Post by Deleted on May 24, 2014 15:00:18 GMT -5
Volume 1, Chapter 1: My First Adventure - Where young Indy meets T.E. Lawrence and then gets sold into slavery.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't really care for prequels as a concept. I just think that for most pieces of work there just isn't sufficient story to mine. It is also too easy to force things based on a blueprint rather than letting them develop organically. The Indiana Jones franchise does have unique history when it comes to prequels. Temple of Doom is a prequel, but if you didn't know it took place before Raiders you probably wouldn't be able to tell. But, how does the TV series fare when it is set up to directly tell the origins of Indy rather than just showcase an adventure that came place before hand? Well..... let's see.
The story starts off with Henry Sr. publishing a book on chivalry, one that gets him invited to speak in places all around the world. Only problem, he's got a kid and you can't just whisk a child(around 8 or 9) away from their home when they are in their formative years, right? Wrong. Just give him some tutor and everything will go swimmingly! No really, it does..... for the most part. Henry Sr. hires his old teacher to come and be young Indy's tour while the family is traveling and while there is animosity at first between Young Indy and the tutor, Miss Helen Seymour. They bond on a trip in Egypt when they go and visit the pyramids, and then have their camels taken away from them. Just isn't a good idea to keep the tour guide waiting so you can climb up a pyramid, it ain't a playground!
You would think that getting trapped in the middle of the Egyptian desert would be a terrible thing, but not when you are Indiana Jones. For what happens literally a minute after Indy and his tutor realize their camels have been taken away? A guy rides up on a bicycle, just happens to be passing through the pyramids, and this guy turns out to be none other than T.E. Lawrence. He was on his way to a tomb excavation his friend is a part of, and he just happens to stumble upon these two at the right time. And best of news, he knows Miss Seymour! So he doesn't mind staying the night with them and bonding with young Indy over talk of mummies and the afterlife. They get a long so well that Lawrence is like "fuck it, you is some cool people young Indy, come along to raid Tombs with me, what you say?" "holy shit..... smokes, SMOKES, Ned, that sounds fucking awesome!" I may be paraphrasing..... may be......
Anyway, Indy gets to go on this excavation with Lawrence OF FREAKING ARABIA. Like all good tombs with mummies in them there is of course a thing about curses, which Indy is all for believing with the stories Lawrence was spouting on about the other night. Then the inevitable happens, the friend of T.E. Lawrence dies while guarding the tomb, the mummy is also missing, DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUUH. Indy thinks it is the curse of the tomb, while Lawrence and the other adults are looking for a proper motive in the death. There is actually a nice little moment when Lawrence has to explain to Indy that when they bonded over mummy stories that Lawrence was just "exaggerating". Lil Indy is disappointed of course, but seems to get the gist that Lawrence wasn't lying for malicious reasons, and they are back to being the best of intergenerational bros when sharing a look. They even figure out the motive for the death, that it was some treasure from the tomb, because NO SHIT IT WAS FUCKING TREASURE IN THE TOMB! Like they never sat down and ogled Lara Crofts polygonal breasts.... uhhh, I mean played Tomb Raider. Well of course T.E. Lawrence didn't ogle any breasts, Indy surely would have though.
The next morning while Lawrence is investigating a suspects tent, Indy goes and follows said suspect back into the tomb where the mummy falls on him. The suspect turns out to be a red herring, and in the mummy that fell on Indy he was able to find a clue that helped Lawrence be able to point a finger at another suspect. They catch that guy and he admits to what he did, but the treasure is still missing and th..........
We're in Tangiers, oh did that seem an abrupt change in setting? BECAUSE IT SURE AS HELL WAS WHEN WATCHING THIS! I know the series was re-edited to make 22 feature length episodes in chronological order. The problem with that was the original pilot of the series was one story, but in two different time periods. It followed this mystery about the missing treasure. Here though? It cuts to a completely different story. I have nothing wrong with putting things back in chronological order but the abrupt shift from one story to another was a pretty hard pill to swallow. I know things won't be all that better throughout the rest of the series, because it is still cobbling together two separate stories into one feature length piece. But at least the first half of these things should hopefully have a better conclusion than this one, because it was clear there was still more to tell. Now back to Tangiers!
The 2nd half of this is pretty weird, I actually feel slightly uncomfortable talking about it. For you see, it deals with everyone's favorite subject, CHILD SLAVERY! Also the Arabian version of Blackface. While Henry Sr. and Indy's mom Anna are visiting a friend in Tangiers, young Indy befriends a slave working for his Parents friend. And one day young indy is told by his parents friend about a salted head being on display in the local bazaar. Young Indy gets the idea from this guy to go into the bazaar disguised as an arab(using makeup to make his skin darker) to see the head, since it is dangerous for us white folks to be there in the open. Indy takes his new slave friend along. Indy is then mistaken for a slave and both wind up getting kidnapped, and are going to be sold into slavery. Eventually after the boys are kidnapped by yet more slave traders(and witness a massacre of the previous slave traders) the friend of Indy's parents comes and rescues both of the boys by buying them at the auction. Indy learns slavery is pretty fucked up, and that's it. Roll credits.
Now, as a whole it was a mess, not even thematically related at all. But as two different stories? Still kind of a mess, because the first half still has more story to tell, and the 2nd half is not the piece that fits. The 2nd half is also extremely uncomfortable, but not in a totally bad way. It is mostly uncomfortable because it actually doesn't hold back on how shitty the kid slaves were treated when taken prisoner by the slave traders. You only see a little, but the little it is was pretty much hell, even for what is supposed to be a family show. The Arabian face was weird though, but not like black face, it wasn't used in a maliciously mocking way, so there's that...... I do like how in the 2nd half they actually weren't all that heavy handed when it came to slavery in the early 1900s. There was a small discussion about slavery that young indy had with the adults, but the adults just were like "ehhhhh, slavery is a tradition, it's just how things are" and Indy was like "uhhh, kinda seems bad, but whatever....." In the end Indy's slave friend is still a slave, the world moves on. All we have left is a that time Indy almost became a slave. Which actually does a better job in my opinion of showing why it is fucked up. Not great or anything, but pretty decent.
Oh, the first half is pretty decent as well. It was nice and fun, and that's all I really expected coming into this. I'm not expecting this series to be a great one worthy of awards. Not expecting it to be anywhere near as good as the movies either. I just don't want to regret an investment into this series, and so far I'm not and I'm enjoying myself. Kudos to you show! Though I do have to say the production design is top notch, which the show actually did get nominated for, mainly in costume design, cinematography, and various sound awards.
Stray Thoughts:
- Arabian Face, REALLY?
- There was a nice scene in the first half where Indy was eating with a table full of adults, and he ended up grossing them all out so much by telling them how a mummy was made, all except his father. Henry Sr. then told his son to finish some food on his plate. Young Indy then had to get away from the table because the food was grossing him out. It was a cute scene!
- Speaking of Henry Sr. I kind of wish this was a series about him instead. The actor they got for him hasn't put on a great performance or anything, but the guy does have a presence.
- I like how they haven't "wesleyed" kid Indy. It would be pretty easy to make kid Indy too smart, too adventurous, and more competent than the adults. But he has been handled nicely so far as more of an observer. Of course things will be different when he goes into his late teens early 20s later on in the series.
Up next week: Chapter 2: Passion for Life - Where we travel to British East Africa and Paris. Who will ride in on a bicycle to meet Young Indy next week? Norman Rockwell, Pablo Picaso? hahahaha, who knows? *looks at upcoming episode synopsis* He meets Norman Rockwell and Pablo Picaso.......
I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't really care for prequels as a concept. I just think that for most pieces of work there just isn't sufficient story to mine. It is also too easy to force things based on a blueprint rather than letting them develop organically. The Indiana Jones franchise does have unique history when it comes to prequels. Temple of Doom is a prequel, but if you didn't know it took place before Raiders you probably wouldn't be able to tell. But, how does the TV series fare when it is set up to directly tell the origins of Indy rather than just showcase an adventure that came place before hand? Well..... let's see.
The story starts off with Henry Sr. publishing a book on chivalry, one that gets him invited to speak in places all around the world. Only problem, he's got a kid and you can't just whisk a child(around 8 or 9) away from their home when they are in their formative years, right? Wrong. Just give him some tutor and everything will go swimmingly! No really, it does..... for the most part. Henry Sr. hires his old teacher to come and be young Indy's tour while the family is traveling and while there is animosity at first between Young Indy and the tutor, Miss Helen Seymour. They bond on a trip in Egypt when they go and visit the pyramids, and then have their camels taken away from them. Just isn't a good idea to keep the tour guide waiting so you can climb up a pyramid, it ain't a playground!
You would think that getting trapped in the middle of the Egyptian desert would be a terrible thing, but not when you are Indiana Jones. For what happens literally a minute after Indy and his tutor realize their camels have been taken away? A guy rides up on a bicycle, just happens to be passing through the pyramids, and this guy turns out to be none other than T.E. Lawrence. He was on his way to a tomb excavation his friend is a part of, and he just happens to stumble upon these two at the right time. And best of news, he knows Miss Seymour! So he doesn't mind staying the night with them and bonding with young Indy over talk of mummies and the afterlife. They get a long so well that Lawrence is like "fuck it, you is some cool people young Indy, come along to raid Tombs with me, what you say?" "holy shit..... smokes, SMOKES, Ned, that sounds fucking awesome!" I may be paraphrasing..... may be......
Anyway, Indy gets to go on this excavation with Lawrence OF FREAKING ARABIA. Like all good tombs with mummies in them there is of course a thing about curses, which Indy is all for believing with the stories Lawrence was spouting on about the other night. Then the inevitable happens, the friend of T.E. Lawrence dies while guarding the tomb, the mummy is also missing, DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUUH. Indy thinks it is the curse of the tomb, while Lawrence and the other adults are looking for a proper motive in the death. There is actually a nice little moment when Lawrence has to explain to Indy that when they bonded over mummy stories that Lawrence was just "exaggerating". Lil Indy is disappointed of course, but seems to get the gist that Lawrence wasn't lying for malicious reasons, and they are back to being the best of intergenerational bros when sharing a look. They even figure out the motive for the death, that it was some treasure from the tomb, because NO SHIT IT WAS FUCKING TREASURE IN THE TOMB! Like they never sat down and ogled Lara Crofts polygonal breasts.... uhhh, I mean played Tomb Raider. Well of course T.E. Lawrence didn't ogle any breasts, Indy surely would have though.
The next morning while Lawrence is investigating a suspects tent, Indy goes and follows said suspect back into the tomb where the mummy falls on him. The suspect turns out to be a red herring, and in the mummy that fell on Indy he was able to find a clue that helped Lawrence be able to point a finger at another suspect. They catch that guy and he admits to what he did, but the treasure is still missing and th..........
We're in Tangiers, oh did that seem an abrupt change in setting? BECAUSE IT SURE AS HELL WAS WHEN WATCHING THIS! I know the series was re-edited to make 22 feature length episodes in chronological order. The problem with that was the original pilot of the series was one story, but in two different time periods. It followed this mystery about the missing treasure. Here though? It cuts to a completely different story. I have nothing wrong with putting things back in chronological order but the abrupt shift from one story to another was a pretty hard pill to swallow. I know things won't be all that better throughout the rest of the series, because it is still cobbling together two separate stories into one feature length piece. But at least the first half of these things should hopefully have a better conclusion than this one, because it was clear there was still more to tell. Now back to Tangiers!
The 2nd half of this is pretty weird, I actually feel slightly uncomfortable talking about it. For you see, it deals with everyone's favorite subject, CHILD SLAVERY! Also the Arabian version of Blackface. While Henry Sr. and Indy's mom Anna are visiting a friend in Tangiers, young Indy befriends a slave working for his Parents friend. And one day young indy is told by his parents friend about a salted head being on display in the local bazaar. Young Indy gets the idea from this guy to go into the bazaar disguised as an arab(using makeup to make his skin darker) to see the head, since it is dangerous for us white folks to be there in the open. Indy takes his new slave friend along. Indy is then mistaken for a slave and both wind up getting kidnapped, and are going to be sold into slavery. Eventually after the boys are kidnapped by yet more slave traders(and witness a massacre of the previous slave traders) the friend of Indy's parents comes and rescues both of the boys by buying them at the auction. Indy learns slavery is pretty fucked up, and that's it. Roll credits.
Now, as a whole it was a mess, not even thematically related at all. But as two different stories? Still kind of a mess, because the first half still has more story to tell, and the 2nd half is not the piece that fits. The 2nd half is also extremely uncomfortable, but not in a totally bad way. It is mostly uncomfortable because it actually doesn't hold back on how shitty the kid slaves were treated when taken prisoner by the slave traders. You only see a little, but the little it is was pretty much hell, even for what is supposed to be a family show. The Arabian face was weird though, but not like black face, it wasn't used in a maliciously mocking way, so there's that...... I do like how in the 2nd half they actually weren't all that heavy handed when it came to slavery in the early 1900s. There was a small discussion about slavery that young indy had with the adults, but the adults just were like "ehhhhh, slavery is a tradition, it's just how things are" and Indy was like "uhhh, kinda seems bad, but whatever....." In the end Indy's slave friend is still a slave, the world moves on. All we have left is a that time Indy almost became a slave. Which actually does a better job in my opinion of showing why it is fucked up. Not great or anything, but pretty decent.
Oh, the first half is pretty decent as well. It was nice and fun, and that's all I really expected coming into this. I'm not expecting this series to be a great one worthy of awards. Not expecting it to be anywhere near as good as the movies either. I just don't want to regret an investment into this series, and so far I'm not and I'm enjoying myself. Kudos to you show! Though I do have to say the production design is top notch, which the show actually did get nominated for, mainly in costume design, cinematography, and various sound awards.
Stray Thoughts:
- Arabian Face, REALLY?
- There was a nice scene in the first half where Indy was eating with a table full of adults, and he ended up grossing them all out so much by telling them how a mummy was made, all except his father. Henry Sr. then told his son to finish some food on his plate. Young Indy then had to get away from the table because the food was grossing him out. It was a cute scene!
- Speaking of Henry Sr. I kind of wish this was a series about him instead. The actor they got for him hasn't put on a great performance or anything, but the guy does have a presence.
- I like how they haven't "wesleyed" kid Indy. It would be pretty easy to make kid Indy too smart, too adventurous, and more competent than the adults. But he has been handled nicely so far as more of an observer. Of course things will be different when he goes into his late teens early 20s later on in the series.
Up next week: Chapter 2: Passion for Life - Where we travel to British East Africa and Paris. Who will ride in on a bicycle to meet Young Indy next week? Norman Rockwell, Pablo Picaso? hahahaha, who knows? *looks at upcoming episode synopsis* He meets Norman Rockwell and Pablo Picaso.......