So What's The Appeal?

No Ticket

New member
I'm not going to go and say I don't like The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. I haven't seen enough episodes to merit a statement like that. But I've never seen the appeal. From what I remember... I saw it when it first came out as a kid and I saw an episode with Indy as a little kid in Egypt. From what I recall that episode was decent. The only other I have seen is the Peacock's Eye one that came with the VHS Box Set and part of the Blues one with Harrison Ford guest starring.

And I think I saw the one (don't know which it was) with the 90 year old Indiana Jones at the end telling the kids or something his stories. Although my memory is fuzzy. I'm 22 and I saw all those (minus the peacock one) when I was like 8 or 10 years old or so.

I just don't see the appeal.
What is it for those of you who like it?

To me. It just isn't Indiana Jones without the following:

1.) Harrison Ford... he IS Indiana Jones.

2.) The fedora, jacket, whip, etc. Part of what makes Indy cool is seeing him run around in the outfit. Because the outfit is cool.

3.) From what I saw the YIJC did not have much charm. Not like what you see in the Indy movies. The scripts seem kind of bland from what I can remember.

4.) Spielberg

... but ya know. I'm willing to give them a chance. I just, already have and don't ever remember finding much interest in them. Are there particular episodes I should see that are really good?

Just curious.
 

Matinee Idyll

New member
The fact that it was a childrens show that didn't treat children like ****ing idiots, for one thing. I really loved that about the show at the time, that it respected my intelligence as a young viewer.

It got me incredibly interested in early 20th Century History, which I continue to be fascinated by to this day.

Check out Austria, 1917 - it nails the Third Man esque-vibe PERFECTLY. Truly wonderful, nail-biting television.

It was a great, much maligned, misunderstood show.
 

IndyJr.

New member
Cameras they use also has an effect... the cameras they used seemed kinda TV-showish (would've been better if they would've used movie quality cameras)... also he almost never wore the entire Indy outfit... that did nothing for the series, IMO... also lack of Speilberg was a drop... I do agree, I liked the series, but it's just not Indiana Jones...
 

Major West

Member
IndyJr. said:
Cameras they use also has an effect... the cameras they used seemed kinda TV-showish (would've been better if they would've used movie quality cameras)... also he almost never wore the entire Indy outfit... that did nothing for the series, IMO... also lack of Speilberg was a drop... I do agree, I liked the series, but it's just not Indiana Jones...

I think they used 16mm cameras to keep the cost down.
 

Jooones!

New member
I liked the show- the realism of the costumes and the general historic authenticity as well as all those famous main characters, the story telling and character development was good, the dialogue was fun, the casting was neat too, with many good foreign actors, many locations were also nice...it sounds maybe cheesy and Lucas said that he wanted it to have an educational value, but I have to confess it really did have such on me. I checked out some of the persons and history and got inspired and motivated too, by various aspcts of it, music art etc..I think its a cool show. (yes the movies are better but the series has its own vibe, its not bad at all..)
 

Lon

New member
It's the character development for me. The movies have minimal background story of Indiana Jones. In the Last Crusade where Sean Connery tells Indy, "You left just as you were becoming interesting" is what the TV series explores in the Sean Patrick Flanery episodes. Those episodes show where he went and what he was doing.

I also love the production values of the show. They are absolutely top-notch for a TV series.

I've always said that the casual Indiana Jones fan expect an "artifact-of-the-week" type of show and when the show turned out to be different it didn't connect. Many episodes still have plenty of action if that is what you like. Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen has one of the best explosions ever.
 

Bullwhip

New member
Agreed with Lon, though I haven't seen every episode. Yet. A really gracious fellow Indy fan friend of mine burned me all of the movie versions that aired on the BBC on DVD (which includes all of the released and non-released VHS versions from years ago) for me and should be here next week. Can't wait.
 

spiralout

New member
I liked the series much better when I stopped watching it as an Indiana Jones movie, and started watching it as an educational history show.
 

No Ticket

New member
spiralout said:
I liked the series much better when I stopped watching it as an Indiana Jones movie, and started watching it as an educational history show.

Which is one of the reasons I now think it sucks. I gave it a try, the series isn't nearly good enough to have the "Indiana Jones" name on it. I think they could have done much better.
 

Matinee Idyll

New member
Well, I think it was the last great thing George Lucas has been involved in.

To me. It just isn't Indiana Jones without the following:

1.) Harrison Ford... he IS Indiana Jones

Well, seems you were never going to like it anyway.
 

No Ticket

New member
Matinee Idyll said:
Well, I think it was the last great thing George Lucas has been involved in.



Well, seems you were never going to like it anyway.

Nah... that wasn't my opinion until after I watched some of it.
 
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