Customer Reviews

The Origins of an Original - By: Callum G, 10 Apr 2008
Here we have it - the first of the classic "Dallas" DVD sets!

The series that originally started out as a TV mini-series (the first 5 episodes on this package now re-titled as 'Season 1') & eventually was responsible for coining the term 'Soap' as a blueprint for a number of imitations to come.

This groundbreaking, award-winning ratings-grabber told the story of the oil rich Ewing family, & focused on the trials & tribulations of their everyday lives of power, wealth, love, greed, lust, & ambition. There are some wonderfully-written character portrayals & story lines that unfoldin these early episodes which primarily centred around the events of youngest Ewing sibling, Bobby & his new bride, Pamela. All is not well from the off as we discover that Pammy is the daughter of 'Digger' Barnes - the oldest adversary & former oil-drilling partner of Bobby's 'Daddy', Jock Ewing. This causes quite a stir within both families & certainly doesn't bode well with Jock's eldest son, John Ross II ('J.R.'), who currently runs the Ewing Oil empire.

When "Dallas" starts to fully develop through these early seasons, so do the characters especially the dastardly 'J.R.' (brilliantly played by Larry Hagman who was robbed of an Emmy Award). For the most part, the series began to evolve around his evil doings bothin bed &in the boardroom.

The "Dallas" DVD sets are a must-buy for any avid collector or television drama fanatic, & at this price this package is a steal. The series holds a highly re-watchable value & you won't be disappointed with this purchase. There aren't any doubts that you will want to continue collecting the rest of the series once you have had your first taste of the Ewing clan...at least up until the end of the so-called 'Dream Season' years later.

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Missing Episodes - By: Rob F, 09 Feb 2008
I hadn't realised the discs were double sided until reading another review on here. Nowhere on the packaging or discs does it mention this.

I was just about to return the boxed set to Amazon because there were episodes missing from each series, when I spotted the reference to double sided discsin another review!

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Dissapointed - By: Andrew Allardice, 02 Jan 2008
Being an avid Dalas Fane, I was expecting to watchin the comfort of my one living room the full Dalas senario, unfortunatelly all the DVD's received seem to only contain half of what is promissed on the cover.

This is most dissapointing due to the fact that at the end of the DVD, I was leftin the middle of a series, missing half of what was expected & promissed on the cover.

Being a woman & technicaly inept, I asked my husdand to check that I was correctly using both the DVD Player & DVD'S. After He had cracked up & called me daft for ordering such an old archaich seriers of incomplete DVD's for my Christmas, as a present, we both realiesed that we were either both inept or all the DVD'S are not fully recorded.

We realise that Amazon are only a retailer & are only selling products from other manufacturers, however Amazon must be awaire that what they sell to the puplic is what is advertised. In this case something has gone wrongin the manufacturing prosess causing the loss of half the series promissed on the cover, therefore we as the customer are left short changed & unsatisfied with our purchase.

After a call to Amazon, & half the order replaced, we were still dissapionted to find that we were missing the same 3 epissodes from each DVD.

If Amazon can send an engineer to our house to make us both feel stupid about our use of a DVD Player we have owned for 5 years, we would both be pleased to be shown up. If not which is what I expect then could you please call 07789765312 & explain what you intend to do.

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Dallas :Seasions 1 and 2 - By: Gregory Shanley, 15 Nov 2006
"Dallas" was THE soap OF THE 70s/80s,i know it continued to the early 90s but was at its bestin the 70s/80s.
The show started life as a mini-seriesin 1978,showing youngest son of the "Ewing Oil" empire Bobby(Patrick Duffy)marrying Pamela Barnes (Victoria Principal)the daughter of his Daddy's- Jock(Jim Davis)-bitter enemy "Digger" Barnes,(David Wayne then Keenan Wynne)his alcholic ex partner,who blames Jock for "stealing" his share & for everything else,wrong with his life.
Miss Ellie(Barbara Bel Geddes)is the voice of reason at the Southfork ranch(a totally different locationin the mini series)regularly stopping Bobby & evil older brother J.R.(Larry Hagman who WAS Dallas)coming to blows,she makes Pam welcome & quickly comes to love her,also Jock but J.R. never does & continually trys to get rid of Pam throughout her time on the show.
Linda Gray as Sue-Ellen has not much to doin the mini-series althoughin "The Barbacue" she gets drunk which Sue-Ellen did a lotin Dallas & no-one can do such furious looks as Linda Gray!
Steve Kanaly as Ray,is more devious than the good ole cowboy,he later became,having an affair with young Lucy(Charlene Tilton)the fact that later,it was revealed Jock was Ray's son,a few seasons later & that Ray had had an affair with his niece was glossed over!
Ken Kercheval as "loser" Cliff Barnes makes a strong performance throughout but his part doesn't become bigger until towards the end of season 2.
In season 2 we meet middle son Gary & ex wife Valene(David Ackroyd & Joan Van Ark)in "Reunion",Lucy having tracked down her mother,Joan Van Ark is instantly likeable as down home Valene,its strange seeing another actor playing Gary,as Ted Shackleford,later plays the rolein "Dallas" before spining-off to "Knots Landing" with Joan Van Ark.
David Ackroyd is more vulnerable than Ted Shackleford's Gary,he tends to stress out more while Shackleford's Gary tends to get more aggressive,J.R. is seen at his most ruthless here,when he sets Gary upin a buisness he knows isin a mess,causing Gary to leave Southfork,then he gets rid of Valene too,no wonder J.R. got a frosty reception whenever he visited "Knots Landing".
Victoria Principal is very strong as Pamin these early episodes,it was a shame thatin later episodes,Pam became more & more a victim & lost some of the fire she hadin these early shows.
The murder of Julie,J.R.'s secretary & long time loverin the 2nd season is shocking & poor old Cliff isin the frame for a while,setting up an even more bitter feud between him & J.R.
The first proper cliffhanger is at the end of season 2 with Sue-Ellen pregnant & drinking heavily,involvedin a car crash,leaving her & new born baby,John Ross,on life support machines,their livesin the balance,J.R. devasted & the paternity unclear,is Cliff the father or J.R?.
It does eventually turn out to be J.R.
Some shows don't improve with age,this one does,so if you haven't seen "Dallas" before,give it a go,you'll be addicted!

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Quite brilliant and i only missed three episodes. - By: Mr. P. J. R. LEWIS, 08 Sep 2006
Its hard to believe that Dallas is now over twenty years old.
The lives of the oil rich Ewing clan of Southfork ranch & that dastardly John Ross Ewings fued with Cliff Barnes live longin my memory.
I can honestly say hand on my heart that i missed only three episodesin its entire run,and if i missed an episode wayback then my week was entierly ruined,i was a huge fan all those years ago.
The only sane member of the clan was Miss Ellie played by Barbra Belle Geddes.She knew how to control JR & the famous breakfast scenes where the entire family used to gather were trully memorable.

Pam who was that dreaded Cliff Barnes sister near the end of the run sold her Ewing shares to Cliff her brother to get back at JR.Ray Crebbs was Jock Ewings outcast member of the family the one that Jr disliked because he had a small percentage of DADDIES company.

The Oil Barrons Ball was another annual highlite where Cliff & JR showed their contempt for each other,but it was the amazing
WHO SHOT JR story that was a World wide phenomenan.Was is Pam or the constantly drunk Sue Ellen who stormed into Jrs office.
It took many weeks during a summer break to reveal that it was Crystyn Sheperd one of JRs cousins who did the deed,very few people guessed it but the termoil throughout that season has never been replicatedin any television series since.Even the US president Jimmy Carter & other world leaders were trying to guess who done it.

If you were not born during the first airing of Dallas you cannot imagine the tension that it had over most of the western world.

I for sure really miss Dallas & that ridiculous spin off series Dynasty was rubbishin comparrison.

Go on BBC repeat the entire series so that those too young to remember can see real drama at its best.