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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom Fans

Discussion in 'Lucasfilm Ltd. In-Depth Discussion' started by Doom Trooper, Jan 22, 2018.

  1. Doom Trooper

    Doom Trooper Jedi Master star 3

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    Jan 1, 2014

    What an amazing post! Being the TOD fan and defender I am and always will be, I agree with every word you said.
     
  2. Doom Trooper

    Doom Trooper Jedi Master star 3

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    Jan 1, 2014
    On the subject of TOD, I forgot a cool TOD-related collectible I own I found in near perfect condition at a Saver's a few years ago was the TOD picture novelization. It's in a box near me, it has all sorts of cool images and stills from the film, a few I recall not seeing anywhere else. It follows the film word for word with the images included. It reminds me of those old movie storybooks they made for kids back then. Definitely a prized item of my collection and I'd imagine it goes for a good chunk of cash these days.
     
  3. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

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    May 18, 2017
    I had the Raiders storybook back in the day. They used to sell them in the lobby.
     
  4. Doom Trooper

    Doom Trooper Jedi Master star 3

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    Jan 1, 2014
    I find I love collecting vintage film storybooks and novelizations. Occasionally I find them at places like Saver's and Goodwill. It's amazing what you can find in those places and the merchant doesn't realize how valuable it is, allowing you to get it for next to nothing.
     
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  5. AEHoward33

    AEHoward33 Jedi Master star 4

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    Aug 11, 2019
    It's one of the reasons why I love the movie so much. One of the reasons.
     
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  6. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

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    May 18, 2017
    There's really no other film like Temple of Doom. It's very original.
     
  7. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    Imagine trying to pitch that movie.

    So what is it about?

    Okay, so the guy from the first movie escapes from Shanghai with a nightclub singer and an orphaned kid, they crash land in the Himalayas before sliding down a mountain on a life raft. From there they see an Indian shaman who takes them to a village where they have had a magic rock and all of their children stolen. The three of them go to to an Indian palace on elephants where it is discovered that an evil cult are hiding beneath in a massive temple filled with fire, and lava and human sacrifices. Our heroes fight the bad guys, grab the magic rocks, free all the kids and escape down a mine roller coaster ride, with the movie ending with a fight with the bad guys on a rope bridge across a gorge.

    Seriously?
     
  8. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

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    Oct 4, 1998
    Shorter version: Raiders meets Gunga Din.
     
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  9. oierem

    oierem Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Mar 18, 2009
    All that sounds great! lol
    Actually, it sounds crazy, but that's why the movie is great!

    Both Lucas and Spielberg were at the height of their success and the craziness that surrounds Hollywood success, and I think that shows in the film. Fortunately, that meant that they could get away with any wild idea they had and no studio could possibly stop them.
     
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  10. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    @oierem

    Ha, yeah it really is a crazy movie. In the best way possible. Like a trashy pulp comic book come to life.
     
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  11. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

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    May 18, 2017
    I've said this before but I look at it as Indy's nightmare.
     
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  12. CosmoHender

    CosmoHender Jedi Master star 4

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    Dec 2, 2016
    I actually own the novelizations for the original Indiana Jones trilogy. I got lucky and found them in a gift shop at a museum doing a special exhibition with props from the movies. It was a great find. I also have the novelizations for the original Star Wars trilogy, which I came across at a yard sale. I honestly love movie novelizations, especially when they offer alternate dialogue and stuff like that.
     
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  13. Doom Trooper

    Doom Trooper Jedi Master star 3

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    Jan 1, 2014
    Novelizations of certain films really help to elaborate and develop certain characters and story aspects more in the ways a film can't given the limited running time film has. A really good movie novelization compliments the film it novelizes and when you re-visit the film after reading it knowing the information revealed, it can really add extra dimension to the film in question.
     
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  14. Sith Lord 2015

    Sith Lord 2015 Jedi Master star 4

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    Oct 30, 2015
    Almost the same for me. I had heard of Raiders but couldn't really get interested enough to watch it. Then TOD came out at movie theaters, so the day before I saw it I rented a copy of Raiders on VHS, just to know what the series was about. I have to admit I wasn't overly impressed, a little too preachy and religious for my taste maybe. But the next day I saw TOD and it blew me away. TOD to me is THE quintessential Indy movie, no other even comes close, the others just kind of seemed like fillers to me, not bad but nothing to write home about either. A few years later Last Crusade came out, and while I mostly enjoyed it I felt the series had totally lost its punch after TOD. "Again" (not really, because wrong era, I was thinking more TFA and ANH) it struck me a little like a Raiders rehash with its preachiness and Christian overtones. That's why I find TOD so unusual and refreshing, finally not ANOTHER imaginary artifact from the bible even mentioned (which I have never read btw.).
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2021
  15. oierem

    oierem Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Mar 18, 2009
    That's a misconception: films don't have a specific running time that they have to meet. In the case of Indy, the movies are rather shorter than what could've been expected, just because they were deliberately trying to emulate the saturday matinee-serial feel. So it's a deliberate choice by the filmmakers to make the films shorter, and therefore, they decide what characters and story aspects should be more or less elaborated.
    (In other words, there are no character or story elements left out of the film because they didn't have enough time - they are left out because the filmmakers wanted to leave them out!)
     
  16. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

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    May 18, 2017
    It wasn't until I read the TOD book as a kid that I realized Willie is imagining being a Broadway star at the beginning.
     
  17. Ackbar's Fishsticks

    Ackbar's Fishsticks Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Aug 25, 2013
    Those are fun. I think I used to own the TLC equivalent before some move or other.

    I never owned the TOD picture novelization, but I remember enjoying the straight novelization very much. I really liked that it developed Short Round and Willie both, expanding on both of their backgrounds as well as giving them each lots of POV moments. (Especially the entire first half of the second chapter, which is "Short Round's entire day before that evening at the Club Obi Wan).
     
  18. Ackbar's Fishsticks

    Ackbar's Fishsticks Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Aug 25, 2013
    "So an Allan Quartermain type character, except he's actually a professor of archaeology, escapes from a gangster bar and barely gets away in an airplane, but the airplane crashes in a far-off land where he has to battle a native cult that's trying to take over the world with magic rocks. Also there's a singer and a ten-year-old kid..."
     
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  19. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

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    May 18, 2017
    and a guy whose hobby is ripping people's hearts out.
     
  20. godisawesome

    godisawesome Skywalker Saga Undersheriff star 6 Staff Member Manager

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    Dec 14, 2010
    To me, that's the perfect encapsulation of its strengths and weaknesses. Even though its a film both Lucas and Spielberg feel is too dark and too reflective of their personal crises at the time, you can still tell their energy and enthusiasm for film-making and genre-throwbacks is at full force. So everything is done full force, for both good and ill. Indy's at his most roguish and roguishly charming, Willie is the most blatantly "girl of the weak" love interest but performed admirably for what she is, the gross outs are the most over-the-top grotesque, and stuff like Short Round and the child slaves is done with 100% investment.

    I will say that the Thuggee and Mola Rom parts fit very well with my view of stuff like Fu Manchu - I can see exactly why its offensive, but also why people can dig it without giving into prejudices themselves.

    I still like ROTLA and TLC better, but I don't mind TOD.
     
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  21. CosmoHender

    CosmoHender Jedi Master star 4

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    Dec 2, 2016
    I think right there you gave a really good reason for why I love the Indiana Jones films so much: the energy and the enthusiasm. Learning about what happened behind the scenes gave me a love for film-making in general. I just really admire the passion that goes into the Indiana Jones films, a passion that I feel is too often missing in a lot of modern films.
     
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  22. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    Temple of Doom was a really curious choice to go with as the first follow up to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Raiders does have that supernatural element to it towards the end, but for the most part, it does stay grounded in a form of feasible reality. Most of the locations, and environments, characters and vehicles are easily identifiable as 1930s era, and the Nazis feel believable. Temple of Doom just completely ripped up and ignored any pre-conceived ideas of what it is going to be about for anybody going in who had seen already watched Raiders. It is just so completely different, and because it deals with such fantastical themes and locations, is really timeless and disorientating. I think it has something to do with being underground maybe for a good third of the movie?
     
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  23. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

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    Oct 4, 1998
    Everyone reading this thread has seen Gunga Din, right?
     
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  24. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    I have seen Gunga Din, and I agree that there are a good few influences from that movie in Temple of Doom.
     
  25. Sith Lord 2015

    Sith Lord 2015 Jedi Master star 4

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    Oct 30, 2015
    The Nazis are nothing short of ridiculous. When they speak English it's with the most fake imaginable "German" accents, and when they speak "German" it's even worse, as the actors were clearly Americans who might have taken 2 lessons of German. Their accents are horrible. To be fair, I think the Nazis in Last Crusade were even worse and less credible. In TOD at least I know the main villain is actually Indian. So I trust his Hindi is passable. On the other hand, Short Round is supposed to be from Shanghai. Then why does he speak Cantonese when not using English? But then again, you don't really watch an Indy film for historical or cultural accuracy.
     
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