Indiana Jones reboot

[bookworm]

Disney wants to reboot Indiana Jones.

I am 100% against this. Not because of Chris Pratt, I think he could be okay in the role.



I'm against it because Indiana Jones should not be rebooted. It is the action adventure franchise, beyond iconic both in cinematic history and just in pop culture. To do away with all that is ludicrous.

I would be completely behind starting up a new adventure series with a new character that is obviously 'supposed' to be Indy, but isn't officially declared him. That would be awesome. But an Indy reboot: no.
I could even get behind putting Chris Pratt in as Indy in the established world and continuing the adventures that way. It would be odd not seeing Harrison Ford, but at least the franchise stays intact.

So to be clear, I'm not against expanding Indiana Jones' adventures. The more the better I say, that's why Indy is the greatest, because he has done everything. What I will not support is erasing the already formed stories in order to start fresh.

I'm assuming the reason Disney is considering this is because they want to take Indy to a different era? That would be the only thing that would necessitate a reboot as opposed to simply recasting in order to go back in the timeline.

[Catspaw]

That picture is amazing. When I first saw rumours somewhere about Chris Pratt as Indy, my first thought was, "I don't think so!" and then right afterwards I changed my mind and thought that he could probably actually pull the role off quite well. I love the Indy movies, so I agree that I would prefer not to have it be a reboot that erases those classic adventures, though I can see why they might want to for the sake of convenience. I'll be honest - no matter how it's done, if they make more Indy movies that don't look awful beyond anything imaginable, I will see them.

[Shennifer]

I'm with bookworm in that I want Indy movies, but I don't want them to reboot the series as if to say the original trilogy never happened.

We'll see what these new movies are like. I do like Chris Pratt, and I think he can pull it off though

[bookworm]

I’m now getting conflicting reports on what exactly Disney is wanting to do here. People throw the word ‘reboot’ around way too lightly and it causes confusion, because it has a very specific definition.

A reboot completely erases the previous works in a franchise in order to start completely fresh. It creates a blank universe where nothing that has happened before has happened anymore. It often, but not always, also includes a direct remake of the original piece of the franchise, the origin story if you will, in order to establish the new one.

Despite the common claim, the new Star Trek movies are in fact not a reboot of Star Trek. They acknowledge, and even directly tie in, to the other parts of the established franchise.
If that is what they’re going for here, not a clean slate but just some way to go back in the timeline and add in new adventures, as I said I’m all for that.

[The Top Crusader]

Yeah, I like Pratt a lot but no more Harrison Ford makes me sad. Just recently Ford was saying he'd really like to do one final Indy film--I'd really like to see that while he is able and is apparently interested in doing it.

One thing they could do is have a story that has major events occurring in the 1930's and 1960's or whatever, and have Pratt play younger Indy and Ford play old man Indy, then Indy 6 can just be Pratt back in the 30's or whatever. Just seems like a waste to not use Harrison Ford if he's still kicking and wanting to do it.

[Catspaw]

If Top wasn't already my hero, he would be now. I really love that idea. I love Harrison Ford as Indy, and if he's interested, I agree that it would be a shame not to make the most of it. That could make for a great transition film to kind of pass the role over, with the chance to them make more in the future with just Chris Pratt, or at least mostly him. Now I really, really want to see the movie that Top's suggestion would create.

[The Top Crusader]

They also need to be consistent and cast Pratt as young Han Solo in the random Star Wars spinoff movies they're making!

[Catspaw]

Yes, of course, Chris Pratt can be Star Lord, Han, and Indy. Definitely. Talk about being set for life!

...Except now I'll be disappointed when this awesome idea does not happen. I want a Han Solo picture like the Indy one that bookworm posted in the first post!

[The Top Crusader]

Harrison Ford was thinking back happily on his line, "Fly, yes. Land... no." yesterday apparently.

[Catspaw]

I had that thought this morning too! I assumed that about ten million other fans were as brilliant as me, but it makes me happy to think that my mind was (at least temporarily) on the same wavelength as The Top Crusader!

[bookworm]

I hate to say this, but I have to actually dissent from Top’s proposal. It’s not a bad thought, the idea itself is solid, but I have concerns over how it would come off if actually implemented on screen.

It sounds great in theory. We’d have a clear passing of the torch from original Indy to the new one by involving them both in a transition movie and then Pratt takes over solo (as in alone, not takes over Han Solo I didn’t realize I opened a pun opportunity until I wrote that and reread it ) with future films. But in practice, would it not actually be more strange than transitional to have both versions appear in the same movie?

In Crystal Skull Ford is old, but still unmistakably Indiana Jones. To have him here as ‘old Indy’ then throw back to Pratt in the past, it seems to me that would come off as very awkward. Unless it’s not ‘current day’ (of the time setting in the film) older Indy, but they take him way into the future when he’s 100 and clearly done adventuring, then throw pack to Pratt to fill in some previous event. That might work. But if it’s just 60’s era Indy remembering back to just a couple decades ago, but it’s a different actor, I don’t know if it would really work in people’s minds.

If we’re trying to smoothly hand over to Pratt, I think it would probably just be cleaner and easier to start out with him in the role outright.

[Catspaw]

We’d have a clear passing of the torch from original Indy to the new one by involving them both in a transition movie and then Pratt takes over solo (as in alone, not takes over Han Solo I didn’t realize I opened a pun opportunity until I wrote that and reread it )

This made me smile. If you hadn't added the explanation, I definitely would have assumed that it was on purpose.

If we’re trying to smoothly hand over to Pratt, I think it would probably just be cleaner and easier to start out with him in the role outright.

This totally makes sense, now that you bring it up, but I think that if Harrison Ford was willing and able to be Indy again, totally ignoring that to go with somebody different would be a mistake. Your reasoning makes sense, and I can see how that could become awkward, but I think that if it was done properly, it could work.

I hope the people who actually get to make these decisions are giving these issues as much thought as the people in this thread!

[bookworm]

If you hadn't added the explanation, I definitely would have assumed that it was on purpose.

I know, when I noticed it I thought it was pretty good, but it just happened to come out that way. I wouldn’t have even realized it was a pun if you and Top hadn’t already brought Han into the conversation.

but I think that if Harrison Ford was willing and able to be Indy again, totally ignoring that to go with somebody different would be a mistake.

To be clear, I’m absolutely not encouraging shutting down Ford early just because I don’t like the double casting idea. If he is up for it then he should absolutely get another movie or two, as many as he can handle, no question. We need to have the ‘real’ Indy for as long as we can.
What I’m saying is just go ahead and let him have the movie then. We don’t need to risk a clear on screen transition not working out, we can have Ford do another movie himself and then pick up with Pratt right off in the new series.

[Catspaw]

but I think that if Harrison Ford was willing and able to be Indy again, totally ignoring that to go with somebody different would be a mistake.

To be clear, I’m absolutely not encouraging shutting down Ford early just because I don’t like the double casting idea. If he is up for it then he should absolutely get another movie or two, as many as he can handle, no question. We need to have the ‘real’ Indy for as long as we can.
What I’m saying is just go ahead and let him have the movie then. We don’t need to risk a clear on screen transition not working out, we can have Ford do another movie himself and then pick up with Pratt right off in the new series.

I can see what you mean, and that could be an issue. Sometimes having a chance to compare side-by-side can be a bad thing, reminding us of what we're missing or differences that might be missed by the casual observer when more distance is provided. However they do it, I will plan to see it, but there might be some ways that will work out better than others.

[The Top Crusader]

Just go forward with Shia LaBeouf!

[bookworm]

They're doing it!

[Peachey Keen]

Forget Star Wars! This is the news I've been waiting for!

[Catspaw]

Yay! I saw the good news when I got home from work today. Indy 2019! I am pleased.