History YMMV / IndianaJones

* AmericansHateTingle: Given ''Temple of Doom'''s portrayal of India, it comes as no surprise as to why it is not well received and was once banned in that country. To a lesser extent, many Russians had similar feelings in regard to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Creator/StevenSpielberg wanted to direct a Franchise/JamesBond movie, but was rejected twice by Creator/EonProductions. Creator/GeorgeLucas presented him with an idea "better than James Bond" and the rest is history. Spielberg would call ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' "a James Bond film without the hardware".

* SpiritualAdaptation: Spielberg wanted to direct a Bond movie, but was rejected twice by Eon Productions. George Lucas presented him with an idea "better than James Bond" and the rest is history. Spielberg would call ''Raiders'' "a James Bond film without the hardware".

* SpiritualAdaptation: In 1977, Spielberg wanted to direct a Bond movie, but George Lucas presented him with an idea "better than James Bond" and the rest is history. Spielberg called ''Raiders'' "a James Bond film without the hardware".

* CompleteMonster: Mola Ram; see [[YMMV/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleofDoom this page]] for details.

* CharacterShilling: Marion. Both in-universe and by the majority of the fans. She's often described as being tough, capable and generally kick-ass (contrasted with [[DamselInDistress Willie]]). However, aside from drinking a man under the table in her first scene and whacking a grand total of one mook with a frying pan, she pretty much spends the entirety of ''Raiders'' getting herself captured and screaming for Indy to save her...[[FauxActionGirl while ''still'' insisting she can handle things herself]]. She's mildly better in ''Crystal Skull'', but it's still a far-cry from the praise that's been heaped on her over the years.

** ''Temple of Doom'' gets this, too. It mostly comes down to whether Kate Capshaw was too annoying for the movie to be enjoyable. It also comes down to whether the {{Gorn}} was too much. Others consider it an embarrassment for its unironic reuse of colonialist era stereotypes about India, which many, in India and outside, see as racist.

** One of the novels in the series, published in 1995, is "ThePhilosophersStone". The villain dies by being touched by the stone, melting his flesh off. Two years later, HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone is released and Quirrell/Voldemort dies the same way, with his flesh crumbling into ashes

* {{Misblamed}}: Much like ''Star Wars'', expect any of the blame for problems to get thrown squarely at George Lucas and no one else.

* SnarkBait: The fifth film getting pushed back two years to 2021 got a lot of people amused by how it means we'll be asked to accept an almost 80 year old Harrison Ford as the same action hero he was in the '80s. He'll also be almost 20 years older than ''Sean Connery'' was in ''Last Crusade''.

* AlasPoorScrappy: In ''Temple of Doom'', Willie briefly has a near-moment, where she's almost sacrificed in a horrific way, by a brainwashed Indy no less. Unfortunately, after surviving it, she goes right back into DamselScrappy mode, and the audience's pity dissapears.
** RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: However she manages to crawl out of that area twice, once during the mine cart chase scene one {{mook}} attempts to strangle Jones from behind. Willie (in a moment of inspiration) makes herself useful by punching said mook square in the face, sending him flying. She later helps Short Round prevent Mola Ram's escape by stepping on his hands (repeatedly) as he tried to climb pasted them.

* CriticalDissonance: A different case than usual: Critics generally gave ''Crystal Skull'' good to great reviews, while the fans were the ones that hated it.

* DamselScrappy: [[TheScrappy Willie Scott]]. After a boisterous HardDrinkingPartyGirl like [[ActionGirl Marion]], it's hard for some fans to accept that not every woman's cut out for the adventure shtick.

* {{Squick}}: According to the script and Word of God, Indiana and Marion's "relationship" started when [[http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/RaidersoftheLostArk.pdf she was 15 and he was 27.]] When they meet again, ten years later, Marion chastises Jones, stating, [[RomanticizedAbuse "I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it!"]] Jones shows little remorse, and simply replies [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming "You knew what you were doing."]] It gets worse when you realize that [[http://moedred.livejournal.com/2009/03/04/ George Lucas originally wanted her to be ''11'']] when they first met.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The Music/JohnWilliams theme is now '''''the''''' adventure theme.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: That bridge in ''The Last Crusade'', the leap of faith. You don't even ''see'' it until the camera pans and throws it off kilter!

* {{Squick}}: Indiana and Marion's "relationship" started when [[http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/RaidersoftheLostArk.pdf she was 15 and he was 27.]] When they meet again, ten years later, Marion chastises Jones, stating, [[RomanticizedAbuse "I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it!"]] Jones shows little remorse, and simply replies [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming "You knew what you were doing."]] It gets worse when you realize that [[http://moedred.livejournal.com/2009/03/04/ George Lucas originally wanted her to be ''11'']] when they first met.

* {{Squick}}: ** Indiana and Marion's "relationship" started when [[http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/RaidersoftheLostArk.pdf she was 15 and he was 27.]] When they meet again, ten years later, Marion chastises Jones, stating, [[RomanticizedAbuse"I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it!"]] Jones shows little remorse, and simply replies [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming "You knew what you were doing."]] It gets worse when you realize that [[http://moedred.livejournal.com/2009/03/04/ George Lucas originally wanted her to be ''11'']] when they first met.

** ''Temple of Doom'' gets this, too. It mostly comes down to whether Kate Capshaw was too annoying for the movie to be enjoyable. It also comes down to whether the {{Gorn}} was too much.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Of all the ''Indiana Jones'' works, ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is the one whose actual plot you're most likely to remember.
** Unless it's ''The Last Crusade'', because of the quest for the Grail and Creator/SeanConnery as Henry Jones Sr. But having said that, ''Crusade'' is the most well-remembered of the sequels largely because of its faithfulness in tone to the original.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: The use of [[IndyPloy improbable escapes to get Indy out of danger]]. While the original trilogy was always fondly remembered for its masterful action choreography, some of the more silly escapes were affectionately mocked by fans. Case in point: Indy somehow hitching a ride on a Nazi submarine in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' without drowning, and surviving falling out of a plane in an inflatable raft in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''. Both were widely derided as ridiculous, but few people thought they were bad enough to spoil good action movies. But when Indy survived a nuclear explosion in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' by hiding in a refrigerator, it was widely held up by critics as one of the worst moments of the film, and many fans believed that it finally stretched the audience's suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.

** The scene in ''Last Crusade'' where Henry Sr. subdues a Nazi soldier by spraying his face with ink from his pen, leading Marcus to say "{{The pen is mightier}} than the sword!", is funnier in light of the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' "Celebrity Jeopardy!" sketch where Creator/SeanConnery [[note]] played by Darrell Hammond[[/note]] [[TheProblemWithPenIsland misreads "The Pen Is Mightier" as "The Penis Mightier".]]

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: According to some people, ''Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' had plenty of this.

* DamselScrappy: [[TheScrappy Willie Scott]], natch. After a boisterous HardDrinkingPartyGirl like [[ActionGirl Marion]], it's hard for some fans to accept that not every woman's cut out for the adventure shtick.

* BrokenBase:

* CharacterShilling: Marian. Both in-universe and by the majority of the fans. She's often described as being tough, capable and generally kick-ass (contrasted with [[DamselInDistress Willie]]). However, aside from drinking a man under the table in her first scene and whacking a grand total of one mook with a frying pan, she pretty much spends the entirety of ''Raiders'' getting herself captured and screaming for Indy to save her...[[FauxActionGirl while ''still'' insisting she can handle things herself]]. She's mildly better in ''Crystal Skull'', but it's still a far-cry from the praise that's been heaped on her over the years.
* CompleteMonster: Mola Ram; see [[YMMV/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleofDoom this page]] for details.
* ContestedSequel: ''Crystal Skull''. ''Temple of Doom'', on a lesser extent.

* TheScrappy: Willie and Mutt.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: ''Temple of Doom'', along with ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'', which was produced by Spielberg, were dark enough to lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating.

* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: [[AntiVillain Elsa]] and [[BadassGrandpa Henry Sr.]] canonically have this relationship, with Henry Sr. using this ''exact'' phrase to describe it.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Short Round. Either he's a good KidSidekick with a surprising aptitude for fighting and quite a bit of worldly knowledge and one of the few positive role models for young Asian boys in the 80s or an annoying bratty kid [[TheScrappy scrappy.]]

* TheScrappy: Willie, Short Round, and Mutt. It should be noted, however, that both Short Round and Mutt have both proven themselves to be highly skilled in combat, among other useful talents, Northern-Style Kung Fu, fencing, and so forth. Perhaps for this reason, Short Round is more of a BaseBreakingCharacter, being a {{Scrappy}} to some and an EnsembleDarkhorse to others. Willie has no such positive qualities and is just a screaming helpless damsel.

** The scene in ''Last Crusade'' where Henry Sr. subdues a Nazi soldier by spraying his face with ink from his pen, leading Marcus to say "{{The pen is mightier}} than the sword!", is funnier in light of the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' "Celebrity Jeopardy!" sketch where SeanConnery [[note]] played by Darrell Hammond[[/note]] [[TheProblemWithPenIsland misreads "The Pen Is Mightier" as "The Penis Mightier".]]

* AmericansHateTingle: Given Temple of Doom's portrayal of India, it comes as no surprise as to why it is not well received and was once banned in that country. To a lesser extent, many Russians had similar feelings in regard to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

** ''Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull''. Some people say it is total crap, others say it was fun but not up to ''Indiana Jones'' standards, some liked the acting and characters but not the writing, some liked it all except for the GainaxEnding, Shia [=LaBeouf=] blames himself and his monkey-swinging Tarzan act, and then there are those that hold it as being better than ''Temple of Doom'' but not up to the standards of the "Nazi" movies. Really, it isn't broken so much as ''shattered into thousands of pieces''.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The JohnWilliams theme is now '''''the''''' adventure theme.

* [[DracoInLeatherPants Draco In A Leather Dress]] : [[TheBaroness Irina Spalko]] is one of the rare female examples. In her defense, she does have ''some'' genuine {{AntiVillain}}-ish character traits but not enough to fully qualify for the {{trope}}.

** Unless it's ''The Last Crusade'', because of the quest for the Grail and SeanConnery as Henry Jones Sr. But having said that, ''Crusade'' is the most well-remembered of the sequels largely because of its faithfulness in tone to the original.

* TheScrappy: Willie, Short Round, and Mutt. It should be noted, however, that both Short Round and Mutt have both proven themselves to be highly skilled in combat, among other useful talents, Northern-Style Kung Fu, fencing, and so forth. Perhaps for this reason, Short Round is more of a BaseBreakingCharacter, being a {{Scrappy}} to some and an EnsembleDarkhorse to others.

* DamselScrappy: [[TheScrappy Willie Scott]], natch. After a {{badass}} boisterous HardDrinkingPartyGirl like [[ActionGirl Marion]], it's hard for some fans to accept that not every woman's cut out for the adventure shtick.