Spring Break Adventure contains the standalone episodes, Princeton, February 1916 and (finally) the second half of Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal, which is something we began back in My First Adventure. For the completists, the second half of Curse of the Jackal could also be called Mexico, March 1916. Good grief all this editing the series did really does my head in. Let’s push past that now.
The first thing you notice, now that we’re in the Sean Patrick Flanery era of the show is that Indy can do so much more. He has a fair degree of autonomy and episodes don’t have to be written around him sneaking away from his carers, or being led astray by other children (or leading other children astray). We’re instantly in a more interesting period for the character and it’s a genuine breath of fresh air.
Princeton, February 1916 is immediately interesting from a 2024 perspective as it kicks off with Indy reading Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout, a 1910 (!) novel about an electric car. This ties into a number of aspects in the episode – from Thomas Edison appearing a few times and commenting on perfecting batteries for use in cars (this was not a common topic on television in 1993!), to the creator of Tom Swift, Edward Stratemeyer, being in the episode as the father of Indy’s girlfriend, Nancy. This is quite fun as Stratemeyer also invented the Nancy Drew character and Nancy Stratemeyer acts like Nancy Drew in this episode, working like a teenage detective with Indy to solve the puzzle of some stolen plans of Edison’s. The more I think about it, the more charming it is, and I really wouldn’t have minded if there was a second episode with Indy and Nancy doing their double act and Spring Break Adventure could have been just Indy and Nancy having wholesome adventures in their home town. They’re great together.
I also appreciated that common tropes are turned on their head in this episode. Stratemeyer, for example, seems delighted that Indy and Nancy are hanging out all the time and something of an item. He’s not the usual overly-protective father. He also wants Indy to drive Nancy to the school dance in his Bugatti; this isn’t a tale where the kids have to steal the family car. Meanwhile, the local police seem somewhat pleased – or at the very least not angry – when Indy and Nancy get involved in solving the Edison case. All of this is mildly discombobulating as you sit there realising, “Oh, you’re not going to act like someone in your position would act in 99% of other TV shows and movies…” and it’s quite pleasing.
Onto Mexico, March 1916 – or the second half of Curse of the Jackal – and the first thing to notice is how different the budget is from the Princeton, February 1916 episode. This makes sense as it’s the second part of the introductory Young Indy story where we had Corey Carrier and Co. running around Egypt in the first half and here we have Indy riding with the Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa and a large number of his men, while a sizeable US Army under John J. Pershing (and featuring a wild cameo from a young George S. Patton), chases them. There are planes, there are trains, there are massive battles and huge explosions. The show’s never been ‘budget’ but it hasn’t done this before, either.
On a smaller scale, this section sees Indy shoot (but not kill), his first man. The killing of the man is done by Remy Baudouin – a Belgian who Indy meets in Pancho Villa’s forces, and who will become very important to him in a number of upcoming adventures. It’s also worth noting that the story kicks off with Indy visiting his cousin Frank in New Mexico where they tell their parents (or in Indy’s case, just his father as it’s revealed that Anna Jones is now dead in the timeline), that they’re going camping. In reality, Frank has located a brothel, which they are intending to frequent. I’ve mentioned in past reviews how the TV from this era feels like a different time, and I’m really not sure something designed to educate children about history here in 2024 would have its 16 year old hero eager to go to a bordello.
Together, the stories are as unrelated as any of the movies we’ve already looked at – and that remains a problem with the way these movies are shoehorned together – but they’re both perfectly fine adventures in their own right. Indy having an adventure with his own Nancy Drew in the first half is charming and fun, and riding with Pancho Villa and finally getting revenge on a character from back in the first movie is satisfying, so long as you turn your brain off a little and go with the ‘vibe’ of these stories. Shakespeare they are not, but with a dash of history and the unspoken encouragement to go and pick up a book and learn more about what you’ve just seen, they’re great. An easy 7.5/10 for me.