[100 Things] My DVD Collection: Little House on the Prairie, Season 1 & Season 8

[ultra_fic]

 

Most families in the UK recall the time in their life when Sunday afternoons were dominated by Little House on the Prairie and/or The Waltons. I was a fan of the former rather than the latter, and decided I needed to the DVDs to relive the frontier fun of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life.

In the beginning, way back at Season 1, the stories were all quite child-orientated, many based at the school. The rivalry between Laura and the nasty Nellie Oleson, Mary and Laura experiencing first crushes, all that kind of fun. It makes me laugh with a childish joy, and other times cry when the family goes through one crisis or another. Its just a lovely family show.

As Laura grew up and fell in love, I think I did too. As a young girl, I thought Almanzo Wilder was just as wonderful as Laura did. If she hadn't have married him, I certainly would have been willing, thanks in no small part to Dean Butler's winning smile.

By Season 8, Laura was a married woman, and she and 'Manly' had a house of their own, land to farm, and a baby on the way. For me, the later Seasons are now more interesting, probably because I'm older and more understanding of the 'grown up world'. The storylines are ever more compelling as Almanzo suffers a stroke, Laura gives birth to baby Rose, and the Wilders house is blown down by a tornado.

I love every Season of Little House on the Prairie, and still need to purchase Season 9 and the special movies to complete my collection, but from the childhood fun of Season 1 to the grown-up troubles of Season 8, I love them all.

Comments

[florencia7.livejournal.com]

I watched this TV show when I was little! :D

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Yay! Something you watched! lol I watched it when I was little too, and am loving rewatching it now, and reading all the books as well :)

[jesco0307.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've seen them all, because I remember her being a kid and also the adult. I might not love the show as much as you do (not sure I would buy the DVDs) but that doesn't mean I don't like it a lot. I've definitely seen at least parts more than once (I remember it way too good for only one round). And I'm totally with you on Laura Ingalls vs The Waltons. Never was big on the Waltons...

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Thats what I thought when I started rewatching, that I must have seen them all because I remember parts from the ones where they're kids and parts from when they're grown-ups. I really only meant to buy a couple of boxsets... it was the adult Laura episodes I wanted to see again from my own adult perspective, and then I got all sucked in and just wanted to watch them all so I had to buy them all :)

[hollymac-79.livejournal.com]

This is a great family series. Still watch these in re-runs when I can (thanks to the Hallmark channel) and I'm slowly trying to build the complete dvd set for my mom. This is the show the two of us would watch together when I was little and it would usually be on her day off or before she'd have to go in for work. It went off the air in 1983, I was born in 79, so I think WGN aired the re-runs of the show. Read and fell in love with the books too.

[ultra_fic]

Aaw, thats nice that you watched with your Mom. We watched as a family when I was a little and are rewatching as a family now. Its defo a good family show. They were reruns when I was a kid too, since I wasn't born til 84 ;)

I just got done with the last book in the series - The First Four Years. Its nice to see which parts of the TV series were real, and I love the way she wrote her stories. I have The Little House Traveler to read next, which is a collection of letters and a diary or something, I think, from when Laura was older. I dunno, I didn't start it yet, but I'm sure I'll like it :)