Ep. 16: YIJ and the Phantom Train of Doom
 

As well regarded as this episode is (even by 'true' Indy fans ;)) - it never quite gelled for me. Sure, the action is there, lots of explosions and shoot outs and things, but ultimately it felt quite hollow and empty - particularly when you compare it to the brilliant Oganga two parter.

The stereotypical Texan and Australian old folks kinda irked me, some of the action was ludicrous even by Indiana Jones standards - the lasso that miraculously didn't break, despite the fact it was pulling about 300 tonnes of train!

I like the second half with the German general more than the train section, I'll say that - some good character interplay.

Eh, not one of my favourites - but I can see the appeal.

3 out of 5 fedoras.

Really, I rather liked that episode, especially since it was the first Young Indy episode I ever watched. Since this was released on DVD and VHS uncut (or at least I hope it's like that), it had the real and not the fake re-edited look with it.

The brilliant cinematography, with the African vegetation and wildlife, caught my attention immediately and the action was brilliant, too. Ok, some of the characters were somewhat annoying, but this wasn't that bad. The second part was better than the first, no doubt, but I still think it was quiet good.
Von Lettow is a great character and even though he can be considered the villain of the episode he had some depth and he wasn't a really bad person, after all. This toilet paper thing was kinda stupid too but it made me smile (at least the first time when I watched it).

In the end, I would say it really isn't the best Young Indy episode, but still entertaining and interesting. I have to admit, I've never seen Oganga and I'm really looking forward to that film. I think I'll give the episode 4 out of 5 phantom trains.

3 out of 5? Let me guess...this episode never had any George Hall, did it?

(I agree with you, incidentally, that Von Lettow was very well done, in my recollection.)

Right, it never did, which doesn't make it a bad episode, but it was actually the first one not to have any. Was this episode really never changed or are the 2 parts re-edited together for the VHS and DVD, because only the first part really is about the Phantom Train!

I'd imagine they were used to the format more than anything else, of their plotlines being a particular length, and also that perhaps it was originally intended to be done as hour long episodes before being reconceived as a film.

And the bit about the absence of George Hall making it a bad episode wasn't a response to you, but rather to Matinee Idyll. I have no problems with you, Flannery10.

Heh, my apathy for the episode has nothing to do with George Hall - it's just alittle too silly in parts without being amusing.

No offense taken, and I really didn't think that reply was supposed to be for me. But anyway, since this was always without Geroge Hall, it doesn't have the fake re-edited look to it, which is why I think it's one of the better two-hour movies, that are released on DVD now.

About you Matinee, I agree some scenes were way to "funny" to make me laugh, but the action is still pretty good and I think a 3 is a little to low for Phantom Train, but hey I don't wanna change your opinion, just my point of view.

Well, that may be then...I haven't seen these things in years.

My favourite scene in the entire series is when the German soldier
swings the grappling hook and jumps from the truck to the balloon.
Colonial Africa is another great passion of mine so, for me, this
is the absolute highpoint.

http://www.indianajones.de/pictures....el_10_back.jpg

Anyone know, why there's a clown on the back??:confused:

He was part of Selous's army.He's the one who wore the flower in his hat and tight rope walks across the trains when they detach.He can also be seen in full clown makeup when Indy first stumbles onto the camp.Is kinda odd that they would have him in full clown getup on the back.

Sorry I can't provide a name for him..Anyone know it??

It's Zoltan (or as "Big Mac" calls him, Zolie). When Selous is introducing his team
to Gen. Smuts, one of the things he says about Zoltan is "best clown in Europe".

If you watch the Selous documentary on the DVD, there is a small part that mentions
all those guys. Really interesting to learn that they weren't fictional characters.

The other cool thing was that it starred Paul Freeman aka Belloch! :D

Who also played the Selous role in "British East Africa, September 1909".

Indy:What's his name?
Sallah:They call him "Bellosh".
Indy:Belloq, Belloq!

;) :p

Desn't he remember Indy when he was a little boy when they meet again in Phantom Train of Doom?

Not untill Indy reminds him...It's been awhile since I've seen 'Phantom' doesn't he remember Henry Sr. as well?

Stoo,Care to answer this? :p

Yeah, Selous is clueless (and rightly so) until Indy clarifies the when, the where and the who.

"Professor Jones' son? You were lost then, too, I recall."

Yeah, Indy had to remind Picasso who he was, too. And I'm surprised he didn't re-introduce himself to President Wilson in Paris, too.

I think he did the same with Howard Carter when he meets him again in "Treasure of the Peacock's Eye". It would have been funny if the third season would have been made, because maybe we would have seen the "Jerusalem, June 1909" episode where Indy meets Abner Ravenwood for the first time, and maybe an episode later on where he's in college and says something like "Mr. Ravenwood? Maybe you don't remember me. I'm Henry Jones, Jr. We met a little over ten years ago in Jerusalem when I was a kid."

O.K. wait - Did he meet Wilson in one of the junior novels or something?
Good to see you posting, Junior Jones!

Indy's clue-dropping didn't work on Demetrios so had to break into the man's home
and steal his jackal head in order to make the guy realize who he was.:)
Perfect! Could you hear Ned to Indy, "Are you the kid who keeps writing me all
those blasted letters?" How about Indy to Remy, "It's me Indy! You almost executed
me in Mexico 2 years ago. Don't you remember? I'm responsible for your 2 missing toes!"

Serioulsy, though, you can forgive any of the other names to not recognize Indy.
It would be interesting to see who was still alive after Indy becomes "famous" so they
could say, "Yes, I've known Prof. Jones since he was just a boy. As a matter of fact, in 19..."

And now for another of my "conversations": The year is 1935, a few months before T.E. Lawrence dies in a motorcycle wreck. Indy has returned home and has just published a paper on the Thuggee cult. It quickly becomes a national fascination in the US. Every reporter is looking to interview anyone even remotely close to Indy:

Reporter: "So Mr. Lawrence, you say you've known the famous archaeologist Indiana Jones since he was a child?"

T.E. Lawrence: "Indeed I have."

Reporter: "What can you say about him?"

T.E. Lawrence: "He's the most extraordinary man I've ever known. He's a poet, a scholar and a mighty warrior. He's also the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum and Bailey."

this is actually one of the episodes i liked better.

i saw it on hc last saturday.
i liked the part with the german dude, but the rest was not that great...

We can't all be lion tamers.

Well, Young Indy didn't meet Woodrow Wilson in any official stories...

But Wilson was president of Princeton University from 1902-1910. From what I've read, he made it a point to be friendly with the staff, so I'm sure he was familiar with Professor Jones and his family. And when a professor from your history department is invited on a world lecture tour, that's a memorable event.

I included Wilson in a cameo in my version of Princeton 1905.

I really dig this episode a lot...it's a nice contrast to the gritty trench warfare episodes beforehand. To me, this episode is where Indy makes the transition from a regular guy into a pulp hero!

I believe it's Professor Ravenwood. Besides if Abner needed to be reminded, then Marion must take after her mother. She sure as hell remembers Indy in Raiders, lol. Actually, I would love to see a tele-movie on Young Indy and Marion. They could still do that couldn't they? Carter does remember Indy in "Peacock's Eye". As for this episode, not one of my favourites, but what I do like is the German officer who reminds Indy of his dad and how Indy learns to "make it up as you go along."

PTOD Soundtrack
 

Is it just me, or is Joel McNeely's score for the balloon chase in 'The Phantom Train of Doom' very reminiscent of John William's 'Belly of the Steel Beast' from the Last Crusade soundtrack? Intentional? Plagiarism?

It is indeed very reminiscent of it, and intentionally so (and why would you think it's plagiarism, if it's part of the same overall series?). The composer himself even briefly mentioned/acknowledged it in his liner notes from the soundtrack album:

Thanks for that - don't own any of the soundtracks for Young Indy myself - any you'd particularly recommend? And was just being tongue in cheek about the plagiarism accusation by the way.

Ah, Ok. Apologies if I sounded a bit brusque - darned tonal inflections not carrying well over the internet... ;)

Any I'd recommend? All of them! :D But that's just me; I'm a score enthusiast, and I consider the soundtracks to be essential to one's enjoyment of the series, just below having and watching the actual movies and TV shows on DVD or whatever.

Here are a few quick notes and observations:

Vol. 1 - An extended album version of The Main Title (just over two minutes, and focusing on the "adventure" backbone of the theme, omitting the jazz and such), plus music from Verdun 1916, Peking 1910, Paris 1916 and Barcelona 1917. All good stuff IMO, but my favorites are the rather heavy dramatic stuff from Verdun and the comically fiery Barcelona, with its Rimsky-Korsakoff's Scheherazade and flamenco flourishes.

Vol. 2 - The Main Title again, this time in a short version more like what's in the opening titles to the show, plus music from Vienna '08, German East Africa / The Congo '16 & '17, London '16, and British East Africa '09. Here I most enjoy the serious treatment of the Oganga episodes, with poignancy added from a bit of Bach, reflecting the Bach-loving Albert Schweitzer, and the delicate romantic parts from the London episode.

Vol. 3 - Scandal of 1920, Mystery of the Blues and Princeton '16. Arguably the most thematically-unified of the four volumes, this one features a lot of source cues in the first two episodes. A lot of soundtrack fans bristle at this sort of thing, but I love it; some of the jazz / blues stuff from Mystery of the Blues is probably my most-played music from these CDs, whereas my favorite tracks on the other albums are score cues (then again, the other albums have far less source music on them).

Vol. 4 - Ireland '16, Phantom Train of Doom and Northern Italy '18. My favorite parts of this are from Phantom Train, with all the Williams-ish material; it really helps tie the TV series to the features.

I consider all four essential to my Indy library, right alongside the movie soundtracks. I do wish there were additional volumes with more music, but there you go. Each of these is a single CD, but they're quite long - the shortest is Volume 3, and it's still over 70 minutes; the other three are all over 75, and the four of them combined run close to five hours.

Considering the series' too-short run, I think this makes this show one of the TV shows with the most score represented on CD, though there's still a lot missing. Everything on the four discs comes from episodes scored by the series' two main composers, Laurence Rosenthal (who composed the theme) and Joel McNeely, who between them did a lot of the show, but there are also a bunch of episodes scored by others. I really wish there had been even more - but then, even the soundtracks for the three movies aren't exactly comprehensive, either, though I'm hoping that'll change with the reported forthcoming Concord reissues.

Anyway, aside from the music itself all four feature pretty nice presentations, with insert booklets with a lot of nice photos, plus notes on their scores by the two composers. The fourth volume also has some brief additional notes by George Lucas; I see someone else went and posted them somewhere around here in another thread.

Apologies for the digression...

Hey, don't worry about it :D

Thanks for such a comprehensive reply - you definitely know your Indy scores!

I also really enjoyed the music from the Oganga episodes (one of my favorite episodes overall in fact), and the way McNeely incorporated Bach into the score.

I was also wondering whether you knew the name of the piece played when Indy first arrives in London during the episode 'Love's Sweet Song' (just before he signs up for the Belgian army) - I'm sure it's not an original composition (though I may be wrong), and think that it's also repeated in a later episode.

Now I'm off to find these soundtracks!

Thanks again for your help. :up:

(I guess these posts would probably be better in the soundtrack thread)

I love Volume 3 but I was bummed by the omission of The Man I Love. That song was pretty darn important in the episode -- the game-winner! --so I was really surprised not to see it on the soundtrack album.

IMHO, The Phantom Train of Doom was one of the better YIJC episodes:

- Great story and acting, and a good combination of drama & humor. The espionage aspect was interesting, and the incredible African scenery was amazing as well.

- This & the other Africa episodes showed a side of WW I that I hadn't been famliar with before, and illustrated how far-reaching the War actually was.

- I liked the cameo by Frederick Selous (Paul Freeman), since it was an homage not only to his appearance in the little Indy Africa episode, but to ROTLA (since Freeman played Belloq in that film).

- Also, if memory serves it's the first YIJC episode/tele-film that didn't air with the George Hall bookends, so when you watch it on the DVD set you're watching what was originally seen on network TV back in '93 (in the U.S.). Granted, that's not enough to make this necessarily rise above the other episodes, but it does illustrate that that the GH bookends, though interesting, aren't completely necessary.

Having been already very familiar with this WW1 campaign when the series first aired, I was ECSATIC to see Indy taking part in it. EASILY my most-watched & favourite chapters! I LOVE THEM!:up:
Agreed, phantom train, but Selous' part is NOT a "cameo" and the homage is far more reaching and much DEEPER than Paul Freeman's portrayal. Selous is a major character in this story and the real-life man was a part-basis for H.Rider Haggard's, Allan Quatermain, who in turn, served as an inspiration for Indiana Jones. The inclusion of Selous in Young Indy's African adventures is a BIG winner for me - all the way 'round!:up:
Yes, you are correct, except for one tiny detail. The only difference (that I have found) between the original broadcast and the DVD is the 'on-screen' title.

Just went to look at an appartment for rent. Among the various models of WW2 ships built by the landlord/owner in the basement was a two-foot long model of Big Bertha!

(Well, actually Langer Max, but nicknamed Big Bertha in the episode if I recall...)