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The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles/The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones

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  • #16
    "Winds of Change" ("Paris, May 1919" and Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father bookend (Princeton, May 1919)). Ah, crap. At the end of the previous film, Indy was going home. Now he's in Paris, to witness the aftermath of WWI (meaning that we're technically back to WWI stories). I did like Indy's later reunion with Nancy Stratemeyer. Showing that things have been going on in her own life, these past three years. She has moved on from Indiana Jones. We're given follow-up with one of Indy's past romantic interests. That I liked. The only other example, that I think we've ever seen, was Marion in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (which was made over a decade after this).

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    • #17
      "Mystery of the Blues" (formerly "Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues"). George Lucas made the choice to remove all the old Indy scenes, when the episodes were re-cut into their current film versions. However, there was one exception: the one where the framing device was an older Indiana Jones, but played by Harrison Ford, and not George Hall. Ford shot this while filming The Fugitive, which is why Indy in 1950 sports a beard. I don't have a problem with that. Him having facial hair just shows that even Lucas draws the limit somewhere, when it comes to CGI-additions.

      We find Harrison Ford on a smaller adventure, where he finds himself stuck in a cabin with a Native American man and begin recalling something that happened to him 30 years earlier. Must admit that the framing device story is more interesting than the main one, which is the standard young Indiana Jones interacting with a bunch of famous historical figures story.

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      • #18
        "Hollywood Follies" (formerly "Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies"). Young Indy goes to Hollywood, in a failed attempt to shut down Erich von Stroheim's film Foolish Wives (1922). He fails, but ends up being hired by a young John Ford, to work as his assistent. Later becoming one of the leads, after an actor gets killed by a snake. In that regard, it becomes a bit of the cliché, kid goes to Hollywood and becames a movie star (even if it's subverted with Indy making one movie, but chooses to go back to study archeology). Hollywood stars appears... even ones who hadn't even come to Hollywood yet. The film opens with Indy watching the 1925 film version of Ben-Hur... in August of 1920.

        Their depiction of von Stroheim's excesses were pretty accurate. On the 1923 film Merry-Go-Round, Stroheim demanded that they use real caviar (and champagne) for some scene (his difficult behavior led to him being fired and replaced with another director). One day, during the production of Foolish Wives, Stroheim refused to start shooting, because a prop phone on set wasn't working for real. I must admit to not knowing very much about Stroheim (my main exposure was seeing him in Sunset Boulevard, which he only acted in. It was directed by Billy Wilder). And I studied film at university. However, we studied John Ford (among others) not Erich von Stroheim. Watching this, there is a clear reverence for John Ford from the filmmakers (that they clearly don't have for Stroheim). They depict him as friendly and always finding a way around problems (if the film's a day behind, remove some stuff. If a set catches fire, he improvises a scene around it), not prone to excesses (making it clear that he could make 25 movies for what von Stroheim's one picture costs).

        The film captures a lot of truth about early Hollywood (specifically the early westerns). Wyatt Earp did consult on early silent movie westerns (helping to mold the mythology of the old west). A lot of cowboys around this time turned to the movie industry, looking for work. Working on a movie, they could earn $5 a day. Which is what they would've earned for a week's work in their previous job (that was dying out).

        The character of screenwriter Claire Lieberman is fictional. However, I do like that they had her be a screenwriter (rather than an aspiring actress, a common cliché). Casting some light on film's long history of female screenwriters. I also like that they introduce her as an already working and established screenwriter (described by Irving Thalberg as one of their best writers), rather than someone who simply dreams about something and needs Indiana to fight that battle for her (another common cliché). Indy gets hurt because Claire is dating both him and another guy... Guess that he doesn't like the taste of his own medicine. This is the guy who in "Scandal of 1920" (set right before this) dated three women at once.

        The wagon stunt was a nice callback to Raiders (though, as this takes place 16 years earlier, should we consider it foreshadowing?).
        Last edited by jon-el87; 11-09-2021, 04:33 AM.

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        • #19
          "The Perils of Cupid" (formerly ''Vienna, November 1908'' and ''Florence, May 1908"). Ah, Vienna... a place packed with Scandinavians. Princess Sophie is played by a Dane. Her governess is played by Pernilla August (who also plays another role in "Tales of Innocence"). Franz Ferdinand, Carl Gustav Jung, Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler are also all played by Swedish actors (good ones). Would be fun if Indiana Jones 5 has a moment, where Indy lets it slip that his first kiss was with an Austrian princess.

          I liked Anna having an affair with Giacomo Puccini. Giving Anna her own story and dilemma. She isn't just there to be Henry's wife and Indy's mother.

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          • #20
            Rewatched a few scenes from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, specifically the two scenes at Indy's house. They really should've had a photograph of Ruth de Sosa (Anna Jones) next to the photograph of Sean Connery. Even if they didn't have the photograph, that Indy looks at in "Winds of Change", they could've easily acquired a photograph/still of de Sosa as Anna, and printed a black-and-white version of it. I'm not just talking about ackowledging the TV show (which they do, with Indy recollecting his adventure with Pancho Villa), but when you actually look at the scene, it seems weird that Indy has a photograph of his father, and a photograph of Marcus, on his desk... but no visible photographs of his mother.

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            • #21
              "Travels with Father" (formerly "Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father"). Indy runs away with Leo Tolstoy. Indy mentions his dog, Indiana, as a she. In other installments, the dog is identified as male. We get to see a brief glimpse into the life of Romani people in pre-Soviet Russia. I like that they didn't go for this romantic idea of Romani life (or try to give a romantic depiction of pre-Soviet Russia, as some depictions go for. You know, there was a revolution for a reason. Many reasons, actually), but showed us the horrors and persecution that they've been subjected to.

              In the second half, Indy seemingly bonds with his father, which might seem like a contradiction with their depictions in Last Crusade. However, this is almost 30 years earlier. A few years before the death of Anna (which could impact the surviving family members, and their interactions).

              Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father was the final out of four television movies, made after the show was cancelled. It's a very odd order for the television movies to be made and released:

              1) Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies (set in 1920, and the chapter chronologically closest to Temple of Doom).

              2) Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye. Suddenly, we're two years earlier in 1918 (and the final moments of WWI).

              3) Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen. Set in 1917, with the United States being mentioned as just having joined the war.

              4) Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father. Set in 1910.

              Of course, The broadcasting order for the show itself was odd.

              Season 1, episode 2: "London, May 1916"
              Season 1, episode 3: "British East Africa, September 1909"
              Season 1, episode 4: "Verdun, September 1916"
              Season 2, episode 1: "Austria, March 1917"
              Season 2, episode 2: "Somme, Early August 1916"
              Season 2, episode 3-4: "Somme, Early August 1916"/"Germany, Mid-August 1916"
              Season 2, episode 5: "Barcelona, May 1917"
              Season 2, episode 6: Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues (set in 1920)
              Season 2, episode 7: "Princeton, February 1916"
              Season 2, episode 8: "Petrograd, July 1917"

              I won't list all of the episodes. However, when you look at just these episodes, you realize how much this show jumped around the years between 1908 and 1920... from episode to episode. Probably didn't help the viewers to get invested in the show. Probably didn't help Sean Patrick Flannery either. One episode, he's a college student in 1920 (and a WWI veteran). The next, he's a four year younger high school student.

              Reflecting over this, Lucas was probably right when he decided to recut the episodes in television movies and release them in chronological order on the DVDs. This way, you actually get to chronologically follow Indiana Jones' journey from a 9-year-old boy in 1908 to a 21-year-old college student in 1920 (with a time jump between 1910 and 1916. However, we probably saw the most interesting event of his life, between those years, in the opening of Last Crusade). You don't follow up an episode with one set months or even years before.
              Last edited by jon-el87; 08-30-2022, 11:29 PM.

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              • #22
                "Journey of Radiance" (''Benares, January 1910" and ''Peking, March 1910"). I liked Miss Seymour getting her own plot, with trying to expose a fraud. I also liked that boy with Indy spotlighted different religions.

                Anna is shown taking ill in the connective tissue, while shown wanting to sweep it under the rug. Which does line up with Henry's line in Last Crusade: "She kept her illness from me. Until all I could do was mourn her".

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                • #23
                  Watched the Making of Last Crusade documentary, where George mentions that the original idea for Indiana Jones 3 was a haunted castle movie. It made me think of the Transylvania story in Masks of Evil (probably where they got the idea for the Transylvania story). Lucasfilm sure doesn't throw anything away. Some of the stuff done in Temple of Doom were unused ideas from Raiders of the Lost Ark. They used an unused film idea (haunted castle) for an episode of Young Indiana Jones. Then they used an unused idea from the Young Indiana Jones TV series (crystal skulls) for the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

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                  • #24
                    In regard to "Indy's Women" in the Last Crusade extras, it would've been fun if could've been more of an indept documentary and had interviews with some of the female leading ladies from the television show like Robyn Lively (Nancy Stratemeyer), Elizabeth Hurley (Vicky Prentiss), Lynsey Baxter (Margaret Trappe), Amanda Ooms (Nadia Kamenevsky), Catherine-Zeta Jones (Maya), Katherine Kendall (Molly Walder), Simone Bendix (Maria Straussler), Jayne Ashbourne (Lily) and Allison Smith (Claire Lieberman). More of a look at all the different female characters that have been featured in this franchise. Not just a nine-minute panel with Karen Allen (Marion), Kate Capshaw (Willie) and Alison Doody (Elsa). It doesn't capture the full scope of Indiana Jones women, even if those are the three big ones.

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                    • #25
                      Happy birthday, Alison Doody!

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by jon-el87
                        "Demons of Deception" (formerly "Verdun, September 1916" and "Paris, October 1916"). In the second half, a then 17-year-old Indy loses his virginity to a 40-year-old Mata Hari. Got a bit uncomfortable (couldn't he have lost it to that nice girl Nancy (or someone), who was the same age as him?). I like that they included Mata Hari's ultimate fate (being executed by the French) for being a German spy. It gives her closure, even without an old Indy segment, to fill in the viewers on what happened to said historical figure. Ian McDiarmid appears as Professor Levi, a friend of Henry Jones, Sr.
                        I forgot to mention: the second half was penned by Carrie Fisher.

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                        • #27
                          Rewatching Phantom Train of Doom:

                          Indiana: "So how did you all end up in the same unit?"
                          Donald Parks: "All us 'creaky old geezers'? When war broke out, nobody would have us, so we formed our own."
                          Selous: "Bad thing about growing old, my boy, is the world thinks you're used up, no good to anyone. Bit of a waste, really. You spend your life gaining wisdom and experience, and then nobody wants it."
                          Indiana: "Yeah, that's great, but we're talking about blowing up a train."
                          Donald Parks: "True, we're not as fast as we used to be, and the bones do creak from time to time."
                          Selous: "But age and treachery will always triumph over youth and speed."
                          Feels almost like they're discussing some folks attitudes towards the next Indiana Jones picture. Would be fun if they reference this adventure in the film, like how they mention Indiana's encounter with Pancho Villa in Crystal Skull. For the record, this unit (the 25th (Frontiersmen) Service Battalion) was a real unit in the British Army during WWI. Frederick Selous really was part of it.

                          Decided to look up the real Margaret Trappe on the German language Wikipedia. Apparently, she had a grandson who was the godson of Ernest Hemingway.

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                          • #28
                            I wonder who holds the streaming rights to this. It was produced by Lucasfilm (now owned by Disney), Amblin and Paramount Television. It was distributed by Paramount (like the four Indiana Jones movies, and the first few Marvel Studios movies, which are now on Disney+, but the Universal distributed Incredible Hulk movie isn't).

                            Would this place the show on Disney+ or Paramount+? I partly bring this up because the next film will obviously end up on Disney+, which then raises the question about the other four movies and this show. After all, one wants everything in one place. The four Harrison Ford movies are probably likely, but would they include this show (provided that Disney+ has the rights)? I sure hope so. Consisting of 22 TV movies, this show represents a large chunk of the Indiana Jones franchise. Featuring several characters (granted, with recastings, as a lot of the actors would be like 30 years older. In some cases dead, like the actor who played Remy) who could spearhead their own spin-off projects on Disney+. Expanding this franchise.
                            Last edited by jon-el87; 02-16-2022, 08:50 AM.

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                            • #29
                              Spitballing some possibilities for Disney+ shows:

                              25th Royal Fusiliers from Phantom Train of Doom. Wouldn't have to focus on the six men from the original episode/TV movie. There were plenty of men at their camp. A series could easily focus on some of the others going on an adventure in Africa, during WWI.

                              A Remy series, set after the events of Treasure of the Peacock's Eye.

                              Maria Straussler from Masks of Evil. Adventure (espionage or other. Because of the nature of her adventure with Indy, I'd go for something dealing with the occult), set in Europe following WWI. I'd recast the part with Gratiela Brancusi (who plays Noemi on 1883). Looking at a still of Simone Bendix (from Maria's original appearance) and a photo of Gratiela, side by side, I do think that there is a slight resemblence. With a little suspension of disbelief, I could probably buy that this is still the same Maria from Masks of Evil. A few details about the depiction of Maria gives me the hunch that she is intended to be Romani, which would make Gratiela ethnically appropriate casting. Maria also didn't have much screentime, or have her past fleshed out much (outside of her working for Allied intelligence, and being engaged to a now dead French spy). Giving the writers pretty free range, when it comes to writing her.

                              Maya from Daredevils of the Desert. Just recast the role with an Arab actress (as the character's supposed to be Arabic). I don't know. Maybe she could become a mercenary, following WWI. She goes on some adventure in the middle east, that is now reshaped (with new countries and borders suddenly existing).

                              Nancy Stratemeyer from Spring Break Adventure and Winds of Change. Detective adventure series.

                              Nadia Kamenevsky from Espionage Escapades. WWI spy adventure series, about the adventures of American spy nadia.

                              I ruled out the possibility of something focused on one of the characters who were real people. Naturally, there are other characters that could be used to head up a show, if they wanted to (like Indy's cousin, Frank, who appears in Spring Break Adventure). These are mostly some that instantly jumped out to me. Okay, maybe not so much Remy. I was just trying to work with some characters, that weren't real people, and could go on some type of adventure. Parameters that rules out recurring character T.E. Lawrence (real person), and Claire Lieberman (a fictional Hollywood screenwriter, probably not likely to travel on some sort of adventure) from Hollywood Follies. Nancy Stratemeyer was set up as a Nancy Drew-esque character, who got involved in a crime with Indy as amateur detectives. 25th Royal Fusiliers was a wartime unit in Africa (hello lost tribes, and relics from ancient cultures). Maria, Maya and Nadia were all spies. This I could work with. If Kathleen Kennedy called me right now, and said that she needs pitches for different shows centered around those characters, by monday, I could probably do it.
                              Last edited by jon-el87; 02-16-2022, 12:06 PM.

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                              • #30
                                I forgot to include "Fedora" (the treasure hunter who gave Indy the hat) as another possibility for a spin-off. This character who only appears briefly in the prologue of Last Crusade, then vanishes. His name is never given in the film. Naturally, some tie-in stuff apparently gave it as "Garth", but not the film itself. In early drafts of the script, Fedora was going to be Abner Ravenwood, but allusions to that was dropped from the final film. So, we've got this mysterious adventurer/treasure hunter, with no official name, running around in the 1910s. He is the man with no name. An already established adventurer. It would likely be an improvement over them suddenly trying to turn Indiana's cousin Frank into an adventurer.

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