The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones—the spin-off television series prequel to the films starring Harrison Ford—debuted in 1992. Critics raved: Shot on location! Learning that’s fun! But audiences were generally underwhelmed, and the series died after two years. Now it’s being resurrected on DVD along with loads of special features offering historical context as well as interactive games and timeline.

I’m a fan of the big-screen Indy but had never seen the TV series. So I sampled some of the 12 DVD set that’s Volume One. Here’s what you’ll get for your $130 list price.

The show itself. It’s got that Wonderful World of Disney feel, with plucky kids and pretty lame plots, as young hero Henry Jr. (later known as Indiana, a name borrowed from his dog) goes on adventures around the world. Guess who he meets? Anyone who was anyone, starting with T.E. Lawrence (yes, Lawrence of Arabia), who just happens to be riding his bicycle through the sands of Giza when Indiana and his tutor are stranded at the base of the pyramids. “Please call me Ned,” Lawrence says amiably. It’s ridiculous, yet kind of charming. And while you have to willingly suspend disbelief about the Big Names (Thomas Edison, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Pablo Picasso, and Sigmund Freud are among those who drop in), you don’t need to pretend when it comes to location. This series was filmed around the world. Those are indeed the real pyramids of Egypt. Episodes were filmed in India, Kenya, Morocco, and more than 30 other countries.

Edutainment. The tales include clever details aimed at varying ages and levels of knowledge. Two examples: At the dinner table one evening, Indiana explains how mummies were made. First: remove the brain through the nose… The description is entirely correct. And rather gross. One by one the adults leave the room, hands to their mouths. Was it young Indiana’s embalming treatise? Or the disgusting tripe they were all eating? Later, in the Valley of the Kings, Indiana explores the tomb of a man named Ka. A critical prop here is a statue representing the spiritual essence of the deceased, known as a “ka statue”—or in this case, Ka’s ka statue. An inside joke for Egyptologists. Laugh amongst yourselves.

Special features. These are all together heavier fare, very much like PBS documentaries in tone and content and surely aimed at the late-teen/adult market. The section on archaeology, on the same disc as Indiana’s first two adventures in Egypt and Morocco, is a first-rate primer on the profession that includes interviews with some of the most successful modern archaeologists. The King Tut section, including newsreels and historical photos of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, the men who discovered King Tut, is great fun. And the T.E. Lawrence biography is brilliantly well done: surprisingly complete and insightful with cool news footage and T.E.’s voice as recorded by the BBC. A caveat: The bio is full of the complexities of personalities and alliances and treaties and betrayals that gripped the Middle East during and after World War I and Lawrence’s role in all of it—heavy-duty history, not a breezy docudrama. Unfortunately, some of the other documentaries include the kind of droning, talking-head lectures that made everyone’s eyes glaze over in eighth grade.

Game time. Based on the “Spring Break Adventure” on disc 8 (in which Indy rides with Mexico General Pancho Villa), a game called “Revolution” puts players in Indy’s shoes and allows them to make their own adventure-based decisions. Also, an interactive timeline allows viewers to click through the history and geography behind Indy’s adventures. Neither is the latest in video gaming, but the extras fit with the overall presentation of the DVD set.

Verdict. A strange mishmash of stuff. Judging by the time it took me to get through most of the first disc, I’d say the new DVD set will provide hours and hours (and hours) of viewing. But is it pleasure? Or torture? A bit of each if you ask me. The next set of CDs is due December 18, and the last is scheduled for the spring of 2008. Daunting prospects, both of them. I’d better stock up on munchies.

Pop Omnivore readers: What’s the coolest thing you learned in watching the DVD set? For me, it was finding out that Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso launched Cubism together, although Picasso got all the glory.

—A. R. Williams

The new vampire movie 30 Days of Night is set in the Arctic midwinter when it's nighttime all day, which means the photophobic creatures never have to run and hide from the rays of the sun and can wreak havoc at noon as easily as midnight.

So, what's it like to live in the way north in winter? I never met any vampires when I studied in Trondheim, Norway in 1997-98, but I was certainly surrounded by very pale people. Basically, life goes like this: You get to work, it's pitch-black outside. You leave work, it's pitch-black outside. Maybe once or twice during the day I'd look through the huge windows at the biological station where I studied plankton and see twilight. Because Trondheim is a bit south of the Arctic Circle, the sun did rise every day, but only for a few hours, sticking close to the horizon. (Maybe Norway's vampires hang out farther north, in Vadsø or Hammerfest.)

Farther north, where the sun really does stay down for days or weeks, animals lack the daily cycle of light and dark to tell them when to eat and when to sleep. A study published in the journal Nature in 2005 found that reindeer in northern Norway don't follow a 24-hour pattern in the summer or winter, but appear to eat and sleep when the spirit moves them; the researchers suggested that other animals in the far north may be the same way.

On the plus side, Trondheim never gets completely dark around the summer solstice, so you're pretty much guaranteed to be vampire-free in late June.

Have you ever been to the far north in winter? What was it like?

—Helen Fields

So it comes to this: Stephen Colbert is now making fun of endangered animals. In his new book, I Am America (And So Can You), the host of The Colbert Report publishes a list of “Endangered Animals and Why They Are Unloved By God.” Like: “Ocelot: It knows good and well what it did.” Or “Père David’s Deer: Has an accent mark in its name.” Or "California Condor: Typical West Coast type just cruising on the air currents. Get a job, long beak."

Well, Mr. Colbert, what if the tables were turned? What if Endangered Animals could write a book, and it had a section called “Endangered Animals and What They'd Like to Do to Stephen Colbert.”

Hawaiian Monk Seal
They’d attack him, bite him, beat him up, leave him wimpering in the sand. Male monk seals that are "in the mood" can be extremely violent with their mates, sometimes killing them in the act.

Ocelot
Ocelots are high-strung, unpredictable killers, gunning for nocturnal rodents, lesser anteaters, and spider monkeys. That which they do not kill they mark with their foul-smelling pee. So if an ocelot gets a hold of Colbert’s book, it will definitely autograph it—Dear Mr. Colbert: You stink worse than my urine!

Bighorn Sheep
Colbert thinks he's a master at head-to-head combat. Let’s see him invite one of these babies on his show. Male bighorn sheep are known to smash their headgear in duels that can last 24 hours. Thirty-pound horns can make some serious noise and do some serious damage-- especially to a skinny TV host. Lucky for Colbert, they're vegetarians.

Iberian Lynx
Europe’s most threatened carnivore has excellent eyesight. It can spot a rodent 250 feet away. Even if you start running now, Mr. Colbert, you will never be able to hide.

Père David’s Deer
This endangered Asian deer and Stephen Colbert have so much in common. Both have teeny ears for their head size. And both have funny French names. So just what is your problem, Mr. Colbert, or should we say Monsieur Col-bear. If you run into this deer in a zoo (which is pretty much the only place they live nowadays), be prepared: The 300-pounder will mock you right back.

Florida Cougar
The nocturnal predator would like to be in your studio audience to show off its shriek, which starts out low, gets higher and louder, then dies down. Better have plenty of wild pigs, deer, and rabbits in the house, or else.

Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat
You dare to call them “unloveable”? You love scottish terriers, right? And pot-bellied pigs? And koalas? Who wouldn't love an animal that looks like a cross between all three? Fewer than 100 Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombats live in Epping Forest National Park in Queensland, Australia. If a park ranger took a copy of your book to work, a wombat would no doubt walk away disapprovingly, waggling its behind from side to side.

California Condor
If one of these enormous, soaring birds were to encounter Colbert's book, and if the book were a dead calf, the condor would eat it.

—As told to Marc Silver, Jennifer S. Holland, Helen Fields, and Catherine Barker

So some of the poseurs on America’s Next Top Model got weaves last night. It hurt. A lot. “I just felt like my scalp was bleeding,” said Ebony. Girlfriend, women have been crying over weaves for 5,000 years.

That’s the age of the weave (pictured, above) found in an ancient tomb by archaeologist Renee Friedman, director of the Hierakonpolis Expedition. The hair extensions were woven to the mummy’s real hair were … also her real hair. She must have grown it, cut it off, then had it woven back on for a  little hairdo height. (Big hair was really popular in 3600 B.C.) The weave woman also dyed her hair with henna for color that really lasted – we’re talking millennia!

“In ancient Egypt if one lived to be really old, like 70, they made you a local saint, so old age was respected no doubt for the knowledge and memory that person had (in a society where most people were dead by 35-40),” says Friedman. “But clearly looking one's age has never been the in thing in life or death.”

The picture of the weave is courtesy of (and copyright by) the Hierakonpolis Expedition. Any suggestions about which model should get this 5,000-year-old weave? Anybody dare to submit a photo of the weave photoshopped onto a model (or celebrity) head? It's gotta look better than some of the makeovers on this week's show!

-Marc Silver

In the opening minutes of Life Is Wild, a CW series that debuts on Sunday night, a New York family on their way to a new home in the African bush steps out of their van and is confronted with a charging elephant. Sensibly, most of the Brady Bunch-like family hightail it back to the car. But Dad—Dr. Danny Clarke—decides to display his expertise as a veterinarian (or maybe it's knowledge he picked up years before as a Peace Corps Volunteer). He plants himself in the path of the elephant and raises both hands. As a viewer you are expecting many tons of elephant to landing directly on Danny. But no. The elephant makes an about-face and trots gently away. Come again?

In Life Is Wild, shot on location in a South Africa game reserve, the scenery and animals are authentic, but the situations improbable.

Take that elephant. In real life, such an animal, especially one that lived in an area where elephants are hunted, would have trampled or gored Danny. What's the wisest response when an elephant charges? "You get out of sight, you hide," says a friend, who has had the bad luck to meet many an elephant intent on murder. National Geographic photographer Nick Nichols, who takes these animals' pictures, agrees. Only an expert should approach an elephant in the wild, says Nichols, and then only if he or she knows that individual animal. In such a situation a researcher might raise one arm with palm extended in imitation of the greeting elephants give each other with their trunks. Danny's two-hand technique would lead to disaster.

After their miraculous escape from the elephant, the Clarke family moves into the Blue Antelope, a defunct game lodge. The two eldest Clarke children, Katie and stepbrother, Jesse, spend time with a British brother and sister who live conveniently nearby on a wildlife resort for rich tourists. The Clarkes mingle with animals and rich expats. But they do get one chance to see ordinary life for average South Africans: Danny is invited to visit a "village" to help a goat give birth.

The village looks more like a township, one of the sprawling, poor communities on the outskirts of cities where blacks were forced to settle by apartheid-era laws. Danny goes off to help that goat, and, for a moment, it looks as though we will follow Katie and Jesse into encounters with the real South Africa. But Katie doesn't get to meet more than a single black South African. Almost immediately she is inexplicably approached by Tumelo, the son of a doctor, who uses words like "megavertebrates" and shares his dream of becoming a veterinarian, just like her father. Meanwhile, Jesse turns a corner and abruptly finds himself in what looks like a tourist market, where he is befriended by a young white man who gives him tips on where to skateboard. Whew! Safely out of the township without having to face anything you might not see in a suburban shopping mall.

It turns out Tumelo, the future veterinarian, is going to be a regular  on the show. He keeps driving over to the Blue Antelope, hoping to spend time with Katie or her father. But the pilot gives the impression he will be the only major black African character. I hope I'm wrong, and the script permits the family to escape their segregated life on the game reserve. Because Life Is Wild isn't a bad show to watch with the family. My eight-year-old son gave it two thumbs up (literally—he might have awarded more if he had more thumbs). Asked why, he said, "I guess it's the animals." The show reminds me of ‘60s series like Flipper, Gentle Ben, and Daktari. I'm sure none of them was scrupulously accurate, but they featured real live animals in what looked like the creatures' habitat. Maybe further along in the season Life Is Wild will live up to its name and take a few more risks—allowing the Clarkes to venture further outside the resort scene and get to know their human neighbors.

-Karen E. Lange

In the new Wes Anderson movie The Darjeeling Limited, three brothers attempt a spiritual journey through India, traveling mainly by train. They have shenanigans and reflect on their lives and, except for an ill-advised serious turn late in the movie, it's a fun time. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman are great as the three brothers.

On a stop at a temple, the brother played by Adrien Brody buys a cobra at a market. Later, he wakes up in his bunk on the train to discover that the snake's wooden box (painted with skull and crossbones) is empty. Cobra on the loose! All three brothers burst from the sleeper compartment, screaming; the conductor goes into the compartment, emerges with the snake, and drops it in an ice bucket, and that's pretty much it for the snake component of the movie.

So we here at National Geographic wanted to know: Is this remotely plausible? I called Rick Borchelt to ask. Rick is a science writer and naturalist and was the Missouri Junior Rattlesnake Jamboree Champion of 1972 or 1973 (he can't remember). Rick has traveled in India and identified the little guy in the movie as a spectacled or Indian cobra, Naja naja. Indeed, Rick says, it's pretty easy to find cobras to buy in India. The movie's website has a behind-the-scenes video of one of the actors, Waris Ahluwalia, with the snake.

Here's what to do if you do realize a cobra is loose in your train compartment:

1. Keep your ankles away from dark, quiet areas under the seats. "It's likely in some dark corner and likely to stay there," Rick says.
2. Like the brothers, you may wish to exit the compartment, although screaming is optional. Snakes can't hear, but do detect vibration and movement.
3. If you can find a conductor who's willing to get the snake out, that's not a bad idea. "But given the state of trains in India, it's unlikely that you could contain a snake in one compartment," says Rick.
4. On the upside, if the cobra you bought was raised for snake charming, it may have been defanged. And they won't attack unless they're provoked...but perhaps it's best not to bring a cobra on board in the first place.

— Helen Fields

I’ve toyed with the notion of escaping society—and have the sweaty bandana and muddy boots to prove it. I've had that craving to cut a trail and follow it out of here, to let Thoreau and London guide you as you pit yourself against wildest nature, jotting down your innermost thoughts along the way. It’s a powerful enough feeling to have sent me out there last weekend—in search of an air-conditioned theater to see Into the Wild.

The film is based on Jon Krakauer’s book about 23-year-old Christopher McCandless and his 112-day foray into wild Alaska (northeast of Mt. McKinley). Emile Hirsch plays McCandless as naively fearless and full of chutzpa, meagerly equipped, and absolutely driven to live off the grid and out of human touch. Some who see the film will no doubt lob moral platitudes at this young man who selfishly cuts off his family to find himself (and are probably right to do so). Others, fairly, will wag fingers at his lack of preparedness: His rations were woefully insufficient, he had neither maps nor emergency plan, and, starting out as he did before spring thaw, he became trapped on the wrong side of the Teklanika River turned torrential once the ice melted. Still, those who crave true freedom for even a moment may envy his drive to live an entire (if brief) life of it.

The movie gets some little things wrong. No, a Red Delicious apple is not the best apple on earth. It tastes like Styrofoam. And some bigger things like, say, those overwritten voice-overs by the sister and one too many edgy camera tricks. But it is spot-on in at least two giant ways. First, those wonderful people McCandless meets before leaving civilization; they touch him deeply and he, them, in very real ways. Each of their stories could be a movie of its own. Had their gestures of generosity and vulnerability only pulled the youth out of his reverie, he might have realized earlier that without human contact, life is a hollow and frightening place. It’s a lesson that sinks in only as death, his sole companion in the end, hovers near.

The other way the movie shines is in letting the Alaskan wilderness speak—and grab hold of our senses. Listen for the absolute quiet of a snowy expanse, feel the delicious drench of fire-heated water over a camp-weary body and soul, cringe at the ripe redness and bloody stench of a hunter’s quarry. And how perfectly does the film portray the unflinching, absolute apathy of wilderness toward human needs—even those of a human inspired to tears in its presence.

Do you have a life-changing wilderness experience to share? We'd like to hear about it!

-Jennifer S. Holland

A family in Wisconsin has a nerdy, friendless teenage son. Sad! Brainstorm: Let’s host an exchange student who’ll be our son’s new buddy. Problem: The exchange organization says the kid is coming from London but he’s really from Pakistan. Wow, a Muslim lad! In school, a teacher tells Raja how angry the U.S. is with his country for 9/11. (Even though they didn’t do it.) Welcome to America, dude!

That’s the premise of Aliens in America, a sitcom that debuts tonight on the CW network. Now we like the idea: a chance to explore different cultures, open eyes, and all that kind of good stuff. Too bad the show gets so many things wrong. That’s what Pop Omnivore learned when we talked to Tamara Jazbec, a program specialist with AFS-USA Intercultural Programs for YES, the Youth Exchange and Study Program, and Kimberly King, project manager for Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, which promotes better understanding between east and west and works with exchange students.

1.    The $500 monthly payment to the family. Hosting an exchange student is typically a volunteer act  done from the goodness of your heart.
2.    The misunderstanding about where he’s from. Exchange organizations absolutely tell hosts the  student's country of origin.
3.    Raja’s skullcap. Pakistani teenagers who attend a mosque school would wear the headgear, called a kufi, on a daily basis as a sign of respect for God. Other Pakistani boys, not so much.
4.    An uncomfortable scene when Raja drops his towel in the locker room. “I can’t even imagine,” says Kimberly King. More likely, a student from the exceedingly modest Muslim world might ask permission to leave gym class early to shower and change clothes before the other kids come to the locker room. And if a host family dad emerges from the bathroom clad in a towel, ay yi yi!

Now here are some of the real issues that may confront students who are Muslim.

1.    Daily prayer. A devout Muslim prays five times a day, including one prayer shortly after noon. The prayer is short, about five minutes. Still, where do you pray during the school day? Some schools provide a space. King’s group explains to students that, if necessary, it’s okay to postpone the noontime prayer and combine it with the late afternoon prayer.
2.    The Ramadan fast. We’re in the middle of the Muslim holiday right now, which calls for a dawn-to-dusk fast. So school lunch – what a trial! Some schools will allow Muslim exchange student to sit in the library or a classroom during lunch period.
3.    Dogs. Pakistani students aren’t used to house pets. Plus, the Muslim religion has long said if dog saliva gets on clothing, the garb becomes impure and must be washed. Ditto for hands or other body parts. This fear of slobber dates to a fear of rabies 1,400 years ago. Exchange students are told in advance that American dogs are well-groomed and clean, but it’s sometimes hard for them to overcome their canine phobia. Or their astonishment at doggy salons!

Pop Ominovore would love to hear from families who have hosted exchange students (and from the students themselves). Tell us what it was like: misunderstandings, funny anecdotes, moments of cultural bonding. Who knows, maybe it’ll spark some better plot lines for Aliens in America.

-Marc Silver