The Ultimate Guide to The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones

Before prestige TV, before cinematic universes were branded into existence and long before 'educational' meant a YouTube algorithm, "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones" attempted to do something wildly ambitions: to turn Indiana Jones into a globetrotting history lesson and somehow make it fun? The result was a series that was way ahead of its time, completely misunderstood upon its release, re-edited into something else entirely and ultimately became one of the most fascinating 'what ifs" in television history. This is the ultimate guide to The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (formerly known as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles).

Why The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Was Made at All

To understand why The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones  exists, you have to forget everything franchises do now and remember where George Lucas was then.

This was not a man that was chasing relevance. This was a man deliberately stepping away from the giant spectacles he was known for.

By the late 1980s, Lucas had already done the thing most creators spend their entire careers chasing. Star Wars had permanently altered pop culture. Indiana Jones had redefined cinematic adventure. Lucasfilm was financially secure, culturally untouchable and technologically forward-looking.

Which meant Lucas was free to ask a very un-Hollywood question:

What do I actually want to say now?

The answer, surprisingly, was history.

The Idea That Predated the Icon

The concept of a young Indiana Jones didn’t come after the movies - it actually came before them. Long before Raiders of the Lost Ark was a cultural juggernaut, Lucas imagined Indiana Jones as a man shaped by the early 20th century. The relic hunting came later. The worldview came first.

It was during the production of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that the specific idea of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles came to him. Having River Pheonix play a young Indiana Jones in the film, Lucas saw that actually telling the story of young Indy could work.

Lucas has always been obsessed with myth (watch any of his films to see this), but by the late ’80s his interest had shifted toward how myths are formed - how people become who they are through exposure, failure and contradiction. He didn’t want to explore Indy’s childhood to create Easter eggs. He wanted to map the psychological and philosophical road that leads to the man in the fedora.

That meant focusing on the moments before the whip mattered.

Post–Star Wars Lucas Was a Different Creator - An Educational One

By the time Young Indiana Jones entered development, when it was called The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Lucas was in a reflective phase. The original Star Wars trilogy was complete. The pressure of proving himself was gone. What remained was a desire to use his resources for something that felt… constructive.

Lucas had long expressed frustration with how history was taught - flattened into dates, names and inevitabilities. He believed history should feel alive, full of chance encounters and unresolved arguments. Television, not film, felt like the right medium for that ambition.

The goal wasn’t to dramatize history as spectacle. It was to humanize it. It was to make it accessible for you and for me. 

Young Indiana Jones was conceived as a Trojan horse: an adventure brand that could smuggle real historical context into living rooms without feeling like homework for the audience.

Why Television - and Why Then?

The late 1980s and early 1990s were a strange, transitional moment for television. Cable television was expanding. Prestige TV didn’t exist yet, but anthology storytelling was still viable. Educational programming still had cultural legitimacy. And George Lucas saw an opening.

Television allowed for patience. It allowed for detours. It allowed for episodes where nothing explodes but ideas collide. More importantly, it allowed for scale. This wasn’t meant to be one story - it was meant to be a life, unfolding across continents and decades.

Lucasfilm poured resources into the production accordingly. International shoots. Period accuracy. Linguistic detail. The series was wildly expensive by TV standards, especially for something that wasn’t chasing mass-market thrills.

That expense wasn’t indulgence. It was philosophy made tangible.

Indiana Jones as a Curriculum, Not a Brand

From the start, the series was designed around the idea that Indiana Jones wouldn’t be the most important character in the room. History would be.

Young Indy moves through revolutions, wars, artistic movements, and political upheaval not as a savior but as a participant - sometimes useful, often irrelevant, always changed. That choice was intentional. Lucas wanted viewers, especially younger ones, to understand that history is not driven by lone heroes.

It’s driven by systems, movements, and people with conflicting beliefs.

That’s a risky lesson to attach to a blockbuster icon.

The Network Compromise

When ABC came on board, there was already tension baked into the project. ABC wanted Indiana Jones. Lucas wanted Young Indiana Jones.

What ABC got was a series that often refused to behave like a network drama. Episodes of the series varied wildly in tone. Action was often intermittent. Dialogue actually carried weight. And some episodes played more like historical short stories than episodic TV.

The elderly Indiana Jones framing device - played by George Hall  - was Lucas’s way of anchoring it emotionally, reinforcing that these stories were about memory and consequence. It was also the first thing to be removed once ratings became a concern.

That tension never resolved. The show didn’t fail because it lacked quality. It failed because it refused to simplify itself to the lowest common denominator.

What Lucas Was Really Trying to Do

At its core, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones was an attempt to redefine what franchise storytelling could be. Not louder. Not bigger. Just… deeper.

Lucas wasn’t interested in telling fans what they already knew. He was interested in showing them something they hadn’t considered: that Indiana Jones’s greatest weapon was never the whip. It was perspective.

And television - slow, thoughtful, occasionally frustrating television - was the only place that story could exist at that time.

For many fans, the story of Indiana Jones begins with a boulder chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark and ends with a sunset ride in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but the man under the fedora lived a lifetime of adventure long before he ever set foot in that Peruvian temple. And as you know, we ain't "many fans". George Lucas’s ambitious experiment, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, took viewers on a sprawling journey through the early 20th century, blending high-stakes action with real-world history. However, thanks to cancellation, re-edits and a complete restructuring into feature-length "Chapters" for home release, watching the series today can feel like trying to solve an ancient riddle without a headpiece. Whether you are a die-hard completionist or a newcomer curious about Indy’s WWI years, this guide is your Rosetta Stone. Below, we’ve mapped out the entire saga - from the original ABC broadcast order to the streamlined "TV Movies" - so you can finally navigate Indy’s history without getting lost in the translation.

Daniel Craig, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Christopher Lee, Venessa Redgrave, Jeffrey Wright, Elizabeth Hurley, Anne Heche, Peter Firth and Paul Freeman are just some of the numerous guests stars in the series. 

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Daniel Craig, Christopher Lee, Clark Gregg, Tom Courtenay, Peter Firth, Vanessa Redgrave, Beata Pozniak, Jennifer Ehle, Elizabeth Hurley, Timothy Spall, Anne Heche, Paul Freeman, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Jeffrey Wright, Jeroen Krabbé, Jason Flemyng, Michael Kitchen, Kevin McNally, Francisco Quinn, Ian McDiarmid, Max von Sydow, Douglas Henshall, Jon Pertwee, Sean Pertwee, Vincenzo Nicoli, Terry Jones, Keith David, Lukas Haas, Frank Vincent, Jay Underwood, Michael Gough, Maria Charles, Elsa Zylberstein, Isaach de Bankolé, Emil Abossolo-Mbo, Haluk Bilginer and Saginaw Grant.^[6]

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Episode Guide

Original Broadcast: Season 1 (ABC)

Pilot Movie Title: Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal
Airdate: March 4, 1992
Synopsis: In the prologue, Indy (Harrison Ford) finds a jackal scepter in a cave. In 1908, young Indy (Corey Carrier) visits Egypt, meets T.E. Lawrence, and gets involved in a tomb robbery. In 1916, teen Indy (Sean Patrick Flanery) gets involved with Pancho Villa in Mexico and encounters the same jackal scepter.

Episode 2
Title: London, May 1916
Airdate: March 11, 1992
Synopsis: Indy is in London working as a bus conductor. He falls in love with a suffragette named Vicky and meets Winston Churchill. After a Zeppelin raid kills an old friend, he and his friend Remy decide to enlist in the Belgian Army.

Episode 3
Title: British East Africa, September 1909
Airdate: March 18, 1992
Synopsis: Indy goes on a safari in Kenya with Teddy Roosevelt. He becomes determined to find a rare oryx but gets lost in the bush, where he learns survival skills and respect for nature from a Maasai boy.

Episode 4
Title: Verdun, September 1916|
Airdate: March 25, 1992
Synopsis: Now a soldier, Indy works as a motorcycle courier on the Western Front. He meets French Generals Pétain and Nivelle but becomes disillusioned when he sees the callous way they sacrifice troops, witnessing the execution of a deserter.

Episode 5
Title: German East Africa, December 1916
Airdate: April 1, 1992
Synopsis: Promoted to Lieutenant, Indy leads a unit of African Askari soldiers. He struggles to earn their respect and battles the inherent racism of his white commanding officers while trying to capture a German outpost.

Episode 6
Title: Congo, January 1917
Airdate: April 8, 1992
Synopsis: Indy leads a trek through the jungle to retrieve medicine for his dying men. He encounters perils like crocodiles and disease before meeting Albert Schweitzer, whose philosophy of "Reverence for Life" changes Indy's perspective on the war.

Original Broadcast: Season 2 (ABC)

Episode 1
Title: Austria, March 1917
Airdate: September 21, 1992
Synopsis: Now working for French Intelligence, Indy must escort the Princes of Bourbon-Parma into Austria to deliver a secret peace proposal to Emperor Karl I, all while avoiding German spies.

Episode 2
Title: Somme, August 1916
Airdate: September 28, 1992
Synopsis: A flashback to Indy's time as a corporal in the trenches. His unit suffers devastating losses during a charge. He faces the terror of gas attacks and the death of his friends.

Episode 3
Title: Germany, August 1916
Airdate: October 5, 1992
Synopsis: Captured by the Germans, Indy is imprisoned in a fortress POW camp. He attempts multiple escapes, eventually teaming up with Charles de Gaulle.

Episode 4
Title: Barcelona, May 1917
Airdate: October 12, 1992
Synopsis: Indy meets Pablo Picasso again and gets a job with the Ballets Russes. He also tries to help three bumbling international spies who are more comical than dangerous.

Episode 5
Title: Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues (2-Hour Special)
Airdate: March 13, 1993
Synopsis: Opens with Harrison Ford as Indy in 1950 Wyoming. In 1920 Chicago, Indy waits tables, learns to play jazz saxophone from Sidney Bechet, rooms with Eliot Ness, and solves a murder mystery involving Al Capone.

Episode 6
Title: Princeton, February 1916
Airdate: March 20, 1993
Synopsis: Back in high school, Indy tries to get a date for the prom. He navigates teenage rivalry and his father's strict expectations, meeting Thomas Edison to help with a science project.

Episode 7
Title: Petrograd, July 1917
Airdate: March 27, 1993
Synopsis: Indy is sent to Russia to help keep the government in the war against Germany. He witnesses the chaos of the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of Vladimir Lenin.

Episode 8
Title: Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920 (2-Hour Special)
Airdate: April 3, 1993
Synopsis: In New York City, Indy works in the theater world. He juggles three different girlfriends and jobs, encountering George Gershwin and the critics of the Algonquin Round Table.

Episode 9
Title: Vienna, November 1908
Airdate: April 10, 1993
Synopsis: Young Indy falls for Princess Sophie, the daughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He receives conflicting romantic advice from Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler.

Episode 10
Title: Northern Italy, June 1918
Airdate: April 17, 1993
Synopsis: Indy drives an ambulance in Italy. He competes with a brash young Ernest Hemingway for the affections of a beautiful nurse.

Episode 11
Title: Young Indiana Jones and the Phantom Train of Doom (2-Hour Special)
Airdate: June 5, 1993
Synopsis: Indy returns to Africa to find and destroy a massive German railgun that keeps disappearing. He works with a team of eccentric, aging demolitions experts.

Episode 12
Title: Ireland, April 1916
Airdate: June 12, 1993
Synopsis: While working his way to London, Indy stops in Ireland. He becomes embroiled in the cultural and political tensions leading up to the Easter Rising rebelion.

Episode 13
Title: Paris, May 1919
Airdate: June 19, 1993
Synopsis: The war is over. Indy works as a translator at the Paris Peace Conference. He sees the cynicism of the "Big Three" leaders as they carve up the map of the world, ignoring the pleas of smaller nations.

Episode 14
Title: Peking, March 1910
Airdate: June 26, 1993
Synopsis: Young Indy falls critically ill with typhoid fever in China. While he hallucinates, his mother Anna fights for his life, and his father Henry Sr. struggles with his inability to express emotion.

Episode 15
Title: Benares, January 1910
Airdate: July 3, 1993
Synopsis: In India, Indy meets Jiddu Krishnamurti, a boy chosen by Theosophists to be a world teacher. They sneak away to experience "normal" childhood fun.

Episode 16
Title: Paris, October 1916
Airdate: July 10, 1993
Synopsis: On leave in Paris, Indy has a passionate affair with the exotic dancer Mata Hari, unaware that she is a German spy using him for information.

Episode 17
Title: Istanbul, September 1918
Airdate: July 17, 1993
Synopsis: Indy poses as a Swedish journalist in Constantinople to make contact with Turkish leaders and convince them to sign a separate peace treaty.

Episode 18
Title: Paris, September 1908
Airdate: July 24, 1993
Synopsis: Young Indy meets a young Norman Rockwell in Paris. They explore the bohemian lifestyle of Montmartre, crashing a party with Degas and Picasso.

Note: Four episodes (Florence, Prague, Transylvania, Tangiers) were produced for Season 2 but did not air on ABC due to cancellation of the series. They aired later on The Family Channel.

The Family Channel TV Movies (1994–1996)

These were produced to wrap up the series after ABC cancelled it, often utilizing the unaired footage from Season 2.

TV Movie 1
Title: Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies
Airdate: October 15, 1994
Synopsis: Indy goes to Hollywood in 1920. He clashes with director Erich von Stroheim and goes on a location shoot with John Ford, meeting an aging Wyatt Earp.

TV Movie 2
Title: Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye
Airdate: January 15, 1995
Synopsis: Following the end of WWI, Indy and Remy follow a map to a legendary diamond that belonged to Alexander the Great. The hunt takes them from London to Egypt to the South Pacific.

TV Movie 3
Title: Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen
Airdate: October 8, 1995
Synopsis: Indy joins the Lafayette Escadrille. He becomes an aerial photographer, dogfights with the Red Baron, and goes on a secret mission into Germany to steal aircraft plans from Anthony Fokker.

TV Movie 4
Title: Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father
Airdate: June 16, 1996
Synopsis: Young Indy runs away in Russia (meeting Tolstoy) and later travels through Greece with his father, where they bond in the monasteries of Meteora.

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Episode Guide

These are the edited "chapter" versions of the series, which typically combined two episodes of the original into each of the 22 feature length "adventure" films. These chapters are now the canonical versions currently on Disney+.

Chapter 1: My First Adventure
Original Parts: Curse of the Jackal (Egypt segment) + Tangiers, May 1908 (Unaired ABC episode)
Synopsis: Indy discovers archaeology in Egypt with T.E. Lawrence and is kidnapped by slave traders in Morocco.

Chapter 2: Passion for Life
Original Parts: British East Africa, 1909 + Paris, 1908
Synopsis: Indy learns respect for nature from Theodore Roosevelt in Kenya and explores the art world with Picasso in Paris.

Chapter 3: The Perils of Cupid
Original Parts: Vienna, 1908 + Florence, 1908 (Unaired ABC episode)
Synopsis: Indy experiences his first heartbreaks and learns about psychology from Freud and romance from Puccini.

Chapter 4: Travels with Father
Original Parts: Travels with Father (Family Channel Movie)
Synopsis: Indy and his father bridge their emotional gap while traveling through Russia and Greece.

Chapter 5: Journey of Radiance
Original Parts: Benares, 1910 + Peking, 1910
Synopsis: Indy explores spirituality in India and survives a deadly fever in China, bringing him closer to his mother.

Chapter 6: Spring Break Adventure
Original Parts: Princeton, 1916 + Curse of the Jackal (Mexico segment)
Synopsis: Indy deals with high school romance before riding with Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution.

Chapter 7: Love's Sweet Song
Original Parts: Ireland, 1916 + London, 1916
Synopsis: Indy experiences the Irish uprising and a romance in London before enlisting in the Great War.

Chapter 8: Trenches of Hell
Original Parts: Somme, 1916 + Germany, 1916
Synopsis: Indy survives the slaughter of the trenches and escapes a high-security German POW camp.

Chapter 9: Demons of Deception
Original Parts: Verdun, 1916 + Paris, 1916
Synopsis: Indy works as a courier at Verdun and has a doomed affair with the spy Mata Hari.

Chapter 10: Phantom Train of Doom
Original Parts: Phantom Train of Doom (ABC Special)
Synopsis: Indy hunts a German super-weapon in Africa.

Chapter 11: Oganga, The Giver and Taker of Life
Original Parts: German East Africa, 1916 + Congo, 1917
Synopsis: Sickened by the war, Indy leads a mission to find Albert Schweitzer in the Congo.

Chapter 12: Attack of the Hawkmen
Original Parts: Attack of the Hawkmen (Family Channel Movie)
Synopsis: Indy becomes a fighter pilot and spy for the French Secret Service.

Chapter 13: Adventures in the Secret Service
Original Parts: Austria, 1917 + Petrograd, 1917
Synopsis: Indy undertakes high-stakes diplomatic missions in Austria and Revolutionary Russia.

Chapter 14: Espionage Escapades
Original Parts: Barcelona, 1917 + Prague, 1917 (Unaired ABC episode)
Synopsis: Indy engages in comedic spy misadventures in Spain and battles bureaucracy in Prague with Kafka.

Chapter 15: Daredevils of the Desert
Original Parts: Daredevils of the Desert (Family Channel Movie)
Synopsis: Indy goes undercover in Palestine to help the Australian Lighthorsemen capture Beersheba.

Chapter 16: Tales of Innocence
Original Parts: Northern Italy, 1918 + Morocco, 1917 (Flashback segment)
Synopsis: Indy rivals Ernest Hemingway for a girl's love and hunts a traitor in the Foreign Legion.

Chapter 17: Masks of Evil
Original Parts: Istanbul, 1918 + Transylvania, 1918 (Unaired ABC episode)
Synopsis: Indy faces spies in Turkey and a vampire general in Romania.

Chapter 18: Treasure of the Peacock's Eye
Original Parts: Treasure of the Peacock's Eye (Family Channel Movie)
Synopsis: Indy searches for Alexander the Great's diamond across the globe after the war ends.

Chapter 19: Winds of Change
Original Parts: Paris, 1919 + Princeton, 1919 (Part of original "Mystery of the Blues" airdate)
Synopsis: Indy witnesses the Treaty of Versailles and decides to leave Princeton to pursue archaeology.

Chapter 20: Mystery of the Blues
Original Parts: Mystery of the Blues (ABC Special)
Synopsis: Indy learns jazz and fights the mob in 1920 Chicago.

Chapter 21: Scandal of 1920
Original Parts: Scandal of 1920 (ABC Special)
Synopsis: Indy works in the Broadway theater scene in New York.

Chapter 22: Hollywood Follies
Original Parts: Hollywood Follies (Family Channel Movie)
Synopsis: Indy works in the early film industry in Hollywood.

Ultimately, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is the missing link that transforms Henry Jones Jr. from a Saturday matinee action hero into a fully realized character shaped by the triumphs and tragedies of the 20th century. It explains the cynicism he carries in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the skills he displays in Temple of Doom and the complicated relationship with his father in Last Crusade. We hope this guide helps you navigate the shifting sands of the series' release history, allowing you to experience these stories exactly as you prefer. So grab your journal, pack your fedora and let me know if you are discovering the adventures of Young Indy for the first time?