INDIANA JONES and the MISSED OPPORTUNITY

 After just watching the travesty that is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls I'm torn between two emotions, on the one hand utter contempt for the money garbing actions of aging film makers who once made the type of movies fit for the iconic characters that featured in them and on the other the missed opportunity that is issue 19 of the STAR WARS TALES comic book series.

When it was first reported that a 4th Indy flick was being made after the mugging that was the Star Wars prequels I immediately knew that it would turn out to be a solid gold downer (a 20 year gap and an over the hill leading man should have been enough of an indication to let sleeping dogs lie) but when it was announced that the story would have a 'Sci-Fi' element to it a flash of excitement struck me, could it be that this 'new' picture could be an adaptation (or at the very least contain elements) of one of the strips that featured in Star Wars Tales issue 19 namely INTO THE GREAT UNKNOWN by W. Haden Blackman & Sean Murphy.
Star Wars Tales was a comic published by Dark Horse Comics (1999-2005) and in the style of Marvels 'WHAT IF?' books took the Star Wars universe and  presented it in ways that where completely different to the films. The strip ''Into the Great Unknown'' tells the story of how Han Solo and Chewbacca come out of hyperspace and crash land the Millennium Falcon onto a strange planet.

 Han is killed by the natives and Chewie survives hidden in the planets forests. The twist comes when it is revealed that the planet is Earth ,Chewie has become the basis for the legend of Bigfoot and Han's decomposed remains are found by Indiana Jones. 

The idea of seeing this scenario on screen would have been a proper 'thank you' and 'acknowledgment' to the fans of these flicks in a way the 'Crystal Skulls' and I happily predict the planned 5th installment could and can never be. 
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