George Lucas conceived of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1973, shortly after finishing work on the comedy film "American Graffiti" (1973). An old movie poster of a heroic character leaping from a horse to a truck reminded Lucas of the early 20th century serial films he enjoyed as a youth, such as "Buck Rogers" (1939), "Zorro's Fighting Legion" (1939), "Spy Smasher" (1942), and "Don Winslow of the Navy" (1942). Lucas wanted to make a B movie he would want to watch, modeled on those serials, and created "The Adventures of Indiana Smith", an adventurous archaeologist, named after his Alaskan Malamute dog. Around the same time, Lucas was trying to adapt the space opera serial "Flash Gordon" (1936), but could not obtain the rights. Lucas shelved the Indiana Smith project to focus on creating his own space opera, "Star Wars" (1977).