Retronauts Episode 251: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

As a kid I had stop watching and retch from terror towards the end of that bug tunnel scene. These days I know that half those bugs are props or stop-motion but that’s not a movie I come back to.

John Simon

Damn, you guys really gave ToD a beating. Honestly I think the racism criticism is way overblown, if anything people are far too sensitive about it these days to begin with, let alone discussing it in a contrived manner such as this case where it really has no bearing. If anything, you guys had a point with the character of Willy, and the fact that the movie in general is not up to par with Raiders and Crusade, but in my opinion there's a fair amount of the movie that still holds up, enough that I and many others still enjoy it.

I second the Crystal Skull is better than Temple of Doom sentiment. Skull (fridge and all) up until they get to the jungle is a lot of fun, the motorcycle chase through the library is A LOT OF FUN. That being said Spielberg somehow made a better Indiana Jones movie, that wasn’t an Indiana Jones movie. Like Chris (and we’re the exact same age) I think Raiders is a perfect movie, but my favorite is Last Crusade. 1. Raiders 2. Crusade 3. The Adventures of Tintin (that motorcycle sequence, holy cow) 4. Crystal 5. That issue of Star Wars Tales where Indy and Short Round excavate the remains of Han Solo and Chewie. 5. Temple of Doom.

Kevin Peterson

I grew up knowing virtually no Indian people. Literally the only exposure I had until I was a teenager was 1) temple if doom, and 2) Apu. Not a great foundation for a kid who, despite being reasonably smart, didn't think to question the accuracy of these sources of information until I was a teen.

Refsaswizards

Can you excuse racism in media because it's paying tribute to older racism in media? If Temple of Doom tried to do something insightful with all the questionable imagery and themes it uses, that would be one thing, but it does nothing to challenge or question "fantasy jungle" tropes.... But you're free to disagree. Honestly, we went into this conversation expecting to lose a few subscribers/patrons over our up-front criticism of the movie's uglier elements.

Retronauts

Huff and puff. It's hardly some common truth that Temple of Doom is "the bad one". A lot of people really like it in fact. Just saw the other day on Twitter that Edgar Wright ranks it higher than Crusade, and I am of that opinion too. Crusade is great, but It's a basic repetition of the Raiders formula, which is the main problem with that film. And I don't think pointing out the cartoon racism of Doom is too insightful. I mean, is Ray Harryhausen's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad a faithful depiction of the Ottoman empire, or is that a silly question ? Temple of Doom is a very very silly fantasy with highly imaginative set pieces and I enjoy it the same way I enjoy Goldfinger, From Russia with Love or even Dirty Harry. I'm a card carrying leftie and feminist AND I can enjoy cartoon movies with cartoonish depictions of racism and sexism. With Doom I enjoy the dialogue, the inventive action sequences and the direction of Spielberg in his prime. It's not the REAL India we visit, OBVIOUSLY. Rather it's some hopelessly silly, fantasy jungle version somewhere next to Gunga-Din or some old ass Doc Savage paperback. Does anyone with half a brain think less of the ACTUAL India after watching Indy get stabbed by a magic voodoo doll? Like Harrison Ford said to Mark Hamill in 77, "kid, it ain't that kind of movie..."

Super Mario RPG had a mine cart segment! It was not much more than a neat diversion, but a bunch of neat diversions was part of the charm of the game.

Scott Schneider

Ok, relistening to the Raiders episode, and you talked about the LEGO game for a few minutes. That’s plenty.

Brian Hortin

And that's fine! We like what we like!

Retronauts

Whew. That's bold. But not completely indefensible...

Retronauts

Hot take: Crystal Skull is better than Temple of Doom

Kevin Bunch

Great episode, think I like Temple of Doom more than you guys. It is my 2nd least rewatched of the series ahead of Crystal Skull, but I still enjoy the movie quite a bit. All of the Indiana Jones movies were adapted into the two LEGO Indiana Jones games. I can’t remember if this was covered in the Raiders episode or not. I can’t blame you for skipping the LEGO games if this was intentional. It’s not like there is a lot to say about the gameplay or structure.

Brian Hortin

It’s funny; this summer I had the exact same conversation when my girlfriend and I were at a friend’s house viewing Last Crusade, and we all got into a group discussion about how Temple of Doom is just...difficult to enjoy or view now, because it is very problematic looking at it from the lens of our hellscape 2019. That being said though, we all watched Last Crusade(which I hadn’t viewed in 15 some years) and it was a lot of fun and has aged very well, in my opinion. I haven’t watched Temple of Doom in decades, so I can’t really give a read other than I loved the movie growing up, and seemingly forgot about the horror-esque bits but remembered all of the racism. Given the discussion here, I’m probably not going to give it a re-watch. It’s interesting though, around the area I grew up in, I never played the Temple of Doom arcade game until well after I had rented the NES game many times as a kid. I enjoyed it at the time, but playing it now, it’s less enjoyable and more frustrating due to the adaptation of the controls from the arcade game. Looking forward to your takes on Last Crusade and some of its games: I still have an appreciation for Software Creations’ collection of neat yet janky minigames for NES, but I can’t spin anything positive about that Ubisoft port of the PC action game.

Andrew Grieve

Temple of Doom is my favorite. There. I said it.

Eric Plunk