Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4688 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-11-01
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 5
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Subtitled
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dallas: The Complete First and Second Seasons is an American equivalent to those British mini-series about historical chapters in that country's royal monarchy. Full of family in-fighting, political intrigue crossed with personal triumph or disappointment, and plenty of sensational infidelities and betrayals, Dallas is a captivating story of a wealthy oil family's power and travails. It is also uniquely fun and daringly absurd, albeit with a straight face; this hugely successful, primetime soap opera began in the late 1970s and ran 14 seasons in all, built on a handful of primary relationships that stretch credulity but never descend into self-parody.

Not unexpectedly, Dallas begins with a Romeo and Juliet tale that instantly exposes an old feud between two families and strips the civilized veneer from several major characters. Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), youngest of three sons of independent oilman Jock Ewing (Jim Davis), arrives at the Ewing clan's Southfork ranch just outside Dallas, Texas, with a new wife, Pam Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal). Pam is the daughter of Digger Barnes (David Wayne), an old business rival of Jock's and one-time suitor of the Ewing matriarch, Eleanor (or "Miss Ellie", played by Barbara Bel Geddes). Pam's also the sister of a state senator, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), whose vendetta against the Ewings is played out in the legislature, imposing costly regulations on their business and holding committee investigations into questionable practices of company president J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman). Pam's status as the newest Ewing causes an uproar in the family (besides being a Barnes, she also dated the Ewings' genial but lonely foreman, Ray Krebbs, played by Steve Kanaly) and prompts Dallas' charming villain, J.R., to make many Iago-like attempts, over the first two seasons, to drive her from Bobby's arms. Pam has a different set of problems with the other, jealous Ewing women, including J.R.'s possibly barren and alcoholic wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), and teenage Lucy (Charlene Tilton), daughter of exiled Ewing son Gary (Ted Shackleford). With new and old resentments flying and everyone deeply suspicious of everyone else's motives (even the ailing Jock doesn't trust J.R.), there's plenty of drama to chew on. Still, storylines are often larger than the sum of these parts, with lots of kidnappings, marital affairs, plane crashes, and shootings ratcheting up suspense. Dallas is pure pleasure, a little guilty, perhaps, but not a sin. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
When DALLAS premiered on network television in 1978, it became the first nighttime soap opera. Soon thereafter, it became a nationwide sensation. The series follows the lives of several wealthy families live, love, and lust in the oil-driven world of Dallas, Texas. Starring Larry Hagman as the nefarious J.R. Ewing, the series also boasts a talented supporting cast, including Barbara Bel Geddes, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal, Jim Davis, Linda Gray, Charlene Tilton, and many more. This release contains all twenty-nine episodes from the show's stellar first two seasons.

Customer Reviews

"Ewing's my name, Oil's my game!"
DALLAS is one of the best dramas ever from the 80s, which is why it was number 1 in the USA and UK TV ratings during its first seven seasons, and had airings in over 130 countries. DALLAS is exciting and has ingenious plots and storylines and is better quality drama in my opinion, than shows such as Desperate Houswives, The O.C., EastEnders, etc.

This classic and timeless show is well written and has some fine actors and Larry Hagman is excellent in his portrayal as the dastardly J. R. Ewing, who is usually up to no good and has many secrets! Once you enter the home of the Southfork Ewings, you'll want to "visit" them in every episode on this DVD set!

The video of most episodes is sharp and of high quality. The DVD commentary of a couple of episodes is rather uninteresting and slow at times.

DALLAS has 14 seasons so I hope Warner Home Video speed up the releases with at least two or three seasons a year to DVD. Seasons 3, 6 and 7 (DALLAS fans refer to them as seasons 2, 5 and 6) are indeed the BEST seasons of the entire series with such gripping, clever and solid storylines. The first two seasons in this DVD box set are very good and well worth watching with classic and entertaining episodes.

The Best Boxset Ever.
I have been a fan of Dallas since the early 90's and when I heard that this boxset was coming out I was delighted.It took me a long time to get it but when I did I sat right down and watched hours of it the day it arrived.There werte a few problems however with sound here and there and the over use of dubbing but apart from all that the boxset is fantastic.I advise any Dallas fans to get this.You won't be sorry.

The soap with the man you loved to hate!
This is it! The soap that epitomised the Decade of Greed called the 1980s. It's all here... insatiable greed, power, infidelity, deceit & ruthless ambition - oh and of course the man everyone loved to hate - J.R. Ewing!

This box set contains Seasons 1 & 2 (season 1 only ran for 5 episodes, whereas season 2 ran for 24!) and it is the first DVD box set I've come across that uses slimline DVD cases. Having seen how little space the box takes up (about an inch wide), in my opinion all future DVD releases should be packaged this way - especially useful for those like me who have limited storage space.

There are, however two things (well only one really) that let this box set down a bit. The first and by far the biggest is the technical quality of the first episode. I stuck the first series disc in my player, selected the first episode and up came the usual episode preview clips, but then the screen suddenly went black & the sound disappeared for nearly FIVE seconds! Then suddenly the opening titles of the most hideous quality burst onto the screen! It looked like I was watching the TV through a howling blizzard! But rest assured, once the programme proper started, the image quality improved dramatically, and the other episodes have much better quality opening titles.

The second (tiny) minus point is that the DVDs are double-sided. However, this does help to keep the package bulk down.

All in all, I am pleased with the set, but it's let down a bit by the awful technical quality of the first episode. I am positive that this could have been improved, but having never seen the first series, perhaps that's how it was first transmitted, so for the purists this could be a plus-point!

Recommended - but with small reservations.