Is anyone really suprised to hear from me on this topic?

Posted by Ultraman Tiga from ts001d15.las-nv.concentric.net on March 13, 2000 at 05:03:09:

In Reply to: What are the best Young Indy episodes? posted by Indiana Bast**d Jones on March 12, 2000 at 20:31:10:

: I bought the Indy trilogy and got Phantom Train of Doom free. I think this is a pretty good film, but haven't always been impressed with Young Indy, even though the proper films are brilliant.

: I haven't got the money to buy all the tapes, and I probably wouldn't if did. I was wondering however what are the stand-out episodes.

: I saw the advert for Treasure of Peacock's Eye. Indy was wearing his hat and searching for a treasure, like in the films, so I was thinking of buying this one. Daredevils of the Desert, Oganga, and Trenches of Hell also looked good.

: Are there any others that I should think about? Preferably ones most resembling the films.

The best way to get into enjoying the Young Indy adventures is to keep some points in mind: 1; it was a tv show, and even edited into movies, it still makes for a long, long series (think about it, 26 films total means there are now more Indy films than there are James Bond pictures!). What this means is that you don't want every episode being an action packed treasure quest story! Gracious that would have gotten boring really fast! And how could they have made that believable for a series focusing on a 17 to 20 year old character? Imagination and diversity are what made the Indy films special. For instance, Raiders has not just lots of action, but a good deal of horror, comedy, romance and intrigue. Temple of Doom focused largely on the horror and comedy, but still managed to squeeze in a musical number! Last Crusade is basically just a costume version of a Lethal Weapon movvie, with a luttle bit of family drama thrown in for good measure. Again, diversity and imagination are key factors, and the Young Indy series has it in abunadance. One episode could be a war story, one could be a political drama, one could focus solely on romance, one could be a comedy, another was a mystery, one could be action, one was even a western, and yet another was a musical!

2; it's a series - not every episode is going to be a good one. Ref. James Bond, Star Trek, Star Wars, Rambo, Lethal Weapon, Godzilla, et al and ad naseum. Some of the worst of the Young Indy episodes I can recall offhand: Istanbul, part one of "Masks of Evil", cliched, badly written, and overacted. Africa with 10 year old Indy encountering Teddy Roosevelt. The story is dull and sloppily edited, all the philosophical mumbo-jumbo backfires, and the politics are confusing - does anyone know what the point of this episode was? I've heard that another Sean PAtrick Flanery episode was really bad, where he is trying to set up residence and get a phone line connected somewhere in Europe was truly attrocious, but i haven't seen it yet, so I cannot objectively comment. I don't doubt that it might be that bad. It's still on the "to be released set" anyway.

3; it's got a tight continuity, so watching it in as much order as possible is fun even where there's a stinker of an episode here and there. Because of the idiotic manner that Lucasfilm has released these tapes, it's hard to do that. Nonetheless, "Spring Break Adventure" made for a nice jumping on point, and was a genuine improvement on the original pilot episode, "YIJ and the Curse of the Jackal".

4; it's a low budget series, intended to be highly expieriemental and philosophical. It cuts as many corners as it can, telling some of the grandest stories it's creator (the Lucas guy) could think of. In this regard, it succeeds quite well. I've seen big budget theatrical features that couldn't enthrall me or entertain me, because they didn't even try to get into such things, and when they did, it just came acorss of buffoonishly overbaked (The Shadow, Stargate, Cliffhanger).

5; George Lucas gave this to us on television, for FREE, before you ever had to buy so much as a single second into it.

6; any way you paint it, it's still Indiana Jones. No and's, if's, but's, about it. George Lucas decided that, therefor it is so.

My dear fellow I have rambled long. But here, to answer your intitial questions, are some of the answers to that original question you had thoughtfully proposed:

1. Love's Sweet Song (Upcoming release) - two of the best romantic episdoes, one set in England and the other, more lushly, set in Ireland. Some mild action in the second half takes a backseat to the eye-candy photography and authentic period costumes. Flannery is especially excellent and thoroughly "in character" for these epsiodes.

2. Paris 1908 (Upcoming under a new title) the best episode to feature Corey Carrier as the ten year old Indy has him running around a for a few wild nights with Norman Rockwell and Picasso (pplayed to brilliant perfection by Danny Webb, who later appears again in SPF's Barcelona adventure).

3. Oganga, Giver and Taker of Life - has all the action and intrigue one could ask for, as well as some the best philosphizing this side "Shawshank Redemtpiton" - oh wait! Frank Darabon, yeah!

4. Phantom Train of Doom - action packed through and through, but don't listen to the other fellow - this films second half is way better than the first, which is saying a lot!

5. The Scandal of 1920 (Upcoming release) - Evoking the greatest time and place that the series could ever have done: Broadway, New York, 1920! Top hats and tails, canes and perfecetly coiffured(sp check) hair! Dazzling production values and costumes, great Gershwin tunes, no less than three beautiful girls (including Anne Heche before she got ugly) and another great performance by Sean Patrick Flanery.

There are so many others, but I'm quite tired, and still must study Nihongo tonight. See ya!

Follow Ups:

Hmmm.... California Mike 02:11:52 3/14/2000 (1)
- Re: Hmmm.... UT 03:59:25 3/16/2000 (0)

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: : I bought the Indy trilogy and got Phantom Train of Doom free. I think this is a pretty good film, but haven't always been impressed with Young Indy, even though the proper films are brilliant.

: : I haven't got the money to buy all the tapes, and I probably wouldn't if did. I was wondering however what are the stand-out episodes.

: : I saw the advert for Treasure of Peacock's Eye. Indy was wearing his hat and searching for a treasure, like in the films, so I was thinking of buying this one. Daredevils of the Desert, Oganga, and Trenches of Hell also looked good.

: : Are there any others that I should think about? Preferably ones most resembling the films.

: The best way to get into enjoying the Young Indy adventures is to keep some points in mind: 1; it was a tv show, and even edited into movies, it still makes for a long, long series (think about it, 26 films total means there are now more Indy films than there are James Bond pictures!).  What this means is that you don't want every episode being an action packed treasure quest story!  Gracious that would have gotten boring really fast!  And how could they have made that believable for a series focusing on a 17 to 20 year old character?  Imagination and diversity are what made the Indy films special.  For instance, Raiders has not just lots of action, but a good deal of horror, comedy, romance and intrigue.  Temple of Doom focused largely on the horror and comedy, but still managed to squeeze in a musical number!  Last Crusade is basically just a costume version of a Lethal Weapon movvie, with a luttle bit of family drama thrown in for good measure.  Again, diversity and imagination are key factors, and the Young Indy series has it in abunadance.  One episode could be a war story, one could be a political drama, one could focus solely on romance, one could be a comedy, another was a mystery, one could be action, one was even a western, and yet another was a musical!

: 2; it's a series - not every episode is going to be a good one.  Ref. James Bond, Star Trek, Star Wars, Rambo, Lethal Weapon, Godzilla, et al and ad naseum.   Some of the worst of the Young Indy episodes I can recall offhand:  Istanbul, part one of "Masks of Evil", cliched, badly written, and overacted.  Africa with 10 year old Indy encountering Teddy Roosevelt.  The story is dull and sloppily edited, all the philosophical mumbo-jumbo backfires, and the politics are confusing - does anyone know what the point of this episode was?  I've heard that another Sean PAtrick Flanery episode was really bad, where he is trying to set up residence and get a phone line connected somewhere in Europe was truly attrocious, but i haven't seen it yet, so I cannot objectively comment.  I don't doubt that it might be that bad.  It's still on the "to be released set" anyway.

: 3; it's got a tight continuity, so watching it in as much order as possible is fun even where there's a stinker of an episode here and there.  Because of the idiotic manner that Lucasfilm has released these tapes, it's hard to do that.  Nonetheless, "Spring Break Adventure" made for a nice jumping on point, and was a genuine improvement on the original pilot episode, "YIJ and the Curse of the Jackal".

: 4; it's a low budget series, intended to be highly expieriemental and philosophical.  It cuts as many corners as it can, telling some of the grandest stories it's creator (the Lucas guy) could think of.  In this regard, it succeeds quite well.  I've seen big budget theatrical features that couldn't enthrall me or entertain me, because they didn't even try to get into such things, and when they did, it just came acorss of buffoonishly overbaked (The Shadow, Stargate, Cliffhanger).

: 5; George Lucas gave this to us on television, for FREE, before you ever had to buy so much as a single second into it.

: 6; any way you paint it, it's still Indiana Jones.  No and's, if's, but's, about it.  George Lucas decided that, therefor it is so.

: My dear fellow I have rambled long.  But here, to answer your intitial questions, are some of the answers to that original question you had thoughtfully proposed:

: 1. Love's Sweet Song (Upcoming release) - two of the best romantic episdoes, one set in England and the other, more lushly, set in Ireland.  Some mild action in the second half takes a backseat to the eye-candy photography and authentic period costumes.  Flannery is especially excellent and thoroughly "in character" for these epsiodes.

: 2. Paris 1908 (Upcoming under a new title) the best episode to feature Corey Carrier as the ten year old Indy has him running around a for a few wild nights with Norman Rockwell and Picasso (pplayed to brilliant perfection by Danny Webb, who later appears again in SPF's Barcelona adventure).

: 3. Oganga, Giver and Taker of Life - has all the action and intrigue one could ask for, as well as some the best philosphizing this side "Shawshank Redemtpiton" - oh wait!  Frank Darabon, yeah!

: 4. Phantom Train of Doom - action packed through and through, but don't listen to the other fellow - this films second half is way better than the first, which is saying a lot!

: 5. The Scandal of 1920 (Upcoming release) - Evoking the greatest time and place that the series could ever have done: Broadway, New York, 1920!  Top hats and tails, canes and perfecetly coiffured(sp check) hair!  Dazzling production values and costumes, great Gershwin tunes, no less than three beautiful girls (including Anne Heche before she got ugly) and another great performance by Sean Patrick Flanery.

: There are so many others, but I'm quite tired, and still must study Nihongo tonight.  See ya!

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