The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones - Volume One
and Volume Two (aka The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles; Paramount/LucasFilm/TV)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: A Episodes: B+
Finally
arriving on DVD are two great box sets of The
Adventures of Young Indiana Jones- Volume One and Volume Two [separate
releases of what is also known as The
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles] of a planned three. The series that many fans having been pining
to own since DVD series became available is here in almost its full glory. The series basically fills in the life
history of our favorite hero Indiana Jones from his childhood through his early
20’s. Throughout his adventures Indiana
meets (or bumps into) a multitude of historical figures that help him along his
path to becoming a heroic, treasure hunter.
The interesting infusion of history with adventure was always George
Lucas’ intention, so that young audiences would have a chance to learn about
the amazing history that has inspired so many films and television series. The series does a good job and is rarely
boring.
George
Lucas chose to make a ‘more coherent’ storyline for the series by coupling many
episodes together into a sort of telefilm format; as opposed to the much
shorter and non-chronological episodes that were originally aired. Volume
One follows the young Indiana Jones on some of his first adventures as a
child and fills in the gaps about his relationship with his father and how he
gained many of his inquisitive talents. Volume Two (dubbed ‘The War Years’) follows an older
Indiana as he goes to war in World War I and a little later on in his life as
he becomes an army spy. The story arches
are no where near as dangerous or adventurous as the films, but definitely have
their merits for an epic television series that is also highly educational.
Well,
George Lucas manages to botch up a couple of classics again with his disgusting
editing techniques. HAN SHOT FIRST,
DAMMIT! These two box sets are nice in
that they give viewers a chance to own all the original Adventures of Young Indiana Jones episodes, but at what cost you
may ask? LucasFilm has decided for the
purpose of these box sets (and presumably in order to promote Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull) to edit the episodes into feature length (1.5 hrs) episodes
that chronologically map out the life of Indiana Jones. What is the problem with this? Well, for starters the episodes were not
originally aired like that (from young too old), but rather were aired with an
intermixing timeline between Indiana as a child and a teenager (about
16-21). LucasFilm, however, felt it
better to not ‘confuse’ audiences and stick with a stricter, fabricated,
chronological timeline that most definitely takes away from the series.
So at
this point you may say; ok, Mr. Lucas may have moved around some episodes, but
as long as they all come out what is the problem with that? The problem is that not only do these sets
present the episodes out of original aired order, they are at times cut in half
because the first half of the episode (that presented the conflict) started
when Indiana was a child and was not resolved until later in his life. Instead of leaving those episodes as is, the
episodes are essentially cut in half, unresolved and in turn made confusing and
aggravating. As if that editing debacle
was not bad enough, LucasFilm also decided to TOTALLY dispose of all the
original episodes’ openings [that presented each tale] of the old Indiana Jones
(about 93 years old and with an eye patch) reminiscing of his old
adventures. Disposing of the original
openings is an absolute disgrace. The
disposal of the elderly Indiana Jones openings starring actor George Hall is
Lucas’s odd attempt to sanitize the Indiana Jones series as a ‘just in case,’
since one day he may to explore the elderly Indiana Jones in a different
manner. Overall, no matter how much this
reviewer loves this series and these box sets it remains a disgrace that the
episodes were butchered by careless (or perhaps overanalyzed) editing. The elderly Indiana segments truly stabilized
and bookended the episodes and that was lost.
The
technical features are excellent on these two DVD sets and their amazing
quality can and will only be improved once they are put onto a better quality,
High Definition format. The sound and
picture on these sets have been remastered from the best quality masters LucasFilm
could find, and it shows. The picture
has had its original 16mm footage cleaned and is presented here in a 1.33 X 1
Full Screen format, which is accurate.
Though this reviewer would have liked a nice Anamorphic Widescreen
presentation and it might be possible to make it that way in a future 1.78 X 1 HD
release. Even block style, I must admit
the picture is crisp, clear, color balanced, and is basically fantastic. The sound on both sets is presented as crisp
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtracks that decode to standard surrounds that are
excellent and balanced. Overall, LucasFilm
did an amazing job remastering the picture and sound of this epic series
cleaning it up and making it look better than it ever has. Lucas had used the show as a ground to
experiment for future digital work on feature films and you can see that at
times too.
Where
there are a plethora of shortcomings in the area of editing on these box sets,
LucasFilm makes up for those shortcomings with the multitude of extras and
documentaries available on these sets. Volume One offers fans 38 in depth
documentaries and Volume Two offers
up 26 more great documentaries. The documentaries
are interesting as they chronicle the moments and figureheads of history that
are featured throughout the various episodes of the series. These documentaries only further George
Lucas’ original intention of the series to act as a teaching tool as well as
entertainment to younger generations.
From Picasso too Churchill, they are all there waiting to be explored in
these documentaries. The special
features also include interactive timelines (another attempt to organize the
poorly edited sets), a videogame, and few more special tidbits that are sure to
excite, teach, and entertain.
A small
complaint about these two releases is that both come in VERY flimsy packaging;
not at all firm cardboard like the Indiana
Jones film sets that were released a few years back, reviewed elsewhere on
this site. This reviewer is sure that
fans are putting out the money for these sets because they love this series and
plan on holding onto them for a long while; so the least they could expect is
well designed sturdy packaging.
There is
no doubt that the releases of these two box sets (and a future third) are
making fanboys all over the world jump out of their pants like a snake is in
their boot. The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones is a great and wonderful
series that this reviewer highly recommends to all history buffs and Indiana
Jones fans alike. If it was not for the
bad editing job by LucasFilm, this reviewer would have given these episodes an
A-. Though the set has its shortcomings
the overall essence of the series and the extra feature documentaries well
makeup for all the less than stellar editing jobs that need to be fixed. Be prepared to embark upon a ton of new,
exciting adventures with your favorite whip flinging, history rider…Indiana
Jones.
- Michael P Dougherty II
