Print this article E-mail this article More articles by this author

Rating: Country: United States Release Date: April 29, 2008 Distributor: Paramount Cast: · Sean Patrick Flannery · Harrison Ford · Anne Heche · Bob Peck · Ronny Couttere Related Sites: · IMDb: Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Grade: C+

With the release of the fourth chapter in the Indiana Jones series ("Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"), Lucasfilm and Paramount have continued their steady release of everything related to the movies, including their television counterpart -- "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones". The latest is Volume Three -- "The Years of Change," which tracks Indiana Jones as a young man through such things as World War I and the Roaring Twenties.

I am an admitted Indiana Jones nut, and I really hoped to enjoy these shows, since I've loved three of the four movies (with the exception of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"). Unfortunately, this series was incredibly far-fetched, as it placed Indy in virtually every major development of the early 20th century. Somehow, the future raider of the lost ark of the covenant would become friends with everyone from Edith Wharton to Ernest Hemingway, and from Eliot Ness to Ho Chi Minh. Indy was somehow present at the signing of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and at the birth of Al Capone as the head of the Chicago crime syndicate.

While one view would claim that it's fun to see history through the eyes of one character, to me, it was more of a distraction since it seems virtually impossible that anyone could ever have interacted with so many of history's most famous and infamous people. Yes, I know, it's fiction, but it's fiction that's closely intertwined with facts, and too many of those facts have to be changed to make Indiana Jones an integral part of history. In that respect, this series is a bit of a disappointment, since it was hard to enjoy the episodes on their original merits. (Despite this, the show was both awarded and criticized during its initial run; while it won numerous awards, it also received a fair amount of derision from the media. Sadly for the series, viewers tended to agree more with the critics, as the show met with the network axe after just 28 episodes.)

Of course, the DVDs do have their strong points. As you might expect, the production values and special effects in a Lucasfilm project are top-notch, and the locations and scenery are often breathtaking. And whereas River Phoenix pioneered the role of young Indy in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", Sean Patrick Flannery did his best with the role after Phoenix turned down the part. Flannery is certainly handsome and dashing enough to handle the character, and he does an admirable job as Indy in the episodes that have a modicum of adventure. Unfortunately, too many of the episodes have little or nothing to do with heroic escapades, and more to do with relationships and comic mishaps. Honestly, how many of us would ever have gone to see the original Indy movies if they hadn't been about lost artifacts, but instead about filmmaking or the blues?

On the other hand, these DVD sets may have a new market they can appeal to, if they're used properly -- schools. While I wouldn't advocate using the movies themselves to teach history, the accompanying documentaries on each disc are wonderful case studies in some of the 20th century's more interesting characters. The 10-disc set includes 31 documentaries and a lecture that provide in-depth information about people who made a difference in areas from politics to anthropology to entertainment. The fiction makes an interesting and mildly entertaining backdrop, but it's the real, true history that is the most entertaining aspect of the series.

If you're looking for something that parallels the Indiana Jones movie series in its entertainment value, this collector's set of DVDs probably isn't for you. But if you want to learn more about history, or if you're looking to teach your children about the early 20th century, "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones" might just be what you're looking for.