Young Indy and Continuity

Talents?, Young Indy has no talents! he maintains a mental age of 8 for most of the series. To be honest i would rather believe that Indy didnt actually fight in WWI as it really raises so many questions and Indy does not seemed in any way changed by the experience, his role is still the same as is his wide eyed and innocent personality.

bob said:

Talents?, Young Indy has no talents! he maintains a mental age of 8 for most of the series. To be honest i would rather believe that Indy didnt actually fight in WWI as it really raises so many questions and Indy does not seemed in any way changed by the experience, his role is still the same as is his wide eyed and innocent personality.

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Oh? Speaking a dozen languages with flawless accent isn't a talent? (I'm presuming it was flawless since no one ever stopped him and said, "hey, you're no russian-swede-belgian-german-etc.!") Perhaps I should've referred to it as a skill, or said it was his Personality that was better suited to the spy business than pointless soldiering. How about charm? He never had trouble ingraciating himself and making friends in any culture he was dropped into...another plus for a spy.

Young Indy was always portrayed as more idealistic than the film Indy, but he gained a far greater sense of realistic expectations and viewpoints across the board as time went by. The kid gained Some wisdom along the way. He learned lessons every week and they added shadings to his character and his actions. WWI gave him a wider and more cynical world-view that translates directly to what would become the Harrison Ford Indy. And there are Still nearly 20 Years seperating the Chronicles and the Films... Lots of opportunity for Indy to become ever more cynical and selfish, the mercenary archeaologist in it for the quick buck. I've never had trouble reconciling the two presentations of Young Indy and Harrison Indy as being the same person at different points in his life.

Sure, Young Indy remained pretty upbeat and kept a fairly positive outlook about life in general for a kid who'd seen WWI, but that's just him. Maybe it just made him value the good life even more. America in the 20s was worlds apart from wartime Europe...he could relax and reintegrate and go to college and have a good time without too many reminders of those dark war days. But they made him tougher and wiser. I'd disagree that he didn't Change from what he was in 1916...he was definitely more interesting by 1920, and was likewise even more interesting in the 30s. We obviously saw two different series.

He didn't remain a wide-eyed Innocent, not at all, but he did retain a wide-eyed Interest in the world around him, always intrigued by the good stuff...women, music, culture, intellectual pursuits, etc. I like that about him. And that Is his role in the Chronicles, but it's a good one. It suits the show. The whole weaving in-and-out of real history is so well done, I sometimes half-expect to look in an encyclopedia and see, "Jones, Indiana." I liked the more idealistic Indy as well as a series of stories set in a more realistic world that doesn't rely so heavily on the supernatural fantasy element or cartoonish villains. But I don't have a problem making the transition to Middle Indy in the films, either. (And Young Indy Did wind up fighting a form of Dracula, after all, though I thought that was one Poor episode.)

Oh, about the wide-eyed thing, I also liked that even Old Indy, after all these years, still had that touch of the kid's outlook, the sense of wonder and optimisim. I agreed with the interpretation that Indy would become a friendly curmudgeon in his old age. Somewhere in-between the Young Indy and Middle Indy personalities. (Heheh, of course, they say when people get old enough they sometimes revert to childhood in their senility and loss of inhibitions.)

The one missing link for me is seeing the answer to just how and why Young Indy went from where we last saw him to becoming a Professor like his Dad? And also, when does he get into the mercenary business that would lead him into working for guys like Lao-Che in Temple Of Doom? I wanted the show to continue so we might've seen that day when Young Indy would don the traditional Indywear (Leather Jacket, Whip, Khakis, Pistol) for the First Time and go out questing for the Big Score. A new movie set in the latter 20s to tell this story could be fun.

*end of ramble*

Nice bruh!

I was never able to see Young Indy as the Indy from the movies. First off, why couldn't they get someone who at least looked a bit like he might grow up to resemble Harrison Ford? I know, I know... they were more concerned with getting someone who vaguely resembled River Phoenix... but I could never see River as a young Indy either (how does floppy blond hair become brown? Indy must have been using "Just For Men" hair coloring. Who knew?)

Okay, so appearance isn't that important. Bad casting aside, the young Indy is a totally different person. Yes, I can accept the fact that people change as they grow older, but goody-too-shoes Young Indy was a bit of a stretch. I wished the character had a bit more of that "devil-may-care," "what's in it for me?" attitude. Aside from helping it tie in to the movies better, it would have made the series more fun to watch. As it was, I got sick of watching altruistic Indy always doing what's in the team's best interest. The real Indy is NOT a team player. He works on his own, which is why I would never have pictured him as being in the army.

I think what it comes down to is that Lucas was more concerned with making a parent-friendly, educational series, but knew no one would watch it, so he slapped the name "Indiana Jones" on it. Truth be told, I would have enjoyed the show a lot more if it WASN'T supposed to be Indiana Jones. Everytime I watched it, I kept hoping for some hint of the older Indy, and by the closing credits, I was always disappointed (until I learned my lesson and just stopped watching.) Had it been called "The Young (insert any name other than Indy here) Chronicles," I would have found it easier to accept it for what it was-- a beautifully filmed, well-acted series with enough costumes and educational content to make it more at home on PBS, not ABC.

Randy_Flagg said:

(how does floppy blond hair become brown? Indy must have been using "Just For Men" hair coloring. Who knew?)

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It could happen, I was a white blond, aka tow-head, and now I have dark brown hair, within just five years.


Personally, I don't count all that happens in the YIJC to be canon...most, but not all.

My own hair went from blond to brown, as did my dad's!

I've said it before, Indiana Jones is the wrong tool for the job of a historically educational series. The show, quite frankly, was not in the spirit of the movies. It was not an action-packed adventure against a backdrop of history, as the movies were. Livening up a history lesson with Indiana Jones just does not work.

The movies, by the way, weren't too up on their history anyway. Egypt was occupied by the British in 1936, rendering a large-scale Nazi operation impossible.

Okay, so hair can change color (actually, mine did too... a bit.)

I still think the guy who played Hemmingway in one episode was far more Indy-like than Sean Patrick Flannery. Look at his face when he's driving the truck and tell me he doesn't look like Indy in the truck in Raiders.

Jay Underwood? I liked him as Hemingway myself.

On to the topic...there were a few times Indy didn't exactly want to go along with everything - he thought he ended up in Hell or something when he met the Lafayette Escadrille - the mushrooms, the lions, the dead spies before him, that great song..."the young aviator lay dying, as under the wreckage he lay...", and he didn't exactly care for that experience. Besides, some movies we'd have if he was shot for desertion - oh yeah, Oganga - threatening to shoot his commanding officer...

I agree with the people who don't count the show.

Don't get me wrong, we're blessed to have a show like this..but it ends there. It just feel's "unIndy" to me. When i watch the trilogy, i never think this is him when he's older. They feel like different characters..i just can't accept it. That wasn't his life (to me). Still, it's nice to have & i would buy the videos (if i had money!)

Maybe they'll make a new one in the future & then i could accept that.

another Indy fan said:

When i watch the trilogy, i never think this is him when he's older. They feel like different characters..i just can't accept it.

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Thanks... that's exactly what I was going to say, but I see you said it for me! I have a slightly easier time with the Star Wars movies and the prequels, but with Indy/Young Indy, it's just impossible. There are so many scenes in the movies that just seem too far removed from Young Indy.

For those of you who do think that Young Indy fits in so well, I'm curious to know something-- When you are watching the movies, do you honestly think of Harrison Ford's Indy as an older version of Sean Patrick Flannery's. To me, they'll always be entirely separate characters who simply share a name.

My Idea of the Idea YIJ

well, let's be honest, YIJC bombed, it was not continuity, it was all edjucation, little action (I liked it, but indy lost some respect in some people's eyes)

I think they could have done it alot better if they did it like this:

-more action
-more HF bookends
-make them into more TV movies then a TV Show

and I thought the Idea first TV movie to grab attention would be something like this:

-HF as indy in the 30's/40's....lotsa action, he is with a few other people, eventually they come to a stop and something reminds in about a past adventure and he starts reminising.... (I though perhaps in egypt, mabey they got stuck behind some stone door and as someone tries to open it, indy talks about his first visit to egypt)
-the story picks up in 1908/9 whatever....
-it starts with Indy fighting Butch in a school fight (from princeton 1916) I know, not very exciting, but better then nothing
-his parents decide they can't leave him at home to make trouble, so he has to go along with them
-the story goes into the egypt 1908 adventure as usualy, perhaps T.E. lawrence has a fight with some bandits or something too
-add stuff to put in more action

-back to 1930s/40s.....action...the door opens, indy and friends go through an epic chase, they foil their foes and get back to a hotel later that night or soemthing, they beg him to finish the story

-on to 1916.....all that stuff, more action then what was there........

-back to 30s/40s.....the bad guys find the hotel and try to steal the artifact...epic fight...indy wins...blah blah blah


ya see? that would have been 10X better then the usual show, and It would have gotten a bigger fan base, and seem like it ties better into the films.......

I think that the main problem of YIJ was that the character was completely disembodied from mainstream Indy; for instance the old man is not for me an acceptable image of the great hero Indy as we dont like to see our heroses grow old.

YIJ was something very brave but the fact that it was constrcuted as (shudder) edu-tainment meant that the usual rules of drama and exploiting the best points of the character went out of the window; sure to most of us we are completely baffled by why on earth YIJ had to be like that but Lucas was following his own agenda...

However i think the biggest errors of the series were (apart from the formula and the disembodiment from the series):

1. Indy in the early episodes seems just like a spoilt rich kid which is not something that i visualised from the movie series
2. Indy should NEVER NEVER have fought in WWI it is just not consisent with the character; and WWI is something too big for Indy to handle.
3. The series went on for wayyy too long; i think that out of Lucas's formula you could have squeezed a dozen or so good TV Movies (as they are released as now) but 24 or so..
4. YIJ demolished the potential that was there in LC.

Well said, bob.

bob said:

3. The series went on for wayyy too long; i think that out of Lucas's formula you could have squeezed a dozen or so good TV Movies (as they are released as now) but 24 or so..

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The amazing thing is that there were still several that were never seen by the public or finished being filmed.

I am going back to this thread because it occured to me that there is some more evidence that YIJ does not fit in with the picture of Indy's youth painted by the trilogy.

1.'He said you were a bum, the most gifted bum he ever trained' Abner on Indy in the early 20's
Does this really sound like the description of the scruplously honest, heroic, innocent, and very well bred figure that we see in the YIJ series?


2.Indy's coduct in YIJ vs trilogy
In YIJ Indy does not go after the peacock instead taking a moral lesson, while in ToD he works for chinaese gangsters for a diamond.

3. 'It was wrong and you knew it!' Marion on Indy and their affair
Does YIJ seem like the sort of person who could have done anything so bad as to incite hatred from Marion after a decade and alienate Abner...

4. In LC Indy aged 13 was living in a normal looking abode in Utah while YIJ makes YIJ out to have had a life in very rich surroundings which just doesnt seem consistent with the type of character we see in the trilogy...

5. 'If you had ever been an ordinary average father like the other guys dads...'
LC sets out that Indy had a childhood in a normal setting while the series YIJ seems to suggest that he spent most of it going round the world.

6. 'You left just as you were becoming interesting'
In the seires Indy leaves and goes off to fight in WWI, wouldn't this be something worthy of comment in Henry and Indy's conversation rather than simply leaving.

In LC we see Indy and Elsa in the tomb of Sir Richard and Indy looks at a symbol of the Ark.
Elsa "What's this one?"
Indy "The Ark of the Covenant."
Elsa "Are you sure?"
Indy "Pretty sure.

Now tell me this would not be cool if this was a scene in Peacocks Eye.
We see YIJ and Remy in a tomb looking for the treasure.
Remy looks at a symbol on the wall of the tomb.
Remy "What's this one?"
Indy "The Cross of Coronado."
Remy "Are you sure?"
Indy "Pretty sure."

Wasn't the reason why Henry and Indy are in Utah in TLC is because Henry is mourning the death of his wife? You can tell by the state of the house that it lacks a woman's touch.

I don't remember when Indy's mom dies on the tv series but in my mind her death cause Henry to move to Utah to get away from everything. He continued his research in seclusion and Indy and him grew apart. Indy left and ended up in Europe and WWI.

I quite enjoyed some of the Young Indy episodes, but feel that George could have done more with this.

For instance, they could have made some episodes which showed us the
1920's. We could have seen a younger, Marcus Brody, Henry, and possibly Abner and Marion.

I would have loved to have seen the series moving into the 1920's. Indy graduating, and seeing a younger Indy teaching in the clasroom would have been fun.

We could have also seen when Indy first starts putting his 'gear' together.

As I have said, I really liked some of the episodes, but I just feel that they could really have done more with the show.

One other thing. To me, I guess I'm so used to seeing Indy as someone in his 30's its sometimes difficult imagining him as a teenager.

I know he doesnt post here often, but I agree with 00Kevin. His ideas would have made a pretty awesome show.

In the end it all would have been pieced together much better if thay could have had the show go well in to the 1920s. But the show stoped when Indy was still in school we should have seen him graduate and start teething.




PS:It is 10:42pm and ya Im drunk