Lonesome Dove the Series vs. The Outlaw Years

[Major Matt Lewis]

OK, seeing how I am not shooting for a bit and I am desirous to return to my Cowboy ways, I have been cruising the Wire here and I saw a thread talking about Lonesome Dove the Series and Lonesome Dove The Outlaw Years.  Now I thought that I had seen all the movies so I bought both seasons.  Here are my observations of Lonesome Dove the Series:

 

Pros:

Scott Barstow does a very passable job of playing Newt Call.  I am not calling him as good as Rick Schroeder, but does a good job.

It was a western made in a time when western shows weren't being made.  I tend to like shows better than movies.

The set in Alberta, Canada was absolutely awesome.

Great mix of Cowboy firearms.  From Henry's to 73's and Single Shots.  The pistols were all Uberti's.  I don't know how often you would run across a Colt SAA in the Old West with a Brass Trigger Guard.  But you ran a pleasant gambit there from Cap & Ball pistols to Colt SAA's to Remington 75's and an occasional Schofield.

The character development was the typical stuff you expect from the entertainment industry, but Newt seemed like he stayed true to "Newt" from LD and Return to LD.  

I really liked seeing the guest stars show up.  It seemed like a regular who's who from the old westerns.  

 

Cons:

Typical TV stuff - All the minorities were good guys and victimized.  (Come on man, common sense dictates that out of every group of people, most are decent, but you always have that 10%.  I am kind of tired of that cliché.  

The TV Show writes tried too hard to adapt the tone of the books and LD Mini-Series to the TV show in places.  All the big tough "Gunnies" had cross draw holsters, when in reality the cross draw as only functional if you were riding a horse.

Though Scott Barstow did a good job of playing Newt, the Newt that road off and did his own thing at the end of LD The Return, seemed older and more mature that the Newt played by Barstow.  Coupled with the fact that Newt got married and settled down rather early in the series kind of seemed like a disconnect.  

 

Lonesome Dove the Outlaw years was "OK."  I think I liked LD the Series a little better because of how Newt seemed "spiritually true" to the Newt from the epics.  However, the writers wanted to make him edgier and more "solo lobo."  All they really seemed to do was make him seem dirty, I mean dirty like needs a bath and he needed a hair cut and shave.  I think The Outlaw Years, lacked any character development and did not build on experiences of past episodes or such.  

 

I don't know, just some random thoughts.