Little House: The Last Farewell

This show aired on TV on February 6 1984 starring Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder, Dean Butler as Almanzo Wilder and Richard Bull as Nels Olesen. Little House: The Last Farewell was the third and last TV movie based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, though it was telecast out of sequence, shown before the second film. Charles Ingalls and his wife Karen leave in another town far away from Walnut Grove. So Charles gets a vacation and the only place that Charles and Karen wants to go back to is Walnut Grove. So the two get on a train and then takes a stage coach that's drops them of in front of the Wilders house three hours early. So Melissa who's overwhelm with emotions after seeing her mom for the first time in 5 years. Out of nowhere a vaster shows up at the Sunday church service and makes an announcement that sets off a chain of reactions that no one dream of. This was the third of three "Little House" telemovie sequels, and the last story to be filmed, but not the last to be broadcast it debuted during Easter of 1984, while the film made before it, Little House: Bless All the Dear Children in 1984 would air eight months later, in December of that same year. I wasn't a big Little House on the Praire fan but this movie made for TV. Caught my eye. I love the action and drama and it kept you on the edge of you seat. Based on that, I give this movie 8 weasel stars, because there was no real leading actress.

The main problem with this TV-movie finale of the "Little House on the Prairie" series is that it features the cast of the show's final season, by which time many of the better characters had been replaced by blander carbon-copies. So, you get the Carters instead of the Ingalls (with a few exceptions), Nancy Oleson instead of Nellie, Miss Plum instead of Miss Beadle, etc. The return of original series stars Michael Landon and Karen Grassle helps, but where's Mary, Adam, Albert, and Carrie? And, worst of all, Katherine MacGregor, who played town villianness Harriet Oleson, is nowhere to been seen. The Oleson family was the saving grace of "Little House", helping to cut through all the treacle, and the two most important Olesons, Harriet and Nellie, aren't in this movie. The story doesn't help, either. Couldn't they come up with a more uplifting plot than the destruction of the entire town?

Unless you're a die-hard fan, skip this one (as well as the other two sequel TV movies), and seek out the original pilot movie instead.

This episode happens to be my favorite one. The reason why Mrs. Oleson is not in it is because (if you have ever seen it) she is in the hospital in Minneapolis. She has been in there for 6 months. But Katherine McGregor (the person who plays her) was on a pilgrimage for India. I would recommend watching it, especially if you have seen the rest of the series, because I feel that I the best of them all.

The reason that Michael Landon blew up Walnut Grove was that he was ordered to destroy the sets when the final movie was filmed. He brilliantly incorporated it to be in a movie. Only two buildings was sparred. One was the church cause it would upset the Christian community and would be in extreme poor taste. Second was the Ingalls house cause it was iconic.

If your a little house fan , then this the final episode is a must . Even for those who are not fans , this one was a real tear jerker . As most little house episodes where . Still glad to see those reruns . A reunion would be wonderful , even though , it would never be the same without Pa . They could do it up like the Andy Griffith reunion without Aunt Bee . Wasn't the same without her , but they never forgot her . Just hope that we get to see Albert in it as well , because they've never really shown us whether or not he kicked the blood disease, to live his life out as Dr. Albert Ingels . And it would just be awesome to see Melissa Gilbert as our Laura Ingels once again . I highly recommend this final series of little house .