Product Description
Best known for its life-affirming lessons and
heartwarming adventures, "LITTLE HOUSE ON THE
PRAIRIE" made its TV debut in 1974 and significantly
altered the landscape of television. Loyal fans will
relive these exciting and touching adventures, while
new viewers will discover the Ingalls’ unconquerable
courage to build a new way of life. The series,
nominated for 17 Emmy Awards and 3 Golden Globes,
has become a TV milestone.
The Complete Fifth Season – 1978-1979 The Ingalls
move to Winoka to be near Mary. They manage a hotel
and meet Albert for the first time – After several
months away, Charles and the family return to their
home by Plum Creek and set to work restoring Walnut
Grove – Mrs. Oleson takes an interest in journalism
– Mary has second thoughts about marrying Adam –
Nellie Oleson is asked to tutor a boy and reveals
her "secret" for achieving good grades - Albert
becomes an apprentice and learns an important lesson
about loyalty and friendship – Charles is asked to
help save a marriage – Laura and Albert run away
from home to help their terminally ill friend
Dhillon achieve his life-long dream. These and many
other exciting adventures from the entire fifth
season are presented in this Special Collector’s
Edition!
Season 5 (1978-1979)
24 episodes
#
Airdate
Prod. Code
Title
Overview
90
September 11, 1978
5001
As Long As We're Together (Part
1)
Picking up where the previous
season left off, the Ingalls, Olesons and Garveys
settle in the town of Winoka, where they are met by
a cruel local businessman, Miles Standish. This
episode marks the introduction of Matthew Laborteaux
as Albert, the lovable orphan who is eventually
taken in by the Ingalls family.
The former Walnut Grove residents
continue to adjust to life in the city of Winoka.
Charles and Caroline are managing The Dakota Hotel;
Nels, Harriet and Jonathan Garvey are working in the
saloon and Alice Garvey begins teaching school for
the poor children of Winoka since the only school in
town is an expensive private academy.
92
September 25, 1978
5003
The Winoka Warriors
Charles convinces Albert to
attend the livery school. With Garvey as coach,
Albert and the livery school's football team use the
help of a discouraged blind boy to play against the
private Winoka school's team.
93
October 2, 1978
5004
The Man Inside
Laura makes friends with a shy
classmate, but winds up jeopardizing the friendship
when she makes fun of an obese man, not knowing he
is the girl's father. True remorse doesn't come
until the man falls seriously ill.
94
October 9, 1978
5007
There's No Place Like Home (Part
1)
A gambling man (Ray
Bolger) loses all his winnings, indirectly
leading to the decision for some of Winoka's
residents to return home to Walnut Grove.
95
October 16, 1978
5008
There's No Place Like Home (Part
2 ; 90-minute episode)
The Ingalls and friends return
home to Walnut Grove, only to find a disgruntled and
disabled Lars Hanson, who's been crippled by a
stroke.
Note:
This marks the final appearance of
Karl Swenson as Lars Hanson (ironically,
Swenson was to die a short time later after this
episode was filmed).
96
October 23, 1978
5010
Fagin
Charles buys Albert a cow for the
upcoming county fair which Albert names Fagin. Laura
grows jealous when Charles starts giving more
attention to Albert. When Nellie teases Laura about
having Albert as a brother, Laura punches Nellie in
the eye. After Albert overhears Charles and Caroline
talking about Laura's jealousy, Albert runs away,
leaving Laura to take care of Fagin for the fair.
97
October 30, 1978
5009
Harriet's Happenings
Mrs. Oleson's cousin, Sterling
Murdoch, comes to Walnut Grove to start the town's
first newspaper, The Pen and the Plow. Mrs.
Oleson writes a column for the fledgling newspaper,
and soon writes scandalous stories about the
residents of Hero Township. When she learns that a
German student Erich Schiller beat Nellie in the
school spelling bee, Mrs. Oleson claims that the
lad's German immigrant parents are illiterate.
Charles confronts Murdoch about his newspaper, but
his complaints fall on deaf ears. Laura and Albert
temporarily get back at Mrs. Oleson, but she
responds by writing a story suggesting Charles
fathered Albert outside his marriage. Charles has
enough and exposes the work of Murdoch and Mrs.
Oleson in church on Sunday, clears up the lie about
the Schiller family (they could read German) then
chastises the rest of the town for reading the
newspaper.
Adam proposes to Mary, and she
accepts. Charles and Caroline travel to Winoka for
the wedding. Mary begins to have doubts about
getting married, once Charles and Caroline talk
about being grandparents and how hard it was to keep
track of Mary when she was little. Mary is worried
about how she and Adam will possibly be able to
raise a baby, since they are both blind.
99
November 13, 1978
5005
Men Will Be Boys
When Albert and Andy boast they
can become self-sufficient, Charles and Jonathan
decide to take them on a camping trip to put that
claim to rest. But Albert and Andy prove their
worth, and their fathers wind up, well, not so well
off.
100
November 20, 1978
5014
The Cheaters
The Walnut Grove School children
take a series of routine tests to prepare them for
the next grade, but after Andy Garvey shows failing
grades, his parents enlist Nellie Oleson to help him
with his studies...but Nellie shows him an even
better way to succeed: by cheating. Meanwhile,
Charles gives Albert a different lesson in
cheating...cheating within the heart.
101
November 27, 1978
5011
Blind Journey (Part 1)
It is discovered that the late
Mr. Hanson has willed his (now decrepit) house to
the town of Walnut Grove. The town council then
elects to turn it into the new blind school, as the
proprietor of the blind school in Winoka has
informed Mary and Adam that the rent has been raised
to an amount they can no longer pay. Charles then
recruits Joe Kagan to accompany him to Winoka to
lead the children back to Walnut Grove. To their
shock and dismay, they discover that Mrs. Oleson has
paid a large sum of money to name the new blind
school after herself and traveled to Winoka to help
lead the blind children to Walnut Grove in order to
impress someone named Mrs. Terhune.
102
December 4, 1978
5012
Blind Journey (Part 2)
In Winoka, Mrs. Oleson is
disappointed to discover that Mrs. Terhune is not an
elite society lady from St. Louis, but rather Hester
Sue Terhune (Ketty
Lester in her first appearance), the African
American caretaker of the blind school that has
merged with the one run by the Kendalls. During the
journey back to Walnut Grove, Mrs. Oleson must
overcome her racism and Adam must overcome his fear
of water. Upon return to Walnut Grove, Nels is
shocked to see that his wife has overcome her racism
(for now).
103
December 18, 1978
5006
The Godsister (90-minute episode)
In a rare episode featuring
Carrie, the young Ingalls tyke becomes heartsick for
her Pa when Charles and Jonathan take jobs on a
telephone crew and must be away for weeks. When
nobody has time for her, Carrie creates an
imaginary friend named Alyssa, and the two have
wonderful adventures together.
Note:
Lindsey and Sidney Greenbush appear on-screen
together in the roles of Carrie Ingalls and her
imaginary friend, Alyssa.
104
January 8, 1979
5018
The Craftsman
Albert takes a job as apprentice
for a Jewish coffin maker, who is the target of deep
prejudice in the community.
105
January 15, 1979
5016
Blind Man's Bluff
Laura's schoolmate and friend,
Jordan, has dreams of one day working for a circus
but is troubled by his quarreling parents. After an
accident causes temporary blindness, Jordan pretends
to remain blind in an effort to bring his parents
closer together and avoid their upcoming divorce.
Laura discovers Jordan's deception and struggles
about whether she should tell everyone the truth.
106
January 22, 1979
5015
Dance With Me (90-minute episode)
Ray Bolger (The
Wizard of Oz fame) returns as the
happy-go-lucky-who-turned-bankrupt Toby Noe. He is
staying with the Ingalls family and eating them out
of house and home when the spirited spinster Amanda
Cooper catches his eye. Toby sets out to win her
heart but she is determined to keep him at arm's
length. Meanwhile, Laura has a crush on schoolmate
Jason and, with Albert's council, tries to get him
to notice her.
107
February 5, 1979
5019
The Sound Of Children
Mary and Adam discover they are
having a baby. Adam's father visits Walnut Grove
upon learning the news and convinces Adam and Mary
to move to New York so that Adam can attend law
school and eventually become a partner in his
father's law firm. Tragedy strikes however and Adam
realizes that the troubles between he and his father
were not imagined after all.
108
February 12, 1979
5020
The Lake Kezia Monster
Mrs. Oleson attempts to evict
Kezia (Hermione
Baddeley) from her house by the lake. She,
Willie, and Nellie move in and force Kezia to serve
as their maid, but Laura, Albert, and Andy Garvey
hatch a plan to drive the Olesons away. They get
Kezia to concoct a story about a monster that
inhabits the lake, and then dress up as the monster.
The plan works, the Olesons run away screaming, and
Kezia keeps her house.
1099
February 19, 1979
5021
Barn Burner
1100
February 26, 1979
5022
The Enchanted Cottage
1111
March 5, 1979
5017
Someone Please Love Me
During a horse-buying trip to
Sleepy Eye, Charles meets up with Brett Harper, one
of the state's best horse breeders. However,
Harper's alcoholism has taken a deep toll on the
family and is coming apart because of the lack of a
strong head of the household. Charles temporarily
takes the role as the family man while he tries to
sober Harper up, but his touch may have worked too
well: Harper's wife and children like Charles better
than drunken Brett (who had become that way after
his son had died). Charles manages to convince his
family that Brett is a good person, but needs to be
sober to do so.
112
March 12, 1979
5023
Mortal Mission
Numerous Walnut Grove townsfolk
become seriously ill after eating
anthrax-laced mutton, turning the Blind School
into a makeshift hospital and morgue. Charles and
Jonathan – among the few who hadn't gotten sick –
race against time to rush supplies and medicine to
the Blind School, but have to encounter a few
obstacles along the way. Namely, the brothers who
sold the meat even though they knew it was spoiled;
and a deluded farmer who believes the medicine will
help him become rich.
113
March 19, 1979
5024
The Odyssey
Laura and Albert's friend, Dylan,
has one dream - to one day see the ocean. When the
boy discovers he is terminally ill, he sets out to
realize his dream and Laura and Albert join him. As
the trio begins the journey to San Francisco, they
come across a few stumbling blocks and are soon
found by a worried Charles. The children convince
Charles to help Dylan obtain his dream of seeing the
ocean before he dies. The group meets
William Randolph Hearst
