The International House of Mojo

Comic book publisher Dark Horse has announced plans to release new and old Indiana Jones comics early next year.

Lucasfilm's celebrated action/adventure hero, Indiana Jones, the forerunner of popular characters such as Lara Croft, will be making a triumphant return in 2008 with the yet-to-be-titled fourth installment of the Indiana Jones film series. Starring Harrison Ford and directed by Steven Spielberg, the film is slated for release in May 2008. Dark Horse Comics is excited to announce that it has acquired the comic book rights to the world's most famous adventurer and will launch a new series in 2008. Fans can plunge themselves into the adventures of the fedora-wearing archaeologist well before then. In February 2008, Dark Horse Comics will publish the first of two Indiana Jones Omnibuses collecting Dark Horse's previous entries in the saga. Then April sees the release of volume one of Indiana Jones Adventures--a digest-sized graphic novel designed for the enjoyment of young readers as well as adults. The Indiana Jones Adventures volumes and the Omnibuses will continue on a quarterly basis--including Omnibuses for the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and the original Marvel run of Indiana Jones comics.

A comics adaptation of the film will be released simultaneously with the motion picture, followed immediately by an all-new Indiana Jones comics series.

If these releases truly do include the entirety of Indy's graphic novel back catalog, then it should mean the availability of the Iron Phoenix and Spear of Destiny volumes which were based (albeit extremely loosely) on the canceled adventure games of the same name. While these hand drawn works sadly do not benefit from Euphoria technology, those who've read them do claim that they were quite enjoyable.

If there's one thing I never get tired of, it's thinking about the links between Monkey Island and Pirates of the Caribbean. An article over at Tom's Hard-ware does a good job of collecting a host of comparisons, and analysing them. Naturally I was interested in reading it, and you might be too.

One point the article makes is that:

"Elizabeth Swann's (Keira Knightley) transition from Governess' daughter to brutal, Chinese-slaying corsair in the space of the somewhat clumsily bridged gap between Dead Man's Chest and At World's End represents something of a departure from the character of Elaine, who Elizabeth had aped to closely so far. The character grows in the change, becoming more than the perpetual damsel in disress [sic] that was Elaine Marley."

I would disagree with this: Elaine Marley a "perpetual damsel in distress?" If anything, she's the anti damsel in distress. She plays that role for the most part of The Secret of Monkey Island, but once we get to the actual rescue, we find that Elaine didn't need rescuing at all - and is in fact more in control of the situation than Guybrush could ever be. Seems like a Pirate King to me!

The article continues:

"The one character who bears no resemblance to anything found in Monkey Island is Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) himself. The uncoordinated character of Jack Sparrow manages to fit into the role of a master pirate to William Turner's apprentice brigand. This of course is a role best left unfilled in a game context, where players are expected to learn for themselves the behavior necessitated by life on the high seas."

Our resident Johny Depp expert, Daniel Wishart, had this to say about the above quote:

"No-one seems to understand the whole Sparrow thing with relation to Monkey Island. Of course he's nothing like anything in MI... but that's Depp's interpretation, you have to look at him on paper."

I suppose following this line of thought, Captain Jack (Sparrow, not Harkness) is like a spirit of pirateness, found in several areas of the game, like at The SCUMM Bar, and during Insult Sword Fighting.

Thanks a lot to Huz for the article link.

That's right, LEGO are releasing 4 'classic trilogy' Indiana Jones sets this coming January with another 4 Indy IV sets around the movie's release. Hopefully this bodes well for a videogame from Travelers Tales.

"OMG, can you imagine swinging the whip with a wiimote!??" (etc)

Four playsets based on the classic trilogy are slated to launch in January 2008. Three sets based on iconic scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark include: Temple Escape ($49.99 USD) which brings the legendary rolling boulder scene to life in LEGO form as Indy faces spiders and poisoned darts in his search for the Golden Idol of Fertility. With Race for the Stolen Treasure ($29.99 USD), kids build two desert vehicles and recreate Indy?s truck-hopping fight to save the treasure. Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb ($19.99 USD) recreates the eye-popping suspense of Indy rescuing Marion from slithering snakes in an Egyptian tomb. And based on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade action, Motorcycle Chase ($9.99 USD) depicts the scene where Indy and his father escape with the map to the hidden temple.

Four more constructible playsets based on the fourth movie will launch in May 2008, with suggested retail prices ranging from $9.99 to $79.99. USD.

Read the full press release here on From Bricks To Bothans. Time to bring back the Mojo LEGO set reviews, I feel...

Source: From Bricks to Bothans

While what The Tingler wrote a few weeks ago may not have necessarily been incorrect, today is the first day of principal photography for Indiana Jones 4, the date of June 18th having been officially reported some time ago.

Be sure to check out the remarks that IndianaJones.com has on the matter, including a video interview with Shia LeBeouf on the set.

Sir Lemming, on the Telltale Forum reports some interesting discussion on the Shout! Factory discussion boards where someone who appears to be Shout! Factory Producer/Manager Brian Ward (no relation?) declares;

Actually, the majority of full-length seasons are only 22 episodes. There are some notable exceptions, of course.

In the case of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, there were only 13 half-hour episodes. Don't get excited... I know what you're thinking. All but two of these episodes (the first and last) were split up into two cartoons a piece. Therefore, the total number of stories is 24 spread out over 13 episodes.

Oh, and by the way... We're developing this title's box set right now. Tee hee...

Brian

P.S.-- That's right. I said it. "Tee hee."

Holy jumping Mother o'God in a side-car with chocolate jimmies and a lobster bib!

Source: Shout! factory

According to the rather surprisingly source of Formula1.com, George Lucas (who regularly frequents the Monaco Grand Prix) let slip that he is set to start shooting Indiana Jones 4 within the next week. However, he's worried that it might cut into his Indianapolis time.

"I plan to go to Indianapolis as well - if my schedule permits it, as I start shooting Indiana Jones IV next week. If the production is running as planned you will find me there."

That's okay George, you take your time.

...

(Psst! Mr. Darabont? The coast's clear!)

Source: Formula1.com

Quite a few, actually. Enough to make the movie the Memorial weekend record holder, even. Though it didn't set the opening weekend record like its predecessor did (which was recently surpassed by Spider-Man 3), the amount of loot that the film managed to pull in over four days might be described by King Andre as, an awful lot of money.

Let me be the first to say that I couldn't be more proud of LucasArts for resisting the urge to take advantage of the public's peak-high excitement for supernatural piratey adventures with a sense humor by repackaging a certain beloved and out-of-print franchise of theirs. That kind of stunt is beneath them, and it's time for the company to move beyond the IP they have.

To celebrate the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World?s End, due to hit cinemas tomorrow, we?ve put a review of The Curse of the Black Pearl, with a review of the next two films to follow presently.

Contained within is a rant about Escape from Monkey Island, and gratuitous and self-indulgent excerpts from Treasure Island.

Update: page two has now been uploaded, with a look back at Dead Man's Chest. Yargh.

Update 2: Our review of At World's End has now been uploaded.

The author of the blog Mystery Man on Film put up a history of the fourth Indiana Jones movie, specifically documenting all the reports of scripts over the past thirteen years, leading up to the one that actually happened. Remember the Noah's Ark foolishness, for example? It's a really interesting read, and includes a handful of real and not so real drafts for your entertainment.

The often sometimes accurate CHUD has got a few rumors on the next Indiana Jones film. (If they're true they're definitely spoilers, so be warned.) Take everything that's said about the movie with a grain of salt, but there's also this:

Interestingly, there have been rumors of a video game tie in being released next year with the title Indiana Jones and the Staff of Moses; I checked with other sources and while I can?t confirm anything, this seems to be a stand-alone adventure and does not reflect the title or storyline of Indiana Jones IV.

This is the first we've heard of a title for the new game, but it does at least correlate with the extremely limited info we have on the story, which will feature a mystery of "biblical proportions." I don't know where he got the title from, but I'd say it's only probably fake, rather than assuredly.

Update: I've learned that Indiana Jones and the Staff of Moses is the name of an old work of fan fiction (notable enough, apparently, to be adapted into a fan comic) which kind of throws doubt on the veracity of this leak. Still though!

With the premiere tommorow, and its initial press screening a few days ago, the first reviews for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End are starting to trickle in, and they are quite positive. Check out this one, for instance. There are others too, I'm pretty sure, but you can look them up yourself.

The other day while at a bookstore I flipped enjoyably through this huge hardcover monstrosity called The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean, which contains concept art from all three films. The $50 price tag was prohibitively high, but it's pretty awesome and very much the kind of stuff you'd want to see if you somehow had access to a Monkey Island 5 pre-production meeting.

According to Ain't It Cool News, the title of Indiana Jones 4 will be (maybe) Indiana Jones and the City of Gods. Hey, whatever.

And just to pad out this post, I'll direct you to some more Frank Darabont bitterness, because I'm a troublemaker. And what's up with Sallah not returning? Anyway, as always we'll be back with more Indy 4 news whenever it's convenient for us.

A month or so ago gaming sites reported that Zombies Ate My Neighbors received a rating on the ESRB web site, which is usually a dead giveaway that a game will be appearing on Nintendo's Virtual Console service in the near (or not so near) future. (Mojo of course knew about this news at the time but consciously chose to break it now because we prefer being fashionably late.)

For those who don't remember or who have never played this LucasArts gem from 1993, it was a top-down two player game for SNES and Genesis that had you ridding suburban neighborhoods, malls, Egyptian tombs, etc. of the living dead with water guns and weedeaters. The game was a hoot and a half (and even featured an unlockable Day of the Tentacle stage!) and I suggest all Wii owners give it a whirl once it shows up for download. There's a reason it still has a loyal fanbase, you know.

Also, while the game was published by Konami, I hope this is a sign that future LucasArts developed titles might show up on the service at some point. There was a rather cool NES port of Maniac Mansion and the not-half-bad Shadows of the Empire for N64 among others that would make nice additions to the VC library. Fingers futilely crossed!

Update: Tragically, it would seem that the intel was mistaken, as Zombies Ate My Neighbors is no longer listed on the ESRB site. For those who need something to hope for though, know that Konami (the game's publisher) and Jaleco (the NES Maniac Mansion publisher) have previously had their games added to the Virtual Console, so it's not 100% impossible. Just don't hold your breath.

As Udvarnoky suggested yesterday, the trailer for the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie is online now.

There's not much to say. The film has clearly gone even further off the depp deep end with its fantasy pirate gibberish... but it does look like fantastic fun.

The length of time it took for this trailer is worrying though - the film is supposed to be in theatres in a little over two months, and there are rumours that it's not been a particularly fun post-production. Let's just hope that's because they're trying to keep the same stunning quality of CGI, and not because the film has a bloated plot (with too many subplots) and more than a few holes.

The trailer's on Yahoo, but I'd go to Movie-List to download a copy and fullscreen it up.

Source: Movie-List

Those of you who are interested in seeing the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: LeChuck's Revenge At World's End should head on over to this site at midnight (or anytime after I suppose).

At World's End, supposedly the last of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, opens May 25th worldwide to Monkey Island fans everywhere.

As pointed out by Telltale forum goer Alhon, that loveable rogue Max's appearance in the LucasArts videogame Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight has achieved canon status in the Star Wars universe according to the Star Wars wiki "Wookieepedia".

This article is an easter egg from a digital media, such as video games, but has been deemed canon by either the author or the Star Wars licensees, and thus should be taken as a part of the "real" Star Wars universe.

Max had been staying with a female Human in the city of Barons Hed on Sulon, during the time when Katarn was attempting to track down 8t88 and a stolen map to the Valley of the Jedi. Katarn, curious as to what a certain locked house in the city was hiding, lay in wait until the woman returned and unlocked her door. Seizing the opportunity, Katarn burst through. What he saw?other than the frightened woman?was a short, armed rabbit with a maniacal grin.

After some nudging on Katarn's part, Max joined the Jedi mercenary in defeating the various thugs who had been terrorizing Barons Hed. He and Katarn parted ways upon reaching Government House in the city's center.

Check the rest of the article to read about when Max again teamed up with Kyle Katarn, and how Max's likeness has been emblazened throughout the Star Wars universe.

Source: Wookieepedia

Everyone has pointed out the Monkey Island similarities in the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The latest one had scenes you'd swear were live action renditions of classic MI moments, such as Jack Sparrow using a coffin as a rowboat, or Sparrow's crew arriving at The International House of Mojo, I mean, Tia Dalma's shack in the swamp.

It looks like the third and final Pirates film will have its share of MI locations as well. This concept art for the movie shows a "town made up of ship parts." Who do they think they're fooling? It looks like they're going to dramatize Captain Marley's whirlpool mishap while they're at it.

Check out some more neato concept art at the bottom of the page.


Edit: Oh, and if you like ruining movies before you see them read this article, which says that at some point Captain Jack will use a cannon to blast himself to another ship. (The existence of a cooking pot helmet remains unknown.) Also apparently the Woodtick location is called "Shipwreck Cove."

It's a slow news day for games, so let's talk some more about Indiana Jones 4, or rather, what Indiana Jones 4 might have been. You may know that one of the more famous of the many scripts that were written for the movie was the rejected draft by Frank Darabont. A Stephen King fan site recently held an interview with Darabont (He was the man behind the film version of The Shawshank Redemption) and his time spent on the Indy 4 project was brought up:

Lilja: ... I read that you where involved in the 4th Indy Indiana Jones? How does it feel to work on something like that and then find out that they aren?t going to use your script?

Frank Darabont: Pretty awful. It was a wasted year or more of my life, and I have only so many years to devote. I worked very closely with Steven Spielberg, applied all my passion and skill, and gave him a script that he loved. He was ready to shoot it that very year -- 2003, I think? Maybe 2004? Well, no matter. The point is, Steven was ecstatic. We both were. It was going to be his next film. He told me it was the best script he'd read since Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's a quote, and I'll always treasure it. As a screenwriter, you dream of making a guy like Steven Spielberg happy and excited. Then George Lucas read it, didn't like it, and threw ice water on the whole thing. The project went down in flames. Steven and I looked like accident victims the day we got that call. I certainly don't blame Steven for it. He wasn't in a position to overrule George, and wouldn't have overruled him even if he could. He and George have been close friends for a long time, and they've had an agreement for years that no Indiana Jones film will ever get made unless they both completely agreed on the script. It was just such an awful surprise, after all my hopes and effort. I really felt I'd nailed it, and so did Steven.

Yes, as you can imagine, I would rank that very high on my list of professional disappointments. More than that, it was emotionally devastating. For somebody who, as a young man, was inspired to want to be a filmmaker by Steven and George, by movies like THX-1138 and Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was the ultimate kick in the nuts. In fact, it's the main reason I quit my career as a "writer-for-hire" (writing for other people for a living). It's not the only reason, but certainly a main reason. I swore never to go through that again. From now on, my intention is to write only for myself on projects that I produce or direct.

Emphasis mine. Why does my gut tell me that when Indiana Jones concludes his final adventure next summer and legions of fans are inevitably disappointed by it, everyone will hail the Darabont treatment as some kind of lost masterpiece? Not a fair assumption to make at all, but hey, George Lucas bashers are obviously in need of more things to get livid about. Interesting story, anyway.

Source: Liljas Library

CNETNews has a feature about ILM getting a 2007 Oscar nomination for John Knoll's, ILM visual effects supervisor, and Hal Hickel's, ILM animation supervisor, effects on the Davy Jones character, in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Apart from the feature, is a video interview available where CNETNews talk to John Knoll in his office, the day after the nomination was announced. Even more, there is one image gallery available featuring some ILM work photos and other interesting things, and a second gallery with photos from some interior in the ILM building.

CNETNews has a feature and video interview about the inside of the 10,000-square-foot data center, which is housed on a lower level of the Letterman Digital Arts Center, where Lucasfilm is headquartered. The data center has more than 2,000 servers, and over 300 terabytes of capacity.

the data center "far exceeds" the computing power of any other production house in the world. - Kevin Clark, Lucasfilm's director of IT operations.

The feature also holds a gallery of the data center, which is worth checking out. For more pictures, check out the CNETNews gallery from the opening of the Letterman Digital Arts Center in 2005.