Executive Producer/Creator George Lucas, CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment conclude the epic tales of everyone’s favorite archaeologist with ten-disc chronicle of THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES Volume Three: THE YEARS OF CHANGE available on DVD April 29th.

This third and final volume of Jones’ youthful adventures again stars Sean Patrick Flanery growing into manhood, engaging in daring escapades in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and finally returning a to the United States.  Romance and heartbreak in war-torn Italy prompt Young Indy to join the French Foreign Legion in Morocco, survive lethal threats in Istanbul and Transylvania, and battle Chinese pirates in the South Seas.  Indy’s brief stint as a translator at the end of World War I closes his War Years, and his journey back to America offers encounters with jazz-era society, racial segregation and of course a confrontation with his stern father, Henry Jones Sr.

Produced by Rick McCallum and guest starring Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, Jane Krakowski, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Peck and Ronny Coutteure just to name a few, this more mature yet often light-hearted finale volume tells of Indy’s adventures before the era of INDIANA JONES feature film series. His wartime exploits remain races through perilous conflicts across battlefield lines as Indy continues his spy missions across several countries. Yet Young Indy also returns home to his educational pursuits, witnessing more historic eras and personalities on his journey to becoming everyone’s favorite whip-cracking archaeologist.

The dramatic content mirrors Indy’s own maturation as his exotic adventures in the Middle East, Africa and the far Pacific become more dangerous.  Still he faces very realistic social and cultural issues such as racism and post-war world politics which still remain relevant and important topics today.  Volume Three remains entertaining and educational throughout, though some episode topics should be previewed before sharing and discussing them with younger-aged family members.

YOUNG INDIANA JONES' Years of Change begin with Tales of Innocence, where Indy’s wartime espionage efforts station him in Italy attempting to persuade German troops to defect from their losing campaign.  In between missions, Indy befriends a young newspaper writer, Ernest Hemingway, who offers romantic advice to help Jones woo the affections of a local girl. A comedic (if often utterly silly) competition ensues when Indy and Hemingway discover they’re in love with the same villager, in perhaps the least mature episode which would have fit more aptly in Volume Two.

Indy grows up a bit more after a battle wound sends him to North Africa, where his duty in the French Foreign Legion puts Indy at the center of a arms-smuggling mystery in Morocco.  Indy also encounters the famed and outspoken author Edith Wharton and reporter Lowell Thomas, who open Indy’s eyes to challenging social customs and perceptions of roles for men and women.

Disc Two’s Masks of Evil sends Indy into darker adventures in Eastern Europe, first to Istanbul where Jones a complex plot of intrigue and murders surround a plot to kill French intelligence agents.  While the seeds of the eventual Turkish revolution are being sewn after the Ottoman Empire’s disastrous support of Germany in the war, Indy must survive long enough to expose the traitorous double-agent and foil the plot against the French.  Indy’s adventure takes him farther east into the haunted wilds of Transylvania, where reports of an undead army leads Jones and his cohorts to General Targo who may be the living embodiment of Vlad Dracula himself!  Alas, these two combined adventures are the least impressive of the box set, as the Dracula episode serves up supernatural thrills in a sharp departure from the realities of World War I still going on.  Thankfully, the bonus documentaries on the Turkish revolution, General Attatűrk and even the historical origins of Vlad Tepes Dracul provide excellent and engaging value as learning tools that will enlighten all viewers.

With the Great War officially ending in Europe, Indy is swept up with his old pal Remy on a globe-spanning treasure hunt in search of a historic diamond once belonging to Alexander the Great in Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye.  A dying soldier’s last words and a fragmented map take the duo on a journey from London to Egypt to the South Seas of Asia, trailing a treacherous German competitor.  A brief romance with a female treasure hunter and a climactic battle with Chinese pirates results in Remy and Indy stranded on an island near Australia.  Indy befriends social anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski as the frustrating quest to obtain the stolen diamond strains Indy’s friendship with Remy.  Spending time with the peaceful New Guinea tribe and Malinowski prompts Indy to follow his dream of being an archaeologist, not a treasure hunter.   Indy and Remy amicably part ways as Jones begins to work his long way back to America.

The Winds of Change on Disc Four catches up with Indy serving as a translator for the American delegation at the Paris peace conference officially ending World War I.  Jones meets up with his old friend T.E. Lawrence, who continues to fight for Arab independence as it was promised by the allies with Prince Faisal joined forces to repel the Ottoman armies.  Young Indy’s idealistic views are eventually dashed as politics and petty grudges by world leaders renew international rivalries under the guise of armistice, instead of reaching true and lasting peace.  Lawrence encourages Jones to fight for his ideals as Indy finally returns to America.  Yet even there, Indy is confronted by the racial divides and injustice at home when he’s reunited with childhood friend Paul Robeson.  Jones realizes the ‘good fight’ must continue to be fought everywhere if justice and equality are to be obtained and preserved. 

Disc Five hosts six companion documentaries on a wide variety of historical topics only touched upon in The Winds of Change feature, and it’s another stellar offering of YOUNG INDIANA JONES’ educational treasures.  Exploring the long-lasting effects of the Treaty of Versailles to President Woodrow Wilson’s idealistic formation of the League of Nations, from Gertrude Bell’s influence in the creation of Iraq to the early yearnings for Vietnamese freedom from French rule, these featurettes merit a disk of their own in this box set.  Two more documentaries detailing the lives of actor/athlete/activist Paul Robeson, a potent figure in American civil rights, and literal rocket scientist Robert Goddard, also tie in well with the future-looking aspect of this all-bonus material disc with historic figures and subjects still resonating today.

Mystery of the Blues finds adult Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) amid a snowy adventure rescuing his Native American friend and a valuable peace pipe from treasure hunters.  Held up in a cabin, Jones reminisces about his youth in Chicago, when he studied archeology at the University by day and waited tables in a popular speakeasy swinging with jazz music each night.  Young Indy attempts to balance daily lectures with nightly restaurant work, all the while trying to learn how to play jazz from his mentor Sidney Bechet and a meeting with jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.  Once again Indy battles racial discrimination as his budding friendship with the jazz band continually crosses black and white boundaries in society.  More dangers result as Indy, his naïve but stalwart roommate Eliot Ness and a reunion with Ernest Hemingway attempt to solve the killing of the speakeasy owner, entangling the trio with none other than the young Al Capone.  Music and murder expose the corruption of the Chicago police force, inspiring Indy to convincingly play the blues from his heart.  The bookend finale with Adult Indy caps off his own peace pipe adventure on a high note of triumph.

Disc Seven is also devoted entirely to companion documentaries related to Indy’s jazz-age escapades: in-depth and entertaining featurettes explore the social and criminal effects of Prohibition in 1920s America, paving the way for bootlegging crimelords like Al Capone to usurp law and order in Chicago, battled by idealistic crusaders like “Untouchable” Eliot Ness.  Two more segments explore Jazz: Rhythms of Freedom and Louis Armstrong: Ambassador of Jazz in delightful illustrations of how a mix of black cultures from many countries blended into the American explosion of jazz and blues music.  Also Ben Hecht: The Shakespeare of Hollywood highlights the career of the newspaper reporter-turned-dramatist whose fast-talking, hard-punching stories were an entertainment sensation. American race relations and contributions by blacks despite widespread bigotry are honored in Hellfighters: Harlem’s Heroes of World War I.

The Scandal of 1920 engulfs Young Indy as he enters the theatrical high society of New York City as stage manager of a Broadway musical.  Jones rubs elbows with the sharp-witted literati of the Algonquin Roundtable while getting a taste the good life amid the swells on Fifth Avenue.  But all is not easy for Indy as he gets himself in a five-star jam by dating three women simultaneously as the production falls apart around him.  Composer George Gershwin goes along for the wild ride of romance in elaborate production numbers in this scintillating scored and high-brow humored episode.  Three documentaries delve deeper into the history of Tin Pan Alley composers and music, literary royalty of the Algonquin Round Table including Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woolcott, Robert Benchley and others, and how the Broadway theater scene helped shape early 20th century history in New York and American entertainment forever.

The final Young Indy feature is Disc Nine’s Hollywood Follies, which exposes the creative struggles and egotistic battles hidden behind the silver screen of the movie industry.  Indy clashes with the iconic, imperious director Erich von Stroheim as artistic ambition conflicts with budgetary limitations during the production of Foolish Wives.  All is not glamour and glitter in Hollywood for Indy, but a location shoot with filmmaking legend John Ford and an encounter with western legend-turned-stuntman Wyatt Earp helps make Indy believe in the flickering illusion of movie magic once again.  Indy even gets into the act, replacing a fallen stuntman to claim his own moment in the spotlight as the film and Volume Three of THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES concludes.  The supplemental documentaries wrap up with four filmmaking studies all worth screening for fans of Tinsel Town magic: three featurettes bring the biographies of directors Erich von Stroheim and John Ford to life, also paying tribute to prolific but short-lived Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg. Another sweeping documentary highlights the studio moguls who forged an entertainment industry from acres of orange groves at the turn of the century.

The Years of Change once again offers a tenth final bonus disc with another insightful and enthused discussion with Professor H.W. Brands, whose lecture New Gods for Old encapsulates the post-World War I map of the world and how the manufactured peace treaty and arbitrary division of the Ottoman Empire sowed the seeds of political and economic unrest under renewed colonialism by France and Britain. America retreated into isolationism while facing its own troubled growth dealing with racial tensions and debates over Darwin’s Theory of Evolution in the 1920s, even as the explosion of jazz music and the golden age of Hollywood films contributed to the cultural phenomenon of truly American art forms. Professor Brands' discussions spanning all these fascinating changes in early 20th century history truly provides a rich and entertaining background from which Young Indy would mature into the iconic, bold and idealistic adventurer played in films by Harrison Ford.

Disc Ten also offers fans an extended interactive timeline of Indy’s adventures around the globe, plus the Hunting for Treasure Interactive Game which allows viewers to engage in thrilling action and adventures of their own.

READ OUR VOLUME ONE REVIEW HERE

READ OUR VOLUME TWO REVIEW HERE