When you need to drag out an 80 year old to rehash your action hero, there's definitely something wrong. That stated, Crystal Skull was bad enough but it didn't completely emasculate him like current year folks so viciously want to do.
I still remember walking out of the theater from Crystal Skull with my brother and Dad and us talking about how it felt like the series was being set up to be about Mutt going forward. I’m honestly interested to know if Lucas actually had any script ideas with that in mind
I would totally see "Mutt Williams vs. The Atomic Ants" or "Mutt Williams vs. The Blob" Which, IF the idea was to spin off a new franchise, is what they were likely aiming for. It wasn't about Mutt "taking over" as Indiana Jones. The entire visual story of the wedding scene bit with the hat is underlining that in bold type.
Sorry but Mutt is the worst character out of all the characters.... Shia looks like a kid trying to be Night Fever disco John Travolta or Fonzi from the tv show Happy Days... not cool at all and tonally outside of the Indiana Jones universe ..
I loved Temple of Doom. Even though I saw Raiders in the theater, Doom is always the most memorable for me. Every one of my younger family members have received a “kali-maaaa”.
@@varsityathlete9927 True - Indy rode of into the sunset, which was a fitting end. I still wonder and imagine what happened to Luke, Han, and Leia after the Emperor was killed and that Ewok party.
Wow. 100% agree with your take on the series. Raiders is perfect and Temple was an action packed blast ... always thought a cartoon series in the spirit of Batman the Animated series would have been great. Thank you Michael!
You've probably seen this. It would be awesome if they made it. The Adventures of Indiana Jones by Patrick Schoenmaker (Animated) th-cam.com/video/iE8v5WDbbC4/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=FrameOrder
@@paltrax I'm pretty sure he was talking about Batman Beyond, a series about an elderly and embittered Bruce Wayne training a young man to become a Batman for a new, futuristic Gotham. It's in the same universe as BTAS, don't worry.
despite many of the fans demanding it and now even the media calling for her removal after numerous failures and controversies, Kathleen Kennedy was given 3 more years to be in charge of Lucasfilm. at this point, both Disney & Lucasfilm has sealed their fate by absolutely refusing to listen to any of the fan's criticisms and they have no intentions in getting better.
@@voltinator and yet they'll continue to offend everyone else while losing money and further damaging their reputations in the process. cause logic & common sense is as lost as the Ark Of The Covenant at Disney & Lucasfilm.
@@EpicJasonX9000 Just reporting the facts here. There is a rumor however that Bob Chapek is reigning in the creators at Disney to avoid more politicized disasters. It's highly rumored that Chapek wants the Avengers to be led by Tony Stark's Iron Man again and is putting the kibosh on all of the wonky progressive replacements found in the comics.
@@voltinator except that's a rumor, not a fact. in either case, with everything going on at Disney as of late, I don't think anyone can ever trust them ever again.
All hope is not lost for Lucasfilm, though, while they still have Dave Filoni and Kevin Fiege working on the Mandoverse. There are no redeeming qualities in the sequel trilogy, but what F2 are doing is a shining light in an otherwise dark universe… I will forever be disappointed at the wasted opportunity to get the band back together, even if it was only for a single scene, especially as three of them have now passed on (Carrie, Kenny, and Peter).
Raiders was one of the best movies ever made. It was new and made in a different era. Ford was superb and tailor made for the part. NOW....it is starting to look a bit silly. He's 20 years too late
@@momentumstocks3493 he’s filming Indy 5 at 79 years old. He’s in good shape for 79 but they should’ve made this film much sooner. Crystal skull was 14 years ago! If they were going to make another one after that, i wonder why they delayed it that long.
As an Indy fan since 1981, as kids, we're the ones who kept the momentum going. By putting on a hat, buying (or making) a whip and going into the forest or even our back yards. Taking our video cameras and making our own Indy movies, writing Indy stories in our notebooks, etc. Indiana Jones was such a wide-open concept that we kept it alive in our imaginations, despite the lack of merchandise (or cartoon - and I agree with you, that would have been wonderful; there was the Atari game, which was...interesting, although disappointing as a kid; there was the toy line, which I have now, in '82, which was beautiful, but released too late and almost ahead of its time as the playsets were practically dioramas). As for the films, I think both sequels are inferior to "Raiders" in almost every way - but there are many things I enjoy about them (true story: as a kid, seeing Last Crusade, on the car ride home, I was *angry* and saying that it was a Disney/cartoon version of "Raiders..." lol). As for Indy 4, that was just abysmal. Now from what I've read of the plot and what I've seen on the filming, I'm actually encouraged about 5 - not just by Mangold, who I've always loved as a director - but by the concept, which I think could be great. Will it be as good as "Raiders"? Of course not. That film was lightning in a bottle. It probably won't even touch the other two sequels. But as a fan who's kept that "momentum" going in my imagination all these years, I just would love to see Indy again - and I have a feeling it's going to be a much better film that people are expecting. As for the plans, I recommend reading the 1978 story conference between Spielberg, Kasdan and Lucas, to see that it was always meant to be a trilogy. There were always going to be 3 films. That's why Spielberg didn't want to come back to it and had to be convinced. The "Bond" reference was mainly about a heroic main character with tales of intrigue, etc., not a direct reference, etc. But just as a pleasure, I recommend that story conference, as it really reveals how many ideas they had at the time for the series and the character.
Michael is so completely right. That is EXACTLY what it feels like to be an Indiana Jones fan. I have never felt so spoken to in all my life. Also with all the tie in media, I've tried some of the comics and wasn't impressed, maybe I just looked at the wrong ones, and it's been years, but I don't get the impression I'm missing great comics. There are absolutely great star wars comics I can point people to, am I missing the great Indiana Jones comics? Because the ones I read I would describe as fine. Same thing with the novels, there is no great Indiana Jones novel you can point to, there's a few fine ones and some bad ones. I can't speak to the video games as I'm not much of a gamer but I've always heard good things about those. Indiana Jones isn't just de-prioritized next to Star Wars it's quality control seems to be significantly lower as well.
This video has been enlightening in more than one way. George Lucas lured Steven Spielberg into Raiders of The Lost Ark by appealing to Spielberg's intentions to do a James Bond film; and yet, for a character whose premise (according to Lucas) was to be someone who would rival Bond, they ended up dropping the ball by not making Indy as ever present a figure as Bond has been since 1962 (even with that hiatus from 1989 to 1995). Also, I think that an animated series would have improved somehow Indy's merchandising potential; Michael gave a great example with Rambo and The Force of Freedom. The same could be said about the video games, just look at Lara Croft.
What's surprising is that he didn't do one in the 80s just to keep the merchandise cash cow going strong, especially when you consider that's what the other big cartoons of the decade were made for (e.g. Transformers, G.I.Joe, etc.).
@@MightyGalvatron He did with Droids and Ewoks. Droids wasn't that bad really. Lucas was branching out at that time with Willow, Captain EO, Star Tours and setting up ILM and edit Droid in the mid to late 80's.
@@purefoldnz3070 I meant something more along the lines of a continuation of the story with the actual main characters. Imagine an animated version of the Thrawn trilogy.
@@MightyGalvatron The droids and Wicket were main characters (just the wrong ones lol). There was an excellent comic made of the Thrawn Trilogy. Anyway we'll see him in live action soon enough.
Agreed. I remember walking into "Kiddie City" with my Dad back in the 80s and they had the Raiders playsets, the truck, and no figures and my Dad gave them hell because he said how can you sell playsets with no figures to put in them.
Raiders was fantastic, I was fortunate enough to see the movie in theatre despite the young age of 7. And then so many times on VHS rental. Doom was commercial, dark and disappointing. The Last Crusade was a great ending to the trilogy. There was no need of Crystal Skull and even less so of Indy 5. Ford is too old. Spielberg is spot on. And, in any case, you do not wait 19 years to shoot a sequel!
THIS was Amazing! You sir are extremely talented at doing these videos. Loved it. You brought justice to my favorite film of all time. My family and I went and saw that in the theater back then multiple times. I was only 6 years old but remember so much from being there. Thanks Mike. Totally Awesome retrospective and thoughtful insight
I've often wondered if Ford and Spielberg had been willing to make Indy 4 (with the crystal skulls) back when Lucas first pitched it it would have been a much better film and decidedly different.
The Dark Horse Indiana Jones comics were probably the closest thing we ever got to a faithful expansion of Indiana Jones beyond the Last Crusade. It's like you said though, they slipped up when they typecasted Harrison Ford as being the 'only' Indiana Jones.
Growing up, my dad got me into Stars Wars at a very young age, collecting and everything. My grandpa was the one who really got me into Indiana Jones. I remember vividly seeing KOTCS in theaters when I was only about 5 years old; after that, I saw (and rewatched thousands of times) raiders, temple, and crusade and was hooked. I was so surprised growing up to find that Indiana Jones didn't get that much love at all compared to Star Wars; other than Lego sets and a lego game and Hasbro action figures, that was about it for Indiana Jones. Later on, about 6 years ago I discovered The young Indiana Jones chronicles and thought the sean Patrick Flannery episodes were awesome; some were better than others. Seeing that show got me back into Indiana Jones and made me buy a penman raiders everyman. It's just crazy that we have waited almost 7 years for Indy 5, crazy that it was announced in 2015 and still hasn't been released.
Crystal Skull was a monkey's paw moment. Everyone thought they wanted a new Indy movie until they got one. Indy 5 is already cursed and should be cancelled.
Great video, bro. It's one of the Great tragedies of cinema history that we didn't get more Indy films in the 90's. At least to me. Three was never enough...for me, anyway. 🖖
i always have a growing checklist of Ford movies i personally didnt need and think every three years we could have had a Jones film. but im not the actor taking on the toll and needing to work, fulfill numbers of films in film contracts or just wanting to do something else to keep it fresh. but the i want side of me says, no. make my JONES! films!
For star wars I always thought 4 5 6 was made for kids by a man who had no kids. 1 2 3 was made for kids by a man who has kids. That's a big difference.
Thanks for mentioning Raiders/Indian Jones being left to flounder in a decade when so many franchises were given every conceivable medium to and chance to win the hearts of everyone from toddlers to adults. (I should have been eating my Lost Ark cereal, while playing my Temple video game, while babysitting a kid who was dressed as Indy and watching his Indiana Jones cartoon as he worked on his tie-in coloring book... as my dad read his Indiana Jones newspaper strip in the next room). Anything that good and that big had no business being ignored by the 80's Machine.
I personally hope that Indy 5 gets shelved permanently. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wasn’t exactly what fans were expecting. Trying to capture what made the original three films isn’t going to happen. Hollywood was a different beast then. And if the rumors are true, (grains of salt are applied), the rumor that they’re going to kill off/remove Indy from the timeline since it has time travel in it, and potentially replace him with a Phoebe Waller Bridge as the new and improved Indy, then it should be shelved. Wouldn’t surprise me if James Mangold leaves the project.
I prefer to think of the upcoming movie as "Indiana Jones 6," since Harrison Ford's actual fourth turn as Indy was in "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" where he was in the framing sequences telling the story instead of their old Indy. Even in that brief appearance, he still managed to save the day.
At 24:52, I mean, good lord man... Harrison is fricking old. My Dad is 10 years younger and he's OLD and beat up. This is just insane seeing 80 y/o Ford dressed like Indy still. Sean Connery was 59 years old when he played Henry Jones and he had the good grace to play it once and only once. That to me is the elephant in the room. They should have recast a new Indy decades ago.
I see Indy as more "scrappy underdog who's actually very smart." "Endearing jerk" makes me think of Tony Stark. I think Paul Rudd might make a good Indy. He can do action and comedy, and he would disappear into the character instead of forcing the character into his own image.
I think people forget how old Paul Rudd actually is. You’d want to cast someone with more mileage in them . Especially as the rate they make these films now is incredibly slow. Sean Connery was visibly ageing out of James Bond by Diamonds Forever in 71. The reason he was able to make five films and step back before any talk of his looking too old is that they came out every year between 62-67.
My mom took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. I had no idea what it was because my age was definitely not the target audience and any commercials for it felt like the kind of thing my parents watched growing up and for me everything at that time was about Star Wars and scifi. I am grateful my mother took me because it was and still is an amazing film.
I totally agree with you about the Saturday morning cartoon options. Even with the strict parenting laws, imagine the freedom for violence against stormtroopers. They were basically considered robots to the masses and you could laser blast them all week long and parents wouldn't bat an eye while GI Joe had to have cobra Troopers parachute out of every explosion possible.
I am also a bigger Indy fan than I am Star Wars (my wife and I had a Star Wars wedding after all). Indy and Spielberg are the main reasons I joined the Boy Scouts (all the way up to Eagle, even). I had to earn the money to get his hat from the Last Crusade VHS merchandise offerings. Still the best Christmas was the one where I got the leather jacket from my parents as a sophomore in high school (so outrageous a request I didn't even ask for it...even they knew how much Indy meant to me) and wore it every day. I even run as an-as-screen-accurate-as-I-can-get Indy costume when I ran the Disneyland half marathons. So I know what it means to see Indy being treated like the red-headed step child. That's what made him special, though. He wasn't as easy to be a fan of as other franchises with the amount of merch offerings they had. One had to really like him to be a fan.
17:33 Hell, just look at the Animated Star Trek. It's basically a 1 to 1 recreation of the show. It's really charming. I can only imagine what a proper early 80s Star Wars show might have looked like. Lucas could have started yet another house of creativity, his own 2D animation department.
Great video, watched the whole thing. Here's where I think the disconnect is: Spielberg says, "I wanna direct A bond movie." He never said, "I wanna make the next bond FRANCHISE." For him he wanted to do this little nostalgia action picture and move on to something else. Then its a big hit which was fun to make with his friends so they do it again every few years. Why did it take so long in between? Because unlike the Bond franchise where everyone including the star was interchangeable, you need to get Ford, Spielberg and Lucas together for a year at the height of their careers. Plus you need a good enough script to make it worth it...its not that easy! It wasn't like now where if you're in an MCU movie you know you are playing that character for 10 years over 8 movies automatically. I'm not excited about Indy 5 but I'll for sure see it when it comes out. I'd love to see a Disney+ series about Indy's college years.
That is an interesting video. You make some good points here. I think Lucas should have made Young Indy show after ToD when franchise was still relevant and people were waiting for TLC. After that early 90's would be a great time for a Indy cartoon in the style of Batman TAS. That was a golden era of cartoons with Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Justice League and Batman Beyond. The Adventures of Indiana Jones with rearranged Williams score would be a perfect fit. Other things they could do was to recast Indy after every trilogy. It would help it stay concistent and alive.
i loved Willow, and all my friends loved Willow, even my father loved Willow. it wasnt until years later when i was an adult that i found out Willow had bombed, at the time i had no idea the film didnt do well. i have always thought the real problem with Indiana Jones was Raiders started out with the Ark, and nothing could ever equal or much less surpass the Ark. and thats still the problem, there is nothing they can base any new film around that isnt underwhelming in comparison.
Wait. People blamed Shia for the failure of Crystal Skull? That's insane. I was 10 years old when Raiders hit the screen. I was already a huge Star Wars fan. This movie had everything. A good story. Some grit, but not too much. An amazing score. Decent acting. An interesting plot that really illustrated good/evil and the mystery/danger of the finding the Ark. In a word....it was just plain COOL for a boy my age. I wish Crystal Skull had never been made. And, if Indy 4 never gets released, I'm happy with that.
Honestly never saw Crystal Skull (rather embarrassingly I only know surface detail of Last Crusade, my mom was picky on movies when I was a kid.) But I hate the people who say it is Shia labeouf was at fault, he didn't make the Transformers movies bad in my humble opinion, but I know a lot of Sam Witwiki haters. He was finding the niche he would be perfect for and if it had become a new hero a movie I think he could of pulled it off.
I really do wish Indiana Jones were better attended. The concept art for the cartoon looked sooo good. I wish they had a lot more merch. I thoroughly enjoyed your video and it’s fully loaded with facts and excellent details and thoughtfulness.
Willow was hurt because people did not like little people and the masses wanted another SW movie. I was in the movie line ups for Willow in 1987. But yes Mr French. I concur.
I didn't care for the Temple of Doom as much. I prefered the Kingdom of Crystal Skull. On the Note of James Bond. I never seen the recasting of the James Bond character as the same person, but the "007 James Bond" as a position in the agency. With different agents taking the name of "James Bond 007"
He was making the show for YOUNG CHILDREN ! That's why he had the YOUNG INDIANA JONES at 10 years old , He wanted to teach young people about History !
Honestly I don't want any Indy 5. Because it's obvious that it's going to have to be a "Passing the torch" story wherein some other person will dawn the hat and whip to continue the adventures. Ford is just too old for the role, but with how intrinsic his face is to the character, anyone else ever being Indiana Jones would just feel like a hollow imitation. Crystal Skull was really the last chance to give the character one last hurah, but sadly Lucas/Speilberg squandered it. If there is ever to be a serious continuation of Indy's adventures. I'd rather it be in animated form. There we can always have a young Harrison Ford as the face, all you'd need is somebody who could do a reasonable voice for him.
Missed put on the action figure line as a 10 year old but 8 years later found Toht and the Cairo Swordsman on the pegs at a Children's Palace. And passed on them. Below them on the shelf were two German trucks. And passed on those as well. Drove 90 miles to home, mulled it over and decided my next trip there I'd grab a truck at least. Went back 2 weeks later and of course both were gone at that point. But miracle of miracles, some employee had found several Well of the Souls playsets and I grabbed 2, along with a Toht and Swordsman figure. And the blisters on the two figures were so yellowed and sun faded they slid right off the card back on the trip home. Good times. And I sooooooooooooo miss Children's Palace!
I liked the points you bring up about Capshaw and Connery. It never occurred to me that Spielberg looked at Indiana Jones as just humoring Lucas. I already lost a lot of respect for Spielberg after Crystal Skull and Ready Player One.
I think Indiana Jones is just one of the rare occurrences where they didn't ruin the story or legacy of the brand with typical corporate hollywood and they never ever oversaturated the market with it. Yes Kingdom of Crystal Skull exists, but I wouldn't say that was same level of caliber of defamation like The Last Jedi. Indiana Jones for the most part will always be remembered for not just its compelling characters and fantastic story, but also how incredible it was for moviemaking, special effects, and editing. Raiders of the Lost Ark captures George's description of a 1930s adventure serial mixed with 1950s b-movie fantasy/horror all tied together like James Bond. It really stood out from everything else at the time during the 80s, and to be honest I don't think anything has come close. I sit and wonder sometimes if it had it gone the route like Ghostbusters, Star Wars, or even Transformers and GIJoe, would it have been as special as it is today? At the end of the day, it is still art and it a masterpiece alongside all of the other legendary films from the 80s. Sure it never had the brand marketing, the extensive toyline, or any cartoons, but that does not diminish its importance in film history and especially for pop culture.
Posting from November 2022, it seems to have gotten worse and it may be due in part to KK doing her usual shtick of killing male characters to replace them with her self insertish tier female character. One red flag that stuck out was how trades kept going over the Nazi factor they were bringing up for this new installment but wasn't this something covered in the first movie? Isn't one of the most iconic moments of Indy him having to keep his composure while in disguise as Hitler approaches him at the book burning? Indy met Hitler face-to-face yet they're acting like MORE Nazis is groundbreaking. If I'm not mistaken, Indy 5 takes place in the 60s so there would still be a plethora of topics involving globe trotting that could have even taken on but Nazis because current year and most of the crop of writers in the industry can't think of anything else.
Awesome take on the franchise. I laughed when I realized you and I share the same view of Labeouf’s performance in Crystal Skull. Keep rocking the videos.
Since Disney now owns the franchise how about doing a computer animated movie or tv series instead of a 5th major motion picture? Then you wouldn't have to worry about how old Harrison is and he would probably voice the animated character. Plus we would get way more content and possible storylines. They really dropped the ball on video games, there should have been a lot more options especially from Ps2/Xbox era through the present.
Outside of the great perspective a lot of IJ fans have, thank you for video after video that sticks to the point and doesn’t have a bunch of filler crap like a lot of what I try and watch on TH-cam. You didn’t waste a second of the 28 minutes and 27 seconds.
Love the points you make in this video, and just to add that, that's one thing I appreciated about LEGO Indiana Jones sets and then the video game. They knocked it out of the park on both fronts and as a kid it was as legendary as LEGO Star Wars. I feel that's about as close as it got in terms of representation for kids my age before Kingdom of Crystal Skull. I know for my father personally, though he is a massive star wars fan, I will say Indiana Jones for him was also a cultural phenomena that had a huge impact on his life. As a teen in the 80s with a camera he filmed his own Indiana Jones skits and stories and he was all for the hat, whip, and leather jacket! He collected the original comics, posters, and he obsessed over the awesome Temple of Doom arcade game. (Don't forget the pinball either!)
The first season of ExoSquad had pretty good ratting until the Second season when Vivendi/Universal Pictures at the time fired ExoSquad creator Jeff Segal who was also the head of Universal Animation Studios. It seems that Vivendi wanted more Land Before Time films. The Second season of ExoSquad's rating started to drop because of executive meddling and Vivendi didn't give to shits about the show. By the way, ExoSquad was a Saturday morning cartoon more violent in 1993 than the G.I.Joe cartoon or any other Saturday morning cartoon in the '90s.
As an italian I may be talkin' from a different perspective than an american, but I never felt that ephemera would've improved my enjoyment of any movie franchise. I was happy playing with my Lego, Transformers and so far... and the movies were a separate thing, and to be honest I'm glad Lucas kept Star Wars and Indiana Jones special, regulating the production of spinoffs (but I love Indy 3: The Graphic Adventure). To me, the real tragedy here is Spielberg not following his artistic path after Jurassic Park and becoming an Oscar hunter with his "serious" movies that completely betrayed his natural talent, and gave us some kind of Kubrick wannabe (that never was) that felt the need of putting sad violin music in an holocaust movie... you know, the subtle stuff, 'cause we didn't exactly know how to feel. It's like Spielberg was the best rollercoaster designer, and he decided instead to build boring history museums. And he's been rewarded well beyond his real artistic merits, so he kept doing it. Spielberg directing a real Bond movie would've been amazing, for example. Just my two cents, of course.
I remember a lot of the Indiana Jones games played temple of doom in the arcade enjoyed the problem solving of the last crusade the marvel comics in the uk it was a great time then the dark times no movies for years the crystal skull didn’t make me excited for a sequel they filmed parts of the new movie in glasgow and from what I’ve seen to quote shania Twain it don’t impress me much
14:29 reminds of the clip Redlettermedia media played in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull review where it shows a take of Harrison Ford saying “part-time” unenthusiastically. Absolutely agree Shia Leboeuf did the best he could with a weak script
I agree with a lot of what you said. My main issues with how Indy has been treated is the lack of merchandise, marketability, and the long long long gaps between sequels. I mean they wasted Harrison’s prime youthful years by not pumping out adventure after adventure after adventure. It’s shocking really that we didn’t get any more Indy movies in the 90’s. I guess Lucas was just more focus on his Star Wars prequels to care to try and rotate two franchises at the same time again. I mean them trying to wait every time for all 3 of them Ford, Lucas, and Spielberg to be together to get it done was just stupid. All you need is Harrison Ford, the other two are replaceable, as we see is finally the case on the 5th one, but that’s kinda way too late when the guy is nearly 82! As we’ve seen in other franchises, writers and directors are the ones who can change but the face of the franchise stays the same. Kind of the same what’s happening now with the new Ghostbusters movie, all those years gone by without a new one with the main characters and now we get it when one has passed away and the remaining ones can barely walk.
I grew up thinking Indy and Star Wars were on the same level too. But as the years dragged on I was wrong. I don’t disagree with this but I also feel like Indy was not the priority to Lucas, Spielberg and Ford we as fans hoped it was. I really did hope ( way back in 2012) that when Disney bought LFL they’d reboot Indy and try and make what we all hoped it be. But alas wishful thinking. I would love to have that animated series or new Indy movie every 3 years like we thought we’d get but… sigh…. Maybe next time.
Indiana Jones and the temple of incontinence, seriously, i don't care either if it never releases even though i'm a big fan of the trilogy. They should stop and go on something else. They should never have done Crystal Skull, so why are they doing a fifth one ? They are just going to destroy the franchise further
Hm, you have me reevaluating Shia LaBeouf's performance in the movie. I mean I never was a hater of the guy (though not a big fan), but very true with them giving it their all with what he had to work with. He did a damn good job in that prohibition moonshine movie with Tom Hardy.
Let's be real if Indiana Jones was a garden it was never properly fertilized or tended to. It was always Spielbergs and Lucas' side project and they never saw it as being anything more than that. While yes it was incredibly popular it could've been a cultural phenomenon just like star wars, with cartoons, toys, spin offs, TV shows etc, just like star wars is today but u can't expect a thing to shine when the people who make the decisions keep it out of the sun.
Steven Spielberg never really wanted to make Crystal Skull. He wanted nothing to do with aliens. He finally gave in to his buddy George who changed the beings to “inter dimensional”. Like it mattered. You could tell by the movie that his heart wasn’t in it. I am hoping that Dial of Destiny is the movie Crystal Skull should have been but honestly have my doubts. It feels more like this movie will be a vehicle to transfer the “Indiana Jones” legacy to his female god daughter. From what I am understanding, the Mutt character will not even be mentioned in the new movie. I think they are basically hoping audiences forget that the events of Crystal Skull happened. It will be interesting how they deal with the Marion character. Will they kill her off? Making Indiana a lonely widower? We shall see in about 2 months.
Nothing Lucasfilm excretes today holds any value for me whatsoever. If they collectively went into a fridge and stayed there, no tears would be shed from this cinephile.
Momentum is everything. I always try to imagine what Indy and Star Wars prequels or sequels could have been (and looked like) had we got one every few years -- still with traditional fx to the inevitable CGI transition in the early 90s and onwards. Prime example of waiting too long: Phantom Menace being nearly all CGI (at least it sure appeared so) I think was just too jar-jarring for the world, at least for me and I’m in the film/television production design industry. Oh, and last memorable anything Indy was Fate of Atlantis (I've held onto the same one you have displayed). Now you have me questioning weather I’m more an Indy fan had the momentum continued…
The crystal skull was really bad. The end creeped me out for some reason. I miss Star Wars, and all the cool movies that came out when we were kids… I love your insight. Keep going forever!
Harrison is gunna be 81 when Indy 5 is out damn that’s insane
When you need to drag out an 80 year old to rehash your action hero, there's definitely something wrong. That stated, Crystal Skull was bad enough but it didn't completely emasculate him like current year folks so viciously want to do.
Charles Bronson was still blowing away muggers into his 80s.
@@theflyingninja1 yeah and it was laughable there too
@@killvader1001 If you only like films that mirror real life, I guess yeah it would be.
@@theflyingninja1 shit, it must be worse than I thought because I don't only like those and yet it's still hilarious to see
I still remember walking out of the theater from Crystal Skull with my brother and Dad and us talking about how it felt like the series was being set up to be about Mutt going forward. I’m honestly interested to know if Lucas actually had any script ideas with that in mind
I would totally see "Mutt Williams vs. The Atomic Ants" or "Mutt Williams vs. The Blob"
Which, IF the idea was to spin off a new franchise, is what they were likely aiming for. It wasn't about Mutt "taking over" as Indiana Jones. The entire visual story of the wedding scene bit with the hat is underlining that in bold type.
crystal skull wasnt horrible. but they shouldnt have "pg'ed" it. shia was a great actor who should have passed on this role.
@@rameybutler6555 yes, Spielberg totally PGd the film, to the point where the camera would cut away from bad guys doing bad things.
Sorry but Mutt is the worst character out of all the characters.... Shia looks like a kid trying to be Night Fever disco John Travolta or Fonzi from the tv show Happy Days... not cool at all and tonally outside of the Indiana Jones universe ..
How? The final scene literally shows what every expected with Mutt going to take over and Indy coming along and being like "NOPE!"
I loved Temple of Doom. Even though I saw Raiders in the theater, Doom is always the most memorable for me. Every one of my younger family members have received a “kali-maaaa”.
@@lamarravery4094 Hahahahhahaa!!!!
Last Crusade is easily one of my favorite movies. If only it was the last one.
Agreed.
it is the last one!
@@varsityathlete9927 True - Indy rode of into the sunset, which was a fitting end. I still wonder and imagine what happened to Luke, Han, and Leia after the Emperor was killed and that Ewok party.
Quentin tarantino : " The most boring Indiana jones".
Wow. 100% agree with your take on the series. Raiders is perfect and Temple was an action packed blast ... always thought a cartoon series in the spirit of Batman the Animated series would have been great. Thank you Michael!
You've probably seen this. It would be awesome if they made it.
The Adventures of Indiana Jones by Patrick Schoenmaker (Animated)
th-cam.com/video/iE8v5WDbbC4/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=FrameOrder
@@paltrax young Indiana Jones chronicles? that wasn't animated.
@@paltrax have you ever seen the young batman animated series?
@@paltrax I haven't watched Gotham. is it an animated series with a teenaged batman?
@@paltrax I'm pretty sure he was talking about Batman Beyond, a series about an elderly and embittered Bruce Wayne training a young man to become a Batman for a new, futuristic Gotham. It's in the same universe as BTAS, don't worry.
despite many of the fans demanding it and now even the media calling for her removal after numerous failures and controversies, Kathleen Kennedy was given 3 more years to be in charge of Lucasfilm. at this point, both Disney & Lucasfilm has sealed their fate by absolutely refusing to listen to any of the fan's criticisms and they have no intentions in getting better.
Kathleen is married to Frank Marshall who is a massive Hollywood producer. They probably don't want to offend the hubby.
@@voltinator and yet they'll continue to offend everyone else while losing money and further damaging their reputations in the process. cause logic & common sense is as lost as the Ark Of The Covenant at Disney & Lucasfilm.
@@EpicJasonX9000 Just reporting the facts here. There is a rumor however that Bob Chapek is reigning in the creators at Disney to avoid more politicized disasters. It's highly rumored that Chapek wants the Avengers to be led by Tony Stark's Iron Man again and is putting the kibosh on all of the wonky progressive replacements found in the comics.
@@voltinator except that's a rumor, not a fact. in either case, with everything going on at Disney as of late, I don't think anyone can ever trust them ever again.
All hope is not lost for Lucasfilm, though, while they still have Dave Filoni and Kevin Fiege working on the Mandoverse. There are no redeeming qualities in the sequel trilogy, but what F2 are doing is a shining light in an otherwise dark universe…
I will forever be disappointed at the wasted opportunity to get the band back together, even if it was only for a single scene, especially as three of them have now passed on (Carrie, Kenny, and Peter).
I agree Temple of Doom is really underrated. It’s a great action adventure movie! The first 3 Indy films are iconic adventure films!
Temple of Doom has always been my favourite of the four
@@Truth2023 it’s a great one! The best action and stunts ever even to this day.
Raiders was one of the best movies ever made. It was new and made in a different era. Ford was superb and tailor made for the part.
NOW....it is starting to look a bit silly. He's 20 years too late
@@momentumstocks3493 he’s filming Indy 5 at 79 years old. He’s in good shape for 79 but they should’ve made this film much sooner. Crystal skull was 14 years ago! If they were going to make another one after that, i wonder why they delayed it that long.
@@koreancanuck Absolutely, and what new, young fan wouldn't want to emulate an 81 year old, existing in a bygone era 🤣🤣🤣
River Phonix was the perfect young Indy. Would have been cool to see more of him in that part. RIP River 💔
Ah...the slow adult revelation that some important thing to you was another guy's day at the office.
What are u babbling about..
Seems Lucasfilm now has a track record of delaying or cancelling projects.
You mean MUCASfilm
Always has been since Kennedy was in charge.
@@RednaxIsHere 100 % agreed
Rip Rogue Squadron
As an Indy fan since 1981, as kids, we're the ones who kept the momentum going. By putting on a hat, buying (or making) a whip and going into the forest or even our back yards. Taking our video cameras and making our own Indy movies, writing Indy stories in our notebooks, etc. Indiana Jones was such a wide-open concept that we kept it alive in our imaginations, despite the lack of merchandise (or cartoon - and I agree with you, that would have been wonderful; there was the Atari game, which was...interesting, although disappointing as a kid; there was the toy line, which I have now, in '82, which was beautiful, but released too late and almost ahead of its time as the playsets were practically dioramas). As for the films, I think both sequels are inferior to "Raiders" in almost every way - but there are many things I enjoy about them (true story: as a kid, seeing Last Crusade, on the car ride home, I was *angry* and saying that it was a Disney/cartoon version of "Raiders..." lol). As for Indy 4, that was just abysmal. Now from what I've read of the plot and what I've seen on the filming, I'm actually encouraged about 5 - not just by Mangold, who I've always loved as a director - but by the concept, which I think could be great. Will it be as good as "Raiders"? Of course not. That film was lightning in a bottle. It probably won't even touch the other two sequels. But as a fan who's kept that "momentum" going in my imagination all these years, I just would love to see Indy again - and I have a feeling it's going to be a much better film that people are expecting. As for the plans, I recommend reading the 1978 story conference between Spielberg, Kasdan and Lucas, to see that it was always meant to be a trilogy. There were always going to be 3 films. That's why Spielberg didn't want to come back to it and had to be convinced. The "Bond" reference was mainly about a heroic main character with tales of intrigue, etc., not a direct reference, etc. But just as a pleasure, I recommend that story conference, as it really reveals how many ideas they had at the time for the series and the character.
Great comment. I also like the director and hope you're right, but - he hasn't written the script has he? The story was the problem last time..
I loved Willow! Yes, it failed, but it has become a cult classic movie, and in my opinion, that has preserved it's status of a much loved film.
That movie was so good! And the old NES game of it was fantastic.
The soundtrack by the late James Horner was great too. :)
I liked Willow.
Michael is so completely right. That is EXACTLY what it feels like to be an Indiana Jones fan. I have never felt so spoken to in all my life.
Also with all the tie in media, I've tried some of the comics and wasn't impressed, maybe I just looked at the wrong ones, and it's been years, but I don't get the impression I'm missing great comics. There are absolutely great star wars comics I can point people to, am I missing the great Indiana Jones comics? Because the ones I read I would describe as fine. Same thing with the novels, there is no great Indiana Jones novel you can point to, there's a few fine ones and some bad ones. I can't speak to the video games as I'm not much of a gamer but I've always heard good things about those. Indiana Jones isn't just de-prioritized next to Star Wars it's quality control seems to be significantly lower as well.
This video has been enlightening in more than one way. George Lucas lured Steven Spielberg into Raiders of The Lost Ark by appealing to Spielberg's intentions to do a James Bond film; and yet, for a character whose premise (according to Lucas) was to be someone who would rival Bond, they ended up dropping the ball by not making Indy as ever present a figure as Bond has been since 1962 (even with that hiatus from 1989 to 1995). Also, I think that an animated series would have improved somehow Indy's merchandising potential; Michael gave a great example with Rambo and The Force of Freedom. The same could be said about the video games, just look at Lara Croft.
18:10 Lucas did get to do his Star Wars cartoon eventually with the highly successful Clone Wars series.
What's surprising is that he didn't do one in the 80s just to keep the merchandise cash cow going strong, especially when you consider that's what the other big cartoons of the decade were made for (e.g. Transformers, G.I.Joe, etc.).
@@MightyGalvatron He did with Droids and Ewoks. Droids wasn't that bad really. Lucas was branching out at that time with Willow, Captain EO, Star Tours and setting up ILM and edit Droid in the mid to late 80's.
@@purefoldnz3070 I meant something more along the lines of a continuation of the story with the actual main characters. Imagine an animated version of the Thrawn trilogy.
@@MightyGalvatron The droids and Wicket were main characters (just the wrong ones lol). There was an excellent comic made of the Thrawn Trilogy. Anyway we'll see him in live action soon enough.
Missed you!! It has been almost two weeks without a retroblast!! Thank you
the distribution of the Kenner Indiana Jones figures was so bad, that I never knew there were IJ toys till the early 90's!
Agreed.
I remember walking into "Kiddie City" with my Dad back in the 80s and they had the Raiders playsets, the truck, and no figures and my Dad gave them hell because he said how can you sell playsets with no figures to put in them.
Raiders was fantastic, I was fortunate enough to see the movie in theatre despite the young age of 7. And then so many times on VHS rental. Doom was commercial, dark and disappointing. The Last Crusade was a great ending to the trilogy. There was no need of Crystal Skull and even less so of Indy 5. Ford is too old. Spielberg is spot on. And, in any case, you do not wait 19 years to shoot a sequel!
Cazadores del arca perdida es un peliculón las otras tres son basura películas "cómicas" de segunda
Hmm, not sure it was 'commercial', that aside, I agree.
THIS was Amazing! You sir are extremely talented at doing these videos. Loved it. You brought justice to my favorite film of all time. My family and I went and saw that in the theater back then multiple times. I was only 6 years old but remember so much from being there. Thanks Mike. Totally Awesome retrospective and thoughtful insight
I've often wondered if Ford and Spielberg had been willing to make Indy 4 (with the crystal skulls) back when Lucas first pitched it it would have been a much better film and decidedly different.
After watching this, in addition to agreeing, I have only two words: "Part Time."
The Dark Horse Indiana Jones comics were probably the closest thing we ever got to a faithful expansion of Indiana Jones beyond the Last Crusade. It's like you said though, they slipped up when they typecasted Harrison Ford as being the 'only' Indiana Jones.
Damn you broke this down very well. I have screamed this for years but never so concisely.
Growing up, my dad got me into Stars Wars at a very young age, collecting and everything. My grandpa was the one who really got me into Indiana Jones. I remember vividly seeing KOTCS in theaters when I was only about 5 years old; after that, I saw (and rewatched thousands of times) raiders, temple, and crusade and was hooked. I was so surprised growing up to find that Indiana Jones didn't get that much love at all compared to Star Wars; other than Lego sets and a lego game and Hasbro action figures, that was about it for Indiana Jones. Later on, about 6 years ago I discovered The young Indiana Jones chronicles and thought the sean Patrick Flannery episodes were awesome; some were better than others. Seeing that show got me back into Indiana Jones and made me buy a penman raiders everyman. It's just crazy that we have waited almost 7 years for Indy 5, crazy that it was announced in 2015 and still hasn't been released.
Crystal Skull was a monkey's paw moment. Everyone thought they wanted a new Indy movie until they got one. Indy 5 is already cursed and should be cancelled.
Amazing vids love your channel
Great video, bro. It's one of the Great tragedies of cinema history that we didn't get more Indy films in the 90's. At least to me. Three was never enough...for me, anyway. 🖖
i always have a growing checklist of Ford movies i personally didnt need and think every three years we could have had a Jones film. but im not the actor taking on the toll and needing to work, fulfill numbers of films in film contracts or just wanting to do something else to keep it fresh.
but the i want side of me says, no. make my JONES! films!
They've ruined my entire childhood.
That whip looks pristine. I’m gonna need a worn used look on that sir 😉.
Dr. Jones can't just buy himself a new whip?
@@bluehero-96 well sure if he wants to throw away years of whip history. “Whipstory” 😆
@@bluehero-96 No, part of Indy's charm is the patina of age on everything. If Star Wars is a dirty, lived-in future, Indy is a dirty, lived-in past.
@@timothyward8695
Rings a bell, but I don't remember.
For star wars I always thought 4 5 6 was made for kids by a man who had no kids.
1 2 3 was made for kids by a man who has kids. That's a big difference.
Thanks for mentioning Raiders/Indian Jones being left to flounder in a decade when so many franchises were given every conceivable medium to and chance to win the hearts of everyone from toddlers to adults. (I should have been eating my Lost Ark cereal, while playing my Temple video game, while babysitting a kid who was dressed as Indy and watching his Indiana Jones cartoon as he worked on his tie-in coloring book... as my dad read his Indiana Jones newspaper strip in the next room). Anything that good and that big had no business being ignored by the 80's Machine.
I personally hope that Indy 5 gets shelved permanently. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wasn’t exactly what fans were expecting.
Trying to capture what made the original three films isn’t going to happen. Hollywood was a different beast then. And if the rumors are true, (grains of salt are applied), the rumor that they’re going to kill off/remove Indy from the timeline since it has time travel in it, and potentially replace him with a Phoebe Waller Bridge as the new and improved Indy, then it should be shelved.
Wouldn’t surprise me if James Mangold leaves the project.
I prefer to think of the upcoming movie as "Indiana Jones 6," since Harrison Ford's actual fourth turn as Indy was in "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" where he was in the framing sequences telling the story instead of their old Indy. Even in that brief appearance, he still managed to save the day.
The words Shia Labeouf and enjoyable should never be used in the same sentence.
1995 was about the last year that they should have even tried to do an Indiana Jones movie with Harrison Ford.
Irvin Kershner was a genius for waiting for the right shot and working scenes until they were done perfectly
Hey, I'm from the future, Michael 100% called it.
At 24:52, I mean, good lord man... Harrison is fricking old. My Dad is 10 years younger and he's OLD and beat up. This is just insane seeing 80 y/o Ford dressed like Indy still. Sean Connery was 59 years old when he played Henry Jones and he had the good grace to play it once and only once. That to me is the elephant in the room. They should have recast a new Indy decades ago.
It would be incredibly hard to recast after Ford. Not everyone can pull off “endearing jerk”.
That's cuz Ford was somewhat playing himself 😆
I see Indy as more "scrappy underdog who's actually very smart." "Endearing jerk" makes me think of Tony Stark.
I think Paul Rudd might make a good Indy. He can do action and comedy, and he would disappear into the character instead of forcing the character into his own image.
@@jonacheson I don’t think he looks rugged enough. His face is to hopeful.
YA HEAR THAT, CHRIS PRATT?!
I think people forget how old Paul Rudd actually is. You’d want to cast someone with more mileage in them . Especially as the rate they make these films now is incredibly slow. Sean Connery was visibly ageing out of James Bond by Diamonds Forever in 71. The reason he was able to make five films and step back before any talk of his looking too old is that they came out every year between 62-67.
My mom took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. I had no idea what it was because my age was definitely not the target audience and any commercials for it felt like the kind of thing my parents watched growing up and for me everything at that time was about Star Wars and scifi. I am grateful my mother took me because it was and still is an amazing film.
I agree with Micheal. I wish they’d follow the James Bond formula and do new Indy films with a new Indy. I wish we could have Indy for years to come.
Nice to see Emperor's Tomb on Xbox make an appearance. I'd always wondered if you had played it.
I totally agree with you about the Saturday morning cartoon options. Even with the strict parenting laws, imagine the freedom for violence against stormtroopers. They were basically considered robots to the masses and you could laser blast them all week long and parents wouldn't bat an eye while GI Joe had to have cobra Troopers parachute out of every explosion possible.
Man, an Indiana Jones cartoon would have been so cool. All the 80's properties had a cartoon, BTTF, Ghostbusters, karate Kid, etc. but no Indy... huh.
Strangely enough when I was little I liked temple of doom more than raiders but somehow as I got older the last crusade became my favorite
I'm happy it keeps getting delayed. The more it costs to make, the more money it'll lose when it bombs for destroying Indy's character.
That’s a cynical way to look at it
I am also a bigger Indy fan than I am Star Wars (my wife and I had a Star Wars wedding after all). Indy and Spielberg are the main reasons I joined the Boy Scouts (all the way up to Eagle, even). I had to earn the money to get his hat from the Last Crusade VHS merchandise offerings. Still the best Christmas was the one where I got the leather jacket from my parents as a sophomore in high school (so outrageous a request I didn't even ask for it...even they knew how much Indy meant to me) and wore it every day. I even run as an-as-screen-accurate-as-I-can-get Indy costume when I ran the Disneyland half marathons.
So I know what it means to see Indy being treated like the red-headed step child. That's what made him special, though. He wasn't as easy to be a fan of as other franchises with the amount of merch offerings they had. One had to really like him to be a fan.
17:33 Hell, just look at the Animated Star Trek. It's basically a 1 to 1 recreation of the show. It's really charming. I can only imagine what a proper early 80s Star Wars show might have looked like. Lucas could have started yet another house of creativity, his own 2D animation department.
Out of all of the Indiana Jones movies, The Last Crusade will be the only one I didn't see in a theater, when it was released.
Great video, watched the whole thing. Here's where I think the disconnect is: Spielberg says, "I wanna direct A bond movie." He never said, "I wanna make the next bond FRANCHISE." For him he wanted to do this little nostalgia action picture and move on to something else. Then its a big hit which was fun to make with his friends so they do it again every few years. Why did it take so long in between? Because unlike the Bond franchise where everyone including the star was interchangeable, you need to get Ford, Spielberg and Lucas together for a year at the height of their careers. Plus you need a good enough script to make it worth it...its not that easy! It wasn't like now where if you're in an MCU movie you know you are playing that character for 10 years over 8 movies automatically. I'm not excited about Indy 5 but I'll for sure see it when it comes out. I'd love to see a Disney+ series about Indy's college years.
I'll always be sad we never got an Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis movie
Temple of Doom was dark , unique and awesome. Last Crusade was a Raiders remake with Sean Connery added in
That is an interesting video. You make some good points here. I think Lucas should have made Young Indy show after ToD when franchise was still relevant and people were waiting for TLC. After that early 90's would be a great time for a Indy cartoon in the style of Batman TAS. That was a golden era of cartoons with Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Justice League and Batman Beyond. The Adventures of Indiana Jones with rearranged Williams score would be a perfect fit. Other things they could do was to recast Indy after every trilogy. It would help it stay concistent and alive.
howard the duck is the real ignored lucas project
i loved Willow, and all my friends loved Willow, even my father loved Willow. it wasnt until years later when i was an adult that i found out Willow had bombed, at the time i had no idea the film didnt do well.
i have always thought the real problem with Indiana Jones was Raiders started out with the Ark, and nothing could ever equal or much less surpass the Ark. and thats still the problem, there is nothing they can base any new film around that isnt underwhelming in comparison.
Wait. People blamed Shia for the failure of Crystal Skull? That's insane. I was 10 years old when Raiders hit the screen. I was already a huge Star Wars fan. This movie had everything. A good story. Some grit, but not too much. An amazing score. Decent acting. An interesting plot that really illustrated good/evil and the mystery/danger of the finding the Ark. In a word....it was just plain COOL for a boy my age. I wish Crystal Skull had never been made. And, if Indy 4 never gets released, I'm happy with that.
Honestly never saw Crystal Skull (rather embarrassingly I only know surface detail of Last Crusade, my mom was picky on movies when I was a kid.) But I hate the people who say it is Shia labeouf was at fault, he didn't make the Transformers movies bad in my humble opinion, but I know a lot of Sam Witwiki haters. He was finding the niche he would be perfect for and if it had become a new hero a movie I think he could of pulled it off.
CGI will soon be able to make entire films starring deceased actors - there will be endless indy films starring ford
I really do wish Indiana Jones were better attended. The concept art for the cartoon looked sooo good. I wish they had a lot more merch. I thoroughly enjoyed your video and it’s fully loaded with facts and excellent details and thoughtfulness.
Willow was hurt because people did not like little people and the masses wanted another SW movie. I was in the movie line ups for Willow in 1987. But yes Mr French. I concur.
I didn't care for the Temple of Doom as much. I prefered the Kingdom of Crystal Skull.
On the Note of James Bond. I never seen the recasting of the James Bond character as the same person, but the "007 James Bond" as a position in the agency. With different agents taking the name of "James Bond 007"
He was making the show for YOUNG CHILDREN ! That's why he had the YOUNG INDIANA JONES at 10 years old , He wanted to teach young people about History !
Honestly I don't want any Indy 5. Because it's obvious that it's going to have to be a "Passing the torch" story wherein some other person will dawn the hat and whip to continue the adventures. Ford is just too old for the role, but with how intrinsic his face is to the character, anyone else ever being Indiana Jones would just feel like a hollow imitation. Crystal Skull was really the last chance to give the character one last hurah, but sadly Lucas/Speilberg squandered it.
If there is ever to be a serious continuation of Indy's adventures. I'd rather it be in animated form. There we can always have a young Harrison Ford as the face, all you'd need is somebody who could do a reasonable voice for him.
Missed put on the action figure line as a 10 year old but 8 years later found Toht and the Cairo Swordsman on the pegs at a Children's Palace. And passed on them.
Below them on the shelf were two German trucks. And passed on those as well. Drove 90 miles to home, mulled it over and decided my next trip there I'd grab a truck at least.
Went back 2 weeks later and of course both were gone at that point. But miracle of miracles, some employee had found several Well of the Souls playsets and I grabbed 2, along with a Toht and Swordsman figure. And the blisters on the two figures were so yellowed and sun faded they slid right off the card back on the trip home. Good times. And I sooooooooooooo miss Children's Palace!
I liked the points you bring up about Capshaw and Connery. It never occurred to me that Spielberg looked at Indiana Jones as just humoring Lucas. I already lost a lot of respect for Spielberg after Crystal Skull and Ready Player One.
Grampa Jones and The Raiders of the Lost AARP.
...he can't remember where it is.
I think Indiana Jones is just one of the rare occurrences where they didn't ruin the story or legacy of the brand with typical corporate hollywood and they never ever oversaturated the market with it. Yes Kingdom of Crystal Skull exists, but I wouldn't say that was same level of caliber of defamation like The Last Jedi. Indiana Jones for the most part will always be remembered for not just its compelling characters and fantastic story, but also how incredible it was for moviemaking, special effects, and editing. Raiders of the Lost Ark captures George's description of a 1930s adventure serial mixed with 1950s b-movie fantasy/horror all tied together like James Bond. It really stood out from everything else at the time during the 80s, and to be honest I don't think anything has come close.
I sit and wonder sometimes if it had it gone the route like Ghostbusters, Star Wars, or even Transformers and GIJoe, would it have been as special as it is today? At the end of the day, it is still art and it a masterpiece alongside all of the other legendary films from the 80s. Sure it never had the brand marketing, the extensive toyline, or any cartoons, but that does not diminish its importance in film history and especially for pop culture.
Holy shakes that came out really quick I didn't know that was coming
The world wouldn't end if this movie was simply canceled
Posting from November 2022, it seems to have gotten worse and it may be due in part to KK doing her usual shtick of killing male characters to replace them with her self insertish tier female character.
One red flag that stuck out was how trades kept going over the Nazi factor they were bringing up for this new installment but wasn't this something covered in the first movie? Isn't one of the most iconic moments of Indy him having to keep his composure while in disguise as Hitler approaches him at the book burning? Indy met Hitler face-to-face yet they're acting like MORE Nazis is groundbreaking.
If I'm not mistaken, Indy 5 takes place in the 60s so there would still be a plethora of topics involving globe trotting that could have even taken on but Nazis because current year and most of the crop of writers in the industry can't think of anything else.
Temple of doom ''Underrated.'' YES! *Raises glass*
Indianna Jones is being played by a man in his late 70's.
What will make a louder crack?
The whip or his hip?
Awesome take on the franchise. I laughed when I realized you and I share the same view of Labeouf’s performance in Crystal Skull. Keep rocking the videos.
LaBeouf is a bratty punk. I was so relieved when Mark Wahlberg took over in the Transformer franchise
@@Rex_G_007 I don’t know, he puts in a very solid performance. I don’t care much about his personal life.
Since Disney now owns the franchise how about doing a computer animated movie or tv series instead of a 5th major motion picture? Then you wouldn't have to worry about how old Harrison is and he would probably voice the animated character. Plus we would get way more content and possible storylines. They really dropped the ball on video games, there should have been a lot more options especially from Ps2/Xbox era through the present.
Outside of the great perspective a lot of IJ fans have, thank you for video after video that sticks to the point and doesn’t have a bunch of filler crap like a lot of what I try and watch on TH-cam. You didn’t waste a second of the 28 minutes and 27 seconds.
Indiana. Jones 5. Delayed and. Why. It. Changes. Nothing
As a child Temple of Doom was my absolute favorite. As an adult I have to give it to Raiders.
The son of Indy wasn't afraid of any animals either...
Love the points you make in this video, and just to add that, that's one thing I appreciated about LEGO Indiana Jones sets and then the video game. They knocked it out of the park on both fronts and as a kid it was as legendary as LEGO Star Wars. I feel that's about as close as it got in terms of representation for kids my age before Kingdom of Crystal Skull.
I know for my father personally, though he is a massive star wars fan, I will say Indiana Jones for him was also a cultural phenomena that had a huge impact on his life. As a teen in the 80s with a camera he filmed his own Indiana Jones skits and stories and he was all for the hat, whip, and leather jacket! He collected the original comics, posters, and he obsessed over the awesome Temple of Doom arcade game. (Don't forget the pinball either!)
The first season of ExoSquad had pretty good ratting until the Second season when Vivendi/Universal Pictures at the time fired ExoSquad creator Jeff Segal who was also the head of Universal Animation Studios. It seems that Vivendi wanted more Land Before Time films. The Second season of ExoSquad's rating started to drop because of executive meddling and Vivendi didn't give to shits about the show.
By the way, ExoSquad was a Saturday morning cartoon more violent in 1993 than the G.I.Joe cartoon or any other Saturday morning cartoon in the '90s.
With no Spielberg or Lucas major elements of the DNA of Indy are missing. As a result I have very little interest in Indy 5.
Excellent commentary! Nice Work.
One name alone has me over the moon for this new adventure. James Mangold… if ur not excited for IJ5 then just rewatch his filmography.
I heard a theory that Shia LaBeouf is Spielberg's son, and that's the reason Spielberg has had such an influence on Shia's career.
As an italian I may be talkin' from a different perspective than an american, but I never felt that ephemera would've improved my enjoyment of any movie franchise. I was happy playing with my Lego, Transformers and so far... and the movies were a separate thing, and to be honest I'm glad Lucas kept Star Wars and Indiana Jones special, regulating the production of spinoffs (but I love Indy 3: The Graphic Adventure). To me, the real tragedy here is Spielberg not following his artistic path after Jurassic Park and becoming an Oscar hunter with his "serious" movies that completely betrayed his natural talent, and gave us some kind of Kubrick wannabe (that never was) that felt the need of putting sad violin music in an holocaust movie... you know, the subtle stuff, 'cause we didn't exactly know how to feel. It's like Spielberg was the best rollercoaster designer, and he decided instead to build boring history museums. And he's been rewarded well beyond his real artistic merits, so he kept doing it. Spielberg directing a real Bond movie would've been amazing, for example. Just my two cents, of course.
I bet they told them that Indy was their IP and they didnt want to kill him off. In other words they were told to go back and make it again. Properly.
I remember a lot of the Indiana Jones games played temple of doom in the arcade enjoyed the problem solving of the last crusade the marvel comics in the uk it was a great time then the dark times no movies for years the crystal skull didn’t make me excited for a sequel they filmed parts of the new movie in glasgow and from what I’ve seen to quote shania Twain it don’t impress me much
14:29 reminds of the clip Redlettermedia media played in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull review where it shows a take of Harrison Ford saying “part-time” unenthusiastically. Absolutely agree Shia Leboeuf did the best he could with a weak script
I agree with a lot of what you said. My main issues with how Indy has been treated is the lack of merchandise, marketability, and the long long long gaps between sequels. I mean they wasted Harrison’s prime youthful years by not pumping out adventure after adventure after adventure. It’s shocking really that we didn’t get any more Indy movies in the 90’s. I guess Lucas was just more focus on his Star Wars prequels to care to try and rotate two franchises at the same time again.
I mean them trying to wait every time for all 3 of them Ford, Lucas, and Spielberg to be together to get it done was just stupid. All you need is Harrison Ford, the other two are replaceable, as we see is finally the case on the 5th one, but that’s kinda way too late when the guy is nearly 82!
As we’ve seen in other franchises, writers and directors are the ones who can change but the face of the franchise stays the same.
Kind of the same what’s happening now with the new Ghostbusters movie, all those years gone by without a new one with the main characters and now we get it when one has passed away and the remaining ones can barely walk.
All I can think of from the forth movie is Ford’s terrible delivery of, “Part time.” Sigh.
I grew up thinking Indy and Star Wars were on the same level too. But as the years dragged on I was wrong. I don’t disagree with this but I also feel like Indy was not the priority to Lucas, Spielberg and Ford we as fans hoped it was. I really did hope ( way back in 2012) that when Disney bought LFL they’d reboot Indy and try and make what we all hoped it be. But alas wishful thinking. I would love to have that animated series or new Indy movie every 3 years like we thought we’d get but… sigh…. Maybe next time.
Indiana Jones and the temple of incontinence, seriously, i don't care either if it never releases even though i'm a big fan of the trilogy. They should stop and go on something else. They should never have done Crystal Skull, so why are they doing a fifth one ? They are just going to destroy the franchise further
Hm, you have me reevaluating Shia LaBeouf's performance in the movie. I mean I never was a hater of the guy (though not a big fan), but very true with them giving it their all with what he had to work with. He did a damn good job in that prohibition moonshine movie with Tom Hardy.
Let's be real if Indiana Jones was a garden it was never properly fertilized or tended to. It was always Spielbergs and Lucas' side project and they never saw it as being anything more than that. While yes it was incredibly popular it could've been a cultural phenomenon just like star wars, with cartoons, toys, spin offs, TV shows etc, just like star wars is today but u can't expect a thing to shine when the people who make the decisions keep it out of the sun.
As a song of ice and fire fan I feel your numb pain,it comes to the stage where you just give up and accept defeat
Steven Spielberg never really wanted to make Crystal Skull. He wanted nothing to do with aliens. He finally gave in to his buddy George who changed the beings to “inter dimensional”. Like it mattered. You could tell by the movie that his heart wasn’t in it. I am hoping that Dial of Destiny is the movie Crystal Skull should have been but honestly have my doubts. It feels more like this movie will be a vehicle to transfer the “Indiana Jones” legacy to his female god daughter. From what I am understanding, the Mutt character will not even be mentioned in the new movie. I think they are basically hoping audiences forget that the events of Crystal Skull happened. It will be interesting how they deal with the Marion character. Will they kill her off? Making Indiana a lonely widower? We shall see in about 2 months.
Nothing Lucasfilm excretes today holds any value for me whatsoever. If they collectively went into a fridge and stayed there, no tears would be shed from this cinephile.
These people ruined my entire childhood.
Momentum is everything. I always try to imagine what Indy and Star Wars prequels or sequels could have been (and looked like) had we got one every few years -- still with traditional fx to the inevitable CGI transition in the early 90s and onwards. Prime example of waiting too long: Phantom Menace being nearly all CGI (at least it sure appeared so) I think was just too jar-jarring for the world, at least for me and I’m in the film/television production design industry. Oh, and last memorable anything Indy was Fate of Atlantis (I've held onto the same one you have displayed). Now you have me questioning weather I’m more an Indy fan had the momentum continued…
"Not because I'm not morbidly curious."
My sentiments exactly.
The crystal skull was really bad. The end creeped me out for some reason. I miss Star Wars, and all the cool movies that came out when we were kids… I love your insight. Keep going forever!