Indiana Jones teases us with his new leading ladies

Break out the bullwhip and dust off the fedora. Indy is back. And the lovable old coot has some great gals with him along for the ride. The teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released last week, and while it may not show us a lot, it sure brings up a lot of nostalgia.

Well, gosh, that looks fun. Twenty-seven years after the first Indy adventure and nineteen years after its third and seemingly final installment, the franchise is back with a couple of new faces and a welcome old one. The teaser trailer gives us our first look at Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and Indy’s Raiders of the Lost Ark love interest Karen Allen in action. While the plot is rather hush-hush, the film is set in 1957, and Dr. Jones is up against Russian Cold Warriors, including Cate’s character, Agent Irina Spalko.

I have to send a huge thank-you bouquet to whoever listened to my pleas and put Cate in uniform. See, it never hurts to ask. Also, with her severe bob and order-barking attitude, I get a little dominatrix vibe off her Agent Spalko. Oh, and then there is her skill with a sword. Hello.

Karen returns in the role of Indy’s ex, Marion Ravenwood. She was always my favorite of the Indy leading ladies. Kate Capshaw’s Willie in Temple of Doom just screamed a lot. But Marion, Marion was smart and sassy; she knew how to throw back a drink and throw a mean right cross. In other words, she's my kind of gal.

So it’s great to see Karen back and looking as fantastic as ever. Being in the Indiana Jones series must be like some kind of fountain of youth. While at 65 for Harrison Ford and 56 for Karen you can see some wear, they don’t look that much worse for it.

[Spoiler/Random Speculation/Idle Gossip Alert: Stop reading if you don’t want to maybe, possibly, perhaps be spoiled] Shia LaBeouf seems to be channeling his inner Fonzie as he joins Indy to battle the Ruskies. Rumor is that he plays the love child of Indy and Marion. Other rumors say Area 51 could be involved in some way. Crystal skulls? Russians? Area 51? Love children? Geez, and people say the world of academia is boring.