Customer Reviews

Road to Avonlea Season 1

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This great family-friendly series brings back great memories from my childhood; I would definitely consider this my favorite TV show of all time! Each episode is full of sweet moments, family life, exciting adventures, beautiful scenery, and much more. The content of these is minimal: it's a very family-friendly series, with only a few episodes with some objectionable content (like the Witches of Avonlea episode in this season).

The storyline centers around Sarah Stanley, who comes to Prince Edward Island when her father is accused of embezzlement to live with relatives in a little town called Avonlea. As she struggles to accept her new life and get along with her strict Aunt Hettie, her stuck-up cousin Felcity King, & tormenting cousin Felix King, Sarah must accept the changes in her young life. But not everything is bad: small town life can be loads of fun, and her new Aunt Olivia is wondeful!

Check out this amazing series produced by Sullivan in Canada, the same company who brought up "Anne of Green Gables" and "Anne of Avonlea" in the 90's with Megan Follows. Aired in the U.S. under the title "Avonlea" on the Disney Channel, you will enjoy watching these fantastic episodes again and again! My favorite episodes from this season include: "The Journey Begins," "The Story Girl Earns Her Name," and "Felicity's Challenge"...

Season One contains the following episodes:

1. The Journey Begins
2. The Story Girl Earns Her Name
3. The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's
4. The Materializing of Duncan McTavish
5. Old Lady Lloyd
6. Proof of the Pudding
7. Conversions
8. Aunt Abigail's Beau
9. Malcolm and the Baby
10. Felicity's Challenge
11. The Witch of Avonlea
12. The Hope Chest of Arabella King
13. Nothing Endures But Change

Looking through the Amazon listings for the "Road to Avonlea" series can be a little confusing, if you're trying to figure out exactly which edition of the series you're getting.

The programme is slowly being re-released on DVD by the Sullivan company in a new edition described as a "widescreen hi-def digital restoration." Well, that's all to the good, but please keep in mind that these are NOT high-definition Blu-ray releases. They are standard DVDs which will play on any DVD machine. I think it's extremely misleading to use the term "HI-DEF" in the promotional material.

That said, these new releases are vastly superior to the old DVD sets, which had terrible quality-control issues and generally looked dreadful, with picture quality so grainy that the episodes looked like they were shot through a screen door. The new transfers are very clean and sharp, and presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio---fitting the screen width of modern widescreen televisions. Now, the series was shot on 35 mm film stock, which has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. So, these new releases do re-frame the picture slightly, cropping a bit off the top and bottom of the film frame. However, I've done frame-to-frame comparisons of the old and new transfers, and I see that while there is a little cropping at the top and bottom, at the same time in the new transfer there is a little more picture visible on each side of the frame (which had been cropped off in the original release). So, it's a bit of a trade-off in terms of how much of the picture you're getting, when comparing the old and new versions. But the quality of the new transfers is so extremely superior to the old, I can't say I mind missing that tiny bit of picture from the upper and lower portions of the screen at all.

A quick way to tell which edition of the series you're buying, is to look at the covers. The new transfers have a wide bar of solid colour running across the top of the DVD case, with "Road to Avonlea" printed in large capital letters. As of this writing (December 2010), the first three seasons have been re-released in this new format, and I do hope the remaining seasons will follow, as this is an EXCELLENT series!

Ah, Road to Avonlea. One of my favorite shows, ever since I first saw it as a ten year old, watching the Disney Channel! Of course, I desperately wanted copies of all the episodes, so last year, I bought a bunch of the videos. But now that I finally have a DVD player, I was eager to buy this set of the complete first season. I was sooo happy when it arrived, and I popped it in and began watching. The screen tests are so funny! I just wish there were more of those, and it would be great if they added more cast interviews and things like that. It was nice to see the episodes in order and a nice clear image onscreen. I would have given this set five stars except for one itsy bitsy major disappointment. Nowhere on any of the discs did they play the opening theme song! AAACCKKK!!!! For me, this was tragic. I love and adore the theme song, and I love to watch the opening credits, the familiar scenes, ending in the back of Sarah Polley looking at the ocean with her hair blowing in the breeze... If you are a fan of this show, then you must know what I am talking about. Not for the first episode, or even the first one on each disc. No theme song. I am very sad. Because of this, the set lost a star, but it is truly otherwise a wonderful thing. If you love this show, go for it. I guess it is good I got the videos after all. They had the theme song on them!

Pros:
- Awesome show. Brings back a lot of great memories.
- Unlike the Disney release, these episodes are complete and not shortened to fit on the DVD.

Cons:
- The WORST quality DVD I have ever seen. Each disc and each episode has this bizarre grainy, distorted, image. It isn't unwatchable if you're a hardcore fan--I'll probably even buy more seasons despite this defect. Also it doesn't matter what kind of a TV or DVD player you have. My tube with cheap DVD player was just as crappy a picture as my HDTV with a progressive scan player.
- While the story is intact and not edited down, the introduction and theme music has been cut from each episode. Boo!

Charming children and adults get into a variety of fun predicaments. The King family, their children, and their friends, in the town of Avonlea, in the early 1900's, on Prince Edward Island in Canada.

If you liked "Little House on the Prairie" or "Anne of Green Gables"; you should like this. Seasons 1-6 are excellent. I have not seen season-7.

Realistic, likeable, characters, people I would like to know. Avonlea is a place that I would like to visit. Beautiful countryside, farm, horses, period costumes; women in their pretty dresses, period sets and homes, some humor, inviting activities, and a lively pace, carry you to a nicer place.

The episode "Proof in the Pudding", is especially funny. The five young children are exceptional, they each so understand the character they portray and the comedy they present, that they have a lot of fun doing it, and you are along for the fun. The Aunt Abigail and Malcolm episodes of romance are very charming.

The various episodes are written by different writers; yet all have the same charm. This first season is all written by women. Mr. Sullivan spared no expense to create a variety of warm, fun, and humorous escapades. Excellent character-acting, such as Rachel Lynde from "Anne of Green Gables".

This series has been my best money value; dividing the 13-episodes by the cost: $51÷13 episodes = $3.92 per 46-minute episode. Sells new in Canada for $80.

In the year 1903 after her father is charged with embezzlement, young Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley) is sent from Montreal to live with her late mother's relatives in the town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. Sara ends up in the care of her Aunt Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs), the matriarch of the King clan and the teacher at the Avonlea school. The transition from high society in Montreal to the simple life on P.E.I. proves difficult for Sara, who has to endure the taunts of her cousins, the vain Felicity (Gema Zamprogna) and the mischievous Felix (Zachary Bennett). Fortunately her Aunt Olivia (Mag Ruffman) is a kindly soul and Sara makes friends with Jasper Dale (R.H. Thompson), the local recluse who helps her put on the magic lantern show that earns Sara the sobriquet of "The Story Girl."

"Road to Avonlea" was based on not only the two L.M. Montgomery novels that featured Sara and her King cousins, "The Story Girl" and "The Golden Road," but two collections of short stories, "Chronicles of Avonlea" and "Further Chronicles of Avonlea." Seven of the eleven episodes were based specifically on Montgomery's writings, albeit often with significant changes in the characters to fit the show's cast: "The Quarrantine at Alexander Abraham's," "Old Lady Lloyd," and "Aunt Abigail's Beau" come from "Chronicles of Avonlea," "The Materialization of Duncan" from "Further Chronicles," and "Proof of the Pudding," "Conversions," and "The Hope Chest of Arabella King" are all from chapters in "The Story Girl." Three of those adaptations were written by Heather Conkie, who would continue to do an excellent job of turning Montgomery's story into episodes in the future. These stories also allowed the show to work in a couple of beloved characters from the Sullivan "Anne of Green Gables" productions, with Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla Cuthebert and Patricia Hamilton as Mrs. Rachel Lynde.

When I watched "The Complete First Season" of "Road to Avonlea" again, I was struck by how much I do not like Hetty King. I swear, that when we get to the final episode, "Nothing Endures But Change," and Hetty is upset that Sara's father wants to take her home (which is not a radical thing for a father to want to do), I have no idea why either she or Sara want to continue to put up with each other. I think it is clear that Hetty hates Sara's father, blaming him for the death of her sister Ruth, more than she likes Sara. In fact, this episode is really the first sign of any affection from Hetty towards Sara in the series. In previous episodes Hetty terrorizes Felix at school, treats Olivia like a child, and refuses to listen to anything her brother Alex (Cedric Smith) has to say, and he is the most level headed person on the show (with the possible exception of Peg Bowen). Hetty King is certainly opinionated and if she was right more often it might not be such a burden to put up with her domineering ways.

During the first season Sara Stanley is pretty much at the center of everything, and if Sarah Polley was not the Dakota Fanning of her day she certainly holds her own in comparison to Jodi Foster. The continuing clashes between Sara and Felicity are part of the fun, coming to a head the following season with "A Mother's Love," and it is impossible to watch these early episodes again and not be aware that hired boy Peter Craig, who was destined to be the haughty Felicity's husband according to Montgomery's novels, will be replaced by Gus Pike and that their romance will become a mainstay of the series. For that matter, you can also watch the initial sparks between Olivia and Jasper that will also become a major plotline in the future.

This Canadian series aired south of the border as "Avonlea" on the Disney Channel, to which I subscribed simply to watch these episodes (I honeymooned on PEI at the "White Sands Hotel," so obvious I am a big fan of Montgomery and "Anne of Green Gables). There are some slight problems with the video transfer to DVD that becomes a bit bothersome at times (my totally inexact and unscientific description would be that it is as if the pixels were squares instead of octagons or whatever they are). Hopefully there will be some digital remastering of these episodes in the future so that this complaint can be put aside and our enjoyment of "Road to Avonlea" can be complete.

The first DVD in this set was very clear, but the rest are of extremely poor quality. You can literally see each pixel on the screen, and after a while of squinting to see you start to get a headache. If you love Road to Avonlea, then these are the DVD's for you, just proceed with caution!

Wonderful series loved by all ages in our family. If you liked the "Anne of Green Gables" movie and its sequel, you will like the "Road to Avonlea" series. Some of the cast members from "Anne" play their same role in "Avonlea" (e.g., Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla Cuthbert, Patricia Hamilton as Rachel Lynde). You'll see familiar places from the "Anne" movies such as Lawson's store, the schoolhouse, the lighthouse, and of course the beautiful PEI shore. For those who've watched and enjoyed the "Anne" movies, watching "Return to Avonlea" will most likely make you feel like you've returned home after an absence and are visiting cherished family friends, and yet you'll meet new friends and experience new story lines.

Avonlea was a series I watched as a child and am blessed enough to now have every season on DVD. The acting is well done, my favorite characters being Felix, Felicity, Gus and Izzy (probably because I'm a romantic). Watching these children develop their acting skills was a great process. I recommend this entire series for everyone. They are constantly witty. Humor is infused in every episode. You can watch EVERY episode with your children (or by yourself). It is better than any current so-called "family" show. Owning it is important to me so that I can some day have it for my children. It should be noted that the series Avonlea and the Anne of Green Gables movies are not really related. There are a few crossover characters but for the most part it is a completely different show. But still amazingly well done and family friendly.

I really enjoyed this product and I'm really glad that I bought it. It has been very enjoyable and there have been no problems whatsoever. This is why I keep coming back to Amazon for great movie deals! :)