A WORD OF WARNING

I'm a huge fan of TV series on DVD for so many reasons. They are terrific value-for-money as you get so many hours of viewing, there are no annoying ad breaks, you can re-visit TV classics which will probably never again be seen on television and of course, you can watch them over and over again.

While I can highly recommend all of the following series, some of them do come from overseas so you must have an all-region player for them to work properly. If you still have your player manual check that it is both all-region and NTSC just to be certain it will work properly before you order.

I know I'm a really big dag, but I do think Follyfoot still is my favourite of the TV shows.

Based on the books by Monica Dickens (a decendant of Charles Dickens) Follyfoot really does fall into the legendary TV show category. It was a phenomenal success in the early 1970's gathering 1000's of devoted fans and the theme song "The Lightning Tree" (as performed by folk group The Settlers) even reached the top 40 hit parade.

Dora is a sad and lonely girl who is sent to live with her uncle who runs a home for neglected and unwanted horses called FOLLYFOOT. Together with a motley crew of helpers, Steve, Ron and co, they set about rescuing and caring for horses and people alike.

The books in the series are also currently being reprinted and they too are available for fans. This new series is the binding that was released in conjuction with the TV series, not the original books which had different names and are now highly collectible.

FOLLYFOOT - COMPLETE SEASON 1
FOLLYFOOT - COMPLETE SEASON 2
FOLLYFOOT - COMPLETE SEASON 3
FOLLYFOOT - COMPLETE SERIES BOX SET

FOLLYFOOT - Book 1
DORA AT FOLLYFOOT - Book 2

Another classic from the 1950's golden era of TV show westerns is FURY, starring a wild black stallion and Joey, the only person who could hanlde him.

This series ran for five seasons from 1950 to 1955 and starred the black horse HIGHLAND DALE, a very successful movie star in his own right. Starring in many previous shows such as an early BLACK BEAUTY movie, THE GYPSY COLT (a brilliant family movie that is sadly out of print) and in one of my favourite all-time movies GIANT, starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. If you are a fan of this movie you will immediately recognise HIGHLAND DALE as the wild black horse Elizabeth Taylor rode in the early part of the movie, before the family struck oil.

The story begins with a troubled young orphan Joey, being taken in and adopted by rancher Jim Newton before going on to live at The Broken Wheel Ranch where he meets the wild and untameable stallion, FURY.

Typcial of the exceptionaly popular family oriented western genre of the time, Joey and Fury always save the day, and no one ever beats Jim in a fist fight.

If you don't remember the show but would like a sneak peak, then there is a terrific BEST OF DVD available including 4 episodes which is a perfect introduction to the series.

If you already are a fan and want more THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE is available now, hopefully with more seasons to be released in the future.

There were also quite a few books released in the 1950's in conjuction with the TV series which have also become very collectible. I have a few in stock now, and please let me know if you are a collector and I'll keep my eye open for any editions you may be missing.

FURY AND THE MUSTANGS - collectible book.
FURY AND THE MYSTERY AT TRAPPER'S HOLE - collectible book
FURY AND THE WHITE MARE - collectible book.
http://www.equitainment.com.au/product.asp?ID=5514

I've finally worked out how all the Black Beauty TV series link together so I hope the following will help with the title confusion.

The first series THE ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY was made in the early 1970's and is set in 19th century rural England. Black Beauty is a pure black, thoroughbred horse who is adopted into the household of James Gordon, a local doctor and widower, and befriended by his daughter's Vicky (Season 1) Jenny (Season 2), son Kevin, and their friends Albert, Robbie (Season 1) and Ned (Season 2).

At the completion of this series we switch to the 1980's show THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY where Vicky and her step-daughter have now migrated to live in New Zealand. There they meet another black horse that she also names Black Beauty and a whole new series adventures begin again.

Finally in the 1990's series THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY (AUST) Black Beauty is set free in Australia where he meets up with a young runaway Bella, who together with her new friends Beauty again saves the day.

I remember watching this version every Saturday morning on Channel 7 before the days of Saturday Disney and became quite addicted to it. I have restarted watching it again, and am still really enjoying it which has made me want to dig out all earlier series and re-visit those again.

This is the spin-off series from the two award winning movies THE BLACK STALLION and THE BLACK STALLION RETURNS, all based on the books by Walter Farley.

The Black Stallion series is truly one of the most successful of all the tv horse franchises, with the original book series by Walter Farley consistantly remaining in print since the original book was published in the 1940's.

The first movie THE BLACK STALLION is a masterpiece presented by Hollywood legend Francis Ford Capolla, director of so many movies including THE GODFATHER and APOCALPYSE NOW, just to name a few.

After that movie came a couple of sequels and of course, the three seasons of the BLACK STALLION TV SERIES starring Mickey Rooney. I keep all of the movies plus the books in stock, all of which are quite difficult to find. Although Walter is now sadly deceased, his son Steven is continuing on with his BLACK STALLION legacy with more books in the series shortly to be released.

THE BLACK STALLION TV SERIES - SEASON ONE
THE BLACK STALLION TV SERIES - SEASON TWO
THE BLACK STALLION TV SERIES - SEASON THREE