Little House on the Prairie: Season 5 [6 Discs]

Landon

Overview

Heartwarming saga of a frontier family's struggles and triumphs on a farm near Walnut Grove, Minn., in the 1870s. Based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder (whose character doubles as narrator), it was the signature achievement of star-executive producer Michael Landon. It relates the family's experiences dealing with natural disasters and health problems, notably the poignant story of Mary Ingalls' blindness. In its final season, it was titled `Little House: A New Beginning.'

Product Details

Release Date:	04/03/2007
UPC:	0069458121033
Original Release:	2004
Source:	Imports
Region Code:	1
Language:	English
Time:	20:00:00
Sales rank:	66,061

Special Features

Closed Caption;Exclusive interviews with Dabbs Greer (Reverend Robert Alden) and Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson); Interactive quiz - Season five trivia challenge

Editorial Reviews

You can take the Ingallses out of Walnut Grove, but you can't take Walnut Grove out of the Ingallses. Season 5 begins with a satisfying story arc that charts the Ingallses' brief, but memorable stay in Winoka, a hustling, bustling Pottersville of a city that is anathema to proud patriarch Charles (Michael Landon). The two-parter that opens the season, "As Long as We're Together," and the two-parter that returns the family to a devastated Walnut Grove, "There's No Place like Home," are benchmark episodes that are each available separately on DVD. Little House, based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's cherished books, tackles some heady issues in this fifth season, including racism (both in "Barn Burner" and the two-part "Blind Journey") and, in "The Craftsman," anti-Semitism. This tear-jerker finds the adopted orphan Alfred befriending an elderly Jewish carpenter who takes him on as an apprentice. Landon even gets in a few licks against his nemesis, the tabloids, with "Harriet's Happenings," in which the hated Harriet Oleson writes a gossip column that humiliates and denigrates the locals. She gets her comeuppance during an impassioned sermon Charles delivers to the chastened townspeople. Other memorable hours include: the rites-of-passage episode "Men Will Be Boys"; "The Wedding," in which Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson) marries Adam; and the comical "The Lake Kezia Monster," which finds the kids concocting tales of a sea monster to scare the Olesons off unethically (if legally) acquired land. Fans of The Wizard of Oz will cherish "There's No Place like Home" and "Dance with Me," episodes featuring Scarecrow Ray Bolger in the twilight of his 50-plus-year career. This is another exceptional season for one of television's most timeless family hours.