Johnny Appleseed visits Boonesborough and tries to interest the residents in fruit husbandry, but his offbeat ways and pacifistic perspective provoke some local ire; in the meantime a youth's hunting accident threatens to provoke a tribal conflict.
Give the start of DB, Season 6 points for a real college try. The boy-band rendition of the theme has been replaced with a jauntier "Sing along with Mitch" template, and the story attempts to meld a real historical figure with the inevitable nod to late 60's counterculture. Appleseed is portrayed by a young Roger Miller (unrecognizable to viewers who primarily recall him from mail order LP commercials in the 1980's), who was primarily a Grammy-recipient singer; the hour features a fair amount of music. Westerns standby Kevin Hagen is the antagonist, and his son (Johnny Jensen) wounds the young Cherokee (Eddie Little Sky).
The episode features the credits and background debut of Roosevelt Grier as an African-American living among the Indians, but the hour was aired out of sequence; his character background is not brought forth until episode 6.3.
The real Johnny Appleseed - John Chapman - was not so much the free spirit of Milier's portrayal. He did help get the Midwest orchard industry off the ground, but more by investing in orchards than doing random plantings. As to his pacifism, he is said to have performed scouting and courier service along the Ohio frontier during the War of 1812. Refreshingly, Rebecca and Israel push back hard against Miller's pacifistic portrayal when the defense of Boonesborough is at stake.
We haven't seen the Shawnee for a while, but they get a break from being the designated tribal antagonists by calling up the Cherokee for fill-in duty. We can assume any mitigating influence provided by Mingo (Ed Ames sadly passed away a few weeks prior to this review) has long since evaporated. Season 6 offers little improvement in accurate mid-South tribal depiction - still plenty of Great Plains bric-a-brac around, this time featuring buffalo skulls, and the Jungle Jim shrunken human skulls on poles make their return.
Aside from that, an engaging story with a return of some flintlock action, and an above-average around-the-fort episode.
