Guess the McGuffin in Indy IV!

[Umbran]

From the quote it seems to me that what he means eith the Phantom Menace is the fact that since the movie/chracters have such a cult following, whatever he does will get hammered by diehard fans, similar to what he feels happened with the Phantom Menace

Also quite possible. But when he starts talking about a McGuffin that might be offensive, and note that two of the movies have centered around Judeo-Christian holy artifacts, we do have to at least wonder. I, personally, don't think they'd be dumb enough to use the Last Scion as a McGuffin.

The Spear of Longinus would be another goodly holy artifact that might upset some folks. Same for the True Cross, the Garden of Eden, Eve's Apple...

Anyone know any artifacts attached to Lilith? That could be a touchy one...

 

[Fast Learner]

I'm not sufficiently famliar with Islam to know of any missing artifacts, but that would certainly be plenty touchy.

 

[Fast Learner]

Oh, also, the Garden of Eden has been mentioned, but perhaps more specifically, the Tree of Knowledge. In fact, Indiana Jones and the Tree of Knowledge doesn't sound too bad, and certainly seems like something Indy would want to find.

 

[Mark]

I like that, too. I guess a Fountain of Youth search might seem a bit too much like the last one?

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Don't forget Magrathea. Jones and Beeblebrox would be an unbeatable team

I think the "Phantom Menace" reference is a little more coy than what people are suggesting here, if only because it is too obvious. Lucas may make less than grand films sometimes, but he's not a complete moron, especially when it comes to spoiling the plots of movies. I think it is more in terms of "Indiana Jones finds his successor" or "Indy trains and then must defeat his student" than "Indiana Jones finds the last Scion".

If he does find the Last Scion lets hope Jay and Silent Bob make a cameo.

 

[Padril]

I'm not sufficiently famliar with Islam to know of any missing artifacts, but that would certainly be plenty touchy.

Indiana Jones and Muhammads Beard?

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

He finds a unshaven guy in a heavily remodelled '67 Oldsmobile with a mechanical steampunk-y right hand carrying a chainsaw and a double barrel "boomstick" asleep in a cave.

C'mon! We had Jason vs Freddy! We had Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan! Why not Ash and Indy?

 

[Herobizkit]

Maybe he'll find the rest of the Dead Sea Scrolls...

 

[Plane Sailing]

Oh, also, the Garden of Eden has been mentioned, but perhaps more specifically, the Tree of Knowledge. In fact, Indiana Jones and the Tree of Knowledge doesn't sound too bad, and certainly seems like something Indy would want to find.

nah, someones already eaten from the tree of knowledge. It's the tree of life that he'd be wanting to find

 

[WayneLigon]

That article is pretty fascinating. I think that lets out any 'last scion' ideas because (1) it wouldn't have been especially clever or surprising two years or more ago and now would be such common knowledge that the 'twist' would fall flat and (2) it wouldn't really be an archeological mystery type thing.

We can assume that it's somethnig to do with the Judeo-Christian religion.
It's almost certainly something to do with archeological discovery.
It's something not very commonly known.
It's something potentially very offensive but they've removed the offensive part.
It's something supernatural.

I think we can discount the Shroud of Turin, Noah's Ark, the Spear, the nails of the Cross, anything to do with Jesus having fathered children, etc, as being too well known.

The location of the Garden of Eden would be an interesting one; the 'potentially offensive' part could be the legend that it's in the Middle East somewhere.

Finding the bones of Jesus would fit all the above, except I can't imagine how they'd do that and 'remove the offensive part'.

Something to do with Mecca or the black stone (the offensive part being non-Islamic Indy actually inside Mecca?)

Something to do with the Egyptian Plagues? I doubt it, especially because of the James Cameron thing now.

The existance of the Nifilhim is a little too esoteric and I can't think of anything patently offensive about them.

Something to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls sounds very promising but only if you're doing something after WWII (discovered in 1947). He could discover some portin of them earlier, though. The idea of the Catholic Church suppressing some discovery in one of the scrolls might be possible, but is pretty unoriginal at this point (though this is Lucas we're talking about here).

The excavation of Sodom and Gomorroah?

There was a great story I read some time ago about a group of people discovering the statue of a woman remarkably preserved, from an era and area not known for such amazing detail. It turned out to be Lot's wife, the statue being made of salt. That's a possibility.

The Lost Tribe of Isreal

The idea that the entire concept of Jesus and Christianity was created out of whole cloth around the time of Elizzabeth the First (one of the most crack-induced things I've heard of, but again this is Lucas we're dealing with - can you tell I've lost all faith in the man?)

The Ballbek Megaliths, which include supposedly the largest single cut stone in existance, another in a long line of 'nobody knows how the Ancients moved these huge stone blacks' 'controversies'. How anything surrounding them could be 'offensive' I have no idea.