He Said / She Said – Indiana Jones: The Last Last Last Crusade?

by Guest Contributor on March 22, 2016

There’s always going to be places where geeks disagree on the direction of our beloved culture – especially when it comes to reboots, remakes and sequels of old classics. Over the last few years we’ve seen A LOOOOOTTTT of them and everyone has battle lines drawn as to how “acceptable” these newer films are. Latest to be announced was a 5th installment of Indiana Jones, about which myself and the lovely and talented Jenesee Grey (of the Grey Area Podcast, and now here!) had some.. disagreements. She is all about the Indy 5 hype while I have my reservations. You be the judge.

She Said (Jenesee)

old indyYes, I am excited about the new Indiana Jones, the question is, why aren’t you? I don’t know the plot; I have not followed the latest news on who else is starring in it, and I haven’t a clue about where or when the film will take place…not one clue. All that is essential to know about this movie is – does it contain Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr. reprising his role that made my favorite childhood movies? If that is the case, I will likely go see it because I love that character; I grew up with that character, and I lived many a mental adventure while enjoying those movies with him.

Why should we be afraid to bring him back to the silver screen? We already have movies like The Expendables, which starred some beloved yet aging actors who ran around blowing things up in a franchise that none of us were familiar with before.  Apparently they are so very expendable that they repeated it three times. If the draw of these movies is purely based on the names of actors we have enjoyed and is enough to justify not one, but three released movies with a questionable plot, why should we not support the expansion of a series we have followed through four successful movies already? OK… three, if you don’t count the travesty of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where the only true Ancient Alien was Ray Winstone and where the main character was ranked number 10 of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters by Fandomania.com.

I do have hopes that this new film will follow in the footsteps of the Last Crusade, the very best of the trilogy IMO. Yes, I would love to see Harrison Ford pass the torch to his son/daughter so we can continue to join them on future adventures that would prevent the inevitable hip replacements of the future with a new spry anti-hero. Preferably a new undiscovered son/daughter who is miraculously found after the tragic death of the previous descendant played by Shia LaBeouf. As his father, Sean Connery, did before him, Indiana could accept his age and share his wisdom and experience with a new generation, all while still kicking some collective ass.

Call me an optimist, but I do not think an aging actor like Harrison Ford has to suddenly disappear from the face of the planet, nor do I think that beauty obsessed America is incapable of enjoying a solid performance by someone who is over the age of 25. I understand that they can evolve from a sex symbol into the classic sage and still enchant us the same way they have in the past. Sure, I also fondly recall the days when Harrison’s nose was centered squarely on his face and his eyes were bright and his smile flashing. However, as a 73 year old man I can echo Ford’s own famous words back to him: “it’s not the age, it’s the mileage” and you sir, still have a long way to go before you expire.

 

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He said (Tushar)

han chewieWhen’s it going to be enough?

Why are we the generation that can’t seem to let go of our childhoods? These past few years looking up movie times makes me feel like I’m a kid in the 90’s again. At what point does it stop being nostalgia and start becoming a shameless cash grab? Why is this the place Hollywood goes when their idea wells run dry? It seems efforts have been turning away from making original content, and instead trying to sell me back my own childhood in 3D for 20 bucks a show.

Now, I’m a fan of a lot of the older franchises and trilogies – Star Wars, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones were some of my favorite movies from back in the day. And until recently, they were the same ones that were left alone – untouched and classic. Granted Star Wars has more movies to come, but there’s more story, so I’ll give that a pass – there’s scores of lore in the expanded universe that can serve for a decent base for more films. At least they didn’t do remakes. Luckily, Back to the Future will never be remade. Good. Robert Zemeckis put the kibosh on that last year and I’m happy for it. There’s some things I think should stay in their classic form.  And this is where I take issue with Indiana Jones.

Me and Indy have history. Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade were two of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. Temple of Doom really only succeeded in making the other kids in school ask whether or not I eat monkey brains for dinner, so we’ll blow by that one for now. However, I have always loved Harrison Ford in the title role, and all was well until Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It tried a new formula – Indy being the elder statesman of Nazi-battling archaeology adventurism, and introducing his son, the new swashbuckler primed to take over the family business. It just didn’t work for me. It was putting old man Indy in a story that really didn’t hold up to the others, though it proved that people would pay to see because it was Indiana Jones.

And now we learn that an Indy 5 will hit theaters in 2019. Twenty. Nineteen. For those playing the home game that will be the year that marks Harrison Ford turning 77. Granted, he was in The Force Awakens well into his seventies as well, but he wasn’t carrying the lead role, and his place in the film made sense.

Sure, Spielberg has recruited Jurassic Park writer David Koepp to pen the screenplay and Ford will be surrounded by a star studded cast for Indy 5, but what’s this going to prove? The formula already didn’t work with the fourth installation of the franchise, and there’s no point in this 5th one even being scripted out. I love the franchise, and Harrison Ford will always be my “Indiana Solo,” but It’s time to hang up the fedora and whip. All good things must come to an end, and I would prefer that one of my childhood legends goes out with dignity instead of being squeezed for his last drops by Steven Spielberg. The last thing we need is this incredible actor and icon to become the Brett Favre of Hollywood so that producers can make a couple extra bucks in residual checks.

So that’s what we’ve got – What’s your verdict?

Tushar Nene
Staff Writer
@tusharnene

Last week, blogger Marc Bernardin caused a big kerfuffle by turning to the Interwebs to vent his feelings about Netflix’s recent proposal to make new episodes of the seemingly dead and buried television show Arrested Development.

Apparently, Bernardin feels that this same theory should totally be applied to all the cult classics whose stars all burned out before their time – but mostly just to bring short lived and much loved sci-fi western Firefly back from the grave.

If you haven’t read the article, which was posted on his Tumblr account, Bernardin goes into a lot of detail concerning exactly what he thinks would be needed to revive the fan favorite, and it’s nothing short of an adrenaline shot to the heart. Cue the Bon Jovi.

From securing the rights from Fox to snagging the cast, all his ideas are logical and sound, and you can’t deny the dude has a point. Unfortunately, the entire thing is pure speculation from a fan’s point of view rather than a leaked plan of action, Gorram it! And since very few things ever happen simply because the fans remain diligent for decades, it reads as just another blogger like the rest of us, shooting their hopes and dreams into the murky depths of the Interwebs.

And then this happened:

Nathan Fillion’s super ambiguous tweet.

That’s right. Captain Mal Reynolds, also sometimes known as the charismatic Nathan Fillion, happened to stumble across Bernadin’s blog and reposted it for his millions of followers to check out. Which means, not only did he see it, but he’s clearly intrigued enough to support the theory – at least by remaining impassive rather than shooting it down.

But the real question is, Browncoats… do we honestly want this to happen? Think about it. Realistically speaking, where would the story be taken, since Serenity’s whole purpose was to be a condensed version of the next few seasons and tie up loose ends? Or do you strike Serenity from the record completely and start fresh where “Objects In Space” ended? We could trust in Whedon to tweak his story a little bit so it doesn’t feel like old moldy leftovers, if only to keep Wash alive and delve further into Shepherd Book’s cryptic background. It’s a tough choice, and there would be legions of irate fans on either side of the fence. So which way do you turn with the intentions of keeping the fandom happy?

Most of us just want answers to the questions that 14 episodes and a movie couldn’t get around to answering. Was Inara actually terminal? What’s the extent of River’s abilities? Did Jeyne finally win the Biggest Douche In The ‘Verse award? Sure, we didn’t get enough information, but would it be more prudent in this instance to leave well enough alone? Can Firefly fans find a happy medium?

Fillion’s interest has been piqued so many different times by resilient fans who just refuse to let go that the idea is always floating around in the back of his mind. Don’t forget, “If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to ‘Firefly,’ make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet.” And most of the cast seems to be in agreement with him. But with Whedon currently tied up in Avengers and Fillion stuck in Castle land, the dynamic duo of the ‘Verse more than likely wont have their chance to correct the first failed attempt, no matter how much begging and pleading we muster up.

While we hate the fact that Firefly crashed to an early demise, would bringing it back from the dead really be the best course of action? Could reviving Firefly really be as simple as turning Harry Potter’s Resurrection Stone, or would it just turn into an undead zombie mess? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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