Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Meredith Monroe stars as celebrated pioneer princess and Newbery Honor-winning storyteller Laura Ingalls Wilder in this compilation of two TV movies that dramatize several vignettes from books in the Little House on the Prairie series. Also starring Richard “John Boy” Thomas as patriarch Charles, with Walton Goggins as Laura's husband Almanzo, 2000's Beyond the Prairie finds Laura in a variety of tweaked situations. For instance, Laura met Almanzo as a youngster, not someone who sneakily searches through his mail and acts like a lovesick ditz whenever his name comes up. Also, it's highly unlikely that Laura (let alone any women) would be congregating with the menfolk during the negotiations for sending a party in search for wheat for the hungry townspeople (as depicted in 1940's The Long Winter), and Laura's post-nuptial insistence that she and Almanzo consummate their marriage literally on the prairie ground is sure to raise eyebrows, especially considering her usual reserve and the adherence to proper behavior depicted in most of the stories. On the other hand, elements such as Pa's cheeky fiddle-playing and the Ingalls family camaraderie, Laura's quiet endurance of a soul-draining stint as a teacher away from home, and the new family's struggles with sickness and loss ring true. Also featuring 2002's The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder Continues, which follows the Wilders and young daughter Rose on their covered wagon voyage to Missouri and chronicles their labors on what would later become the famous Rocky Ridge Farm, this compilation—featuring music by Emmy-winning composer Ernest V. Troost of Weston Woods fame—is a strong optional purchase. (J. Williams-Wood)