Product Details

• Actors: Zachary Bennett, Lally Cadeau, Mag Ruffman, Cedric Smith, Jackie Burroughs
• Producers: Nicholas J. Gray, Noella Nesdoly, Paul Quigley
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Buena Vista Home Ent
• VHS Release Date: May 21, 1996
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303036783
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,203 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing example of a growing family @the turn of the century, March 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tales from Avonlea:Magical Moments [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Beautiful two episode tape depeicting the King family's trysts and triumphs at the turn of the century. These episodes were taken from the "Road to Avonlea" television series based on the popular works of Lucy Maude Montgomery. A true and simple tale of an unconfident boy whom enters a spelling Bee, and wins! The latter tale, "Nothing endures but change" tells again of the King family when their beloved and bewitching cousin, Sara Stanley, is taken from Prince Edward island by her father, but runs into an ill-fated accident, which may be the end of our young Sara.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peg Bowen helps Felix, but dad comes to take Sarah home, January 22, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tales from Avonlea:Magical Moments [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I do not think Lucy Maud Montgomery ever came up with a more maddening creation that Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs), the self-appointed moral judge of the King clan in Avonlea. Aunt Hetty is in the thick of things for both of the first season episodes of "Avonlea" collected on this third of four videos, "Magical Moments":

"The Witch of Avonlea" is Peg Bowen (Susan Cox), who lives in the woods smoking her pipe and doing whatever she wants with no concern for what the good folks of Avonlea think or say. When Felix King (Zachary Bennett) finds himself unable to spell anything during the class spelling bees because he is so afraid of Aunt Hetty, his nightmares convince him she might be a witch. So he goes off to visit Peg, who gives him a "magic" stone. His confidence restored, Felix wins the school spelling bee and moves on to the next level of competition. If you do not know that he is going to lose the magic stone before the contest then you must be totally unfamiliar with the rules of children's fiction. Meanwhile, the dreams of Felicity (Gema Zamprogna) have their own comeuppance, as events take her down a peg at the same time that Felix enjoys his moment in the sun.

The important episode here is "Nothing Endures but Change," which finds that Blair Stanley, Sara's father, has been acquitted of the scandalous embezzlement charges that forced him to send his daughter to live with her mother's relatives on Prince Edward Island. Blair arrives in Avonlea ready to take Sara (Sarah Polley) back to Montreal, at which point everyone of Sara's King relatives absolutely freaks. None, of course, as much as Hetty, who announces she will not give the child up to her father. Hetty has always blamed Blair for not only taking her sister Ruth away but in living a decadent life (of travel) that resulted in her death (she caught tuberculosis at home in Montreal). Hetty also has a few things to say about what appears to be happening between Olivia and Jasper Dale, which only makes you wonder how Alec ever managed to get away from Hetty's all encompassing powers. Sara wants to say goodbye to all her friends and attend the upcoming skating party she has been looking forward to, but her father wants to get out of Avonlea and as far away from Hetty as quickly as possible. Sara cannot abide the thought that two of the people she loves most in the world cannot even talk to each other civilly, and so she hatches up a plan to force their reconciliation. But these two stubborn adults cannot admit for a second that the other cares as much for Sara as they do, which only means that fate is going to have to take a hand to make things right.

For me the chief charm of "Nothing Endures but Change," certainly the loftiest sounding title in the series, is enjoying Hetty King getting her comeuppance a few times. She really is such an intolerant woman for somebody who does so many unforgivable things. However, her redemption is still down the road, coming in the form of Gus Pike. It is in his unflinching admiration and respect, that Hetty King is finally confronted with a true mirror of her life.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great family entertainment, February 14, 2011

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tales from Avonlea:Magical Moments [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This VHS contains two episodes from Season One of Road to Avonlea, one of my favorite family series of all time. The show is set in the fictional town of Avonlea on Canada's Prince Edward Island at the turn of the 20th century (1900s). It is a beautifully made and well-acted period drama that has turned into a true television classic over the years.

In the episode "The Witch of Avonlea", poor Felix King (Zachary Bennett) cannot seem to do anything right around his schoolmistress aunt Hetty (Jackie Burroughs) who intimidates him. Then an encounter with the local witch, Peg Bowen (Susan Cox) makes Felix believe that the stone she gives him has magical properties and will help him academically. With his `magic' stone, Felix qualifies for the Avonlea spelling bee, but on the day of the competition, he misplaces his stone and fears all is lost. This is a great episode that teaches children to have confidence in their abilities.

In the second episode, "Nothing Endures But Change", Blair Stanley, Sara's father, returns to Avonlea to take Sara back with him to Montreal. Blair has been acquitted of the fraud charges brought against him and wants to return to Montreal as soon as he can. Hetty King is predictably upset at the thought of losing Sara, just like she lost her sister Ruth (Sara's mother) years ago. Both Hetty's and Blair's feuding upsets Sara but neither her father nor her aunt will listen to her. It is only when Sara gets hurt in an accident that Blair and Hetty learn to put aside their differences for Sara's sake. I cannot recommend this excellent family-family series enough! Each episode contains a positive message and is always uplifting and inspiring.