Young Indiana Jones v01e01p02

My First Adventure - Tangiers, May 1908

Indy's second adventure is a direct-to-video episode that was shown on TV. Family Jones travels from Egypt to Morocco where Indy gets a bitter taste of real life. The theme of this episode is rather dark, exposing Indy to the concept of slavery and the horrors of child slavery. I honestly do not think that the episode could have been aired on US television without causing discussions that might have hurt the show. The (historically correct) topic combined with a strong religious setting (Islamic country) was simply a too hot potato.

Despite the possibilities the episode failed on several levels for me. Young Indy was a little brat in his first adventure but in this one his behavior is really bad. Of course this is part of the story because he is suppose to learn that he should not be a brat. Still it did not work for me, maybe it could have been written differently. Also Indy did not seem to get that his "friend" (the slave boy assigned to be his companion) might not have tried to save him because out of friendship. In reality he simply would have been punished or killed for not helping his master. This could have really been written more clever. The episode clearly shows that is has been filmed 5 years after Indy's adventure in Egypt. Corey Carrier looks and sounds different due to his age difference. This does not work when you are chronologically watching the show.

Something that did work was the story of how Indy learned to use makeup to disguise as a local. He will use this skill years later in the Barcelona episode when working as a spy. Setting stones for a canon overall story of his life is the way to do it. That way the child slavery topic and how it affected Indy's life can the reason for Indy's behavior in Temple of Doom. So the basic idea of the episode is good.