We all know George Lucas has plot issues
Gary Farber has a better idea for the fourth Indiana Jones pic. Granted, we don't know what they have in store for us. But whatever it is, it probably sucks. Gary takes a dark corner of the Nazi era, shines a light in it, and shows how we could make fabulous entertainment out of it. He also links to Charles Stross, who stands supreme on my list of favorite writers. Stross' book Atrocity Archives discusses some of the same subject matter from a different direction entirely. I suggest to Gary that you read that book instantly, and really, anyone else as well. Unix guru meets Lovecraftian horror. You can't beat that with a stick.
But back to the main point. Indiana Jones. Nazis. Objects of power. Raiders of the Lost Ark tapped into something wonderful. The thirties, Nazis, the Lost Ark of the Covenant - it all blended together perfectly. It was all those comic books we should have had, all the serials we half remembered watching on Saturday afternoons that never were really that good. Other movies have tried to capture that feeling, with varying but typically small success. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow got the the alternate thirties technology, and noir feel. The Phantom was frankly pathetic. Disney's The Rocketeer (which I just saw on cable last night) was surprisingly good, though lacking in grit. To be expected of a Disney flick, but still overall a good effort. [Side note: my father, noted historian and old car collector, pointed out that in the street scenes in Rocketeer, all the cars will be of the same make. It might change from scene to scene - Buicks on this street, Chevies on the next, but typically a lot of uniformity. The reason is that production companies in need of old cars for scene dressing typically hire old car clubs, and for ease in logistics, will have a club supply all the cars for a single scene.]
The only book I've ever read that captured all the elements for kick-ass thirties adventure was a Doc Savage book. Violence, Nazis, retro-high-tech, noir atmosphere, strange locales, the whole panoply - but I lost it and can't remember the title or even author. An author could have a lot of fun writing a tale like that.
Just think of the elements you could include:
- Nazis - but even better, real Nazis like the Ahnenerbe that Gary talks about.
- Soviet agents, because they always get left out of these stories, and were fully as evil as the Nazis.
- Gangsters. Hey, why not? They add period color, and will certainly ally with a patriotic hero to fight Nazis and Commies.
- Strange technology. You get some real bonuses with a film on this one, thanks to being able to show cool art-deco/industrial gothic designs. But even so, in a book you could have - just for starters - airships, autogyros, jets, jetpacks, electro-mechanical computers, wrist radios, Tesla-style super weapons, rockets, atomics, sheesh, all kinds of fun.
- Mystical objects. To be sure, two of the best ones are already taken. But there are others, even if you stay within the western tradition and avoid the pitfalls of the second Indiana Jones flick.
Stir that into a pot, and smoke it. Fun for the whole family.
on
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Murdoc's got a plot idea and
Murdoc's got a plot idea and rough outline of the Indy 4 HE'D like to see. Before 9/11 and he started blogging he tried without luck to become a screenwriter. If someone wants to pay him a lot of money, he will write the screenplay.
B,
B,
But don't you feel that Indiana Jones has exhausted the Nazi/superweapon concept?
Er, well no- you clearly do not, given your post. But I kinda do.
Even with all new whiz-bang devices and locales you thought about, as cool as they surely are, isn't Indiana Jones really just a simple forumla? That is, race the [bad guys] to find the map to the [item], then race to the [item], the location of which has been determined independently by the [bad guys], then get captured, escape, pass some sort of test (dodge some really imginative and complicated booby traps, say) purloin the [item], thwart evil, get the girl.
Well, that formula is about
Well, that formula is about 3000 years old at least, and still going strong. So why not?
Although, you wouldn't have to do an Indiana Jones flick. There are plenty of other characters - Doc Savage, of course, among many others. Or do something entirely different. It doesn't have to be an adventurous archeologist with a bullwhip. The imagination of the early comic book writers was both fertile and constrained - but there's lots of potential. The items I mentioned would make a rich backdrop for almost any kind of story - mystery, sf, even space opera.
B,
B,
Yeeeahhh, I guess it is a pretty old story. Arguably the oldest story. But since we've seen Indiana Jones do that thrice already, why a fourth? Even with Tesla thingies and autogyro dynamos, I don't think Indie finding Atlantis, the True Cross, or Buddha's Navel Ruby would be fun anymore, howevermany Nazis' faces he melted off in the process.
So I vote cautiously "Yes" for action, adventure, and really wild things in a noir alternate '40s with atomic float cars, gyrojet pistols and fedoras. But "No" on a new Indiana Jones flick.
B,
B,
Come to think of it, I like flicks where the hero is a novice and thrust into weird situations and such. Alot of the Cthulhu mythos scratches that itch, as amateur researchers discover ancient horrors that twist their minds and take their souls. Or something. Robert Howard contributed some neat stuff to the Lovecraft mythos, as have I guess dozens of others.
But a flick in that world, sort of, yet WITH the atomic float cars might be neat. I dunno.
Harrison Ford is getting old,
Harrison Ford is getting old, and I wonder how cool another Indiana Jones flick could be. But there is so much room for good story telling. Fighting Nazis does not have to involve retrieving the true cross, or whatnot. Going over to the HPL thing, OSS special forces teams trying to prevent the Ahnenerbe from waking an Eldritch horror in Antarctica, or uncovering knowledge that man was never meant to know deep in the Gobi desert while simultaneously fighting off grim Soviet NKVD and Chinese triads. Or, genius scientist with beautiful daughter link up with adventurous pilot to develop atomic fighter planes and death rays to fight the Nazis before they develop giant fighting robots.
Fun, fun, fun.
B,
B,
Well someone's already thinking about the secret Nazi bases in Antarctica, and the Reich's efforts to test their anti-gravity disk thereupon:
http://www.anomalous-images.com/text/omega2.htm
Could be a jumping off point for a good flick.
Oh, man...I've read the OMEGA
Oh, man...I've read the OMEGA files at least twice. They're hysterical.
Ken,
Ken,
That's why I subscribed to George Noory's Streamlink. Nothing like listening to the latest Trilateral kookery while working.