The Waltons - Series 2 - Complete (Box Set) (DVD)

...word to say however.... the second series is by far better than the first. The actors have clearly found their niche with their various characters and some in particular i.e. John-Boy and the Grandfather have become much stronger. I think the script is much stronger too. As with most drama series until it develops you don't notice but there is definately a difference in the sense that its much more seamless for example in a scene with quite a bit ...
...say that my review on the first series wasn't true just that having seen the second I can see a considerable improvement.

For those deprived people who have never seen the waltons, it was an american drama series filmed in the 1970's but set in the depression of the 1930's in Virginia, USA. It was based upon the childhood of Earl Hamner, the man on whom John-Boy is based. Earl Hamner has had a lot of input in the drama from being the ... more

Well as an avid waltons fan, again I cannot fault this series in fact until I saw this I thought I would never have a negative word to say however.... the second series is by far better than the first. The actors have clearly found their niche with their various characters and some in particular i.e. John-Boy and the Grandfather have become much stronger. I think the script is much stronger too. As with most drama series until it develops you don't notice but there is definately a difference in the sense that its much more seamless for example in a scene with quite a bit of dialogue between the characters the flow is much better, before it was quite obvious and probably a bit wooden by comparison if I am completely frank. Thats not to say that my review on the first series wasn't true just that having seen the second I can see a considerable improvement.

For those deprived people who have never seen the waltons, it was an american drama series filmed in the 1970's but set in the depression of the 1930's in Virginia, USA. It was based upon the childhood of Earl Hamner, the man on whom John-Boy is based. Earl Hamner has had a lot of input in the drama from being the story writer to director and has always narrated the beginning and end of each episode. The idea behind the series was to promote good American values after the era of sex drugs and rock n roll!

John boy is the character through whom most of the events are percieved though each episode often focuses on one of the family or visitor to the family and there is always a moral lesson behind each episode. The family comprises of the mother Olivia played by Michael learned, father john played by Ralph Waite and the seven children John Boy, Jason, Mary-Ellen, Ben Erin, Jim bob and finally Elizabeth. the paternal grandparents Esther and Zeb also live with the family. The grandparents in particular are a great source of amusement and there are parallels with the british Jack and Vera with their bickering. The acting between them is excellent.

Without obviously giving away too much some of the events of the series include John-Boy graduating from school, the grandparents separating, a near death in the family and the honeymoon for John and Olivia. Whilst it obviously it does not appeal to some tastes, if you are looking for light hearted viewing this is the series to buy. I personally find it very refreshing being able to enjoy something without the extreme violence, sex or illegal activity that often overruns modern drama series' Don't get me wrong I enjoy those too but not all the time, as long as you don't expect a great deal of depth and you can cope with the predicability it can be extremely rewarding afterall - without mentioning names there are still soap operas in particular the aussie ones which can be pretty predictable and with not very much depth which still have a big following and I am sure most of us have watched at some time or another!!!

The DVD itself comprises of 5 discs with 24 episodes each one lasting approximately 50 minutes with an extended episode called the thanksgiving story which is about two episodes long. There aren't unfortunately any special features on the dvd but I guess in the 1970's the idea to keep deleted scenes or make a running directors commentary was not though of then. TRhe DVD costs around £25 though rpices do vary. Now that series three was released in the US in April, I would imagine the price will come down. A note to make for everyone is that although the waltons in particular state region 1 (US/Canada) Warner Bros make all of their dvd's so that they will play on any dvd playerregardless of region so if you want to buy from the states it will be cheaper and it will work on a region 2 dvd player. There is a langauge section to allow you to change the setting though i have never needed this feature. The only other feature is episode selection. The downside I might also mention is that you can't fast forward through an episode like you would on a video player, there are points through an epsiode that you can skip to but these are often 10-15 minutes apart so in order to view a bit you have missed you may have to rewatch 10 minutes of the episode. The only other thing to mention is that the epsiodes are listed on the dvd sleeve with a small sentence about each one. Unlike series one the packaging is cardboard much to my disappointment. I actually prefered the thin jewel cases that series one was packaged in. Oh well you can't have it all!!
 

...less