Young Indy - worth watching?
- Thread starter Gaith
- Start date
Agreed. My preference would have been to have them as both deleted extras with the option of watching them integrated into the episodes. It's not hard to do and would've given fans the best of both worlds.
The way they re-edited the episodes, it would be hard to do.
They're good, but as someone said, much different from the movies. Which makes sense. The movies are cinematic in scope and are meant to evoke the imagery and excitement of a 1930's serial. The TV show is pretty much your standard TV show of its time, albeit one that's still quite decent to me.
I'll definitely agree that the WWI stuff was probably the best of the series.
I'll definitely agree that the WWI stuff was probably the best of the series.
Zeta-Jones, also exquisitley, stunningly, young.
I wouldn't agree with that. Its storytelling style was rather different; there weren't any other educational period pieces on at the time as far as I recall. And it was a lot more lush and expansive in its look, more like a feature film, than most TV shows; it didn't have a much huger budget than most shows, but the Lucasfilm team, notably producer Rick McCallum, were able to make it look as if it cost a lot more than it did. And it was filmed on locations all over the world, when any standard TV show would've just faked them all with sets, backlots, and LA-area locations.
The Verdun episode was breathtaking. I still have the image in my head of the German troops coming out of the smoke, sweeping the battlefield with flamethrowers.
See, I just don't get the point of that. I mean, it would be like making a SW prequel and casting as Obi-Wan Kenobi an actor who didn't resemble or sound like a young Alec Guinness or having an actor as Spock in the recent Star Trek movie who was nothing like Leonard Nimoy. As I said before, why not just create an entirely different character?
Sadly, that's one of the few I missed. I bought the comic-book adaptation, but it wasn't the same. Maybe I should Netflix these sometime.
How about a Scotty who's nothing like James Doohan, a Sulu who's nothing like George Takei, a Pike who's nothing like Jeffrey Hunter, and a Sarek and Amanda who are nothing like Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt? For that matter, Harrison Ford doesn't look much like Alec Baldwin, but he still took over the role of Jack Ryan. Naturally the priority is to find the best actor for the role. Physical resemblance is a bonus, not a requirement. Getting someone who looks or sounds right isn't enough if they don't have the talent or charisma you need.
That said, River Phoenix, who played young Indy in Last Crusade, looked and sounded uncannily like a young Harrison Ford (which also led to him playing Ford's son in The Mosquito Coast). So after having seen a young Indy who was so perfect, Flanery was admittedly somewhat harder to buy into. Had Phoenix not died tragically young, he might've been the star of this show, and it's hard not to judge Flanery in comparison to that.
Well River Phoenix only played young Indy for a few scenes. It was appropriate for him to do a more a caricatured imitation of Harrison Ford. Within the context of the movie the connection to Ford had to instant and undeniable. But I don't think that would have been appropriate for a television series.
^I don't think it would've been inappropriate to have a resemblance, but I agree that it was less necessary in a TV series where you wouldn't be seeing Ford in the role in the same story (except in Mystery of the Blues). In fact, when casting for TV adaptations of movies, physical resemblance is only infrequently a parameter. Michael Shanks looked and sounded a lot like James Spader in early Stargate SG-1, but diverged from that over time, and Richard Dean Anderson was never a match for Kurt Russell. In Alien Nation, Gary Graham bore zero resemblance to James Caan, although Eric Pierpoint did remind one of Mandy Patinkin. In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker did bear a marginal resemblance to Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong, but other characters were recast with little regard for resemblance -- Phil Morris replaced Joe Morton as Miles Dyson (in photos only, since the dream sequence he shot was cut out), and most drastically, Bruce Davison replaced Earl Boen as Dr. Silberman.
In that case - the option of watching them as originally aired and then with Lucas' "preferred" edits.
Thank you to Gaith for providing a link to my reviews. It's much appreciated!
To answer the question of whether or not the Young Indy series is worth watching, I'd say, "Yes" -- with a caveat. The cinematography of this series is absolutely stunning and makes the chapters quite pleasant to see on the screen (especially if you've got a nice flatscreen). The acting is serviceable (from both Corey Carrier and Sean Patrick Flannery though, clearly, Flannery is the better of the two). And both the historical and philosophical elements are often engaging. But the writing (which has a few high points) is, for the most part, quite hokey.
Essentially, the episodes are entertaining enough to watch, at least once. But if you're expecting something on the level of the Indy films, or even Lost or CSI or Star Trek, you'll be disappointed. So if you temper your expectations, and if you love great cinematography and historical contexts, its worth seeing every episode in the series -- even "Espionage Escapades" which I absolutely detested.
To answer the question of whether or not the Young Indy series is worth watching, I'd say, "Yes" -- with a caveat. The cinematography of this series is absolutely stunning and makes the chapters quite pleasant to see on the screen (especially if you've got a nice flatscreen). The acting is serviceable (from both Corey Carrier and Sean Patrick Flannery though, clearly, Flannery is the better of the two). And both the historical and philosophical elements are often engaging. But the writing (which has a few high points) is, for the most part, quite hokey.
Essentially, the episodes are entertaining enough to watch, at least once. But if you're expecting something on the level of the Indy films, or even Lost or CSI or Star Trek, you'll be disappointed. So if you temper your expectations, and if you love great cinematography and historical contexts, its worth seeing every episode in the series -- even "Espionage Escapades" which I absolutely detested.
That would have never been the case. Lucas initially went to Phoenix when he began to form the genesis of what eventually became Young Indy and Phoenix declined saying he didn't want to go to television.
Boo on you!
Y'know, I've actually tried watching that one again and just. couldn't. get. through. it.
Either way, having seen such an authentic Young Indy makes it harder to buy into Flanery in the role. I mean, he was fine as a series lead, I could just never believe he was the same person as the guy with the hat and whip in the movies.
Maybe The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles actually took place in an alternate timeline. Maybe Belloq didn't actually die at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark; instead, when he opened the ark, he created a new universe where everything is kind of the same, but everyone--including Indiana Jones--looks a little different.
As I recall there were also study guides to accompany the various episodes. While so much was dramatized, the dates, places and names were always accurate.
The series was also to get students interested in history, more than being fast-paced early adventures. Chronicles, perhaps?
--Ted
The series was also to get students interested in history, more than being fast-paced early adventures. Chronicles, perhaps?
--Ted
Maybe The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles actually took place in an alternate timeline. Maybe Belloq didn't actually die at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark; instead, when he opened the ark, he created a new universe where everything is kind of the same, but everyone--including Indiana Jones--looks a little different.
"They say Indiana Jones was a great man. Found the ark of the covenant. But that was another life."
Hey, look at that! It's a small geek-centric Internet. Thank you for the reviews, good sir.
(Though I gotta disagree on Carnivale, I loved every bit of it, except for the eps that involved Babylon.)I guess I'll give the ones you rated highest a try, and take it from there. I look forward to reading the rest of your coverage!