Allow me to elaborate on my edit summary for putting a "citation request" tag on the section about the alleged (yes, alleged) 1955 color anniversary special. At this time, CBS and NBC had their own color transmission processes that were vying to be used as the industry standard (NBC's won and, apparently in a fit of picque, CBS did nothing in color until the mid-1960s, when they had to throw in the towel; Lucille Ball began filming her The Lucy Show in color as of its second season, but CBS telecast in b/w until its third). ABC, in the 1950s regularly finishing a distant third in the ratings, wasn't considering color at all (Walt Disney paid for color filming of his prime time anthology series out of his own pocket, and filmed The Mickey Mouse Club and his Zorro show in b/w because ABC wouldn't cover any of the color film costs). Jack Wrather must have paid the costs of color filming of the last 39 Lone Ranger episodes out of his own pocket (and probably the outdoor filming of dialogue scenes as well). None of this material was seen on television in color for many years. If what we have here is a color film completely different from the regular series, why has the color print not been released? The most reasonable answer is because there isn't one. Wrather cancelled the series (which ABC reran on their daytime schedule for years) and made a pair of (low budget) theatrical films with Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, presumably because after those 39 episodes ABC still refused to pay more for another season. But never mind that. Note that the only known evidence to a 1958 showing is an advertisement in a Miami newspaper here, which actually gives the title of the 1952 full-length compilation of the three-part debut episode. Also, the IMDb page for this special gives directing, writing and producing credits to people who otherwise have no credit on the series post-dating Wrather's arrival, and the only supporting cast members are four people who played the same roles in the opener and three of whom are listed here as "credit only"! Clearly, the 1952 "feature" was cut down to fit into a one-hour time slot losing those three actors' scenes in the process, but the end titles including cast list were left intact. Now I am certainly not suggesting that we put any of this into the article, but it is certainly grounds for agreeing to remove the description of the "one hour color special" that wasn't from it. --Tbrittreid (talk) 23:27, 12 April 2010 (UTC)Reply
