A month ago, Lucasfilm Ltd registered six titles with the MPAA, and they just announced the official name for the fourth Indiana Jones installment. The other options were:

• Indiana Jones and the City of Gods
• Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds
• Indiana Jones and the Fourth Corner of the Earth
• Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold
• Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant

There were a lot of people complaining about the choice on Digg earlier today, but I quite like it. The cheesiness of the title fits in well with the rest of the series. The Temple of Doom wasn’t exactly Shakespeare. Of the titles listed, I prefer City of Gods or Lost City of Gold, but the title doesn’t really matter to me as long as the movie is decent.

I’ve been trying not to get my hopes up for this movie, but I think my struggle may be futile. Most people who know me are probably aware of my Indiana Jones obsession. When I was a kid, he was my idol. I wanted to be exactly like him when I grew up. I even planned on studying archeology once I got to university, until I learnt it didn’t involve disarming booby traps and punching Nazis. Many of the values I hold dear to this day can be attributed to those stories. My love of travel, wanting to see new places and understand different cultures, trying to learn about the past and the world around me - a lot of my interests and passions were sparked or fueled by Indiana Jones.

Even as an adult, I still love the character. He’s a multilingual scholar who travels the world, beating up baddies and sleeping with beautiful women. And he wears a wicked hat. He’s basically the perfect geek. How could you not want to be like him?

It would seem I have impossible expectations for this next movie, but I think I’ll be happy as long as they stay fairly true to the character. I recently rediscovered the Young Indiana Jones television series and really enjoyed watching it again. If I can enjoy a fifteen year old television series without getting into a huff, I should be able to relax and enjoy a new movie.

As a bit of a side note, I just noticed an adult series of Indiana Jones books listed on Amazon. I typically can’t bring myself to read anything that’s based from a film or television series, as it just seems very wrong to me, but I might make an exception in this case. Has anyone read any of these books?