DVD Review: The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones - Volume 2

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles aired on ABC from 1992 to 1994. George Lucas' idea was to make history interesting by combining adventures of Indy's youth with having Indy run into famous people from that time. During its run, Indy ran across T.E. Lawrence, Al Capone, Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Schweitzer, Pablo Picasso, Pancho Villa, and Thomas Edison, among other persons of note.

This series was comprised of 44 one-hour episodes when they originally aired. Now Lucas and company have edited the episodes so we get 22 "movies." Set one had seven movies, this set has eight, and the final set will have seven. The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume 2: The War Years depicts Indy's life during the time of the first world war.

Indy has volunteered to serve in the Belgian army and this set chronicles his trips to Asia, Europe, Africa, and more. He fights at the Somme and at Verdun where he is captured and imprisoned with Charles de Gaulle. He is cured of malaria by Albert Schweitzer, shot down and captured by the Red Baron. Indy meets up with Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon and falls in love with Mata Hari. He also hears Lenin speak and much more in this volume. This set packs in the action while also showing all the concepts of war, from being on the front lines, to people's various philosophies about war, and all those who got caught in the middle and the effects it had on them.

This set is overflowing with special features; each DVD contains one movie running about an hour and a half in length, and three or four in-depth documentaries on each disc. The idea with the documentaries is to show the historical time, place, and/or people that young Indy comes across in his adventures and teach you something about it, which this set does quite well, by using scholars, historians, and luminaries from many backgrounds. With eight movies and three or four accompanying documentaries for each movie, this set contains over two dozen documentaries in all. There are over 13 hours of special features, with the ninth disc devoted to interactive special features, such as an interactive timeline that details the history and locations of Indy's adventures, previews, footage of the companion documentaries, and a game. When all three box sets are released, the 22 movies will have 94 accompanying documentaries — quite an accomplishment for a series that doesn't consist of that many episodes.

Article Author: Blake Matthews

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