Would anyone like to share thoughts on the LONE RANGER movie that aired on the WB last night? The first word that springs to my mind is "travesty."

Would this happen to be The Legend of the Lone Ranger which came out in 1981? I've noticed that folks tend to regard that one with contempt, mainly because the lead actor is such a blatant wimp.

No, Gordon, I think he's referring to a brand new Lone Ranger movie that was a WB original movie. I've never been a Lone Ranger fan and was more interested in watching Robert Blake's interview on 20/20, so I avoided it. From what I've seen in the commercials, it looks like the Lone Ranger was given a Dawson's Creek makeover. And from what I've read on another message board, the 1981 movie may actually have been better.

What he said. It was a new TV movie produced for the WB as a pilot for a possible series, which I hope will never come to be. The main characters were made over as teenagers (this is a WB show, after all) portrayed by twentysomething actors (also de riguer for the WB). A large part of the plot was frittered away on Tonto teaching the would-be Ranger, "Luke Hartman (?!)," how to be an Apache, or something like that, culminating in the inevitable "vision quest." We can't have a movie featuring native Americans without sticking a vision quest in there somewhere, can we? This tripe was clearly aimed at the age group that considers DAWSON'S CREEK the height of TV drama, but I doubt that it appealed to them, and it was a slap in the face for us long-time RANGER fans. I'll take Brace Beemer, John Todd, and a pair of blocks in a sandbox over this •••• any day.
I saw THE LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER on cable TV in the early 1980s. I don't like it, either. The fact that its leading man is a mannequin is just the foremost of its problems... but that's another can of worms.

Lone Ranger in the style of Dawson's Creek????? I'm sure Ranger fans watching it thought they had died and gone to Hell.

Pointed out before, but with so much padding already in a typical LR episode, it gets kind of annoying to have to listen to almost five full minutes of the William Tell Overture each time. I must admit, though, there is nothing more spine-tingling OTR radio moment than hearing the Overture start up.