The International House of Mojo

Well, so much for a proper finale from the original team.

Variety reports that Spielberg has stepped down as director for the first time in this series' history. He is relinquishing Indiana Jones 5 of his own volition "in a desire to pass along Indy’s whip to a new generation to bring their perspective to the story."  He will remain as a "hands-on producer," while James Mangold of Ford v Ferrari "fame" is said to be in talks as his replacement in the director's chair.  Ford is reported to still be starring, but I wasn't born yesterday.

And just like that, the official ending of the Spielberg era of Indiana Jones becomes Shia LaBeouf shuffling out of a chapel.

Source: Variety

If you try to visit DoubleFine's website today, you'll be shocked to discover that you can't! In its place is a farewell message from the website itself. The dear old thing is going to wherever websites go when they die (archive.org?).

You might wonder why they didn't just secretly work on a lovely new website and switch them over when it was done. You might wonder if Microsoft decreed that their old website wasn't Microsoft-y enough and demanded it be taken down immediately. You might also wonder why we're even reporting on such things.

So never let it be said that Mojo doesn't make you think, even when scraping the barrel for news! #foodforthought

Source: DoubleFine

Some of us might not have seen this one coming. From Limited Run’s Twitter:

Well, huh! Mojo will return with more.

To capitalize on both the 40th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the allegedly upcoming fifth movie, Paramount is reportedly planning a 4K Blu-ray box set of all four Indiana Jones movies in 2021.  The Digital Fix has the scoop.

As you may know, while Disney owns the Indiana Jones IP these days, they only hold distribution rights to future films; the first four films remain in Paramount's control, which complicates the possibility of a five-film box set down the road.  However, the companies both stand to benefit from the renewed relevance of the brand, and the article states that Lucasfilm has given Paramount access to the archives in order to produce new bonus material for this release -- including, it is hinted, deleted scenes, which fans know have never been made available before.  Will we get to see the periscope ride, the singing on elephants, the death of Chatter Lal, Pat Roach's role in Last Crusade, the explosion in the Canyon of the Crescent moon, and the original tarantula version of the Name of God trial, among others?  Only time will tell.

In the meantime, I need to save money for a 4K TV.

Source: The Digital Fix

Remember when I accidentally made a typo that stated that "Double Fine Remastered" was coming instead of "Full Throttle Remastered"?

I just remembered that Double Fine Special Edition does exist. It was released exclusively at PAX East 2016. I guess my typo was prescient after all.

One of Telltale’s underrated titles was Tales from the Borderlands, a game I’ve chosen to forget was a spin-off from Gearbox’s Borderlands franchise. As it seems, a sequel to Tales… might be in the works according to DFTG. To wit…

Oh yeah, Poker Night, too, but whatever.

I do believe AdHoc -- which is in the middle of developing The Wolf Among Us 2 -- is made up of many from the Tales… team, so we chalk this up as good news.

(I apologize for this interruption in the Willow/Indy stream.)

Source: DFTG

At least, that's the impression Harrison Ford is under. Listen for yourself in this except from an interview with CBS Sunday Morning that will air in full this Sunday:

Stay tuned as we desperately follow every angstrom of the production's progress this summer.

Source: CBS Sunday Morning

So here's the deal.  Mojo may or may not be gearing up to publish a massive feature to commemorate the fifteenth sixteenth fifteenth anniversary of the canceled Sam & Max: Freelance Police.

So massive, in fact, that we thought it deserved more than one header.  Perhaps, thought I, with unwonted optimism, there could even be a unique piece of art crowning each one of the feature's numerous pages?* That's where you come in.  We are inviting all artists, professional and amateur, to contribute artwork related to Sam & Max 2 for display in the article, which we are arrogantly approaching as the final word on the subject.  We ask that it somehow be related to the cancelled LucasArts sequel specifically.  What that means is for you to intepret.  Go nuts.

If you are interested in making such a contribution and achieving immortality, please email your work to webmonkey@mixnmojo.com.  And tell your artistically inclined friends, because statistically speaking, they are unlikely to be Mojo readers.

Get drawing!

*In the unlikely event that we get more original art than there are pages, we promise that any work we accept will be given a place of prominence somewhere in the article.

The fifth Indiana Jones installment currently has a release date of July 9th, 2021. Assuming the Earth’s orbital period remains stubbornly faithful to a billion year precedent, any film of scale hoping to make that deadline would surely have to be in front of the cameras no later than this summer.

You’d expect, then, that Indy 5 would be as we speak in the passionate throes of pre-production, possibly even reverberating with widely circulated rumors about locations, castings, storyline -- y’know, all the usual buzz that comes with a high profile movie genuinely heading toward production.

And given the advanced age of the creative team, and given the ample time they’ve had to get the material ready, any delays at this point, you might assume, would be considered intolerable.

But you’d be a total idiot, apparently. BBC News asked Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy for a brief comment on the state of Indy 5 while she was on the red carpet at the BAFTA Awards yesterday. Her response would seem to confirm that old adage: no news is no news.

In a joint statement sent exclusively to Mojo for release, authors George R.R. Martin and Robert Caro have referred to the writing pace of this screenplay as “a trifle undisciplined.”

Source: BBC News

When they're not productively pondering what makes the Indiana Jones movies problematic, Vice Magazine can apparently find time to dash off the odd Loom retrospective.  And they're pretty good at it!  Check out their newly published appreciation for Brian Moriarty's spellbinding point 'n click classic in honor of its 30th anniversary.

Now for somebody to get the EGA version of the game commercially available.

Source: Vice Magazine