TrueJoshNight
Truly Dreadful Film
StunnaKrypto
Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Gurlyndrobb
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
andyetris
Let's start out by reminding everybody that this TV series was aimed at an audience of children and young teenagers, so images of young Indy battering Nazis to the death with his bare fists wasn't part of the plan. It's totally different in tone from the films, which are intended to reprise old-time movie serials. The series is education-oriented, thus all the brushes with famous names of history. Production values ARE pretty good - it won 10 Emmys, out of 23 nominations! BUT...Episodes were directed by Nicolas Roeg, Mike Newell, Terry Jones, and Carrie Fisher among others, but despite beautiful cinematography almost all the shows I've seen are pretty bland, and it's mostly the writers' fault. The series just lacks energy, and the characters, particularly Mrs Jones (Ruth de Soza) aren't very engaging - her star turn in "Florence, 1908" lacked any real passion to the point of being embarrassing. Margaret Tyzack, as Indy's governess, is by far the best actor and tends to outshine everybody else - she gets some real opportunities for character development, which is more than can be said for Lloyd Owen, who plays Professor Jones Sr.Corey Carrier plays Indy age 10, while Sean Flanery plays the character ages 17-21. Flanery is very bland. I thought Carrier was OK for a precocious kid, but nothing special - though this may be the writers' fault. I LOATHE cutsey-pie stuff like the "Vienna, 1908" episode!!! (Note that a list of episodes can be found at Wikipedia.) 70 episodes were planned; but apparently only 44 were produced - I've only seen the episodes off the DVD volume one boxset, so... Maybe things got better... "Benares, 1910" was the only episode I thought was really GOOD - the series relatively slow pace works for the subject matter. "Princeton, 1916" tries to give us some thrills, but... the story just isn't interesting enough - "Mexico, 1916" works a LITTLE better - thanks partly to a two-fisted cameo by the future General Patton, and nice work by the supporting actors.There's a noble effort here to work the historical characters - and their contributions - into the stories without being too preachy. So I'd say, if you want to give a kid with a taste for adventure a taste for early 20th century history, these are decent stories, BUT....A HUGE irritation with the DVDs is that to pad out the series, a set of "documentaries" are included, which apart from being not what I paid to see, are highly historically suspect, at least the jingoistic Irish one, which is the only one I bothered to watch all the way through.
Mel J
Perhaps my memory has blurred over the years or I'm looking upon this series from the point of the view of the child I was when I used to watch it but 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles' was a rather delightful television series aimed at young fans of the 'Indiana Jones' trilogy. The series focuses in on Indy at two stages of his young life. We see a pre-adolescent Indy, between the ages of around ten to twelve, living in far-flung locations as he travels with his archaeologist parents and receives his school lessons from stern but fair governess Miss Seymour. We also see Indy as in his late teens as he becomes more a man than a boy.Corey Carrier and Sean Patrick Flanery, as little and teenage Indy respectively, give decent performances in their roles. Young Indy is portrayed to be a typical young boy, eager for adventures but, at times, clueless to what is going on around him. The older Indy is more resourceful and self-aware, showing signs of becoming the hero we are familiar with from the films.There were some rather bland episodes which could have done with more superior script-writing and character depiction. And it would have been a nice touch to focus more on young Indy's relationship with his parents, particularly since the discord between him and his father is a major storyline in the final film of the trilogy 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'. Also, there was no need to have so many cameos from famous historical figures, which cheapened the series slightly since it's unrealistic to think Indy met so many people who would go down in the history books.That said, 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles' was entertaining and offered an interesting insight into the people and events which influenced on Indiana Jones as a child and helped shape him into the man we know in the films. It's a shame the series isn't on DVD as it would be good to reminisce on the show which kept me interested in the 'Indiana Jones' franchise when I ran out of films to watch.
krumski
I caught a few episodes of this on video and, while I thought the production values impressive and the action sequences fairly decent for TV, the project falters just where it needs to be the strongest: namely, in its depiction of Indiana Jones. I can't tell if it's due to the acting limitations of Sean Patrick Flanery or to George Lucas's conception of the character, but as presented here Indy is something of a bore. He is portrayed as too much the naïve and wide-eyed innocent, when what's needed is some of the humor and edginess that River Phoenix brought to the part in the beginning of "Last Crusade." Without a compelling lead - and one who at least has a nodding resemblance to the character we know so well from the movies - the storylines and historical backdrops just become incidental and sink from our memories without a trace.
trcolavi
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was the Best TV series ever. Each episode Indy took you into WW1. You got to see what war was really like through a soilders eyes. Indy's adventure with the French Intelligence were always full of suspense. I was always amazed by the scenery. And could not believe that each episode was filmed on location. By watching this series, it made me enjoy the movies so much more. I am so happy that people who might have missed the series can get a chance to see it again on video.