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Dialling up Destiny....

Writer's picture: Nicholas HodgsonNicholas Hodgson

Yesterday I finally got around to watching the new Indiana Jones movie – the Dial of Destiny.

*spoilers obviously - consider yourself warned*

And I thought it would be a fun film to talk about since it features two elements that my Harry and Jett stories have too.

Fictional characters interacting with real historical events AND time travel.

So how did it measure up?

Well let me preface by saying that I have a long history with Indiana Jones. One of my most cherished movie going memories is being twelve years old and going to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at the cinema back in Gisborne, New Zealand. I don’t remember who I went with or much about how it came about, but I do remember how much fun the movie was.

What’s not to love after all – lots of action, Nazi’s, funny bits, and people digging up amazing things from the past.

Still a water tight formula.

Now I think I’m right in saying that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, despite being the third of the 1980’s Indy trilogy, was actually the first one I saw. If I had seen Raiders of the Lost Ark or Temple of Doom before that then I have no memory of them. And I know for sure that I wouldn’t have gone to the movies to see them – since I was all of four years old when Raiders came out and only seven when Temple came out (and there’s no way I would take a seven-year-old to see THAT movie with hearts being ripped out of chests, people eating monkey brains and that scene with the bugs…).

Last Crusade is still my favourite of the Indy movies (spoilers again – an opinion which didn’t shift after yesterday’s viewing) and I think it holds up very well even now more than thirty years after it came out. Plus, it’s the only one to feature both Indy AND James Bond (well – Sean Connery but same difference).

Gotta love that.

In the early 90’s there was also the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles on TV which I thought was uneven but good. And considering the expense involved, it’s impressive as hell that most of those episodes are actually shot on location in the country they take place in. That must have taken some organisation.

In every episode of the Chronicles, Young Indy would interact with some historical figure – whether it be Teddy Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Mata Hari, Norman Rockwell etc etc… It was kind of the trademark and a lot of fun for someone who was interested in history.

But it does suggest an interesting conundrum for the writers – that is how to have a fictional character interact with a person who really did exist and whose life is fairly well documented. Something I’m interested in because, obviously, that’s what happens in my stories too.

The way they did it in the show was to have each storyline involving a historical figure be a relatively minor one which didn’t notably impact the trajectory of that persons life. That is – unlike Doctor Who for example… they couldn’t have Indy meet Vincent Van Gogh and show him how wildly popular his paintings would become after his death (not a criticism of Doctor Who of course – that particular episode is utterly brilliant!).

And it’s a good rule to follow for any fiction writer who wants to write about real historical events. You can insert your character into the real world, so long as you don’t change things so much that subsequent history makes no sense.

The main character in the first book in that I have to worry about in that regard is Princess Margaret.

*Spoilers for Partners in Time naturally*

Of course, the fact that she meets Harry and Jett in an alternative 1941 helps. Likewise, the idea that time travel means a character can go off and have a whole big adventure then return to the exact same moment of their life.

What I can’t do though is make any major changes to Princess Margaret’s story which don’t marry up with the real life of a person who lived most of their life very much in the public spotlight.

So far I think I’ve done okay but we’ll see how that works going forward.

(That’s a hint that Margaret will feature in future stories. You’re welcome.)

So how does the new Indy stack up in that regard? Well there’s a couple of neat tricks they pull. The first is that the villain in the film is obviously modelled on a real person (the rocket scientist Werner Von Braun who built the Apollo moon rocket) but is clearly a fictionalised version.

That helps a lot.

The second is that the world in which Indiana Jones operates has already been established as being a place where magical or supernatural things can AND do happen.

The Ark of the Covenant was discovered in the 1930’s and killed a bunch of Nazis.

The Holy Grail was discovered briefly, by more Nazis, then lost.

Aliens exist.

And now… Archimedes invented time travel.

Knowing the previous three facts about this world makes it far easier to suspend disbelief when it comes to the forth one. After all why shouldn’t time travel also exist when everything else I have described is true?

Which is why I never understood the criticism of one particular scene in the black sheep of the Indy movies – the Crystal Skull movie from 2009. Who cares if Indy survives a nuclear explosion by hiding inside a fridge? He survived the opening of a box that can melt the face off a Nazi, met a nine-hundred-year-old knight and saw a high priest psychically rip the heart out of a human sacrifice victim – why should a particularly robust and shock absorbing fridge be a bridge too far?

So after a long segway… what did I think of the movie?

Honestly it was fine. Just a bit too long. I don’t know whether it’s my attention span which has decreased but I don’t need to watch a two and a half hour Indiana Jones movie. I think you could safely cut half an hour from that movie and make it a better paced, more entertaining movie.

But then what do I know – I just write books for kids.

Anyway… check it out on Disney+ if you’re interested. It’s not the worst way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday arvo.

And thanks… if you’ve managed to read this far then you’ve done well.

Any thought of reaction, feel free to add in the comments below.

Till next time!

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