This Won't Teach You Anything: A Pop Culture Podcast

Part Two of A Deep Dive into the Iconic Indiana Jones Franchise with Funcle Hipster

October 20, 2023 Andrew Season 4 Episode 5
Part Two of A Deep Dive into the Iconic Indiana Jones Franchise with Funcle Hipster
This Won't Teach You Anything: A Pop Culture Podcast
More Info
This Won't Teach You Anything: A Pop Culture Podcast
Part Two of A Deep Dive into the Iconic Indiana Jones Franchise with Funcle Hipster
Oct 20, 2023 Season 4 Episode 5
Andrew

Ready to unlock the secrets of the Dial of Destiny? Join Funcle Hipster and myself as we whip through the rugged terrain of the Indiana Jones universe. We start our adventure by examining the incredible CGI technology that breathed life into the captivating flashback scene. We analyze the notable kill counts, revel in the signature sound of an Indiana Jones punch, and discuss the age-defying stunts of Harrison Ford. Plus, there's a fun fact for fans - Indiana Jones has punched 20 Nazis in the face throughout the franchise!

But that's not all! We turn our lenses to the chilling villains of the film, particularly Mads Mikkelsen's character, Voler. We unpack his time-traveling plot to wipe out Hitler and unravel the mysterious connection between the Antikythera and the Dial of Destiny. We dig into the palpable on-screen chemistry between Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller Bridge, before shifting gears to examine the curious plot hole from 'Back to the Future.' How does 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' handle time travel differently? Stick with us to find out!

Lastly, we step outside the cinematic universe to explore how the blurred political landscape impacts the box office returns of films like 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'. We reflect on the need for open conversations between people with opposing views, and how the lack thereof can lead us to miss out on great films. We round off our discussion by sharing personal insights about our podcasting journey, the bumps we've encountered, and the growth we've enjoyed. So sit back, buckle up, and join us on this roller-coaster ride through the Indiana Jones franchise. Remember, "It's not the years, it's the mileage" that counts!

Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Ready to unlock the secrets of the Dial of Destiny? Join Funcle Hipster and myself as we whip through the rugged terrain of the Indiana Jones universe. We start our adventure by examining the incredible CGI technology that breathed life into the captivating flashback scene. We analyze the notable kill counts, revel in the signature sound of an Indiana Jones punch, and discuss the age-defying stunts of Harrison Ford. Plus, there's a fun fact for fans - Indiana Jones has punched 20 Nazis in the face throughout the franchise!

But that's not all! We turn our lenses to the chilling villains of the film, particularly Mads Mikkelsen's character, Voler. We unpack his time-traveling plot to wipe out Hitler and unravel the mysterious connection between the Antikythera and the Dial of Destiny. We dig into the palpable on-screen chemistry between Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller Bridge, before shifting gears to examine the curious plot hole from 'Back to the Future.' How does 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' handle time travel differently? Stick with us to find out!

Lastly, we step outside the cinematic universe to explore how the blurred political landscape impacts the box office returns of films like 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'. We reflect on the need for open conversations between people with opposing views, and how the lack thereof can lead us to miss out on great films. We round off our discussion by sharing personal insights about our podcasting journey, the bumps we've encountered, and the growth we've enjoyed. So sit back, buckle up, and join us on this roller-coaster ride through the Indiana Jones franchise. Remember, "It's not the years, it's the mileage" that counts!

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to another episode of this Won't Teach you Anything. This is part two on a discussion of Indiana Jones, specifically Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. But my guest and I, funko Hipster, cover just about everything Indiana Jones, so we went off on all three original films, got into the Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny, in no particular order of course. We were all over the place, just whatever came to mind we started spouting off and talking about. We ended the last episode talking about the kill counts in the movies. This time we're going to go ahead and start episode two with a discussion of the way Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny started out, with a flashback.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's something that's so incredible and one of the reasons that I brought up the CGI technology. They were using AI to be able to generate. They went back and through all the footage that they had from shooting with him all through this at the late 70s, 80s and they just crunched it into the database and used the AI to be able to fill it and put it right onto that face and with certain marks on there, and it looks incredible. It looks so good. Yeah, it does.

Speaker 1:

I mean there's spots where you can obviously tell something's off a little bit, but as far as being, it's different than what has been done. When you see de-aging in other films, I mean this is something totally different. As you were explaining, this is actual footage of Harrison Ford's younger face mapped onto 78-year-old Harrison Ford during the filming. So yeah, I mean it's really well done. When you get that because you do at least I did you got that feeling of those former films, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, our mind definitely fills in the blanks for that. We see the younger and it looks good enough for our naked eye to be able to see that and then to have his mannerisms with him on there. So all those things just really fill in the cracks of the aging. That has obviously happened.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and so for me, I thought the way the film started with the flashback was a good way to usher us back into that world and that character.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, fighting those Nazis man.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's got it. The Russians didn't go over as well, found a way to bring the Nazis back.

Speaker 2:

Yep, let's go back to what we know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, we can all agree on that right.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I do have a stat, a fun little, punching Nazis in the face. Twenty of them over the franchise. Twenty Nazis he punched in the face. Now the sound, the so distinct right For an Indiana.

Speaker 1:

Jones punch to the face is what a hammer.

Speaker 2:

He's heavy, and I love it.

Speaker 1:

You're right, my God, there's no, there's no sound. Yeah, a punch to the face delivers like an Indiana Jones punch to the face. Yeah, a little bit, I'll throw a little bit back at you. I was just down in Orlando at Disney World I watched. A must for me is the Indiana Jones stunt spectacular. Oh, okay, so they have stuntmen recreating some of the stunts and whatnot.

Speaker 2:

Stuntman Mike what's?

Speaker 1:

that.

Speaker 2:

Stuntman Mike.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, stuntman Mike and his brother, stuntman Bob. So during that thing you know where they're throwing punches and stuff they're using that it's fantastic. I'm like I'm elbowing calling.

Speaker 2:

I'm like what the hell are you?

Speaker 1:

talking about. But I know, I mean, you just know that sound.

Speaker 2:

It's the same thing with, like the distinct lightsaber sound, the distinct dirty, hairy gun 44 Magnum going off. It's very distinct. For that purpose it has its own like fingerprint of sound.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, 100% the feeling again going back to the overall feeling of an Indiana Jones film and starting off with a flashback which, again, you know, I mean that's, that's risky, because you know, fans Star Wars fans, I've often said are the most critical and toxic group of fans out there. You know, the Force Awakens. Oh, it was too much like a new hope. You know, basically just remade a new hope. Okay, here's the last Jedi, something completely different than you haven't seen before. Oh, I hated it was, you know this is my franchise.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yep.

Speaker 1:

So you run that risk of going back and running. You know a 15, 20 minute younger version of Indiana Jones and you know you can start the movie off really badly if that doesn't.

Speaker 2:

If that doesn't work, you sure can you know because you're going right.

Speaker 1:

You're going right into the wheelhouse of what, what Spielberg did into the lion's den, as they say it definitely, definitely that falls on his face. The rest of the film is just kind of like okay, here we go.

Speaker 2:

But I'm the same. The different side of the coin is you let them know right off the bat that you're in good hands. And that's what Maverick did with putting everything. The same same song that came out there and then it and danger zone going and then they going off of that. That put you, put you at your home and you are feeling good. You're in a good spot.

Speaker 1:

You're home, and that's what happened.

Speaker 2:

You don't kill a Nazi, you're right.

Speaker 1:

You know that's the only thing that could have made Maverick better is if the bad guys were not.

Speaker 2:

That's the only thing that would have made that better movie.

Speaker 1:

The only thing it was missing. So you get through the flashback sequence and I think one of the things that that that it wisely didn't do or lean on, which would be the easy, cliched thing to do, would be make a huge thing of the age of the main character. You get some illusions to it and a few comments here and there, but it's not a constant barrage of you know when it would have been real easy to you know, back in 1981, the famous ad-lib line.

Speaker 1:

it's not the years, honey, it's a mileage, it's a mileage. Yep, another you know classic line. You get illusions to it and I think they're. They're appropriate for the scenes. They're not just peppered in as as joke age jokes here and there Like a Danny Glover being too old. Oh, I'm too old for this shit. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

But see that worked in that movie because he's getting ready to retire. We know that movie, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

He's that character is he's getting ready to retire. That's what makes makes that okay, because he's like you know, he's, he's. I'm at the end of my career and I'm getting paired with this lunatic.

Speaker 2:

And I'm done. I'm done. I don't need to be doing this anymore.

Speaker 1:

I'm only going to do this for four more films. That's it.

Speaker 2:

And then I'm done.

Speaker 1:

There might be another one coming out, I know, and he'll be too much older for this. You're back in the saddle, so to speak, with Indiana Jones, and then it hits you right in the face that he's an old guy in an apartment.

Speaker 2:

That was humbling to see that and be like all these adventures. And he did, and all that amounted to was him being an old guy in a recliner, in a crapping neighborhood. Yep, yep, and, and how many? I mean personally I've, I've lived in Chicago, I've lived in LA and you don't know people's past and how many old guys are get off my lawn kind of guys and he turned into that. So that was. He was just crazy old guy, mr.

Speaker 1:

Jones from from upstairs.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, that's it. That's all he was.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and nobody knew, nobody even had any idea. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's such a good setup. I know we were not getting to the end, but it's such a good setup for where he was in his position, almost like a Toy Story 3 at the at the end, where they're just ready to ready for it all to go away, like what, what am I doing this for? And so so for him to, for them to establish that of where he's at and to get into another adventure and that's like his true passion and everything, but then to to step back and see where he really is, was incredible. That was great storytelling.

Speaker 1:

It was, it was, there was a lot of, there was a lot of people that that didn't share that feeling the way you know they they're like. Oh, there's characters, you know it's a. It's a more depressing Indiana Jones than than we're used to or we wanted, but that's that's the story here, that's the point.

Speaker 2:

It's not. It's not. It's the point. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it's like Helena's character. Basically, you know she's trying to goad him back into an you know a final adventure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Indiana Jones rides again you know type of thing. His wife had left him probably drinks too much.

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

And there's a scene where he talks to Sala, which was great, great to see him back again. It's stepping back into the house you grew up in very familiar, familiar faces and whatnot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Solid tells him that you know, I miss these things. I miss the sea, I miss the desert. You know I miss waking up and seeing what new adventure the day brings.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's life, right Getting old.

Speaker 1:

And he's a ride or die friend.

Speaker 2:

For sure.

Speaker 1:

I also brought my passport. It's not an adventure, and so Solid tells him he's like you know give him a hand. You know, John, as the music starts a little bit and then he almost gets hit by a car.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's great, you know.

Speaker 1:

so yeah because, again illustrating that it's been a little while.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know you get that feeling. He's got all the college kids that nobody's listening to this Nope, this lecture. You know he's telling them things are gonna be on the test and you know they just.

Speaker 2:

They don't care, they don't care, they don't care.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they wanna get through this course and go on to other things like their lives. Yeah, and again, it's not making a big thing about the age, it just is where he's at that particular Right, you know, as illustrated with the neighbors, the college kids that live down the hall or on the floor below that, you get the feeling that you know he's had his time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Time has passed him by and it's just is he's kind of relegated himself to you know, and you see it throughout the movie, and towards the end. Yeah, you know where his mindset is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's important that they're using the dial of destiny is talking about time and being able to manipulate that, and where you would go and when that subject was brought to him, you would think that he would like go to his younger time and like having these adventures again. And he goes to one thing about his son, and we get that question answered.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that is single-handedly even. That's for me the most emotional scene in the entire series.

Speaker 2:

That was incredible For me. For me, what a moment.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean that's the best acting Harrison Ford, in my opinion, has ever done that scene there.

Speaker 2:

Well, and it just seemed like such a simple thing, but he played it so well and genuine and I think, like you said, that would be a top five to go through, like the moments that he would have on there. That was definitely up there for something like that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and the way that Phoebe Waller-Bridge played off that, because she's like expecting the you know, oh, I'd go back and I'd see, I'd kill Hitler. You know the pyramids being built, or I'd take the gold from the Aztec Empire or something like that, and she's got a kind of a smile on her face as she's asking the question, because that's what she's expecting here.

Speaker 2:

That's what you would expect from an archeologist.

Speaker 1:

To lighten the mood and when he gives her that, it just it grounds everything in his all those missing years. Between the last film and this one. You're instantly filled in.

Speaker 2:

Yep, you don't need any more explanation In 20 seconds, just like that.

Speaker 1:

And it was so well done. Upon repeat viewings of it, you get little hints of that. If you watch when they pan through his apartment, you see the folded American flag, and if you look there's a picture of his son in a service photo. It was, yeah, I just. You know, that scene gets me Every time I've watched it just phenomenal acting, a great writing and then great delivery on the. You know, because she had no idea what had happened.

Speaker 2:

And it also shows, like, the difference between your father and I'm not. So I'm thinking kind of the way that Phoebe was thinking, or Helena as a character of not having a husband, a wife, kids, any of that family, and you're thinking of all these things that you could do, but all he's thinking is about somebody else and that just shows the character Indiana Jones is.

Speaker 2:

He's doing all of these things At this point in his life, in his life is always for the better of humanity and trying to do the good things for the existence of good versus evil. And then, when he's given the keys to the kingdom to be able to do that, it's one simple thing, and that's taking care of his own child.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, and his wife, and that would have brought his wife back to him yeah. So yeah, that's a phenomenal scene.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was great.

Speaker 1:

We get back into in this film what I thought was a fantastic portrayal of a villain with Mads Mickelson.

Speaker 2:

I've been loving this dude for years. This guy is an incredible actor.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, if you need a European bad guy, he's your guy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, right, and a European good guy as well. I mean, I've seen some of the different movies that he's been in, so like a movie called the Hunt and Another Round. But you're right, you want a villain.

Speaker 1:

Mads is your guy In the mainstream films, yeah, yeah. Or Hannibal in the TV show.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, yeah, he is so good. That is a dark, dark show, and for network TV.

Speaker 1:

For network TV yeah. Sean Kennedy put me onto that and I started watching it here recently and that's why when I was watching that, I was like, yeah, this is dark for network TV, yes yes. And so I've started watching that. But yeah, no, as a good guy was great in Rogue One.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, yeah, I don't know if you're. That's my favorite Star Wars movie, so I'm looking forward to the guy that directed that for the creator. That's coming out soon.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, yeah, when is that? Open Friday Pretty soon.

Speaker 2:

yeah, I'm not sure exactly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it might be Friday that it opens. Yeah, that looks fantastic. It's very Star Wars meets AI.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, that looks.

Speaker 1:

Type of thing that looks really good. So yeah, back to the interesting villains, which, again, nothing against Kate Blanchett in the prayer film, not her fault, it just wasn't a very interesting villain, at least to me. And then you get Mads Mickelson, which this wasn't the typical way of the bad guy who wants to rule the world. You find out that his main motivation is to go back and help Germany win the war, but not the way you think.

Speaker 2:

Not how you would think.

Speaker 1:

exactly right, yeah, so full on spoiler alert here we're gonna go right into that territory, so if you don't wanna hear that, then you might not wanna listen to the end of this. But his plan is to go back in time to kill Hitler. So then, and then like take over, yeah, yeah, I mean he's very stuck on the fact and he even says it that Germany didn't lose the war, hitler did yeah.

Speaker 2:

Hitler was making mistakes and he knew the correct way to be able to win the war. And so, and one of the things would be to, didn't he say something about the problems with the rockets, the V-1 rocket?

Speaker 1:

I think he said something to that yeah, something you know he had.

Speaker 2:

But he like the technology. He knew how to fix the problems that they were having and they put all their efforts into something that was a failed technology at the time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so you know, now, years later, 25, 26 years later, he's able to go ahead and take all that which he's learned since then, to be able to go back and fix all that so, and it's presented in such a way that you know it's that information is given to Indiana Jones as to what the exact plan was, because he was convinced what you're gonna go back you're gonna. Who's your target?

Speaker 2:

Ike, you know. So, Eisenhower, these guys.

Speaker 1:

He's almost insulted. What kind of Nazi kills a Fuhrer, you know.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, it's just fun, and he asked him that.

Speaker 1:

But again, you know one of the things too interesting. So the MacGuffin in this is the Antikythera, in this case, you know, called the Dial of Destiny, which, if you look this thing up, there was a device that was found years back, with all these gears and whatnot, on a shipwreck that was, you know, supposedly years ahead of its time, like nobody had seen anything like this in archeological finds in the time period to where it was dated.

Speaker 1:

So, that's where kind of this is based off of, not something that is predicting time, nexus areas and fluctuations in time. But you know, whatever it did, I think they have a theory as to what it was doing. I think it had something to do with astronomy maybe and wayfinding for ships. I'd have to look back, but in any event that wouldn't be as interesting in the film if that's where it was going. So they end up tracking down the dial and the other half of the dial because they originally only have the one half and they have to find that and you get some real good Indiana Jones type moments with puzzle solving and whatnot.

Speaker 2:

To go ahead and put all this together, the film the way it shot Foreign languages that they know and speak and they're pretty much having like a quiz off on how to speak and what he would be speaking what language, so trying to show that he's important in this whole thing. So he has to go along. So that was pretty cool.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, the chemistry between Phoebe Waller Bridge and Harrison Ford worked for me really well. Yeah, I thought they played off. I don't know if you've ever seen the. You ever see Fleabag?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, of course, dude, so good, fantastic.

Speaker 1:

You know? Another tidbit is she voiced L7, which was Lando's droid in the solo film, the Han Solo movie called Solo. So that's kind of a tie in between.

Speaker 2:

Harrison Ford and her.

Speaker 1:

she voiced that droid, so in any event, so the film itself is really. I mean, I'd have to look and see exactly where they filmed everywhere, because they really crossed the map on all these different locales that they went to. So that in itself is an adventure, just being able to see all these different places, and I'm a big fan of the map with the plane or the boat, the dotted line.

Speaker 2:

How iconic, right? Yeah, it's fantastic that they keep using it and it works. It works great. I love it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's one of those things that you expect to see. So you know, the dial ends up being something that can go ahead and predict Time Fishers, which Mads Mikkelsen's character. Voler is a physicist and he has determined that these Time Fishers and what the dial can do. His plan is to go ahead and use a certain set of coordinates to go ahead and be able to head back to 1939, to go ahead and kill Hitler, help Germany win the war.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

But what we find out and any movie that does time travel well, and I say well because it's all theoretical but one of the movies I enjoy the most having to do with time travel is Back to the Future, but it's also got probably the most broken version of time travel in my mind of any film. But I don't care, because I love it. You know it's great. Can I run this by you?

Speaker 2:

We don't need to know it's right or wrong, because it's all theoretical.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, have I run this by you, though Let me do this, because I wanna get your people out there in LA, friends of yours, hit them with this.

Speaker 1:

Take Back to the Future. Einstein the dog, the first introduction to the Time Machine, to the DeLorean in the Twin Pines Mall parking lot. Doc Brown needs Marty out there to go ahead and hold the camcorder while he's doing his experiment with the stopwatches what he does he takes a stopwatch that's perfectly in sync with a stopwatch that his dog, einstein, is wearing. He puts Einstein in the car. The car is remote controlled. He sends that car out. It disappears. Marty doesn't know what the hell's going on. He thought Einstein just disintegrated. A minute later the car shows back up. They open the door. The dog's fine, but the clocks are exactly one minute off. Exactly one minute off, and Doc Brown explains that to Einstein the dog. The trip was instantaneous. It's just like it out and back, just like blink of an eye.

Speaker 1:

He arrived at that one minute Because he skipped yes, skipped over that minute and arrived at the minute that they're at now. They experienced that minute. He didn't. That's why the time is off. Okay. Now, when he does and disappears, marty's like you disintegrated Einstein. There's no Einstein there, okay. Later in the film, back to the future too, he and his girlfriend and Doc Brown go forward in the future to meet Marty and Jennifer's future selves.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

The problem I have there. The biggest plot hole that steers me in the face every time I watch it, is when Einstein got in the car and went forward in time, even though it was a minute, could have been a year, a minute, whatever there was no other Einstein left behind. Therefore he couldn't go ahead and exist one minute in the future because he was insulated inside that car. So when he got back he didn't run into his minute older self.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I see what you're saying you see what I'm saying. So it would have been like Marty and Jennifer just disappeared until 30 years later and reappeared as their younger selves when they jumped in that time machine. They went forward in time 30 years, but went missing from the time. The minute they got in that car they disappeared from that timeline.

Speaker 2:

So in any event, dial destiny.

Speaker 1:

The first inclination you get of what this thing is doing is when they find Archimedes tomb, and Helena points out that this Phoenix what you're calling a Phoenix has propellers.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

On it, on the engraving on the, the tomb. So you're kind of like what?

Speaker 2:

Right, and then Indiana Jones is doing what?

Speaker 1:

And then he's wearing a wristwatch.

Speaker 2:

His corpse is wearing a wristwatch and he has the other half of the dial.

Speaker 1:

It's like okay what the any? You know. You know clocks won't be invented for another thousand years, not to mention, you know, wristwatch. They end up going up there. One thing leads to another. They head through the time fissure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And Indiana Jones makes the you know the statement about. I don't know where we're going, but it sure as hell isn't 1930. 1939.

Speaker 2:

Berlin and it wasn't right.

Speaker 1:

They end up going through there and they are at, as they alluded to earlier, in the film Indiana Jones teaching about the battle of Syracuse in Sicily, which is great. Yeah, oh, it's so good. That's where they end up, perfect.

Speaker 1:

You learn where, why that Phoenix had propellers as the the German bomber goes back, gets speared, goes down. We learn how Archimedes corpse ended up with the watch because they end up running into Archimedes himself. But it works in a way that that people had so much issue with the interdimensional beings in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull I don't think people had the same a version to what happened in here, to where they actually ran into Archimedes himself, and I think one of the the most interesting things was is that they figured out that that wasn't a dial to go where you wanted. In time, Helena called it a stack deck. It was always going to bring someone to that point.

Speaker 2:

Which is key, that she knew that card trick. Yes, yep.

Speaker 1:

Yep, cause they go ahead and give you exactly what a stack deck means, so that you know very cleverly, stick that in there. So if you're too slow to play along at home, that's what. That's what. That's how that works.

Speaker 2:

They always give you the breadcrumbs of the finale, always Yep. So it's it's important for you to to follow along, and one of the one of the things that I learned from listening to podcasts was there was a Christopher McQuarrie who wrote the usual suspects. One of the things that he the he didn't know the rules of like screenplay, and one of the rules is that their narrator is truthful and tells you the honest perspective. Well, in the usual suspect, the narrator is a liar, and so that is something that was different and it threw everybody off, because they always trusted the narrator and it had never been done before where the narrator was not not telling the truth, it was setting the whole thing up. So it was a liar.

Speaker 1:

Of all the scripts of all time, and it takes up up to that point for that to happen.

Speaker 2:

To that point for the narrator to be a liar the whole time Damn him. Yeah, so, and he didn't know that that was something that you couldn't do or didn't do. And so he, he won an Oscar, telling a great story, and everybody's believing that this, the, the narrator, the person that's telling the story, is the honest one and telling you the true story. Now that's fantastic. Making the whole thing up.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that is so good I didn't. Yeah, I never knew that, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So that, and when it comes to this, the storytelling they're giving you the bread crumbs along the way and everything that they're showing you, and this magic, the reason why this magic trick is told in this is because that's exactly what's happening towards the end. So it's it's great to be able to, to foreshadow in that way and and pay attention to it. Always pay attention, pay attention to the signs, right? Yeah, if you read the signs, Yep, yep.

Speaker 1:

If it's you reading the signs, yep, that's another, another, all time favorite. So yeah, they get there to the battle Syracuse, the Nazi plane goes down, nazi bad guys vanquished by, you know, basically Roman warships, which I think is great.

Speaker 2:

Sorry, you're a Nazi.

Speaker 1:

They end up meeting Archimedes and Indiana Jones. Who's who's badly wounded at that time, you know, you know decides that you know, you know, I'm. You go back, I'm going to stay because which is so great.

Speaker 2:

That's what I was talking about, like the two story. Three thing is just like he's. This is what he's actually experiencing it and he's fine with staying there and let him live in that. He's got nothing to go back to. He's got a broke down apartment. Nobody cares about him. He thinks he is finally a part of history.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and and again, phoebe Waller Bridget. She plays it so well because you can see her like you know her character trying to be like yeah, no, you're not staying here, come on, we're going that tough edge. But you see her start to break down and she's like you know you know she's emotional about it.

Speaker 2:

She's like first time you see her get emotional.

Speaker 1:

Exactly Because she's out for herself. You know the whole time that well, for me it was the second time. The first time you saw a little bit of it was when he was telling her the story about his son and his wife. Yeah, that part. And when she's like after Indy gets shot at the, at the tomb, you know she's like we just can't, we can't just leave him.

Speaker 1:

You can't just leave him and so you know, you start to see that. So she basically goes on a rescue mission to get him back. They end up there at the Battle of Syracuse and she's telling him you can't stay. You know you can't stay and it's so well done because she's speaking ancient Greek to Archimedes and mixing in English with it.

Speaker 2:

He doesn't know what the hell is going on. He doesn't know, she's like big fan, she goes, yeah, so big fan of family.

Speaker 1:

That was a great line. It was awesome and so.

Speaker 2:

And you're a genius at all those things, but he, he does not belong here, yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's he needs to be back in his time. So she ends up decking an injured Indy and a Jones wake back up. The story continues back in in.

Speaker 2:

New York Pulling an Indy move Right Totally.

Speaker 1:

That's such an Indy move. Yup and back in his apartment, you know, and things are are mended to the point to where you know. Helena's obviously contacted Marion, gave her the lowdown, she shows back up and they're given a chance to go ahead and and repair their marriage and yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, here's another great thing about that.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So there, these are like potential finales. Each, each step of these are potential finales for any fan. So, with Harrison Ford being there and the fan connecting and him staying there, any fan would be like, oh, what a way to go. You know, good, good for Indiana. People will appreciate him here. Nobody appreciates him in the real time. Don't go back, stay there and I'm fine with that finale. Nope, that's not how it's going to happen. He decks him, knocks him out, he wakes up in bed.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so the finale is this was all a dream and this is just waking up. This is like a Bob Newhart thing where, like, the end of the whole thing was all. It was all a dream, and so there was potential of that and you would be, and you'd be like, oh man, it was just a dream. And then you see the dial of destiny and then you're like, no, it's real. It's real, you see, like the shoulder, and so then all this starts to come together and the real ending is when, like you said, she reached out and Marion shows back up. And that's the part that gets me emotional, talking about that Cause that is such a pivotal thing and for him to be able to actually use the dial of destiny like he wanted to be able to do. He didn't get his son's life back, but he got his wife back.

Speaker 1:

Right In in, you know, by them sticking the dial right there, even though it had. It was just a side piece to this whole thing happening in in context of what was important to him. You know it was there as an alliteration that you know. Here it is. It still brought you back to what was important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, incredible.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so and and a and a call back to the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know, with the, you know where does it hurt, you know it hurts yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I've had to explain that to people that saw that and like, oh, I didn't like that part where where does it hurt? Kind of I was like that was a throwback. That was that happened in the first one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you should have.

Speaker 2:

you should have thunder punched whoever said that Give a nice Indiana Jones punch the.

Speaker 1:

Indiana Jones Thunder Punch. But yeah, so it wrapped up really well. You know, I don't quite know that the landscape of of films and production companies and politics is so blurred these days.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

With you know, I'm you know, I'm you know, I'm you know, I'm you know, I'm you know, never you know, and I'm not trying to get into the political realm of things, but this, this film, I mean a solid, solid Indiana Jones film.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know I mean way for me, way above Kingdom of the Crystal skull, and you know I can go toe to toe with Temple of Doom Anytime any time, totally day you know, for me because it's so well done and and and not CGI heavy, except for the beginning where you you have the replacement of the younger indie, but you know, a lot of practical effects felt like those older, the original movies. But you have so many Divisions going on in the world where people just want to go ahead and, for one reason or another, take, take sides, and I think that's what you're seeing some of now with, you know, disney's on a losing streak.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know major losing strength with with things that that were sure fired things, and I don't think that that the the box office returns on on Dial of destiny necessarily reflect that it wasn't a good movie. I think there's a lot of people who are put off by certain decisions that that just actively decided not to go and give me money, which is you know which is a shame that you know we've reached a point to where you can't go ahead.

Speaker 1:

I'm not saying, you know, if that's your thing and you want to, you know, speak your mind that way. That's your right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah to go ahead and do. I think, though, that there is a. I Think people do themselves a disservice in certain situations by blindly aligning themselves with, with certain things, what, whatever side of the aisle that that people are on, I I don't think, I think you can miss out on enjoying a good film. They're just not a lot of dialogue. That happens these days to say you know what. I don't agree with you, but I can respect what you know what, what you're doing here, and I think that's that's part of the problem, and it's reflecting all the way through the entertainment industry. Now I'm predicting right now my brother and I were discussing this, and I'm predicting right now that you might see and and actually it was, it was my brother that mentioned this, he's a host over Rudy's roundup. He's predicting and we'll see, we'll see, we'll have this on record he's predicting that the, the Snow White movie, the live action, goes straight to Disney Plus.

Speaker 2:

He, yeah, he might be right on that. Um, it's crazy to me because that's a big budget of what they're doing. They're doing with the seven average people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know, and and so again, you know, it's just on that, that that thing right now with you take and and I I listen to a. I Listened to a audiobook. It was a Walt Disney biography that came out about ten years ago and. It talked about. I mean, he had everything writing on Snow White A few times in his career he bet everything on a few different things, Let it ride huh, everything, I mean wow, completely everything on that film.

Speaker 1:

So it was, I mean it was a 100% labor of love, that film, damn. And to go ahead and To draw negative attention to Snow White being produced by Disney, that that that's happened. You know, I think Rachel Ziegler had said some things that she probably, I know Disney wishes she never said and she probably doesn't.

Speaker 2:

That's the only reason I know her name.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, yeah, and it's a shame because in I I really enjoyed the remake of West Side Story that Spielberg did. She played Maria.

Speaker 2:

I thought she was fantastic but okay, yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

I thought it. It's not knowing the room. You know that the core Disney audience to go ahead and say, well, you know that times have changed a lot since 1939, right in this instance, probably don't bite that hand you know, like this princess doesn't need record Rescueing. Okay, that's, that's fine. Make a movie with that, you know, don't, don't bite that a rich.

Speaker 1:

Oh gee, disney story yeah and in you know so I'm thinking that you know the Hemorrhaging of some of these films at Disney's done. Let's be honest, marvel is not what it isn't putting out, what it used to.

Speaker 2:

I think it peaks, it really peaked and, and so at the end it did with me as far as, like we were Working towards something.

Speaker 1:

I know where it peaked for you, right before Iron man came out.

Speaker 2:

I don't want any part of it. I've seen Rockets here. I think they're gonna be Jennifer Connelly and Rockets here. Come on, get out of here. Nobody's gonna see this. So I got a prediction.

Speaker 1:

But no good yeah, so it peaked.

Speaker 2:

Yeah with with endgame and then after after that and it just became so formulaic, with with most of these Marvel Comics. And so people are just like I've seen this already and so you see the, the average person that was looking forward to being able to get all these things and seeing the movies in Order to get to that endgame. And then, after the endgame, I feel like a lot of people fallen off after that because it it really went through and some people were a team Thanos and and so after that happened and there was still like what do they call that? The dip or the gap, or the blip.

Speaker 2:

What is it like? The the blip, the blip, yeah. So after that, being like solidified in the reality of the Marvel Universe, I think a lot of people have been turned off after that right and seeing everything as a formula.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so you know again. Again, I, like I said, hate to get into the politics, but you know, from a strictly just entertainment. You know, something happened to where the box office returns weren't nearly what they what they expected, especially on our film with a budget of 300 million dollars. Holy smokes Geez yeah you know which over time it'll be, it'll be looked at is as a. You know the completionist. It fits right in with the the other movies.

Speaker 1:

It'll do fine over time but you know that the initial so something happened somewhere Box office just was the Disney Company. Box offices are not doing what they they should and what they're expected to do, so it'll be interesting to see what happens with with some of these next Big movies.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you could be right with that snow white thing. Yeah, because of all the controversy it's going over it right now. And when is the? When is it debuting? When is it coming out? Hey, I believe you're.

Speaker 1:

I thought it was supposed to be out next year, 2024. But they might release it on a Tuesday and March, I don't know. Without telling anybody. The HBO surprise midnight.

Speaker 2:

But it's on max, you're right.

Speaker 1:

You're right. So but yeah, I think everything that we've talked about with the film and the love for the series itself just, you know, lend it to a lot of it is Harrison Ford, devotion to the character, the stories and things of that nature. So, box office aside, really solid film, great way to end the story of Indiana Jones. You know, I don't know that I need to see somebody else playing Indiana Jones.

Speaker 2:

I don't think so.

Speaker 1:

But if somebody thinks it'll make money, I'm sure we'll see that.

Speaker 2:

It will happen, yeah. So, Well, as a fan, seeing this as the fifth and probably final for Harrison Ford, are you pretty happy with how it turned out?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I am, because you know, honestly, I had heard ever since the preview it can. I'd heard such mixed reactions that my expectations were really high when the first trailer came out and then they got like tempered big because I was like, oh my God, this could be another crystal skull.

Speaker 2:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 1:

You know. So when I saw it I was like what the hell is wrong with people? This was an Indiana Jones film.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know. So you know, I think one of the biggest things was they got permission to use a Beatles song.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Yeah, in the film.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, I think it's definitely one I'll revisit from time to time. I think I've seen it more. I've seen it four times, so that's probably one more than I've seen crystal skull already. Oh, wow, yeah, but I'll revisit all of them again.

Speaker 2:

There'll be like marathons, Like you'll have like a Saturday where you'll just watch them all if you don't have anything. Yeah, which is be?

Speaker 1:

appropriate because that's where all of it was born from. George Lucas the matinees that he would see when he was growing up, and I think you know that's a great way to end this episode he's just talking about, you know, the creator of Indiana Jones. You know, basically you know, just turning his love of the stories and movies that he saw growing up and turning it into something that you know the rest of us have been able to enjoy on a huge scale.

Speaker 2:

Have you talked about like the origin idea of Indiana Jones and when it was born?

Speaker 1:

The story I had read was that it was the Saturday matinee movies, but it was like the look was from the treasure of Sierra Madre. Humphrey Bogart's character yeah, that were the look.

Speaker 2:

That makes sense Right. Came from but that's what. I had I heard a very specific story.

Speaker 1:

All right.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna talk about how George Lucas was not at the premier weekend of Star Wars. Oh, because he was in Hawaii, son of Beach. He was in Hawaii with Stevens Bielberg and they were kicking around this idea about Indiana Jones.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic, and the dog's name was.

Speaker 2:

Indiana. Yep. George Lucas' dog is named Indiana, her was.

Speaker 1:

And I'll give you a little bit of tidbit before we go about that. So way before Indiana Jones came up, my wife Colleen when they, when she was growing up, they had a Siberian Husky named Indy.

Speaker 2:

No, really Yep, oh wow.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, how about that?

Speaker 2:

And I do Talk about a dial of destiny, yeah, yeah. Definitely see it all comes full circle.

Speaker 1:

But hey, stack, deck, damn it. As always, I really appreciate you taking some time out. I look forward to the next album review, that's gonna be up on Culture.

Speaker 2:

You're a big fan of Steely Dan right.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm hoping there's an evisceration of Steely Dan. I'm sure they're fine individuals, infinitely musically more talented than I, so I don't wanna disparage that, but I really I don't like Steely Dan.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so Well, in every PG-13, you're allotted one flag.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I'm so tempting.

Speaker 2:

I know it is. I got it with the eyes, though it's so tempting. Be good, be good. Yep, you're a good man. You're a good man, charlie Brown, I threw you a softball. Feel free to swing, oh hell.

Speaker 1:

Again Funko Hipster. Thank you, yes, sir.

Speaker 1:

Tell Bogan that we said, hey, I'll let him know, we'll look for him on the other side. And there you have it. We did it. Another two-part episode, which was never intended to be two parts but just ran way too long for one part, even though earlier in the seasons we did go on some marathon. Two and a half hour, I think, is our record somewhere in there for a single episode. Didn't wanna torture you all with that, you know, and there's a lot of interesting things that we talk about. I know you probably think, my God, this is so interesting I can't handle another hour of this. So we break it into two parts to make it easier for you to digest.

Speaker 1:

Speaking of digesting, here's some information for you to digest on how you can get ahold of the show. You can email us at thiswon'tteach, at gmailcom. You can reach us on X at thiswon'tteach, instagram at this underscore won't underscore teach, underscore, you underscore anything Face and concise, not very long at all. And Facebook at thiswon'tteach. You can also check us out on YouTube, the YouTube channel. This won't teach you anything visually, full disclosure. Only two episodes up there now still learning the ropes on YouTube, and will probably still be always learning on the podcast because there's nowhere to go but up, when you're down at the bottom of podcasting, technology and broadcasting, which isn't entirely true. I do have lucky enough to have a nice setup, but there are people out there that do it so much better than I do and so always looking to learn, and I just really enjoy the whole podcast aspect. So, again, thank you for listening and we'll see you next time on. This Won't Teach you Anything.

Indiana Jones and the Dial Discussion
Dark TV Shows, Villains, and Time Travel
Time Travel and Historical Adventures
Films and Disney's Box Office Performance
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