The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (2002)

Ever wonder what your favorite movie character was like as a kid? Well, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume One gives you the opportunity to see archaeologist Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford on the big screen before he grew up to raid the lost ark, brave the temple of doom, go on a last crusade, and well do something with a crystal skull.

At the age of nine, Henry Jones, Jr. (Corey Carrier) his nickname “Indiana” is in honor of his beloved pet dog sets off on a trip around the world with his father and mother. Henry Jones, Sr. (Lloyd Owen), a professor at Princeton, is to give a series of lectures about a book he has written, and young Indy and his mother, Anna (Ruth DeSosa), are set to tag along on what is sure to be an educational trot around the globe. Professor Jones’ former tutor, Miss Seymour (Margaret Tyzack), is enlisted to teach Indy on the trip.

The group alights in many places, including Egypt, Tangiers, Vienna, Florence, Russia, and Greece. Indy’s education is supplemented by the famous (and soon to be famous) people he meets in these countries. The party stumbles across T.E. Lawrence, Teddy Roosevelt, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Norman Rockwell, Giacomo Puccini, Sigmund Freud, and Leo Tolstoy, just to name a few.

Some of the episodes skip ahead in time to follow a teenage Indy (Sean Patrick Flanery) as he joins Pancho Villa’s rebellion and then heads off to Europe to enlist in the Belgian army with his pal Remy (Ronny Coutteure).

The series is lushly photographed with production values that rival the Indiana Jones films themselves. Many of the episodes were shot on location, giving the series a distinctly authentic look and feel.

Carrier is likeable as the preteen Indy, although he does experience a huge growth spurt between the filming of his first and second episodes. Flanery is dashing as teen Indy, even if he never looks completely comfortable with the sometimes slapstick schtick imposed upon him by the writers. Also of note is Tyzack, who makes Miss Seymour into someone you’d like to know.

There are, however, a few problems. Like the ceaselessly tinkered-with Star Wars movies, this boxed set once again finds George Lucas rewriting history, and not just in having Indy rub elbows with the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and The Hardy Boys creator Edward Stratemeyer. No, the series itself has been changed. It originally joined ABC’s schedule on March 4, 1992 as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Each week, it hopscotched in time, one week focusing on a preteen Indy, the next week on his teenage incarnation. These stories were often the reminiscences of an older Indy (George Hall). Old Indy has been jettisoned from these shows, the episodes have been rearranged in chronological order by the year in which they’re set, and all have been re-edited into “feature length” episodes made up of two individual broadcast episodes.

The result is often bewildering. Take “My First Adventure.” The first half of the episode is a murder mystery set in Egypt during the time of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The mystery isn’t even completely solved when the “movie” abruptly segues to Tangiers where young Indy learns about slavery. These two episodes don’t fit together in either theme or plot. Later, in the second half of “Spring Break Adventure,” we see an episode in which teenage Indy finally solves the case. This would have made a more logical companion to the original Tut episode, but instead it is stranded several episodes later.

Segregating the preteen and teen Indy episodes also serves to point out one of the series’ flaws. The preteen episodes are very one note Indy goes off on his own, gets into trouble, and later repents. This might not be as noticeable when the episodes are separated by a few weeks, but it becomes completely obvious when they are edited together so that young Indy runs away twice in every “movie.” Because of his age, young Indy’s adventures also tend to be a little sedate. For real action, stick around for teen Indy’s adventures.

The menus are easy to use. There are no scene selection menus, but the episodes include chapter stops.

Summary

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume One contains an embarrassment of riches. After all, it isn’t often that seven feature-length episodes of a TV series. Is it too much of a good thing? Possibly, but you’ll have so much to watch that you won’t even have time to think about it.

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