Dynasty The Complete First Season DVD with John Forsythe, Linda Evans, Pamela Sue Martin (NR) +Movie Reviews +Used DVD available for Swap

Dynasty The Complete First Season is Satisfying

Dorrie Wheeler | 04/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dynasty-The Complete First Season is now available on DVD for the very first time. The DVD set includes all thirteen episodes from the first season of the nightime drama which changed television forever.

Although the show is probably best known for it's vixen Alexis Carrington Colby, the show was not built around Alexis in the beginning although many of the storylines later tied into the character. The show was built around multi-millionaire business tycoon Blake Carrington, his children Fallon and Steven and his new wife, the former Krystal Jennings.

Krystal formerly worked as Blake's secretary. During season one Krystal has to make the transition from former working girl to the wife of a very rich man. She promises her friends that she will never change, but how can she remain the same with Blake and all of his money? After she weds Blake, Krystal instantly becomes the step-mother to two very complex adult children. Krystal also is dealing with a former lover who has recently returned from the Middle East.

Fallon is a wild child who is having an affair with Blakes limo driver. The first Fallon was played by Pamela Sue Martin. She molded that character and really brought the character to life. The character was later played by Emma Samms but many Dynasty fans still consider Pamela Sue Martin the real Fallon. Al Corley played Steven during the first season. Steven had a very interesting storyline. He was one of the first characters openly gay on a night time drama. Even though the character of Steven was gay, he still had a lot of interaction with women in his storyline, sex and the whole nine.

Missing from season one are popular characters Sammy Joe, Adam, and the aforementioned Alexis. The show is still chock full of drama and characters like Fallon and Claudia keep the storyline interesting. It's a really great show and the writing during the first season was great.

Dynasty, Dallas, Falcon Crest and Knots Landing were the really big nightime soap opera like one hour series of the 80's. The first two seasons of Dallas are now available on DVD, and this is the first season of Dynasty released on DVD. Hopefully, future seasons will follow soon.

Extras included on the set include commentary from the shows co-creator on several episodes, character profiles for the characters of Steven and Fallon and a featured titled, "Family, Furs and Fun: Creating Dynasty." The thirteen episodes are included on four dual sided discs. The packaging is really amazing with bright color photos on the cases that jump out at you. Another nice feature is the original air dates are included with the episode title on the jackets."

What, no Joan Collins?!? Bring on Season 2!

Vorthog | Ontario, Canada | 07/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Dynasty is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. I got hooked on it when the show was in late-night syndication here in Canada in the late 80s/early 90s.

Since I never watched it during its original run I guess I never saw the first season episodes included in this set before, and so I was quite shocked and disappointed to find that my favourite element of the show and my whole reason for buying this set -- the delectable Joan Collins chewing up the scenery as deliciously nasty Alexis -- is completely absent from the first season episodes!

Yes the episodes in this set do give me a lot more background on various characters and storylines, but without Alexis the show really lacks that extra "something", and never really seems to rise above the level of your typical soap. So all in all, this set felt more like a prequel to the "real" Dynasty, which it looks like only actually got rolling in Season 2.

So hurry up and bring us Season 2, because that's the Dynasty that I really want to see!

As for the DVDs, since Dynasty started its first season as a mid-season replacement series, there are only 13 episodes here. In such a case I think it would have been smarter to include the full Seasons 1 & 2 in one set the way some other shows like "Moonlighting" and "Sliders" have, but oh well...

The set also includes a nice documentary on the making of the show plus commentaries on certain episodes from series creator Esther Shapiro and actor Al Corley (Steven Carrington).

The 4 discs are packed in a handy space-saving 2 slipcase format. And I loved the package and menu design which features beautifully glittering diamonds, capturing perfectly the spirit of decadent opulence which permeates the show.

All in all a nice little package, but I still need my Season 2 with Joan Collins. Come on Fox, get moving!"

Good start, even without Joan Collins!

R. Stevens | Seattle, WA | 02/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dynasty was a show that truly epitomized the 80's.

The first season of Dynasty follows the story of Krystle Jennings (Linda Evans), a whimpy woman who marries wealthy oil tycoon Blake Carrington (John Forsythe). As she struggles adjusting to her new life of wealth dealing with insubordinate servants as well as her new jealous stepdaughter Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin), Krystle is torn between loyalty to Blake and a lingering love for her ex-lover Matthew Blaisdel (Bo Hopkins), former employee and now business rival to Blake.

Dynasty was also one of the first television shows in history to feature a gay character as a series regular. Blake's son Steven (Al Corley) gets caught up in his own struggles as he gets a job working for his father's business competitor Matthew, as well as secretly getting romantically involved with Matthew's wife Claudia (Pamela Bellwood) while trying to forget his lover from college.

But the real highlight of the first season is Pamela Sue Martin, who plays Blake's spoiled daughter Fallon. Krystle is such a whimpy character, and it is always entertaining to see Fallon being mean to her. Fallon sleeps with her father's chauffer Michael (Wayne Northrop) and makes a deal with wealthy oil tycoon Cecil Colby (Lloyd Bochner) to marry his nephew Jeff (John James) in exchange that Cecil bail Blake's company out from having to file bankruptcy.

Without Joan Collins and Heather Locklear, who didn't show up until the second season, the first season of Dynasty was hardly the show everybody remembers and loves. It was more of a Dallas imitation. Blake was like J.R. Ewing, the antagonist of the show, Krystle was a boring, whimpy version of Pamela Barnes, marrying into a wealthy family while having torn loyalties, and Fallon was a more conniving Lucy Ewing, sleeping with the chauffer/ranch hand and not getting along with the new lady in the house. But once Joan Collins showed up to play Blake's scheming ex-wife Alexis, the show really started to come into its own and became one of the signature shows of the 80's."

What the heck is going on?

C'est moi | Dubai | 07/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When are they going to release the rest of the seasons of Dynasty? How could it possibly take this long to put together the episodes on a DVD? Every other major show is finally out and progressing with all of their seasons while Dynasty still sits on a shelf somewhere. What is going on? Bring them on! I'll buy them all straight away. We LOVE this show and cannot wait any longer!!!!!"

Surprisingly poignant and not-dated 1st season

Jesper W. Rasmussen | Copenhagen, DENMARK | 04/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yeah I was a DYNASTY nut. It just kinda defined the 80's for me - and drove my exasperated parents to mental exhaustion. Born in 1970 I grew up in a house and with parents who definitely (and thankfully) did not buy into any form of materialism - so naturally my teenage rebellion - in true Alex P. Keaton style - consisted of total devotion to Lacoste/Izod clothing, Rolls-Royce & Ferrari automobiles and door-wide shoulder-padded Hugo Boss blazers. And religious DYNASTY patronage. Those nutty 80's ... hehe.

I'm a writer/producer today and creatively I have to say that this first season of DYNASTY might be a big, pleasant surprise to those who remember the show only as campy glitz. The writing is really top-notch and the acting matches it perfectly - Pamela Sue Martin's Fallon steals the entire show. She is amazing - I was totally in love with her back then. And you completely fall in love with her all over again - spoiled, witty, catty but with a true (if confused) heart of gold. TV characters don't come any classier than this. Al Corley is cute as heck as Steven. Very James Deansy and vulnerable. One forgets that the whole gay subplot was sensationally daring for its time. The chemistry between Fallon and Steven is great - so much love permeates their scenes together. It really is surprisingly touching.

DYNASTY was never about plot (most of them were pretty sloppy) - the show was about beautiful people in beautiful clothes living in beautiful houses doing ugly things to each other. It worked for most of the run - but the first three seasons really kicked butt. When Pamela Sue martin left after Season 3 it went downhill, I think. Too much camp ensued - though to me, admittedly, the entire run is a guilty pleasure.

An important note: Alexis only enters from season 2 - so don't look for her in this package. However, don't despair, there is plenty of drama and fun to be had still - arguably this first season cold be the best from an acting stand point. The writing is certainly some of the best in the entire series.

The DVD package is great. Picture looks crisp and the sound is good - the extras include recently taped interviews with Richard & Esther Shapiro, Pamela Sue Martin (who at 53 is still a knock-out in a natural, non-plasticized way. Wild) and Al Corley who also looks good. Esther Shapiro makes talky, enlightning and intelligent commentary on four of the episodes and is joined by a very pleasant, down-to-earth Al Corley on two of them. From the commentary it can be derived that there is still a lot of love and respect between the original actors on the show - they apparently still hang out and reminisce.

I'm hoping that the extras don't end here and that many more goodies will be included on the DVD releases of the other seasons.

Here is what I would like to see:

* Life during DYNASTY - what was it like?

* Where are they now? I want to know what Pam Sue, Al Corley et al. did after the show. What was life like after DYNASTY?

*Outtakes, bloopers, screentests etc. - and I'd like to see the discarded footage of George Peppard as Blake Carrington before he was replaced by John Forsythe. And, yeah, we all want to see the cast members "corpse" during a really serious scene, don't we? Bloopers wanted! :-)

* More present-day interviews with cast and crew members (Collins, Evans, Nolan Miller, Spelling, Forsythe, Locklear etc etc.)

* The fashions of DYNASTY - interview with cozzie designer Nolan Miller

The extras on the first season do seem a bit sparse, but maybe they're holding on to some of it for future releases. I definitely hope to see Linda Evans, Joan Collins etc. in interviews and hear them on commentary tracks. Also, the character profiles tend to be cut so that actual clips from the show get more screen time that close ups of the actors being interviewed - this I don't like. I want to see more of them as they look today. That's the fun part.

Anyway, I must be a real nutcase spending so much time writing up this review, but there it is, hehe.

I hope Season 2 hit stores soon - I'll put on my best power suit and count the minutes to the release date on my Rolex :-).
"

Search - Dynasty - The Complete First Season on DVD

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