"I hope that you will remember this house as I do. The mystical blue ridges that stretch beyond it into infinity. The sound of warm voices drifting out upon the night air, a family waiting, and a light in the window. Good night."

Warner Bros. has released The Waltons - The Complete Ninth Season, the final season of the 1970s' best dramatic television series. By now long past its creative peak, this final 1980 - 1981 season offers several episodes that sadly remind one of the series at its best, but further cast departures, a scattershot, unconvincing approach to wrapping up the WWII storylines that dominated the final years, and an at-times incomprehensible juxtapositioning of characters' comings-and-goings, ultimately ends this classic series on a confused, diminished note.

I've written extensively about The Waltons (please click here for my Season Four review; here for my Season Five review; here for my Season Six review, and here for my Season Eight review), and since I doubt any newcomers are diving into this ninth and final season review, I won't go into any detailed background on the show. Prior to discussing this last go-around for The Waltons, it's best to keep in mind a few major developments in the production at this point: major cast members Richard Thomas (John-Boy Walton), Michael Learned (Olivia Walton), Ellen Corby (Esther "Grandma" Walton), and Will Geer (Zebulon "Grandpa" Walton) have all left the show, with Thomas' part (disasterously) re-cast, while all of the Walton boys are off fighting in uniform (Army-Air Corpsman Jim-Bob is stationed nearby Walton's Mountain.

By 1980, I had pretty much given up on The Waltons. As a teenager sitting in home room, The Waltons was about the last show you'd admit to watching when discussing with your friends the previous night's tube offerings. After all, the hippest show on network TV back then, Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari, was airing opposite The Waltons over on ABC, and the choice of either slogging through my old childhood favorite sans Richard Thomas or Will Geer or Ellen Corby, or watching Tom Hanks woo gorgeous, blonde, statuesque Donna Dixon, was no choice at all. But I would tune in, now and then, if a particular episode seemed important to the overall storyline (such as Ralph Waite's departure from the series, or widow Mary Ellen finding out Curt was alive), but what I saw bore but a faint resemblance to the show I remembered so fondly. Watching this season again in its entirety was rather a sad, disheartening experience, not only because of the particularly undistinguished collection of episodes here, but also because those misconceived episodes mark the end of a series for which I had great affection.

Some potentially interesting subplots are introduced in this final season, including the problems of racism for black veterans who served their country, only to return home to a country not yet integrated (of course this racism exists around Walton's Mountain - not on it) , or the ascension of women in the work force during the war, and their subsequent demotion once the boys started coming home (Mary Ellen wants to be a doctor, but the college won't accept her because "room has to be made" for the returning men). There's the promise of a good storyline where Jim-Bob (still naturally and compellingly played by one of the series' most underrated actors, David W. Harper) forges a close friendship with Jodie Foster (well played by Charles R. Penland), a black ex-Navyman, opening a garage together. Unfortunately, these plotlines are never fully explored, and often dropped altogether (Harper and Penland have excellent chemistry, but magically, Penland disappears from any future episodes featuring the garage). The episodes dealing specifically with the war are weak, too, with Ben's improbably defiant behavior in a Japanese prison camp a low point in the series (almost every single stunt Ben pulls here would have garnered him severe - if not deadly - punishment; it's a ridiculous episode - and Cindy's hallucinations about Ben are downright silly). Even worse, these grade-B depictions of combat look all too undernourished, lensed obviously on the same wooded backlot where the rest of the series was shot. None of the WWII elements mesh, with the Walton clan traipsing about without a hitch from the German front line, to Paris, to Walton's Mountain and back again, seemingly at will, without a concern for the improbability of such travels during the real war. One strong point of the early Waltons seasons was the impressionistic depiction of the Depression; if the harsh realities of that terrible period weren't illustrated in detail, the effects of that economic situation on the lives of the rural Waltons were. However, no such similar evocation of the war is achieved here.

Another perplexing problem with this season is the sudden and unexplained disappearances of the cast members. We tune into The Waltons for a sense of family, but when we don't know where people physically are, or even why they're gone, it's a losing proposition from the start. Of course, Olivia's continued absence is still ignored (it makes no sense for Olivia to work as a Red Cross worker, away from her beloved family), until the producers needed an out for departing Ralph Waite, who helpfully explains that Olivia has had a relapse of TB, and needs to go to Arizona (unfortunately, Waite's departure isn't handled in a suitably "big" way that's deserving of his central character -- just "poof" and he's gone). Cindy disappears towards the end of the season with no explanation, while Rose's obnoxious grandkids have (thankfully) flown the coop. The most confusing condition belongs to Fake John-Boy. When Fake John-Boy returns from the war, he states he may go to Japan to be a correspondent...but then we never get an answer if he really does. So when he's gone for several episodes, we think...he's in Japan. But later, he's shown living in a cabin up in the mountains...only to disappear for episode after episode, with no further explanation. Then, he pops up having dinner at the Walton home, apparently living at his old house. At another point, he mentions someone coming back with him to New York (when did that happen?), and then he's living at home again. Next, he manages to secure a teaching job for himself at nearby Boatwright College...a plotline which is promptly dropped with Fake John-Boy next off to New York (again? Or the first time this season?), with no money, to write a book. I understand that the policy of broadcasting episodes out of production order is common, but in a continuous narrative like The Waltons, such jumbling is dangerous. But even that practice can't explain the wild swings in continuity affecting Fake John-Boy - which is made all the more frustrating because we don't care about this new Fake John-Boy, anyway.

Character motivation is also all over the map. Would a father like John Walton in rural 1945 Virginia react so sanguinely when he learns that his youngest son has impregnated a girl (it eventually turns out she was lying)? Would Mary Ellen be so sanguine about finding out her husband Curt was actually not dead but hiding out in Florida, abandoning his wife and infant son because he was embarrassed by his war wounds which have rendered him impotent (with the addition of a re-cast for the Curt character, certainly one of the dumbest, most implausible plots in the series' history)? Would the Waltons suddenly become leery of Jason's Jewish fiancé...when the Waltons have already embraced the Jewish religion in previous episodes? Would the devout Baptists of Walton's Mountain really leave their beloved church in a state of absolute ruin for years (at least that's what the art direction suggests, with years-worth of cobwebs and dust) after "vandals" destroy it (what "vandals" would survive five minutes on Walton's Mountain if they did this? Every stranger to the mountain is tagged and bagged the minute they step foot in the tight-knit community)? And most egregiously, would Fake John-Boy get a receptive audience at Ike's store when he suggests, merely weeks after the fact, that the U.S. was more fanatical than the Japanese, because of our bombing program (a truly ridiculous proposition in rural Virginia, circa 1945 - and as scurrilous a charge today and in 1980, as it would have been in 1945)? None of this garbage makes any sense here.

There are a few episodes that reminded me of the old Waltons magic. The Whirlwind, featuring Richard Gilliland as Mary Ellen's new love interest, Jonesy, has a good build-up for a potentially potent subplot (Gilliland brings a needed jolt of energy to the Walton household), but typical of this season, he's soon dropped, never to be seen again. The Hot Rod features Harper in good form as the thoughtful Jim-Bob readjusting (not too well) to civilian life, while the delightful Baldwin Sisters (Mary Jackson and Helen Kleeb) have another amusing subplot concerning Revenuers discovering their Poppa's "Recipe machine." The Gold Watch features a well-observed and really quite subtle turn by always dependable William Schallert as Rose's paramour, Stanley Perkins. And the finale, The Revel, written by Scott Hamner, features perhaps the Baldwin Sisters' finest moment as they ring out the series with their failed school reunion revel. Although the episode is incorrectly split up with Fake John-Boy's disastrous trip to New York (we don't believe in Fake John-Boy, so why weren't the regular cast members given this last episode, and given moments equal to their efforts on the show?), the sections with the Baldwins are as touching and memorable as anything these two wonderful dears ever achieved on the show. Always my favorite supporting characters on the show (deliciously funny and sweet, representing a now-long-gone feminine ideal of ever-polite, ever-conscientious - and possibly slightly daffy - "women of breeding and quality"), Miss Emily and Miss Mamie plan a reunion of their "Miss Sophie's Finishing School" cohorts - all of whom are either deceased or who have long-since forgotten the secluded Baldwins. Almost succumbing to despair (Miss Emily sadly intones, "I feel old," as the girls decide they can deceive themselves no longer about anyone coming to their party), the arrival of the Waltons and their other beloved friends saves the party, and allows the Sisters to offer this fitting summation of what the series as a whole tried to accomplish:

"My sister and I had planned this party as a celebration of the precious time we have here on this earth. A tribute to all the beautiful things that make up our lives. We have not been so much participants in life, as observers. And we feel most fortunate to have lived in this special place and time. Most especially do we treasure our friends and memories. It seems to us that there are many memorable events. The turning of the seasons, the vibrancy of spring. When life renews itself with daffodils and crocuses blooming along the walkway; dogwood, redbud. And the indolence of summer and the coming of autumn. And the incredible beauty of a shower of golden leaves. Having someone to love. And someone who loves you in return. And kisses are important. Most especially are kisses to be remembered. We are here for such a brief time, but if we can make some sense out of life, and look at it with wonder and amazement, leave some record of it behind for those who follow us, then we have made a contribution. And it has all been worthwhile."

A beautiful, quiet moment, so typical of the best moments in The Waltons, and delicately performed by Jackson and Kleeb, this speech sums up the best intentions of the series, and it's a fitting final coda to one of the best dramatic series to ever grace the network airwaves.

Here are the 22, one hour episodes of the double-sided three-disc box set, The Waltons: The Complete Ninth Season, as described on the insert:

DISC ONE: SIDE A

The Outrage Part 1
On a trip with John, Harley confronts racial prejudice...and the prospect of prison when he's accused of a long-ago murder.

The Outrage Part 2
John fights to free Harley. The nation mourns the passing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Pledge
Walton's Mountain has a problem: no doctor. Mary Ellen has the solution: she applies to medical school.

The Triumph
"An hour ago we had a license to kill. Now we don't." Jason faces a German sniper who doesn't know the war just ended.

The Premonition
After Cindy has a chilling nightmare about Ben, the family learns he's been taken prisoner by the Japanese.

DISC ONE: SIDE B

The Pursuit
Jim-Bob a daddy? One of his old girlfriends shows up, expecting a baby she says will be a Walton grandchild.

The Last Ten Days
With the Japanese on the verge of surrender, Ben and his fellow POWs fear they'll be executed.

The Move
One Walton returns, one Walton leaves. Ben comes home to a loving welcome; Olivia enters an Arizona sanitarium.

The Whirlwind
Mary Ellen accepts Jonesy's marriage proposal, but shocking news may alter their joyful plans.

The Tempest
Not the man she knew. Mary Ellen's reunion with Curt is fraught with pain and sorrow.

DISC TWO: SIDE A

The Carousel
After her father's death, Cindy discovers she was adopted and sets out in search of her birth mother.

The Hot Rod
Outlaws: a prank lands Jim-Bob in the cooler; a government agent finds the Baldwin family's still.

The Gold Watch
Cupid works a double shift as Stanley re-enters Rose's life and romantic troubles brew at the Dew Drop Inn.

The Beginning
Matters of faith: a new minister challenges the congregation, and Jason and Toni contemplate an interfaith marriage.

DISC TWO: SIDE B

The Pearls
Corabeth's giddy, flirtatious sister sets the town buzzing. And Elizabeth, lonely for her parents, heads for Arizona.

The Victims
One more drink, one more beating. The Waltons aid a woman whose alcoholic husband abuses her.

The Threshold
John-Boy sees a future in that newfangled invention: television. Rose has a rival for Stanley's affections.

The Indiscretion
Ike Godsey: ladies man? A love letter addressed to Ike sends Corabeth steaming straight for the divorce court.

DISC THREE: SIDE A

The Heartache
Rose and Stanley have found true love in each other's arms. So why does Rose cancel their upcoming wedding?

The Lumberjack
Handsome Paul Northridge, scion of a wealthy lumber mill family, falls like an axed pine for Erin.

The Hostage
A child bride? No way! When Mary Ellen saves a girl from an unwanted marriage, the bridegroom seeks revenge.

The Revel
Great expectations. John-Boy goes to New York hoping for literary success, and the Baldwin sisters plan for a splendid party.

The DVD:

The Video:
As with the previous Waltons DVD sets I've reviewed, the full-screen, 1.33:1 transfers for The Waltons: The Complete Ninth Season are, on the whole, not in the best shape. Scratches and dirt are present, along with faded colors at times, and an at-times soft picture. Not as bad as some other seasons I've seen, but still not optimal.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono audio track accurately recreates the original broadcast presentation, but at times, it's no better than the prints, with occasional warbly, squelchy sound. Subtitles are available.

The Extras:
Unfortunately, there are no extras for The Waltons: The Complete Ninth Season.

Final Thoughts:
Ralph Waite didn't even wait around for the pointless end; he bailed midway through this last season of the once-mighty The Waltons. Isolated moments remind one of the series at its best (the Baldwin Sisters have one of the series' best subplots in the final episode), but overall, a confused tone and wildly inconsistent plotting and characterizations sink this season, ending the series on a sad note. I don't need to recommend The Waltons: The Complete Ninth Season to loyal fans who will buy it anyway, but enough of it is worthwhile to avoid a "skip it," so split the difference and rent...but you've been warned.