# why does everyone hate the aliens in kingdom of the crystal skull? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970 "2010-05-19T04:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/81 "2010-05-21T18:41:15Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, in a way it’s like somebody’s already crossed out some wrong answers for you. 🙂 Exactly my point. :3 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/82 "2010-05-21T18:55:20Z")
Well, the previous contestants left some clues on the board on the first trial, too. You pays your money, you takes your chances. The old knight in there’s tired, he doesn’t want to deal with any bullshit that can be weeded out via the online application. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/83 "2010-05-21T20:26:19Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > No… All right, you convinced me. (Actually, I looked up the [screenplay](http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Indiana-Jones-and-the-Last-Crusade.html) online so I could triumphantly wave it in your face, and, well…) But I think the way the scene was made is a _huge_ cheat. The way it’s described in the script makes sense, as we “see” it from the same angles Indy does, and it only becomes visible when seen from a new angle. One way to do this on screen would have been to have the camera looking down at the camouflaged bridge, then have it revolve 90 degrees to see it from a non-camo side. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/84 "2010-05-21T20:42:08Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > That’s doesn’t make any sense. There is no J in Latin why is that letter even there. Because the people who built the trap weren’t native Latin speakers. They were English knights. ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/85 "2010-05-21T21:00:17Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > All right, you convinced me. (Actually, I looked up the [screenplay](http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Indiana-Jones-and-the-Last-Crusade.html) online so I could triumphantly wave it in your face, and, well…) But I think the way the scene was made is a _huge_ cheat. The way it’s described in the script makes sense, as we “see” it from the same angles Indy does, and it only becomes visible when seen from a new angle. One way to do this on screen would have been to have the camera looking down at the camouflaged bridge, then have it revolve 90 degrees to see it from a non-camo side. It’s unfortunate that they show it from so many angles beforehand, since illusions usually only works from a specific point of view, but they do have that panning shot where it goes from invisible to visible as the camera moves to the side, and all the shots before that are with a fixed camera. I suppose you could fanwank that the angles they show before he steps on it all happen to align fairly well with the bridge’s pattern. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/86 "2010-05-22T03:53:53Z")
I watched _Raiders_ again tonight and the warehouse and the end is way too big. It makes the Ark seem less special, since there are so many other items that get the same treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/87 "2010-05-22T03:59:16Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I watched _Raiders_ again tonight and the warehouse and the end is way too big. It makes the Ark seem less special, since there are so many other items that get the same treatment. Well yeah, that’s kind of the point. Indy recovered a great and powerful mystical artifact, and it gets stuck in a featureless box and stored with tons of other featureless boxes. Holy crap, you’re supposed to think, what _other_ great and powerful mystical artifacts have been found and then hidden away that we don’t even know about? This is next level shit right here. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/88 "2010-05-22T04:11:00Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Well yeah, that’s kind of the point. Indy recovered a great and powerful mystical artifact, and it gets stuck in a featureless box and stored with tons of other featureless boxes. Holy crap, you’re supposed to think, what _other_ great and powerful mystical artifacts have been found and then hidden away that we don’t even know about? This is next level shit right here. Exactly. Your reaction is supposed to be “What? All this hubbub for this awesome artifact and in the end it’s just a drop in the bucket?” It’s like in _Men in Black_ when J is expressing surprise at K’s apparent calmness in the face of the world’s destruction. K just calmly tells him that there’s _always_ an alien death ray or battle fleet waiting to destroy the Earth. This is nothing special. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/89 "2010-05-22T04:15:58Z")
oh, I see ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/90 "2010-05-22T05:56:20Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > come one guys at least I used a question mark in the title this time. I haven’t worked my way up to capital letters yet. no need to be so mean about it. Between the laserdisc obsession, the “My mommy won’t let me use Google because I might find boobies!”, and the way you constantly accuse people of being mean to you, you are one weird little dude. As for Crystal Skull, I think if it pulled a bait and switch with the aliens, exposing the big secret as a Lost City of El Dorado type mystery perhaps, it wouldn’t be nearly as reviled. I enjoyed it, but it doesn’t even match Temple as far as the rest of the series goes. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/91 "2010-05-22T06:07:44Z")
Laserdiscs are cool. I think everyone else is just jealous that they don’t have any. I was just kidding about not being able to use google. Mom doesn’t control what I do online. I am too sensitive about being criticized and often take things the wrong way even when no offense is meant. But from now on I will take extra care always to use capital letters here. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/92 "2010-05-22T14:06:11Z")
Aside from the aliens, I think the use of Communists as the villains was a mistake. I remember reading that an earlier concept for the movie was to have the villains be Nazis officers who’d escaped to South America, and I thought “Wow, that would have been a much better movie than the one that was actually made.” ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/93 "2010-05-23T07:27:26Z")
After reading this thread (and already knowing the basic gist of the story, and despite being warned by my friends) I gave in and rented Indy 4 last night. It wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen but especially compared to ROTLA it was just really lacking. There wasn’t anything to keep me interested, honestly. I started to doze off at the end which seemed awfully similar to “Mission To Mars” (now there was an absolutely shitty movie). Many of the gags were simultaneously disposable and overdone, as opposed to making them exciting set pieces or things that actually advanced the story. A couple of examples: 1. The fridge. They could have had him jump into it, shown the nuke go off and have it just barely wreck the mock village that he’s in, like he’s right at the fringe of the blast. Have the house ignite and then collapse on him and he crawls out. Nutty but vaguely believable. Instead he’s basically in the “severe blast zone”, everything gets blown to smithereens and the fridge goes flying through the air, conveniently landing on top of disposable bad guys’ car, tumbles halfway across the desert and then he hops out. Credibility strained way too far. 2. The waterfalls. They could have done a hell of a scene of the amphib going over the edge of one single waterfall and crashing into the water below. Instead they go over one…and then they go over another…and then they go over a third. There’s no purpose to any of them, except that John Hurt gets to act the crazy old coot yet again and mutter something immediately beforehand to indicate that three is the number of the waterfalls and the number of the waterfalls shall be three. 3. “Magnetic” anything. Zero attempt at any sort of consistency in terms of what is attracted, when and from how far away. How long would it really have taken to make something up that would at least have been internally consistent? As far as the whole alien shtick, it just didn’t seem like it had any purpose and it was poorly done. If Lucas was trying to make this one an homage to 1950s saucer men he failed miserably. It was an homage to the same overused Mysterious Grey Dudes that we’ve seen a million times starting with those idiotic “alien abduction” books of the 1980s. Oh wow, they’re spindly, have big heads and huge featureless eyes. Just disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970/94 "2010-05-23T10:24:10Z")
> [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > I definitely think so. Indy 4 was filmed around twenty years later from Indy 3, so it was either keep Indiana Jones in the 1930’s, which would have been jarring since Ford has grown so old, or make the movie take place in the 1950’s. With the film set in the 1950’s, the sci-fi theme makes a lot of sense, at least on paper. In theory, maybe. But KotCS wasn’t 1950’s sci-fi. All that ancient astronauts crap dates from the late sixties. The sci-fi in this movie had almost none of the themes or ideals of 1950s sci-fi. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-the-aliens-in-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/539970.md?page=4)