8.25.04
DALLAS Season 1&2
DVD Boxed Set Review

Suggested Retail Price: $49.98 
Online Price: $34.99 
Costco:  ????

DALLAS DETAILS: 
* Region 1 
* 5 Discs
* 29 Episodes 
* Full Screen Standard Version
* English (mono)
* Studio: Warner Home Video 
* Subtitles: English, French, Spanish 
* R.T.: 1397 Minutes

Stars: Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principle, Linda Gray, Steven Kanaly, Charlene Tilton, Jim Davis and Barbara Bel Geddes. 

Man, Dallas was it in the late 70's and early 80's. J.R. ruled the television airwaves like Darth Vader ruled theatres. He was a hard-ass backstabbing bastard where Ewing oil meant more to him than family. 

The women of Dallas was the main reason I watched the show. But after a few episodes you get tied into all the crap J.R. is pulling on everybody. Charlene Tilton was the babe that young men dreamed about. It didn't hurt looking at Victoria Principle and Linda Gray hanging around the ranch either. J.R.'s extra-marital activities even dropped a few babes onto the screen. 

Dallas was one of the first, and most successful, night-time soap operas on television. Using the daytime soap style got fans locked into the shows theme. Once you were left hanging you had to catch the next episode. The shows creator, David Jacobs, and his writing staff fleshed out characters you could care about. People you enjoyed, or even hated, to see each week.

The shows following was monstrous until the producers decided to use a dream sequence to bring back Victoria Principle after she was killed off the season before. Fans just weren't willing to forgive the show after making an entire season mean absolutely nothing. It lead to the shows eventual downfall. 

VIDEO 

The video on Dallas is what one might expect on a series brought to a DVD boxed set. With the scratches and blemishes on the video it doesn't look like a digital transfer. The facial colors are a off in some scenes. In close-ups the video appears soft, but it still looks good.  It's not muddy or dirty in that respect. The video does get better the farther you get into the boxed set. There is still some debris, but not as bad as the first episode. Shit, it's early television, it's Dallas - hey it's good TV!

Fans need to remember that these older series are never going to look as good as Babylon 5, Angel or Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Shows from the 70's and 80's were not filmed for quality or to be broadcast onto huge televisions we have today. Can you imagine the digital work that was done to get Star Trek the original series to look as awesome as it does now? Warner or any other studio isn't going to spend that kind of money on a show like Dallas unless the fans get behind the first boxed set. 

AUDIO 

The audio is just mono. It doesn't actually need anymore than this. The shows a drama and not some action adventure series loaded with special effects and creative sounds.  During a few episodes however, there was some sound distortions. Nothing that mattered as far as enjoying the material. 

EXTRAS 

The Dallas boxed set isn't loaded with extras, but I don't think that is something these set need. To me, all the extra crap is just something else to make for a higher price tag. 29 episodes of Dallas for $49.98 is a decent price tag compared to the cost of most boxed sets today.  There are a couple of extras in the boxed set. You can listen to commentary from the shows creator, David Jacobs along with Larry Hagman and Charlene Tilton.  There is also Soapnet's November 2003 Soap Talk Dallas Reunion Special. 

PACKAGING 

I don't really like the packaging for Dallas. They've used a five-fold digi-pack format. It's a pain in the ass folding the set out like your rolling out a sleeping bag. There's no booklet with the boxed set. The episode titles, synopsis are on the back of the fold outs. I prefer the book style packaging that Warner also uses. 

SUMMARY 

Overall the disc pack is average. What makes it worth purchasing is the series itself. Dallas was the 80's Icon for good television.  I know much of the review comes across as bad, but it's not. I didn't watch the boxed set expecting more than what I got. Hopefully, fans like myself will expect the same.  If you like Dallas, you'll be happy adding this series to your collection. 

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