Kids of the ’80s remember a lot of their favorite movie characters getting animated series, be it Batman, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Bill & Ted, C-3PO and R2-D2… hell, even Rambo had a cartoon show! The one that always seemed like a gimme but never made the transition was Indiana Jones, whose trilogy book-ended the decade in glorious Saturday Matinee style and re-defined the action-adventure genre. Now, a young filmmaker has gone ahead and created his own Indiana Jones animated fan film, which completely nails the tone of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’s original trilogy. Check out this amazing minute-and-a-half short below!
Patrick Schoenmaker, an animator from the Netherlands who has worked for Lucasfilm in the past, spent five years crafting the opening sequence of a would-be TV series titled “The Adventures of Indiana Jones,” which takes the famous archaeologist on a jaunt through several typical adventures. The animation, which bears a resemblance to the style of Don Bluth, is gorgeous and fast-paced, and includes cameos by fan favorites like Short Round, Marion Ravenwood, Marcus Brody and, of course, Indy’s go-to villains the Nazis (swastikas tastefully removed from their outfits). He even left a perfect segue for the Paramount logo to fade into a mountain.
RELATED: Watch Incredible Star Wars TIE Fighter Fan Film 4 Years In-the-Making
Like Paul Johnson’s great “Tie Fighter” Star Wars fan animation from last year, we think Schoenmaker’s work will stand as a high water mark for fan filmmaking!
Harrison Ford is scheduled to appear as Indiana Jones in a fifth big screen adventure, to be once again directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by franchise veterans Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. John Williams is expected to once again provide the music, while screenwriter David Koepp (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Jurassic Park) is signed to pen the script. Indiana Jones 5 is set for a July 19, 2019 release date.
