Ep. 12: Princeton, February 1916

Matinee Idyll

New member
Great fun this one. Indy is almost the comic foil to the Nancy (Drew? ;)) character, a welcome change of pace and style. His behaviour in this is almost like the basket scene in 'Raiders' stretched over a whole episode - bumbling, pathetic, very amusing.

Not a 'heavy' episode by any means, but not entirely lightweight - there's some quite effective intrigue with the 'German spies', a great car/bicycle chase, and some rather topical issues can be drawn from it given the current focus on climate change and alternative energy sources. George Hall gives us some great bookends, which I've uploaded to youtube if you'd like to see 'em.

For all you cynics, don't tell me your heart doesn't have a little surge when he grabs the Fedora off the rack. :whip:

Tell ya what, why don't we give the episodes a star rating from now on?

4 Fedoras outta 5 for me: Not a complete classic, but a rather effective evocation of another time and place - great mystery and suspense, and most of all good fun!
 

Adamwankenobi

New member
I really enjoy reading your reviews for the episodes. You truly seem to "get" this series. :)

BTW, thanks for uploading those bookends!
 

Flannery10

New member
Yeah, thanks. It's a shame Old Indy got cut out, because I watched Spring Break Adventure yesterday and the linking segment really looked fake.
 

metalinvader

Well-known member
That's one of the linking segments that really stands out.Plus the fedora Indy wears in the linking segment looks like crap.
 

Flannery10

New member
Just my quick review of the episode:

Ok, it's definetely not the best episode of Young Indiana Jones, but yeah it's quiet entertaining, there are two car chases (ok, one car/bike and one car/car) and the way Indy acts just makes you laugh.

I guess Nancy Stratemeyer is not a real person (although her father Edward Stratemeyer is), since I haven't found any biography on her. The other historical person in that episode is Thomas A. Edison, the inventor, but he has a small supporting role and doesn't really participate in the events that make up the episode.

The landscape was filmed pretty well and the music has a mysterious touch to it. It really reminds you of a Nancy Drew case.

Like I said already, it makes me sad that the bookends were cut out, since they were quiet funny and the linking segment was terrible. They should have kept the Jackal plot together and not link Mexico with an episode that has a completely different style.

Besides that Princeton, February 1916 is an enjoyable piece of Young Indy and I think also give it a 4 out of 5. Keep the threads up!
.
 

Adamwankenobi

New member
Flannery10 said:
I guess Nancy Stratemeyer is not a real person (although her father Edward Stratemeyer is), since I haven't found any biography on her.

Edward did have two daughters, but their names were Harriet and Edna. Harriet was the youngest, and even if she was who Nancy was intended to be, in reality, Harriet was born in 1893, making her way too old for high school in 1916. I suppose the decision to make his daughter named Nancy was so that viewers who were not in the know would subconsciously connect Edward Stratemeyer to the name Nancy.

Flannery10 said:
Like I said already, it makes me sad that the bookends were cut out, since they were quiet funny and the linking segment was terrible. They should have kept the Jackal plot together and not link Mexico with an episode that has a completely different style.

I hear ya. The bookends for this particular episode were very Lucas-like, with Old Indy reminiscing about his love of cars as a kid. And it was cool how at the end, the guy with the monster truck hands Indy the keys and he takes it for a spin. And like you said, the breaking up of Curse of the Jackal was just a bad decision overall.
 

Matinee Idyll

New member
I sometimes wish Princeton hadn't been made.

Egypt 1908 is the first of the Carrier Indys...

Mexico 1916 is the second of the Flannerys...

If Princeton hadn't happened, Lucas could've kept Curse of the Jackal as one film as a means of introducing both Indys from their first 'episode'. Princeton throws a spanner in that idea.
 

Flannery10

New member
Matinee Idyll said:
If Princeton hadn't happened, Lucas could've kept Curse of the Jackal as one film as a means of introducing both Indys from their first 'episode

Nah, I don't think so. He would have splitted them up anyway, so I think we really shouldn't hold Princeton responsible for it, since it really was a pretty good episode.

Lucas wanted to put all the episodes in chronological order (but he screwd that up, too), so there isn't much of a chance, Lucas would have kept Curse of the Jackal together. And even if he did, all the other episodes would still be edited together, so we should accept the fact that Princeton was made, and hope for the release of the original.
 

TalonCard

Member
I just finished watching this segment on DVD while watching Indy's adventures in chronological order--I'd forgotten how much I loved the Flannery episodes. The mystery angle was great--Edward Stratemayer and his series are a subject of interest for me, and it's great to see them combined with Indiana Jones. I loved his speech about people looking to take advantage of other people's work, since he was often accused of doing the same thing in real life--and indeed, he takes Indy's idea for his own! Makes him a nice historical counterpart to Edison in this adventure.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
TalonCard said:
I just finished watching this segment on DVD while watching Indy's adventures in chronological order--I'd forgotten how much I loved the Flannery episodes. The mystery angle was great--Edward Stratemayer and his series are a subject of interest for me, and it's great to see them combined with Indiana Jones. I loved his speech about people looking to take advantage of other people's work, since he was often accused of doing the same thing in real life--and indeed, he takes Indy's idea for his own! Makes him a nice historical counterpart to Edison in this adventure.
That's a very interesting observation, TalonCard. I know that Edison has been accused of taking other people's ideas but am oblivious to Stratemeyer's history. You've just added a whole new, dimension to the episode that I missed before!:hat: (Must check the DVD to see if it has a documentary on Stratemeyer. If so, I wonder if it mentions anything about the accusations.)

One of the things I like about this epsiode is its uniqueness. It gives a rare glimpse of Indy's life at home before the war. (The only other times we see this is when he was a baby & the during the brief vignettes of his hijinks as a kid.)
 
Top