The Fire

This was a weak handling of the issues designed to showcase the writers belief that all reasonable and intelligent people agree. There is no logic or reality in it. And it is particularly timely to see given how far that fallacy has gone so many years after that airing. It is a shame that such weak heads for logic had such a strong influence through storytelling to influence the culture towards thinking in fallacies. Much as I enjoyed The Waltons as a kid, it is noticeable on the rewatch how many weak and fallacious bits are intentionally worked in from the early episodes. Anyone who wants to use this show I'd recommend that you can watch with your kids if you can have good discussions about the fallacies in it and in that way use it to make use of the teachable moments. I'll have to read some fo the writing soon of Earl Hamner Jr to see how much of it came from him. It is at least interesting in seeing how people fall to nonsensical thinking, to the emotional, etc. And once recognizing all the flaws it is nice to see the rest where there is a backdrop of wholesome and good things.

This episode aired on January 11 1973 with this opening. Most of us on Waltons Mountain prided ourselves on our friendly hospitality, our family's good name and our dignity as individuals. However, in a remote hollow lived a man named Lutie Bascomb with his daughter, Lois May. If Lutie prided himself on anything, it was his cussedness. The show starts with its usual view of roaming shots from a top of Waltons Mountain. From a top of these mountains, you can see for miles and miles. Down at the bottom of the mountain Lois May Bascomb is late for school for the third time this week. Miss Hunter tells her that her excuses are getting old. Back at the Waltons home Olivia and Grandma are working on new chair covers that they made by themselves. After they get one chair cover, the two Waltons men of the house comes in looking for lunch. Olivia wonders if John notices anything different and the men don't. Grandma tells Olivia that maybe if we feed them it will improve there eye site. After school, John Boy catches up with Lois May and starts walking with her when there approach by Lois May father Lutie Bascomb who tells Lois to get home and for John Boy to stay way. While on his way home, he stops at Ike Godsey's local store. When John Boy walks in, he sees Ike beating an old table with a chain. Ike decides that he can sell old beaten up wood furniture as old antiques. John Boy asks Ike if he can help because he wants to buy a new dictionary. The only problem is that when John Boy gets home, Miss Hunter and his parents are waiting for him in the living room. The next day in school, Miss Hunters starts talking about primitive man when Lois May gets up and starts to walkout. She tells Miss Hunter that her daddy told her that if her teacher starts talking about that junk again that she's suppose to walkout and return home. Lois May tells her daddy about what Miss Hunter told her in class so her day heads for the school When Lutie Bascomb gets there, he gets into a confrontation with Miss Hunter and he warns her that he will have her job for this. The question is, how far will Lutie Bascomb go to settle his differences with Miss Hunter? Another good episode especially with the beautiful roaming shots of the mountain, so I give this episode 8 weasel stars.

What a non-surprise to see Hollywood once again present those who believe in God's creation as mean-spirited, violent, drunken, hypocritical loons. When I saw what this story was about, I knew it was coming. I just didn't know that the cardboard-character negative sterotyping would be even worse than I could have imagined. Instead of striving for any kind of understanding and presentation of differing viewpoints, we get this piece of lazy writing. Pathetic.

What a surprise to see 1973 Hollywood family TV present the then fairly controversial topics of Atheism & fanatic religious zealotry. The Waltons never held appeal personally as the subject matter was banal and folksy but when I by happenstance saw what this episode story was about, I didn't know what was coming. The depth of the antagonist character portrayed was indicative of the very real problem of striving to present differing viewpoints to those who are convinced of their position to the point of obnoxious or even malicious obtruding on others. What a great piece of historical fiction writing from Mr. Hamner Jr. Admirable.

Even as a life-long agnostic, I agree with the reviewers that called this typical Hollywood Christian-baiting. The villain who acted with such violence [I'm being vague to avoid spoiling the suspense] to protest the teaching of evolution was such a one-dimensional wretch that it was hard to take the other aspects of the plot seriously. I view evolution as the only plausible explanation for the origins of of the human race, going by the evidence (though for the record, if there were a god, it could easily have "faked" such evidence). But I can't stand being preached-at by either side. Nonetheless, this episode still had its strong points, including more suspense and much better historical context than later Waltons episodes. You just have to tune out Hollywood's predictable "message".