Info:
DVD Release Date: April 19, 2005 (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
Color
MSRP: $49.98
Number of Discs: 4 (double-sided)
Number of Episodes: 15 (counting the 3 hour pilot as 3
episodes)
Running Time: 719 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 34 minutes
(not counting commentary)
Languages: English; Spanish; French
Subtitles: English and Spanish; Closed Captioned
Special Features:
• 3 Audio Commentary Pieces “Oil, Parts 1, 2 and 3”
by co-creator Esther Shapiro; “The Separation” by
co-creator Esther Shapiro and actor Al Corley; and
“The Testimony” by co-creator Esther Shapiro and actor
Al Corley.
• Featurette: “Family, Furs, and Fun”
• Character Profile: Fallon Carrington Colby
• Character Profile: Steven Carrington
Introduction:
Ah, the saga of the wealthy Carrington family in
Denver comes finally to DVD. Dynasty is a delicious
primetime soap that has it all! Starting with the
“oil” pilot where Blake and Krystle get married to
Blake’s children who include Steven and Fallon.
Steven is openly gay and Fallon is well, a spoiled
brat. The show’s first season aired on ABC for
midseason in 1981 and had 15 hours worth of gossip
that makes you just glued to your television, like how
Desperate Housewives does today!
Passion, glamour, catfights, and the biggest shoulder
pads in Denver--Dynasty, was the primetime soap fueled
by an all-star cast and "sexsational" storylines. The
all-star cast from season one includes John Forsythe,
Linda Evans, Pamela Sue Martin, Pamela Bellwood, Al
Corley, John James, Wayne Northrop, Katy Kurtzman, Bo
Hopkins, Lee Bergere, Lloyd Bochner, and Dale
Robertson. Recurring actors include Peter Mark
Richman and Stepfanie Kramer in a pre-Hunter role.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Season one had such a good start to the series, that
about all of these episodes were memorable. Of
course, the three-part pilot episode “Oil” is
memorable, “The Honeymoon,” the two-part episode
“Krystle’s Lie/The Necklace,” “The Separation” and the
season finale “The Testimony.” Like I said, you just
have to watch every episode, because this is indeed a
serialized show.
Packaging:
The packaging has its pros and cons. The set comes
with an outer box and an inner box. That baffles me
because why have two boxes? There are two slim cases
that hold two discs each. The slim cases are in the
inner box. I guess the outer box is good so that the
cases don’t fall out, but 20th Century FOX has not
done this before, at least not to my knowledge. The
artwork is the same for both boxes basically. The
front of both is very clever. There is a photo of
Alexis covering her face (who does not appear until
season two, but is briefly seen in the courtroom in
the season one finale), the series star Blake, and his
wife Krystle. The show’s logo and the complete first
season label are underneath those images. The
packaging is a nice gray/crystal look, it really fits
the show. The back of both boxes have synopsis of the
show, the set, with special features listings, and
technical information. The inner box though has three
screenshots from various episodes.
As far as the slim cases go, the first slim case holds
discs one and two and has a photo of Blake and
Krystle, with the show’s logo and complete first
season mention. The back of the slim case has details
for each disc, containing episode titles, synopsis,
original air date and a few screenshots, and special
features, if any. The second slim case holds discs
three and four and has a photo of Alexis, with her
face covered up. Can’t wait to see that face
uncovered next season! The same format goes for the
back of the slim case as the first slim case. When we
open each slim case, there is a disc on each side. Of
course, since these are double-sided discs, there are
no photos or any graphics on the discs itself.
Disc one side A holds the first two parts of “Oil;”
Side B holds part three and “The Honeymoon.” Disc two
side A holds episodes “The Dinner Party” and “Fallon’s
Wedding,” Side B holds “The Chauffeur Tells a Secret”
and “The Bordello.” Disc three side A holds the
two-part episode “Krystle’s Lie/The Necklace;” Side B
holds “The Beating” and “The Birthday Party.” Disc
four side A holds “The Separation” and “Blake Goes to
Jail;” Side B holds “The Testimony” and various
special features.
Menu Design and Navigation:
Now let’s cover what is inside the DVDs when we put
them inside the DVD player! The menu screen is VERY
good. It starts with a shot of Denver’s beautiful
Rocky Mountains, with the show logo moving in. Then
various clips from the show are being shown while the
Dynasty theme song plays. The options for the main
menu screen are: Episode(s) and Special Features.
Special Features option is only available for discs
one and four. When we select episodes, we get to a
list of episodes on the disc, and then when we select
that, we get to an episode menu screen where the
options are: Play Episode, Language Selection, Scene
Selection, and Special Features (if any). The cool
part is different music from the show plays on EACH
sub-menu. Usually if we have a theme playing on a
set, it is only on the main menu, but this has
different music from the show on each sub-menu.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video and audio are just excellent! I’ve never
thought it would be this good. The audio is mono, but
it is a very good mono for 1981. There are chapter
stops, which you can use on your remote, but if you
don’t like that, there are scene selections also. The
episodes are unedited and showed in their original
form from its ABC days. The episodes run about 46-48
minutes, give or take a few seconds. The three-part
pilot is in its original form, as one episode, though
for some reason 20th Century FOX decided to put the
third part on side B of disc one. Yes, they have two
episodes on each side (except for disc 4 side B), but
they could have made an exception, since the
three-part pilot would be cool to watch all at once,
rather than getting up and switching the side. Oh
well, at least it is in its original form with opening
credits only for part one and the closing credits
after part three. They did include the 30 second “To
Be Continued” tag (maybe that was only for
syndication?) after part two; I think they did that
because they had part three on side B. Parts 1 and 2
run over one hour and 32 minutes, while part three
runs about 46.5 minutes.
Special Features:
Now let’s head on over to the juicy special
features—Carrington style! There is audio commentary
for the three-part pilot episode by co-creator Esther
Shapiro on disc one sides A and B. She mentions she
is never tired of the opening theme and loves the
scenery, which is different from the regular episodes
from “The Honeymoon” and on. We then don’t have any
special features until disc four side A, where we have
another audio commentary piece by co-creator Esther
Shapiro, but is joined this time by actor Al Corley.
Al played Steven Carrington. They comment on the
episode titled, “The Separation.” The duo returns for
another commentary piece for disc four side B, for the
episode “The Testimony.”
There are three interesting featurettes also on this
set. The first is titled “Family, Furs, and Fun.”
It runs just over 23 minutes in duration. It starts
with the theme song and has loads of clips with
interviews with the creators Richard & Esther Shapiro;
Pamela Sue Martin (Fallon Carrington Colby) and Al
Corley (Steven Carrington). The next two special
features are character profile interviews. The first
one is “Character Profile: Fallon Carrington Colby.”
It runs over 5 minutes and 20 seconds and has clips
and interviews with Pamela Sue Martin. The second one
is “Character Profile: Steven Carrington.” It runs
over 5 minutes and 40 seconds and has clips and
interviews with Al Corley. There was said to be some
sort of outtakes on this set, but none are listed on
the box and the cases, and I also couldn’t find them
on any of the discs. It looks like it was scrapped at
the last minute. Hopefully we have that for the next
season.
Final Comments:
With the recent craze over Desperate Housewives, it
looks like the primetime soap is ready to make a
comeback. Before that happens, make sure you buy this
primetime soap on DVD. I can not wait until the
second season DVD. Hopefully it’ll be out soon as we
will get to see Joan Collins and Heather Locklear
joining the already high profile cast! (Quick note:
No, that was not Joan during the first season finale
when Alexis walked into the courtroom that was actress
Maggie Wickman.)
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 4/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 04/01/05
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