"The Journey" (1956)

[MichaelMartinD]

Has anyone seen this episode with Jeff and Lassie? It is easily the most emotional half hour of vintage television I have ever seen. Lassie appears to be going blind due to a rare and sudden condition of her eye. Jeff skips school and, unknown to his Mom and Gramps, carries Lassie to the city to visit a (human) hospital in hopes the eye specialist there can cure her.

For Christmas I got "Lassie's Greatest Adventures Collection," a 2 DVD set that just came out last summer. It has both Jeff and Timmy episodes, and "The Journey" is on it. I am in the midst of watching the three-part story "The Odyssey," where Lassie gets lost in the wilderness and must find her way back home.

I marvel at how inventive this show was, especially in showing animals interacting and doing various things. Sometimes there are long scenes showing nothing but animal behavior, with musical background. The animal trainers must have been geniuses to get those kinds of effects. I also think it's a crime that this series has not been given the full series DVD treatment.