What do you love about Young Indy?

Raiders90

Well-known member
I think it's the wide-eyed, awe-inspiring sense of adventure, that 'the world is a huge place ready for Indy to discover' feel, especially of the Corey Carrier episodes. The later episodes have a great sort of Doctor Who-ish feel (not in terms of sci-fi but in terms of every episode having a different tone and bringing us to another part of history), and there's just this sense of wonder that permeates the series.

What do you love about it?
 

mrman7

New member
A Love of History and Adventure

This series hit the sweet spot for me as a kid. I was about Corrie Carrier's age at the time (but I preferred the teenage Indy adventures because they were closer to the films) and already had a love for Indy flicks. I remember my mom taping the episodes while I was at school and being SO excited about watching them that I was drawing pictures of Indy in class!

It really opened up a love of history for me. I ended up going back and learning a lot more about the figures in the episodes and the events that they were involved in. These weren't exactly as "educational" as Lucas probably thought they were, but they at least encouraged people to learn more about history.

The special effects were revolutionary at the time. Creating huge armies out of a few extras is standard fare these days but at the time it was pretty great. I always hear that these episode were sort of the beta testing period for the effects they would use in the Star Wars prequels. Cool. That makes sense.

A sense of adventure is what makes this show work even in weaker episodes. The world feels big and fascinating and Indy's always at the center of the action. He's kindof like a smart Forrest Gump of the first half of the 20th Century.

I wish this series had gone on longer! :mad:
 

Duaner

New member
Aside from obviously loving the adventure and getting to see how my favorite movie character came to be, I also loved the history element of the show. Because of the show, I developed a strong interest in World War I which still exists to this day.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Raiders112390 said:
What do you love about Young Indy?
Déjà vu, dude! Remember your other thread?;)

The Young Indy Love Thread
mrman7 said:
I remember my mom taping the episodes while I was at school...
Where were you living at the time?:confused: In North America, they aired in the PM*. Do you actually remember your mom recording the show during the morning/afternoon? (Not hassling you to be a jerk but genuinely curious as a Young Indy fan). Maybe it was past bedtime or something, instead? Ha-ha.:D

*"Phantom Train" was one exception. That popped up by complete surprise late afternoon on a Saturday!

---
What do I love about Young Indy? The stories, the ACTION, the drama, the MUSIC, the LOCATIONS, the COSTUMES, the EFFECTS, the subtle HUMOUR, the acting by all of the characters who are only in it for a minute or two & the intricate weaving of historical events. Young Indy has it all.

Since I recorded every episode on VHS, I'm probably one of the few people who enjoyed the way the series was presented in a scattered order. That format made a nice puzzle to put together when watching ALL of them in order later in the mid-to-late '90s (before the "Adventures of" repackaging).
 

mrman7

New member
Stoo said:
Where were you living at the time?:confused: In North America, they aired in the PM*. Do you actually remember your mom recording the show during the morning/afternoon? (Not hassling you to be a jerk but genuinely curious as a Young Indy fan). Maybe it was past bedtime or something, instead? Ha-ha.:D

Haha, you're probably right. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It was 23 years ago so I must be misremembering. :)
 

micsteam

New member
I love the show now but at the time the show was on TV I was not a huge fan. I had just graduated from high school and was working full time and was extremely excited to see this show but when I watched, I think the first episode Curse of the Jackal, I did not care for Corey Carrier but did enjoy the 1916 second half with Flannery and Pancho Villa (the 1916 Villa episode is still my favorite to this day) but I really wanted/expected a Fordesque young Indy and that was not going to be the case. Continuity is an issue I have with Lucas and he is horrible with it, he almost treats every project (even if it's part of a series) like it's a stand alone. That being said, now as years have passed by, I love this series because it was way ahead of it's time both in scope and production. Yes, I am more of a older young Indy (Flannery whom I loved as young Indy) but I am more tolerant of the Carrier Indy as well. The show was, and is even today, a master piece.. what Lucas and Lucasfilm was doing with this show was way beyond anything that was being done and the quality of scripts, production, directing, etc. was beyond as well. When I watch the show now, I'm striving to get the original episodes as broadcast even now (Stoo), even with the re editing Lucas did in the late 90's it's still exceptional !!! A breath of fresh air !! When I watch these episodes I forget all the crap that's going on today and really appreciate the outlook and positivity the production puts forth. This is MHO, what do you guys think of the series ?? :hat:
 

Duaner

New member
micsteam said:
Yes, I am more of a older young Indy (Flannery whom I loved as young Indy) but I am more tolerant of the Carrier Indy as well.

I don't think you will find too many people that enjoyed the Carrier episodes more than the Flanery ones. Aside from the Egypt half of the first movie and the British East Africa episode with Teddy Roosevelt, I found most of Carrier's episodes to be a little slow.
 

Lao_Che

Active member
I think the Carrier material suffers from being a bit preachy in their execution. For me, they feel very much a child being taught the lesson of the episode compared to Flanery's Indy learning from experience.
 

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
I was never really a fan of the show (I kept watching it, hoping it would start to appeal, but it never did), but still, I did love the production values. For its time, it was a pretty impressive-looking show.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Duaner said:
I don't think you will find too many people that enjoyed the Carrier episodes more than the Flanery ones. Aside from the Egypt half of the first movie and the British East Africa episode with Teddy Roosevelt, I found most of Carrier's episodes to be a little slow.

I happen to love the Carrier episodes. They showcase an utterly intriguing and also utterly alien era of history that not too many movies or TV series have touched upon - the pre-WWII, pre-Titanic era world, coming at the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the age of cars, the last gasp of the Old World of European Monarchies and the horse and buggy. It's a sort of forgotten era, and the last 'innocent' time in world history (before mustard gas and flamethrowers and modern warfare).
 

Duaner

New member
Raiders112390 said:
I happen to love the Carrier episodes.

Did you like them better than the Flanery episodes though?

Don't get me wrong, I overall liked the Carrier episodes. I noted above that the Egypt and British East Africa episodes were great. The episode in China where Indy got seriously ill was pretty good as well. I just wasn't thrilled too much with the Paris, Vienna, and India episodes. I remember the India episode centering too much on Miss Seymour and being way too "talky".

Flanery's episodes for the most part were never dull.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Duaner said:
Did you like them better than the Flanery episodes though?

Don't get me wrong, I overall liked the Carrier episodes. I noted above that the Egypt and British East Africa episodes were great. The episode in China where Indy got seriously ill was pretty good as well. I just wasn't thrilled too much with the Paris, Vienna, and India episodes. I remember the India episode centering too much on Miss Seymour and being way too "talky".

Flanery's episodes for the most part were never dull.

To answer your question (2 years late): Yes, I tend to prefer them over the Flannery episodes. For two reasons:

1) The period in which they take place (1908-1910) fascinates me. Seeing Europe prior to the Great War is heartbreaking, in a good way.

2) Corey captures Indy's more mischievous, adventurous side much better than Flannery does. I can more easily see Corey growing into River Phoenix, who then grows into Harrison Ford. It's not so much Flannery's fault as an actor so much as the material he's often given to work with. There are, as I get older, only a few episodes in which Flannery feels like a truly young Indiana Jones (Masks of Evil, Phantom Train of Doom, Adventures in the Secret Service, Treasure of the Peacock's Eye, and Daredevils of the Desert). Too many of his episodes, while great in their own way, strike me as wasted potential for Indy's character, and also sometimes he's written more out of character.
 
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