The Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Read-Along Adventure was the last of Buena Vista Records' trilogy of Read-Along Adventures which adapted the first three Indiana Jones movies for the book-and-record format. The adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in 1989.
Plot summary[]
Differences from the film[]
- Herman Mueller, Indiana and Panama Hat are absent from the abridged prologue.
- On the circus train, instead of escaping from being impaled by a mad rhinoceros, Indy is described to have avoided a tiger's claws.
- At the Jones residence, Indy and his father simply meet with the police and the fate of the Cross of Coronado is unaddressed. The scene aboard the Vasquez de Coronado is also left out.
- The Barnett College scenes are absent with the main story beginning with Indy's kidnapping by Walter Donovan's men.
- Mrs. Donovan is absent with no mention of the cocktail party.
- The scene with the Biblioteca di San Barnaba librarian is omitted.
- There are no rats in the Venetian catacombs.
- The Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword subplot is left out entirely with the cause of the fire and how Indy learns that his father is imprisoned at Castle Brunwald unexplained.
- The ransacking of Elsa Schneider's room is omitted.
- The adaptation doesn't state in detail how Indy and Elsa infiltrate the castle whose butler is absent.
- Henry Jones Sr. doesn't hit Indy when he crashes into his room.
- The SS officer arrives accomanied by just one fellow Nazi.
- After Elsa helps Ernst Vogel to acquire the Grail Diary, he disappears from the narrative without any explanation, suggesting that he survives the story.
- Castle Brunwald doesn't burn. Instead, Indy and his father free themselves by burning the ropes with the lighter and slipping out of the castle into the hills. As such, the encounter with the Female Officer at Castle and her radiomen and the subsequent motorcycle chase don't happen.
- At the Berlin bookburning rally, Henry Jones Sr. also disguises himself as a Nazi soldier and Adolf Hitler is only seen from afar.
- The zeppelin sequence isn't depicted. After recovering the Grail Diary, Indy and his father go to Iskenderun.
- There is no tank chase with the Sultan of Hatay and his men are absent.
- After Sallah informs the Joneses of Brody's capture, they go straight to the Temple of the Sun following the Nazis' explosion of the canyon wall, but they are captured outside the temple and taken to Donovan.
- The deaths of Massad and the Hatay soldier are left out.
- Indy make his way across a pit full of spiders, reflecting the original Word of God challenge, and is written as having "leaped over a deep chasm".
- The Grail Knight doesn't attempt to fight Indy but explains that drinking from the Holy Grail has kept him alive for centuries.
- Donovan selects the False Grail himself. When he dies, he sinks to the floor as an ancient skeleton blackened with age.
- When Elsa grabs the Grail, the knight appears to warn that it can not leave the temple. After Elsa falls to her death, Indy screams her name.
- The story ends with the Grail Knight smiling when Indy and his father escape from the temple, content that the chalice, despite falling into the chasm in the floor, is safe once again.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
- Marcus Brody
- Walter Donovan
- Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir
- Grail Knight
- Henry Walton Jones, Senior
- Indiana Jones
- Principal SS Officer at Castle
- Elsa Schneider
- Ernst Vogel
- Indiana (Mentioned only)
Behind the scenes[]
The Read-Along Adventure erroneously dates the story as taking place in 1941 instead of 1938. It is the first of the trilogy to credit its cast and crew, which includes John Rhys-Davies as both Sallah and the narrator, and David Esch as Indiana Jones.
