Showdown: Dream Season vs. Post-Dream Season

Which season was better?

  • Dream Season (DVD 9)

    Votes: 24 61.5%

  • Post-Dream Season (DVD 10)

    Votes: 15 38.5%
  • Total voters
    39
Lastkidpicked

Lastkidpicked

Telly Talk Dream Maker
Billy Wall said:
I always thought Mark Grayson was a good character. Where as everybody had a ton of faults, Mark really didn’t have any.
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Maybe that was the problem. The writers needed to write Mark as inoffensive as possible so the viewers could accept him as a partner for Pam.

They forgot the golden rule in drama: Be loved or be hated. But don't be boring.
 
Snarky Oracle!

Snarky Oracle!

Telly Talk Supreme
Chris2 said:
The dream season should have been great, but it wasn’t. The post-dream season shouldn’t have been great, but it was.
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Profundity!

s10.jpg
 
J

Jock Ewing Fan

Telly Talk Star
It may have been substandard, but no technical enhancements were going to make much difference for the dream season.
Mediocre (at best) writing and direction coupled with plots that lacked any compelling interest( to the point
of boredom) meant that Dallas was declining. The show would have declined a lot faster if PD didn't return, even though I agree that Pam's dream
was just cringeworthy.
 
J

Jock Ewing Fan

Telly Talk Star
Karin Schill said:
I voted for the post dream season. Mainly because I much prefered Bobby to Mark.
It was great to have Bobby back and to have Bobby and Pam get remarried even though it only lasted for that one season.
I also enjoyed Sue Ellen's scheme to get rid of Mandy Winger.
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Agree. Prefer Bobby to Mark.
Season 10 also had the Calhoun story, Jeremy Wendell manipulating events, and the almost Jock return. I wish that Steve Forrest was Jock. It could have led to some
great shows.
 
C

Chris2

Telly Talk Dream Maker
I think when they started running out of ideas, every character should have gotten their own dream season. For example, in Ray’s dream season, he would have been a super successful businessman, with Donna barefoot and pregnant at home. And JR and Bobby would have always been turning to him for his sage advice. In Ellie’s dream season, Gary would have moved backed to Southfork, promising to never ever leave again, and the Ewings would have sold the oil business and dedicated themselves to environmental causes, Takapa Lake in particular.
 
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
Snarky Oracle said:
I think the lousy post-production video look of the post-dream season has biased people against it... and hopefully that's about to be corrected via some serious remastering after 35 years.
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I certainly hope so too.

If any programme deserves remastering in High Definition it's Dallas.

Dallas season ten deserves a better reappraisal when it's been released in HD. :)
 
Snarky Oracle!

Snarky Oracle!

Telly Talk Supreme
Interestingly, despite stories that the ratings surged after Bobby came back, versus stories that ratings dropped 10% when Bobby came back (via The Dream) the truth is that the ratings stayed almost exactly the same... Yes, the ranking dropped from #6 to #11, but that's misleading because the actual viewer numbers were virtually identical for both years.


Barbara Fan said:
Dallas looked gorgeous on film
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Barbara Fan said:
but s8 original aka dream wins it for me.
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I guess we all have narratives we "prefer" and repeat, but while we have a right to our own opinions, facts are different issue.

Season 10 (as per DVD count) was indeed shot on 35mm film, too, but it looked like shoddy video because of the cheapy post-production process (which is hopefully being corrected presently, 35 years after the fact).

And both seasonal counts (miniseries thru S13 versus S1 thru 14) have existed from the very beginning -- as any investigation of old CBS press releases or TV GUIDEs will show. So while it gets confusing, and most of us have one count we like better (I, myself, don't really care, except that it requires more typing) neither seasonal count qualifies as "original".

R.686e25ea97f6f78bda012ce2c76a9875
 
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pete lashmar

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
Via The Void said:
Not really.

Mark was manipulated into it by both Cliff & Katherine. :)
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No, he was after her as soon as he'd met her at his meeting with Miss Ellie, then immediately started setting up another meeting just to be alone with her....he definitely had stalking issues.
 
Lastkidpicked

Lastkidpicked

Telly Talk Dream Maker
pete lashmar said:
No, he was after her as soon as he'd met her at his meeting with Miss Ellie, then immediately started setting up another meeting just to be alone with her....he definitely had stalking issues.
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This shows how they also changed Pam's character from the early seasons. During the Mark Griason season, Pam noticed she was being followed. Mark showed up and told her, "That was me sending guardian angels to look out for you."

Pam from the early seasons did not need (nor would have accepted) guardian angels to look out for her.
 
xab

xab

Telly Talk Fan
This is tough.

As often written by many people here, first half of season 9 was incredible, so emotional, so bold. The way it was filmed, lighted and edited was fresh air after dull season 8 and new and creative. Have you ever seen Miss Elie and Clayton, or anybody else having a breakfast on the terrace in such a panoramic shot ? Never seen ever after. "Wind of change" is a true masterpiece, in every way. Susan Howard deserved an Academy Award.

But its second part is boring routine unfortunately... Storylines and characters drifting on a road to nowhere... It's night and day.

The structure of season 10 is obviously stronger. Sort of. They seemed to have a clear vision from A to Z. The whole season was shaped as soon as the first two episodes aired. Everything we were going to witness was linked to the genesis of the season. The Parmalee plot, the Calhoun plot and the death of Ewing oil. But, let's be honest, the Parmalee plot made no sense. All evidences (X ray stuff and everything else) prove Parmalee IS Jock. But, against all odds, he confesses his lies to Miss Elie. OK.

Then, we've got the A-Team Calhoun plot, John Ross being rescued. No surprise. Everybody is safe.

The loss of Ewing Oil remains the best part, leading to the cliffhanger.

Two seasons, good and bad things in both one...

But, if I had to vote, I would root for season 9. Linda Gray's performance is amazing. It's beyond acting...
 
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Snarky Oracle!

Snarky Oracle!

Telly Talk Supreme
Yes, the dream season starts out like it's going to be good. But that fell apart by mid-year.

xab said:
But, let's be honest, the Parmalee plot made no sense. All evidences (X ray stuff and everything else) prove Parmalee IS Jock. But, against all odds, he confesses his lies to Miss Elie. OK.
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But some of us feel like that ambivalence is a good thing: did he confess his lies to Ellie when perhaps they weren't lies? Parmaless only made the decision to not do business with Jeremy Wendell after Wendell admitted he just wanted to destroy the Ewing family. Maybe Wes wanted to let Ellie and the Ewings off the hook and nobly exited stage right..? That would certainly explain the medical evidence and the polygraph results.

We were supposed to wonder... But it would have been nice if they mentioned Parmalee again, even obliquely.

But I'm more fine than some to not feel like I know for sure. That was the Hamletesque element to the story.
 
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