Is Aqua’s Doctor Jones Actually About Indiana Jones?

It’s a question that has baffled academics and music lovers for decades, but is Aqua’s “Doctor Jones” actually about Indiana Jones? It’s hard to picture anyone other than Harrison Ford in the role, but a number of other actors were considered for Raiders Of The Lost Ark. George Lucas was looking for new talent for the movie, but after Tom Selleck had to turn it down due to a schedule conflict with Magnum, P.I., Ford was offered the role.

Indiana Jones is now an iconic character, with Ford reprising the role for Indiana Jones And the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. Spielberg intended the third entry as the final chapter, with a TV series dubbed The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles debuting in 1992. This series followed the character’s early adventures, though it also featured him at different points in his life, with Ford making a cameo in one episode as a 50-year-old Indiana. Ford, Spielberg, and Lucas all reunited for the highly anticipated Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull in 2008.

Sadly, the fourth movie proved a disappointment to many fans, though Spielberg and Ford still plan on returning for Indiana Jones 5. The franchise has also spawned video games, novels, and comics, including a surprisingly dark Star Wars crossover where Han Solo crashlands on Earth and dies, with Indiana discovering his body over a century later in the wreckage of the Millennium Falcon. Pop fans might remember Danish group Aqua from the late 1990s and their annoying – but infectious – song “Doctor Jones.” Everything from the lyrics to the music video make it seem like the song is about Indiana Jones but is that actually the case?

The evidence for this is compelling, with the Aqua “Doctor Jones” video drawing heavily on Indiana Jones for inspiration. The main title font is a blatant copy, the video features classic Indiana Jones trademarks like a plane traveling over a map and characters being attacked by snakes and spiders. That said, the character of Doctor Jones – played by Aqua singer René Dif – doesn’t really resemble or act like Indy. He lacks the trademark hat or whip and instead of getting into daring adventures, he spends most of his screentime in a tent or asleep.

The lyrics of Aqua’s “Doctor Jones” don’t really reference anything from the series either. It’s mostly about a summertime romance instead of archeology adventures. The title and video are obviously intended to evoke Indiana Jones, but it’s possible controversy over their hit “Barbie Girl” – which eventually led to a lawsuit by Mattel over infringing the copyright to their Barbie toy line – led Aqua to tone down overt links.

It should be noted the director of the “Doctor Jones” video Peder Pedersen would later helm 2008 short Lego Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick. This at least indicates somebody involved with the franchise saw the “Doctor Jones” video and appreciated it as a pastiche. Ultimately, Aqua’s “Doctor Jones” should be viewed as a loving homage to Indiana Jones than a song about him. It’s doubtful anybody involved with the franchise views it as canon anyway.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3485 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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