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Official Synopsis:
From legendary filmmaker George Lucas comes an exciting, new, not-to-be-missed 10-disc DVD collection, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume Three, The Years of Change. This final volume completes the series and delivers more than 15 hours of special features that explore the fascinating history that inspired the daring adventures of a young Indiana Jones. Follow the thrilling escapades as World War I ends and young Indy gets entangled in adventures with famous - and infamous - figures like Ernest Hemingway, Woodrow Wilson, Louis Armstrong and Al Capone during some of the most vibrant years of the 20th century. Then get to know more about these remarkable people and events with over two dozen riveting, in-depth documentaries included in this special DVD collection. Discover the richness of history of you and your family experience the incredible exclusive features, including a timeline and game, that brings the past to life! You'll treasure the journeys in The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.
Our Take:
The final collection of Young Indiana Jones is here, and it’s another solid if slightly disappointing DVD effort from LucasFilm and Paramount. Subtitled The Years of Change, almost all of these adventures take place after World War I, and Indy meets up with some pretty fascinating characters along the way, including Al Capone, Lawrence of Arabia, Eliot Ness, Louis Armstrong, George Gershwin, Woodrow Wilson, John Ford, Wyatt Earp, Ho Chi Minh, and even Dracula (in one of the best episodes of the series). Gone are the young child version of Indy, leaving us with just Sean Patrick Flanery, who I always preferred.
As with the previous releases, this 10-disc set actually only includes seven Young Indy adventures (each two-part episode has been recompiled into a full-length “movie”), but tons of bonus features in the way of historical documentaries. My complaint about the set remains the same as it has since the beginning: the documentaries are great (I wish I had time to watch every single one of them), but there’s absolutely nothing about the show itself included in the extras. No commentary, no making-of, no deleted scenes, nothing. I really think LucasFilm dropped the ball on this one by not giving us anything looking at the production of the show itself.
Speaking of extra features, here are the documentaries that are included:
- Unhealed Wounds: The Life of Ernest Hemingway
- The French Foreign Legion: The World's Most Legendary Fighting Force
- The Secret Life of Edith Wharton
- Lowell Thomas: American Storyteller
- For the People, Despite the People: The Ataturk Revolution
- The Greedy Heart of Halide Edib
- The Ottoman Empire: A World of Difference
- Dracula: Fact and Fiction
- Bronislaw Malinowski: God Professor
- Anthropology: Looking at the Human Condition
- New Guinea: Paradise in Peril
- The Best Intentions: The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles
- Woodrow Wilson: American Idealist
- Gertrude Bell: Iraq's Uncrowned Queen
- Ho Chi Minh: The Price of Freedom
- Paul Robeson: Scandalize My Name
- Robert Goddard: Mr. Rocket Science
- Jazz: Rhythms of Freedom
- Al "Scarface" Capone: The Original Gangster
- Prohibition: America on the Rocks
- On the Trail of Eliot Ness
- Louis Armstrong: Ambassador of Jazz
- Ben Hecht: The Shakespeare of Hollywood
- Hellfighters: Harlem's Heroes of World War One
- Tin Pan Alley: Soundtrack of America
- Wonderful Nonsense: The Algonquin Round Table
- Broadway: America Center Stage
- Erich von Stroheim: The Profligate Genius
- The Rise of the Moguls: The Men Who Built Hollywood
- Irving Thalberg: Hollywood's Boy Wonder
- The World of John Ford
- Interactive Timeline
- Historical Lecture: New Gods for Old
- Hunting for Treasure Interactive Game
Considering how long it took for The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones to come to DVD at all, I really shouldn’t complain about the lack of making-of material. I am happy, after all, just to have the complete collection of the series on DVD. So overall, this is a set that just about any Indiana Jones fan will want to pick up, even if it isn’t quite as great as it could be.
Overall Picture:
Show: B+
DVD: A- (Loses points for no making-of material)
- Mike Spring
Editor
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