The Writing of Indiana Jones was a Sh*t Show

Finding a MacGuffin is hard. Let’s talk about how difficult it was to write Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, from George Lucas trying to convince Steven Spielberg to use aliens to Frank Darabont getting zero credit for the final film.

In the entertainment world, there are millions of dollars on the line and troubled productions are bound to happen. Whether it's big egos, bigger budgets, or just plain bad luck, we are going behind-the-scenes on these disastrous, never ending, and sometimes dangerous productions. From the creators of WTF Happened To This Movie?, It Was A Sh*t Show is a video essay/documentary/podcast series looking at some of your favorite films and tv shows, and why they were such a nightmare to make.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:35 - George Lucas’ Indiana Jones
01:31 - Temple of Doom Struggles
02:06 - Indiana Jones and the Monkey King
02:44 - Ending with The Last Crusade
03:19 - The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
05:07 - Aliens and Crystal Skulls
05:39 - From Serials to B-movies
07:21 - Steven Spielberg Resists, Harrison Ford Waits
08:15 - Indiana Jones and the Lost Continent
09:03 - Indiana Jones and the Saucermen from Mars
09:48 - Indiana Jones and the Sons of Darkness
10:34 - Indiana Jones and the Saucermen
11:23 - Internet Rumors Go Overboard
12:38 - So Many Fake Scripts…
13:55 - Reigniting the Passion for Indy 4
15:02 - Lucas Hires Frank Darabont
15:46 - Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods
18:04 - Indiana Jones and the Atomic Ants
18:33 - Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds
19:23 - Sean Connery’s Return
19:53 - Smooth Production, Chaotic Fans
22:10 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
22:53 - Fan Backlash and Shia LaBeouf’s Defense
24:31 - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Sources:

Featured Footage:
Black Panther (2018)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Congo (1995)
Die Hard (1988)
The Dark Knight (2008)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
The Fugitive (1993)
The Goonies (1983)
The Green Mile (1999)
Home Alone 3 (1997)
Independence Day (1996)
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Indiana Jones films (1981-2023)*
Invaders from Mars (1953)
Iron Man (2008)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993–2009)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Lost in Space (1998)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Mamma Mia! (2008)
The Man from Planet X (1951)
Men in Black (1997)
Minority Report (2002)
The Mummy (1999)
The Mummy Returns (2001)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Poltergeist (1982)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943)
Seinfeld (1989-1998)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Spy Smasher (1942)
Star Wars films (1977-2019)
South Park (1997- )
Supercop (1992)
Ted Lasso (2020-2023)
The Terminal (2004)
Them! (1954)
THX 1138 (1971)
Unbreakable (2000)
The War of the Worlds (1953)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-1996)
Zoolander (2001)
Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939)
* and special features

AFI Lifetime Achievement Award
Barbara Walters Special
Bobbie Wygant
Collider
Entertainment Tonight
History Channel: Ancient Aliens
Inside the Actors Studio
MTV Video Music Awards
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Post Mortem
Today

Music:
John Williams - Indiana Jones original soundtracks
Bo Burnham - Welcome to the Internet
Ryan Hudson - Sh*t Show Theme

#itwasashtshow #indianajones #harrisonford

[TunkTheTank]

Whoops. Said Temple of Doom was 1985. Oh well.
But as John Cleese says "an infallible sign of intelligence is to be able to distinguish between the important and the trivial."
^ this is for everyone who comments, thinking they "got me."

[TheCommandoSnail]

Lucas: "They're not aliens! They're interdimensional beings"
Spielberg: "Okay, what do they look like?"
Lucas: "Aliens!"
Spielberg: "This fuckin guy"

[daelen.cclark]

The fact that rumour came from someone wanting to prove to his mother that tabloids lie all the time is kinda funny to me.

[haydenlane]

My favorite thing I've heard about the fourth Indy movie is it's a movie everybody wanted to see, but nobody wanted to make

[alexmaverick]

I like the first half of Crystal Skull reasonably well. The opening Area 51 scene is fun and mysterious, the chase on the college campus is shot magnificently, the scene where Indy and Mutt explore the tombs in Peru feels very in line with the series. After that though, the film nose dives off a cliff and doesn’t even feel like the same person was directing it anymore.

[TheAwsomeSawse]

If Crystal Skull came out in the 90s it would be remembered very differently. I also think out of all the potential McGuffins, Excalibur and The Garden of Eden are the strongest concepts.

[joki]

I think one of my big problems with Crystal skull was how it looked. Everything looked very airbrushed and set piece. Like in raiders, you get the desert and the sunset with all the people digging or going through the market places. It really threw me off. Shia was also not a great pick. I love him in other things, but this was not it. Also aliens.

[MrZachtheKingsfan]

It sounds like Spielberg was just so done with Lucas pestering him about a 4th Indy movie for 18 years, he just caved and went with the “interdementional beings” story Lucas wanted to write

[SmoothCriminal]

I love how he acknowledges how blatant it is that Spielberg ghost directed Poltergeist. That made me laugh a bit ngl.

[sinjinreed]

A lot of these fan-scripts actually sound really cool.

[DeadLikeMeJ]

If only Spielberg would have held is ground for longer :(
Atlantis film could have been magnificent, shame Lucas was so obsessed with Aliens we could have had more Indiana films with Harrison when he was younger :(

[DewitNow]

Honestly, the backdrop of the 1950's, the Cold War, and the popularity of aliens during that time period was really promising. It all comes down to the execution.

[lobsterwhisperer]

Maybe its just me, but i cannot suspend my disbelief when it comes to watching an action/adventure movie with an 80 year old lead.

[Gum_Cuzzler]

I don’t even think the aliens in Indy 4 were the problem. It was how ostentatiously they were presented, showing up at the end with a big dumb CGI alien after a final act already filled with over the top cheesy crap. Like, the supernatural stuff in the Indy franchise was subtle and mysterious. Maybe aliens could have worked if you had just had a bit of goddamn restraint with the concept and maybe just have like one saucer show up at the end or something.

[peterpidrak]

The Valhalla script sounds cool, but honestly Indiana Jones racing Soviets to find Hitler’s occult bunker, would tie it in rather nicely with the first three movies while still moving it forward in time.

[TeensierPython]

Lucas got used to having people say ‘yes’ to everything and couldn’t take no for an answer to his dumb ideas in both SW and Indy.

[pyguy]

I think it's really uncool how George Lucas fired Frank Darabont because he hated the script, then proceeds to use near ALL of his script beats and still has the audacity to remove Frank Darabont from the credits. What a disgusting low blow.

[FDHZMT]

“No version of the film will live up to fan expectations, a fact proven time and again by sequels separated by decades”

Top Gun: Maverick- hold my beer

[TheNewGuy]

I really really liked how you added the visual at the bottom of the videos when showing people and the subject of what they did on the said movies/shows you are talking about!
This is a fantastic change and I hope you have it in every video from here on!
Keep up the great work!

[JackDespero]

That reminds me of my doctoral thesis. I had two supervisors and often they would ask me to correct stuff that the other had suggested.