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”.

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

Harrison is gunna be 81 when Indy 5 is out damn that’s insane

23:31 The Last Crusade ended perfectly with everyone riding off into the sunset which is how it should have stayed.

Melinda during the One-Season Wonders Panel: 'What I DON'T understand, is how we had no shortage of Saturday morning cartoons with strange concepts and weird ideas.....but never an Indiana Jones cartoon. It would have been PERFECT to have him go on different adventures every week to different places all around the world! And even if the producers feel that insipid need to put a kid character in everything, putting Short Round with Indiana would have still worked!' 👏

I agree Temple of Doom is really underrated. It’s a great action adventure movie! The first 3 Indy films are iconic adventure films!

Last Crusade is easily one of my favorite movies. If only it was the last one.

I'm 50 and was around for those first 2 films when they were released in the thatres, and I noticed since the Temple of Doom they dragged their feet on anything Indy with the last crusade being a roaring success and still broken promise after broken promise to the fans, I could see after that there was no love

Hey Mike, do you think a recast would work now after how poorly Indy 4 did along with issues with Indy 5? Great channel btw, I may not see eye to eye with you all the time but you do great work!!

@18:22 I don’t know after the Holiday Special, I can see why George wouldn’t want hand over control to someone else. And now with Disney we see what Lucas handing over control of his characters and properties looks like.

I think the real tragedy of all of these 80’s revival attempts is that studios, producers and writers just plain old aren’t talented enough to make anything that is anywhere close to the quality of the originals and fans can’t let it go and move on effectively precisely because nothing new and original and of quality is being produced. I realize there might be isolated examples, but few are franchises. I think the only significant one has been Marvel… but that has also ended now.

River Phonix was the perfect young Indy. Would have been cool to see more of him in that part. RIP River 💔

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.

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!

Ah...the slow adult revelation that some important thing to you was another guy's day at the office.

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.

Seems Lucasfilm now has a track record of delaying or cancelling projects.

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.

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.

This made me recall watching the Temple of Doom along with my family and several neighbors from grandpa's Sony Betamax and Trinitron tv at the lawn. I think there were more than ten kids, including me, cramped in front of the tv who were staring quietly at the tv and were so fixated even after seeing someone's heart being held by the priest after removing it from that poor fella.

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

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!

18:10 Lucas did get to do his Star Wars cartoon eventually with the highly successful Clone Wars series.

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 reason why there’s been so many delays is because one Harrison Ford has gotten a bit old to play the character sad to say (he was injured recently while making the film) but specifically two, the director of the film James Mangold has been struggling really hard on this project. Hell he’s been acting out on Twitter too with at one point straight up calling out a fan and rudely talking down to him about film directing. But then again Disney Lucasfilm hiring people who go out and talk bad about the consumer isn’t anything new

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!

Last Crusade should have been the end of it.

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.

Really interesting video. I think there are lots of studios that would kill for a legacy franchise like Indiana Jones but sadly it doesn’t get the love it deserves. Changing the main role like bond would be the best way to keep it fresh but I have given up with Disney doing the right thing anymore

Damn you broke this down very well. I have screamed this for years but never so concisely.

After watching this, in addition to agreeing, I have only two words: "Part Time."

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.

Spot on, Michael. Perhaps it would've been better for the Indy franchise to not have cast Harrison Ford initially. As much as I love him in the part, Ford's tight identification with the character never really allowed for a Bond like franchise to ever come to fruition.

I found Star Wars as a kid fantastic but not so much as an adult. However, I still like the three Indiana Jones movies. I refuse to recognize the 4th.

Great commentary man. Always enjoy hearing your thoughts.

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 would like to see INDY recast so we can go back to the 1930s with more adventures with him. Not so hot on a 80 year old INDY in INDIANA JONES 5.

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 miss the days when amazing films like Raiders of the Lost Ark were new and we could experience all the fun and amazement for the very first time.

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.

Amazing vids love your channel

Great point at cramming all three films in one product. Still done these days. As much as I loved the Making of Indy book, would've loved to see them come out individually and in hardback.

Indy did continue with Young Indiana Jones Chronicles which was a very underrated show people have forgotten about.

That whip looks pristine. I’m gonna need a worn used look on that sir 😉.

One of my friends hosted an Indiana Jones movie marathon sometime in the 2000s, and Temple of Doom basically served as the intermission. We sampled the good parts, but it was also a good point to get up, get something to eat, and chat with people in the other room. Then we all crowded back in to watch Last Crusade.

Indy is nothing like bond. In my opinion, and yet last crusade is my fave and is the one that changed my mind about Sean Connery and made me like him. Then I saw name of the rose and that sealed it. But back to Indy I don't really see bond. Mainly because I see bond as the gadget person. I know there's more but that's the way my vision of it works. Having said that, if he is bond inspired why not cast Daniel Craig as Henry Jones Sr. And do a grailquest prequel. Or why not bring back young Indy? With a recast? Or even as a cartoon as you suggest?

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.

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.

As the a fellow TheRaider contributor and indyCast podcaster - I totally agree with you. We just filmed a TOD retrospective and said - we should have had 9 Indy movies by now. They should have done a new one every 3 years. And KOTCS differed because Spielberg was phoning it in. I watched them film in New Haven. He seemed to let the assistants film it

You really opened my eyes, especially with the cartoon thing. It's really a shame something like this never happened and also that we "only" got four movies, when it could've been more, wouldn't had it the delays and long times between each movies. Makes me really sad because I love this franchise....

Have you heard yet what the 'creepy-crawly' things are going to be in Indy 5? We've seen snakes, bugs, rats, and soldier ants in the first four movies, so I'm thinking that maybe Indy had to go through a gigantic bee hive escaping his Nazi pursuers, and comes out covered with bees while the Nazis are stung to death. Or perhaps it is set during a cicada swarm! Any news?

@RetroBlasting, what brand of hat is that? A Penman?

1995 was about the last year that they should have even tried to do an Indiana Jones movie with Harrison Ford.

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.

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.

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.

Hey, I'm from the future, Michael 100% called it.

The words Shia Labeouf and enjoyable should never be used in the same sentence.

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

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 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.

when does the video mentioned in minute 2:04 come out?

Nice to see Emperor's Tomb on Xbox make an appearance. I'd always wondered if you had played it.

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!

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!)

This was a very well-done video, Michael.

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.

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 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.

Just discovered this channel with this new video and have to say it was fascinating and very well-made. I agree that there has been a litany of lost opportunities. There's a great concept in a dull, bow-tie wearing college teacher who moonlights as a dashing adventurer. However, I suddenly wonder, would the idea get too repetitive after a while? Jungles and deserts are his natural environment in these stories, yet neither are visually interesting - and once you've done them a couple of times, where do you go next?

Morbid curiosity will probably account for 50% of Indy Jones 5 box office

I can’t imagine them recasting Harrison Ford, I mean it’s really weird when I watch a Bond Film that doesn’t have Sean Connery

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.

Temple of Doom was dark , unique and awesome. Last Crusade was a Raiders remake with Sean Connery added in

Excellent commentary! Nice Work.

Irvin Kershner was a genius for waiting for the right shot and working scenes until they were done perfectly

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 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.

I remember seeing Last Crusade in my local theater. My Dad dropped me off and picked me up because I wasn't old enough to drive yet. Strangely I also remember thinking the dialog was too quiet while the action was too loud.

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"

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 KZfaq. You didn’t waste a second of the 28 minutes and 27 seconds.

Hi Michael! Interesting ideas on if the Speilberg-Lucas team had continued to create Indy films after Temple vs. the very real hiatus we got. If so, would a Crystal Skull have been made? I don't think so at least not the same kind of Crystal Skull. Raiders is Raiders and there can only be one of those. I still get chills when I see it now. It's a very special film and it's okay if nothing else can be like it. Temple is good and I think you're spot-on when you state it was/is underrated. Last Crusade caught many of what made Raiders special. You're also spot on about how different Speilberg and Lucas are. One went on and consistently created films that ranged from very good to great and in multiple genres. Lucas is definitely an odd duck but seemed to team well with Spielberg. Maybe he brings out the best in him? The only place I think I don't agree is on Shia LaBeouf and disagreement is okay of course. That great teen actor from Holes (super film!) had Transformed (pun intended) into someone that had an overgrown sense of self that does not serve him well. Super video and made me think of what could have been. No matter what though, that momentum was lost. :-(

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…

Love these long talks about Indiana Jones. Nailing it.

Good video Michael. Thanks man

My only issue with Temple of Doom is the continuity issue caused by it being set several years before Raiders. They somehow expected us to believe that Indy could experience being possessed by some kind of demonic blood entity and watch magical rocks burn a man's hand, yet still be a hardcore materialist atheist in the beginning of Raiders. Temple of Doom makes alot more sense as a sequel, yet they choose to make it a prequel for some odd reason

I love willow

Nice video! And, I agree; it’s obvious Star Wars was the priority. But I also think part of problem was that Lucas just didn’t have as many ideas for the character. I remember an interview - maybe with Spielberg - where he said Lucas originally negotiated a deal with Paramount for 5 films, even though he only had 3 ideas, at most. Even though he’s not involved now, I remember reading several stories after KOTCS was released, where Lucas claimed he’d already started drafting the script to Indy 5. Part 5 should have been released 10 years ago. This new delay makes me think they still don’t have a final script.

I feel like that Indy magic was still somewhat there in the early nineties with “Fate of Atlantis” and I still remember feeling like there was so much potential for more at the time. Indiana Jones still felt relevant. I don’t even really count the series which even at my young age seemed….off. Indy without even just a little supernatural magic sprinkled in felt like a weird imposter of sorts. By the time “Indiana Jones and the infernal machine” and Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb” rolled around it already felt like Lucasarts were just throwing the old fans a bone wrapped in nostalgia. I loved both of those games especially Emperors Tomb, which really felt like a spiritual sequel, but once I finished enjoying those games I wasn’t really anticipating more. Every little crumb thrown our way just felt like it could be the last bit of Indy we’d get (including Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).

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.

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 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've fond memories of watching the first 3 Indy films in the cinema and I tried to like the 4th film(there were some really good ideas in it but it seemed to lose its way ) I am a huge fan of these type of "Boys own adventure" type movies I.e Doc Savage Romancing the Stone The Rocketeer etc etc .. I never saw any Indy merchandise (I live in the UK) as a kid and had to kitbash my own utilising an Action Man with a cowboy hat on but to me as a child that way my Indy

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.

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.

Great retrospective!