Indy Timeline: 1916
Spring Break Adventure marks a significant shift in the Young Indiana Jones series- it is the first episode featuring an older teenaged Indy, portrayed by Sean Patrick Flannery, rather than a younger pre-teen Indy (Corey Carrier). The “feature film” is broken up between two parts, the first featuring a rollicking Hardy-boys style adventure and the second a continuation of the quest for the Jackal featured in “My First Adventure,” but now set in Mexico. As always, there is a strange bridging sequence to connect these two unrelated episodes.
To be honest, I really didn’t mind the first half of the story. It takes place with Indy in high school in Princeton, working as a “soda jerk” at the local diner, primarily concerned about getting a car to take his date to the prom. It is loaded with “Americana” clichés, but the camp works here overall. The episode features Edward Stratemeyer as the father of Indy’s girlfriend, and given that he was the author of Tom Swift, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and countless other adventure stories of that era, it is a fun twist to essentially make the episode like one of those adventures. “Nancy” Stratemeyer – Indy’s girlfriend – is clearly based on Nancy Drew, and the two must step in and solve the mystery surrounding a robbery at Edison Laboratories!
A scientist is kidnapped! Thomas Edison’s top secret plans are stolen! Was it the Germans? Is something more sinister at play? GEE WIZ! I can’t wait to find out!
This is all very cheesy, but it is self-aware, and frankly, I enjoyed the ride. Sean Patrick Flannery is a welcomed change from Corey Carrier, even though he can be a bit whiney, goofy and klutzy in this episode. Nancy is right to call him a “ninny.”
The first half of the “movie” culminates with a car chase, which includes sound effects and musical cues from the first three movies. This is great, but once the mystery is “solved” and the culprit revealed, there is a strange bridging sequence which was clearly filmed years later. Flannery looks a bit sickly in these sequences and has thinning hair, even though he is supposed to be 16 years old.
This is odd, but there is some key content here, including a mention of Mrs. Jones’ death from influenza. Ruth de Sosa is officially off the show forever.
This culminates in a “road trip” sequence (hence the “Spring Break” title of the episode) in which Indy and his cousin make their way down to Mexico in the hopes of seeing a burlesque show. How risqué! Upon reaching the US border town, things quickly get out of hand when Pancho Villa’s men raid it, stealing valuables and killing those who get in their way!
Indy springs to action, jumping onto a horse and chasing after one of the bandits who stole a damsel’s dresses. He immediately gets in over his head, however, and his heroics end with him captured by Villa and being lined up before a firing squad. Villa shows Indy mercy at the last moment and spares his life, and in gratitude, a whiney Sean Patrick Flannery decides that he wants to join Villa’s cause and fight for Mexican liberation!
This all seemed very impulsive and strange to me- Indy’s first experience of war was to fight AGAINST the American expeditionary force? Indy had just been fighting Villa and trying to recover some of the valuables he stole from the innocent women of the border town. Moments later, Villa gives a vague explanation of fighting for Mexican liberation and Indy immediately signs up? Ehh…
In spite of this weird plot device, there are some fun sequences- a young George Patton picks a fight at a bar filled with Villa sympathizers and makes quick work of them. He drives back to the American camp with three dead Mexicans tied to the hood of his car (true to the legend).
Villa’s men decide to turn their attention to a bank heist and Indy is given his first gun. His instructions are simple: “one rule- stay alive!!!” During the assault, he gets into close contact with the enemy and shoots a man in the chest before running to his aid squealing: “I’M SO SORRY!!!! I DIDN’T MEAN IT!!!!” Ehhh…
There is lots of action in this part of the “movie,” but I thought that Indy’s character was erratic and distinctly unlike the Indy from the original three films. After Villa’s gang trashes a fancy house and watches some newsreels about the “Great War” in Europe, Indy decides that Villa’s war in Mexico is not the war for him, but thinks that perhaps the one in Europe is. Before setting off for Europe with a new rotund Belgian friend (Remy), there is a seemingly tacked-on sequence involving a fight for the Egyptian jackal featured in “My First Adventure”. The action was intense here, but the plot device seemed weak and almost an afterthought.
Overall, “Spring Break Adventure” is another example of a strangely paced and uneven Young Indiana Jones experience. That said, it is one of the better ones to this point and neither Ruth de Sosa nor Corey Carrier are anywhere to be seen.
Indy Rating: 6.5/10
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