Household definitions, part N in a series: radiation mopping

[mrissa]

Radiation mopping, n. The element in an otherwise forgettable piece of fiction (written or filmed) that provokes reference thereafter. From Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, wherein the title character is cleansed of any potential radiation poisoning from being at Ground Zero for a nuclear explosion by being scrubbed down with large and apparently magical mops.

Comments

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

it was a special sort of nuclear explosion. Entirely the really big particles that can be blocked with a piece of paper. They was just dusting them off of him, really.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

And no doubt the mops were soaked in iodine.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, iodine. Readily mistaken for other substances, iodine.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Besides, he was in a refrigerator. Don't they use fridges to filter out radiation particles? Doesn't that big rubber gasket keep all that bad stuff out?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

See, you and tanaise both remembered what sequence I meant. Now, tell me quick: what other parts of that movie were similarly memorable?

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

well....I always refer to it as "Indiana Jones and the Lame Excuse for A Movie".

I remember him looking at the picture of his 'father'.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Okay, and Marcus Brodie's head. I think my favorite thing was Marcus Brodie's head.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Right. I'd forgotten that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

See? That's what I mean. I loved Marcus Brodie's head when I saw this movie for the first time yesterday, but I'm not sure if it'll stick with me. Whereas the radiation mopping is here to stay.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

That, and the line stolen from Spaceballs, except that George Lucas can't bring himself to use That Word even if he is stealing it.

[tewok.livejournal.com]

I really, really liked that particular scene, but not for Marcus' head. After the head goes tumbling, Mutt looks at Indy (sitting on the back of his motorcycle) with a big grin on his face. Indy looks at Mutt with a completely straight face, no smile, no smirk, nothing. It's exactly the same look Indy got from his father in the third movie after Indy vanquished the motorcycle nazis.

Hmmm... That sounds like a movie title. "Indiana Jones and the Motorcycle Nazies."

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

I knew what you were talking about right off, too. :D

(I kind of liked the scene with the giant ants gonna nom everyone. RUN AWAY!!!)

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Oh oh I know!! The plastic skull stuffed with that iridescent mylar you put in gift bags destined for 6-year-old girls!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, most of what I found memorable achieved that status by annoying me.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

So you remember the entire movie then?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Kinda, yeah. :/

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I should take this opportunity to say that I haven't actually seen the movie.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I have not seen this movie and I still figured that it was this sequence.

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

Sabrina LeBeuf (or whatever that boy's name is) swinging on vines with CGI monkeys while totally underused Karen Allen drives a Jeep behind him.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Sabrina LeBeuf

snerk.
Can't stand that child.
Totally underused? Totally superfluous. It was like she was thrown into the mix at the last minute because they couldn't come up with a REAL story line. "Oh, so let's give Indy a son he didn't know about..."

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Want to know something really scary? They used to show us movies when I was in grade school (back in the days of dinosaurs) about how when they dropped the bomb, we could get rid of all that nasty radiation by scrubbing really, really hard.

Seriously. Caught in the fallout? Scrub till your skin turns red. One of the poor infantry guys given a pair of goggles and stuck in a trench for a test blast? This fire-hose shower will fix you right up.

Just like, you know, dropping under your desk at school and covering your eyes would save you.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I kind of liked the various ways in which Harrison Ford's expressions and, while in the US, civilian outfits were sort-of subtly tending in the direction of Sean Connery's from Last Crusade. And I liked the bit in the warehouse at the beginning. The rest of it sucked cold potato soup through a straw.