And what a treat it is. The box contains 10 DVDs and each is a gem of a find, packed with adventure, romance and history.

Not only is there the last few episodes of the TV series, but it's also packed full of documentaries on the people and events featured in the series, showing how the events in these fictional accounts are surprisingly accurate – minus our favourite adventurer always being there when history is made (just like Forest Gump). Lucas wanted to present actual people and events to teach history, and the real life documentaries are great at filling in what the shows couldn't. 

It's enough to make fans of Biography and The History Channel happy for a while. For the rest of us, the action is engrossing and entertaining enough to keep our attention.

Young Indiana Jones fills in the blanks between the boy scout we saw played by River Phoenix in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Harrison Ford’s Indy going after the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Young Indy is full of boyish charm, highly intelligent and brave. We’ve all fantasiszed about being the grown Indy, and the younger version is just as interesting to watch, impetuous at times as he stumbles through all of the trials and tribulations that come with adolescence. It’s funny to watch him play the I’m-about-to-be-sent-on-a-dangerous-mission card to get a passionate kiss from a beautiful Italian girl. What a charmer! The episodes are full of inside jokes, those fun little moments when future greatness or historical events are hinted at like little seeds that will later spring fruit.

This box set can be described in one word: FUN.
 
On disc one, Tales Of Innocence, the end of the First World War is drawing near. Indy (played by Sean Patrick Flanery) is serving in the French Foreign Legion. He befriends the young ambulance driver Ernest Hemingway and the two discover they are competing for the affection of the young Italian woman played by Veronika Logan. In the second half, he is assigned as an escort for the American heiress Edith Wharton and is using it as a cover to investigate stolen guns. This disc also includes biographies on Hemingway, Wharton and Lowell Thomas, a radio newsman who went on to fame as the voice of newsreels in theatres. Also included is an excellent documentary on the French Foreign Legion.
 
On disc two you’ll find Masks of Evil and special features. This disc contains two more adventures, one in Istanbul and one in Turkey, dealing with the maneuvering that happens as the war draws to a close.  The documentaries cover the Ottoman Empire and the Adaturk Revolution, which involved unifying three warring ethnic groups into the modern state of Turkey.  Also included is a documentary on the roots of the Dracula legend.
 
Disc three contains Treasure of the Peacocks' Eye and special features. This is set after the war as Indy tries his hand at treasure hunting and decides to study to be an archaeologist. There are several documentaries on archaeology and anthropology.
 
Disc four is The Winds of Change. This disc is set during the writing of the Treaty of Versailles, which is an eye opener for anyone who thinks ending a war is simpler than starting one.  The bitterness on the winning side only laid the groundwork for World War II.
 
Disc five contains the documentaries and special features for The Winds Of Change. There is a documentary covering the historical background about the peace treaty negotiations in Paris and Woodrow Wilson pushing his 12 Points and League of Nations plans. There is also a documentary on Ho Chi Minh’s efforts to secure rights for the Vietnamese under French rule and how it led to the American war effort there a quarter of a century later. There is also a documentary on Robert Goddard, the father of rocketry in America.
 
Disc six, The Mystery of the Blues and special features, picks up after the war. After returning to America, Indy gets a job as a waiter through a friend, a black musician.  Through him, Indy learns both about the birth of Jazz and the blues, arguably the first American art form. He also learns lessons on racism as blacks and whites both discriminate based on their unique prejudices.
 
The documentaries include segments on jazz, Al Capone, prohibition and Elliot Ness, who is depicted here as a roommate of Indy.  Also included is a documentary on the Hellfighters, a black division from Harlem that fought in the war.
 
Disc eight includes the scandals of 1920 and special features. In this movie, Indy travels to New York City and becomes involved with a rival show of the Zigfield Follies and winds up being stage manager for opening night. The documentaries include one on Tin Pan Alley where sheet music is mass-produced for the first time by songwriters. A documentary is on the growth of Broadway.
 
Disc nine is The Hollywood Follies and special features. Jones is sent to Hollywood to shut down production on a movie being made by egotistical director Erich Von Stroheim and is made to look like a fool by the director.  After our adventurer is fired for failing, he gets a job working with John Ford on one of his westerns being shot in Mexico.
 
The documentaries cover the real Von Stroheim and how the directors once virtually ran the studios. Also covered are the moguls who founded the studio system with a particularly fascinating documentary on Irving Thalberg, who managed to tip the balance of power from the director to the producer. And, of course, the doc on John Ford is very interesting as well.
 
Disc ten is a bonus disc with an interactive timeline and a treasure hunting game. Also included is a history lecture on the time period covered in the boxed set.

Flanery (Powder, Simply Irresistible, The Boondock Saints, Suicide Kings) is not Harrison Ford, but he has a good take on Indy and the same kind of rugged charisma.
 
All in all, this is a highly entertaining and enjoyable boxed set that should be in any Indiana Jones fan’s collection, right next to the four feature films by Steven Spielberg.


The Finer Details

Title: The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. Three: The Years of Change
Format: Box set, Colour, Dolby, DVD
Rating: Not rated.
Run Time: 660 minutes.
Available: The U.S. and Canada.
Savvy Recommends: Buy it if you’re an Indiana Jones fan.


Did You Know?

Some of these chapters were originally scheduled to be released on VHS in 2000 but were put on hold owing to poor sales of the first batch of The Adventure of Young Indiana Jones tapes. They were finally released this year to capitalise on the publicity for the latest Indiana Jones feature, which comes 19 years after Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Judging from the $311 million worldwide gross earned by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on opening weekend, there’s still a lot of interest in all things Indy.

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones was the first television series to use digital production, pioneering processes that would pave the way for Lucas’ now Star Wars prequels.

Catch Young Indy On the Web