novels, he does get some mentions but never actually appears (unless you count the hallucination of Indy's Dad in Genesis Deluge, or was it Peril at Delphi?). However there is a good fictional reason. If you remember from LC during their conversation on the airship, it is mentioned that the two hadn't spoken for over twenty years. So let's see... 1938, minus 20 years... That's 1918! Which again makes sense as in the YIJC episode "Travels with Father", where young adult Indy comes to visit his Dad after returning from WW1. Of course, then they have a conversation about Indy's childhood travelling wth his Dad in Russia and Greece. At the end, the next morning Indy leaves with short notice to go to University of Chicago and his Dad keeps insisting that he go to Princeton. Indy ignores this advice and leaves. His Dad sullen goes back to work on his research for the grail.
 

Blue Jay

Member
Drew Struzan Book Cover For Indy and the Sky Pirates not accuarate?

I just bought Indiana Jones and the sky pirates, while i am enjoying reading, i noticed that the book cover is not accurate as far as indys gear is concerned.
That makes me wonder, because the master himself Drew Struzan painted that cover:






Just Check Indy's bag, it is not his usual MK VII bag, but something that looks more like a bag for maps or something.
At first i thought it is a second bag, because i thought you can see part of the bag hanging over the whip, but he only has one strap and there is this other bag.
Well, i have not read that much,yet, but i cannot imagine that this has something to do with the story.
Can anyone shed some light on it? Am i crazy for opening a thread about that :p

It is just that i love Drew Struzan and i cannot imagine such a mistake....
It does not really bother me, but i just find it weird.
 

Blue Jay

Member
due to restrictions in germany,ebay cannot show me the link because it contains stuff from ww II :sick:

Dear User:

Unfortunately, access to this particular category or item has been blocked due to legal restrictions in your home country. Based on our discussions with concerned government agencies and eBay community members, we have taken these steps to reduce the chance of inappropriate items being displayed. Regrettably, in some cases this policy may prevent users from accessing items that do not violate the law. At this time, we are working on less restrictive alternatives. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you, and we hope you may find other items of interest on eBay.

Thank You.


i had the same problems when i was looking for the original mk VII bag.

as if everyone who is looking for this stuff is a nazi.... :(
d*mn stereotyping...

ahh google is the answer, via google it showed the link with the picture, but only the search site and not the auction site
 
It's hard to tell, and of course I don't know the first thing about Indy gear... but how it looks to me is Indy's traditional bag is hanging on his side with his whip like usual. Obscured of course, but there. I think the reason that there's only one strap (and I could be wrong, not knowing anything about different types of bags) is that perhaps the "map bag" loops through his belt. The strap really doesn't look to be connected with that bag anyway. I think it probably has a loop on the back of it that Indy put his belt through...
 

Blue Jay

Member
ResidentAlien said:
It's hard to tell, and of course I don't know the first thing about Indy gear... but how it looks to me is Indy's traditional bag is hanging on his side with his whip like usual. Obscured of course, but there. I think the reason that there's only one strap (and I could be wrong, not knowing anything about different types of bags) is that perhaps the "map bag" loops through his belt. The strap really doesn't look to be connected with that bag anyway. I think it probably has a loop on the back of it that Indy put his belt through...

that was one of my first thoughts as well, but it did not sound too plausible for me...

But i think that this is the most logical idea in the end ;)
 

davros72

New member
oliverjones18 said:
is indiana jones and the sky pirates even worth reading?
If you don't mind it not being an Indiana Jones adventure, and don't mind the main character absolutely not being Indiana Jones except in name, and don't mind lots of technical airplane jargon, go ahead and read it, especially if you're intending to read all the Indy novels. If you don't care about having read all of them, skip it.
 

Bobcat

New member
I'm new to the boards, but I read these books when they originally came out in the 90's and Sky Pirates was by far the worse. Which is odd because the second book by Martin Caiden, White Witch, was probably one of my favorites.
 
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