Re: In Defense of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

Posted by ROB T. from 162.10.138.28 on August 16, 1999 at 21:54:46:

In Reply to: In Defense of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles posted by BMan on August 16, 1999 at 20:23:03:

I'm the one who started the thread criticising "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and I wanted to respond to what you said.
I agree that we are all entitled to our opinion of the show and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I only watched a few episodes because I was disappointed in the direction that the show took.
You said that some of the historical meetings seemed contrived and I agree. We differ in our beliefs that this is okay. Contrivance in a TV show takes away from my experience and pulls me out of the story.
I agree that a show about the backstory of a character that so many people love is a good idea. However, "Young Indy" does not fill the bill for me. The show purports to be about Indy's younger adventures and how they shaped the man we would later know but they seemed false; here we have a young man who would become a college professor but he never seems to attend school or study? And by some wierd contrivance he meets with every historical figure of the twentieth century? Seems too Forrest Gump to me.
If George Lucas wanted to make a TV show that taught history to young people he would have done a better job by starting with a fresh character instead of trying to have this show ride the coattails of the Indiana Jones movies. He misunderstood what we in the audience come to Indiana Jones looking for. We wanted adventure and action, not life lessons and historical references and glued together meetings of historical figures. In the end he cheated the Indy fans and misrepresented history by shoehorning a fictional character into it.
The "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" didn't work because instead of following the basic tenets of telling a good story, he opened a history book and said, "How can we push Indy into this story?"
It didn't work because he was not telling Indy's story.
I stand by my assertion that the show would have been better if Lucas had based it more on the old time serials that inspired the creation of Indiana Jones and left the history on the sidelines.

Follow Ups:

A follow-up to your points BMan 16:45:44 8/17/99 (2)
- A further follow-up... ROB T. 01:40:34 8/18/99 (1)
  - A couple of last thoughts BMan 16:35:41 8/18/99 (0)
A follow-up to your points BMan 16:45:34 8/17/99 (0)

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: I'm the one who started the thread criticising "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and I wanted to respond to what you said.
: I agree that we are all entitled to our opinion of the show and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I only watched a few episodes because I was disappointed in the direction that the show took.
: You said that some of the historical meetings seemed contrived and I agree. We differ in our beliefs that this is okay. Contrivance in a TV show takes away from my experience and pulls me out of the story.
: I agree that a show about the backstory of a character that so many people love is a good idea. However, "Young Indy" does not fill the bill for me. The show purports to be about Indy's younger adventures and how they shaped the man we would later know but they seemed false; here we have a young man who would become a college professor but he never seems to attend school or study? And by some wierd contrivance he meets with every historical figure of the twentieth century? Seems too Forrest Gump to me.
: If George Lucas wanted to make a TV show that taught history to young people he would have done a better job by starting with a fresh character instead of trying to have this show ride the coattails of the Indiana Jones movies. He misunderstood what we in the audience come to Indiana Jones looking for. We wanted adventure and action, not life lessons and historical references and glued together meetings of historical figures. In the end he cheated the Indy fans and misrepresented history by shoehorning a fictional character into it.
: The "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" didn't work because instead of following the basic tenets of telling a good story, he opened a history book and said, "How can we push Indy into this story?"
: It didn't work because he was not telling Indy's story.
: I stand by my assertion that the show would have been better if Lucas had based it more on the old time serials that inspired the creation of Indiana Jones and left the history on the sidelines.

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