Out of work in New York after his romantic disaster, Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) finds work with Universal Pictures who send him to Hollywood to put an end to the activities of maniacal Erich von Stroheim (Dana Gladstone), a film director who gone out of control. Later on, he assist Western director John Ford (Stephen Caffrey) in a dangerous adventure that nearly destroys him...
The scripts mix fine character comedy with insights on the film business in the twenties. Forget the romance he has with screenwriter Claire (Allison Smith) which is just a repeat of the romance he had with Mata Hari. Much better are his frustrated and eventually doomed efforts to stop von Stroheim. More than that, a tragedy on the set of John Ford's picture forces Indy in front of camera. It's fun watching the adventurer struggle to act in silent films and having to stop a runaway coach.
Dana Gladstone is brilliant as the fiendishly ingenious von Stroheim, and there is some good work from Stephen Caffrey as a likable John Ford and Bill Cusack as Hollywood's first mogul Irving Thalberg. Leo Gordon has a nice cameo as an aged Wyatt Earp.
So what for the series as a whole - a worthwhile project? I would argue, yes it was. The series maintained high-production values throughout it's entire run and these are evident here on the DVDs. Bar the occasional slip, almost every episode worked on one level or another. Lucasfilm attracted some of the highest calibre actors in the US and UK to do the series and, by and large, they all delivered.
The only real problem the series had was the depiction of Indy himself. This is not Sean Patrick Flanery's fault, as the series was originally shot and shown out of chronological order. It would have been very hard under these circumstances to properly develop his character. But I would have loved to have seen some of the canny ruthlessness and grizzled humour that characterised Indy in the movies. As it is, for all his experiences, Young Indy remains straight-laced as a boot. Flanery is always highly watchable in the role, but nevertheless his performance is uninvolving at times. It's still a shame there were never more episodes made to link up the series to the films.
I have thoroughly enjoyed watching and reviewing each of these episodes and I would encourage all fans of Indiana Jones to give the DVD series a chance.
The scripts mix fine character comedy with insights on the film business in the twenties. Forget the romance he has with screenwriter Claire (Allison Smith) which is just a repeat of the romance he had with Mata Hari. Much better are his frustrated and eventually doomed efforts to stop von Stroheim. More than that, a tragedy on the set of John Ford's picture forces Indy in front of camera. It's fun watching the adventurer struggle to act in silent films and having to stop a runaway coach.
Dana Gladstone is brilliant as the fiendishly ingenious von Stroheim, and there is some good work from Stephen Caffrey as a likable John Ford and Bill Cusack as Hollywood's first mogul Irving Thalberg. Leo Gordon has a nice cameo as an aged Wyatt Earp.
So what for the series as a whole - a worthwhile project? I would argue, yes it was. The series maintained high-production values throughout it's entire run and these are evident here on the DVDs. Bar the occasional slip, almost every episode worked on one level or another. Lucasfilm attracted some of the highest calibre actors in the US and UK to do the series and, by and large, they all delivered.
The only real problem the series had was the depiction of Indy himself. This is not Sean Patrick Flanery's fault, as the series was originally shot and shown out of chronological order. It would have been very hard under these circumstances to properly develop his character. But I would have loved to have seen some of the canny ruthlessness and grizzled humour that characterised Indy in the movies. As it is, for all his experiences, Young Indy remains straight-laced as a boot. Flanery is always highly watchable in the role, but nevertheless his performance is uninvolving at times. It's still a shame there were never more episodes made to link up the series to the films.
I have thoroughly enjoyed watching and reviewing each of these episodes and I would encourage all fans of Indiana Jones to give the DVD series a chance.