When Paramount released the title of the fourth instalment of the Indiana Jones series, it was clear that the object of desire was going to be a crystal skull. When they released their press kit, it included a photograph of the crystal skull – clearly alien in nature. From the press kit, it also appeared that the legendary city of Akakor would play a role in this story – it’s name changed to Akator. The kit contained a photograph of the so-called “Akakor Chamber” – a reference to Karl Brugger’s The Chronicle of Akakor book, which inspired the likes of Erich von Däniken to go in search of subterranean networks – including the infamous “Gold Library”.
In pre-release interviews, Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg commented that they had initially dismissed George Lucas’ idea to base the new Indiana Jones movie around a mythical crystal skull. The actor, along with director Spielberg, were looking for ideas for a fourth movie featuring the legendary character, and turned down several script possibilities, including one that saw the Dr. Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones Jr. hunting for the Lost City of Atlantis.
When producer Lucas suggested a script focusing on the crystal skull - a quartz cranium believed to hold supernatural powers - both his colleagues laughed off the idea. Ford admitted it became a struggle between the three men as they resisted Lucas’ idea - but they eventually gave in, conceding that the Star Wars filmmaker was “always right”.

The premiere of the movie was at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, with a worldwide theatre release on May 22. “Crystal Skull” begins in 1957 Nevada, with Indy and his partner Mac (Ray Winstone) trying to escape from the Soviets who have kidnapped them. Blanchett’s fearsome Irina Spalko wants them to locate the crystal skull within Area 51 for some kind of nefarious mind-control plan involving alien intelligence (a long-standing Spielberg subject). A former colleague of Indy’s, Professor Harold Oxley (John Hurt), also was after the skull – and went missing in pursuit of it. LaBeouf’s young tough Mutt Williams tracks Indy down and pleads with him to help find their mutual friend, which sends the two on a quest to determine the purpose behind the mystical artefact and keep it out of the wrong hands.

In the earlier Indiana Jones films, the objects of antiquity that seemed to drive the story acted more or less purely as MacGuffins: plot devices that advanced the action, but whose explicit usefulness and others details were not of paramount importance. Audiences never needed to know exactly how the Sankara Stones worked or what they actually did in “The Temple of Doom,” nor exactly how the Arc would be put to use by the Nazis in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” We knew the parties involved were evil, and that the artefacts were powerful, and that was reason enough to stop them. Even though Hitler believed in the mystical power of such ancient artefacts, it was never about that power for Indy, the consummate archaeologist. In “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the nature of the artefacts is anything but understated.

Since The Da Vinci Code and the media-dumbing down, movies and books come with danger. Hence, members of Russia’s dwindling Communist Party called for a nationwide boycott of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, objecting to the depiction of Soviet troops invading top-secret American installations, killing guards and wreaking havoc. The Communists claimed that no Soviet terrorists were ever sent to the US in 1957. Instead, they said, the government successfully launched the first Sputnik satellite, “which evoked the admiration of the whole world.”
The film has two references to the name Mitchell-Hedges and his crystal skull. The only other skull mentioned is in the British Museum. And though the object of desire is not the Mitchell-Hedges skull, the crystal skull of the film is nevertheless equally carved against the grain, like the Mitchell-Hedges skull.
There is a further, somewhat obscure, reference to Mitchell-Hedges. At one point, Indiana Jones relates that he was once captured by Pancho Villa. It cannot be a coincidence that Mitchell-Hedges was captured by Pancho Villa too – suggesting that portions of Indiana Jones’ profile are indeed taken from the life and times of Mitchell-Hedges. Both are definitely larger than life characters.
Other topics in the movie address the Remote Viewing projects initiated by the US and Soviet governments, the alien theme, especially Roswell and Area 51, the Nazca geoglyphs, and the legend of Akakor, with a tiny addition of the El Dorado and Col. Fawcett stories.
However, of great interest is that the plot of the movie revolves around not so much bringing 13 crystal skulls together, but bringing back the 13th skull back to the place from where it was taken from, so that this “return” can set a sequence of events in motion.

In the third season of the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, script writer Brad Wright wrote episode 65, which aired for the first time on March 3, 2000. Its title: Crystal Skull.
In the parlance of the series, a “Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe” or MALP is sent to planet P7X-377 through the stargate, an alien device that allows for instantaneous travel to remote galaxies. On this planet, the probe discovers a pyramid over 1000 metres high, and moves inside, to be confronted with a crystal skull.
After qualifying the pyramid as Mayan, the Stargate project’s resident archaeologist Daniel Jackson relates that his grandfather discovered a similar skull in Belize. “I could name at least a dozen different crystal skulls from various parts of the world but the skull that Nick discovered in Belize was unique.” Jackson goes on to note that “no one can explain how the skull Nick discovered was carved, from a single piece of crystal, against the grain, given the technology of the day. He claimed that it possessed a certain power.”
The description is therefore very close to descriptions of the Mitchell-Hedges skull, which is equally made out of a single piece of crystal, and is cut against the grain.

Very much in the same style as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a series like Stargate SG-1 would have to make references to aliens – as that is the premise upon which the entire series is based. Hence, the “certain power” is interpreted as “if one were to look into the eyes of the skull, one would be teleported to see aliens” and notes that his grandfather tried to convince the academic community of this, which – of course – did not go down well – shaming the family name.

When Jackson and the reconnaissance team – SG-1 – go to the planet and enter the pyramid, Jackson looks into the eyes of the skull, as his grandfather did, and an energy field envelops him. Taken by surprise, his team mate Teal’c fires his weapon at the skull, but Jackson has already disappeared. At the same time, team member Carter collapses from the high levels of radiation that are present inside the pyramid and the team minus Daniel return to back to Earth and their base, the SGC.
Teal’c then returns to search for Daniel, but does not find him, and collects the crystal skull. Jackson meanwhile realises that he has become invisible to his team members, Teal’c walking through him. As science fiction scripts go, he is nevertheless able to return with Teal’c through the stargate to Earth.

There, base scientist Robert Rothman studies the skull, but is unable to find anything helpful. The rest of the team, O’Neill, Carter and Teal’c, therefore locate Nick Ballard and go to meet him. Alas, the ridicule that the scientific community bestowed upon him has made him end up in a mental institution.
Ballard is nevertheless clear, and states that his obsession with the skull came about because not only had he seen aliens when looking in the skull’s eyes, he was actually transported by the skull to a gigantic cavern, where he met “giant aliens”. “They rose up as if they were made of mist; they flew around me like spectres.” The being told him the following phrase in Mayan: Oo ya wolin wolin we tayil. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“I was afraid to answer, I just closed my eyes and suddenly I found myself back again under the temple in Belize. The ground was shaking as in an earthquake and I just grabbed the skull and climbed out and everything collapsed.” He then spent several trips trying to rediscover the location of the temple, without success. For several years, Ballard also tried to make the skull teleport him again under controlled conditions, but always without success.

Ballard returns with the team to their base, in Cheyenne Mountain, where he is shown the skull, without being told where it was found. While there, Ballard adds that he has been able to see and hear Jackson, likely because they both shared a similar experience, explaining that Jackson is likely “out of phase” with everyone else.
The working hypothesis – proposed by Jackson – is that the team need to return to the planet, as the weapon discharge likely interrupted the skull’s teleportation effort, resulting in Jackson’s out of phase-status.
Once back on the planet, replacing the skull on its pedestal, all are enveloped by energy swirls and are indeed teleported – all except Teal’c, because he carries a Goa’uld larva inside him, which seems to stop him from undergoing the vision/teleportation.
The giant alien that Ballard encountered appears to them: an imposing, ethereal being named Quetzalcoatl, a direct reference to the Mayan supreme deity. He repeats that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” He invites Ballard to stay, who agrees, to exchange knowledge and culture. It appears that Ballard’s 1971 Belize experience transported him to the alien planet the team went to, suggesting that apart from stargates, crystal skulls equally had the ability to teleport at least the mind. In fact, the return voyage to the giant pyramid is engineered simply by Quetzalcoatl inviting the team to once again look into the eyes of the skull.

Several other aspects of the episode make it clear that the screenwriters were very familiar with the literature on crystal skulls. Of all places, the “Ballard skull” is held in the Smithsonian, while Rothman in his initial study of the skull states “the craftsmanship is very impressive. It’s probably made in Germany, early 1900’s.” It is clearly a joke aimed towards the sceptics, for Rothman has not been told the skull is actually from a different planet, and thus bases his conclusion on the “official literature” on the skull, which argues that skulls like the Mitchell-Hedges skull are “likely” made in Germany in the late 19th century. Rothman, Jackson’s aide, is tasked with figuring out the skull and is told to not look into the skull’s eyes, as this is how Jackson vanished.
Of course, Rothman does, and notes nothing happens, whereupon Carter notes Jackson’s disappearance was accompanied by severe levels of radiation – not present in the lab where Rothman is studying the artefact. Rothman, however, remains unconvinced and believes that the skull was unable to transport Jackson, noting “I think what we’ve got here is a paperweight. I’m sorry, that’s my opinion.”
Carter thus takes over, noting that “there may be properties in the crystalline structure that are invisible to the naked eye. We should run some diagnostic tests.” None of these, however, show anything special, whereupon they require the assistance of Ballard, who alone is able to explain the “power” of this crystal to SG-1 and its team of scientists. In short, the storyline implies, we are confronted with alien science, and what is required, is a different approach to such technology.

Stargate SG-1 ran for a decade and hence there was ample time to return to this plot and have SG-1 return to the alien world, to catch up with Ballard and learn some of the alien knowledge he had received. However, the series never returned to the theme of the crystal skull, and the episode thus remains a standalone story.

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