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Indiana Jones is a fictional bullwhip-toting, fedora-wearing archaeologist with an overdeveloped ophidiophobia (fear of snakes). He first appeared in a series of films by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in the 1980s.
Jones was originally portrayed by Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Younger versions of the character were also played by River Phoenix (in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), and by Corey Carrier and Sean Patrick Flanery (in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles). An older version (93) of Jones, played by George Hall, also appeared in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
Indiana Jones is also the general name given to the series as a whole, which is comprised of three films, a TV series, various novels, comics, video games, and other media. A fourth film has also been announced for a likely 2007 release.
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Indiana Jones was born Henry Jones Jr. to Scottish-born Professor of Medieval literature Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (played by Lloyd Owen in the TV Series and by Sean Connery in the films) and his wife Anna on July 1, 1899, in Princeton, New Jersey. "Junior" accompanied his father on his travels throughout Europe, where he learned to speak, read, and write 27 languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Swahili, Latin and Chinese, as well as some Hindi, apart from English. Although his father called him "Junior," Henry Jr. adopted the name of his beloved dog Indiana for himself, insisting he be referred to as Indiana Jones. It is not known for sure when he first did this, except that he was referred to as Indiana during childhood by his peers.
In 1912, Indy was living in Utah and was a member of the Boy Scouts with the rank of "Life Scout." It was here, while attempting to secure the Cross of Coronado from thieves, Indy first learned to use the bullwhip and received his trademark fedora. This was also the time when he first developed his aversion to snakes.
His father wanted Indiana to go to Princeton University. To escape this, he ran away from home by train. He ended up in Mexico and was kidnapped by Mexican revolutionaries. He joined this army of revolutionaries, playing a part in the Mexican Revolution in 1916, under Pancho Villa. It is here that he also met his friend Remy, a Belgian. With Remy, he left Mexico and eventually made his way to Africa at the beginning of World War I.
He and Remy intended to join the Belgian Army, but Jones' inability to read maps properly caused him to lose his intended unit, and he instead fought along side a team of old men under the British Army. Among missions (depicted in the television series), the team destroyed a giant cannon mounted on a train, and they kidnapped the (real-life) German military genius Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck in a balloon, but they were forced to release him.
Eventually Jones joined the Belgian army with Remy, Jones was commissioned as a lieutenant, and in 1916 and participated in the Western Front. He was taken prisoner by the Germans, escaped, encountered Mata Hari, worked as an intelligence officer, took ill, and was treated by Albert Schweitzer. Jones vied with Ernest Hemingway for the affections of a young nurse and worked as a translator for the Treaty of Versailles, seeing the war come to its conclusion but laying down the groundwork for a second conflict.
Sometime after the war, Jones returned to the United States, where he studied archaeology at the University of Chicago under Professor Abner Ravenwood. At the same time, he became romantically involved with the Professor's daughter Marion.
Dr. Jones abruptly left the Ravenwoods in 1926 and did not contact them for 10 years. He divided his time between teaching and archaeological expeditions, including a journey to China and India in 1935 where he faced the gangster Lao Che and the followers of the cult of Kali (Temple of Doom). In 1936, he was contacted by the United States government to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis (Raiders of the Lost Ark). He continued to take on infrequent missions for the government over the ensuing years. In 1938, Indy rescued his father from the Nazis and became embroiled in the search for the Holy Grail (Last Crusade).
When last seen in 1993, Jones was living in New York City with his daughter and her family. Sporting an eyepatch and cane, he was stopping anyone within earshot to regale them with tales of his exploits. He seems remarkably spry for a man in his 90s—whether that is because of his drinking from the Grail is unknown. It is yet to be chronicled as to what adventure led Indy to wear an eyepatch.
Since his introduction in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, the character of Indiana Jones has become a cultural icon for adventure. His popularity has allowed him to make appearances in three more feature films, a three-season TV series, dozens of novels, comic books, and video games, and even had his own amusement park ride.
The television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, aired from 1992 to 1996, with the 17-year-old Indy played by Sean Patrick Flanery, 93-year-old Indy by George Hall, and 10-year-old Indy by Corey Carrier. This inspired a number of made-for-TV and made-for-video movies featuring Flanery as young Indy. One of the last Young Indiana Jones TV movies featured a cameo appearance by Harrison Ford, reprising the role of Indy as a man in his 50s.
The popular trilogy of theatrical films: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, were made from 1981-1989, created by George Lucas and Directed by Steven Spielberg. The series starred Harrison Ford as Jones. The upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie, once again to star Harrison Ford, has been in the planning stages for several years; it is in pre-production and is not expected to be released until February 2007 at the earliest. Jim Ward, Vice President of Lucasfilm, has said in a recent press conference that a new Indiana Jones video game is expected that same year, around the time of the movie.
Apart from Novel adaptations of the movies, and several Young Indiana jones episodes, there are also a series of original paperback novels about the adventures of Indiana Jones other than those in the films, and another series of novels about Young Indiana Jones for younger readers. In Germany, there was a series of adult novels by author Wolfgang Hohlbein, and in France a Young Indiana Jones series by Joseph Jacobs and Richard Beugne. Sadly these are only available in German and French respectively.
Young Indiana Jones Novels by Random House
Young Indiana Jones Novels by Ballantine Books
Indiana Jones Adult Novels by Bantam Books
German Novels by Goldmann Verlag
Find Your Fate Adventure Books by Ballantine Books
There was a comic book published by Marvel Comics in the early 1980s featuring the talents of John Byrne among others. Later Dark Horse Comics produced a number of Indiana Jones Comics. Indy also had a cameo in a Star Wars story in an issue of the Star Wars Tales comic books.
Dark Horse Comics Stories
Marvel Comics The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones Stories
Various video and computer games have also been produced. The games include:
In 1995, Disneyland opened a ride called Indiana Jones Adventure, based on the franchise and set in the "Temple of the Forbidden Eye"; Tokyo DisneySea has a similar attraction, set in the "Temple of the Crystal Skull". Disney-MGM Studios features a stunt show called "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular". Also, Disneyland Paris has a rollercoaster called "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril".
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (1993, Williams), designed by Mark Ritchie, is a widebody pinball game that features sound clips from all three theatrical films, and features 12 different stages (four stages each based on different scenes from the movies, including three video modes). If you complete all 12 stages, you will enter the game's "Wizard Mode", called Eternal Life.
This was the first game to use Williams/Midway's DCS Sound System, with the music composed by Chris Granner.
Indiana Jones, "Obtainer of Rare Antiquities," is modeled after the strong-jawed heroes of the matinee serials and pulp magazines that Lucas and Spielberg enjoyed in their childhoods, such as the Republic Pictures serials, and Doc Savage. The two friends first discussed the project while in Hawaii during the time of release of the first Star Wars film. Spielberg told Lucas how he wanted to direct a James Bond film. Lucas responded that he had something better than that.
Spielberg wanted Indiana to be a James Bond-like figure that got into difficult situations and worked his way out. Upon requests by Spielberg and Lucas the costume designer was given the task to make the character have a distinctive recognizable silhouette through the style of the hat (much like Dick Tracy). After examining many hats, the designers chose an urban version of the classic Australian fedora, the Akubra.
Other elements of the outfit were the jacket (still available today from Indyjacket.com [1]) - the bag was a modified World War II gas mask bag, and of course the whip.
Indy's Revolver is a .38/200 calibre Webley Mk IV, but he is also seen with the .45ACP Colt M1911A1, the 9mm Browning Hi-Power, the Webley Mk VI, and the Smith & Wesson New Century (both in .455 Webley calibre) in the movies, as well as a .45 ACP Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector 2nd model. [2]
Many people have been called the real-life inspiration of the Indiana Jones character. Probably the most cited person is famous paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews. Another person cited as a possible inspiration is the Italian archaeologist and circus strongman Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823). Religious archaeologist Vendyl "Texas" Jones claims that he was the inspiration, citing his names (he notes that his first name trimmed becomes Endy — very similar to Indy), but this claim has reportedly been denied by Spielberg. Other candidates include explorer Gene Savoy [3], Yale University historian and explorer Hiram Bingham III and University of Chicago archeologist Robert Braidwood [4]. Another very strong candidate is the famed adventurer and anthropologist Schuyler Jones. [5] However, the most likely inspiration was the fictional character Allan Quatermain.
The character was originally named Indiana Smith, but Spielberg disliked the name and Lucas casually suggested "Indiana Jones". The name was thus changed early in the production of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The origin of the name "Indiana" is the same in the real world as in the fiction: It was the name of an Alaskan malamute Lucas had in the 1970s (the same dog was also the inspiration for Chewbacca). His name is also said to be derived from the character "Nevada Smith," played by Steve McQueen in the 1966 film of the same name.
Spielberg also admitted that an important inspiration for the style and atmosphere of the adventures of Indiana Jones were the adventures of the Belgian comic character Tintin by Hergé.
The DVDs for Chapters 1-22 are expected to be released sometime in 2007, according to a statement by series producer, Rick McCallum of Lucasfilm. The company has already put in two years of work on creating these DVDs, so as to have bonus features for each movie.
McCallum expects there to be 22 Young Indiana Jones Chronicles DVDs in all, 3 of which have been completed. The discs will include some 66 historical featurettes, now in production. Work has been ongoing for about 18 months on the Young Indy DVDs, with about another 18 months worth of work yet to be done. If all goes well, the plan is to tie the DVD release to the theatrical debut of Indy IV.
Chapters 23-25 of the Indiana Jones series (The Temple of Doom, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Last Crusade, respectively) were released on DVD as a boxed set of all three films plus a fourth disc of bonus materials in 2003.
Features
Bonus disc features
TV series/films
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1993)
Theatrical films
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Indiana Jones IV (2007)