• A little forum update...We're planning an upgrade.

    Find out more about what's planned and how you can help support the forum

    Click here for the details

Skipping the Dream Season

Would you consider skipping the dream season when rewatching the series?

  • Total voters
    60
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
Grangehill1 said:
Skip it.

The last rewatch I did I stopped in Swansong just after the scene with Ray and Donna by the pool and then went straight to Return To Camelot. I then watched the dream season as a stand-alone after the whole series

If you watch the dream season in context as part of the series prepares to be disappointed when you sit down for Return to Camelot and see

- Cliff hating Jamie

- Ray and Donna not close

- Sue Ellen and JR not close

- The treatment of Jamie and Jack
Click to expand...

With hindsight I think you're right.

The dream season seriously f*cks up the show but then that's the fault of both Larry Hagman & Leonard Katzman.

Watch Swansong and then jump immediately to Return To Eden, ahem I mean Return To Camelot!

Season nine is probably better watched separately after you've finished season fourteen.

Of course you could watch Return To Eden first before watching season nine! ;)
 
D

DallasFanForever

Telly Talk Supreme
I’m not a big fan of the dream season but I don’t skip it either. It does bother me that I’m watching 31 episodes that didn’t really happen but the season does have some great moments, such as Sue Ellen overcoming her alcohol addiction, her reconciliation with JR, Pam and Jenna making up at the end of the season and finally burying the hatchet, everyone dealing with the aftermath of Bobby’s death and his will, the multi-cliffhangers in the final episode, Jamie and Cliff’s relationship, Mark’s return, etc. So there are a lot of things about the dream season I enjoy and therefore I won’t skip it.
 
Sarah

Sarah

Moderator Emerita
Via The Void said:
With hindsight I think you're right.

The dream season seriously f*cks up the show but then that's the fault of both Larry Hagman & Leonard Katzman.

Watch Swansong and then jump immediately to Return To Eden, ahem I mean Return To Camelot!

Season nine is probably better watched separately after you've finished season fourteen.

Of course you could watch Return To Eden first before watching season nine! ;)
Click to expand...
I find it hilarious that you suggest skipping the dream but feel it's ok to watch Seasons 13 and 14. :laughs:

:nice:
 
G

Grangehill1

Telly Talk Fan
Sarah said:
I find it hilarious that you suggest skipping the dream but feel it's ok to watch Seasons 13 and 14. :laughs:

:nice:
Click to expand...
I’ve said in other threads I actually like season 13. Season 12 relaunches Dallas with a whole new lot of fresh blood after the awfulness of season 11. And season 13 continues the trend.

On first viewing 30 years ago I hated season 14 but having watched it again at a quicker pace there’s something doom laden about it. I don’t love it but I quite like it

season 9 I’ve always loved and was gutted at the dream resolution and all that followed. That’s why I think it’s easier to skip it and watch it separately. The crushing disappointment you experience if you watch Blast from the Past and then go straight into Return to Camelot. It’s like a different show. From the cheap film look to the awful make up and wardrobe. And then you realize JR and Sue Ellen hate each other, Cliff hates Jamie, Ray and Donna aren’t together. It’s awful
 
Seaviewer

Seaviewer

Telly Talk Warrior
Grangehill1 said:
he crushing disappointment you experience if you watch Blast from the Past and then go straight into Return to Camelot. It’s like a different show. From the cheap film look to the awful make up and wardrobe. And then you realize JR and Sue Ellen hate each other, Cliff hates Jamie, Ray and Donna aren’t together. It’s awful
Click to expand...
There is that. :(
 
Richard Channing

Richard Channing

Eternal Member
Grangehill1 said:
It’s like a different show. From the cheap film look to the awful make up and wardrobe.
Click to expand...
Actually I just did this recently in a rewatch and yes it's quite affronting. Apart from the awful new blurry hazy look, there's suddenly lots of pink lipstick and purple eye-shadow and really hideous fashion. The shoulder pads are bigger than ever now and also there's some dreadful hair-do's, especially perms, going around. This is really the year where the 80's took a nosedive, fashion wise but also the beginning of a real decline in writing for all the big soaps. Saying that I did really enjoy my season 10 rewatch, but it's season finale is where my rewatch ended.
 
Snarky Oracle!

Snarky Oracle!

Telly Talk Supreme
Richard Channing said:
Actually I just did this recently in a rewatch and yes it's quite affronting. Apart from the awful new blurry hazy look, there's suddenly lots of pink lipstick and purple eye-shadow and really hideous fashion. The shoulder pads are bigger than ever now and also there's some dreadful hair-do's, especially perms, going around. This is really the year where the 80's took a nosedive, fashion wise but also the beginning of a real decline in writing for all the big soaps. Saying that I did really enjoy my season 10 rewatch, but it's season finale is where my rewatch ended.
Click to expand...

The only complaints I have are Pam's "I just had a bad 31 episode dream" speech that opens the season, and Lorimar's new cheapy film-to-video editing process (although the DVDs look five times better than when these episodes aired originally, which is hard to believe, I know).

Otherwise, the production design, the gaudy fashions, and the stories I really like.

If only they took the remaining 35mm film pieces and gave Pam's final season a valid restoration.
 
James from London

James from London

International Treasure
Grangehill1 said:
On first viewing 30 years ago I hated season 14 but having watched it again at a quicker pace there’s something doom laden about it.
Click to expand...
Yes, the final season has a real darkness about it. Aside from JR in the sanatarium, I really like the whole thing.
 
Richard Channing

Richard Channing

Eternal Member
Snarky Oracle said:
The only complaints I have are Pam's "I just had a bad 31 episode dream" speech that opens the season, and Lorimar's new cheapy film-to-video editing process (although the DVDs look five times better than when these episodes aired originally, which is hard to believe, I know).

Otherwise, the production design, the gaudy fashions, and the stories I really like.

If only they took the remaining 35mm film pieces and gave Pam's final season a valid restoration.
Click to expand...

It's a really solid season story wise and I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would, as I haven't seen it ages. But apart from the aforementioned gripes about fashion (Pam's wardrobe in particular really didn't do her justice) and picture quality, my only other complaint is the score in many places. Not keen on the more percussive, jazzy vibes that pop up from time to time.
 
D

DallasFanForever

Telly Talk Supreme
James from London said:
Yes, the final season has a real darkness about it. Aside from JR in the sanatarium, I really like the whole thing.
Click to expand...

I’m definitely not a fan of the final season but I do like seeing that others enjoy it. If I had to pick the one thing I enjoyed about that season above all it would be the presence of Susan Lucci. I know a lot of people feel she didn’t “fit” the show and may only see her as a daytime star but I thought having her on Dallas was pretty awesome at the time.
 
James from London

James from London

International Treasure
The Dream Season is the only time I came close to stop watching DALLAS. Nowadays, I find it quite interesting to watch as a kind of period artefact, although I can still see what bothered me so much about it at the time. When the next season aired, it was such a return to everything I'd always loved most about DALLAS (along with some new elements that were totally fresh and exciting) that it almost felt it had been designed specifically with me in mind. (I had the same sensation when New DALLAS started.) Sure, the change in picture quality was noticeable, but I was so happy with the show itself I didn't care. As for the hairdos and fashions, I thought they was all a big improvement on the stiff mullety look that had really started to ossify in the second half of the dream.

The next few post-Pam years had some weak points - Arlen (or Atticus) Wards's earlobe-tugging, Clayton's amnesia, aspects of Sue Ellen's movie story and Bobby and April's relationship - but it never felt so completely un-DALLAS to me as "the worst" of the dream season and I never considered giving up on it. The final season (Conundrum aside) goes at a great pace and has an enjoyable recklessness to it and is really fun.
 
Last edited:
Top