The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
- Thread starter PKerr
- Start date
The show is not for everyone, that is for sure. Many people seem to like the Sean Patrick Flannery as teen/adult Indy episodes. Those pretty much cover the WWI years and some of his early college schooling.
The reason why, during the Corey Carrier episodes, Indy seems to be much older at various parts (usually at the very beginning, middle, or very end) is that those parts were filmed a few years after the rest of the episode. When they were editing the hour length episodes together as "movies" (a term I use loosely here), they needed some bridging sequences. As a result, they filmed some new stuff.
Personally, I don't know why they just didn't leave the episodes they way they were with the "Old Indy" bookends. Or, if they hated the bookends that much, remove them and keep the episodes as a "standard" 40-45 minute episode. I don't think many of the episodes flow very well together. Some episodes such as "The Scandal of 1920", "Treasure of the Peacocks Eye", "Dardevils of the Desert", and, to a lesser extent, "Mystery of the Blues" work well when combined. However, others such as "Love's Sweet Song" really fail at this.
Personally, I'd stick with it. The teen/adult Indy were fun. You can skip over some episodes (all of them work well on their own), but I found is that some stuff that happens in the earlier episodes comes back in the later ones.
The reason why, during the Corey Carrier episodes, Indy seems to be much older at various parts (usually at the very beginning, middle, or very end) is that those parts were filmed a few years after the rest of the episode. When they were editing the hour length episodes together as "movies" (a term I use loosely here), they needed some bridging sequences. As a result, they filmed some new stuff.
Personally, I don't know why they just didn't leave the episodes they way they were with the "Old Indy" bookends. Or, if they hated the bookends that much, remove them and keep the episodes as a "standard" 40-45 minute episode. I don't think many of the episodes flow very well together. Some episodes such as "The Scandal of 1920", "Treasure of the Peacocks Eye", "Dardevils of the Desert", and, to a lesser extent, "Mystery of the Blues" work well when combined. However, others such as "Love's Sweet Song" really fail at this.
Personally, I'd stick with it. The teen/adult Indy were fun. You can skip over some episodes (all of them work well on their own), but I found is that some stuff that happens in the earlier episodes comes back in the later ones.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
There are some great episodes of Indy in WWI. My buddy and I used to quote one crazy French soldier from one of those episodes; "You sink I'm crazy Corporel?" (that was supposed to look like a French accent)
I did rather enjoy the teeny tiny bit where Harrison Ford was under the fedora once again. 
Because Lucas never wanted those. They were added at network insistence.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Who cares if Lucas didn't want them? They were filmed and were aired on TV so I'd prefer they were included in some way.
If Lucas didn't want them then that should tell you that they were probably awesome.
They weren't.
The only thing interesting about the Old Indy was the scar and the missing eye. Other than that Old Indy was portrayed as "You stupid modern day kids! In MY day..."
I enjoyed this series, but I'm a history buff so that helped.
The idea of using Indy to teach kids history was a good one, the problem was they made it so dry and lifeless. There was hardly any of the fun and energy that people associate with the character, and that would have made the history lessons go down a lot easier.
It's a shame too, because Flannery made for a GREAT Young Indy.
It's a shame too, because Flannery made for a GREAT Young Indy.
Well, yeah, aside from bearing no resemblance whatsoever to Harrison Ford. I could never quite buy that Indy could go from the deep-voiced River Phoenix to the tenor-voiced Flanery to the deep-voiced Ford. And I've often wondered what TYIJC would've been like if Phoenix had lived and gotten the role of teen Indy in the series.
I think TYIJC retconned Indy's age a bit, though. Phoenix was 18 or 19 when he played Young Indy in a sequence set in 1912, but TYIJC gave Indy a birthdate of July 1, 1899, meaning he couldn't have been more than 13 in 1912. I doubt the intent was to pass Phoenix off as a preteen, so I guess Lucas decided to modify Indy's age for the series for some reason.
I thought the resemblance was close enough (at least as good as Pine and Shatner anyway). But more important, I thought Flanery captured Indy's spirit and gung-ho sense of adventure really well.
And in the action sequences he even kind of moved in the same way Ford did.
As for the timeline, I never really paid much attention to it. I've never needed a precise layout of Indy's life history like other fans have.
And in the action sequences he even kind of moved in the same way Ford did.
As for the timeline, I never really paid much attention to it. I've never needed a precise layout of Indy's life history like other fans have.
Which is why I then suggested that "if they hated the bookends that much, remove them and keep the episodes as a "standard" 40-45 minute episode".
The majority of the episodes the way they were presented on the DVDs simply don't work.
It's a suspension of disbelief. When you cast a main role, you cast based on the best actor you can get, not solely based on looks.
Also, Phoenix was never going to be involved with the project. Whether he rejected doing it or was never directly asked, the series was already well into production and had aired several episodes by the time Phoenix died.
Of course, but the point is that Flanery required considerably more suspension of disbelief than Phoenix did. Phoenix looked and sounded uncannily like a young Harrison Ford, so after that, any other actor playing a younger version of a Harrison Ford character is going to suffer in comparison.
And my problem was more with the voice than the looks. Vocally, both in pitch and delivery, Flanery reminded me more of Michael J. Fox than Harrison Ford.
Conversely, I found Corey Carrier very convincing as a preadolescent Indy. I found that his speech rhythms reminded me of Ford's, either by a lucky accident or by very good mimicry on Carrier's part.
I've caught about half the episodes on DVD and library VHS and while I love Indy I generally find this series intensely boring. The WWI stories were alright. But to me, Indy is defined by its paranormal elements. This has no paranormal whatsoever, it's strictly historical "educational" fiction.
Well, it was that Dracula episode...but yeah, it is more in the "edutainment" field, which is what GL was going for. He wanted to explore historical moments and used Indy as the hook.
Which is why I liked it better than the movies.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
That's silly.
You'd be better off reading a book about the historical figure in question and let Indy do what he's good at.
You'd be better off reading a book about the historical figure in question and let Indy do what he's good at.
If you're going to watch the Young Indy Chronicles, you'll have to accept (at least to some degree) that the stories are conceptually very different from the films. If you can get to that point, you can enjoy parts of the series. But it can be very dry. Worse still, the mood of the series swings in wildly different directions (often within each two-hour "chapter") making the overall experience a bit disjointed and disconnected.
Even the installment I like the best, Oganga: Giver And Taker of Life suffers from these flaws -- which have more to do with the writing than the casting of Flannery.
There are valuable moments in the series, but you'll have to endure a large number of pitfalls to experience them.
Even the installment I like the best, Oganga: Giver And Taker of Life suffers from these flaws -- which have more to do with the writing than the casting of Flannery.
There are valuable moments in the series, but you'll have to endure a large number of pitfalls to experience them.
Similar threads
