Now on its third (and final) multi-disc volume, the entire series of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is available on DVD, even if it has been altered somewhat. Like the two previous editions, episodes are paired up to make a single feature-length program. While a couple match up well, the majority feel like two shows spliced together in the middle with little in common.
Entitled “The Years of Change”, this set sees World War I come to a close and America be thrust into prohibition. The young hero continues his travels around the globe getting into all sorts of adventures and trouble. Along the way he comes into some very exclusive company including Eliot Ness, Al Capone, Louis Armstrong, Woodrow Wilson, Ernest Hemingway and Dracula. Needless to say, either young Indiana has a knack for stumbling across important and soon-to-be-important figures or the show’s producers want to show us something about history with an adventurer making for our guide. I’ll let you take a guess as to which one is correct.
Of the three Young Indiana Jones DVD sets, this is the first one that begins to capture the same sense of adventure found in the films. It also helps that Indiana Jones is a bit older and wiser to the world and his personality is starting to emerge. There is still a lot left to be desired as far as overall pacing and cheese factor goes, but it’s the best of the bunch for those who love the Indiana Jones franchise. And although it doesn’t mention it on the packaging anywhere, be on the lookout for a certain actor who plays a more refined Indiana Jones as a cameo in the disc six episode “Mystery of the Blues.” Here’s a hint: the actor’s name rhymes with Garrison Lord.
Ultimately, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones survives today on DVD largely because of the franchise it’s a part of. Had it been about any other character not previously attached to something, it’d likely be more forgotten than it already is. The Indiana Jones films are revered as classics because of their old-fashioned sense of fun. Adventure actually exists in more than just a title. This collection is a step in the right direction compared to the pretty dreadful first volume and only moderately better second volume. Gone is the whining child of the first chronological episodes. Indy also has more life experience and he’s as close to the sarcastic grump professor he’s portrayed as in the films.
But no matter the big sets and bloated budgets this television program brought with it, Young Indiana Jones doesn’t compare to the real thing. The stories are much slower and several go nowhere. Instead the show seems to exist simply as an experiment in rewriting history a little and making it a little more fun. While I might rather watch a young incarnation of Indy than read a dry text book, it’s ultimately a lesser of two unfavorable choices. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy some bits and pieces of these “episodes”, but it’s nothing like “the real” Indiana Jones – the one played by Harrison Ford.
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume Three DVD Review
Like the first two volumes in the Young Indiana Jones series, the draw to these box sets isn’t necessarily the show but rather the rich and exhaustive bonus features. Volume three spans ten discs and includes all sorts of featurettes and documentaries that speak to the era in which the episodes are set.
From the ten discs included in this set, there are a total of seven feature-length programs. Each are shown in their original full frame format with Dolby 2.0 stereo sound.
The bonus features are extensive and then some. Here’s a list of the half-hour featurettes connected with its episodes:
Tales of Innocence:
- Unhealed Wounds – The Life of Ernest Hemingway
- The French Foreign Legion – The World’s Most Legendary Fighting Force
- The Secret Life of Edith Wharton
- Lowell Thomas – American Storyteller
Masks of Evil
- For the People, Despite the People – The Ataturk Revolution
- The Greedy Heart of Halide Edib
- The Ottoman Empire – A World of Difference
- Dracula – Fact and Fiction
Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye
- Bronislaw Malinowski – God Professor
- Anthropology – Looking at the Human Condition
- New Guinea – Paradise in Peril
The Winds of Change
- The Best Intentions – The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles
- Woodrow Wilson – American Idealist
- Gertrude Bell – Iraq’s Uncrowned Queen
- Ho Chi Minh – The Prince of Freedom
- Paul Robeson – Scandalize My Name
- Robert Goddard – Mr. Rocket Science
Mystery of the Blues
- Jazz – Rhythms of Freedom
- Al “Scarface” Capone – The Original Gangster
- Prohibition – America on the Rocks
- On the Trail of Eliot Ness
- Louis Armstrong – Ambassador of Jazz
- Ben Hecht – The Shakespeare of Hollywood
- Hellfighters – Harlem’s Heroes of World War One
Scandal of 1920
- Tin Pan Alley – Soundtrack of America
- Wonderful Nonsense – The Algonquin Round Table
- Broadway – America Center Stage
Hollywood Follies
- Erich von Stroheim – The Profligate Genius
- The Rise of the Moguls – The Men Who Built Hollywood
- Irving Thalberg – Hollywood’s Boy Wonder
- The World of John Ford
If that weren’t enough, the set’s tenth disc also includes an interactive timeline, a lecture entitled “New Gods for Old” and the game “Hunting for the Treasure.”
Like the first two volumes, these DVDs are more likely a godsend for history teachers than it is for fans of the Indiana Jones films.
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume Three Gallery
