1981, a silhouette appeared on a ridge in the distant jungles of Peru, wearing a fedora, an aged jacket, and a trusty bullwhip. People were then introduced to the greatest action/adventure hero of all time: Indiana Jones. The greatest adventure movies ever made with a archaeologist going after relics and artifacts with a supernatural element to them. He is the pinnacle and the call for adventure. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas created the greatest adventure icon of all time when they created Indiana Jones. Everyone recognizes the famous silhouette of the jacket, fedora and whip. All the kids love to play Indiana Jones, go off to South America or Egpyt, go around the temples all day and play Indiana Jones for hours on end. I just love the whole mythology of Indiana Jones; the artifacts he goes after, the magical or supernatural properties they carry, the places he goes, the dangers along the way, even the villains who seek to use these powers for their own deeds. The artifacts; the Ark of the Covenant, the Sankara Stones, the Holy Grail, the Crystal Skull, all of these were great artifacts. The continued adventures of Indy then, whether in comics, books, or television had him going after even more including some of the more recognizable, the Sword of King Arthur, Atlantis, The Staff of Moses, The Philosopher's Stone, The Spear of Destiny, the Heart of the Dragon, the last Dinosaur on earth, the Hollow Earth, the Tomb of the Gods, lost treasures, hidden chambers, secrets, ancient myths, even more ancient artifacts. I loved all the movies, but the first three were the best, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, but Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the worst. Great hanger sequence in the beginning but it was a major disappointment, everything about it.
However, I'm not here to say which was good and what was bad, the whole experience of it is the best treasure not found on any map. I even love the stories for all the video games. Fate of Atlantis had one of the best storylines, I loved the Infernal Machine, the Babylon storyline, the interdimensional device, and one of the best things in Infernal Machine was Quetzecoatl, the feathered snake. "Snakes, I hate snakes, especially big ones," was one of the best Indy lines I've heard. Infernal Machine is full of imagination and supernatural elements. I always like the Nazi's and the Russians as villains in the stories. Fate of Atlantis had a terrific storyline, locations, and set design for the city of Atlantis.
Actually, one of my most favorite Indiana Jones storylines outside of the movies is Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, the newest Indiana Jones video game. This one definetly goes back to the roots of Raiders of the Lost Ark with a biblical artifact, the Staff of Moses. The game looks incredible, and has a great chase sequence as the movies do, the elephant chase in Istanbul, I believe, the fight on top of the runaway rail car in San Franciso, and the canyon biplane chase sequence. I like how the Nazi's are the villains at the dawn set of WWII in 1939. I saw the behind the scenes photos featuring a double balloon zepplin in Nepal and what looks to be a great fight aboard the main bridge.
I am also a huge fan of Disney's attraction Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I own a CD set that includes all of the audio and music throughout the whole attraction. It's one of my most favorite attractions in the world. I always enjoy going on it and never miss a chance to do so. I especially like the references from the films in the attraction such as the spike room, the rats, the boulder sequence, everything. The look of the temple is extremely well done and so is the story, set in 1935 in the Lost River Delta region of India after Indy's Temple of Doom encounter. The story of the double dealing deity Mara was great with the choice of bestowing visitors with three gifts, future knowledge, earthly riches, or eternal youth. There is another Indiana Jones attraction at the Tokyo Disney Sea resort known as Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull with Indy in the Lost River Delta region of South America this time with a very well done Aztec temple and Indy going after the fabled Fountain of Youth.
My brother owns a prop replica of the fertility idol in Raiders of the Lost Ark and I have a small keychain of the crystal skull because its one of the coolest looking artifacts Indy goes after, but lousy story behind it. In the new video game, I love the term they use "hot set" which either means a working set, fully integrated or for the game, a completely destructible environment with every object having a different reaction, breaks in different ways each time, and villains are defeated in different ways each time. We need more video games like this and I am definetly looking forward to the new game. Honestly, we can make as many movies as we want of Indiana Jones and I don't think anyone will tire of it, they made 22 Bond films and counting, the most successful film franchise of all time, second is Star Trek and everyone still loves it. I just hope they don't bring back Shia Lebeauf. Some guys made their won film version of Raiders and apparently it was pretty good, though I have not sen it myself yet.
Anyone can make their own movies, even of their favorite icons, want to make a new Terminator movies, go ahead and make it, want to make your own James Bond movie, who's stopping you? Go out there and make whatever movie you want. I say so because I'm working on my own Indiana Jones script, out of disappointment from the last movie, because I love the franchise and because I think there are better stories available, right in front of us. My most favorite movies ever made is the Indiana Jones trilogy and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I remember when my brothers and I were kids, the movie we used to watch the most in our family room was Raiders of the Lost Ark, we just couldn't get enough of it. I even remember the Pepsi commercial they played with it, boy was that the most fun commercial ever made.
I even own a CD set of the Indiana Jones Adventure attraction at Disneyland that contains all of the music, audio and sound effects in the attraction.
I am just a huge fan of Indiana Jones and look forward to more interpretations of the characters
