It's been awhile since I've watched this, but I've never really understood why it had to take place before Raiders of the Lost Ark. Was there something time specific about it that required it to be set in the 1930s?

I think they wanted to be able to give Indy a new girlfriend without having to explain what happened to Marion.

But then what happened to Short Round when Indy was off looking for the Ark?

Because the writers/creators decided that the events in ToD happened earlier in Indy's life.

Indy sold him to a sweat shop.

I agree.

Or Michael Jackson.

I heard that GL didn't want to go forward as he didn't feel like having Indy fight the Nazis again.

The only inconsistency I see with the storytelling is that Indy tells Marcus in Raiders that he doesn't believe in magic and hocus pocus type stuff, but that makes little sense having been through the events in TOD. Furthermore, after collecting the Anakra stones, Indy does a double take at a Cobra statue, which is clearly a nod to what happened in Raiders, but it can be written off as Indy doesn't like snakes in any form.

This is why ROTLA is chronologically the last one. So Indy and Marion could live happily ever after...

Huh? I thought the Last Crusade was the last one.

I never noticed that they weren't all in order... oh well.

I'd agree with the girlfriend thing, but Last Crusade took place in 1938, two years after Raiders with no mention of Marion at all. Beyond that, not sure why they set the date then.

I think some of it had to do with the fact they wanted Indy to still have a little awe when the supernatural events of Doom took place. Face it, one you've discovered the ark and experienced a bunch of nazi's blow up, you would pretty much believe in the supernatural. However (as stated earlier) it does still contradict the line in Raiders about majic and hocus pocus. I can live with that.

just blame it on Lucas!

They wanted to move away from nazi's, as if telling two stories about nazi's in a row would make the series kind of die. Not to mention it's a adventure for tressures. The third one was there to go back to what worked.

I disliked Temple so much. I'm glad they did go back to indy against nazi's.

No, I don't think so. It is just Indiana's dislike of snakes. If anything, it is an injoke for the audience - not an "in-universe" joke.

Because Indy is a slut who goes through women like there is no tomorrow...just like James Bond.

This, for me, is truly one of the great mysteries of the universe.

Maybe by 1984, for some inexplainable reason, George Lucas became obsessed with creating a new cinematic format known as the prequel. Back then, Temple of Doom was the first movie where I ever heard the term "prequel" used.

How the hell did I miss the fact that TOD was a prequel?
[sidenote to self] Where the hell has my mind been for the last 19 years???

Any word on where Indy 4 would fall in the timeline?

Indy 4 is going to take place around 1955...

Sorry, but are you serious? Obviously it will take place after Last Crusade. Indy's freakin' 60 years old!

I don't know, but I hear Chris Rock is coming in as Indy's erstwhile, wisecracking son, Detroit Jones.

You forgot the witty DVDTalk required "$" at the end.