The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, originally titled The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, is a fascinating show with an unusual existence. It was created by George Lucas as an educational program and only aired on ABC from 1992 to 1993, but it has been re-edited and re-released multiple times since then. The series, which consists of 22 “chapters,” follows the early life of the titular character as he travels the world, meets historical figures and takes part in many real-world events of the early 20th century.
It was an intriguing premise, as following a character like Indy through his early life allowed for plenty of interesting stories. And while the series was made for families in mind, there were plenty of instances where it delved into more mature content. Whether it was to depict the horrors of war or to show the shadiness of some historical figures, the series never shied away from going dark when it needed to. With that being said, none of Young Indiana Jones reached quite the level of darkness or strangeness that Chapter 17 did when Indy faced off against a vampire.
The chapter, titled The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Masks of Evil, was a compilation of two episodes from the show’s original run, “Istanbul, September 1918” and “Transylvania, January 1918." The first part focused on a secret mission in Istanbul that Indy (Sean Patrick Flanery) undertook during World War I. The second part, however, takes a detour, as Indy and a team go on a mission to Transylvania to take down a Romanian separatist general by the name of Mattias Targo. (Bob Peck) When they arrive at his castle, it does not take long before Indy and his team discovers something far more sinister going on -- General Targo is actually a vampiric reincarnation of Vlad the Impaler.
Any viewer familiar with this historical figure will know just how morbid things could get, and the show, surprisingly, does not hold back as much as one would expect. The episode is filled with levels of blood, gore and imagery that would be on par with some of the more grotesque moments from Indy’s theatrical films. Severed limbs, impaled corpses and large amounts of blood all show up in this made-for-tv film. There is even a scene that has one character brutally tortured and mutilated behind a curtain while everyone else helplessly listens to him scream. And while viewers never fully see the deaths occur, the implication is enough to make this episode of Young Indiana Jones one of the darkest entries in the series.
The episode is also one of the strangest installments in the franchise. While the Indiana Jones series is by no means lacking in supernatural elements, it rarely ever went beyond a few set-pieces. This is especially true for its television counterpart. Young Indiana Jones’ more grounded “educational” approach to storytelling did not allow the show to explore the mystical territory the way the films did. So, it was a little bizarre to see an episode of the series go into such unfamiliar territory.
However, This serves in the episode's favor, as the brief detour into the vampire genre was a welcome change of pace. Being able to see a young Indy fight with something as unfamiliar as a vampire felt unique to the franchise, and any fan of Indiana Jones should consider giving it a watch this Halloween season.