Am I alone in hoping there's no Nazis?

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
I wouldn't particularly want Nazis in the movie either. I think it limits Indy too much to keep recycling the same enemies. In fact, I'd prefer that he didn't go up against ANY kind of political enemy.

However, IF George and Steven felt like they really wanted to include nazis one last time, it might be kind of interesting to open the movie during WWII, when Indy was working for the CIA. A younger Indy could be done through either a good make-up job on Harrison, or possibly some CGI wizardry (which I know the purists would hate.)
Anyway, in this opening adventure, Indy could be trying to sneak into one of Hitler's strongholds during the war to recover some military plans. As he's doing this, he comes across an interesting painting that he thinks might be good for the museum, so he steals that, too. Then we get a daring escape from the stronghold, with Nazis hot on his trail. Of course he makes it out alive with the stolen art, and that ends the opening adventure.

The main part of the movie then takes place fifteen or so years later. Somebody at the museum has analyzed the stolen artwork and realized that Hitler himself had painted them (since Hitler was an artist, this would be believable.) But what makes this painting particularly interesting is that there seems to be some kind of code or map hidden in the painting. Indy is called upon to examine it more closely, and to make a long story short, it turns out that Hitler was close to finding Atlantis, and had hidden clues to its location in his artwork (since Hitler actually did want to find Atlantis, this too would be somewhat believable.)

I haven't quite figured out yet what the conflict would be-- for example, why would Indy need to find Atlantis, who else would be trying to find it, etc, etc. But I think this would be one reasonable way to have some nazis in the film for old times sake, but at the same time, NOT to make them the main villains (we wouldn't see any more nazis after the opening adventure.) Maybe Indy could be pitted against a rival archeaologist (played by Tom Selleck?) who wants to find Atlantis for some nefarious reasons.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
^I really like your idea of WW2 era prologue, but I take Spielberg at his word when he says he won't do Nazis again, which I would have to believe extends even to this context.

Can the audience now accept a "scaled down" Indy adventure where he ISN'T facing off a foreign military? I would love to see it myself. Can't he just go against a bunch of well-equipped mercenaries or something led by some kind of charismatic fanatic? Dunno....
 

Lao_Che

Active member
Wouldn't want the Nazis again but I like the ideas of the Nazis being onto something (not Atlantis thank you) but they lost war before they could do anything about it. Let's say they had found some kind of map device to... something.

In the aftermath, the device is seperated between the four nations occupying Germany (USA, UK, France and USSR) who take their pieces back home. America's section eventually ends up at the branch of the National Museum on the campus of Marshall College.

Some fifteen or so years later Dean Jones has an itch to scratch now that he's chasing paperwork. One night he catches a charismatic thief (who I'll name drop as Tom Selleck for the benefit of this post) breaking into the museum. However, the man manages to slip away with the map but for Indiana Jones the game is on.

This is why I don't write movies. But man, I wish Crystal Skull had kept Indy breaking his stuff out of the museum. ;)
 

Darth Vile

New member
Lance Quazar said:
^I really like your idea of WW2 era prologue, but I take Spielberg at his word when he says he won't do Nazis again, which I would have to believe extends even to this context.

Can the audience now accept a "scaled down" Indy adventure where he ISN'T facing off a foreign military? I would love to see it myself. Can't he just go against a bunch of well-equipped mercenaries or something led by some kind of charismatic fanatic? Dunno....

I think the natural progression is to take a leaf out of TOD's book and give us a more modern take (as in terms of cinematic use) on the thuggee cult... More modern in terms of suit and tie as opposed to face paint and daggers etc. a la Free Masons/illuminati. Not particularly original I know (following Dan Brown's books), but it would be fitting as Indy finds himself in the latter half of the 20th century i.e. the enemies within.
 
Lao_Che said:
Wouldn't want the Nazis again...
How about Neo Nazis?

Ed Norton could be a quality Villain...

american-history-x.jpg
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
Darth Vile said:
I think the natural progression is to take a leaf out of TOD's book and give us a more modern take (as in terms of cinematic use) on the thuggee cult... More modern in terms of suit and tie as opposed to face paint and daggers etc. a la Free Masons/illuminati. Not particularly original I know (following Dan Brown's books), but it would be fitting as Indy finds himself in the latter half of the 20th century i.e. the enemies within.

I agree that does feel like a natural progression. But how to do yet another secret society/conspiracy villain and put a fresh spin on it? To make it worthy of Indy?

So many Indy knock-offs have already gone to that well. Not only has Dan Brown strip-mined the concept, but there was an evil secret society in Indy-lite "Librarian" TV movie and the Illuminati were the baddies in the first "Tomb Raider" movie.

Making that fairly tired premise feel fresh enough for an Indy film would be a very tall order indeed.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Lance Quazar said:
I agree that does feel like a natural progression. But how to do yet another secret society/conspiracy villain and put a fresh spin on it? To make it worthy of Indy?

So many Indy knock-offs have already gone to that well. Not only has Dan Brown strip-mined the concept, but there was an evil secret society in Indy-lite "Librarian" TV movie and the Illuminati were the baddies in the first "Tomb Raider" movie.

Making that fairly tired premise feel fresh enough for an Indy film would be a very tall order indeed.

Something similar to the cult of Cthulhu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu#Cult_of_Cthulhu

Insane, scary, irrational nutters. But could they really be protecting/worshipping something that exists?

Or just have zombies - to make amends for a novel that apparentlyu wasn't up to par.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
Montana Smith said:
Something similar to the cult of Cthulhu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu#Cult_of_Cthulhu

Insane, scary, irrational nutters. But could they really be protecting/worshipping something that exists?

Something in that vein is not a bad idea. Too similar to the Thuggee, perhaps? Dunno. There is probably some room to play there.

Montana Smith said:
Or just have zombies - to make amends for a novel that apparentlyu wasn't up to par.

I wouldn't mind a zombie as a kind of Oddjob or German Mechanic style henchman/enforcer that Indy has to face off with at some point.

As long as it's a true Haitian/voodoo zombie and not a Romero zombie. Someone under the spell of the main baddie, but not a flesh-eating ghoul.
 
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INCUBUSRATM

New member
Something like the Illuminati or Cult of Cthulu sounds like something worth looking into. Another "dark" Indy like Temple of Doom is welcome, in my opinion. In fact, I think it may be just what the series needs, if they have to make a fifth one.
 

Kooshmeister

New member
Love it or hate it, the aliens in Crystal Skull opened the floodgates to completely fictional material not based on anything in particular. Which, despite what many people seem to think, is exactly what Lovecraft's stuff was. Seriously, many people I know seem to think worship of Cthulhu and the Old Ones is an actual ancient religion and that the Necronomicon is a real book.

They could something like the Fred Ward movie Cast a Deadly Spell, which involved a 1940's detective being hired to obtain the Necronomicon and had a climax very much in keeping with Indiana Jones' trend of giving the villain an ironic death. I'd love to see a big secret society type element similar to this movie with Indiana being tricked into helping the bad guys awaken some dark god or something. I've toyed with the very idea in the past as well, so I'm all for it.
 

Darth Vile

New member
Lance Quazar said:
I agree that does feel like a natural progression. But how to do yet another secret society/conspiracy villain and put a fresh spin on it? To make it worthy of Indy?

So many Indy knock-offs have already gone to that well. Not only has Dan Brown strip-mined the concept, but there was an evil secret society in Indy-lite "Librarian" TV movie and the Illuminati were the baddies in the first "Tomb Raider" movie.

Making that fairly tired premise feel fresh enough for an Indy film would be a very tall order indeed.

I agree... but I think that an Indy movie has an advantage in that its pulpy/comic book structure (and lets face it - better production values) would be a far better fit for re-imagining the secret societies that could exist in the US/Western Europe etc. Failing that... born again Christians. ;)
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Kooshmeister said:
Love it or hate it, the aliens in Crystal Skull opened the floodgates to completely fictional material not based on anything in particular. Which, despite what many people seem to think, is exactly what Lovecraft's stuff was. Seriously, many people I know seem to think worship of Cthulhu and the Old Ones is an actual ancient religion and that the Necronomicon is a real book.

As far as I'm concerned that goes for all religions. It's just that some fiction/invention is older than others. The Indiana Jones universe doesn't pin it's banner to any one mast, so anything does literally go.

So far we've had Christ myths, Old Testament God myths, Indian gods and 'aliens'. TOD also introduced voodoo and a brief glimpse of the undead (the victim living without his heart).

The door can't really be closed on anything, as Lucas and Spielberg left it open early on, presumably to promote multi-cultural appeal.
 

TheMutt92

New member
I'm pretty sure Spielberg came out and said he wouldn't do anymore films where Nazis were treated in a 'careless' manner, especially after Schindler's List.

But if it was up to me, I would actually have liked to see Indy and the Nazis during WWII. Its the one aspect of Indy's career were not gonna see on screen and I think its a missed opportunity. Ex-Nazis hiding out in South America is also interesting, if just because of the pulpiness of the subject matter.
 

Sharkey

Guest
TheMutt92 said:
I'm pretty sure Spielberg came out and said he wouldn't do anymore films where Nazis were treated in a 'careless' manner, especially after Schindler's List.
Did you even read the thread?

Kooshmeister said:
1. I do not I like the very pop-culture notion that Indiana's enemies have to be Nazis or else it isn't an Indiana Jones movie. This is the basis for my main fear of why Spielberg may cave despite his post-Shindler's List policy of depicting Nazis seriously; moviegoers demanding more Indy punching Nazis (or Indy-punching Nazis, as the case may be).

What does your post mean, it means you're posting in an Indiana Jones thread to pretend like you're posting about Indiana Jones. Why bother?
 
Sharkey said:
Did you even read the thread? What does your post mean, it means you're posting in an Indiana Jones thread to pretend like you're posting about Indiana Jones. Why bother?
I feel your pain, but why promote it further?
 

moon_tan

New member
I don't want to see Nazi's either.

I am with member Henry W. Jones too. I don't want to see the Nazis either. Seeing Hitler almost made me leave he movie. We don't need to be reminded of Hitler in a fun movie. I don't want to see Arabs or Middle East either at this point, however I am not against anything that has to do with the Egyptian Pyramids. I liked John Rhys Davies as "Sallah". I would also like to see "Short Round' return as well. I read that both of these people were originally going to appear at the wedding.
 

Kooshmeister

New member
Sharkey said:
What does your post mean, it means you're posting in an Indiana Jones thread to pretend like you're posting about Indiana Jones. Why bother?

What in the world are you talking about...? Are you talking to me or to TheMutt92? :confused:
 

Henry W Jones

New member
Kooshmeister said:
What in the world are you talking about...? Are you talking to me or to TheMutt92? :confused:

I got into it with Sharkey the other day. Best to ignore him. Kind of a kill joy and just mostly drops insults to others comments (Probably self-esteem issues) (y)
 

Sharkey

Guest
Kooshmeister said:
What in the world are you talking about...? Are you talking to me or to TheMutt92? :confused:
To the Mutt.
Henry W Jones said:
I got into it with Sharkey the other day. Best to ignore him. Kind of a kill joy and just mostly drops insults to others comments (Probably self-esteem issues) (y)
You're just beggin for it. You should follow your own advice. If you didn't notice you weren't involved but its no surprise that someone who can't perceive depth or know CGI should be wrong again, you didn't even answer his question, (must be down syndrome).:sleep:

Come on pal...keep it up.
 
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