Re: Young Indy...It's clear you haven't given it much of a chance

Posted by Ultraman Tiga from ts004d33.las-nv.concentric.net on December 07, 1999 at 02:06:34:

In Reply to: Young Indy... posted by ROB T. on December 06, 1999 at 23:06:23:

: I really wanted to love "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles." When they first started hyping it I was very excited and my whole family settled in to watch the first episode. By the third or fourth episode I stopped watching.

The series did get off to a sluggish start and yes, the Franklin Roosevelt episode (3rd episode, I believe) was a total snoozer that buried the series early on. The episodes picked up by the season's end, then really kicked in the second season.

It was obvious that the show bore no resemblance to the movies;

Wrong! Indy's character is very much intact. In the 'London' episode, Sean has Harry's mannerisms down pat, and there is much more time available to develop Indy's character - the scene where he and Vicki exchange knowledge of languages explains a lot about how Indy might know the rare languages he speaks in ToD.

very little action,

??? WHAT ???? The first ten minutes of The Congo is almost as intense as 'Saving Private Ryan' - in fact, many episodes stand out as a precursor to the intense, on-going violence of that film. 'The Phantom Train of Doom' has more action than 'Temple of Doom' and 'Last Crusade' put together!

ridiculous, coincidental run-ins with every historical figure of the early 1900's and just boring overall.

Yes, some of the run ins were strained and over-the-top, but not all of them. You try travelling the world and see how many soon-to-be historical figures you run into. Remember that many of these figures were militaristic, and and Indy was in the war. Doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to believe he could be meeting them, does it?

: The idea of a character who interacts with historical figures might be a good idea for a TV show but it was a mistake to rope Indiana Jones into it. Indy was supposed to be an adventure hero in a series of well-made popcorn flicks, not a history teacher.

That's fine, if all you want is popcorn flicks. But then, I don't often tune into a TV show for that. The Indy Tv show was purposefully designed to be something other than what the films were, otherwise, it would have gotten redundant fast. How many treasure hunts would you have believed a seventeen year old could have?

: I agree that the Indy mantle could be passed onto a new actor but that actor should not be Sean Patrick Flannery. Just because he played Indy on a TV show that nobody ever watched doesn't mean he's the right person to take over the movies.

If people watched it more, they'd have seen an actor far more skilled than Harry Ford. There are so many scenes that SPF had to do that would have been out of Ford's range. Ford was never really any better than the scripts he was given, and no one concedes to that quicker than Ford himself. That's why he was too embarrassed to look at the SW:Spec. Ed. and that's why he never won an Academy Award, and likely never will (unless they give him the Sean Connery sympathy vote).

If they made an Indy film with him everyone would just assume it was a "Young Indy" flick and they'd stay away in droves just like they avoided the TV show. The Indy franchise would be killed off in one fell swoop. Flannery just doesn't have what it takes to be an action hero on the big screen. He has absolutely none of the charisma that Harrison Ford has. He is definately the wrong person to bring the series into the new millenium.

Considering Flannery played Indy 'as-good-as or better than Ford' in well over 30 hours of film, compared to Ford's 6 and a 1/2, that's a pretty crass opinion.

: And I agree that the forum is starting to lose some lustre. There's too much talk about Indy's clothes. Some people's obsessions with the jacket and the hat and the shoes is borderline-scary.

Agreed.

: And now we're starting to get the same redundancy with "Infernal Machine.

Ditto.

: It's getting harder to sift through to some interesting topic on this forum. I hope this is just a temporary thing and that things will pick up some after the holidays.

I suggest you buy some of the Indy tapes, particularly "Peacock's Eye", "Oganga", or "Phantom Train". THAT'S Indiana Jones!

Cheers!

TIGA

Follow Ups:

I concede some of your points... ROB T. 02:49:14 12/07/99 (0)

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: : I really wanted to love "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles." When they first started hyping it I was very excited and my whole family settled in to watch the first episode. By the third or fourth episode I stopped watching.

:      The series did get off to a sluggish start and yes, the Franklin Roosevelt episode (3rd episode, I believe) was a total snoozer that buried the series early on.  The episodes picked up by the season's end, then really kicked in the second season.

: It was obvious that the show bore no resemblance to the movies;

:      Wrong!  Indy's character is very much intact.  In the 'London' episode, Sean has Harry's mannerisms down pat, and there is much more time available to develop Indy's character - the scene where he and Vicki exchange knowledge of languages explains a lot about how Indy might know the rare languages he speaks in ToD.

: very little action,

:       ??? WHAT ????  The first ten minutes of The Congo is almost as intense as 'Saving Private Ryan' - in fact, many episodes stand out as a precursor to the intense, on-going violence of that film.  'The Phantom Train of Doom' has more action than 'Temple of Doom' and 'Last Crusade' put together!

: ridiculous, coincidental run-ins with every historical figure of the early 1900's and just boring overall.

:       Yes, some of the run ins were strained and over-the-top, but not all of them.  You try travelling the world and see how many soon-to-be historical figures you run into.  Remember that many of these figures were militaristic, and and Indy was in the war.  Doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to believe he could be meeting them, does it?

: : The idea of a character who interacts with historical figures might be a good idea for a TV show but it was a mistake to rope Indiana Jones into it. Indy was supposed to be an adventure hero in a series of well-made popcorn flicks, not a history teacher.

:       That's fine, if all you want is popcorn flicks.  But then, I don't often tune into a TV show for that.  The Indy Tv show was purposefully designed to be something other than what the films were, otherwise, it would have gotten redundant fast.  How many treasure hunts would you have believed a seventeen year old could have?

: : I agree that the Indy mantle could be passed onto a new actor but that actor should not be Sean Patrick Flannery. Just because he played Indy on a TV show that nobody ever watched doesn't mean he's the right person to take over the movies.

:        If people watched it more, they'd have seen an actor far more skilled than Harry Ford.  There are so many scenes that SPF had to do that would have been out of Ford's range.  Ford was never really any better than the scripts he was given, and no one concedes to that quicker than Ford himself.  That's why he was too embarrassed to look at the SW:Spec. Ed. and that's why he never won an Academy Award, and likely never will (unless they give him the Sean Connery sympathy vote).

: If they made an Indy film with him everyone would just assume it was a "Young Indy" flick and they'd stay away in droves just like they avoided the TV show. The Indy franchise would be killed off in one fell swoop. Flannery just doesn't have what it takes to be an action hero on the big screen. He has absolutely none of the charisma that Harrison Ford has. He is definately the wrong person to bring the series into the new millenium.

:        Considering Flannery played Indy 'as-good-as or better than Ford' in well over 30 hours of film, compared to Ford's  6 and a 1/2, that's a pretty crass opinion.

: : And I agree that the forum is starting to lose some lustre. There's too much talk about Indy's clothes. Some people's obsessions with the jacket and the hat and the shoes is borderline-scary.

:        Agreed.

: : And now we're starting to get the same redundancy with "Infernal Machine.

:        Ditto.

: : It's getting harder to sift through to some interesting topic on this forum. I hope this is just a temporary thing and that things will pick up some after the holidays.

:        I suggest you buy some of the Indy tapes, particularly "Peacock's Eye", "Oganga", or "Phantom Train".  THAT'S Indiana Jones!

:        Cheers!

:  TIGA

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