^Man, you really have an obsession with watching big bad movies
@Jrzag42 . lol
My own particular obsession continues, as I dive back in for the 3rd mini-marathon of
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1996). These are where they basically take 2 episodes from "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" TV show (1992-'93) and then stitch them together chronologically, sometimes with added footage, to form movies. The first few featured a child Indy adventuring with family, then the next set had Sean Patrick Flannery as a teen Indy fighting in WWI. The next few films see him ostensibly working as a spy, though honestly they're a grabbag of jobs and locales...
Adventures in the Secret Service
A decent pair of adventures that see Indy meeting Karl Hapsburg and Vladimir Lenin. The connective tissue to get him jumping all over the world is often kind of ridiculous (as here) and I'm never quite sold on spying being a good fit for the character.
Espionage Escapades
A pair of full-on comic misadventures, this is
a real low point for the series. The second part here was never even aired, and I don't know who thought Indy fans needed a full film exploring the meaning of "Kafkaesque". I wasn't the hugest fan of the talking-down writing of the young Indy child episodes, but this is even worse.
Daredevils of the Desert
A real coherent whole film with strong guest stars and good action footage. This is
the best of this lot, and feels closest to a made-for-TV version of the Indiana Jones we know and love.
Tales of Innocence
A second grouping of romantic Indy adventures, the first one is pretty silly (and unaired) whereas
the 2nd one is actually pretty interesting, with Indy developing a bond with a much older Edith Wharton. Also, has palace intrigue in the desert!
Masks of Evil
An
oddly mish-mashed thriller episode that tries to be
The Conversation and mostly misses gets smashed up with a mystical vampire episode. Is vampirism any weirder or sillier than immortal Templars or ghost boxes or crystal skulls? Maybe not on paper, but it sure is here. The series was canceled before this even aired.
Overall, these episodes feel like part of why the series moved away from regular broadcast and into TV movies. The production values are really high for TV, but the writing is a really mixed bag. Flannery shone as an earnest young soldier, but in many of these episodes he doesn't communicate that he's even playing the same person from the theatrical films. His Indy can come off as whiny and childish, even wimpy at times. There's little of the grit and canniness of the later character that eventually becomes gruffness and machismo. A lot of these episodes just don't do him any favors, but I'm hoping that the post-War adventures pick things up.