Product Description

They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. This 5-disc set features all 24 Year-One episodes of the beloved series that ran 9 years and won 5 Emmy Awards its inaugural year including Outstanding Drama Series. Richard Thomas plays the key role of John-Boy Walton a youth on the verge of manhood during the Great Depression and a fledgling writer whose observations are filled with the growing-up lessons and love he receives from father John mother Olivia Grandma Grandpa and all the rest of The Waltons.System Requirements:Running Time 1248 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 085393226220

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1235 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-05-11
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: .85 pounds
• Running time: 1249 minutes

Amazon.com
The Waltons' nearly 10-year run on network television grew out of the popular, 1971 made-for-TV movie The Homecoming, which was derived from a Depression-era, rustic setting ("Walton's Mountain"), and characters based on Earl Hamner Jr.'s autobiographical novel Spencer's Mountain--itself the source for a very nice 1963 feature film starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. That's a lot of entertainment sprouting from Hamner's prose. But something about his seminal story of family values, rugged independence, and big dreams amidst a hardscrabble existence captured the hearts of American audiences, many of whom personally recalled severe economic adversity in the 1930s.

The Waltons: The Complete First Season collects those initial episodes from the series building on the strengths of the Homecoming pilot, which introduced the extended Walton clan led by a strong-willed mill owner, John (Andrew Duggan), and his equally resolute wife, Olivia (Patricia Neal). The Waltons recast those key roles (as well as a few others) with Ralph Waite and Michael Learned (yup, a female), but Richard Thomas carried over as oldest child John-Boy Walton, an aspiring writer whose cusp-of-manhood view informs the series. Will Geer (Seconds) replaced Edgar Bergen as Grandpa Walton, Ellen Corby remained as Grandma, and John and Olivia's large brood (seven kids in all) were filled out by largely unknown, young actors. The episodes, still delightful and touching, strong on production values and unusually tight and polished for primetime drama, tended to focus on creator Hamner's pet themes of self-sacrifice and heroic effort when the going got tough.

Year 1 highlights include "The Carnival," in which the impoverished Waltons, who can't pay for tickets to see a circus performance, end up sheltering stranded carney folk. "The Typewriter" is a classic about John-Boy "borrowing" a museum's antique typewriter, only to have his sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton) sell it as junk. "The Sinner" concerns the arrival of a fundamentalist minister on Walton's Mountain, finding comfort in the words of religious iconoclast John Walton after the clergyman makes a fool of himself with moonshine. That's Hamner himself providing touches of narration. During the long run of the multiple-award-winning The Waltons, there were many changes in casting and storylines. But this boxed set reveals a fine series in its pristine state. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Walton's Season 2
The Season 1 and Season 2 DVD set is just what my in-laws wanted. They are finicky TV watchers and many of todays shows are not of interest to them. They absolutely love the DVD's and thank me for them everytime I see them.

great content but problems with product
We love the program itself. Great family entertainment. However, the set had 2 disk 3's and no disk 1. So we didn't have the first 6 episodes. When we contacted Amazon, they said that they can't replace the disk or even the set. They will just give us a refund if we return it. We are currently living in Mexico and purchased this in the US on a visit. So trying to return the product is a problem. It's too bad that there isn't a better way to work with us on the issue.

Hours of enjoyment!
I love it!!! This provides hours of escape from a hectic life and takes you back to a simpler time.