Well considering the sheer volume of documentaries (some episodes have as many as four or five each totaling nearly 30 mins), and the number of varied subjects they cover, I think you are getting more than your money's worth.


Yancy

 

Gallandro, thanks very much for your review of Volume 1 of "YIJC".
I also picked the set up and agree that the picture quality is amazing - they really cleaned this up, and I was suprised at how good it was, even better than some movies on DVD!

I was only able to see some of the first film (Egypt/Tangiers), but I also noticed that Corey Carrier was noticeably older in the second half. I guess they couldn't get around this, however, since this portion was filmed long after the Egypt segment.

Well, I'm glad this is finally out on DVD, after many years of waiting. I'll be honest, I thought we would never see this, considering how long it's taken to come out. I'm sure the forthcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" film had a lot to do with this YIJC release.

 

I think I'll just have to take a look at them myself before I pass judgment. There is nothing wrong with them being geared towards kids, but I don't have any so the docs lose value for me. However, I think it's great that Lucas has made them in part to get kids interested in history, and the episodes alone will be good enough for me.

 

No doubt about the timing of the release, but I am so glad these finally saw the light of day. I had collected the original VHS releases and had resigned myself to the second wave of tapes never seeing a release.

Anyway, the Tangiers episode was very good, however by the time they actually shot the episode Corey Carrier was 16 (He was 11-12 when they shot the original show). I heard they even digitally shrank him a little bit to make him smaller, but it's very clear he's much older and had lost all of his baby fat.

One of the things that has really struck me, having not watched the show in quite a while, is just how good Lloyd Owen is as Indy's dad. Solid actor with great comic timing. He's especially good in "Travels with Father".

Yancy

 

My set came in the mail today. I'll be diving into the first episode within minutes.

 

Enjoy. I've been pouring over the discs myself the last couple of days, and I must say I had forgotten how good some of these episodes were. Some standouts include "Travels with Father" which is just a fun romp.

My favorites from this set are Vienna 1908 which is part of "Perils With Cupid" and England 1916 which is part of "Love's Sweet Song". Both of these episodes were exceptionally well written and well directed, and the performances were top notch. Princton 1916 from "Spring Break Adventures", is also a favorite and is a great light hearted comedy-mystery.

So glad I picked up this set... now I can't wait for Vol 2... bring on the War Years!!!

Yancy

 

I personally believe that the YIJC WWI series is the best thing GL ever did!
So jealous of everyone who has this - I waited years & years for it - and I'm so financially strapped right now I don't even know how I'm going to eat & gas my car up next week...damn!

 

My favorite episode so far is Vienna 1908, which was directed by the great Billie August and features among other things a small part for Pernilla August, this of course filmed a few years before she became Shmi Skywalker.

And I also agree on the generally very good job by the actor performing the younger Henry Jones Sr., I think he's excellent at suggesting the character as played by Sean Connery in Last Crusade without it being a mere impression.

 

I think that the Tangiers episode about slavery (where Corey Carrier goes from 11 years old to 16 in the blink of an eye) would have been better served if they placed it later in the chronology of the series. The fact that he was sold into slavery and rescued is not even hinted upon in the very next movie (the one with Teddy Roosevelt). I realize this is because this segment wasn't filmed until about 5 years later. Still, it bugs me a little...but only a little.
For those that are complaining about yet another Lucas scam on the fans with this release, and who think that the episode repackaged as 2 hour movies was some kind of quick decision made to cash in on the upcoming Indy film, I'll remind you that some of these two hour telefilms were originally broadcast as two hour movies back in the early 1990's (as someone pointed out above), and the editing together of two episodes to create a 2 hour movie was started back in the late 1990's for the ill-fated VHS release. I also point you to the 1997 release of George Lucas: The Creative Impulse (2nd Edition), where he outlines his plans to release the Young Indy series on DVD complete with historical documentaries. This was 10 years ago.
So while the timing of this release is no doubt tied to the upcoming Indy film (it is a business after all, which some people lose sight of), the concept and execution of these Young Indy releases was set in motion over a decade ago.
For those with no interest in this release (or hostility towards it), by all means save your 80 bucks. For those who have waited to own this series in an attractive, quality package since the 1990's, then I say it's worth every penny.

 

So I finished watching all the episodes of the first volume (though I haven't seen all the documentaries yet).

Overall I'd say I like the "older" Young Indy a bit better, because they can have more action and obviously more romantic stuff. Also kind of interesting to see Indy joining up with the Villistas in Mexico, which I suppose means that Indiana Jones technically committed treason against the United States.

 

I've finished all the Corey Carrier episodes and I've really enjoyed them tremendously. There were a lot of moments when Indy was getting into trouble where Corey has a smirk that really reminds me of Harrison Ford. I liked Passion for Life and Travels With Father the best especially the Pablo Picasso and Tolstoy portions. It's disappointing the linking material sticks out out so much.

I'm loving the documentaries as well.

 

I've also finished watching all the child Indy (Corey Carrier) episodes, and was very impressed. I remember not being a big fan of these when I saw them back on TV in 1992/1992.
However, for some reason I like these episodes much better now that I'm watching them (in order) on DVD. The superior picture quality of the DVD's has a lot to do with this, I'm sure - Also, I had forgotten about the humorous aspects of the show, especially in "Travels with Father", and also the scene in "Journey of Radiance" when Young Indy got the better of that would-be horse thief in China.

After watching these films (mostly edited from two TV shows), I don't really miss the "Old Indy" bookends now. I guess it would be interesting to have them included as special features on the bonus disk, but since they would be taken out of context if seen on their own, I'm not sure how well they would work.

 

There is one "Old Indy" bookend that I doubt they are going to discard, that being the one with Harrison Ford playing Indy in a wraparound segment that takes place in Wyoming in 1950 (from the television movie "The Mystery of the Blues"). It was shot in 1993, and Harrison has a beard. I remember the promos for this episode that ran on ABC. You would think that they were airing a brand new television movie starring Harrison Ford as Indy the way this thing was promoted. Alas, all we got was about 5 to 7 minutes of actual screen time with Harrison, but it was an entertaining mini-movie in itself. (MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD)....It followed Indy and his Native American partner Red Cloud (at least I think that was his name) chasing down a priceless pipe that belonged to Red Cloud's tribe. There was a car chase in a blizzard and some brief fisticuffs at the end of the episode (complete with the over the top CRACK punching sound they used in the films). The Raiders March is also heard in this episode, the only time that this particular piece of music ever appeared in the TV series. I believe this episode will appear on Volume 2 of the Young Indy DVD sets.
I still hold out some hope that we'll see the Old Indy segments (as played by George Hall) brought back as a supplement in a future set. They frequently were a little on the goofy side (it was kind of sad to see a cranky 93 year old Indiana Jones with an eyepatch being harassed and made fun of by everyone around him), but they did offer a few interesting tidbits...like Indy had children and grandchildren and he enjoyed daytime soap operas. And how did he lose his eye? Hmmmm...

 

Mystery of the Blues is in Volume 3 and will not be released until sometime in the spring.

 

Did they ever say who he married?

 

Quote:

"Did they ever say who he married?"

Good question - I don't think we ever found out who Indy married.
If you look at the chronology of the films, he didn't seem to be married in "The Last Crusade", which took place in 1939.

Maybe we'll find out in the forthcoming "Crystal Skull" film.

 

It'd have been kinda cool if he'd ended up marrying Marion Ravenwood.

 

Of course any interesting bit of info we learn about Old Indy from the bookends on the TV show could be a non-factor, since it appears that they no longer exist as part of continuity since being dropped during the re-editing of the episodes in the late 1990's. I certainly don't think that the upcoming film is going to be constrained by anything that happened with Old Indy in the TV series. We saw his daughter in the TV show, and she appeared to be in her mid to late-thirties, which considering an early 1990's time frame would put her birth around the late 1950's or early 1960's (meaning Indy was fathering kids into his sixties...go Indy!) The new movie takes place in 1955 I believe. As for Marion being the mother of his daughter, it could be a stretch. I don't know her exact age, but in Raiders I would peg her as being in her mid-20's (in 1936). That would make her mid-40's by the time of Crystal Skull. I have been avoiding spoilers for the new film, so I'm not sure if Indy and Marion have been a couple for awhile when the new film starts or if they have yet to reconnect at the beginning of the film. Regardless, the TV show offered some interesting glimpses at Indy's later years, even if they have been relegated to "what-if" territory now.

 

One has to remember that for KtoCS the children, at least one for sure , are grown which is no stretch at all for Marion.
The daughter they speak of (which older Indy speaks of) has the children. I would imagine that Shia's character would be the younger of Indy's children. Whether or not they both belong to Marion remains to be seen.

I really and truly enjoyed this series when it first aired...I enjoy it now...and I'm hoping my son will love it too, he loves the trilogy of Indy films so this one will be an extra treat for him.

 

Mandalore I don't care if Lucas planned on putting two completely different episodes together as if they were one movie was planned in '97, a bad idea is still a bad idea.

 

Young Indy Volume Three Cover Art and Release Date!

At [link=http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/adventures-of-young-indiana-jones3.html]DVD Active.com[/link]

The release date it April 28th, 2008.

 

I have the set and this is my biggest beef. Indy has an adventure on safari in Africa and suddenly he's whisked off to Paris to learn about modern art? It all comes off a bit too slapdash, which is especially frustrating because it comes at the expense of the "old Indy" bookends. I understand that these were cut because they would be strange interruptions without the commercial breaks they were partially intended to seque into and out of, but why not simply edit them out of the individual episodes and present each story one at a time?

 

I agree it would have been better to simply have them as single episodes. Especially the Corey Carier episodes as the linking footage and shifts in tone are quite jarring. The Sean Patrick Flannery episodes come out better due to the fact he didn't have a growth spurt between episodes and the nature of the war storylines where Indy could be sent anywhere at a moments notice. The best episodes are obviously the later two-part episodes.

 

Really looking forward to vol 3 as these were my fave episodes (especially Mystery of the Blues which was, at the time, the final appearance of Ford as Indy).

 

Ok, I'm thinking of investing in these DVDs. All in all, would you guys say you're getting your money's worth?