The Oregon Trail [6 Discs] [DVD]

Rod Taylor, Andrew Stevens, Tony Becker. An Illinois widower makes a big decision to leave his farm and take his children west in an Oregon-bound wagon train in search of a better life. But the trail is quite a bit more challenging than he ever imagined in this classic Western TV drama. Includes 14 episodes on 6 DVDs. 1976-77/color/12 hrs/NR/fullscreen.

The 1977 NBC series The Oregon Trail embodied a short-lived attempt (in the wake of Gunsmoke and Bonanza, which had each wrapped several years prior) to bring the serial western back to prime-time television, albeit with a certain degree of family appeal. It starred Rod Taylor (The Birds) as widower Evan Thorpe, who decided to leave his home in Illinois circa 1842 with his three children in tow (10-year-old Rachel, 17-year-old Andy and 12-year-old William) and search for a new life in the Oregon Territory, courtesy of the famed trail of the title. At the outset of the series, the family joined a wagon train moving westward; en route, they encountered a series of tribulations including hostile Indians, inclement weather, con men and a host of other ills. NBC cancelled the original program after only a couple of months; this set contains all 14 original episodes including the 8 that originally aired and 6 that did not. Features in the set include interactive menus, full screen presentation and episode selection.