Indiana Jones (franchise) Lucas, Spielberg, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy met during the American Film Institute's tribute to Ford, and decided they wanted to enjoy the experience of making an Indiana Jones film again. Spielberg also found returning to the series a respite from his many dark films during this period. Spielberg and Lucas discussed the central idea of a B-movie involving aliens, and Lucas suggested using crystal skulls to ground the idea. Lucas found these artifacts as fascinating as the Ark, and had intended to feature them for a "Young Indiana Jones" episode before the show's cancellation. M. Night Shyamalan was hired
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles four two-hour TV movies that were broadcast from 1994 to 1996. Though Lucas intended to produce episodes leading up to a 24-year-old Jones, the series was cancelled with the character at age 21. The revised and updated edition of the book "George Lucas: The Creative Impulse", by Charles Champlin, explains how "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" series would be re-edited into the new structure of twenty-two "Chapter" TV films, for the 1999 VHS release. New footage was shot in 1996 to be incorporated with the newly re-edited and re-titled "chapters" to better help it chronologically and provide smooth transitions. The