The adventures of the young man who will grow up to become a Raider of the Lost Ark continue through World War I. Sean Patrick Flanery takes over the role as the series moves into 1917 and 1918.
Series creator George Lucas envisioned this television show as an opportunity to educate as well as entertain. He had young adventurer Indiana Jones (now played by Sean Patrick Flanery) as a teenager happening through historical events. The Lucasfilm Company continues that tradition by adding a series of episode-centric historical documentaries to accentuate the history behind the episodes.
This set also replicates the format of the first set in that it edits episodes together into movies and leaves out the bridging segments with the elderly Indiana (played by George Hall). This series of episodes also features some guest appearances by Christopher Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and a pre-Bond Daniel Craig to name but a few. The episodes are presented in fullscreen as they appeared on television.
Disc One: The Trenches of Hell
Special features include: The Somme: A Storm of Steel (26 minutes), Siegfried Sassoon: A War Poet’s Journey (30 minutes), Robert Graves and the White Goddess (30 minutes), and I Am France: The Myth of Charles de Gaulle (30 minutes).
Disc Two: Demons of Deception
Indy addresses the moral ambiguities of leadership when confronted with win-at-any-cost military officials who have a callous disregard for the lives of the men they command. The gut-wrenching horror of trench warfare, vividly depicted in harrowing battles scenes, is contrasted when Indy goes on leave in Paris and engages in a torrid affair with infamous spy Mata Hari (Domiziana Giordano).
She shows him that love, like war, can also be fraught with deception, disillusionment and heartbreak. Special features include: Into the Furnace: The Battle of Verdun (28 minutes), Marshal Petain’s Fall From Grace (30 minutes), Flirting With Danger: The Fantasy of Mata Hari (29 minutes) and Reading the Enemy’s Mind: Espionage in World War I (24 minutes).
Disc Three: Phantom Train of Doom
Indy is ordered to locate and destroy a powerful German artillery gun that is mysteriously able to appear and disappear at will, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Assisting him is a colorful group of soldiers nicknamed “The Old and the Bold” because of their old age and reckless courage.
Their mission takes them on a dangerous journey across the German-held veldt via wagon train and hot air balloon. Overcoming all manner of obstacles presented by the enemy, his own side and the harsh African terrain, Indy relentlessly follows the trail of the mega-gun right into the bowels of a secret mountain hideout where he plans an explosive end for the phantom train of doom.
Special features include: Chasing the Phantom: Paul von Lettow Vorbeck (24 minutes), Dreaming of Africa: The Life of Frederick Selous (25 minutes), and At Home and Abroad: The Two Faces of Jan Smuts (32 minutes).
Disc Four: Oganga, The Giver and Taker of Life
On a vital military mission for the Allies, Indy comes across a disease-ravaged African village and is able to rescue one small child from certain death. The presence of the child endangers the mission, leaving Indy fighting his conscience, his sense of duty, his own men and the enemy as he battles his way across country. Depressed by the turmoil around him, Indy reaches his lowest point.
Hope appears in the presence of Albert Schweitzer (Friedrich von Thun), a profoundly inspiring and committed doctor, philosopher and musician. Helping out at Schweitzer’s jungle hospital, Indy finds his faith in humanity restored and his outlook on life forever changed.
Special features include: Albert Schweitzer: Reverence for Life (29 minutes), Congo: A Curse of Riches (32 minutes), and Waging Peace: The Rise of Pacifism (26 minutes).
Disc Five: Attack of the Hawkmen
Working with the French Secret Service, Indy joins the legendary Lafayette Escadrille flying unit and embarks on dangerous airborne reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. A run-in with German Ace Manfred von Richthofen (Marc Warren) leads to a death-defying dogfight that leaves Indy grounded and hot-in-pursuit of German aircraft designer Anthony Fokker (Craig Kelly).
Undercover in hostile enemy territory, Indy discovers that the Germans possess a remarkable secret weapon that could change the course of the war. He resolves to bring news of it back to the Allies…if he doesn’t destroy it first.
Special features include: War in the Third Dimension: Aerial Warfare in World War I (26 minutes), Blood Red: The Life and Death of Manfred von Richthofen (27 minutes), Flying High for France: The Lafayette Escadrille (26 minutes), and Anthony Fokker: The Flying Dutchman (27 minutes).
Disc Six: Adventures in the Secret Service
Indy finds that he must enlist the help of Habsburg royalty when he embarks on a dangerous diplomatic mission through enemy-held Europe into the palace of Emperor Karl of Austria (Patrick Ryecart). Endangering his life and the lives of his royal charges, Indy gambles all in a desperate attempt to bring the war more quickly to an end.
Then, in chaos-ridden Russia, Indy finds his espionage work once again threatening lives when he infiltrates a group of young Bolsheviks and begins to sympathize with their plight. As the country lurches toward revolution, Indy finds himself torn between loyalty to his friends and his military duty.
Special features include: Karl: The Last Habsburg Emperor (29 minutes), The Russian Revolution: All Power to the Soviets! (33 minutes), and V.I. Lenin: History Will Not Forgive Us (33 minutes).
Disc Seven: Espionage Escapades
Going undercover as a dancer for the Ballets Russes in Spain, Indy meets an old friend, the flamboyant Pablo Picasso (Danny Webb). Plotting to discredit some German diplomats, Indy engages in a series of comic misadventures with a trio of bumbling spies before being shipped off to Prague on another mission.
His assignment is simple: get a telephone installed in his apartment and wait for instructions. But apathetic officials, mind-numbing rules and infinite paperwork thwart him at every turn. Only one man, Franz Kafka (Tim McInnerny), offers him any assistance.
This film is a farcical take on the stereotypically suave portrayal of espionage and also pokes fun at the narrow-minded evil of bureaucracy, which weaves its ineffectual web into an absurd straightjacket.
Special features include: Impresario: Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes (28 minutes), Ballet: The Art of Dance (32 minutes), and Franz Kafka’s Dark Truth (31 minutes).
Disc Eight: Daredevils of the Desert
The story culminates in a spectacular cavalry charge by the gallant soldiers of the Australian Lighthorsemen Regiment whose very survival hinges on the success of Indy's mission.
Special features include: Lines in the Sand: The Middle East and the Great War (34 minutes) and Col. Lawrence’s War: T.E. Lawrence and Arabia (36 minutes).
Disc Nine: (Interactive Disc)
Includes and interactive timeline (on DVD-ROM), the 62-minute Historical Lecture: War and Revolution by H.W. Brands (Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin), and the "Special Delivery” Interactive Game (DVD-ROM).
The adventures of young Indiana Jones continue to fascinate as well as educate and George Lucas and company have created another stellar DVD set to showcase those adventures and is highly recommended for both the historian and the series lover.
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. Two - The War Years is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a March 24th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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