(This is a continuation of a post from several months ago. Click here to read.)
Indiana Jones' erratic military career during The Great War spanned a volume and a half of the series. During his service in the Belgian Army, Indy served as an infantryman, courier, officer, translator, aerial photographer, and finally, intelligence operative. The constant vocation change made the tone of the second volume very uneven. Some episodes had a very serious and/or dramatic feel, while others were comedic or downright cartoonish. In either case, the series did manage to introduce some nice war action comparable to the films, along with some romantic subplots and character growth.
The early war episodes were almost a recurring joke about Indy and his buddy, Remy, bouncing around from one unit to the next. They started out in the trenches, then Indy was assigned to courier duty, but quit because he didn't like the French officers. The two were then randomly commissioned as officers (along with their entire company) and sent to Africa. After commanding the African troops for a while (during which Indy was promoted to Captain) they decided they wanted to do something else and requested transfers. Indy was sent to the Air Force to serve briefly as a photographer before being sent to Intelligence, where he served the remainder of the war. Indy's fluctuating career exposed viewers to different aspects and arenas of the war, but the constant transfers became a little silly. Once Indy settled into Intelligence, the same goal was accomplished with a more believable story vehicle. As an operative, Indy could be sent to various locations on specific missions, each related to different parts of the war. He visited Russia to witness the beginnings of the Revolution, Palenstine to help the Australian units under British command, Italy to lead some Austrian defectors, and Morocco to sniff out a turncoat.
Throughout his various assignments, there was something that bothered me about Indy and it took me a while to figure out what. He was bumbling. He often tripped, stumbled, or made clumsy mistakes that jeopardized his missions and continually made him look foolish. Granted, it made things funnier, but the comedy often clashed with wartime setting. For example, Espionage Escapades (2) was a slapstick story about Indy running around Prague dealing with a gauntlet of bureaucrats to get his telephone hooked up so he can receive his mission instructions. His supervisor kept reminding him the mission was "critical to the war," but the story felt like something out of The Three Stooges and was really hard to take seriously. This aspect of his character was quickly phased out in the third volume as Indy became more experienced, but it was very distracting for much of volume 2.
Fortunately, the series managed to address war more seriously in a few episodes. Volume 2 hit the ground running with The Trenches of Hell (name self-explanatory) and the episode Oganga, the Giver and Taker of Life dealt with Indy's tenure as an officer in the Congo jungle, which was a harsh lesson for him as he lost nearly all his men on what turned out to be a fruitless mission. The final episode of volume 2, Daredevils in the Desert, was the first feature length story (meaning the whole episode was a single story) about Indy's infiltration mission in Palestine before a major British assault. All of these episodes had some pretty decent war scenes and well placed historical cameos. Daredevils especially had a great climax that involved a high stakes battle, complete with ticking clock, and a fist fight with Daniel Craig. It's unfortunate the series was cancelled before this episode ever aired.
By the time Volume 3 began, Flannery's interpretation had begun to close with Ford's. He was more confident and poised in combat. He could get into fist fights and actually win. His fedora appeared more often, owing to his spy work which required him to wear civilian attire. Most importantly, he stopped whining and bumbling around and started to roll with the punches and formulate strategies on the fly. At the same time, he was still a young man with a lot more to learn before his quest for the Ark of the Covenant. It was in this volume that we saw him introduce himself as "Indiana Jones" on a regular basis, though several characters in previous episodes knew to call him "Indy" without his saying so. (During volume 2, he was usually referred to by his enlistment alias, Henri Defense)
Following the example of Love's Sweet Song from volume 1, the episodes began to include a romance-of-the-week for Indy (something that also foreshadowed the films). During his time in the service, Indy had love interests in Paris, Russia, Italy, Morocco, and Istanbul. For the most part, they improved upon the first love story and covered several lessons in love that further developed his character. Demons of Deception (2) covered Indy's first sexual experience and Masks of Evil (1) ended with his first girlfriend death; both were hard lessons for Indy. Other episodes took the romantic comedy approach, such as Tales of Innocence (1), in which Indy competed with Ernest Hemingway for a local woman's affections (which was ironic considering Hemingway's literature). A few of the romances tested Indy's loyalties during his espionage, which made for great drama.
Halfway through Volume 3, the war ended abruptly (much the way it had historically) and there were two transition episodes of Indy's post-war experiences before the series took a sharp left turn into 1920s pop culture. I'll get more into that next time along with conclusions on the series cancellation.
No comments:
Post a Comment