Dallas: Complete First Season :) (1 Viewer)

[David Von Pein]

The announcement from Warners.

And some more Season 1 & 2 Data.

 

[ScottR]

I hope they include the recaps and previews....that's one of the things I remember most about Dallas. We would always wait impatiently for the scenes for the next week's episode..then we would go "Ooohhh....can't wait until next Friday night!"

 

[David Von Pein]

Absolutely! I agree.

I wonder, though, if the DVDs will include both the "Preview of tonight's episode" AND the "Next week on Dallas..." trailer (just before the closing credits) for each episode?

One thing that bodes well for the inclusion of BOTH of these "Trailer" bits for each ep. is the total running time that WB placed on their initial release of the cover
art -- which says "1450 min.". That works out to exactly 50 minutes per the 29 eps.!

That long a run time surely includes all originally-aired material (I would surmise).

EDIT -- Just noticed that the official WB specs which (I guess) came out today show only 1,352 minutes of programming for the 29 programs (I assume this time doesn't include any supplemental items), which = 46.6 min. per show. Which doesn't bode as well for all the trailers/previews being incorporated. But -- who knows.

 

[David Von Pein]

Evidently this very attractive cover art is now "official" from WB, too. Nice job.

(Although some of the "fanatics" at ultimatedallas.com have already taken note that this cover image is technically inaccurate (season-wise). This is the official cast photo from Season 3 (1979-1980). But it looks great to me, at any rate.)

 

[Mark Lx]

Though I think Previews should be included to make the shows complete, I hate when they share a track and act as a spoiler for what you are about to watch. It's not like when the show aired and they're trying to entice you to watch. You already bought the thing. You're going to watch it. Recaps, on the other hand are great, and I wonder why Dallas didn't use them instead, being a soap with high continuity.

 

[David Von Pein]

I agree. Recaps probably would have been better for the before-the-episode video blurb. Similar to the "Previously on The West Wing..." type of a deal.

 

[ScottR]

Dallas did use recaps. Every episode opened with "Last on Dallas" and then the opening credits. The end of the episode ended with "Next on Dallas."

 

[David Lambert]

Nope. At Warner's password-protected press site, it shows a 2-D version of that same pic and very clearly says next to it "ARTWORK NOT FINAL", so any website protraying it as such is not being straight with you.

 

[David Von Pein]

Nope. This is wrong.
The opening "trailer" was not a "Last on Dallas"...it was a "Coming up in this very episode" preview.

 

[David Von Pein]

OK, David. Thanks.

However, the pic at UltimateDallas.com doesn't show the MRP and "not final" disclaimer on top of the image. Wonder where they got that image, if not 'official'?

 

[David Lambert]

They got it from the Warner press site. Warner IS distributing that art for now, and says it's okay to use as an illustration for news stories about the announcement (which is why I used it from the marketing kit, before they made the no-price version available), but they still caution that the artwork is going to change.

Columbia often does the same thing, we're kind of used to it from them. In fact, I have new art for a recently announced title from them to post either tonight or tomorrow.

Back to Dallas, though, I hope it doesn't change too much from what it presently is. I like it. I think most people do.

Sometimes the changes between non-final art and final art are very obvious. Sometimes they are subtle, like what little picture is on the spine or how the subtitle is arranged compared to the main title (note the differences on the spine of the subtitle between the pic in my news story and the pic you post above).

Sometimes just the color scheme changes up (think Party of Five). Sometimes a background shot changes (Ev. Loves Raymond had changes to both the color scheme AND the background shot behind Romano's big head).

Whatever changes we see in the final version of that Dallas box may, in fact be minor. Or they may scrap the whole thing and start over. Either way, right now the plan is to make some sort of change to it. Stay tuned for the final product.

 

[Chris:L]

I'm fine with the artwork. Really, I am. I have qualms about it. Why would they want to change the artwork of their DVDs? Any thoughts?

 

[oscar_merkx]

can't wait to finally see this after so many years off tv

 

[Larry Geller]

How about to have a picture from Season 1 or 2, rather than 3?

Can't wait to see Pam on the roof!

 

[David Lambert]

The reason studios might change the artwork is to make it that much more appealing to the consumer. They want to get an item that they feel will leap off the shelf to a mass-market shopper.

Of course, the current thinking is that this means "big heads" so that they are marketing the stars, rather than the show or film. I believe that this couldn't be further from the truth for most releases, but they claim to have studies to back it up and all that. How can little ol' me argue with that?


But the bottom line is that they keep tweaking it until they think they have something that "simply jumps off the shelf" so that buyers will notice it.

 

[Brandon_T]

Hey, it is on the SOAP network everyday here in the states at 6:00pm

 

[David Von Pein]

Yes, indeed. (IMO, though, the first image (left) looks better, with the filled-in-with-blue "DALLAS" lettering standing out better. But, the other one looks good too. Either design is A-OK with this Dallas fan.) .....




I'm still wondering why Warner's would even want the latter pic (with no disclaimer) released to the public anyway. Makes no sense to me, seeing as how the two covers are very nearly identical.

Speaking a bit more on potential "Dallas" cover art --- I very much also like this nice cover design, which was utilized by Columbia House for its 30-Tape VHS set of the series (which featured the first 60 episodes).

I wouldn't mind seeing this cover on a future DVD set. .......

 

[David Von Pein]

Dallas DVD Set ... Just put up for Pre-Order today at Amazon.

Good Gravy ... It's already #202 on the Amazon Best-Seller list (in just hours)! Very good. Bodes well for WB profits, and potential future Dallas seasons on DVD; very well indeed. *tents fingers a la Monty Burns*

 

[David Von Pein]

This cover is very classy ("not finalized" though it may be). Note the image of part of a Dallas skyscraper (the Ewing building I suppose) super-imposed behind the "DALLAS" lettering. Nice.

 

[Chris:L]

Who is Monty Burns?