Recap / Young Indiana Jones And The Attack Of The Hawkmen

Wars come and go. Humanity suffers, but knowledge and science survive.

Attack of the Hawkmen is the third of four TV movies produced between 1994 and 1996, made from what had originally been planned as episodes of the abortive third season of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. First broadcast on 8th October 1995. In chronological order, it is the twelfth instalment of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.

February 1917. Having returned from Africa, Indy and Remy train to become spies. They quickly wangle a transfer from Belgian military intelligence to its better-organised French equivalent, following which Indy is assigned to be an aerial reconnaissance photographer. When his plane is shot down, Indy encounters the Red Baron himself, Manfred von Richthofen. After a daring escape, Indy is reassigned to a special mission — to go to Germany and convince aircraft designer Anthony Fokker to defect to France. While there, he discovers a new German superweapon.

This episode contains examples of:

• Ace Pilot: The two who really stand out are Charles Nungesser and — of course — Manfred von Richthofen. Both are regarded by their respective sides as the best they've got, and by their respective enemies as the best of the other lot.
• Affably Evil: Like several other German officers encountered by Indy during his adventures, Manfred von Richthofen comes across as this. After taking Indy prisoner, Richthofen treats him to a nice lunch.
• Artistic Licence – History: A few examples concerning the Real Life individuals who Indy encounters.
  • One of the American pilots is Hobey Baker, who in Real Life did not serve as a pilot in World War I until after the USA declared war on Germany.
  • Hermann Göring (yes, that Hermann Göring) is one of the pilots having lunch with von Richthofen and Indy — although at the time, he was not serving in the same unit as von Richthofen.
  • Anthony Fokker is stated (correctly) to be a Dutchman working for Germany. However, it's also stated that, with the Netherlands being neutral in World War I, he chose to work for Germany (rather than, say, the British or the French) when the war started. In actual fact, Fokker had been operating an aircraft factory in Germany since 1912, and so would have been predisposed towards working for them anyway, even if the German government hadn't taken over his factory when the war started.
• Bait-and-Switch: The French officer who reviews Indy and Remy's transfer to French military intelligence realises straightaway that Indy faked the signature on the transfer request. It looks as though Indy's spying career is over before it's even started ... but then the French officer smiles, and says that they can definitely find a use for a young man like Indy.
• Boyfriend Bluff: A variation; when getting off the train, Indy avoids being recognised by quickly snogging the young lady who's been making eyes at him on the train. Afterwards, he gallantly kisses her hand before dashing off. She has no dialogue, and we never learn her name.
• Call-Back: This isn't the first time Indy's been taken prisoner by the Germans, although this time he is an officer, not masquerading as one. He also mentions his encounter with Albert Schweitzer, which is what inspired him to get into intelligence work as he feels he can make a difference there and help bring the war to an end.
• Call-Forward: This will not be the last time that Indiana Jones gets the better of a German officer asking him for his papers, or shot at by Germans while in an aeroplane for that matter (although this time, he's not piloting it). Nor will it be the last time that a secret German installation does not survive contact with Indiana Jones (although this time, bonus points for said secret installation being within Germany itself). There is also a nod to Last Crusade when Indy masquerades as a steward in the train restaurant car ... just while Fokker and the senor German officers he's with are talking about Zeppelins.
• Captain's Log: After the establishing shot of the Eiffel Tower (during a Zeppelin raid), the episode begins with Indy writing a letter to his friend Ned; the content of that letter is read out as a voiceover which briefly explains what he and Remy are doing in Paris (ie. training to become spies in the hope of bringing the war to a swift end).
• Cigar Chomper: Anthony Fokker. Indy steals his cigar box in order to use it as a makeshift camera. Fortunately, he thinks to take the cigars as well, which helps avoid blowing his cover when a German officer asks him for one.
• Chekhov's Gun: Or rather, Chekhov's shoes. The one with the knife doesn't exactly work as planned — it gets accidentally activated when Indy lands after his parachute jump, and he can't retract it, which almost blows his cover within minutes. Somewhat justified, as he was told that it was an experimental weapon which had never been issued to an agent before. It does actually come in useful later, but not in a fight situation — Indy uses it to make a hole in Fokker's cigar box so he can use it as a makeshift camera, along with the photographic equipment that was concealed in the heel of the other shoe.
• Chekhov's Skill: Indy's photography skills, demonstrated during his posting with the Layafette Escadrille, come in handy later on when he infiltrates the aircraft factory at Alhorn and is able to secretly photograph the Germans' superweapon — a massive, multi-engined aircraft capable (so it is said) of flying across the Atlantic and bombing New York. He doesn't need the photographs in the end, as the aircraft ends up getting totally destroyed, but still.
• Eagle Squadron: Indy is temporarily assigned to be the reconnaissance photographer for the Layafette Escadrille, a French Air Force squadron comprised mostly of of volunteer American pilots. The setting is shortly before the USA declared war on Germany.
• Eiffel Tower Effect: The episode opens with a Zeppelin raid on Paris, with a shot of the Eiffel Tower being used to establish that it is indeed Paris that's being bombed.
• Fire-Forged Friends: The pilots of the Layafette Escadrille are, thanks to their shared experiences, a rather close-knit group — but they are quick to accept Indy (their latest reconnaissance photographer) as one of their own.
• Foregone Conclusion: Anyone familiar with the history of aviation in World War I will note that said history does not include the Dutch aircraft designer Anthony Fokker defecting from Germany to the French. Indy's mission to get him to do so is, therefore, doomed to fail. This will not be the last time that this will happen.
  • That said, anyone familiar with the history of aviation in World War I will also note that said history also doesn't include the Germans developing a massive, multi-engined aircraft capable of bombing New York. Because Indiana Jones destroyed both the prototype and the factory where it was built, of course...
• Gadgeteer Genius: French military intelligence has a few of these in room 13C. They provide Indy with a jacket that has maps on the pocket lining and secret pockets, a pair of Tricked-Out Shoes, a washkit in which the hair oil is actually invisible ink ... and a pair of spectacles, which don't have any secret function but are an essential part of his cover identity (as a man who is exempt from being called up due to poor eyesight).
• Go-Karting with Bowser: After shooting him down and claiming him as his prisoner, von Richthofen insists on treating Indy to a nice lunch.
• Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: A variant — Indy steals the uniform of a German naval officer while he and several colleagues are having a communal shower.
• High-Class Glass: The German general (played by Jon Pertwee of all people) sports a monocle.
• Historical Domain Character: This time, Indy encounters Hobey Baker (who he already knows), Charles Nungesser, Manfred von Richthofen and his brother Lothar, Hermann Göring and Anthony Fokker.
• Indy Ploy: Discussed and enacted. Before flying Indy into Germany, Charles Nungesser offers Indy some valuable advice about improvising on the spot which he evidently takes to heart — and he does indeed have to improvise on his mission. When he finds that Anthony Fokker's travel plans have been changed at very short notice, the plan to meet with him goes out of the window, leaving Indy with no choice but to make it up on the fly. Subsequently, he takes a train and disguises himself as a steward to delivery the message to Fokker, and then bluffs his way into the factory where Germany's new superweapon is being developed in order get a reply from him. After that, he acts on his own initiative to get a photograph of said superweapon, and ends up going one better by destroying both it and the factory where it was built.
  Charles: Whether it's flying or spying, one must always be willing to improvise. To take what you've been given, add some imagination and just charge ahead. Full throttle, and no brakes!
• Insufferable Genius: Anthony Fokker comes across as one of these.
• Just Plane Wrong: A ten-engined triplane capable of flying across the Atlantic (and back, presumably)? In 1917? It is presumably based on the Siemens-Schuckert Forssman, a prototype four-engined biplane developed in Germany in 1915, of which only one example was made.
• Man Hug: After being assigned to different military intelligence postings, Indy and Remy share one of these before going their separate ways.
• Nom de Guerre: As with the other wartime episodes, Indy is serving in the Belgian Army under the alias "Henri Défense" (this being the name he used to sign up). It's a sign that he's become accepted by the pilots of the Layafette Escadrille when they start referring to him as "Indy".
• "Not So Different" Remark: As far as Fokker is concerned, there's not much difference between the two opposing sides in the war. Although from a neutral country, he works for one side and has been subject to more than one approach from the other.
  Indy: You're working for the Hun. They're warmongers. You're making machines that kill.
  Fokker: Oh, come now, captain. What am I to call you? "Captain D"? You have come here to encourage me to put my genius to work for France instead of Germany. But you still want me to make machines that kill. You do not want me to make Christmas decorations!
  Indy: It certainly means something whether your work is put to the use of good or evil.
  Fokker: The Germans think they represent the good, and the French are evil. I'm a scientist, not a philosopher.
• Oh, Crap!: Indy has a few in this episode, the biggest being when he realises that not only is he being flown into Germany for his mission to get Anthony Fokker to defect, he's going to have to jump from the plane with a parachute.
  Indy: I've got a bad feeling about this.
• Reality Has No Subtitles: Indy's conversation with the German police officer, which takes place just after he has parachuted into Hanover (and barely managed to hide the parachute) is in German, with no subtitles — although it's clear that the policeman is asking who he is, and if he has his identity papers.
• Red Baron: Indy doesn't just meet the Trope Namer, he has lunch with him and becomes responsible (via a snarky comment made during said lunch) for him deciding to paint his plane red.
• Remember the New Guy?: Hobey, one of the American pilots, knew Indy when he (Hobey) was a student at Princeton University — which the real Hobey Baker was, from 1910 to 1914. Somewhat downplayed, though, as we didn't see too much of Indy's youth in Princeton in the show (just one episode, in fact).
  Hobey: I don't believe this. Guys, this captain we've been sent is the same little punk who used to run errands for me back in college.
• La Résistance: After telling the French officer that he can cook, Remy is assigned to be a café-owner ... in Brussels, which is under German occupation. This is, of course, cover for his being a key contact for the Belgian resistance network.
• Shout-Out: To From Russia with Love, given what's in Indy's left shoe.
  • The mission Remy gets sent off to sounds reminiscent of Secret Army.
• Spy School: A very brief example at the start sees Indy and Remy learn spycraft after joining Belgian military intelligence. Indy uses his new-found skills to forge a document requesting that he and Remy be transferred to French military intelligence (which Indy realises is much better organised than the Belgian equivalent). The French officer sees through the ruse, but is so impressed by Indy's resourcefulness that he approves the transfer anyway.
• Stuff Blowing Up: There are explosions galore in the climax, which takes place in an aircraft factory full of tanks of hydrogen. As Fokker and the German officers are looking at Germany's new superweapon aircraft (a ten-engined triplane, no less), Indy's presence is discovered, leading to a fight with some mooks. In the course of this, a gun is fired, triggering a series of explosions, each one bigger than the last. The factory is completely destroyed in the process — along with the afore-mentioned new superweapon aircraft.
• Sue Donym: When preparing for his mission into Germany, Indy — or, to use his Nom de Guerre, Henri Défense — is referred to by French military intelligence as "Captain D". When Charles (who has been tasked with flying "Captain D" into Germany) realises who "Captain D" is, he remarks that he should have guessed that it would be Indy.
• Tempting Fate: When Indy's time with the Layafette Escadrille is up, he expresses relief at the fact that he will never have to fly again. Guess what his next assignment involves...
  • During that next assignment, Charles Nungesser (who's flying Indy behind enemy lines) remarks that after the war, he's going to attempt to fly across the Atlantic. In Real Life, he would disappear while attempting this in 1927, several weeks before Charles Linbergh succeeded in achieving this feat.
• Tricked-Out Shoes: For his mission into Germany, Indy is given a pair of shoes. The right one has a hollow heel containing the components required for Indy to make a camera should he need one (other than a box with a hole in it, which he'll have to source from somewhere), and the left shoe has a retractable knife.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: We never learn what happens to Green, the pilot who was flying the plane when he and Indy were shot down by von Richthofen. Due to his injuries (he's shot by the German infantry who come to capture them after they crash-land), he gets taken to a hospital and so doesn't attend the lunch with von Richthofen and the other German pilots. We never learn whether or not he survived, although if he did he would probably have spent the rest of the war in captivity.
• Worthy Opponent: Nungesser and von Richthofen seem to regard each other as this.
• Young Future Famous People: One of the German officers who has lunch with von Richthofen and Indy is a young (and not-yet-a-Nazi) Hermann Göring.