I’m not a religious person, but let us pray Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg come to their senses and rethink plans to bring back a geriatric Indiana Jones for a fifth big-screen adventure. Awash in the billions reaped from the not-great “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’’ Disney announced Tuesday that it would release yet another ’80s nostalgia special, “Indiana Jones 5,’’ on July 19, 2019. That would be fully 11 years after the last installment, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’’ — and six days after Ford’s 77th birthday. Fans had been clamoring for what became the disappointing “Crystal Skull’’ for years. Even yours truly — who panned “Raiders of the Lost Ark’’ back in 1981 — thought that “Karen Allen’s return to her signature role after 27 years alone justifies this sequel.’’ As for the rest of “Crystal Skull,” let’s just say I’ve been afraid to revisit it after my misty-eyed review of the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. There’s a reason why “nuking the fridge’’ became the new “jumping the shark.’’ But unlike “Crystal Skull’’ (or “The Force Awakens,’’ for that matter), I’m unaware that anyone except for Disney’s stockholders — who want to amortize the studio’s $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm as lucratively as possible — is clamoring for another Indiana Jones movie. Well, maybe Ford’s agent. I can understand why millions of my fellow Boomers were excited to see him return as Han Solo in “The Force Awakens,’’ even if his reunion with Carrie Fisher didn’t carry the same emotional impact as his reunion with Karen Allen. (I wasn’t reviewing movies when the original “Star Wars’’ came out, though I was around to enthuse about “The Empire Strikes Back.’’) Ford’s also onboard to collect a paycheck for a “Blade Runner’’ sequel supposedly coming out next year, though I think we can safely rule out a reunion with Melanie Griffith for “Working Girl: The Next Generation.’’ But do we really need to see him revisit his other signature role when he’ll be 18 years older than Sean Connery was when the former James Bond played his dad in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’’? Will Indy go back in time with his son so they can rescue Han Solo from his son? And just when will the Indiana Jones saga end? Unfortunately, we know from the “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles’’ TV series that Indy — born in 1899 — lived long enough to celebrate at least his 94th birthday during the series’ 1992-93 run on ABC. Played by the late Canadian actor George Hall, a grumpy old Indy appeared in wraparounds in many of the original 28 episodes, which starred Sean Patrick Flanery and Corey Carrier as his younger self at different ages. (The older character didn’t appear in any of the four made-for-TV movies that followed the series from 1994 to 1996). As as his wont, George Lucas excised the Old Indy segments when they were repackaged for video as “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones,’’ though he did retain bookends featuring Harrison Ford as a 50-year-old Indy in one episode. But you can still find the Old Indy segments on YouTube, which include fleeting appearances by Indy’s unnamed adult daughter (her mother is never identified) and his grandchildren Spike and Lucy. Frank Darabont, one of the writers of the TV series, reportedly included the daughter in his unused script draft for “Crystal Skull.’’ There was talk at the time of Indy’s offspring being played by Natalie Portman — fresh off her, um, triumph as Padme in the “Star Wars’’ prequels — but Spielberg decided instead that for this film, set in 1957, Indy should have a son with Marion nicknamed Mutt. Mutt was played by Shia LaBeouf, but there was a report last year that Spielberg prefers his “Jurassic World’’ star Chris Pratt to handle the heavy action lifting in “Indiana Jones 5.’’ Though the way things are going, I wouldn’t count out LaBeouf, embattled performance artist that he is, eventually making a nostalgic return to acting in, say, “Transformers 12.’’
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