The Indiana Jones franchise is indeed iconic but it is not without timeline plot holes and blunders. A particularly notable plot hole comes from Steven Spielberg’s decision to make The Temple Of Doom a prequel to The Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Though the decision was based on personal preference and to save the films from “production errors,” this led to the director failing to notice a significant plot hole.
The Temple Of Doom‘s events occurred in 1935, however, this prequel portrayed an entirely different take on Indy and his beliefs than is to be expected. This sudden change in the protagonist’s stance from film to film was certainly curious, and it has to do with the franchise’s timeline. This is why the viewers are left scratching their heads with the timeline plot hole in The Temple Of Doom.
Indy Forgot All His Temple Of Doom Lessons
Though The Raiders Of The Lost Ark was released first, in the franchise’s timeline, it occurs in 1936, a year after the Temple Of Doom. In 1935, we journey with Indy as he witnesses a man’s heart being ripped out while he was alive, becomes a victim mind control, and even activates the magical Sankara stones’ power to burn through his bag with an incantation. After all is said and done, Indy admits that he “understands the stone’s power.” However, that was seemingly not enough for Dr. Jones to accept that the magic was real in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
One year passes, and Indy is heard saying, “I don’t believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus-pocus,” in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indy somehow forgot about the same ‘hocus-pocus’ that almost killed him back in India. It was indeed strange to watch Indy being possessed by a child’s voodoo doll in Temple Of Doom (1935) and then a year later suggesting to Marcus Brody that the Ark’s magic is ludicrous in Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1936).
Why Was Temple Of Doom A Prequel To Raiders Of The Lost Ark?
When Raiders Of The Lost Ark was released in 1981, its action and thrilling cinematic appearance were acclaimed by everyone. However, with the release of Temple Of Doom, the producers decided to take a step back and deliver a new and exciting entry to the franchise by creating a prequel to the hit film. The sole reason Temple of Doom was a prequel was because George Lucas (franchise creator) and Steven Spielberg did not want the Nazis to be portrayed as the bad guys again. In the pursuit of fresh and innovative, this timeline plot hole went unnoticed, as exposing Indy to magic in Temple Of Doom should have affected his stance on supernatural powers differently in the Raiders.
If the films’ order were interchanged, a more coherent timeline would have been formed and this plot hole could have been fixed. But honestly, that would have also caused some other blunder in the timeline down the line. This Temple of Doom timeline plot hole will undoubtedly create problems if you are rewatching the four Indiana Jones films in chronological order to prepare for Indiana Jones 5.
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