Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Little House on the Prairie: Season Three Blu-ray Movie Review

When you plow as much as the Ingalls family, you're bound to make a rut.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 13, 2014

Little House on the Prairie had settled into a comfortable rhythm by the time it entered its third season in the fall of 1976. But the fact that the show even made it to a third year is a bit surprising, given the fact that after a Top 15 first season, the series failed to place in even the Top 30 for its second year. Despite that lackluster sophomore season showing, Michael Landon doesn’t radically reinvent the wagon wheel for the third year, and indeed relies on several well established tropes the series had already exploited in its first two years. Audiences rediscovered the show during the third season, and for the rest of its original broadcast run, the series never again left the Top 30 (the fourth season would garner the highest ratings for the run of the show). Part of what makes Little House on the Prairie click is its very familiarity, and this season does its requisite share to depict the hardscrabble grit of the Ingalls family (as well as a number of other settlers), while also providing rather regular trips to hankie or tissue land, courtesy of treacly but undeniably effective heartstring tugging sequences. The focus is again largely on Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls, so much so that I half expected Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls to burst into a non sequitur, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” But the sweet relationship that Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon) shares with all of his daughters is one of the series’ enduring aspects, and that is also well on display during the third year.

Mary actually does get her moment in the spotlight in the series’ opening episode, one which typifies the redemptive grace that is part and parcel of Little House’s overall ambience. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash appear as guest stars (the series had a tendency to stunt cast throughout its run), with Johnny portraying a scoundrel named Caleb Hodgekiss who decides to impersonate a minister in Walnut Creek after he finds Reverend Alden (Dabbs Greer) nearly dead from some kind of unspecified “fever”. While a somewhat hesitant Mrs. Hodgekiss nurses the good pastor back to health, Caleb takes off for greener pastures (and nice full collection offering plates) to supposedly rob the decent citizens of Walnut Creek blind, albeit in the safe setting of church. What happens is hardly revelatory—Caleb has a change of heart, and all ends well. Mary is one of the few who sees through Caleb’s deceit, but even she seems overjoyed by the salvation the character enjoys at the episode’s close.

But there’s little doubt that the creative team behind Little House on the Prairie had taken note of audience reactions to little Melissa Gilbert as Laura. Gilbert, with her just slightly cross eyed mien, had become both an audience and critical darling by this point, and many episodes tend to feature the little tyke, showing both her resilience as well as her penchant for tears (which look slathered on her in a couple of episodes). The series tends to tug rather insistently at the heart strings per its by then typical mode, introducing seemingly insurmountable obstacles--like reuniting Laura with her beloved horse, Bunny— that turn out to be eminently solvable, once Charles or other adults get involved. What that means is that the show tends to lack any real drama quite a bit of the time. The conflicts are often either so ultimately minor or, conversely, so weirdly amped up that neither approach ever pays much dividends in the way of tension, since it’s a foregone conclusion that everything will be wrapped up with smiles all around by the end of the episode. (Speaking of Bunny, this set returns the series to correct broadcast order, with "Bunny" airing second and "The Race" airing third. Previous DVD editions had reversed these two for some strange reason.)

This season also features the nefarious bullying of Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) to a new degree. This typically results in hardships for Laura (and occasionally her siblings), with Nellie usually getting her comeuppance by episode’s end. There are some flat out slapstick moments this season with Nellie, including a harrowing scene where an angry Laura attempts to prove that Nellie isn’t permanently disabled and sends her catapulting down a steep hill in a wheelchair, where the hapless girl ultimately lands smack dab into a pond. When she stands up in the water in abject misery, her mother faints from the “miracle” that her little girl is walking again. In fact, the Oleson parents’ sanguine reactions to Nellie’s exploits is one of the more frustrating aspects of the show, since most viewers are going to be wanting the little girl to get some serious punishments. That said, the show is at least an equal opportunity depicter of kids acting badly, and even Laura gets into trouble in a later episode when she takes something from Nellie's room, leading to some serious lessons in truth telling.

Despite its formulaic aspects, Little House on the Prairie wasn't afraid to tackle serious subjects, and that include's this season's examination of racial prejudice in the touching episode "Injun Kid", when a so-called "half breed" moves into Walnut Creek and is subject to abject bullying. It's interesting to contrast the small scale insights offered here with those of two big screen epics dealing with some of the same issues, The Searchers and The Unforgiven.

While cynics will probably find this third season as overwrought if homespun as the show’s first two years, that’s really not necessarily a bad thing. Little House on the Prairie served (and maybe continues to serve) as an antidote to that very cynicism, helping to remind viewers that there is no greater blessing than home, hearth and (especially) family. These are not innovative or really very remarkable lessons, and yet the series in its own quiet way shows how profound they actually are.

Little House on the Prairie: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Little House on the Prairie: Season Three is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.36:1. This third season follows very much in the largely admirable footsteps of the first two seasons of the show on Blu-ray. Once again the restorative efforts have gotten the elements into very good condition, though there may have been some slight digital scrubbing done here as well, as grain is slightly inconsistent at times. There appears to be less contrast boosting on this season than season one especially, and while that perhaps deprives some darker scenes of huge levels of shadow detail, overall things look largely organic. Colors are nicely saturated and accurate looking, and close-ups provide good to very good fine detail. The series embarks on a few more filming gimmicks this year, with shots like point of view from a galloping horse's perspective and the like, and some of those shots look relatively soft when compared to the bulk of the season. These techniques add to somewhat inconsistent sharpness and clarity, but overall Little House continues to impress on Blu-ray, offering a largely commendable viewing experience.

Little House on the Prairie: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Again very much in line with the releases of the first two seasons of the show on Blu-ray, this third season of Little House on the Prairie offers a decent if unambitious DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono accounting of the series' original soundtrack. Once again, dialogue and score are very cleanly presented, and the well done foley effects, which can include everything from thundering horses' hooves to torrential downpours, give a nice slice of authentic sounding Old West ambience to the series. Fidelity is excellent, though dynamic range is somewhat limited.

Little House on the Prairie: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Little House Phenomenon Part Three: Casting Walnut Grove (1080p; 18:50) is another interesting installment in the multi- part documentary that has been part of every Blu-ray release of the series thus far. This one has some especially enjoyable interviews with some of the then child actors who were regulars in the series. There are also peeks at screen tests which are fun to see.

Little House on the Prairie: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Like Charles Ingalls working his plow out in the fields, Little House on the Prairie had found its comfortable rut by this third season and never strays very far from the straight and narrow exposition of family values and easy to swallow lessons like honesty, forgiveness and basic decency. The morals on display here may be downright pat (and unapologetically old fashioned), but they're delivered sweetly and unpretentiously. The show is repetitive, but it provides the same sort of reassurance as comfort food tends to. Technical merits here continue to be strong, and the third season of Little House on the Prairie comes Recommended.