- "What a trial."
- ―Franz Kafka[src]
"Prague, August 1917" is the twenty-sixth episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and the twentieth episode in season two. Although it was produced for ABC and released in other territories, the episode went unaired in the United States. For home video, it was paired up with "Barcelona, May 1917" to become Espionage Escapades.
This is one of only four hour-long episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (along with "Istanbul, September 1918," "Paris, May 1919," and "Palestine, October 1917") to be made without bookend segments featuring George Hall as Old Indy.
Plot summary[]
Working for French Intelligence under the alias Amadeus Shooblegrueber, Indy is assigned to an apartment in Prague where "the fate of the civilised world" depends on his receiving a certain phone call, only to discover that the telephone has been removed. As Indy tries to get it reinstalled, he is drawn into a bureaucratic nightmare with only an insurance officer who investigates industrial accidents willing to help him.
Appearances[]
Cast and characters[]
- Sean Patrick Flanery as Indiana Jones
- Tim McInnerny as Franz Kafka
- Michael McShane as Anton Dvořák
- Nickolas Grace as The Prague Spy
- John Clive as Very Thin Man
- Colin Jeavons as Shifty Man
- Jan Kuzelka as Fat Man
- Bernard Bresslaw as Very Big Man
- Jirina Chlumská as Tram Woman
- Andrew McCulloch as Sergeant
- Milan Hein as Constable
- Ninka Scott as Cleaning Woman
- Peter Armitage as Small Man
- Bridget McConnell as Bun Lady
- Ludvik Poznik as Police Captain
- Philip Davis as Interrogator 1
- Peter-Hugo Daly as Interrogator 2
- Nicholas Selby as Judge
- Philip Whitchurch as Prosecutor
- Jan Sváb as Court Clerk
- Peter Majer as Brutal Guard
- Bill Wallis as Error Inspector
- Monika Záková as Desk Woman
- Jirí Krytinár as Small Man #2
- Peter Guinness as Mustachioed Man
- Harry Fowler as 1st Installer
- Trevor Bannister as 2nd Installer
Locations[]
- Amsterdam
- Austria-Hungary
- Bohemia
- Prague
- 150 Ruská Street
- Chauvin Atelier
- Department of Errors
- Ministry of Insurance
- Ministry of Police
- Ministry of Telephones
- Prague
- Bohemia
- Germany (Indirect mention)
- Berlin (Mentioned only)
Miscellanea[]
- Angel (Statue only)
Behind the scenes[]
Production[]
- Produced by: Rick McCallum
- Created by: George Lucas
- Music by: Laurence Rosenthal
- Written by: Gavin Scott
- Directed by: Robert Young
Principal photography for this episode took place during the production block from February 22, 1993 to April 21, 1993,[1] with location filming throughout Prague, Czech Republic, and soundstage shooting at Barrandov Studios in Prague. This is the only episode in which Prague represented itself instead of doubling for another location.[2]
Continuity[]
- As indicated by the day calendar in Indy's apartment, this episode occurs from August 5 to August 8, 1917, though the calendars there and at the various ministries indicate "August" instead of using the Czech word (Srpen) for the month.
- Most of the forms seen in the episode are also written in English, not Czech or German.
- Many of the predicaments Indy faces are themselves allusions to the titles of short stories by Franz Kafka, including "Before the Law," "On the Tram," "The Street Window," and "The Sudden Walk."
- Michael McShane's character shares his name with that of a noted Czech composer, but is not meant to be the same historical figure.
Release[]
Television[]
"Prague, August 1917" never aired in its original form in the United States. The episode's first known airing was in Sweden on December 5, 1993, and it is also known to have aired in the United Kingdom, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy between 1994 and 1997.[3]
Home video[]
This episode was edited into Espionage Escapades in 1996, which was not released on VHS but came out on DVD in 2007 (as part of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume Two, The War Years).
Soundtrack[]
Although none of the episode's score by composer Laurence Rosenthal was released on any official soundtrack, Rosenthal's two-disc promotional compilation Music for Television includes the track "The Amazing Flight of the Filing Cabinet" from this episode,[4] and some cues from it were used in the video game Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.[5]
Notes and references[]
See also[]
External links[]
| The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | |
|---|---|
| Episodes | |
| Related | |