A Better Indy Movie?
Posted by jor on June 4, 2008
Unless you care nothing for the Indiana Jones movies DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK! If you’ve seen the new one though, please feel free to read it. It basically offers a suggestion for how it could have been made into a good movie instead of the not-so-good actual version. Despite the valid arguments for the negative I pretty much enjoyed the movie myself, but this brings up a question for me.
With all these returning franchises (Indy, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Transformers, etc.) I wonder whose hands they would be best, well, handled in. When the new Star Wars movies were coming out I know we all had very high hopes, not to mention the utmost faith in George Lucas to give over 20 years of fans the best story-telling he could muster. Hey, I even held on to hope saying to everyone that the third movie would bring it all together and make up for all the mostly junky set up in the first two. Through all of the new trilogy, however, I kept thinking to myself, “This is how it should have happened,” or, “It would be so awesome if Anakin (a non-whiny version) ended up turning so evil that he killed Nat-Nat leaving her still-full belly to die along with her only to find out later that Obi-Wan kept those babies alive with the force or something.”
So my question is this: Would these movies, or any long-standing franchise really, be better handled by fans rather than the original creators? I know somehow George Lucas thinks that he and his daughters have the best ideas ever (don’t forget that ‘N Sync almost appeared in the Star Wars movies as Jedi), but is he still the one who knows the characters and the universe best? Or is it the collective fandom, who has developed a possibly unhealthy obsession with the material, the ones who should be in charge of what happens and how? Based on the reimagining of the newest Indy movie by Jonathon Landon (link above) I think there’s something to be said about a fan’s perspective on a hugely popular cultural phenomenon such as Star Wars or Indiana Jones. What do you think?
mythezza said
I think there should be a rule, yes.
After ten years, any successful franchise should be handed over to the fans. If they wish for the creators to maintain control, so be it. If they want to hand it over to new blood, so be it. This goes for everything from Star Wars and Star Trek to Indy and the Turtles to the Dune world and the world of Warcraft (both of which have had their lore just SHAT upon in the last few years).
Will it ever happen? Probably not. Should it? Yes.