In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indy and Willie Scott first meet at Club Obi Wan, a nightclub in Shanghai. The encounter occurs during the film’s energetic opening sequence, set in 1935, before the pair flee the city with Short Round.
The club’s name is a deliberate nod to Star Wars, another major franchise created by George Lucas. “Obi-Wan” refers to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi character played by Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars film and later by Ewan McGregor in the prequel trilogy. The reference is an in-joke linking two Lucas-created adventure worlds.
Willie is performing as a nightclub singer when Indy arrives to exchange a valuable diamond. Their meeting quickly becomes chaotic: a poisoned drink, gunfire, a collapsing venue, and an escape aboard a vintage car propel the story forward. Although Temple of Doom was released in 1984, its story is a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark and takes place one year earlier, in 1935.