Young Indy Bookends (was: Indiana Jones 1899-2001 etc)

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Posted by Brisco from fwk098144.res-hall.nwu.edu on June 07, 1998 at 12:23:50:

That discussion in another thread about the Indy bookends got me thinking about them. I liked George Hall, but I didn't like seeing Indy as an old man talking people's ears off in hospitals and checkout lines and park benches. And I didn't like the condescending way that those listening to him (even his own children and grandchildren!) treated him, not believing him. After all, this is INDIANA JONES! I never really associated Old Indy with Harrison Ford Indy. They were too far removed. It was a little better in the comic books (where Old Indy didn't have an eyepatch) because Dan Barry made his old Indy look like the natural aged version of his regular Indy (Fate of Atlantis, Thunder in the Orient) who looked like an older version of his Young Indy. I thought the absolute worst Old Indy bookend was the one to London 1916 (the suffragette episode, a very good episode IMHO) where after telling his story about falling in love with Vicky and then going off to war and never seeing her again, an old Vicky (not looking as old as Indy, her contemporary) JUST HAPPENS to walk into the Conservation banquet that Old Indy is attending somewhere in America right after he talks about her!!! If they'd had the reunion BEFORE he told the story, that would have given a good reason to tell it, but having it afterwards stretched all credibility far further than any supernatural happenings in the films. I cringed through what was no doubt supposed to be a "touching reunion."
I've also always wondered (as someone else pointed out in the other thread) why with all of his truly exciting film adventures, the stories that Old Indy relates are the good, but less thrilling ones about his youth. For instance, when one of his grandchildren doesn't want to eat some sort of "disgusting" food at Thanksgiving, why does Indy go off into a story about China in 1910 (I think) instead of saying: "You think your mashed potatoes are disgusting? Have you ever eaten SNAKE SURPRISE? Or chilled monkey brains? Or bugs? Why, I remember this time back in '35 when I was in India..."
I also always wondered if all of Old Indy's stories were supposed to be true, or if he made some of them up (as many he told them to suspected). I concluded that they must be true, because why would he make up stories like those ones when he's got true stories about the Lost Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail to tell? What do you all think? Are they supposed to be real?
I LOVED the YIJC, every episode. But ultimately, I didn't think the bookends worked that well. And I never got to see the episode with the bookend I most wanted to see, being, of course, "Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues" with Harrison Ford recalling the tale. As luck would have it, there was a blizzard that night and we lost power. And then ABC never rebroadcast it. :( Oh, well. I'm sure they'll include that bookend when they finally release the Young Indy videos.
Well, that was quite a rant.
Brisco


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