Customer Reviews

The Waltons: The Complete Ninth Season

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The final season of The Waltons finds Michael Learned (Olivia Walton) no longer a cast member, while Robert Wightman has now officially joined the cast as John-Boy. Although this is the greatest weakness of the season, The Waltons still delivered intersting, and some exciting, episodes.

The season begins in the spring of 1945, and all the Walton men--save John--are fighting the war. Ben is captured by the Japanese forces, Jason has to deal with the question of killing another man, and John-Boy (played by Robert Wightman) falls in love with a French girl.

Back at home, Mary Ellen discovers a need for a doctor on the mountain and is determined to become one, while facing a great deal of opposition. Ike and Corabeth are investigated by the rations board, and a new minister comes to the mountain. Jim-Bob is frantic when a girl back home claims to have his baby, Cidny finds that she has been adopted, and the series ends with John-Boy going back to New York.

The following is an epidode list for this final season:

1. The Outrage (1)
2. The Outrage (2)
3. The Pledge
4. The Triumph
5. The Premonition
6. The Pursuit
7. The Last Ten Days
8. The Move
9. The Whirlwind
10. The Tempest
11. The Carousel
12. The Hot Rod
13. The Gold Watch
14. The Beginning
15. The Pearls
16. The Victims
17. The Threshold
18. The Indiscretion
19. The Heartache
20. The Lumberjack
21. The Hostage
22. The Revel

While the show ended in 1981, it would continue in 6 made-for-TV-movies from 1982-1997, moving from the characters from the forties and into the sixties. In these TV movies, Richard Thomas returns as John-Boy and Michael Learned is back as Olivia, while Ellen Corby makes a few appearances as Grandma. Hopefully, Warner Brothers will release these 6 TV movies, as it would be great to own the entire Walton legacy on DVD.

Season 9 of the Waltons is a big disappointment. I have the entire series on DVD and enjoyed watching this show growing up. However, after reviewing season 9 DVD, I have to say that it is a disappointment. Season 9 has gotten away from the family themed show that dominated the previous 8 seasons. From Ike's infidelity, to Mary Ellen's presumed dead husband wanting nothing to do with her to the unmarried young lady claming Jim Bob is the father of her unborn child--season 9 seems to be an attempt by the producers, writers, etc.. to liberalize the show. The absence of Ralph Waite and Michael Learned for the majority of the season adds to the disappointment. The recasting of John Boy was poor. The bright point of Season 9 is the presence of Peggy Rea as Rose and the continued presence of Ronnie Claire Edwards as Corabeth.

As someone else ALSO pointed out the waltons series ARE NOT ended with this final 9nth regular season. There are also 6 post tv movies and one prequel movie which COMPLETE the series.
The prequel movie "homecoming" is here BUT what about the remaining 6 post tv movies ?
I Hope they will be released too SOON so that we can have OUR COMPLETE WALTONS DVD COLLECTION.

Season Nine will probably be most fans least favorite, but being that I missed most of these episodes on CBS when they first ran, it made me enjoy the later seasons even more when I watched the re-runs.

If you are true fan of the series, you will still like season Nine. There are many new characters, but the writing is still excellent.

My family and I have been watching the Waltons on DVD each summer. The ninth season is one of the greatest disappointments in TV history. It seems that the writers had two pressures: 1. There is nothing more to write about; 2. This traditional family of the 1940s needs to be brought into the issues of the 1970s-80s. Jason contemplates nude dancers at his bar. Jim Bob sleeps with a woman before going off to war. Elizabeth contemplates having sex with her boyfriend on their anniversary (to which Erin says, "Moma said that you really have to love the person."). Would Olivia Walton really say that? Ike Godsey calls an escort service when Cora Beth threatens divorce. These are not the same characters of previous seasons. This is not the Waltons. Most of the season is like a poor Saturday-Night-Live spoof on the family that I remember from my childhood and have enjoyed watching with my children. I must also add that never has the acting been so cheezy. What happened? When some of the best actors left (Olivia, John, and John Boy), it seems that the others' acting ability followed the downfall of their character's integrity.

The ninth or last season of the Waltons held happy endings for some, but not for all of the people living on Waltons Mountain. Not everyone's dreams were fulfilled, but it ended with all of the characters, seemingly, accepting whatever life gave them so far.

As usual, all is well with the Waltons, but be forewarned that the tenth episode called, "The Tempest" should have never been written. The dead are always left better off dead and not brought back to life, especially in such a disagreeable way. That part was played by a different actor who was not the same actor who had played the original part of the person who was mistaken to be dead. They had to hire a totally new actor just to present us with this unlikely and unnecessary episode. Even the reality of war could not justify such an unbelievable episode as this one was. Neither did it have a happy ending or even a happy followup in another episode. It left me feeling sad and empty, unlike most of the other episodes that had given me so much comfort.

The rest of this season was good, but it did not appear that this season was originally intended to end here. I would have preferred that this last season had given us a better ending to the entire story. That could have even been done by John Boy at the end of the last episode, but it was not. In speaking about himself, he could have also added some more information about the rest of the family members in his very last words.

In another one of the last episodes of this season, Rose and Stanley finally got married, but it never showed what happened with the rest of the Waltons. Mary Ellen and Erin could have had a double wedding at the Baldwins house in the last episode (something a little more spectacular for a last episode than just an old people's reunion for the Baldwin ladies with the Waltons showing up). Although it was implied that Elizabeth and Drew would someday be married, what about Jason, and Jim Bob? In one episode, Jason and his girlfriend overcame the obstacles they faced to getting married, yet the season left them unmarried, not dating and no explanation!

Jason and Jim Bob probably never did fulfill their dreams of becoming a concert musician and an airplane pilot, and you're left wondering if they settled for what they were doing at the moment. Mary Ellen was left still studying to become a doctor and who knows how far Erin went in her career, as well. That's reasonable, but did Olivia and John ever come home? And what about Grandma? They finally did tell where she was, but it still leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions about her and everyone else.

John Boy continued writing, of course, but they really should have done a tenth season to answer these questions about the other characters. Even if they could not do this on a practical basis, at the very least, they could have used the Special Feature at the end of the eighth season, known as "A Decade of the Waltons" for an ending here, where it really belonged, at the end of the nineth season (at the very end of the Walton's story). That would have given the ninth season and its viewers some closure, if not a really satisfying ending.

Even with all of my complaints about it, I still love all of the Walton series, including this one, but this tells me one thing. -Endings are important and should be done right. I'd still recommend that you buy it because the only thing that you'll really be disappointed in, is that it all ends here. Sadly, there is no more 'Waltons' and we'll never see anything this good in a television series ever again. I'm sure that we can all say 'Amen' to that.

The final season of The Waltons finds the family in the grasp of World War II's final year. Now, all four sons are in the Army, with Ben taken POW by the Japanese. Meanwhile, his wife Cindy is living with the clan, taking care of their baby Virginia and dreading news of his fate, while daughter Mary Ellen decides to pursue med school, and daughter Erin continues her job as office manager at the factory. Youngest daughter Elizabeth, long considered the baby of the clan, is turning into a young woman, preparing to finish high school and thinking about her own future.

Noticeably absent are Ellen Corby as Grandma (vaguely said to be off "visiting" all these long months) and Michael Learned as Mrs. Walton, said to be off at the VA hospital where she began volunteering when eldest son John-Boy came home gravely wounded. In reality, Learned had asked to be written off; yet on the show itself, her absence was poorly explained as the character continued to stay at the hospital long after John-Boy recovered and went back into the war -- missing numerous Walton special occasions such as youngest son Jim-Bob's high school graduation and all four boys marching off to war, occasions a mother certainly would not have missed, being a mere drive away.

All throughout this season, it's clear -- both to viewers and the Walton family -- that life as the family knows it is changing irrevocably.

Particularly memorable Season 9 episodes include the two-part "The Outrage," where John struggles to clear the name of Harley, a black friend who was long ago charged with killing a white man; "The Pursuit," when a obsessive girl arrives at the Walton home, claiming to be pregnant with Jim-Bob's baby; and "The Last Ten Days," showing Ben's nightmarish experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war as the fighting begins to wind down, and the family is both optimistic about the war's end yet scared that Ben's angry captors might choose to kill him upon their defeat.

No matter the show's shortcomings, The Waltons was and is, throughout its long run, a classic series. True to life, each episode is full of life-testing situations, warmth, faith and humor -- it will long be remembered and missed by countless fans.

I had forgotten some of the episodes from Season 9. It is great to have to complete the series for your collection but, it is sad to because of it being the final season and some of the cast not being there.I don't understand why they had to add some of the cursing and drinking.But, if you like The Waltons it is still a must have.

This is certainly a must have selection for anyone who loves the Waltons. It is good to see the same actors but disappointing not to see Richard Thomas.

I bought it for my mom & dad to complete their collection, its good, its watchable, but definitely not as good as previous seasons. The absence of Olivia Walton and Grandma and Grandpa is definitely noticeable and the changing of actors playing John-boy just doesn't seem right. They could've done better finishing the story (leaves you wondering what happens next) but I guess they did the best they could. Buy it to finish your collection but its a lil bit of a letdown, dont expect as much out of it as you did from seasons 1-8 shop around and get it cheap/used that way you get your money's worth, I'd rate it a B+ and that's being generous.