Young Indiana Jones was one of the most underrated ideas George Lucas ever had. The series, which ran on network TV from 1992-1994, served as a prequel to the classic film franchise, as well as a tool to educate viewers on world history. The War Years is the second of three volumes of the series, serving up some of Young Indy's finest adventures - and a plethora of bonus documentaries. ***

This series was a hit because George Lucas was able to serve up the best of both words. Fans of the film franchise who wanted more of the character got it, with a series that explored his younger years and early adventures. Likewise, viewers young and old alike who wanted to learn about history now had an entertaining way of doing so. Lucas himself stated that the series was intended for high school-aged audience - and I seriously wish my high school history teachers had shown it! Several guest stars appeared on the show, and this season's guests include Christopher Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Daniel Craig. The War Years features Indy in World War I, as the series becomes darker and more dramatic. ***

The set is broken into nine discs. Discs one through eight each feature one of the episodes of the series, meaning there are eight episodes total in the set. Each episode disc includes the associated documentaries, whereas the ninth is devoted to the interactive bonus material. ---

Image And Sound:

Sadly, the DVD falters here. Considering the remastering job George Lucas and company have given us on other DVDs, including the Star Wars Trilogy and the Indiana Jones feature films, the image quality here isn't up to snuff. It's not horrible, and it's definitely better than watching your old VHS copies, but you'd think for the price being charged here some effort would have been given to cleaning up the image quality. Sound quality falls in the same area - good but not great, and you'll wish it would have been cleaned up a little more.

There are a TON of documentaries on this disc - over two dozen. All eight episodes have 2-4 documentaries associated with the historical figures/events/etc. explored in the respective episode. For instance, an episode in which Indy meets up with Mata Hari features a documentary on her. While these documentaries are great supplements to the situations explored in the episodes, this material is a bit excessive. The interactive bonuses on the ninth disc are nothing worth writing home about, either. The price of this set is ridiculously high (Amazon lists the MSRP as $130, and even their discounted price is $80 - still insanely high for a TV show on DVD.) It makes you wonder if Lucas could have aborted the extras and given us a bare bones set with fewer discs at a considerably cheaper price.

Final Words: