With just four instalments to its name (and a fifth to come) you would be forgiven for thinking that the timeline for the Indiana Jones franchise was fairly straightforward.
Well, get out your whips and crystal skulls because the adventure movies starring Harrison Ford (airing on BBC1 over the Easter weekend) have some surprising and complex twists in there. And we don't just mean Temple of Doom being set before Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Settle down and discover just what happened to Indy and his chums over the years.
Be warned though, we have included the events of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...
5000 BC Thirteen "interdimensional beings" – and most definitely not aliens, according to Indy's friend Harold Oxley (played by John Hurt in Crystal Skull) – came to the "mythical city" of Akator in Brazil.
They helped the local tribe, the Ugha, with "aqueducts, paved roads, technology". This is where the titular crystal skull from the fourth Indy film originates.
1400 BC Details are sketchy because the internet didn't exist back then, but Moses and God had some dealings over the Ark of the Covenant.
For those unaware, the Ark was used by the Hebrews to carry around the Ten Commandments and used it to "talk to God". The FaceTime of the Old Testament era, if you will.
At some point later, the Ark ends up hidden in a secret chamber called the Well of Souls in Tanis, Egypt.
30 AD A cup believed to be used by popular deity Jesus Christ during the Last Supper was also used to catch his blood at his crucifixion.
Joseph of Arimathea was entrusted with it and took it to England a few years later.
Over hundreds of years, the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword vowed to look after the Holy Grail by any means necessary.
1095 Around this time, Sir Richard (a knight in the First Crusade) and his brothers found the resting place of the Grail in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon.
One of the Grail Knights remained with the Grail until its discovery by Indiana Jones hundreds of years later (pictured below). The other two, rather eccentrically, had instructions on how to find this priceless, secret item publicly carved on their tombs, one of which was apparently in a Venetian sewer.
1546 Francesco de Orellana disappeared looking for Akator in the Amazon.
1872 Henry Jones, Senior (played by Sean Connery in the Last Crusade) is born on December 12 in Scotland.
1899 Henry Jones Junior is born on July 1. He will change his name to Indiana, after his beloved dog, and be played by Harrison Ford (and River Phoenix) in the movies.
1912 In the same year that his mother dies, young Indy gets his trademark chin scar after a using a whip for the first time, as we see in the Last Crusade with River Phoenix in the role (pictured above). Soon after, he sets off on a ton of TV adventures that we won't bother with here.
1926 Short Round (played by Ke Huy Quan in Temple of Doom) is born. He'd be in his mid-90s now.
It is also around this time that Indy gets involved romantically with his friend and mentor Abner's underage daughter, Marion Ravenwood. Not cool.
1935 Jones meets nightclub singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and ends up with her and Short Round on a journey to Pankot Palace in India, aka the "Temple of Doom".
Indy returns one of the Sankara Stones to a village, not to mention all its children too.
1936 Indiana heads off to find the Ark of the Covenant.
On the way, he meets up with old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), fights the Nazis, avoids God's wrath and delivers the Ark to the US government.
The Ark is stored in a facility, where "top men" work on it. This place turns out to be "Hangar 51" in Nevada.
1938 Unknown to Indiana, Marion bears him a son. Henry Williams, or Mutt, as he will call himself, will be played by Shia LaBeouf in Crystal Skull. No, please stick with us.
1938 Dr Jones tackles the Nazis again as he joins his father on a crusade in a search for the holy grail of all archaeological objects, the actual Holy Grail.
Helping out, to varying degrees, are Indy's university boss Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) and his Egyptian chum Sallah (John Rhys-Davies).
1941-45 Dr Jones fights in World War II, earning himself a number of medals.
1947 In Roswell, the US government comes into possession of a box containing mummified remains.
A Soviet task force led by Colonel Dr Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) will come looking for it a decade later.
1951 Henry Jones Senior dies. His son keeps a picture of him on his desk.
1952 Marcus Brody dies. He is honoured with a statue and portrait at Marshall College. Indy also has a photo of him on his desk at home.
1957 Indy meets leather-clad biker Mutt Williams, who he later discovers is his son.
They two go off to find Marion Ravenwood and Harold Oxley (John Hurt) in search of the crystal skull. Frankly, we wished they hadn't bothered.
Indy and Marion get married, the former keeps his hat.
After this, Indy loses an eye at some unspecified point over the next 30 years or so.
1960s The next film, number five in the franchise, will take place in the late '60s. Will he team up with The Beatles? Let's hope so.
1990s According to The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Dr Jones is still lecturing on archaeology at Marshall College in his 90s.
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Cameron K McEwan
Cameron McEwan is a freelance writer specialising in movies and TV.
