Instead of the shower scene

[Grangehill1]

It’s the end of season 9 (dvd). Jamie is blown up. Sue Ellen is blown up.

And then we cut to a private hospital room. We see a nurse standing over an unseen patient. The camera pans slowly up the patients body. A hand twitches. The life support stutters.

The nurse reacts as the patient opens his eyes.

‘Good morning.’

Bobby has woken up.

End of season

(You could also use the same music from the shower scene over this)

The audience are left guessing has Bobby woken up after dreaming the whole season or is this a continuation from the season?

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Bobby has woken up.

You have a very good idea here, and you and I would have asked the writers the same question had we been in the writing room:

"If you think the only way out of this is to make the entire season a dream, then wouldn't it make more sense that this was Bobby's coma induced dream?"

 

[Rove]

then wouldn't it make more sense that this was Bobby's coma induced dream?

Excellent question. Who decided it was Pam having the dream and why?

 

[Chris2]

I don’t think you can die in your own dream.

I would have had a giant wedding present arrive at Pam and Mark’s with a big bow on top. Pam lifts the lid on the box (notice how you never have to unwrap presents on TV), and out pops Bobby! “Good morning!” It wouldn’t have been any less ridiculous than what happened.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I think they should have had Pam and Bobby wake up the next morning as if nothing happened other than their reconciliation. As the happy couple head to the bathroom to brush their teeth (a ritual they used to do as newlyweds) they hear the shower running. They open the shower door to see Mark Graison cackling with glee as piercing 'horror movie' strings shriek in the background.

The scene cuts abruptly to Southfork, where we see Donna Reed and Barbara Bel Geddes sitting at opposite ends of the dining room table, taking turns saying "I'm Miss Ellie" with a different inflection each time for 25 continuous, riveting commercial-free minutes.

After a few minutes of cattle shots at the ranch, Jordan Lee inexplicably serving as ranch foreman, the episode ends with the remaining cast members huddled around JR's desk, angrily demanding that he purchase the Dallas Mavericks. Finally he relents, and the freeze frame shows everyone in mid-air as they leap in celebration, with Lucy held up extra-high by an in-uniform Mavericks superstar Mark Aguirre, who had been eavesdropping over the intercom in Bobby's office with Angelica Nero.

I mean, why not?

 

[Kenny Coyote]

I think they should have had Pam and Bobby wake up the next morning as if nothing happened other than their reconciliation. As the happy couple head to the bathroom to brush their teeth (a ritual they used to do as newlyweds) they hear the shower running. They open the shower door to see Mark Graison cackling with glee as piercing 'horror movie' strings shriek in the background.

The scene cuts abruptly to Southfork, where we see Donna Reed and Barbara Bel Geddes sitting at opposite ends of the dining room table, taking turns saying "I'm Miss Ellie" with a different inflection each time for 25 continuous, riveting commercial-free minutes.

After a few minutes of cattle shots at the ranch, Jordan Lee inexplicably serving as ranch foreman, the episode ends with the remaining cast members huddled around JR's desk, angrily demanding that he purchase the Dallas Mavericks. Finally he relents, and the freeze frame shows everyone in mid-air as they leap in celebration, with Lucy held up extra-high by an in-uniform Mavericks superstar Mark Aguirre, who had been eavesdropping over the intercom in Bobby's office with Angelica Nero.

I mean, why not?

Why not? I mean as long as David Lynch was available to direct. I'm 99.9% sure you know who he is, but the only reason I mention it, is if by any, and I mean any chance you don't know who David Lynch is, then Guzzler, you will love Twin Peaks - his TV show. David Lynch and you have the same type of sense of humor!

 

[thomaswak]

I don’t think you can die in your own dream.

I dreamt I was killed by ghosts once.
But I agree, I didn't dream a full season about the... follow up...

 

[Seaviewer]

The audience are left guessing has Bobby woken up after dreaming the whole season or is this a continuation from the season?

This is exactly the kind of thing they should have done but it would never have occurred to me as a viewer that it was a dream.

wouldn't it make more sense that this was Bobby's coma induced dream?"

No, I don't think it would.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

"If you think the only way out of this is to make the entire season a dream, then wouldn't it make more sense that this was Bobby's coma induced dream?"

If it had to be a dream, then, yes, it being Bobby's comatose dream would be the only thing that made a lick of sense.

But, otherwise....

I'd establish that Donna and Ray lost custody of Tony after Aunt Lil testifies. Which creates new trouble for the Krebbses, and Donna moves back into Southfork by season's end.

I'd have a shot in the final episode of the previous season where Pam comes out of her wedding and gasps, you see a crowd across the street but nothing more... before Bobby pops up in her shower in the final scene...

I'd take one episode to do all this:

Pam sees only pink tile, no Bobby anymore, camera pans down to see Mark Graison's body on the floor of the shower. Bobby, knowing that Pam has just married Mark, first visits Jenna, who, shocked, pulls him into her room and rapes him (off camera). Detectives reveal to the family that, with Miss Ellie's cooperation, Bobby was hidden away for months, his will executed, because the FBI and Interpol had become aware of an elaborate plot put in place by Katherine, just before she died, to anonymously hire assassins thru a shadowy eastern-european/oriental syndicate to kill Bobby -- and possibly other Ewings -- and so Miss Wentworth's death was unknown or irrelevant to the killers because they had no knowledge that she was their client.... thus explaining away retroactively the entire Angelica Nero storyline. When JR complains his private eye had verified all of it, the federal detectives show him a photo of his investigator, pin thru his neck, on the floor of a Fort Worth motel -- perhaps he'd stumbled across something Nero didn't want him to know... Jenna has that dullard look on her face when she and Bobby hear the TV report that Mark Graison is dead... Sue Ellen has a bandage and bruise, and Jamie was several yeards away from the car when it blew up... Donna is preggers again, much to her distress, as Ray finishes building his house.... Turns out the IRS worked with the other agencies so no fraud charges can be dumped on the Ewings for executing Bobby's will, and Harve Smithfield tries to convince JR not to waste time and money by suing his own mother or the feds, and that JR's time is better spent trying to buy back the parts of Ewing Oil he'd thought he'd purchased a short times earlier... Pam goes to her bedroom door at the end of the first episode of the new season to see Bobby's face; she hesitates, shakes her head gently, and then closes the door, leaving Bobby's face in partial darkness. Freeze frame.

First scene of second episode of the season: Bobby's comes into Pam's room and explains what happened, and Pam realizes she'd thought she'd seen him in the shower because she'd caught a glimpse of him across the street as she'd come out of her wedding to Mark, and due to the emotional shock of Mark's death... and then they're off into the new season.

Is it perfect? No. Ask me for details; watch me sputter.

"Bobby -- why are you naked in my bedroom when you just stepped off from the street in front of my house??"

 

[Rove]

What if instead we continue with Bobby spinning in the shower and saying, "Good morning." He follows Pam into the bedroom where she explains she had the weirdest dream. Both Bobby and Pam ready themselves to travel to Southfork to break the NEWS to Jenna she has been cast aside. As the joyful couple exit the front door Pam's shoe falls off. Bobby says wait I'll reverse the car. Neither Pam or Bobby are aware a blond haired woman is patiently waiting for the happy couple. She starts the car as Pam steps onto the driveway. Bobby hears the high revs of the vehicle and turns to see Pam is in danger. As he races towards her Pam turns and is startled. Suddenly the vehicle stops and the blonde woman steps out and screams, "You bitch!"

....it's Jenna.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I have suggested before that in the final scene of the final episode, "Conundrum," in 1991, that JR appears to shoot himself, Bobby rushes in and gasps, "Oh, my God...!" and then Pam wakes up again, gets out of bed, and walks to her bathroom (the same footage shot five years earlier) to find Mark Graison dead on the floor of the shower, with Pam screaming, "Mark! … Mark!..!" as the camera pans passed Mark's face and into the drain..... Minimal music score ... Fade to black.

Puts a new spin on what was real and what was not, especially during the last half of the series' run (was it a dream, or a dream within a dream?).

 

[Toni]

Everything would have been a lot easier if Katherine had killed Bobby one year earlier, from shooting him at EO. Thus the whole next season could have been deleted, including the Donna Dread fiasco!

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Everything would have been a lot easier if Katherine had killed Bobby one year earlier, from shooting him at EO. Thus the whole next season could have been deleted, including the Donna Dread fiasco!

Maybe easier, but season 8 was great! The last great season. I especially liked the storyline that finally told us what really happened as far as did Jock cheat Digger out of his share of Ewing Oil. The best part about it was seeing all the Ewing brothers work together on it. The storylines that have the Ewings united against an outside threat rule!

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Pam sees only pink tile, no Bobby anymore, camera pans down to see Mark Graison's body on the floor of the shower. Bobby, knowing that Pam has just married Mark, first visits Jenna, who, shocked, pulls him into her room and rapes him (off camera). Detectives reveal to the family that, with Miss Ellie's cooperation, Bobby was hidden away for months, his will executed, because the FBI and Interpol had become aware of an elaborate plot put in place by Katherine, just before she died, to anonymously hire assassins thru a shadowy eastern-european/oriental syndicate to kill Bobby -- and possibly other Ewings -- and so Miss Wentworth's death was unknown or irrelevant to the killers because they had no knowledge that she was their client.... thus explaining away retroactively the entire Angelica Nero storyline. When JR complains his private eye had verified all of it, the federal detectives show him a photo of his investigator, pin thru his neck, on the floor of a Fort Worth motel -- perhaps he'd stumbled across something Nero didn't want him to know... Jenna has that dullard look on her face when she and Bobby hear the TV report that Mark Graison is dead... Sue Ellen has a bandage and bruise, and Jamie was several yeards away from the car when it blew up... Donna is preggers again, much to her distress, as Ray finishes building his house.... Turns out the IRS worked with the other agencies so no fraud charges can be dumped on the Ewings for executing Bobby's will, and Harve Smithfield tries to convince JR not to waste time and money by suing his own mother or the feds, and that JR's time is better spent trying to buy back the parts of Ewing Oil he'd thought he'd purchased a short times earlier... Pam goes to her bedroom door at the end of the first episode of the new season to see Bobby's face; she hesitates, shakes her head gently, and then closes the door, leaving Bobby's face in partial darkness. Freeze frame.

First scene of second episode of the season: Bobby's comes into Pam's room and explains what happened, and Pam realizes she'd thought she'd seen him in the shower because she'd caught a glimpse of him across the street as she'd come out of her wedding to Mark, and due to the emotional shock of Mark's death... and then they're off into the new season.

Is it perfect? No. Ask me for details; watch me sputter.

It's interesting. I don't see how Sue Ellen could have convincingly survived that explosion though; it looked like such a big explosion and she was right there. It would be interesting to see how the show would have gone if she had died, and then because they saved money from not having Linda Gray on the payroll, they kept Steve Kanaly, Susan Howard and Deborah Shelton. Ray and Donna find a way to save their marriage, and JR marries Mandy instead of Cally.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It's interesting. I don't see how Sue Ellen could have convincingly survived that explosion though; it looked like such a big explosion and she was right there. It would be interesting to see how the show would have gone if she had died, and then because they saved money from not having Linda Gray on the payroll, they kept Steve Kanaly, Susan Howard and Deborah Shelton. Ray and Donna find a way to save their marriage, and JR marries Mandy instead of Cally.

Big bruise on face --- bomb satchel was on other side of desk --- explosion happened a millisecond before Sue Ellen stepped into his office. This is TV.

And not everybody is willing to trade neurotic Sue Ellen for pretty-but-duller Mandy.

 

[Rove]

And not everybody is willing to trade neurotic Sue Ellen for pretty-but-duller Mandy.

I loved Sue Ellen, warts and all. Mandy was thrust into the lives of Dallas as eye candy. But if it was a contest between JR marrying Mandy or Cally I would have went for Mandy. Cally (and the actress) infuriated me. Their relationship made my skin crawl.

 

[Laurie Marr]

If you’re gonna do the dream, do it big: finish the whole thing. I’d have added a few more lines to Bobby’s dialogue:

“Good morning.”
“Cliff?”
“That’s right....(laughs) You OK? I know the honeymoon is officially over, but at least I thought you’d remember my name!”
“I’m sorry Cliff, I just had the strangest dream.”
“Hope it was a nice one.”
“We were rich. Everything was all jumbled up.”
“Someone sure had too much champagne last night. Being the wife of the son of a pump store owner not enough for you?”
“Don’t tease. It seemed so real.”
“Wait till I tell Daddy and Mamma!”
“Oh stop it, Cliff. I’m nervous enough about meeting Digger and Dora Mae.”
“Speaking of which: time to get dressed, JR. We’ve got a long drive to Detroit.....and I can’t wait to introduce my new wife: Mrs Jenna-Ray Barnes!”

 

[TJames03]

They wanted everything from the dream season to never be referred to again and to get Bobby right back into the thick of things with JR, so the dream is the only thing that would work......if you consider that “working.”

 

[stevew]

They wanted everything from the dream season to never be referred to again and to get Bobby right back into the thick of things with JR, so the dream is the only thing that would work......if you consider that “working.”

Why was it so important to erase everything in that one season?

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Why was it so important to erase everything in that one season?

Because Pam just dreamed that happened. If you recall, they did find a way to keep the things they wanted to do though. They did that by repeating what happened before. JR and Mandy broke up in season 9 and then they did that again in season 10. Jamie "died" in season 9, and then in season 10, she died. They kept what they wanted by having things happen in season 10 that brought about the same end result as things which had happened in season 9.

Ray and Donna reconciled in season 9. If they wanted to keep that, then after season 9 was erased, they would have just had them reconcile (in a slightly different way) in season 10. Apparently the producers of the show decided to go in a different direction, but that's how you "keep things that got erased." You just have similar things happen which bring about the same end result.