Indiana Jones Animated TV Show Proof-of-Concept

In Hollywood, writers will often write a TV script ‘on spec,’ a non-commissioned unsolicited screenplay, to prove that they have the chops to get hired on the project as a writer. It’s usually a long shot, but sometimes it does payoff. There’s a similar idea behind animator Patrick Schoenmaker’s animated Adventures of Indiana Jones trailer. Let’s hope this one does payoff with a series:

An animated Indiana Jones series is such a good idea, I’m surprised it hasn’t already been approved by Disney and Lucasfilm. If Shoenmaker can do this work by himself, then it should be possible to do it affordably on a larger scale tool.

Shoenmaker’s design owes a lot to Disney’s Atlantis animated feature, but that makes sense since they’re set in roughly the same era. In fact, I wouldn’t be opposed to a little cross-over if a series was created. With a fifth Indiana Jones movie in pre-production, it would be great to have an animated series to continue the legend once Harrison Ford hangs up the whip and fedora for the final time.

Disney and Lucasfilm have already started that they want to create an expanded Indiana Jones Cinematic Universe. As we’ve seen with Star Wars Clone Wars and Rebels, an Animated TV show is a great compliment to TV and other projects.

So why did Shoenmaker make this spec-trailer? Well, Lucasfilm had already commissioned his company to make an illustration of Indiana Jones in animated form. That kocked off a five year journey to craft the trailer you just saw.

The whole story is over on Doddlenews.