This has always bothered me.

According to the old man the staff was 6 kadams (?) high, approx 72" which makes 1 kadam 12". Subtract 1 kadam gives you 60" ie 5 feet high. The staff Indy uses towers above him.

Does this mean Indy is really..... a Hobbit

[Smurfin]

Ryan, regardless of the answer...methinks you need some help

I know I can be a bit anal when it comes to small details.

Originally posted by Ryan
This has always bothered me.

According to the old man the staff was 6 kadams (?) high, approx 72" which makes 1 kadam 12". Subtract 1 kadam gives you 60" ie 5 feet high. The staff Indy uses towers above him

Yeah but the Kadam measuring system went to pot when it was decimalised!

[Lex]

I blame those Brussels Bureaucrats!

[MrFurious]

and when he throws it down into the chamber it makes a metal clanging noise but when hes finished he just snaps it over his knee??i allways knew indy was a hard man!

[Loafer316]

What got me more confused was how Indy swam to the Nazi Submarine then you saw him climbing up it....cut to captain telling crew to dive...then you see indy at the docking yard soaking wet and away from the Sub...he must have held his breath for ages if he didn't get in!!

[mjn]

Originally posted by Ryan
This has always bothered me.

According to the old man the staff was 6 kadams (?) high, approx 72" which makes 1 kadam 12". Subtract 1 kadam gives you 60" ie 5 feet high. The staff Indy uses towers above him.

Does this mean Indy is really..... a Hobbit

i noticed that aswell....and can only assume that the staff was on some kind of step

[MrFurious]

there is an explanation of the nazi sub part loafer316,but it was deleted,in the scene indy uses his whip to hold onto the periscope and just stays there until the sub arrives at the island,they filmed part of the scene but scrapped it,the scene is in the comic adaption though.

Mjn, look at the scene where they're walking to the well of souls.

[Adam Barratt]

when hes finished he just snaps it over his knee

A good thing, too. That should prevent those NAZIs from working out its actual length. .. Cunning, that Jones.

[Loafer316]

[NicolasB]

At the risk of sounding even geekier than usual: Indy had little reason to try and conceal the length of the staff because the Germans had already performed calculations in the map-room and were already digging ("in the wrong place"). All that was necessary was to not do anything to make them suspect that they were digging in the wrong place until at least the next day, because Indy knew that he and his friends would be able to recover the ark that evening.

[James45]

The staff height and submarine plot holes bugged me as well this time round.

Nic you mention another thing that bugged me, did Indy think that his dig team would go unnoticed as they uncovered the well of souls? They were standing on top of a nearby hill and making a lot of noise !!!

[higenbs1]

Have you also noticed that in TOD, Indy can't fly the plane at the beginning, whereas in TLC he is able to fly the plane, but not land it. Presumably, learning from his mistakes, he invested in some flying lessons between adventures.

[James45]

and didn't he do loads of flying in the Young Indiana Jones stories? perhaps we are looking too hard though...

[MrFurious]

isnt it funny that when you watched the movies as a kid in my case you didnt care about things like the staff and subarine,oh to be young and innocent again

[NicolasB]

did Indy think that his dig team would go unnoticed as they uncovered the well of souls? They were standing on top of a nearby hill and making a lot of noise

Yeah, but it was dark. And the dig site was covering an entire city. There presumably would have been a lot of activity with the local arabs wandering about all over the place for all sorts of reasons. And by that time the Germans figured they knew where the Ark was, so they probably thought they could be a bit more lax about security anywhere else.

[FlimsyFeet]

Originally posted by higenbs1
Have you also noticed that in TOD, Indy can't fly the plane at the beginning, ...

Look at the expression on his face - he's deliberately winding Willie up!

He does know how to fly, as he goes on to check all the instruments - that when he realises the fuel has gone.

[CrispyXUK]

And Temple of Doom is the first in the timeline, so after nearly crashing in a plane with his line of work (moonlighting?) he has had pleanty of time to at least do a few lessons.

[higenbs1]

Originally posted by FlimsyFeet
Look at the expression on his face - he's deliberately winding Willie up!

He does know how to fly, as he goes on to check all the instruments - that when he realises the fuel has gone.

No way - Look at the expression on his face when he sits in the chair. He hasn't got a clue what he's looking at.

[dsw182]

Wasn't it Indy's father that flies the plane in TLC? I could be completely wrong about it, as I haven't watched them in years.

Indy flies the plane, his dad mans the gun.

[Mr.D]

It was common practice for Uboats to submerge only when actively in combat.
Even then it was common to remain at periscope depth.

Raiders is set before the advent of WW2 therefor the germans weren't at war with anyone so its not totally unbelievable that the submarine would have made its journey at periscope depth with the periscope up for navigation as well as ventilation ( Uboats wouldn't entirely submerge for long periods unless combat necessitated it, It would mean engaging battery drive because the diesels would no longer work. If you remain at periscope depth you can use a snorkel to get air to the diesels).

If anything its more likely that the uboat wouldn't have submerged at all unless secrecy was called for. WW2 submarines were actually significantly quicker above the waves than below.

[FlimsyFeet]

Originally posted by higenbs1
No way - Look at the expression on his face when he sits in the chair. He hasn't got a clue what he's looking at.

Well...
You could be right, the original screenplay and the novelisation both give a different version of this scene. I think the movie could be interpreted either way.

Screenplay

[FONT=courier new]26. INT. THE COCKPIT 26.

The door flies open and Indy rushes in with Willie behind him.
Indy appraises the situation quickly and jumps into the pilot's
seat with total confidence --

WILLIE (Cont'd)
You know how to fly?

Indy surveys the control panels, the myraid of dials and switches --

INDIANA
No.
(hopefully)
Do you?

[/FONT]

Novelistion
[FONT=times new roman]
He ran up to the cockpit, Willie at his heels. In
an instant he appraised the situation and slipped into
the pilot's seat, at the controls, with absolute con-
fidence.
Willie was teary-eyed with gratitude. Laughing,
nodding, seeing there was a reason, after all for this
dubious doctor to exist. With a sigh of relief to her
own question, she asked: "You know how to fly?"
Indy surveyed the control panel, turned a couple
of knobs, flipped a switch, took the wheel. "No."
Then, ingenuously: "Do you?"
Willie turned white; she felt her stomach rising.
Indy flashed a big bad smile, though. "Just kid-
ding, sweetheart. I got everything under control.
Altimeter: check. Stabilizer: roger. Air speed: okay.
Fuel--"
There was a long pause. Willie hadn't exactly
gotten over his little joke about not knowing how
to fly yet, so she was in no mood for humor now.
But then this silence on Indy's part did not, in any
case, sound like a humorous silence.
"Fuel?" said Willie. "Fuel? What about the fuel?"
Indiana stood up slowly. Willie followed his gaze
out the window: the last engine sputtered to a stop.
All the props were motionless. The plane began to
nose downward.
"We've got a problem," said Indiana.
[/FONT]