# Indiana Jones vs THEM! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jones-vs-them/476325 "2008-12-09T00:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jones-vs-them/476325/1 "2008-12-09T00:16:04Z")
Were the giant ants in _Indiana Jones & the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull_ a tribute to the movie _THEM!_ ? Both were set in 1950 era. Both involved giant ants. And old movies have lots of fans. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jones-vs-them/476325/2 "2008-12-09T00:46:00Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Were the giant ants in _Indiana Jones & the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull_ a tribute to the movie _THEM!_ ? > > Both were set in 1950 era. Both involved giant ants. > > And old movies have lots of fans. I don’t think so. _Them!_ didn’t have a swarm and the ants in _Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_ were not giant since [ants really can get to be an inch or more in length](http://graphics.stanford.edu/~miltchen/picture/brazil/Manaus/photos/photo_17.html) (warning: depicts very large ant crawling on someone for scale). ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jones-vs-them/476325/3 "2008-12-09T01:22:26Z")
_Phase IV_ had lots of swarming ants… and they were _smart_! 😃 I caught that crapfest on a Saturday afternoon on channel 5 in LA, and the ending bit with the guy in the pit full of holes, then the ants pouring out- :eek: ! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jones-vs-them/476325/4 "2008-12-09T02:38:03Z")
**Phase IV** was a perfectly good movie, with some very interesting points made. **Them!** is a classic, but I don’t see how the ants in IJatKotCS bear any relation to it. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jones-vs-them/476325/5 "2008-12-09T02:53:52Z")
The ants are exaggerated versions of [siafu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorylus), a real-life ant species (although not one native to South America). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jones-vs-them/476325/6 "2008-12-09T17:50:50Z")
Each installment of the franchise has included a set of creepy crawlies. _Raiders_: snakes and tarantulas, _Temple_: assorted insects and the “feast”, _Crusade_: rats (and snakes again, briefly). Given the location (S.A.) and the fact that they were one of the more obvious creepy crawlies not yet used, ants just seemed like an obvious choice. In fact, if there’s a 1954 movie it’s referencing, it’s not _Them!_ so much as [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFtAHwvZowE).