Han Solo, portrayed by Harrison Ford, is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. In the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire. Over the course of the Star Wars franchise, Solo becomes a chief figure in the Alliance and succeeding galactic governments. Star Wars creator George Lucas described Solo as "a loner who realizes the importance of being part of a group and helping for the common good".^[1] Han remains one of cinema's most revered movie characters.

Depiction[link]

Film appearances[link]

At the beginning of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Solo and Chewbacca are indebted to Jabba the Hutt. Solo accepts a charter to transport Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) to Alderaan in Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon, for a payment to clear the debt. However when the crew and passengers arrive at the planets coordinates, they discover that Alderaan has been destroyed by the Death Star, and the Falcon is then captured and held upon the Death Star. Enticed by the likelihood of a large reward, Solo and Chewbacca help Skywalker rescue Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), held captive aboard the station. After delivering Skywalker, Leia, and the droids to the Rebels, Solo and Chewbacca receive payment for their services and depart; but return to assist Skywalker, ultimately enabling the latter to destroy the Death Star. Following this, Han is appointed a Captain by the Rebel Alliance.

When the Empire attacks the Rebels' base on Hoth in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Solo transports Chewbacca, Leia, and C-3PO to Cloud City for safety. The bounty hunter Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch) tracks the Falcon to Cloud City, and Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) forces Cloud City's administrator, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), to help capture Solo, who is sealed in carbonite for delivery to Jabba the Hutt. Although Calrissian frees Vader's other captives, they do not succeed in rescuing Solo. At the beginning of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) Leia infiltrates Jabba's palace and frees Solo; but they are caught by Jabba the Hutt before they can escape. When Jabba orders them to be executed, they are rescued by Skywalker. Reunited with the Rebels, Solo is commissioned as a general. Along with Leia and Chewbacca, he leads a team deactivating the force fields protecting the Empire's second Death Star, in which they are aided by the Ewoks.

Expanded Universe[link]

Brian Daley wrote a series of novels, the first published in 1979, exploring Solo and Chewbecca's smuggling adventures, and Ann C. Crispin's The Han Solo Trilogy (1997–1998) further develops the character's backstory.^[2] Crispin's books depict Solo as a beggar and pickpocket throughout much of his youth. He becomes a pilot and, in the process of undermining a religious fraud, falls in love with Bria Tharen, who disappears before Solo joins the Imperial Navy. Solo loses his commission and is cashiered when he refuses an order to skin Chewbacca, who had commandeered a ship carrying Wookiee children destined for slavery; Chewbacca, in turn, swears a "life-debt" to Solo. The two become smugglers, and help repel an Imperial blockade of a Hutt moon. Solo soon thereafter wins the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a card tournament. Tharen, who has become a Rebel agent, reappears and asks for Solo, Chewbacca, and Calrissian's help in attacking a slave colony. After succeeding, Tharen's troopers steal the smuggler's valuables to aid the Rebel Alliance. To compensate their losses, Solo and Chewbacca accept a smuggling job from Jabba the Hutt; but Imperials force the smugglers to jettison their cargo, invoking the debt Solo and Chewbacca owe the Hutt at the beginning of A New Hope. It is revealed in the book Vector Prime that Han's father was an Imperial Officer, only second to the General of Republic Forces.

Solo plays a central role in several Star Wars stories set after Return of the Jedi. In The Courtship of Princess Leia (1995), he resigns his commission to pursue Leia, whom he eventually marries. Han and Leia have three children: twins Jaina and Jacen and son Anakin. Chewbacca dies saving Anakin's life in Vector Prime (1999), eventually prompting alcoholism and depression in his partner. In Star by Star (2001), Anakin dies as well, compounding Han's despair. At the end of the series, Han is nevertheless reconciled with his family.

In the Legacy of the Force series, Jacen Solo becomes the Sith lord Darth Caedus; whereupon Han Solo disowns Jacen, but is devastated by each new outrage his son commits. He and Leia adopt Jacen's daughter, Allana, after Jacen's death in the book Invincible.

Influence and critical reaction[link]

Solo is a reckless smuggler with a sarcastic wit;^[2] he is "a very practical guy" and considers himself "a materialist";^[3] but the adventures in the first Star Wars movie evoke his compassion, a trait "he didn't know he possessed".^[3]

Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes explained that their "inspiration was anything Harrison Ford has ever done: Indiana Jones, Han Solo".^[4] The Japanese manga and anime anti-hero Space Adventure Cobra has been compared by reviewers to Solo.^[5][6] In preparing to play James T. Kirk for the 2009 Star Trek film, Chris Pine drew inspiration from Ford's depictions of Solo and Indiana Jones, highlighting their humor and "accidental hero" traits.^[7]

The American Film Institute ranked Solo as the 14th greatest film hero.^[8] He was also deemed the 4th greatest movie character of all-time by Empire magazine.^[9] Entertainment Weekly ranked the character 7th on their list of The All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.^[10] On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Solo at number 15.^[11] IGN listed Han Solo as the second greatest Star Wars character of all time (behind Darth Vader),^[12] as well as listing him as one of the top 10 characters who most needed a spin-off, saying he was "Arguably the coolest character in the Star Wars universe".^[13]

Merchandising[link]

Solo has been merchandised in multiple media, including action figures, video games, and other collectibles. A Han Solo action figure with "human proportions" was released in 1977 to coincide with the release of the original Star Wars, while a figure created for the films' mid-1990s re-release was criticized as "unrealistically muscled."^[14][15]

See also[link]

• Han shot first

References[link]

External links[link]

• Han Solo in the Star Wars Databank
• Han Solo on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars Wiki
• Han Solo at the Internet Movie Database
• Han Solo at The World of Star Wars

v t e Star Wars Main films Original trilogy Episode IV: A New Hope · Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back · Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Prequel trilogy Episode I: The Phantom Menace · Episode II: Attack of the Clones · Episode III: Revenge of the Sith See also Sequel trilogy · Changes in theatrical and video releases Spin-off films Caravan of Courage · The Battle for Endor · The Clone Wars Television series Droids · Ewoks · Clone Wars · The Clone Wars · Underworld Television specials Holiday Special · The Great Heep Documentaries The Making of Star Wars · SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back · Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi · From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga · Empire of Dreams · Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed Other media Books · Comics (List) · Manga · Radio · Computer and video games (List) · Games · Music · Expanded Universe · Knights of the Old Republic · Shadows of the Empire · The Force Unleashed · Lego Star Wars Films · Star Tours · Star Tours: The Adventures Continue · Star Wars: In Concert · Star Wars Insider · Star Wars Celebration · Star Wars Weekends Related topics Architecture · Canon · Cast · Characters · Conflicts · Creatures · Cultural impact · Holiday · Jedi census · Languages · Locations · Opening Crawl · Philosophy and religion · Physics · Vehicles · Weapons (Death Star) · Comparison to Star Trek Book · Category · Portal · WikiProject

Han may refer to:

China[link]

• China (漢), an abbreviation or adjectival modifier for things Chinese
• Han Chinese (漢族 Hanzu, 漢人 Hanren), the dominant majority ethnic group of China and overseas Chinese
• Chinese language (漢語 Hanyu) or Chinese characters (漢字 Hanzi) or Chinese written language (漢文 Hanwen)
• Han Dynasty (漢朝 Hanchao, 202 BC – 220 AD), also known as Han China, a Chinese dynasty
• Han (state) (韓國 Hanguo), one of seven powerful kingdoms during the Chinese Warring States Period
• Han (Western Zhou state) (韓國 Hanguo), a minor state that existed during the Spring and Autumn Period
• Han Zhao (漢趙, 304–329), one of the Chinese Sixteen Kingdoms, founded by the Liu family
• Cheng Han (成漢, 304–347), another of the Sixteen Kingdoms, founded by the Li family
• Former Shu later called Han (漢 Han, from 917), a kingdom during the Chinese Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
• Southern Han (南漢 Nanhan, 917–971, but called Great Yue until 918 or 919), a kingdom during the Chinese Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
• Northern Han (北漢 Beihan, 951–979), a kingdom during the Chinese Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
• Later Han Dynasty (Five Dynasties) (947–950 CE), in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
• Han class submarine, or Type 091 submarine, the first nuclear powered submarine class (SSN) deployed by the People's Liberation Army Navy
• Khan (title), or Han in Chinese transliteration, originally Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler
• Han (surname), also Haan, Hahn or Hann, the Romanized spelling of many Chinese family names: 韓(韩), 邗, 罕, 寒, 憨, 漢, etc.

Korea[link]

• Korea, an abbreviation for "Hanguk" (한국, 韓國), the Korean name for Korea
• an archaic Korean root meaning "great" or "leader"; transliterated into hanja as 韓, 幹, or 刊; see Names of Korea
• Samhan, three confederacies of chiefdoms on the southern Korean peninsula in the Proto-Three Han Kingdoms Period
• Han (Korean name), a Korean surname (한, 韓 or 漢), also romanized "Hahn"
• Han (cultural), a Korean cultural concept of lament
• Korean language (한국어 Hangug-eo) or Hangul (한글 Hangeul)

Japan[link]

• Han (administrative division) (藩), a term for feudal clan or fief in Japan
• Han, a wooden board hanging throughout a temple complex in a Zen monastery to alert monks of mealtime when out of range of the umpan
• Han characters

Vietnam[link]

• HAN, the International Air Transport Association code for Noi Bai International Airport serving Hanoi
• Han-Viet (Sino-Vietnamese)

Elsewhere[link]

• Han (North American people), a Canadian First Nation
• Hän language, an endangered Native American language spoken by the Hän people
• Han-sur-Lesse, Rochefort, Belgium
• Han, Turkey
• Huns, most notably Attila the Hun

People[link]

Miscellaneous[link]

• Han (trilobite)
• Han unification (Chinese character glyph unification) in Unicode
• Alternative spelling of title Khan (title), notably in Turkic languages
• Han, the Turkish word for a caravanserai
• Han (The West Wing), an episode of The West Wing, named for the Korean cultural concept (see above)
• Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen, or HAN
• Home Area Network, the set of emerging technologies allowing homeowners to easily manage household energy use; the term is particularly used with reference to technologies interfacing with a smart grid
• Hydroxylammonium nitrate, a rocket fuel oxidizer and monopropellant

See also[link]

• Han River (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with "Han"
• All pages with titles containing "Han"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up Solo, solo, or soloing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Solo or SOLO may refer to:

Arts[link]

Games[link]

• Dance Dance Revolution Solo, a sub-series of Dance Dance Revolution by Konami

Literature[link]

• Solo (DC Comics), a comic book series
• Solo (magazine), a Swedish magazine
• Solo (Marvel Comics), a comic book character

Musical artists and works[link]

• Solo (band), a Dutch pop rock band
• Solo (group), an American R&B group
• Solo (Cecil Taylor album), 1973
• Solo (Don McLean album), 1976
• Solo (Kaipa album), 1978
• Solo (Egberto Gismonti album), 1979
• Solo (Hugh Cornwell album), 1999
• Solo (DC Talk album), 2001
• Solo (Brian Harvey album), 2002
• Solo (Oscar Peterson album), 2002
• Solo (Ricardo Arjona album), 2004
• "Solo" (Alsou song), 2000
• "Solo" (Iyaz song), a song on Iyaz's 2010 album Replay
• "Solo", a song by Chew Lips
• "Solo", a song by Ekhymosis
• "Solo", a song by Demi Lovato on the album Here We Go Again

Musical terms[link]

• Solo (dance)
• Solo (music)
  • Drum solo
  • Guitar solo
• Solo album
• Solo artist, a musician who plays alone instead of in a musical ensemble
• Solo, a division on an organ console of a pipe organ

Television and film[link]

• Han Solo, a character from the Star Wars films
  • Solo family, relatives of Han in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
• Napoleon Solo, a character in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; the 1964 series was originally titled Solo or Ian Fleming's Solo
• Solo (TV series), a British sitcom starring Felicity Kendal
• Solo (1996 film), a 1996 SF action film
• Solo (2006 film), an Australian film written and directed by Morgan O'Neill
• Solo (2011 film), a 2011 Telugu-language film
• Solo, a 1969 film directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky

Visual and other exhibited arts[link]

• Solo show (art exhibition), a display of the works of a single artist

People[link]

• Gary McKinnon (born 1966), nicknamed "Solo", British hacker
• Hope Solo (born 1981), American soccer player
• Ksenia Solo (born 1987), Canadian actress
• Mano Solo (1963–2010), French singer

Places[link]

• Cerro Solo or El Solo, a volcano in the Andes
• Solo, Central Java or Surakarta, a city in Indonesia
• Solo River (Java)

Products and companies[link]

• Solo 210, aircraft engine
• Solo (car), a Hungarian hybrid car prototype
• Solo (debit card)
• Solo (Norwegian soft drink)
• Solo (Australian soft drink)
• Solo Cup Company
• Solo Foods
• Solo Mobile, a communications company
• Optare Solo, a British-built midibus
• Panther Solo, a British sports car
• Solo Oil Limited, purchased by Ampol in the 1990s
• Solo, a Turkish brand of paper products owned by Georgia-Pacific

Recreation[link]

• Solo, autocross events sanctioned by the SCCA
• Solo (dinghy), a racing sailboat designed by Jack Holt in 1956
• Solo climbing
• Solo whist, a card game

Other uses[link]

• EC-130 Commando Solo, an aircraft
• First solo flight of an aircraft pilot
• Fresh Breeze Solo, a German paramotor design
• Solar Orbiter (SOLO), a proposed satellite
• Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities (SOLO), a school in Conway, New Hampshire, U.S.
• Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO), an education taxonomy

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.^[12] is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials. The character first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, to be followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles from 1992 to 1996, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008. Alongside the more widely known films and television programs, the character is also featured in novels, comics, video games, and other media. Jones is also featured in the theme park attraction Indiana Jones Adventure, which exists in similar forms at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea.

Jones is most famously played by Harrison Ford and has also been portrayed by River Phoenix (as the young Jones in The Last Crusade), and in the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles by Corey Carrier, Sean Patrick Flanery, and George Hall. Doug Lee has supplied Jones's voice to two LucasArts video games, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, while David Esch supplied his voice to Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and John Armstrong in Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings^[13].

Particularly notable facets of the character include his iconic look (bullwhip, fedora, and leather jacket), sense of humor, deep knowledge of many ancient civilizations and languages, and fear of snakes.

Indiana Jones remains one of cinema's most revered movie characters. In 2003, he was ranked as the second greatest movie hero of all time by the American Film Institute.^[14] He was also named the sixth greatest movie character by Empire magazine.^[15] Entertainment Weekly ranked Indy 2nd on their list of The All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.^[16] Premiere magazine also placed Indy at number 7 on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.^[17] Since his first appearance in Raiders of the Lost Ark, he has become a worldwide star. On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Indy at number 10.^[18] In 2010, he ranked #2 on Time Magazine's list of the greatest fictional characters of all time, surpassed only by Sherlock Holmes.^{[citation needed]}

Appearances[link]

Indiana Jones is from Princeton, NJ and was first introduced in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, set in 1936. The character is presented as an adventurer reminiscent of the 1930s film serial treasure hunters and pulp action heroes, whose research is funded by Marshall College (named after producer Frank Marshall)^[19] a fictional college in Connecticut, where he is a professor of archaeology. In this first adventure, he is pitted against the Nazis, traveling the world to prevent them from recovering the Ark of the Covenant (see also Biblical archaeology). He is aided by Marion Ravenwood and Sallah. The Nazis are led by Jones's archrival, a Nazi-sympathizing French archaeologist named René Belloq, and Arnold Toht, a sinister Gestapo agent.

The 1984 prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, set in 1935, took the character into a more horror-oriented story, skipping his legitimate teaching job and globe trotting, and taking place almost entirely in India. This time, Jones attempts to recover children and the Sankara stones from the bloodthirsty Thuggee cult. He is aided by Short Round and accompanied by Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw).

The third film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, set in 1938, returned to the formula of the original, reintroducing characters such as Sallah and Marcus Brody, a scene from Professor Jones's classroom (he now teaches at Barnett College), the globe trotting element of multiple locations, and the return of the infamous Nazi mystics, this time trying to find the Holy Grail. The film's introduction, set in 1912, provided some back story to the character, specifically the origin of his fear of snakes, his use of a bullwhip, the scar on his chin, and his hat; the film's epilogue also reveals that "Indiana" is not Jones's first name, but a nickname he took from the family dog. The film was a buddy movie of sorts, teaming Jones with his father, often to comical effect. Although Lucas intended at the time to do five films, this ended up being the last for over eighteen years, as Lucas could not think of a good plot element to drive the next installment.^[20]

The 2008 film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, became the latest film in the series. Set in 1957, 19 years after the third film, it pits an older, wiser Indiana Jones against Soviet agents bent on harnessing the power of a crystal skull associated with extraterrestrials discovered in South America by his former colleague Harold Oxley (John Hurt). He is aided in his adventure by an old lover, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), and her son—a young greaser named Henry "Mutt" Williams (Shia LaBeouf), later revealed to be his biological child, Henry Jones III. There were rumors that LaBeouf will take over the Indy franchise.^[21] This film also reveals that Jones was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (a predecessor department to the CIA) during World War II, attaining the rank of Colonel in the United States Army and running covert operations with MI6 agent George McHale on the Soviet Union.

Television[link]

From 1992 to 1996, George Lucas executive-produced a television series named The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which was designed as an educational program for children, spotlighting historical figures and important events, using the concept of a prequel to the films as a draw. The show featured a standard formula of a 93-year-old Jones (George Hall), wearing an eye patch, introducing a story, and then an adventure with either a 17-year-old Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) or a 10-year-old Jones (Corey Carrier), and even a baby Indy (Neil "Boulie" Boulane). Historical figures featured on the show include Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Leo Tolstoy, Pancho Villa, Charles de Gaulle, Mata Hari, Eliot Ness, Ernest Hemingway, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Patrick Pearse, Emperor Karl and Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary, Vladimir Lenin, T. E. Lawrence, Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky, Winston Churchill, Herman Göring, Sigmund Freud, Theodore Roosevelt, Manfred von Richthofen, and John Ford, in such diverse locations as Egypt, India, China, and the whole of Europe.

One episode, "Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues", is bookended by Harrison Ford, reprising his role as the character. Indiana loses one of his eyes sometime between 1957 and when the "Old Indy" segments take place.

The show provided some backstory for the films, as well as new information regarding the character. He was born July 1, 1899, and his middle name is Walton (Lucas's middle name). It is also mentioned that he had a sister called Suzie who died as an infant of fever, and that he eventually has a daughter and grandchildren who appear in some episode introductions and epilogues. His relationship with his father, first introduced in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, was further fleshed out with stories about his travels with his father as a young boy. A large portion of the series centered around his activities during World War I.

In 1999, Lucas removed the episode introductions and epilogues by George Hall for the VHS and DVD releases, as he re-edited the episodes into chronologically ordered feature-length stories. The series title was also changed to The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.

Video games[link]

The character has appeared in several officially licensed games, including LEGO Indiana Jones video games, beginning with adaptations of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, two adaptations of The Last Crusade (one with purely action mechanics, one with an adventure and puzzle based structure) and Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures which included the storylines from all three of the original films.

Following this, the games branched off into original storylines with Indiana Jones in the Lost Kingdom, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.^[22] Emperor's Tomb sets up Jones's companion Wu Han and the search for Nurhaci's ashes seen at the beginning of Temple of Doom. The first two games were developed by Hal Barwood and starred Doug Lee as the voice of Indiana Jones; Emperor's Tomb had David Esch fill the role and Staff of Kings starred John Armstrong.

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine was the first Indy-based game presented in three dimensions, as opposed to 8-bit graphics and side-scrolling games before.

There is also a small game from Lucas Arts Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures. A video game was made for young Indy called Young Indiana Jones and the Instruments of Chaos, as well as a video game version of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

Two Lego Indiana Jones games have also been released. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures was released in 2008^[23] and follows the plots of the first three films. It was followed by LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues in late 2009. The sequel includes an abbreviated reprise of the first three films, but focuses on the plot of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Indiana Jones has also made cameo appearances as an unlockable character in the games Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

Social gaming company Zynga introduced Indiana Jones to their "Adventure World" game in late 2011.^[24]

Theme parks[link]

Indiana Jones is featured at several Walt Disney theme park attractions. The Indiana Jones Adventure attractions at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea ("Temple of the Forbidden Eye" and "Temple of the Crystal Skull," respectively) place Indy at the forefront of two similar archaeological discoveries. These two temples each contain a wrathful deity who threatens the guests who ride through in World War II troop transports. The attractions, some of the most expensive of their kind at the time, opened in 1995 and 2001, respectively, with sole design credit attributed to Walt Disney Imagineering. Disney did not license Harrison Ford's likeness for the North American version; nevertheless, a differentiated Indiana Jones audio-animatronic character appears at three points in both attractions. However, the Indiana Jones featured in the DisneySea version does use Harrison Ford's likeness but uses Japanese audio for all of his speaking parts. In 2010, some of the Indy audio-animatronics at the Disneyland version have been replaced and now resemble Ford.^[25]

Disneyland Resort Paris also features an Indiana Jones-titled ride where people speed off through ancient ruins in a runaway mine wagon similar to that found in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril is a looping roller coaster engineered by Intamin, designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, and opened in 1993.

The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! is a live show that has been presented in the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park of the Walt Disney World Resort with few changes since the park's 1989 opening under a different name. The 25-minute show presents various stunts framed in the context of a feature film production, and recruits members of the audience to participate in the show. Stunt artists in the show re-create and ultimately reveal some of the secrets of the stunts of the Raiders of the Lost Ark films, including the well-known "running-from-the-boulder" scene. Stunt performer Anislav Varbanov was fatally injured in August 2009, while rehearsing the popular show.^[26] Also at Disney's Hollywood Studios, an audio-animatronic Indiana Jones appears in another attraction; during the The Great Movie Ride's Raiders of the Lost Ark segment.

Character description and formation[link]

In his role as a college professor of archaeology, Henry Jones Jr. is scholarly and learned in a tweed suit, lecturing on ancient civilizations. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it is revealed that Jones is influenced by the Marxist Archaeologist, Vere Gordon Childe, whose qualified acceptance of cultural diffusionism theory he propounds. Ironically, though Childe loathes fieldwork,^[27] Indy goes on to say, "If you want to be a good archaeologist, you gotta get out of the library." This is in tongue-in-cheek contrast to the previous film's comment, "Seventy percent of all archaeology is done in the library."

However, at the opportunity to recover important artifacts, Dr. Jones transforms into "Indiana," a "non-superhero superhero" image he has concocted for himself.^[28] Producer Frank Marshall said, "Indy [is] a fallible character. He makes mistakes and gets hurt. [...] That's the other thing people like: He's a real character, not a character with superpowers."^[29] Spielberg said there "was the willingness to allow our leading man to get hurt and to express his pain and to get his mad out and to take pratfalls and sometimes be the butt of his own jokes. I mean, Indiana Jones is not a perfect hero, and his imperfections, I think, make the audience feel that, with a little more exercise and a little more courage, they could be just like him."^[30] According to Spielberg biographer Douglas Brode, Indiana created his heroic figure so as to escape the dullness of teaching at a school. Both of Indiana's personas reject one another in philosophy, creating a duality.^[28] Harrison Ford said the fun of playing the character was because Indiana is both a romantic and a cynic,^[31] while scholars have analyzed Indiana as having traits of a lone wolf; a man on a quest; a noble treasure hunter; a hardboiled detective; a human superhero; and an American patriot.^[32]

Like many characters in his films, Jones has some autobiographical elements of Spielberg. Indiana lacks a proper father figure because of his strained relationship with his father, Henry Senior. His own contained anger is misdirected at the likes of Professor Abner Ravenwood, his mentor at the University of Chicago, leading to a strained relationship with Marion Ravenwood.^[28] The teenage Indiana bases his own look on a figure from the prologue of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, after being given his hat.^[33] Marcus Brody acts as Indiana's positive role model at the college.^[33] Indiana's own insecurities are made worse by the absence of his mother.^[34] In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the character becomes the father in a temporary family unit with Willie Scott and Short Round to survive. Indiana is rescued from the evil of Kali by Short Round's dedication. Indiana also saves many children from slavery.^[34]

Because of Indiana's strained relationship with his father, who was absent much of Indiana's youth searching for the Holy Grail, the character does not pursue the more spiritual aspects of the cultures he studies. Indiana uses his knowledge of Shiva to ultimately defeat Mola Ram.^[34] In Raiders, however, he is wise enough to close his eyes in the presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant. By contrast, his rival Rene Belloq dies horribly for having the audacity to try to communicate directly with God.^[28]

In Crusade's prologue, Indiana's intentions are revealed as prosocial, as he believes artifacts "belong in a museum." In the film's climax, Indiana undergoes "literal" tests of faith to retrieve the Grail and save his father's life. He also remembers Jesus as a historical figure – a humble carpenter – rather than an exalted figure when he recognizes the simple nature and tarnished appearance of the real Grail amongst a large assortment of much more ornately decorated ones. Henry Senior rescues his son from falling to his death when reaching for the fallen Grail, telling him to "let it go," overcoming his mercenary nature.^[33] The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles explains how Indiana becomes solitary and less idealistic after fighting in World War I.^[35] In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Jones is older and wiser, whereas his sidekicks Mutt and Mac are youthfully arrogant and greedy, respectively.^[36]

Origins and inspirations[link]

Indiana Jones is modeled after the strong-jawed heroes of the matinée serials and pulp magazines that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg enjoyed in their childhoods (such as the Republic Pictures serials, and the Doc Savage series). Sir H. Rider Haggard's safari guide/big game hunter Allan Quatermain of King Solomon's Mines, who dates back to 1885, is a notable template for Jones.^[37] The two friends first discussed the project in Hawaii around the time of the release of the first Star Wars film.^[38] Spielberg told Lucas how he wanted his next project to be something fun, like perhaps a James Bond film. According to sources, Lucas responded to the effect that he had something "even better,"^[38] or that he "got that beat."^[39]

Two of the possible bases for "Indiana" Jones are Professor Challenger, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1912 for his novel, The Lost World, who was in turn based on his Doyle physiology professor, Sir William Rutherford, an adventuring academic, albeit a zoologist/anthropologist.^{[citation needed]}

The character was originally named "Indiana Smith" (perhaps in a nod to the 1966 Western film Nevada Smith), after an Alaskan Malamute Lucas owned in the 1970s ("Indiana"); however, Spielberg disliked the name "Smith," and Lucas casually suggested "Jones" as an alternative based on the archaeologist Vendyl Jones.^[38]

Lucas has said on various occasions that Sean Connery's portrayal of British secret agent James Bond was one of the primary inspirations for Jones, a reason Connery was chosen for the role of Indiana's father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.^[40][41]

Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis said the inspiration for Indiana's outfit was Charlton Heston's Harry Steele in Secret of the Incas: "We did watch this film together as a crew several times, and I always thought it strange that the filmmakers did not credit it later as the inspiration for the series."^[42]

Historical Models[link]

Many people are said to be the real-life inspiration of the Indiana Jones character—although none of the following have been confirmed as inspirations by Lucas or Spielberg. There are some suggestions, listed here in alphabetical order by last name:

• Beloit College professor and paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews.^[43]
• Italian archaeologist and circus strongman Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823).^[44]
• Yale University professor, historian, and explorer Hiram Bingham III, who rediscovered and excavated the lost city of Machu Picchu,^[45] and chronicled his find in the bestselling book The Lost City of the Incas in 1948.^[46]
• University of Chicago archaeologist Robert Braidwood.^[47]
• University of Chicago archaeologist James Henry Breasted.^[48]
• The British archaeologist Percy Fawcett, who spent much of his life exploring the jungles of northern Brazil, and who was last seen in 1925 returning to the Amazon Basin to look for the Lost City Of Z. A fictionalized version of Fawcett appears to Jones in the book Indiana Jones And The Seven Veils.^[7]
• British archaeologist and soldier T. E. Lawrence.^[49]
• The Northwestern University anthropologist, professor and adventurer William Montgomery McGovern.^[50]
• Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges.^[51]
• German archaeologist Otto Rahn.^[52]

Costume[link]

Upon requests by Spielberg and Lucas, the costume designer gave the character a distinctive silhouette through the styling of the hat; after examining many hats, the designers chose a tall-crowned, wide-brimmed fedora. As a documentary of Raiders pointed out, the hat served a practical purpose. Following the lead of the old "B"-movies that inspired the Indiana Jones series, the fedora hid the actor's face sufficiently to allow doubles to perform the more dangerous stunts seamlessly. Examples in Raiders include the wider-angle shot of Indy and Marion crashing a statue through a wall, and Indy sliding under a fast-moving vehicle from front to back. Thus it was necessary for the hat to stay in place much of the time.

The hat became so iconic that the filmmakers could only come up with very good reasons or jokes to remove it. If it ever fell off during a take, filming would have to stop to put it back on. In jest, Ford put a stapler against his head to stop his hat from falling off when a documentary crew visited during shooting of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This created the urban legend that Ford stapled the hat to his head.^[53] Although other hats were also used throughout the movies, the general style and profile remained the same. Elements of the outfit include:

• The fedora was supplied by Herbert Johnson Hatters in England for the first three films. It was referred to as "The Australian Model" by costume designer Deborah Landis and was fitted with a Petersham bow.^[54] The fedora for Crystal Skull was made by Steve Delk and Marc Kitter of the Adventurebilt Hat Company of Columbus, Mississippi.
• The leather jacket, a hybrid of the "Type 440" and the A-2 jacket, was made by Leather Concessionaires (now known as Wested Leather Co.) for Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. For Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, jackets were made in-house at Bermans & Nathans in London based on a stunt jacket they provided for Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tony Nowak made the jacket for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
• The bag was a modified Mark VII British gas mask bag, usually worn under the jacket with the exception of Crystal Skull where the bag was worn over the jacket.
• The whip was a 8 to 10 foot (2.4 to 3.0 m) bullwhip crafted by David Morgan for the first three films. The whips for Crystal Skull were crafted by a variety of people, including Terry Jacka, Joe Strain and Morgan (different lengths and styles were likely used in specific stunts).
• The pistol was usually a World War I-era revolver, including the Webley Government (Last Crusade and Crystal Skull), or a .45 ACP Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector 2nd model revolver (Raiders). He has also used an M1917 revolver (Temple of Doom), a Nagant M1895 (Young Indiana Jones), and a 9 mm Browning Hi-Power (Raiders).^[55] The weapon is carried in a military pattern flap holster.
• The shoes were made by Alden. A stock style (model 405) that had been a favorite of Ford's before the movies, they are still sold today (though in a redder (brick) shade of brown than seen in the movies) and are popularly known as "Indy Boots."^[56]

The fedora and leather jacket from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are on display at the Smithsonian's American History Museum in Washington, D.C.^[57] The collection of props and clothing from the films has become a thriving hobby for some aficionados of the franchise.^[58] Jones' whip was the third most popular film weapon, as shown by a 2008 poll held by 20th Century Fox, which surveyed approximately two thousand film fans.^[59]

Casting[link]

Originally, Spielberg suggested Harrison Ford; Lucas resisted the idea, since he had already cast the actor in American Graffiti, Star Wars, and The Empire Strikes Back, and did not want Ford to become known as his "Bobby De Niro" (in reference to the fact that fellow director Martin Scorsese regularly cast Robert De Niro in his films).^[38] During an intensive casting process, Lucas and Spielberg auditioned many actors, and finally cast then little-known actor Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones. Shortly afterward pre-production began in earnest on Raiders of the Lost Ark.^[38] However, CBS refused to release Selleck from his contractual commitment to Magnum, P.I. (which was gradually gaining momentum in the ratings), forcing him to turn down the role.^[38] One of CBS's concerns was that shooting for Magnum P.I. conflicted with shooting for Raiders, both of which were to begin about the same time. However, Selleck was to say later in an interview that shooting for Magnum P.I. was delayed and did not actually begin until shooting for Raiders had concluded.

After Spielberg suggested Ford again, Lucas gave in, and Ford was cast in the role less than three weeks before filming began.^[38]

Influence[link]

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Though some archaeologists criticize Indy's methods as befitting a "looter" rather more than a careful worker of precious sites, many have adopted the popular figure as something of a standard-bearer for their profession.^[60] The industry magazine Archaeology, believing that Jones, as one editor said, was "a horrible archaeologist but a great diplomat for archaeology,"^[60] named eight past and current archaeologists who they felt "embodied [Jones'] spirit" as recipients of the "Indy Spirit Awards" in 2008.^[61] That same year Ford himself was elected to the Board of Directors of the Archaeological Institute of America. Commenting that "understanding the past can only help us in dealing with the present and the future," Ford was praised by the association's president for his character's "significant role in stimulating the public's interest in archaeological exploration."^[62]

While himself a homage to various prior adventurers, aspects of Indiana Jones also directly influenced some subsequent characterizations:

• Lara Croft, the female archaeologist of the Tomb Raider series, was originally designed as a man, but was changed to a woman, partly because the developers felt that the original design was too similar to Indiana Jones.^[63] Paramount Pictures, which distributed the Indiana Jones film series, would later make two films based on the Tomb Raider games.
• Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes explained that their "inspiration was anything Harrison Ford has ever done: Indiana Jones, Han Solo."^[64]
• The video game series Uncharted is also very heavily influenced and inspired by Indiana Jones. The main character, Nathan Drake, also shares many similarities with Indiana Jones himself, both visually and personality-wise. The design team felt the sources shared themes of mystery and "what-if scenarios" that romanticized adventure and aimed to include those in Uncharted.^[65]

References[link]