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By the time of “The Waltons TV Specials” which ran
from after the last season of the “The Waltons” in 1982
(its ninth season was its last) to 1995, the popular and
critically acclaimed series had run out of gas. Season nine
had characters appearing and disappearing as if in some
bizarre magic act with, for example, faux John-Boy stating
he was going to be an overseas correspondent in one episode,
disappearing for a few and then, suddenly living in a cabin
in the middle of nowhere. There was no narrative logic and
add in the fact that supporting characters were being recast
willy nilly and fans were understandably confused with the
results. ***
Creator/producer Earl Hamner, Jr. recognized that this
iconic series was now going falling like a down hill race
on a steep mountain in new powder. In fact it had been going
downhill since the 6th season with the departure of Richard
Thomas and with the absence of Michele Leonard and the T.B.
plot device that enabled her to have more free time to pursue
other projects. The fact is that the strategy of recasting
John-Boy for seasons seven to nine was a better decision
than having bizarre comings and goings. In retrospect, Hamner
probably should have left Waltons mountain and followed
the individual Walton children for a series of episodes
each season which would have freed up the cast members to
pursue other opportunities, created better consistency and
then they could tie together each season in a big TV movie
either at the end of each season or the first season of
the next. It also would have kept the actors around as well.
Instead, the producers decided to be neither fish or fowl
they essentially did some of what I suggested but spent
most of their time on Waltons Mountain with the increasingly
disinterested cast members. ***
The movies cover from 1947-1949 and then in the last
TV movie jumps to 1963 avoiding the major transitional years
of the 1950’s with the Communist witch hunts of Joseph McCarthy,
the Cold War and the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll. It’s a pity
that they focused on the years they did because they would
have been better served setting up 1 TV movie to wrap up
the 40’s having the bulk of the others set in the 50’s and
the last set in 1963. The last movie finds the REAL John-Boy
(Richard Thomas) returning. He’s covering the assassination
of President Kennedy and the film tackles the impact of
the murder and John-Boy’s role as a network anchor covering
the horrible event and the emotional impact it has on him.
It’s a fine final TV movie with the rest of them focusing
on weddings, Mother Day’s, etc. with mixed results. ---
Image & Sound:
The ninth season of “The Waltons” looked wildly uneven
in its last season DVD set; it’s as if Warner just didn’t
care to spent the time to adjust the print as much as possible
for their best and only digital presentation. The prints
were faded, often having specks, dirt or debris and soft.
That’s not to say that the entire run looked bad but there
was enough evidence of lack of care to suggest that Warner
was going through the motions. ***
Why am I spending so much time on the last season?
That’s because it set the bar for the movies and whether
or not they would be any better. The good news is that the
best of the movies here are an improvement on the last season
with stronger colors, better detail and less soft images.
That’s not to suggest that these are free from problems
though. The 80’s TV movies still suffer from faded colors
and there’s still a fair amount of specks that pop up now
and again. Nevertheless, on the whole these are an improvement
on the ninth season. It’s clear that “The Waltons” are in
desperate need of restoration but based on the cost and
the shrinking appeal of the series I doubt that will happen.
***
Audio sounds good although there are moments of distortion
(a problem with the ninth season set as well) but dialogue
remains clear throughout the presentation. ---
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