Little House on the Prairie: building the best possible collection (2 Viewers)

[jimmyjet]

what the heck is going on ? why was it dropped and then immediately restarted ?

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

Great News!!

Great to see that they will be releasing this on DVD in addition to the Blu-ray releases, I am ecstatic that I will finally be able to make this timeless series a part of my library. Hopefully these will be reasonably priced and Lionsgate will not try to gouge customers simply because these releases are remastered and contain the original uncut episodes (which is what the original releases should have contained)?!

 

[Mike Frezon]

what the heck is going on ? why was it dropped and then immediately restarted ?

It wasn't.

Just a little game of cat & mouse amongst the publicity people (trying to protect their thunder) and the media (trying to break a story by beating the official announcement).

 

[smithbrad]

Hopefully these will be reasonably priced and Lionsgate will not try to gouge customers simply because these releases are remastered and contain the original uncut episodes (which is what the original releases should have contained)?!

They are. Walmart has both the blu-ray and DVD releases of season 1 for $20. I'm not sure about Amazon's listing since I pre-ordered from Walmart when it was first announced.

 

[Mark-P]

I have to laugh at their marketing slogan: "Better picture, better sound." I guess they weren't confident enough in the quality to use terminology that other studios use such as "ultimate" or "perfect."

 

[smithbrad]

I have to laugh at their marketing slogan: "Better picture, better sound." I guess they weren't confident enough in the quality to use terminology that other studios use such as "ultimate" or "perfect."

Sounds like the Papa John's slogan.

 

[LeoA]

I wonder what the increase in quality would be like?

The DVD releases have been dragged through the mud here (And deservedly so). But for whatever reason, the pilot movie and season 1 seemed much more complete and much nicer looking than the norm was later on.

I recall no major issues with season 1 although I imagine they were cut or at least time sped. But unlike later seasons, if these are syndication edits, the editor did a much more masterful job of hiding it here.

Some of the later episodes looked like poor quality home VHS tapes that were several generations removed with the higher capacity/lowest quality recording speed.

 

[LeoA]

No edit function around here? I never got around to resetting my password until this great news popped up just now. But I swear there used to be an editing function available.

Anyways, I should add that I recall no major issues with season 1 except the introductions being cut out on each disc after the first episode. Still one of the most bizarre decisions I've ever seen where tv on DVD is concerned.
Good riddance to Imavision. I bought the full season collection directly from Imavision when everything was out except the post series movies when I received season 1 as a Christmas present and was pleased enough with the quality.

Not only was it poorly packaged, they only sent me season 1-6. Took a lot of arguing to get the pilot movie and the last three seasons that I paid for sent to me. Some of the worst consumer service I ever encountered.

And one of them was partially crushed when it finally arrived.

 

[Radioman970]

I'm going to support this release as soon as I get some money to spend on it. Such great news!

 

[Mr. Handley]

Boy, I hope this is the real deal. I love the whole series, but the first few seasons were the best.

 

[Radioman970]

I'm on season 3. Just watched "The Election", a favorite episode of mine about the class president election at the school (and about bullies too). It's fantastic. Little House at it's best and certainly a showcase for why I like the show so much. When I started it, the opening credits had bad color, graininess, scratches, etc... and I was sure it was going to be VHS. But after the credit we're treated to an excellent picture. There is probably that speed up thing, but the color is very good, the picture is clean, the sound is good... My thought was I wish they were all like this. I hope we'll get them better with this latest release.

Hoping for opening teasers.

 

[Ockeghem]

Radioman,I too love The Election. Speaking of 'bully' episodes, two favorites of mine are The Bully Boys (season three) and The Werewolf of Walnut Grove (season six). In The Bully Boys, I cringe every time I see the excellent make-up job done on Mary's eye after she is given a black eye by Bubba Galender. And I love what she does with her lunch pail later in the episode.

 

[Radioman970]

Both of those are fantastic. Bully Boys always gets me riled up. Mr. Ingall's little trip over to their house is such a great scene. I always wish I could be there to help him.

 

[Gary OS]

Both of those are fantastic. Bully Boys always gets me riled up. Mr. Ingall's little trip over to their house is such a great scene. I always wish I could be there to help him.

Absolutely! This is one of my favorite scenes of the entire series.


Gary "I always wanted to see Jonathan go in and whip them after finding Charles in the back of the wagon" O.

 

[Ockeghem]

Gary,LOL! When we last watched this episode (about six or so weeks ago), I thought the same thing about Jonathan. How I wished he could have been in a scene showing him pummeling the bad boys.

 

[LeoA]

I'm looking forward to them progressing far enough to the episode where Almanzo realizes he's in love with Laura. Probably the worst editing job the syndicators did was with this one.

You have something like 10 seconds of Laura staring at her shoes which were supposed to have some significance, but what it the connection was has been cut out of the episode. Presumably, she took the first money she earned from her first teaching job and bought some clothes and new shoes to help get Almanzo to notice her and stop thinking of her as a just a little girl.

But the viewer is instead just left guessing at the significance of what you're looking a that the director obviously viewed as important.

 

[jimmyjet]

i recall reading the amazon reviews. this was the one point that got the most criticism.

i dont recall the actual episode, but it sure riled people !!

 

[Randy Korstick]

I never watched the show in syndication only when it originally aired and the scene you mentioned with Laura buying new clothes and shoes to impress Almanzo was there originally. I remeber that episode very well. That is silly that they removed it for syndication but they always have to cut to make room for more commercials.

I'm looking forward to them progressing far enough to the episode where Almanzo realizes he's in love with Laura. Probably the worst editing job the syndicators did was with this one.

You have something like 10 seconds of Laura staring at her shoes which were supposed to have some significance, but what it the connection was has been cut out of the episode. Presumably, she took the first money she earned from her first teaching job and bought some clothes and new shoes to help get Almanzo to notice her and stop thinking of her as a just a little girl.

But the viewer is instead just left guessing at the significance of what you're looking a that the director obviously viewed as important.

 

[LeoA]

I understand the reasoning behind it, but usually the editing job isn't nearly so sloppy.

A well done syndication edit should be nearly invisible to a viewer unless they're timing it (And know approximately what the original run time should be) or are extremely familiar with the uncut original.

 

[Mr. Handley]

In the season 1 episoide titled Town Party, Country Party there is an entire scene that was cut-out for syndication. It's a totally innocent scene of Laura taking a bath prior to attending Nellie's party. I understand that it was cut not for time, but because it shows a pre-pubescent Laura "topless". As I said, the scene is totally innocent and there's really "nothing" to see. It'll be interesting to see if that one's been restored in the upcoming release.