As we open into teen Indy's classroom at 42:41 on the DVD, the teacher has written the name Edith Wharton on the blackboard. Wharton (1862-1937) was an American writer who would go on to be the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature in 1921 for the novel The Age of Innocence. Indy will meet her in 1917 in "Tales of Innocence".

Indy's girlfriend Nancy Stratemeyer makes a cameo at the beginning of this episode. She previously appeared in "Race to Danger".

Indy tells Nancy his father is taking him to Albuquerque to visit his aunt for spring break. Since Indy says "aunt", that would tend to imply that she is the blood relative of the Joneses, not her husband, Indy's Uncle Fred (plus, when they meet up, Fred is heard at breakfast to refer to Henry, Sr. as "Professor"). That, in turn, would imply that his aunt and cousin Frank are not named Jones. But the letter sent by Nancy to Indy that appears in the The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones shows her as having addressed it care of Frank Jones! So, are these Albuquerque relatives Joneses or not?

At 43:31 on the DVD, Indy is reading a copy of the New York Times with the headline "SLAUGHTER AT VERDUN!" It has a date of February-something on it, 1916. I've been unable to confirm if this was an actual Times headline. Verdun is a city in France.

Indy sends a letter to Ned, congratulating him on being posted to Cairo. "Ned" was a nickname used by family and friends of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), whom Indy befriended in Egypt in 1908 in "My First Adventure". This is when the two explored the tomb of Kha mentioned in the letter.

At 44:47 on the DVD, the film has been flipped, as evidenced by the flipped "730" on the train engine.

At 44:57 on the DVD, we see a couple pages from Indy's journal that do not appear in the published The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones.

Indy's Albuquerque relatives meet him and his father at the train stop at Rancho Bajada del Monte. This appears to be a fictitious location.

At 45:39 on the DVD, Frank shows Indy an advertisement for a bordello he's clipped out of a Mexican newspaper. The Spanish text on it reads, "SENORITAS! SENORITAS! SENORITAS! GUAPAS LINDAS! MUY AMABLE! NUNCA VISTA ANTES; ENTRADA SOLAMENTE UN DOLAR!" Translated to English this is, "LADIES! LADIES! LADIES! PRETTY PRETTY! VERY NICE! NEVER SEEN BEFORE; ENTRY ONLY ONE DOLLAR!"

    In the early scenes of Indy and Frank's trek to Columbus, New Mexico, just north of the U.S. border with Mexico, Indy is wearing a hat that bears only a slight resemblance to his usual fedora. Once arriving in the town, he is seen with the more usual fedora. The "fake fedora" is seen repeatedly in new insterstitial scenes of the episodes that were filmed for the making of the Adventures of Young Indiana Jones compilation TV movies...I guess the production didn't want to spend the money again for a real fedora!

    The town of Columbus was filmed at Fort Bravo/Texas Hollywood Studios in Almeria, Spain. The later scenes of Ciudad Guerrero were also shot here.

The small truck that gives Indy and Frank a ride at 47:24 on the DVD is a Ford Model TT. The truck that passes the two by later at 49:41 also appears to be a Ford Model TT. A third Model TT truck missing the cab roof picks them up the next morning.

At 50:49 on the DVD, Frank and Indy ogle a photo of Mata Hari found in a magazine. Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (1876-1917), a Dutch exotic dancer in Paris who was later executed by French authorities, having been found guilty of being a spy for Germany during the Great War, though much doubt remains today of her guilt. The photo seen in the magazine is an historical one taken by the professional photographer Walery (Stanisław Julian Ignacy Ostroróg, 1863-1929) in 1906. Indy will meet her in 1916 in "The Mata Hari Affair". 

The travelling map shown as Frank and Indy make their way to Columbus depicts their journey starting from Santa Fe, not Albuquerque (left over from the original airing)! Note also that Santa Fe is depicted on the map as northwest of Albuquerque, when it is actually northeast!

As Indy and Frank enter Columbus on the back of the Model TT, a business called Golden Nugget is seen (presumably not a casino since the first Golden Nugget casino opened in Las Vegas in 1946).

    When Frank asks the soldier in Columbus where they can get something to eat, the soldier points out the Busy Bee coffee shop. As far as I can tell, this is a fictitious business.

    For "hot spots" (bordellos) across the border, the soldier mentions the Copa Caliente and the Cuero de Oro before "not recommending" Maxie's. Presumably, these would be in Palomas, the Mexican town that shares the border with Columbus. As far as I can tell, these bordellos are fictitious establishments. Copa caliente is Spanish for "hot cup" and cuero de oro for "gold leather".

Indy and Frank have arrived in Columbus just in time for the historical raid on the town by the forces of Pancho Villa on March 9, 1916. Pancho Villa (1878-1923) is a national hero in Mexico and an instigator of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 alongside Emiliano Zapata, Porfirio Diaz, and Pascual Orozco.

Pancho Villa's men rob the Columbus State Bank. This was an actual bank in Columbus at the time. I've not been able to confirm whether it was robbed during the raid.

At 53:02 on the DVD, The People's Photo Studio is seen in Columbus. This appears to be a fictitious business.

When Indy grabs a horse and rides off to retrieve the dresses stolen from a young woman by one of the banditos, Frank shouts after him, "Indy, what am I gonna tell your dad?" This makes it sound like he knows Indy's not coming back any time soon, but there's no reason for him think that at the moment.

The Mexican prisoner who is to be executed alongside Indy and another man by Villa's men begs in Spanish not to be killed, translated in subtitles, but then adds more that is not translated in the subtitles. He adds, "I have children!"

Captain Julio Cardenas, one of Villa's officers and second-in-command, was an historical figure.

The pistol Remy carries is a Webley Mk VI.

U.S. General John J. Pershing here leads a force across the border in pursuit of Villa's forces after the raid of Columbus. Pershing (1860-1948) was the General of the Armies of the United States at the time and led the Mexican Punitive Expedition from March 1916 to February 1917, though the initial pursuit after the Columbus raid was led by Major Frank Tompkins, not Pershing as depicted here.

General Pershing postulates that Villa will steer clear of Ciudad Guerrero because President Carranza has a whole army there. Ciudad Guerrero is an actual small city in Mexico. Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920) was president of Mexico, at first as part of a so-called pre-constitutional government beginning in 1915, and then ratified in 1917. Carranza was a former ally of Villa.

When Demetrios says "Imshi!" to Indy and another man unloading dynamite at the Villa camp, Indy tells the other man it is Arabic for "quickly". But imshi actually means "walk away". It doesn't make sense for Demetrios to say that in this circumstance.

Remy says he was a sailor before this, but he hated the sea so he jumped ship at Veracruz. He soon met a mestiza named Lupe whom he married and they opened a cantina. Lupe was later killed by federales, bringing Remy to join Pancho Villa's rebellion in retaliation. In the book The Mata Hari Affair, which in part novelizes the episode "Demons of Deception", it is revealed that Remy and Lupe's cantina had been located in the city of Mazatlán.

As Indy tries to compose a letter to his father telling him he has joined Pancho Villa's Mexican revolutionaries, he pens the line, "...as Robbie Burns so aptly said and as you so often quote him, 'the best laid scheme of mice and men.'" Robbie Burns (1759-1796) was a Scottish poet whose "To a Mouse" (1785) includes that now-famous line.

The U.S. soldier who enters the cantina and shoots down Cardenas and two other of Villa's men is Lt. George S. Patton, who would go on to become an important U.S. general in WWII. Cardenas was killed in a firefight with Patton and his men on May 14, 1916, two months after the events of this episode and not killed by Patton himself. He did strap the men to his vehicle just as shown here though. The vehicle he drives here is a 1925 Citroën 10 HP Cabriolet.

At the cantina, Patton is served with a bottle of Hacienda Domingo tequila. This appears to be a fictitious brand.

Patton here carries a pair of Colt Single Action Army pistols. Indy is later given the same pistol by José for the raid on Guerrero.

At 1:11:43 on the DVD, the train that has been hijacked by Villa's men is N de M engine 1150. N de M was a shorthand moniker of Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, the state-owned railroad company from 1903-2001. Engine 1150 is on display at the National Museum of Mexican Railroads in Puebla, Mexico. The footage of the engine seen here was borrowed from the 1989 film Old Gringo.

Villa and his men actually did attack Ciudad Guerrero on March 29, 1916, simultaneously with attacks on San Ysidro and Minaca, all within close proximity of each other in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. However, the attack on Guerrero did not involve a train flatcar loaded with explosives.

At 1:13:48 on the DVD, buildings with signs of "Banco" and "Comisaria" are seen in Ciudad Guerrero. These are Spanish for "Bank" and "Commissary" respectively.

Many of the revolutionaries are seen to be armed with Winchester Model 1892 rifles.

Pancho Villa is seen to carry a Remington Model 1858 Army pistol.

The car seen in Guerrero at 1:17:32 on the DVD is a 1923 Ford Model T.

At 1:18:05 on the DVD, a Mexican Army soldier pulls a Colt M1911A1 pistol on Indy.

At 1:18:18 on the DVD, Indy is seemingly mistakenly seen armed with a Webley Mk VI pistol instead of the Colt Single Action Army that was given to him earlier.

After being turned back from Guerrero by Pershing's forces, Villa rants that he hates the Americans and Woodrow Wilson. Wilson (1856-1924) was the U.S. President at the time. He ordered Pershing to cross the boarder and capture Villa after the raid on Columbus, New Mexico.

    To hurt the Americans, Villa orders a hit on the hacienda of William Randolph Hearst. Hearst (1863-1951) was a wealthy American newspaper publisher. He owned a hacienda called Babicora in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and Villa's rebels did raid and hold onto it for a couple of years during the revolution.

    Villa is warned by one of his men that raiding the hacienda of a powerful American like Hearst will lead to war with the United States and Villa responds that Carranza will be caught in the middle. It is true that Villa believed that his antagonizing raids on U.S. properties would lead to Carranza being weakened through his ties to the U.S. and to Mexican loyalists, though it was not specifically tied to the raid on the Hearst hacienda.

At 1:24:06 on the DVD, the projector operator at the hacienda is loading a Simplex projector. This was a real world brand of projectors.

At the hacienda, Indy sees a portrait photo of a beautiful woman (presumably a relation or acquaintance of Hearst) on a table and takes it out of its frame to keep it for himself. Why he does this is unexplained.

    The old man who loses his chickens to the revolutionaries says that when he was young he rode with Juarez against the forces of Emperor Maximilian, and then mentions when Porfirio became president, followed by Huerta...all of whom stole his chickens in turn. Emperor Maximilian (1832-1867) of Mexico was an Austrian archduke who ruled Mexico from 1864-1867 after being installed by French forces and was opposed by the forces of Benito Juarez (1806-1872), who was considered to still be the legitimate president of the country from 1858-1872. Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915) was president after Diaz. Victoriano Huerta became president for a little over a year after a coup against the elected president Francisco I. Madero (in the comic book adaptation, the old man also mentions Madero, who was president of Mexico from 1911-1913).

At 1:28:24 on the DVD, Indy looks at the sketch of the Jackal ornament Lawrence originally drew in "My First Adventure".

When Indy asks Remy to let him go with him back to Belgium, Remy remarks, "Tu est fou, mon ami." This is French for "You are crazy, my friend."

Sneaking into Demetrios' home, Indy discovers a cabinet full of pilfered relics from various parts of the world. On the top shelf, there appear to several Hindu artifacts and an Egyptian sphinx statue, among other items. He then finds the jackal ornament.

After finding a bullwhip in Demetrios' home, notice that Indy seems to be recalling the moment he accidentally whipped himself on the chin the first time he tried to use a whip back in "The Cross of Coronado", as he seems to touch the scar left by it on his chin.

Notes from the comic book adaptation of this episode The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles #2 Dark Horse Comics Script and artwork by Dan Barry Letters by Gail Beckett Colors by Gregory Wright March 1992

Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue, not in the televised episode

Pierre Duclos

Didja Notice?

In the adaptation, the soldier in Columbus names only two "hot spots" for Indy and Frank, the Casa Caliente and Chillies. In the televised episode, it was three, with different names: Copa Caliente, Cuero de Oro, and Maxie's. Casa caliente is Spanish for "hot house".

As Villa's men flee the bank and the town of Columbus on page 4, one man shouts "Vamanos, muchachos!" and others yell "Viva Villa! Viva Mexico!!" These are Spanish for "Let's go, boys!" and "Long live Villa! Long live Mexico!!"

On page 7, Remy says to Indy, "Tu as de la chance, mon vieux!" This is French for "You are lucky, my friend!"

On page 9, Remy says "Et voilá!" This is French for "And there you go!"

On page 11, the Old Indy narration states that he recognized the photo of Claw because he was there when Pierre took it in Egypt. This would have occurred during the events of "My First Adventure", though we don't see that moment in the episode.

On page 20, one of Villa's pistoleros, sobbing at the romantic adventure movie they are watching in the hacienda's screening room, says, "pobrecita..." This is Spanish for "poor dear".

In the televised episode, Indy tells Remy the war in Europe is important, "...it must be won! The alternative is unthinkable." In the comic, those words are in an old letter from Lawrence that Indy is re-reading, then he repeats them to Remy!

Memorable Dialog

who's telling this story?.mp3

so much going on in the world.mp3

someday I'm going to be an archaeologist.mp3

hot spots.mp3

what am I gonna tell your dad?.mp3

that low down greaser Pancho Villa.mp3

it belongs in a museum.mp3

the war to end all wars.mp3