Considering that in Crystal Skull the Ark was at the very edge of the pile it was put there late-ish, so I think right now it's still in DC if it was at all recovered ITTL.
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Nooo....In the beginning of Crystal Skull the soviets raid the very same warehouse where the Ark is to recover the skull. The following chase and nuclear test, clearly shows that the warehouse was located somewhere in the Nevada.
*watches the scene in Question*
Yup, turns out you're right. But most likely the Ark was never recovered in the first place, considering that for Indy the TL diverges just before Temple of Doom anyway which is chronologically set before Raiders.
Yup, turns out you're right. But most likely the Ark was never recovered in the first place, considering that for Indy the TL diverges just before Temple of Doom anyway which is chronologically set before Raiders.
Oh Bob! I just realized. That means that Fu Manchu and his followers may have siezed that entire warehouse! With all of the undocumented goodies within. That may be very very bad for our hereos...
The Yogi.
We NEED an update.
Reason: ABOVE.
Signed: Boo-Boo
You realise the only part of western USA in the hands of government (well actually rebel / german pows) is in the Mojave desert at Yuma. Not a million miles from a warehouse in Nevada, certainly within an adventure or two.
Keep in mind, OTL the shift to hiding secrets in the Nevada desert didn't happen until the late-40s, early-50s race to break the sound barrier. Before that, it'd probably be hidden at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland or something similar. It quite possibly really is still in a DC warehouse.
EDIT - Well, okay, the Trinity project. But still, the point stands.
EDIT - Well, okay, the Trinity project. But still, the point stands.
Valid points. However, I doubt that "Top men" constructed two very similar, very big warehouses and then shipped the contents to the new one between the Ark and the Skull movie. I think there was only one such storage facility.
And yes, it would be awesome if the warehouse is there, and the Shadow and his ragtag bunch of rebels raid the facility to nab some critical occult artifact...
Why not? This is a period when the government was doing vast construction works (Hoover Dam, the great wind-barrier treeline from Canada to around Dallas, Mount Rushmore... you get the idea). There's no reason not to build two warehouses, if it keeps people employed in the '30s. We know that the government built at least three large "nuke-proof" Doomsday shelters in the Washington DC area alone, one of which required hollowing out a mountain, in addition to Cheyenne Mountain, which was out in the middle of nowhere when it was built. They built multiple test-stands for the Saturn V, each of which was colossal in its own right.
The point here is that the government has a long history of building redundant structures, big structures, and big, redundant structures.
I'm surprised you treat Crystal Skull as canon. In pop culture's council of Nicea, Crystal Skull went the same way as the Gospel of Thomas. Not in the Bible of Indiana Jones.
I consider the Skull movie as canon. It had all the right things, a nice pulpy actiony feel. A little cheesy at times (monkey scene, I'm looking at you), but all in all. Canon, for it told a somewhat plausible story of how Indiana Jones latter life might look like. Shared some light of his actions during the WW2.
Finally, it had Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. It is canon. By your standard I could waive "Not-Canon" at the Prequel Trilogy of Star-Wars to make it go away, but it can never be UNDONE! It will always be there.
Finally, it had Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. It is canon. By your standard I could waive "Not-Canon" at the Prequel Trilogy of Star-Wars to make it go away, but it can never be UNDONE! It will always be there.
Exactly! The Gospel of Thomas has the same historic pedigree as the four canonical gospels ,(same time, same subject matter, Jesus is the main character etc.) But the early church fathers kept it out of the new testament because they didn't like it. It was effectively undone. I take the same attitude towards the star wars prequels and the fourth Indiana Jones.
I have never objected to Indiana Jones character in the fourth movie rather the plot and altogether poor execution. Someone should have given George Lucas a piece of quartz the size of that skull and asked him to lift it with one hand as his characters do all the time throughout the movie. The law of narrative invulnerabilty has always been a given in Indiana Jones movies but three times over a waterfall? It was like some sort of science experiment designed to prove that protagonists cannot be killed. Putting in aliens with Indy felt like having Jesus walk into a Star Trek episode.
One of the things that makes this AAR so good is that it never rests on the fact that the premise is essentially very silly to handwave the details. Yes there are aliens, ghouls, magic and dreamland all together but everything is explained and taken very seriously. It earns and works for my suspension of disbelief, while Crystal Skull took that suspension for granted and abused it mercilessly. In Last Crusade, they explained who the grail society was and why they were trying to stop Indy. In Crystal Skull, random mestizos in skull masks are guarding the tomb of a spanish conquistador in the off chance that someone is tries to raid it. (We haven't seen anyone for the previous 155,855 nights since 1530 but I have a good feeling about tonight...) In every other movie, the goons are explained or at least handwaved but in crystal skull they were essentially hostile critters like the scorpions that followed them or the tarantulas in the first movie.
Though I may also just be bitter because I invited all my friends to see it on opening day and it was kind of an event. Afterwards, I felt personally reponsible and kind of ashamed, like I had thrown a dinner party and given everyone food poisoning.
Thanks for the comments!
Sorry, Blut_und_Bier, couldn't do it.
Great reading all your comments, people! I will say that I think Kantitatlan and Leviathan got Duhrn right - he is not interested in political power as such, and if anything still feels some degree of loyalty to Hitler and the Reich, even if it is being slowly diluted by his gradual alienation from the normal human condition.
Think of it a bit like Dr Manhattan in "Watchmen" who stayed loyal to the United States for decades after achieving nigh near Godhood. Duhrn, of course, is nowehere near as powerful or as detached as Dr Manhattan was.
As for Crystal Skull, I'm afraid there is no omitting it from the Canon. Much as I disliked the movie, I might steal something from it into this story in future updates (none of the bad stuff though).
And now, an update, with the return to the screen of Fu Manchu himself!
Sorry, Blut_und_Bier, couldn't do it.
Great reading all your comments, people! I will say that I think Kantitatlan and Leviathan got Duhrn right - he is not interested in political power as such, and if anything still feels some degree of loyalty to Hitler and the Reich, even if it is being slowly diluted by his gradual alienation from the normal human condition.
Think of it a bit like Dr Manhattan in "Watchmen" who stayed loyal to the United States for decades after achieving nigh near Godhood. Duhrn, of course, is nowehere near as powerful or as detached as Dr Manhattan was.
As for Crystal Skull, I'm afraid there is no omitting it from the Canon. Much as I disliked the movie, I might steal something from it into this story in future updates (none of the bad stuff though).
And now, an update, with the return to the screen of Fu Manchu himself!
Imperial Palace of Tokyo
Japan, Pan-Asian Empire
Monday, September 17th 1940
The door to the cell crashed open with the clangour of a colossal iron bell. James Bond, unshaved, dirty and clad in frayed and stinking prisoners fatigues jumped to his feet as two harsh-eyed MPs rushed in and grabbed his arms, dragging him out under complete silence. Bond didn’t even try to resist as they dragged him down the concrete-walled corridor where shadows cast by white bare lightbulbs danced on the grimy walls.
The destination was a larger room, obviously used for interrogation. The table and two chairs told Bond this, and the dried blood stains on the walls and floor confirmed it. The interrogator was already in place; the guards brutally forced Bond down on his knees and slammed his forehead against the concrete floor in complete abasement. When he was allowed to look up, blood drained from the young spy’s face as he met the emerald gaze of Fu Manchu himself.
The Emperor of Asia, wearing black silk robes with the Manchu dragon embroidered in gold on his chest, sat on the other side of the table on a utterly mundane wooden chair with a small lacquered box placed in front of him on the table. Bond was placed in the other chair, which was provided with padded leather straps for the arms and feet. When the Englishman was securely fastened, the guards saluted briefly and left without having been acknowledged even with a nod by Fu Manchu.
As the sound of the closing door died out and the MPs steps drew away, Fu smiled.
‘Lieutenant Commander Bond! I have so been wanting to have a long good talk with you, but you know how it can be. Affairs of state have kept me occupied, I’m afraid.’
Bond said nothing, and remembering Nayland Smith’s warnings about Fu’s hypnotic gaze kept his eyes firmly fixed on the lacquered box in front of Fu Manchu. The Devil Doctor, perhaps wilfully misinterpreted this.
‘Ah, so you’re wondering about this,’ he said, as his hand, spider-like with its long fingers and long polished nails caressed the box. ‘Never worry, Mr Bond, this is a most humane means of interrogation, designed mostly to break your concentration and allow hypnotism to do its work.’
Fu Manchu opened the box, revealing a set of golden acupuncture needles with enamelled buttons.
‘Why not just use your pain amplifier?’ Bond asked. ‘I take it doesn’t get much more painful than that?’
Fu shook his head. ‘And why should I want to cause you more suffering than absolutely necessary Mr Bond? Besides, it’s so hard to deliver coherent answers while screaming at the top of your lungs.’
Fu Manchu rose from his chair with the box in his hands and stood next to Bond, where he carefully started to apply a needle to Bonds neck. The young agent shivered when the long fingernails brushed his face.
Bond wasn’t sure what to expect after Fu’s downplay of the torture to be inflicted, but the pain when the thin needle found a nerve was like frozen fire running down his spine. He clenched his jaws and let out a grunt as his entire body cramped and his eyes began to water.
‘This is an ancient Chinese art’, Fu mused as he produced another needle, ‘millenarian already when I first heard of it many, many years ago. Skilfully applied it can heal many ills, but it takes even greater skill to cause great suffering, or even paralysis. Now, I think we’re going to place one here, and another HERE....’
Bond noticed nothing as the second needle sunk into his flesh, and thought Fu might have made a mistake. With the third, however, his arms and legs suddenly went rigid. It felt as if his entire body was straining against itself, trying to pull itself apart. It was excruciating, but so tense was he that he could barely croak, rather than howl out his suffering.
‘Now...’ Fu said, returning to his seat in front of Bond, who found it impossible to lower his gaze enough to avoid looking into those swirling pools of Emerald Hellfire, the eyes of Fu Manchu.
‘...now, I already know how my daughter and your father managed to snatch the Empress and the young princes from out of my grasp. What I don’t know is how they escaped Japan to reach British territory. A submarine perhaps?’
Bond found he could nod, in fact, he could not stop himself from doing so. He felt a strong urge to let Fu know it had been a Pan-Asian submarine, manned by a disaffected Japanese crew who had done the deed, but managed to refrain from it, just barely. Fortunately Fu seemed satisfied with having his suspicions confirmed and moved on.
‘I also know that Fah Lo Suee removed my hypnotic blocks on Winston Churchill, and with it the greatest obstacle for a British declaration of War against the Pan-Asian Empire. How did Nayland Smith convince her of that by the way?’
‘He blackmailed her!’ Bond said, helpless to hold his tongue. ‘He... we threatened to expose her help in bringing out the Empress if she didn’t.’
Fu nodded. ‘I thought as much. It is very easy to underestimate the good Sir Dennis with his ridiculous schoolboy morals – I have myself done so on more than one occasion. But he IS British, you haven’t built the greatest Empire of the modern age by being fair and sporting. Fah Lo Suee should have realised that by betraying me she placed her life in his hands.’
Fu leaned back in his chair with a pensive frown as he stroked a drooping thin moustache. ‘So far you have confirmed only what I already suspected. But what I don’t know’, is how my daughter managed to defeat the Black Naga, the creature I sent after her and the Empress, when I still have one of the two Black Kris knifes forged to destroy it. How?’
Bond was determined not to say a word. He even thought he had successfully fought down the urge to spill his guts, when his concentration was disturbed by the annoying sound of someone talking close by. Only when listening to what was being said did Bond realise it was his own voice, giving a detailed account of the Empress’ revelations regarding Attila’s Sword of Mars, Fu Manchu’s Jian and the fabled Japanese regalia sword the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi being one and the same magical weapon, given by the Japanese Sun Goddess Amaseratu to the Emperors of Japan to protect against the threat of the Black Naga, the eight-headed serpent of Japanese myth, stolen a century before the time of Christ and ending up in the hands of Julius Caesar, passed on to his successors and eventually Attila the Hun.
Bond desperately tried to shut his mouth, stop talking, but it was as if it no longer belonged to him. Fu nodded, fascinated by the account of Fah Lo Suee’s battle with and eventual defeat of the Black Naga. When Bond finally stopped talking, he could have sworn Fu Manchu was beaming with paternal pride.
‘I always said my formerly favoured daughter is the most able of my offspring! Ah, I would have loved to see that battle! And all this about the Kusanagi... according to Japanese myth, it could control the winds! I guess I shouldn’t have waved it about as I did when as Great Khan of the Mongols I sent my fleets to conquer these islands. The Divine Wind indeed!’
Fu laughed until his eyes teared, before wiping them with the back of his hand and regaining his composure. ‘Thank you, Mr Bond, for letting me see what a fool I have been. It has been a useful lesson in humility. And here I thought you were aiming to assassinate me when you launched that raid against my Yunnan stronghold, and it was only the sword you were after!’
Bond tried to summon some defiance. ‘Well, we nearly did you in anyway! If only Skorzeny’s dagger had went a little deeper...’
Fu Manchu sombered. ‘Skorzeny... yes, something will have to be done about that pest. Twice he has drawn blood from me – there will not be a third time. I also suspect that his influence has been instrumental in alienating my daughter from my cause. Dashing European males were always her weakness... wait, is that jealousy I see in your eyes, Mr Bond?’
Bond wanted to shake his head most vigorously, but due to his cramping muscles he was able only to slowly move his head from side to side in denial. Fu Manchu would have none of it though.
‘It is! My daughter has turned your head too. And yet young Sandokan told me of how she betrayed you to Dr No, when you tried to destroy my beam projector. Didn’t want to die for the cause, eh... You must despise her now. I think I will let Nayland Smith know this. Yes, my daughter will finally learn that all-around treachery comes at a cost.’
‘He will never believe you!’ Bond spat.
‘Perhaps not, but if you as a first hand witness confirmed it for him... would you like to be free again Mr Bond? I could arrange for a prisoner exchange easily enough. Consider it your revenge on my daughter!’
Bond frowned. Once free, nothing would force him to testify against Fah. He nodded his agreement. ‘I look forward to it.’
Fu Manchu looked disappointed ‘You’re a bad liar, Lieutenant Commander. You will not go through with it, because it seems that against all reason and better knowledge, you do love my daughter, although the feeling is obviously not answered. She didn’t lift a finger to help you when Dr No ordered your death. But... hmmm. Oh yes!’
Fu Manchu’s features suddenly became wholly satanic, as the rudiments of a plan formed in his mind. ‘My daughter will not believe you will not tell on her! She will want to kill you to prevent you from letting Nayland Smith know of her treachery. And so, I can use you as bait to lure my once favoured daughter to her doom!’
There was no mistaking the horror in Bond’s eyes as the Devil Doctor rose from his chair and removed the acupuncture needles from his neck. Physical relief flooded through his body, but did nothing to soothe his fears.
‘So we must arrange to have you exchanged back to the British, Lieutenant Commander. I suppose as a naval officer, you will be placed under the custody of the Imperial Navy while we work through the normal channels of prisoner exchange. Nothing secretive, we must make sure my favoured daughter learns of it in time to set her plans for your assassination in motion. With her Si Fan network all but extirpated, she will most likely do the deed herself, and when she does...’
Fu Manchu paused, as if he didn’t know himself what would happen then. Then he seemed to steel himself and continued. ‘...when she does, she will finally face the righteous wrath of Fu Manchu!’
Japan, Pan-Asian Empire
Monday, September 17th 1940
The door to the cell crashed open with the clangour of a colossal iron bell. James Bond, unshaved, dirty and clad in frayed and stinking prisoners fatigues jumped to his feet as two harsh-eyed MPs rushed in and grabbed his arms, dragging him out under complete silence. Bond didn’t even try to resist as they dragged him down the concrete-walled corridor where shadows cast by white bare lightbulbs danced on the grimy walls.
The destination was a larger room, obviously used for interrogation. The table and two chairs told Bond this, and the dried blood stains on the walls and floor confirmed it. The interrogator was already in place; the guards brutally forced Bond down on his knees and slammed his forehead against the concrete floor in complete abasement. When he was allowed to look up, blood drained from the young spy’s face as he met the emerald gaze of Fu Manchu himself.
The Emperor of Asia, wearing black silk robes with the Manchu dragon embroidered in gold on his chest, sat on the other side of the table on a utterly mundane wooden chair with a small lacquered box placed in front of him on the table. Bond was placed in the other chair, which was provided with padded leather straps for the arms and feet. When the Englishman was securely fastened, the guards saluted briefly and left without having been acknowledged even with a nod by Fu Manchu.
As the sound of the closing door died out and the MPs steps drew away, Fu smiled.
‘Lieutenant Commander Bond! I have so been wanting to have a long good talk with you, but you know how it can be. Affairs of state have kept me occupied, I’m afraid.’
Bond said nothing, and remembering Nayland Smith’s warnings about Fu’s hypnotic gaze kept his eyes firmly fixed on the lacquered box in front of Fu Manchu. The Devil Doctor, perhaps wilfully misinterpreted this.
‘Ah, so you’re wondering about this,’ he said, as his hand, spider-like with its long fingers and long polished nails caressed the box. ‘Never worry, Mr Bond, this is a most humane means of interrogation, designed mostly to break your concentration and allow hypnotism to do its work.’
Fu Manchu opened the box, revealing a set of golden acupuncture needles with enamelled buttons.
‘Why not just use your pain amplifier?’ Bond asked. ‘I take it doesn’t get much more painful than that?’
Fu shook his head. ‘And why should I want to cause you more suffering than absolutely necessary Mr Bond? Besides, it’s so hard to deliver coherent answers while screaming at the top of your lungs.’
Fu Manchu rose from his chair with the box in his hands and stood next to Bond, where he carefully started to apply a needle to Bonds neck. The young agent shivered when the long fingernails brushed his face.
Bond wasn’t sure what to expect after Fu’s downplay of the torture to be inflicted, but the pain when the thin needle found a nerve was like frozen fire running down his spine. He clenched his jaws and let out a grunt as his entire body cramped and his eyes began to water.
‘This is an ancient Chinese art’, Fu mused as he produced another needle, ‘millenarian already when I first heard of it many, many years ago. Skilfully applied it can heal many ills, but it takes even greater skill to cause great suffering, or even paralysis. Now, I think we’re going to place one here, and another HERE....’
Bond noticed nothing as the second needle sunk into his flesh, and thought Fu might have made a mistake. With the third, however, his arms and legs suddenly went rigid. It felt as if his entire body was straining against itself, trying to pull itself apart. It was excruciating, but so tense was he that he could barely croak, rather than howl out his suffering.
‘Now...’ Fu said, returning to his seat in front of Bond, who found it impossible to lower his gaze enough to avoid looking into those swirling pools of Emerald Hellfire, the eyes of Fu Manchu.
‘...now, I already know how my daughter and your father managed to snatch the Empress and the young princes from out of my grasp. What I don’t know is how they escaped Japan to reach British territory. A submarine perhaps?’
Bond found he could nod, in fact, he could not stop himself from doing so. He felt a strong urge to let Fu know it had been a Pan-Asian submarine, manned by a disaffected Japanese crew who had done the deed, but managed to refrain from it, just barely. Fortunately Fu seemed satisfied with having his suspicions confirmed and moved on.
‘I also know that Fah Lo Suee removed my hypnotic blocks on Winston Churchill, and with it the greatest obstacle for a British declaration of War against the Pan-Asian Empire. How did Nayland Smith convince her of that by the way?’
‘He blackmailed her!’ Bond said, helpless to hold his tongue. ‘He... we threatened to expose her help in bringing out the Empress if she didn’t.’
Fu nodded. ‘I thought as much. It is very easy to underestimate the good Sir Dennis with his ridiculous schoolboy morals – I have myself done so on more than one occasion. But he IS British, you haven’t built the greatest Empire of the modern age by being fair and sporting. Fah Lo Suee should have realised that by betraying me she placed her life in his hands.’
Fu leaned back in his chair with a pensive frown as he stroked a drooping thin moustache. ‘So far you have confirmed only what I already suspected. But what I don’t know’, is how my daughter managed to defeat the Black Naga, the creature I sent after her and the Empress, when I still have one of the two Black Kris knifes forged to destroy it. How?’
Bond was determined not to say a word. He even thought he had successfully fought down the urge to spill his guts, when his concentration was disturbed by the annoying sound of someone talking close by. Only when listening to what was being said did Bond realise it was his own voice, giving a detailed account of the Empress’ revelations regarding Attila’s Sword of Mars, Fu Manchu’s Jian and the fabled Japanese regalia sword the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi being one and the same magical weapon, given by the Japanese Sun Goddess Amaseratu to the Emperors of Japan to protect against the threat of the Black Naga, the eight-headed serpent of Japanese myth, stolen a century before the time of Christ and ending up in the hands of Julius Caesar, passed on to his successors and eventually Attila the Hun.
Bond desperately tried to shut his mouth, stop talking, but it was as if it no longer belonged to him. Fu nodded, fascinated by the account of Fah Lo Suee’s battle with and eventual defeat of the Black Naga. When Bond finally stopped talking, he could have sworn Fu Manchu was beaming with paternal pride.
‘I always said my formerly favoured daughter is the most able of my offspring! Ah, I would have loved to see that battle! And all this about the Kusanagi... according to Japanese myth, it could control the winds! I guess I shouldn’t have waved it about as I did when as Great Khan of the Mongols I sent my fleets to conquer these islands. The Divine Wind indeed!’
Fu laughed until his eyes teared, before wiping them with the back of his hand and regaining his composure. ‘Thank you, Mr Bond, for letting me see what a fool I have been. It has been a useful lesson in humility. And here I thought you were aiming to assassinate me when you launched that raid against my Yunnan stronghold, and it was only the sword you were after!’
Bond tried to summon some defiance. ‘Well, we nearly did you in anyway! If only Skorzeny’s dagger had went a little deeper...’
Fu Manchu sombered. ‘Skorzeny... yes, something will have to be done about that pest. Twice he has drawn blood from me – there will not be a third time. I also suspect that his influence has been instrumental in alienating my daughter from my cause. Dashing European males were always her weakness... wait, is that jealousy I see in your eyes, Mr Bond?’
Bond wanted to shake his head most vigorously, but due to his cramping muscles he was able only to slowly move his head from side to side in denial. Fu Manchu would have none of it though.
‘It is! My daughter has turned your head too. And yet young Sandokan told me of how she betrayed you to Dr No, when you tried to destroy my beam projector. Didn’t want to die for the cause, eh... You must despise her now. I think I will let Nayland Smith know this. Yes, my daughter will finally learn that all-around treachery comes at a cost.’
‘He will never believe you!’ Bond spat.
‘Perhaps not, but if you as a first hand witness confirmed it for him... would you like to be free again Mr Bond? I could arrange for a prisoner exchange easily enough. Consider it your revenge on my daughter!’
Bond frowned. Once free, nothing would force him to testify against Fah. He nodded his agreement. ‘I look forward to it.’
Fu Manchu looked disappointed ‘You’re a bad liar, Lieutenant Commander. You will not go through with it, because it seems that against all reason and better knowledge, you do love my daughter, although the feeling is obviously not answered. She didn’t lift a finger to help you when Dr No ordered your death. But... hmmm. Oh yes!’
Fu Manchu’s features suddenly became wholly satanic, as the rudiments of a plan formed in his mind. ‘My daughter will not believe you will not tell on her! She will want to kill you to prevent you from letting Nayland Smith know of her treachery. And so, I can use you as bait to lure my once favoured daughter to her doom!’
There was no mistaking the horror in Bond’s eyes as the Devil Doctor rose from his chair and removed the acupuncture needles from his neck. Physical relief flooded through his body, but did nothing to soothe his fears.
‘So we must arrange to have you exchanged back to the British, Lieutenant Commander. I suppose as a naval officer, you will be placed under the custody of the Imperial Navy while we work through the normal channels of prisoner exchange. Nothing secretive, we must make sure my favoured daughter learns of it in time to set her plans for your assassination in motion. With her Si Fan network all but extirpated, she will most likely do the deed herself, and when she does...’
Fu Manchu paused, as if he didn’t know himself what would happen then. Then he seemed to steel himself and continued. ‘...when she does, she will finally face the righteous wrath of Fu Manchu!’
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I hope not. So far the only thing keeping our heroes alive is that Fu is persistently underestimating them. If he meets Fah in a fight one of two things will happen. A) He kills her/captures her whatever, but she can't win. B) They fight and she escapes or injures him. In which case, he'll stop messing around and focus on eradicating the protagonists. No more catch and release and "Before I kill you, Mr. Bond...." He still doesn't feel threatened enough right now to start killing people instead of trying to make use of them.