Product Description

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: SEASON 9 TH (DVD MOVIE)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4892 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2005-11-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 1020 minutes

Features

• In this final season, The Ingalls leave Walnut Grove. Even death and loss cannot dampen their spirits. With the announcement of an engagement, the family ties carry on and grow stronger than ever. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION Rating: NR Age: 069458122238 UPC: 069458122238 Manufacturer No: A021436

Amazon.com
The ninth season of Little House on the Prairie was re-invented as Little House: A New Beginning after star Michael Landon decided to leave the series. (He continued to produce, direct and write for the show.) The first episode began with the departure of Landon's Pa Ingalls, who fell on hard economic times and moved his family to the city . He returned for just one harrowing two-parter, "Home Again," in which son Albert (Matthew Laborteaux) battled a morphine addiction. In Landon's absence, it was up to the other denizens of Walnut Grove to provide drama, and provide they did. The meddling, gossipy Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) played town villain, followed by her whiny adopted daughter Nancy (Allison Balson), who was annoying but never as deliciously wicked as her predecessor Nellie (Alison Arngrim, who makes a welcome guest appearance). Laura (Melissa Gilbert) is all grown up and living with husband Almanzo (Dean Butler) and their daughter Rose. The show also cast a pre-scandal Shannen Doherty as Jenny Wilder to fill the spunky young protagonist role vacated by Gilbert.

Little House continued its run of darker stories in this season, from a crazed father (Robert Loggia) who shoots his daughter and wife to a suicide attempt by Jenny after her father dies, filling in other episodes with fluffy schmaltz featuring some of the other townsfolk (you know they're desperate when an entire show is about a wayward orangutan). The series also liked to feature outcasts teaching the town lessons in tolerance: in one case a circus midget can't get a job because of his looks, and a "wild boy" turns out just to be an abused mute. Despite its attempts to fill the void left by Pa and Ma Ingalls with new characters, however, the long-running series lost its spark without Landon and did not last after the ninth season.

The boxed set includes an 86-page booklet: Little House on the Prairie A-Z by historian Patrick Loubatiere, who also interviews Dean Butler and Alison Arngrim in the DVD bonus features. The interviews don't reveal much, other than Loubatiere's smugness for knowing more about Little House than the stars of the show. --Ellen A. Kim

Customer Reviews

The season not for everyone (but still classic!)
In the last season, we see more of the Carters and Wilders than the Ingallses. You have to wonder why the writers did this; certainly there was a behind-the-scenes reason. For some viewers, much of the show's charm is missing along with the Ingalls family, but it remains classic, family friendly TV with some truly great moments. Nellie comes home to envious fireworks from Nancy (her face as she asks Caroline, "Was I ever that bad?" is priceless). The Younger brothers are spoofed with a cheesy humor that is lost on children but makes the episode classic for probably many adults. Jason Carter befriends a dying lady in maybe the best episode of the season. Laura pens her first draft of Little House in the Big Woods, wins a writing contest, and concedes the prize when she realizes the publishers intend to change her story. Isaiah Edwards is perhaps the most poignant character of this season, as he cares for and defends a circus "wild boy" (who later leaves town to live with his father) and falls in love only to decide that he's an "old man" and the girl's life will be better without him.

Episode List, first aired September 1982-March 1983

Times Are Changing (parts 1&2)
Welcome To Olesonville
Rage
Little Lou
The Wild Boy (parts 1&2)
The Return of Nellie
The Empire Builders
Love
Alden's Dilemma
Marvin's Garden
Sins of the Fathers
The Older Brothers
Once Upon a Time
Home Again (2-hour episode)
A Child With No Name
The Last Summer
For the Love of Blanche
May I Have This Dance
Hello and Goodbye

Season 9 Review
In season 9 of "Little House," the series is re-titled "Little House, A New Beginning," as Michael Landon and Karen Grassle leave the series, and Melissa Gilbert and Dean Butler become the new lead actors as Laura and Almonzo. With Laura as the only member of the Ingalls family remaining in Walnut Grove, the series did lose many fans who could not accept the absence of Charles and Caroline, and the rest of the Ingalls children. The Carter family moves into the Ingalls' old home, but it is never quite the same. This season Alison Arngrim makes a welcome guest appearance in "The Return of Nellie." However, while this is Alison's final appearance as Nellie, she has a cameo as a phone operator in the series finale, "The Last Farewell." We also see the return of Charles and Albert Ingalls in the two-part episode "Home Again," where Albert is battling a morphine addiction. This season's finale, "Hello And Goodbye," is the last time we see the character of Mrs. Oleson, as she does not appear in any of the final three movies. We await the DVD release of the final three movies, "Look Back To Yesterday"(which also features the return of Charles and Albert), "Bless All The Dear Children," and the series finale "The Last Farewell," which tragically ends with the destruction of Walnut Grove. I hope these movies will be released soon to complete the series.

Landon is gone, well almost...
Landon's true last season was defintely Season 8 and he basically took over the story lines and directing duties for Season 9. His gray hair must have been the deciding factor! Just kidding. Karen Grassle (Mrs. Ingalls) is nowhere to be found, Carrie Ingalls, Mary, Adam Kendall... vanished...Landon (Mr. Ingalls) starts out in the opening episode and returns for a very "morbid episode with Albert in the midlde of the season" It must be said though although the most beloved character is gone, the charm and satisfaction of the show is still very much intact. Landon's directing abilities certainly shine as the stories do not seem old and rehashed from past years.

Season 9 is truly a "New Beginning" as the characters have certainly evolved, and there are newbies galore. Shannon Daughtery is an amazing little actor in this series as I couldn't believe it was her when I popped it in my DVD player. I think I liked her better as a little girl! Isaiah Edwards, (Victor French) has once again became one of the main characters for the series and is with the season througout the stay. Laura and Almonzo are still around along with classics such as Nels, Harriet, Nancy and Wily, Willy Olesen, Dr. Baker and the Reverend Alden are still here. I think this is the last Season we get to enjoy the antics of Harriet (McGreggor) as I don't believe she reprises her role in Season 10. The stories still seem (and manage) to touch the heart like they did in the earlier seasons and still draws tears to fans. How they can make a story about a strayed babboon in Walnut Grove and make it enjoyable is beyond me, but it's successful no matter how you cut it.

The most gut wrenching and disturbing 2-part episode is with the return of Albert and Charles Ingalls. It's the most morbid episode ever for the series and is almost to the point of being inappropriate for younger viewers. The moral is certainly "drugs will ruin your life, so don't do drugs!" Albert is addicted to Morphine, and the show puts you through his vomiting, convulsions, hallucinations, his severe withdrawl and the battle with his father to save his life. Can the great and powerful Charles Ingalls save him one last time? Great entertainment, allbeit a bit morbid.

Fans of the series should still buy this, It's not the best season by any means, most of the classic characters are gone, but the show still manages to rock thanks to continued great storylines and fine acting. It's still one of the betters forms of entertainment that should be on everyone's shelf for years to come.