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

[Mike Frezon]

I'm in the midst of watching the pilot.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Such a small package containing 21 hours of content. Such great content. Such great-looking and great-sounding content.

There was this one close-up of Mary in the wagon as they were traveling to Kansas with a quilt wrapped around her. Everything was soooo sharp--the fabric, her hair, her eyes.

This is the way classic television was made to be seen. We are enjoying ourselves immensely!

 

[Ockeghem]

Mike,What are you having for dinner tonight? I can beam over in about five minutes. Let me know.

 

[Radioman970]

Mike,

What are you having for dinner tonight? I can beam over in about five minutes. Let me know.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Darn it, we just finished our rabbit and dumpling stew. Sorry, Scott!

If they tweren't weighted down by the gravy, Peg's dumpling''s would have liked to have flown away.

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

DELETE!​

 

[smithbrad]

Mine is still sitting in Amazon's "Not yet Shipped" bucket. My bank account likes the free shipping when ordering and after receipt, but at this very moment when others are sitting back and enjoying their copies and I'm not, it stinks. Only another week or so and all will be fine, once again.

 

[moviebuff75]

Someone on Amazon is saying that "The Lord is My Shepherd" is missing a scene. But they don't say which scene it was. I don't want to get too concerned yet until I find out what they are talking about. Sometimes people put reviews out like this and then remember that the scene is question was from another episode.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I wouldn't be too concerned.

#1: It's some schmoe on Amazon.

#2: I just did a quick scan of all the episodes on Disc #3 (which contains The Lord Is My Shepherd). This is a little difficult of a comparison since TLIMS is actually a double episode. But here's what I found:

Episode #11 The Raccoon 48:46
Episode #12 The Voice of Tinker Jones 49:04
Episode #13 The Award 49:04
Episode #14/15 The Lord Is My Shepherd 1:36:40

If you add the first two episodes together, they total 1:37:50

Not all that far off.

 

[moviebuff75]

Thanks. Usually when someone is that passionate about a missing or changed sequence, they will actually describe what it is that is missing or changed. This person doesn't even do that. That, coupled with the poor grammar, makes me discount their words. TLIMS is the most revered of all episodes, and I doubt that one would suffer cuts during this restoration.

 

[moviebuff75]

Here is the scene he is talking about. I found it in a Little House forum. Apparently he taped it off of French tv from a rerun. Perhaps the French had a slightly different cut? I don't have the set yet so I can't compare:

 

[moviebuff75]

Okay, someone else noticed a part cut from "Country Girls." On the dvd, after Laura recites, a boy is called upon and recites a few lines. Then, the class is dismissed. This part is cut on blu-ray. WTH? I thought we were getting uncut episodes! Is this a case of a few scenes being added for initial syndication for transitions? Or have we been duped?

 

[Mark-P]

Absolutely stunning! After decades of Little House looking like this:

We finally get THIS:

 

[moviebuff75]

I have a theory about the missing scenes. Both of them were in syndicated versions at some point or another. And one was even on the previous dvd release. It doesn't make sense that they would have been in syndication but not on the new masters from the originals. Therefore, perhaps they weren't in the final NBC cut but were mistakenly put into the syndicated versions. Does that make any sense?

 

[Mr. Handley]

I have a theory about the missing scenes. Both of them were in syndicated versions at some point or another. And one was even on the previous dvd release. It doesn't make sense that they would have been in syndication but not on the new masters from the originals. Therefore, perhaps they weren't in the final NBC cut but were mistakenly put into the syndicated versions. Does that make any sense?

Actually, that does make sense (although I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head). I know that some movies have had scenes added for their TV showings that weren't in the theatrical versions.

Whatever the case, I can't wait to see these episodes again. The screen-shots that I've seen so far look tremendous! Now, if we could only get some other shows to get this treatment (Room 222 springs to mind).

 

[LeoA]

That cut scene seems familiar, does it to anyone else? Wonder if it's as "lost" as they're portraying in that YouTube link.

Puzzled by these missing bits. Hope there's a good explanation forthcoming. Obviously still well worth the investment, but it would certainly detract a bit if these aren't truly 100% uncut.

As for the comparison shot, just wait for some later episodes. What we got on season 1 on DVD was absolutely pristine compared to some of what they eventually passed off on their customers, so the gap in quality should only grow with subsequent season comparisons.

 

[Cinescott]

I never purchased LHOTP on DVD and I'm glad I waited. This new release looks incredible! Should arrive today and I'm looking forward to it. It'll probably be my new "go to" series when the stress level gets too high.

Melissa Gilbert recently tweeted that she had never seen the original screen test footage with her and Michael Landon and that she was very touched having seen a clip on ET on TV a couple nights ago.

"Melissa Gilbert ‏@MelissaEGilbert Mar 25
Exclusive: Half-Pint's Unseen 'Little House' Audition http://www.etonline.com/tv/144710_Little_House_on_the_Prairie_Melissa_Gilbert_Audition_with_Michael_Landon/index.html … via @ETnow I'd never see this. Moved beyond words!"

 

[Ockeghem]

Most that love this series may know this, but Melissa Gilbert is moving (or has moved) to Michigan, the state my family and I currently live in. My girls have this dream of meeting her some day.

 

[Wayne_j]

I got this and am enjoying it very much. I haven't watched these episodes in decades but am remembering watching them as I re-watch now.

 

[dana martin]

this has spoiled me, makes me wish another classic from the 70's would get the same treatment, The Waltons

 

[smithbrad]

That cut scene seems familiar, does it to anyone else? Wonder if it's as "lost" as they're portraying in that YouTube link.

Puzzled by these missing bits. Hope there's a good explanation forthcoming. Obviously still well worth the investment, but it would certainly detract a bit if these aren't truly 100% uncut.

I don't think we will get an explanation from Lion Gate because they probably have no idea. What we know in all this is that when Lion Gate received the rights to the shows they also received film elements. Otherwise, they never would have been able to create an HD master.

So from there, Lion Gate either cut these scene for a particular reason such as licensing issues (which seems odd based on what cuts have been referenced), or these cuts already existed in the film elements (I suspect number two).

Assuming, the cuts pre-existed there is little reason for Lion Gate to think they weren't complete, and they probably wouldn't have the expertise to watch every episode (or think they would have to) in order to look for missing content. As a result, they assumed they were complete and listed them as being uncut.

This leaves the question of why are there scenes missing that were in the original broadcast, and in some cases even syndication? It could just be possible that these are the finished film elements (or a version of the filmed elements), and that the edits we see were done after the fact but before the original broadcast. Possibly Landon added these scene's directly to the tape masters. We probably will never know, but I doubt it was Lion Gate.

In any case, I'm not going to worry about it, enjoy what I have, and assume it was out of Lion Gate's control.