Jones6192
Since: Oct, 2010
11/28/2015 00:00:00
Hi there. This is Jon Rogers, the creator/star of "The Indiana Jones Interrogations".
I just want to thank you for this honest and constructive review of the series' first two episodes. I deeply appreciate being made aware of any shortcomings in the project's execution, and I will take note of the points you've made. In the spirit of Indy himself, this story is on some level being made up as it goes, so it's definitely a trial-by-error process. I hope you are still intrigued enough to watch further episodes, with the next one due for release very soon.
Thank you again for your honesty and respectful feedback.
Sincerely, Jonathan Rogers
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Two Episodes In...Where's The Beef?
After hearing about the intriguingly titled Indiana Jones Interrogations on tvtropes, I decided to give the first couple of episodes a watch (I would have watched more if I'd have found the other episodes on youtube). In short, it's got a lot of potential, but it has a lot to improve upon too.
It's a really novel idea; take an iconic action hero and force him into one spot, staring down the lens of an interrogator's camera. As a character study and a means of exploring the unseen side of a restless hero, there is a lot to work with. I could easily see the same format being used for other characters too - like Rick Deckard or Beatrix Kiddo.
Sadly the realisation leads a lot to be desired. I can appreciate that this is a labour of love that must have been done on a very shoe-string (shoeeist-stringiest?) budget by some particularly devoted fans, but a lot of the weaknesses I'm seeing in the series aren't a result of the cost or over-ambition. The writing is a bit weak, clichéd, and exposition heavy, and I have a hard time buying some of the dialogue. For instance, I would expect a young former pupil in a fairly formal, tense interrogation to refer to the prisoner as "Dr Jones", never "Indy".
A bigger scripting problem though is that the individual episodes seeming to lack any real emotional or story telling arc. A scene has to tell a story in and of itself, and in the first two episodes, the scene beats just seem to be "Indy makes a sarcastic comeback" over and over again. You don't really see his character change over the course of the conversation, and no one other than Indy get a real chance to shine. In fact they hardly register.
Finally, Indy's actor is a bit patchy too. You can tell a lot of time was spent trying to learn Indy's mannerisms, and sometimes the impression is spot on (the laugh at the end of episode two is uncanny). But other times it isn't so convincing, and I think the actor is really trying too hard to do a Harrison Ford impression, and not make Indy his own.
I haven't had chance to see the rest of the show, so I might be making a judgement prematurely, but I wasn't captivated with the little I saw.