Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Indiana Jones $ucks in Australian family

As a family we've been steadily working through volume two of a boxed set of The Young Indiana Jones telemovies. Each episode is quite long - getting towards a couple of hours. I'm inclined to think they are better productions than the hyped up cinema movies with Harrison Ford. Plus each episode also has accompanying full-length documentaries on the historical events and persons the fictional character became involved with. We liked the first boxed set so much we got hooked and bought the second. (JB HI-Fi were cheapest.)

Because all the young members of the family enjoy them so much, we always try to schedule the viewing of successive episodes on evenings when most of us are home. That only allows for a couple of episodes a week.

We've got about three more episodes to go in volume two. That means we won't get through them before Harrison Ford's latest Indiana Jones effort, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits local cinema screens tomorrow. Some of our more cashed up kids will probably have seen it by the weekend. The rest of us will be content to wait for the DVD release in a couple of months.

Personally, I can't think of much worse an entertainment experience than paying to sit in the middle of a cinema packed with young nerds munching popcorn and contributing a banal commentary on what is happening on the screen. I'm one of those loner weirdos who actually likes to be totally absorbed by a movie - without extraneous contributions by others. It's bad enough at home.

I've already seen one review of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. "Too much action." claimed a jealous Pommy bastard. That should sell a few more tickets.

Apparently the deal Paramount made with Harrison Ford, the director Steven Speilberg and the producer George Lucas is that they don't get any payment until there have been over four hundred million dollars worth of box office receipts. So their first cheques might be in the mail by next Tuesday. I want to say that the state-of-the-art website for the movie is one of the best I've ever seen.

But our spare cash will be aimed more directly at the pockets of George Lucas. Apparently he has the rights to the older telemovies, and the third boxed set of ten DVDs has just been released. That's going to take care of about $A80 in the next day or so. We'll probably be eating gruel next week. He'll be eating... I don't know. Maybe a family-bucket of KFC?

I gather that there were quite a few more telemovies produced in the 'Young Indie' series, but that there are no plans to release them. This is a pity, because what we've been watching have been really excellent family entertainment. Some of the best I have ever seen, and educational too - for all of us. Four stars from this neck of the wood$.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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