Before launching into the fascinating world of Indiana Jones, some may require a bit of background. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was a TV series from the early 1990s which documented the various adventures of Indiana Jones both as a boy of 9, a teenager of 16 and a young adult of 21 from 1908 to the 1920s. The series, unlike the films, took on a far more historical bent rather than the focus on the supernatural in the films. Indy would meet a variety of historical figures of the early 20th century. Some stories still involved searching for relics of the past but a massive part of the series depicted Indiana experiencing the horrors of World War 1.

Of course, ‘young’ Indiana Jones had been seen on the big screen in the opening scenes of The Last Crusade, played in that film by River Phoenix. In the TV series, the role was taken by Corey Carrier (as the 9 year old Indy) and Sean Patrick Flannery as the older Indy. The series featured ‘one-hour’ episodes (more like 45 minutes without the adverts required on US television) set in a specific year and place (e.g. Egypt 1908 or Istanbul 1918). Many episodes were bookended by George Hall is a 93 year old Indy telling others about his boyhood adventures. There was even an episode bookended by a certain Harrison Ford.

However, the series was eventually repackaged as 90+ minute TV movies with titles such as My First Adventure and Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye. This is the format I first saw these episodes in when they were transmitted on UK television. It is also the format they were released on VHS and eventually on DVD. Whilst the original TV series had jumped from year to year each episode – one episode may have been set in 1916 and the next jump back to 1908 – the DVD box sets (which I am using for this marathon) order the TV Movie versions in chronological order.

The Old Indy segments have been lost in this version (although they may exist as a DVD extra – I have yet to check) and there are some odd bits as a consequence of the re-editing of the original episodes; for example, the abrupt conclusion of the first episode set in 1908 was originally followed up by a story set in 1916 (the two episodes initially forming a feature length pilot episode). In fact, George Lucas even filmed extra scenes to aid these re-edits in later years – some of which were filmed during production of the Stars Wars prequel trilogy.

A fun aspect of this series for UK viewers is that it is positively packed with British talent, many in ‘Before They Were Famous’ scenarios: Elizabeth Hurley, Daniel Craig, Terry Jones, Vanessa Redgrave, Tony Robinson, Colin Baker, Catherina Zeta-Jones and Marc Warren.

The DVD box sets are also absolutely packed with extras which I’ll work my way through as well, commenting on if relevant. This is an adventure I’m hugely looking forward to.