Public Servant Lifestyle

Back of beyond high adventures abound as George Lucas debuts the first two volumes of the Emmy-Award Winning Young Indianna Jones television series on DVD.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the people and events of history,” said George Lucas, creator of the series that ran on television from 1992 to 1994. Young Indiana Jones gave me the chance to explore issues and ideas that had so much to do with the emergence of the modern age we live in today.”

Volume One is the first of three collections of the series and is released by Lucasfilm Ltd, CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. The first twelve-disc set includes seven feature-length episodes as well as in-depth companion documentaries, an historical overview, an interactive game and an interactive timeline.

Young Indy

The thirty-eight historical companion films are original works from the Lucasfilm documentary unit. The documentaries complement the episodes with insights from scholars, historians and luminaries from a wide range of disciplines, bringing remarkable and fresh insight into The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. They include interviews with Gen. Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Gloria Steinem, Martin Scorsese, Barbara Boxer, James Earl Jones, Hal David and Deepak Chopra, along with some of the nation’s pre-eminent academics.

A critically acclaimed combination of adventure, romance and history, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones was the first television series to use digital production, pioneering processes that would pave the way for Lucas' own Star Wars prequels.

“Young Indiana Jones was one of the most ambitious and complex projects that had ever been attempted for television, and the result was an amazing series that showed a completely different side to Indy,” said series producer Rick McCallum, who also produced the three Star Wars prequels and the 'Special Editions' of the original Star Wars Trilogy. “Over the years, the fan support for Young Indiana Jones has swelled, and I’m asked about it everywhere I go. So, I’m really happy that people who grew up with it can at last have it for themselves, and that a new generation will be able to discover the brilliant acting, directing, writing and storytelling that has always been the hallmark of an extraordinary venture.”

The feature-length episodes star Sean Patrick Flanery (Boondock Saints, The Dead Zone) as a teenage Indy and Corey Carrier (Nixon) as 9-year-old Indy. The extraordinary cast of guest stars includes Christopher Lee, Vanessa Redgrave, Max von Sydow, Anne Heche, Lukas Haas, Elizabeth Hurley, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jeffrey Wright.

During its television run, critics described the series as intelligent, daring, well written, irreverent, and unprecedented in scope and production values. The Hollywood Reporter called the series “exciting, fun, adventurous, brilliantly made and with a story that’s simply charming.” Bill Moyers said, “These exciting tales are the way to a youngster’s imagination – and his grandfather’s, too. History’s never been told more vividly or more engagingly for the young and old alike. May Young Indy be my grandson’s companion far into the 21st Century.”

Go behind enemy lines in the second instalment of the series: The War Years - as the teenage hero heads into World War I. From the Battle of the Somme to the fringes of the African jungle and the heart of revolutionary Russia, the DVD collection explores history with hours of all-new documentary features to complement creator George Lucas’ Emmy-award winning series.

Indianna Goes To War

The War Years is the second of three collections and is released by Lucasfilm Ltd., CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. The expansive nine-disc collection includes eight feature-length episodes, as well as a comprehensive assortment of exhaustively researched special features providing insights into the historical people and events that inspired the series.

“The series was a great way to spark interest in the events of the past, but I always felt that we had only scratched the surface of Young Indy’s potential,” said Lucas, creator of the series that that ran on television from 1992 to 1994. “We had made the initial introduction to history, and I am thrilled that the DVD extras can provide the tools that allow audiences to dig even deeper.”

A critically acclaimed combination of adventure, romance and history, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones was shot in thirty-five countries and utilised the talents of the industry’s most distinguished actors, directors and writers, earning twelev Emmy Awards and twenty-seven nominations over the course of its run. In addition, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones was the first television series to use digital production, pioneering processes that would pave the way for Lucas’ own Star Wars prequels.

“I think fans are in for a treat with The War Years, which contains some of my favourite episodes,” said producer Rick McCallum. “We wanted audiences to understand all aspects of war, from the horror of the front lines to the contrasting philosophies of those on the outskirts and in the crossfire. World War I offered so many settings, and I think our brilliant cast and crew brought them all to life – from the savagery of the Battle of the Somme to the heroism of the Australian Lighthorsemen to the ‘reverence for life’ that was born in Albert Schweitzer's Africa.”

The feature-length episodes star Sean Patrick Flanery (Boondock Saints, The Dead Zone) as a teenage Indy. The extraordinary cast of guest stars in The War Years volume includes Friedrich von Thun, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee, Timothy Spall, Catherine Zeta-Jones and current James Bond Daniel Craig.

Embraced by critics during its initial television run for its daring action, intelligent writing and high production values, the series was described as a "technical triumph" by the Daily Variety newspaper that “enlarges the tube with its wide screen vistas and galloping action” (The San Francisco Examiner). The Hollywood Reporter described the show as “the kind of action-adventure series that was made for families to watch together.”

The Young Indiana Jones collection also feature the work of some of the industry’s biggest names in directing and writing. Series directors include Bille August (Les Miserables), Mike Newell (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire), David Hare (Strapless, screenplays for The Hours and Damage), Terry Jones (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Brazil, The Life of Brian), Deepa Mehta (Water), Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III), Nicolas Roeg (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Don’t Look Now) and Michael Schultz (Car Wash, TV’s Everwood) and Colin Baker (BBC TVs Doctor Who).

Writers include Rosemary Anne Sisson (Upstairs, Downstairs), Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) and Jonathan Hensleigh (Die Hard with a Vengeance).

Featuring an unprecedented array of all-new bonus materials, which allows viewers to dig deeper into the real-life events behind young Indy’s globe-trotting coming-of-age, these two collections are the perfect way for fans of Doctor Jones to while away a (fair few!) hours while waiting for the fourth and final big-screen adventure to hit cinema screens.

See also on Lifestyle: Pulp Fiction - We look back at the Indianna Jones legacy as Spielberg shoots Indy IV: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The Adventures of Young Indianna Jones Volume One is out now, with Volume Two, out on DVD 24th March, both from Paramount Home Entertainment RRP £40.99 Certificate 12.

More information available in DVD / Home Video, TV & Radio