YIJC defining moment...

Posted by Beowulf from FPARK-244-201.usae.bah.com on December 07, 1999 at 06:29:18:

In Reply to: Yo, Beowulf, Michealson, and other Young Indy fans! (This is a good long, healthy one). posted by Ultraman Tiga on December 07, 1999 at 02:45:34:

: But Beowulf, I must disagree. While both of them are Four Star masterpieces, I prefer the drama of "Oganga" over the outstanding action and humor of PToD. Bartlemay's impassioned plea about the future of Africa and the mutiny against the sympathetic Bouchet is just dowright gripping.

: In fact, that was the very scen that convinced me that SPF was the right guy - when he draws his gun on Bouchet it was the first time (in the original YIJC) that we see that SPF can draw a hard-edged snarl that resembles in every way Harrison Ford.

I whole heartedly agree with you that Oganga beats PToD any day of the week as far as pure story and human drama is concerned - it is one of my favorites. I just tend to liek PToD a little more because it is more "fun" (fun like the movies were). The defining moement in the series, however, that solidified it as one of my all time favorite shows had to be the Verdun episode. It was just so well acted, well scripted, well filmed and well scored. The grisley realism in the trench warfare scenes coupled iwth the beautiful soundtrack really hit me. Comparing that episode to other shows taht were on at that time really proved that Lucas & Co had something special here. Of course, Verdun was quickly followed by the German East AFrica nd Congo eps (the 2 Oganga ones) which further locked me in as a fan.

The thing I've always loved about the series is that it is so versatile (as is SPF as an actor). It can range from a "Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew" light comedy/mystery story ("Princeton"), to a Saving Private Ryan type realistic look at warfare (Verdun & Somme), to dealing with deep moral and philosophical issues (German East Africa & Congo), to high action/adventure (Phantom Train of Doom) to outright comedy (Northern Italy, Scandal of 1920). And the best part was you actually learn a thing or two about history (a subject I have always been severely lacking in) along the way).

It's a pity that most people's dislike of the show seems to stem from a disappointment that the show was NOT like the movies. they fail to understand what the show was all about. I have no problem with people disliking it because it just wasn't their cup of tea, but when people try to compare it to the movies and dislike it because it's different it gets a bit annoying.

As for the only new segments out of the recent video releases (the Morocco segment from "Tales of Innocence" and the extra footage in "Daredevils of the Desert" - I've had a copy of "Transylvania" for a long time, so it wasn't new to me), I wasn't overely impressed with either. The extra footage in DotD did very little to help the story. The scene with Indy & Ned speaking at night in the ruins was a good one. The scene where Indy deals with the Arabs who have stolen Catherine Zeta Jones (can't remember her name in the show) was horrible. SPF's accent was ludicrous and the scene seemed to be slapped to gether with very little preparation. The rope bridge scene was a nice addition, though - you couldn't help being remionded of Temple of Doom. The Morocco segment was a mixed bag. The scenes with Edith Wharton were good ones. No real drama, but some great philosophical bantering back and forth. The whole crap with the sand in the boots at the end was pretty lame. They could have made it a little more realistic instead of having each person taking off their boot and dumping out the exact same amount of sand. Still, it was good seeing an all-new Indy story.

I am REALLY looking forward to the new Princeton 1919 segment from Winds of Change when we will finally get to see Indy & his father having their fall out. I am also intrigued to see how they are going to pull of the "My First Adventure" movie without the Old Indy bookends (which were used extensively to set up the story at the beginnig) and with footage shot years later (when Corey Carrier was older) cut back to back with the first footage ever shot with him. SPF may have looked a bit older in the newly shot footage, but definitely not old enough to be too noticable. I can't imagine that a few extra years on CC won't be extremely noticable!

When all is said and done with the new 22 YIJ movies, I think we are still going to be left with the nagging question from the "Somme" episode. What the heck happened to Remy between that episode and "Verdun"? When Indy was being carted off to Germany, Remy was yelling that he couldn't movie his legs and Indy didn't knwo what happened to him. When next we see Remy in the hospital in Verdun, it seems that he and Indy had seen each other since then. It seems like there was supposed to be a third episode set in late August 1916 that was never filmed which would have answered this. The World of Indiana Jones role playing game source book even has an entry for a "Berlin - Late August" episode - I wonder where they got that from.

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: : But Beowulf, I must disagree.  While both of them are Four Star masterpieces, I prefer the drama of "Oganga" over the outstanding action and humor of PToD.  Bartlemay's impassioned plea about the future of Africa and the mutiny against the sympathetic Bouchet is just dowright gripping.

: : In fact, that was the very scen that convinced me that SPF was the right guy - when he draws his gun on Bouchet it was the first time (in the original YIJC) that we see that SPF can draw a hard-edged snarl that resembles in every way Harrison Ford.

: I whole heartedly agree with you that Oganga beats PToD any day of the week as far as pure story and human drama is concerned - it is one of my favorites.  I just tend to liek PToD a little more because it is more "fun" (fun like the movies were).  The defining moement in the series, however, that solidified it as one of my all time favorite shows had to be the Verdun episode.  It was just so well acted, well scripted, well filmed and well scored.  The grisley realism in the trench warfare scenes coupled iwth the beautiful soundtrack really hit me.  Comparing that episode to other shows taht were on at that time really proved that Lucas & Co had something special here.  Of course, Verdun was quickly followed by the German East AFrica nd Congo eps (the 2 Oganga ones) which further locked me in as a fan.

: The thing I've always loved about the series is that it is so versatile (as is SPF as an actor).  It can range from a "Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew" light comedy/mystery story ("Princeton"), to a Saving Private Ryan type realistic look at warfare (Verdun & Somme), to dealing with deep moral and philosophical issues (German East Africa & Congo), to high action/adventure (Phantom Train of Doom) to outright comedy (Northern Italy, Scandal of 1920).  And the best part was you actually learn a thing or two about history (a subject I have always been severely lacking in) along the way).

: It's a pity that most people's dislike of the show seems to stem from a disappointment that the show was NOT like the movies.  they fail to understand what the show was all about.  I have no problem with people disliking it because it just wasn't their cup of tea, but when people try to compare it to the movies and dislike it because it's different it gets a bit annoying.

: As for the only new segments out of the recent video releases (the Morocco segment from "Tales of Innocence" and the extra footage in "Daredevils of the Desert" - I've had a copy of "Transylvania" for a long time, so it wasn't new to me), I wasn't overely impressed with either.  The extra footage in DotD did very little to help the story.  The scene with Indy & Ned speaking at night in the ruins was a good one.  The scene where Indy deals with the Arabs who have stolen Catherine Zeta Jones (can't remember her name in the show) was horrible.  SPF's accent was ludicrous and the scene seemed to be slapped to gether with very little preparation.  The rope bridge scene was a nice addition, though - you couldn't help being remionded of Temple of Doom.  The Morocco segment was a mixed bag.  The scenes with Edith Wharton were good ones.  No real drama, but some great philosophical bantering back and forth.  The whole crap with the sand in the boots at the end was pretty lame.  They could have made it a little more realistic instead of having each person taking off their boot and dumping out the exact same amount of sand.  Still, it was good seeing an all-new Indy story.

: I am REALLY looking forward to the new Princeton 1919 segment from Winds of Change when we will finally get to see Indy & his father having their fall out.  I am also intrigued to see how they are going to pull of the "My First Adventure" movie without the Old Indy bookends (which were used extensively to set up the story at the beginnig) and with footage shot years later (when Corey Carrier was older) cut back to back with the first footage ever shot with him.  SPF may have looked a bit older in the newly shot footage, but definitely not old enough to be too noticable.  I can't imagine that a few extra years on CC won't be extremely noticable!

: When all is said and done with the new 22 YIJ movies, I think we are still going to be left with the nagging question from the "Somme" episode.  What the heck happened to Remy between that episode and "Verdun"?  When Indy was being carted off to Germany, Remy was yelling that he couldn't movie his legs and Indy didn't knwo what happened to him.  When next we see Remy in the hospital in Verdun, it seems that he and Indy had seen each other since then.  It seems like there was supposed to be a third episode set in late August 1916 that was never filmed which would have answered this.  The World of Indiana Jones role playing game source book even has an entry for a "Berlin - Late August" episode - I wonder where they got that from.

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