Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume Three - The Years of Change

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The first two reviews which are very low in rankings are based on price, not the actual content of the show which is exceptional. If you want a great show that is very well done then this is a show for you and while you can wait and get it cheaper, price is never a judge of how good a show is, just on when you will see it.

Although perhaps not my favorite volume, I give it 3 1/2 stars, it certainly has some good episodes including "Mask of Evil" and "Treasure of the Peacock's Eye". A must have to complete the series. This set includes:

Chapter 16

Tales of Innocence
Unhealed Wounds - The Life of Ernest Hemingway
The Secret Life of Edith Wharton
Lowell Thomas - American Storyteller
The French Foreign Legion - The World's Most Legendary Fighting Force

Chapter 17

Masks of Evil
For the People Despite the People - The Ataturk Revolution
The Greedy Heart of Halide Edib
Dracula - Fact and Fiction
The Ottoman Empire - A World of Difference
Chapter 18: Treasure of the Peacock's Eye
Bronisaw Malinowski - God Professor
Anthropology - Looking at the Human Condition
New Guinea - Paradise in Peril

Chapter 19

Winds of Change
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
The Best Intentions - The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

Chapter 20

Mystery of the Blues
Al "Scarface" Capone - The Original Gangster
Ben Hecht - Shakespeare of Hollywood
On the Trail of Eliot Ness
Louis Armstrong - Ambassador of Jazz
Jazz - Rhythms of Freedom
Prohibition - America on the Rocks
Hellfighters - Harlem's Heroes of World War One

Chapter 21

The Scandal of 1920
Tin Pan Alley - Soundtrack of America
Broadway - America Center Stage
Wonderful Nonsense - The Algonquin Roundtable

Chapter 22

Hollywood Follies
Erich von Stroheim - The Profligate Genius
The World of John Ford
Irving Thalberg - Hollywood's Boy Wonder
The Rise of the Moguls - The Men Who Built Hollywood

The price is not likely to go down for a couple years when they release the sets together with additional features. So if you are extremely not interested in seeing them for awhile, by all means wait. I ordered these volumes already since I don't think the three volume set will be that much better in price. - C. Luster

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume Three - The Years of Change Whereas the first two volumes had most episodes relating the war years I found these episodes exciting & just plain fun. The overall quality is exceptional throughout the series. Was a bit reluctant to purchase as this volume was a bit more expensive but found it to be well worth the price. Hours of great entertainment, well researched & high quality historical documentaries I find it a great addition to an already great series.

This is the final box set of the Young Indiana Jones DVD series. It's due to be released in the Spring of 2008. It covers the episodes from the TV series that dealt with the end of WWI. For me, some of the episodes of this set were rather hit and miss. My rating: 3 1/2 stars.

Well, volume three is cut down to a more manageable 10 discs, of death-defying adventure in exotic locations, propitious meetings with interesting or soon-to-be famous people, and enough short informational features about historic people and events to satisfy anyone's History Channel jones. After watching all three sets and dimly recalling the series as it aired, though, I still have doubts about the wisdom of cobbling together two episodes to make one movie-length sequence. This results in some very odd pairings and a pronounced hiccup at about mid-point, where suddenly the story lurches off in another direction entirely. And omitting the poignant `bookend' character of `Old Indy' entirely?

At least this package included a guest appearance by Harrison Ford himself, as `somewhat middle-aged Indy', as well as some other nifty guest appearances; Anne Heche comes to mind almost at once (in the Scandal of 1920 episode). This series wraps up the last dying twitches of World War One (including an encounter with a still quite twitching Dracula - kind of an icky episode, that one. I wouldn't allow young children to watch it) and young Indy's attendance at the Paris Peace conference. Then, he returns home to pick up something of his old life again, scrounging summer jobs in Chicago, playing the blues, on Broadway and in Hollywood in the silent-movie era. As far as flamboyant and outsized characters went, Hollywood of that time would have been well worth a season of its own. As it is, Indy only scratches the surface, hanging out with young John Ford, Irving Thalberg and Erich von Stroheim.

The extras are lavish, and perhaps more than a strict fan of the series would really want to pay for - but as far as introducing children painlessly to events of the early 20th century, there is none better: where else could you find informational shorts on Edith Wharton, the French Foreign Legion, Dracula, Gertrude Bell, Ben Hecht, Tin Pan Alley, Elliott Ness and the Ottoman Empire?

As a UCLA graduate in history, I eagerly watched "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" when it appeared as a TV series in the early 1990s, and thought it so well done that I submitted a positive letter to TV GUIDE that they chose to publish. As a parent of young children in the late 1990s, I invested in the series when it became available as a 12-videotape set, and it paid off with my children through the years developing a compassionate, comprehensive understanding of World War I era history. We have looked forward to all 22 adventures being available and affordable in DVD form--and that time is NOW with volumes 1, 2, and 3 at discounted Amazon prices! My children, husband, and I have loved seeing the adventures we missed, and have been enriched by the many documentaries spread out through all 3 volumes on related topics, such as the development of espionage and air warfare during WWI. None of the documentaries go longer than 30 minutes, so that's the perfect length for the high-school history class, they're accompanied by stirring Indiana Jones music, and they're the first documentaries my kids say are interesting and not boring! My daughter's history teacher is planning to use some of the documentaries to help his students learn from history and not repeat its mistakes. Don't miss your opportunity--courtesy of Mr. George Lucas and Amazon--to do the same!

I fell in love with the first volume of this DVD release - if only for the special features. (See my review under that title.) The re-edited stories on Volume one were confusing but the 10-½ hours (!) of NEW documentaries blew me away! George Lucas and Rick McCallum put their money where there mouth was (and Paramount went out on a limb by putting 10 DVDS in one set) and it shows. The documentaries are well researched and use the experts in the field.

I'm not a big War Years fan so Volume 2 was just okay for me but - again - high quality documentaries were attached.

Then came this volume. First, I headed to the documentaries - Jazz - Louis Armstrong - Ben Hecht - The Algonquin Round table. Each was better than the next with super footage in crisp quality prints and all the experts. Then I decided to watch the series episodes on the Blues and Hollywood. I'm as big music fan so I gave them a shot. WOW! Was I impressed! The Mystery of The Blues episode is loaded with great music - yes, full musical numbers. And each of the three women that Indy falls for is more gorgeous than the next. And how many films feature clarinetist Sidney Bechet as it's lead character for 90 minutes? (You even get a bit of Harrison Ford at beginning and end!). The last episode on early Hollywood was great too with lots of cool stunt work and an over-the-top performance by the actor playing eccentric Director Eric von Stroheim.

I was really sorry to hear that the series ended with this episode. I'm hooked!

All the volumes belong in every school and public library as a learning tool. Each of the 25-35 minute docs is a new learning tool for adults as well as older children. I certainly give this volume FIVE STARS! And a BIG thanks to Lucas, McCallum and Paramount!

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

Most people rank this one the worst of the sets, but for me, it contains some of my all time favorite episodes that I remember watching on TV as a kid. I guess first would have to be Mystery of the Blues, since it features Harrison Ford as Indy age 50, and also shows us some of Indy's college life at the University of Chicago. My second fav would be Scandal of 1920, which I found very entertaining, and my third would have to be Treasure of the Peacock's Eye, in which INdy first searches for the diamond seen at the beginning of Temple of Doom. Hollywood Follies is a good one to, slow at the start, but gets interesting as Indy heads into the desert to shoot a John Ford movie. If Lucas had been able to continue the series, he was planning to make an episode where Indy meets Rene Belloq, and another where he begins his romance with Marion Ravenwood. I really wish he could have fulfilled his vision, but then again, if he didn't pull it off well it seriously would have altered all our visions about Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Adventures of young Indiana Jones is great viewing for all kids from 3 to 103. While Lucas does take some liberties with history, he manages very well in bringing to life the historical figures of times gone by. His Integrating them with the young Indy allows viewers to aquaint theirselves with, and view history in a very enjoyable way.

The release of the last volume in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was highly anticipated, and well worth the wait.

No longer is Indy a bright eyed youth, but rather a growing teenager endowed with a limitless sense of curiosity and penchance for survival. "Years of Change" finds Indy encountering Ernest Hemingway, Lowell Thomas, Bronislaw Malinowski, John Ford, Al Capone, Erich Von Stronheim, Woodrow Wilson, Ho Chi Minh, Robert Goddard, and other historical personages. Each and every `feature' episode is marvelous, with my favorite being "The Mystery of the Blues". Where else can you find such a mix of music and mystery? Can't forget the Harrison Ford introduction and conclusion either.

Film fans will love the "Hollywood Follies". Literary researchers will certainly learn something about Hemingway from "Tales of Innocence." "The Winds of Change" casts a long shadow on our present situation as the Treaty of Versailles and Paris Peace Conference is featured predominantly.

No TV series will ever touch viewers like "Young Indiana Jones". The sheer historical research in both the episodes and special features is unparalleled in modern history. If Plato, Plutarch, Aristotle, and DaVinci were alive at the same time, Lucas and Spielberg would have hired them as consultants on "Young Indy".

Just maybe, there is a Young Indy Time Travel series in the works behind closed doors. Wouldn't that be nice...

Look for this at your local video store or online at [..].

I remain,
A fan of historical entertainment.

Tim Lasiuta