New Mini Series: Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, Tonight

[Rowan]

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie
Saturday, March 26 at 8/7c

Starring Cameron Bancroft, Erin Cottrell, Kyle Chavarria and Danielle Ryan Chuchran.


The first episode -- "Night One" -- chronicles Charles Ingalls' decision to uproot his wife, two young daughters and faithful dog, Jack, from their Wisconsin home to claim a new parcel of land on the Kansas prairie. The expedition is decidedly perilous - rough terrain, wild animals and complete isolation are faced with only the aid of whatever they could fit in the covered wagon. But to two young girls, this land of high grass, mysterious Indian hunting trails and limitless sky is full of magical adventure. Young Laura and Mary are dazzled by their father's ability to build their new home, hunt skillfully and begin the process of farming the wild land. He also befriends their most entertaining neighbor, Mr. Edwards, whose sense of humor makes up for his lack of manners - to everyone except Ma.

Filmed on location in a pristine region of Calgary over more than four months, the epic production of Little House on the Prairie recaptures the scope and magnitude of the frontier and recreates the literary saga with painstaking accuracy. Additional episodes will air on subsequent Saturdays, April 2, 9, 16 & 23 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET each night).

The limited series stars Cameron Bancroft as Charles Ingalls, Erin Cottrell as Caroline Ingalls, Kyle Chavarria as Laura Ingalls and Danielle Ryan Chuchran as Mary Ingalls.

Originally published in 1935, Little House on the Prairie was the third in a series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her childhood years. The Little House books have been published in more than 21 languages and have become literary favorites.

http://abc.go.com/movies/littlehouse.html


I'm interested to see just how well they do with the accuracy part - The Little House on the Prairie series with Micheal Landon was such a loose interpretation of the books that I hardly recognised the story, and never liked their version.
I'm not sure if they mean to represent her real life in this new story or if they mean to represent her books that were based on her life, the books she wrote were not an accurate telling of her life.

[nextceo]

I wonder if "Little House" fans will be upset with someone elses vision of the same property???

[Rowan]

Well I'm upset that they say it was done with painstaking accuracy because so far were only 40 min in and not one thing they have shown actually happened !! LOL! what a joke!

[Darrell Lawrence]

I never knew their was a real person that it was based on!

How are her books not accurate if she wrote them? Did she write them as fiction or as a biography type?

As for the Landon version of the series, my step dad used to hog the TV to watch it. I always figured it a loose spin-off of Bonanza

[Rowan]

Ah Yes Laura Ingalls Wilder was a real person. She was born in Feb 7 1867 and died Feb 10 1956. When she was in her 60's her daughter Rose Wilder Lane who was also an Author encouraged her mother to tell her life story so Laura wrote the little house books. She changed a few things like her age was increased by two years in the Llittle House in the Big Woods the publisher insisted, some time lines were altered a little, and of course a lot of things were left out. But other than that the events that she talks about in her books did happen.
She traveled by covered wagon through many states; Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri. The House that she and her husband built and the farm they kept in Mansfield Missouri have been turned into a museum.

Here is a website with a picture of the home they built by hand together in the late 1800's http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com/main.htm

[amberstar]

I forgot about this being on...........I missed the first show :


I remember growing up and watching little house as a child (the one with Michael Landon)......Then going on and reading the little House books by Laura.

I so wanted to watch this one.........How was it Rowan??????

[Rowan]

Well I guess it all depends on if you like reimaginings LOL!

I have a list of all the inaccuracies I'll post it later today and then you can decide if you wish to watch it so far it's 2 pages long.

If they had not said: recreates the literary saga with painstaking accuracy
then it might not have bothered me too much but there were some things they did that was really upsetting to me one was having Pa shoot their horse this never happened in Laura's entire life and the other was having the wolves attack Pa this was such a rediculous scene and insulting to wolves!!! and of course never happened. Another infuriating scene was having the ice crack and break under their wagon wheels while they crossed the Mississippi river and everyone making a run for it etc. never happened. And yet once again Caroline Ingalls is portrayed as this smilie warm woman At one point I had to appologise to Mrs. Ingalls in heaven for yet another show getting her all wrong. She was an austere woman in real life and was a FANATIC for manners and ALWAYS insisted she and her girls have their hair beautifully groomed at all times and that they ALWAYS wear their bonnets. In this version there were no bonnets to be seen and all of them had hair loose and flying all over the place. The real Mrs. Ingalls would have rolled in her grave to see that LOL ((((((((Mrs. Ingalls))))))))))). The acting was not too bad, I liked the little girl who played Laura she seemed to capture her personality the best of all of them, only this little girl has blond hair and Laura had dark brown hair LOL. I'll write up the whole list later.
I have read the little house books probably 100 times each since I got them as a child (and no this is not an exageration) and have read her biography umpteen times as well as numerous other books on her life and I really like her true life story much more than peoples dramatization of it. I never liked the little house on the prairie show because it was so far removed from her true life story and none of the personalities of the individuals portrayed was even close. But if you liked Landon's version then you might be able to like this little piece of fantasy too but from what I've seen so far it is pure fiction.

[amberstar]

I found a neat little web page about Laura's books and her life. If you click on her homes you can see pictures of what they looked like
http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/frames.html

[amberstar]

I have a list of all the inaccuracies I'll post it later today and then you can decide if you wish to watch it so far it's 2 pages long.

LOL.......I'd expect nothing less from you.

Your so good at doing things like this, I can't wait to read it.

[julix]

I like the Landon show and knew it had deviated from the books somewhat......I remember having such a big crush on "Manley" Laura's future husband, but as my friends like to say who didn't I have a crush on back then..........


See the problem with saying things like "painstakinly accurate" or "realism" is then people are going to want you to live up to it......just another case...


That is cool Rowan that you know the stories so well.

[BST]

I haven't read the "Little House" stories but, did watch the television series (not this movie). I have a question for you, Rowan -- how far did the "Little House on the Prairie" television series deviate from the "spirit and tone" of Laura's life? I'm not so much concerned that events were not the same but, on the television show, were these portrayals something the real Laura Ingalls could have done?

[Rowan]

In the TV series there were so many differences and liberties taken. I didn't feel that they captured any of her family members personalities.
In real life they moved around a lot and Nelly olson was such a small part of Laura's life she knew her at school for a couple of years (when I say years, School back then was only about 2 to 4 months of a year) and a few visits to her house and store and that was the sum total of her contact with her. They never adopted a son, or took anyone in.
Laura and her sisters lived a relatively serious and hard life they had chores that had to be done every day in order for their family to survive, and if they weren't doing that then they were doing their homework or working on their sewing skills that kind of thing.They didn't spend time adventuring or playing around.
Her sister did go blind, she eventually went to a school for the blind for a couple of years but never taught or got married she just went home to live with her parents for the rest of her life. When her sister went blind I think around 14 Laura was charged by her father to become her sisters eyes and for the next 6 years that she lived with her sister she had to speak aloud what she saw so her sister could visualise it, quite the responsibility for one so young. Laura being the romantic that she was had a tendency to describe things in a colourful way that annoyed Mary somewhat.
They were not an overly demonstrative family the way they were portrayed in the show and I don't ever recall them saying grace or being particularly religious, their church attendance was sporadic.
Laura was a stuborn / head strong girl her mother considered her "wild", they were complete opposits and did not get along well. She was fearless and was not afraid of challenging authority or rules and was always rebelling it drove her poor sister Mary crazy, she was always trying to tame her. PA and Laura were very similar and got along really well Ma and Mary were the same and got along really well.
The real laura just did not have the free time that the tv Laura did and was more intense but despite my describing the real Laura as being rebelious and all that she did this in a very subdued way not in an exuberant attention seeking way.
Her daughter described her as "serious, wide eyed almost shyly hidden under a surface of quickness and sparkle she moves and speaks quickly sometimes vivaciously. But her character is Scotch she holds a purpose or opinion like granite. She is sometimes witty or fanciful but this is always a little startling. She is never talkative and usually speaks in a matter-of-fact way. Often she is silent nealry all day long. "
To me the Landon version failed to capture Laura's personality this mini version also fails to capture the more serious aspect of Laura's persona. For instance they were incredibly obedient children in real life all her mother ever had to do was say their name in a certain tone and they would sober up instantly. But in this mini she is so disobedient. Back then your lives depended on listening to your parents and doing what you were told I think maybe too much time has passed and people have forgotten that element. In the Mini we have Laura endangering her family which is something the real Laura would never have even dreamt of.
One thing about the Landon Laura that drove me nuts was her constant pleading that is something none of the girls ever would have done it was just unheard of, you didn't even ask for something, the family was always so poor it would have been shameful to be so thoughtless and selfish.
Ok must go to bed it's 7:30 am and still no sleep

[Darrell Lawrence]

So which deviated worse? The Landon one or the new one?

[Rowan]

This comparison is between the Mini series and Laura story books. I’m choosing her books for now because it’s the story most people are familiar with, also if we were following her true life story then she was only 1 ½ yrs old when she went to live on the prairie and only 3 when she left and you can clearly see that the show is making her considerably older. The only aspect that I can tell so far in which they are being true to her true life story is that Carrie is not present. Carrie was born on the prairie, but in the Little House Books Laura has Carrie all ready born and leaving with them to go to the prairies. One of those little time line shifts she did between her real life and the books she wrote.



Ok some comparisons are a little on the trivial side but for “Painstaking Accuracy’s sake” …

Laura was a brunette

Carrie is not present in the mini but she should be there and should be a little baby that Ma has to cope with on top of everything else.

Their dog jack was a brindle coloured bull dog

Pa always had a very long beard

They girls never slept on the ground but inside the covered wagon and they certainly never slept with their parents.

Grandma never gave the girls any rag dolls before they left

Grandma never gave Ma the chins shepherdess before they left.

They never camped before crossing over the ice they camped after the crossing and stayed in a log cabin on the other side.

The crossing over the Mississippi was completely uneventful there was no ice cracking or near death experience or people leaping from the wagon. In fact the girls in their entire lives never had to leap from the covered wagon from what I recall.

There was no compass no map Pa just followed the wagon trail left by other settlers before him.

There were no incidents of Pa firing a gun at nothing never in his life he was an exceptionally cautious and conscientious man with regards to his riffle and hunting that was complexly out of character to show that.

There was no incident with the wolves and the girls screaming in fact I don’t recall any screaming during moments of danger in Laura’s life they usually got very quiet actually. There is no mention of an outhouse in any of Laura’s books not even by the characters.

The girls are too old when Laura starts her books Laura is about 5 and Mary 7

There were no crosses that Pa fixed No broken down wagons

No Rain, it’s the middle of winter after all.

Again there was no Rain so there was no mud and no getting stuck in the mud.

And Ma would have rolled in her grave to see anyone suggesting that her daughters would have been allowed to run around in mud if there was any!!

They did not do their lessons during their wagon trips.

Pa did not own a handgun in his life!, that was what Jack was for when Pa left for any reason he took the riffle and left Jack to protect them, he was the guard dog and everyone relied on him heavily for that purpose.

There was no snake ever

Pa did not ride any of the horses while he was on the trail and certainly never when he went hunting, if that was what they were trying to imply by that ridiculous scene.

So of course there was no incident in which a snake spooked the horse causing it to fall and break its leg and Pa having to shoot it. Pa never killed any horse ever.

The girls and ma never had their hair loose, Ma always had her hair done up and wore a bonnet at all times she was fanatical about that. The girls always had their hair in 2 braids.

No one ever came to them to tell them they were on their property or to warn them about soldiers.

They traveled with two work horses across several states before they traded BOTH horses for two mustangs the farmer needed the work horses it was considered a fair exchange.

They never saw buffalo

Pa never told the girls to get out of the wagon to talk to them for any reason. If Pa had to get involved with any discipline what so ever it was a serious situation and exceptionally rare in Laura’s life. Her parents did not take discipline lightly it was a very important element to their lives self discipline kept people alive, so they never would have had a chuckle over it between them.

They never met anyone on the trail who was broken down.

Pa never placed a stick in the spokes of the wheels, so there was no incident in which it broke, it was an uneventful decent.

There was no organ or peoples personal possessions lying by the river, and had there been Ma would never in a million yrs have allowed them to play with it.

Ma never said dogs don’t ride in wagons what she said was “Jack can swim Laura he will be all right.”

There was no rip in the canvas on the wagon.

The big river crossing was the only really life threatening event on their trek and yet here they complexly ignore this. First of all their was no thought given to Jack at all until they were across the river because they were too busy fighting for their own lives to think about the dog. In the middle of the crossing the river rose suddenly and the horse started to get pulled under Ma told the girl to lie still and not move and Pa then threw the reins to Ma and leapt into the river and kept the horse calm while they swam for shore. It was a very tense moment. Laura points out “If Pa had not known what to do, or if Ma had been too frightened to drive, or if Laura and Mary had been naughty and bothered her, then they would all have been lost. The river would have rolled them over and over and carried them away and drowned them and nobody would ever have known what became of them.”

So there was no bad girls screaming for Jack and no Ma having to climb into the back of the wagon to deal with it. In fact I can’t even imagine such a situation occurring that would be out of character for both Ma and the girls.

When Jack returns yes Pa points a gun at him but the girls never threw stuff at him, for one thing Mary was in the wagon at the time. Pa walked towards Jack pointing the gun because at first they thought he was a wolf until Pa noticed the horses were not reacting, so he thought maybe it was a coyote so he yelled and threw a stick but when the animal just crouched closer to the ground he walked towards the it that’s when he realised it was Jack and shouted. Then Jack was jumping all over everyone.

They never fed table scraps to Jack while they ate it was forbidden.

Ma never made too much food in her life!!! They were always just getting by

Jacks food was the pancake Ma made it especially for him because they had nothing else to feed him.

And Jack NEVER rode in the wagon even after that incident.

[Rowan]

Part 2

They did not travel through Independence Kansas so every even depicted here never took place.

They never passed people in tents never saw people with hand guns, never saw whores. They most certainly would never have paid for a bath that would have been extravagant in the extreme to them. The amount of money they would have paid for a bath would have equalled weeks of food. They never went to the homestead office. In the little house books they just arrived at a certain place on the prairie and called it home. In real life Pa had purchased the land long before they ever left the Big Woods, so no need to go to any office.

Jack would never have been with them if they were not right beside the wagon if they left the wagon for any reason Jack would have been left behind to guard it.

Pa did not carry a riffle around with him all the time he only carried it if he was going hunting or off by himself in the woods and their was a chance he might need to protect himself from animals.

They never stood and prayed for their land in fact there is no mention of prayers at all the only time they ever said prayers was at bed time.

Mother never had leather gloves – another extravagance.

Laura never saw an Indian child nor found a bead.

There is no description of Pa meeting Mr. Edwards provided in her book only that Pa had met him in the woods. So that little scene is completely imagined.

Mr. Edwards never had a horse.

Mr. Edwards did not leave when Pa began to play the fiddle he stayed a long time and even danced and sang.

The canvas never blew away and Pa was never portrayed as clumsy he never slipped on the rafters.

Laura never went to Mr. Edwards place

Pa and Laura never rode double back on a horse.

Pa was never attacked by wolves.

In fact here is a quote from the book describing the wolf incident.

“It was a big pack,” Pa said. “All of fifty wolves, and the biggest wolves I ever saw in my life. Must be what they call buffalo wolves. Their leader’s a big grey brute that stands three feet at the shoulder, if and inch. I tell you my hair stood straight on end.”

“And you didn’t have your gun,” said Ma.

“I thought of that. But my gun would have been no use if I’d had it. You can’t fight fifty wolves with one gun. And Patty couldn’t outrun them.”

“What did you do?” Ma asked.

“Nothing,” said Pa. “Patty tried to run. I never wanted anything worse than I wanted to get away from there. But I knew if Patty even started, those wolves would be on us in a minute, pulling us down. So I held Patty to a walk.”

“Goodness, Charles!” Ma said under her breath.

“Yes. I wouldn’t go through such a thing again for any money. Caroline, I never saw such wolves. One big fellow trotted along, right by my stirrup. I could have kicked him in the ribs. They didn’t pay any attention to me at all. They must have just made a kill and eaten all they could.

I tell you, Caroline, those wolves just closed in around Patty and me and trotted along with us. In broad daylight. For all the world like a pack of dogs going along with a horse. They were all around us, trotting along, and jumping and playing and snapping at each other just like dogs.”

“They came along with us, a quarter of a mile or more. That big fellow trotted by my stirrup as if he were there to stay. Then we came to the head of a draw, running down into the creek bottoms. The big grey leader went down it, and all the rest of the pack trotted down into it, behind him.”



Quite different than the mini version in which Laura and Pa are ridding together and a wolf jumps through the air pulls Pa off the horse and attacks him Pa screaming at Laura to go and leave with the horse while he is attacked by a pack of wolves and Laura is racing away on a horse and turning back to watch her father being attacked by a pack of wolves.



That’s all I’ve done for now there is a bit more to do to finish this first episode but this should give some idea of where their painstaking accuracy missed the mark LOL!