# 'Why did it have to be snakes?' - the 40th Anniversary 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 12, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114 "2021-06-12T14:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/101 "2021-07-06T19:40:15Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Only the last few traps remained. Why not just send something trough to spring the traps. Then you can just walk in. But then, this movie, Last Crusade, and Glass Aliens all had booby traps that effectively destroyed the room they were guarding. What use is a guarded entrance like the grail room in Crusade if it destroys the entire place? That poor knight is now trapped forever. Not to mention that big boulder in Raiders now sealed the room forever (one assumes it was to be set loose while the thief was still in there.) And of course the whole secret lair of the glass alien skull makes NO SENSE. Using the “key” wrong brings the whole complex down? Wonder if they have high rise condos on their homeward? (too soon?) And how did they original person get the skull out in the first place. Man, that movie was stupider than the SW PT and ST combined. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/102 "2021-07-06T19:43:45Z")
Great movie. I was in my 20s and in West Texas when it came out. It caught my attention when I overheard a couple of guys talking, saying something like: “I’ve watched it three times so far,” “Yeah? Well, I’ve watched it _four_ times.” I ended up doing multiple viewings myself. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/103 "2021-07-06T19:59:52Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > One question: once Indy & Co. have figured out that the Nazis are digging in the wrong place (and the right place is just far enough from where they’re digging that they’re not likely to stumble into it by accident), why don’t they just get the hell out of there, get back to Cairo and send a telegram to the intel types who hired Indy for this gig in the first place? Once the Nazis clear out (the movie makes it appear they’re getting ready to throw in the towel on the prospect that the Ark is there), they can either let the Ark just remain there in perpetuity, or get some unofficial U.S. Army armed support while they dig now, or wait until after WWII and dig up the Ark then. Because the Nazis had unlimited manpower and resources and they might just as well stumbled upon it. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s pretty impressive that their pressure-sensitive devices continued to work after such a long time in a hostile jungle environment, even with moss growing on it – those pressure-triggered darts (what WAS propelling them through hose holes? The natives would reset them, of course. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > I woulda thought, naively, that the platform would go _up_ if you removed the weight, thus triggering the mechanism. Too much sand. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And, sure, the Ark of the Covenant would be interesting, but the entire city of Tanis, buried and undisturbed for centuries, would be fascinating to study. The map room alone would be very cool. Occupied by Nazis. 😝 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/104 "2021-07-06T20:04:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Too much sand. Right. But, as I say, it’s easy to make a mechanism where removal would trigger things – but the platform would go UP i n that case. It’s much less likely that they’d build a plunger that triggered things if there was TOO MUCH weight – you want to detect when your idol is stolen, after all, and you don’t want false triggers when someone leans on it, or drops something on it. And it’s harder to build that way. But I already said this. You just wanted a quick and thoughtless comment. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/105 "2021-07-06T20:50:28Z")
So they built the idol to descend into the rock platform so that it could be easily recovered after the room was destroyed? Yeah, that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/106 "2021-07-06T21:03:59Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Why not just send something trough to spring the traps. Then you can just walk in. That’s what the Nazis did. 😃 > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > But then, this movie, Last Crusade, and Glass Aliens all had booby traps that effectively destroyed the room they were guarding. I got the impression that in the Last Grail, it was God’s wrath (like the face melting) that caused the final destruction, not a human-built mechanism. But I can totally see a death cult constructing a final grand trap to destroy everything. Death is their goal, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/107 "2021-07-06T21:07:34Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > That’s what the Nazis did. 😃 I was imagining a man shaped box on a stick, or the 30s equivalent of a bomb disposal robot. Not Nazi “volunteers”! 🙂 Something a bit less “hard on parts”. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/108 "2021-07-06T21:14:17Z")
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the mechanism that chopped off heads if you weren’t kneeling seemed to reset itself after someone triggered it. (Remember that Indy used his bullwhip to disable it.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/109 "2021-07-06T21:25:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the mechanism that chopped off heads if you weren’t kneeling seemed to reset itself after someone triggered it. Yes…another ancient mechanical trap that resets itself. If only modern tech worked as well. 🙂 (yes, you could totally say “God reset it”. I’m not sure that helps. After all, God gave us Nazis.) Like the walking across Jehovah excuse me Iehovah path - no one else in the last 2000 years got that far? Eventually, it will be obvious what steps to take, even if you don’t speak latin or even know God’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/110 "2022-04-29T21:08:04Z")
Bumped. A nice interview with Karen Allen: [Karen Allen talks ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ 40th anniversary, Cleveland Play House and Nazi monkeys - cleveland.com](https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/06/karen-allen-talks-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-40th-anniversary-cleveland-play-house-and-nazi-monkeys.html) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/111 "2022-04-29T23:39:57Z")
They were sending in “subhumans”, remember. 🙄 Robots are expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/112 "2022-05-03T13:45:08Z")
{removed strange bare link} ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/113 "2022-05-03T16:49:25Z")
Please don’t post bare links, especially spammy/suspicious bare links. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/114 "2022-05-03T18:23:21Z")
Apologies - when I posted it it was auto-labeled when I looked at it. At any rate, it was a link to Blazing Saddles and the ost of a handcart. This should be the same thing: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RAzm-o9aC5o/maxresdefault.jpg "Tell them I said owwww. Quicksand scene.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAzm-o9aC5o) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/115 "2022-07-19T18:07:58Z")
Bumped. > [@RickJay](#): > > … > 4. What aged the worst: The implication Marion was a teenager when they first got together, though I must point out they never do say how old she actually was. I don’t know where @JohnT gets “Twelve” from. If you want to figure she was 18, why not? Maybe she was. > … This may be of interest: > **[Karen Allen Clarifies Indiana Jones-Marion Romantic History: ‘I Don’t Think...](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/karen-allen-indiana-jones-pedophile-1234643243/)** > > While Allen is aware there are sinister undertones to Marion and Indiana Jones’ romance, she doesn’t believe that to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/116 "2022-07-20T03:09:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > This may be of interest: I know about the weird ass conversations between Spielberg and Lucas but that’s not in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/117 "2022-09-11T05:47:00Z")
Indiana Jones 5 is coming out June of 2023. Unfortunately Harrison Ford (80 years old) says it is the last one of the series he will participate in: > **[‘Indiana Jones 5’: Emotional Harrison Ford Shows New Footage at D23](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/indiana-jones-5-harrison-ford-footage-d23-1235364690/)** > > The king of adventure is back once again. “Indiana Jones 5” showed its first trailer on Saturday during the D23 Expo. Although it was not released online, Harrison Ford appeared onstage… ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/118 "2022-09-11T13:19:12Z")
It is an odd numbered movie so maybe it will be good… Brian ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/119 "2022-09-11T15:01:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > As another thought, it’s always bothered me that the platform the idol was sitting on went _down_ after Indy misjudged the weight he replaced it with. I woulda thought, naively, that the platform would go _up_ if you removed the weight, thus triggering the mechanism. That’s just good filmmaking right there foreshadowing the alien presence from the latest Indian Jones movie. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114/120 "2022-09-12T01:22:59Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Indiana Jones 5 is coming out June of 2023. Unfortunately Harrison Ford (80 years old) says it is the last one of the series he will participate in: Let’s not count him out yet. We could be in store for _Indiana Jones and the Retirement Home Enema of Doom_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-have-to-be-snakes-the-40th-anniversary-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-thread/944114.md?page=7)