Product Details

• Actors: Florence Lake, Hugh Reilly, Lassie the Dog, Conlan Carter, Joan Freeman
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD, Restored, Full Screen, Collector's Edition, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Classic Media
• DVD Release Date: September 14, 2004
• Run Time: 528 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002VEYV8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,051 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Lassie - 50th Anniversary TV Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Collection of episodes from the television show about a collie named Lassie.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 14-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This DVD is a good start but Lassie fans deserve much more, December 29, 2005

By 

R. Brinkman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lassie - 50th Anniversary TV Collection (DVD)

Here is a list of the episodes of this DVD collection for those who might want to get the single disc editions that contain other episodes. Unfortunately, a number of the shows in this collection are edited. The episode numbers below follow the production/syndication order; the DVD booklet numbers them by the order they were aired, although they must be skipping "The Frog" from 1956 (which was not aired by CBS but is in syndication) as the episodes starting with "The Runaway" are off by 1. What's funny is the discs follow the production order.

---------- Jeff years ----------
1) #1 - The Inheritance (ALERT: this version is edited, missing segement where Lassie unties her rope to Jeff's bed)
2) #5 - Lassie's Pups
3) #10 - The Lion (the DVD book incorrectly puts this episode after "The Inheritance")
4) #53 - The Journey (the Jeff episode, not the Timmy episode with the balloon)
5) #104 - The Runaway (introducing Timmy)
6) #116 - Transition (the Martins take over the farm)
---------- Timmy years ----------
7) #173 - The Camera
8) #180 - Peace Patrol (the Lone Ranger)
9) #184 - The New Refrigerator (not "The Refrigerator" as named in the DVD booklet)
10) #202 - The Space Traveler (not "Space Invader" as named in the DVD booklet)
11) #269 - Lassie and the Eagle (the DVD book incorrectly puts this episode after "The Odyssey")
12) #275 - Lassie's Protege
13) thru 15) #277-279 "Lassie's Odyssey" (Part 1 thru 3)
(note: episodes are missing re-caps of previous episode plus previews for the next one, so they run shorter than the normal 25.5 minutes)
16) #290 - Lassie and the Tiger
17) thru 18) #330-331 - The Treasure (Parts 1 and 2)
---------- Ranger years ----------
19) thru 20) #476-477 "Holocaust" (Parts 1 and 2) edited down to 22.5 minutes each
---------- alone years -----------
21) thru 22) "For the Love of Lassie" (Parts 1 and 2)
severly edited down to 20.5 minutes each
---------- Holden years ----------
23) thru 24) "Run to Nowhere" (Parts 1 and 2) edited down to 22.5 minutes each

It's still a great collection to have. "The Odyssey" itself makes it worthwhile. And seeing Jan Clayton, Tom Rettig, June Lockhart and Jon Provost together on stage is one of the greatest TV moments!

86 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad...But Could Have Been Much Better, October 3, 2004

By 

John O'Keefe (Cape Cod, MA.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lassie - 50th Anniversary TV Collection (DVD)

I had high hopes for this DVD collection and seeing it was created and released by two well known companies (Classic Media & Sony) it should have been better. This collection contains several "Lassie shows" starting with "Jeff's Collie" in 1954 all the way up to the "Holden Ranch" episodes in 1974.
Classic Media & Sony apparently had the blessing of the "Lassie Organization" so why couldn't they have acquired the original negatives and struck new prints ?? While the episodes included are watchable, many have visual artifacts (scratches) and a grainy quality. Fresh prints would have been more in order with a release such as a 50th Anniversary DVD collection. For example, every "Timmy and Lassie" episode in this collection opens with the 1959 opening, even if it was a 1960 or 1962 episode. Did they think diehard babyboomer fans of this show wouldn't notice ?? Also, the opening of one particular "Jeff's Collie" episode, looked very rough. The closing music on many episodes of Jeff's Collie" had a wavy or unbalanced sound. The color episodes which were the newest and should have looked the best, were of poor quality. Again with mismatched opening titles and actual episode years. They looked to be second or third generation copies...even the older B/W episodes looked better.
It would have been nice if surviving cast members could have done some narration discussing behind the scenes shooting or favorite episodes.
There ARE some good things to say about this DVD collection. The episodes chosen were some of the best. The booklet by Ace Collins describing the Lassie story is very informative and this set is packaged very nicely. The extras such as the recent "ninja" Lassie G.E. commercial and other noteable Lassie appearances are fun to watch although again, the quality of some of these clips varies.
This DVD collection had such great potential and although I'm glad I bought it, I expected so much more...Lassie fans deserved it and so did Lassie.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lassie 50th--, September 17, 2004

By 

Jimmy Ramone (Arlington, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lassie - 50th Anniversary TV Collection (DVD)

I was really sorry to see that one of the best Lassie episodes ever, the 5-parter known as "The Journey," was not included here. This is not to be confused with an episode of the same title from the "Jeff Miller" (Tommy Rettig) years.

This was the one where "Timmy Martin" (Jon Provost) and Lassie end up stranded in the Canadian wilderness courtesy of a hot air balloon gone astray. Along the way Timmy becomes ill, as I recall, and was cared for by an Eskimo or Indian. The cinematography was beautiful, and as a kid I have wonderful memories of the balloon sequences. The series' associate producer, Bonita Granville Wrather, had done special voiceover intros, and special color title and credit sequences were also done for this special episode, I believe. This episode was re-cut for theatrical release as "Lassie's Great Adventure," but was still missing some footage from the TV showing.

Another multi-part episode missing is the 3-part one in which The Martins (Ruth, Paul & Timmy) leave the farm for Australia, and Lassie in the care of their elderly farmer friend, "Cully Wilson" (portrayed by the terrific Andy Clyde, who was also "Hopalong Cassidy"'s original sidekick, as well as "George McMichael," the foil to Walter Brennan's "Grandpa McCoy" on TV's "The Real McCoys"). Cully eventually becomes too ill to care for the collie and so Lassie winds up with her new master, forest ranger Corey Stuart. This transition episode would have been a nice addition to this golden anniversary edition as well.

Another missing element, of which I've never seen any episodes but which I've heard positive things is "The New Lassie," which featured a young Will Estes aka "Will Nipper" (now on NBC's "American Dreams" as a Vietnam soldier) as Lassie's boy master, as well as the re-appearance of Jon Provost as his "Uncle Steve" (in the show it is revealed that was his birth name before The Martins adopted him as "Timmy") for a few episodes. This series also re-introduced Tommy Rettig as "Jeff" and June Lockhart, as a remarried "Ruth" after Paul Martin's death, in single episodes. It's never been re-aired in the U.S. since its syndicated run, to my knowledge, and no episodes on home video have ever been released.

There was also a Lassie tribute special shown back in the 1990s, which would make a nice bonus in a set of this type. That documentary included comments from the then-still-alive Clayton and Rettig, as well as Lockhart and Provost, among other players in the "Lassie" series.

I agree with some others' comments here that a release by a major home video company should have state-of-the-art technology in re-mastered prints of episodes, and in this digital age there is just no good excuse for not having the best audio/video possible.

Maybe what's really needed is a Lassie DVD box set, which would include the material on this 50th anniversary DVD set in enhanced format, and could also include the aforementioned omissions, and then some? Still, this golden anniversary DVD, along with the others already released on SonyWonder, is a good start for anyone looking to build a "Lassie" TV collection. In the absence of anything, something is always better than nothing.