Digger's Daughter First Impressions

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Let's say you haven't watched Dallas in a long time and you put the very first episode on.

What are your first impressions of the show just by seeing the first few opening scenes?

Does it peak your interest? Are you interested in the characters?

And the shows opening sequence, is it still iconic after all these years with a memorable theme tune?

Over to you all, and do the video clips illicit any memories of the show when you first watched it?

 

[DallasFanForever]

What are your first impressions of the show just by seeing the first few opening scenes?

This is still one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. I think Digger’s Daughter was perfectly written and one of the best series pilots we’ve ever seen. The premise of the feuding families and their now married offspring is established very early on.

Does it peak your interest? Are you interested in the characters?

I haven’t watched the miniseries in a few years now, but these opening scenes still grab my interest right away. It’s always a good thing seeing things from the beginning, seeing Bobby and Pam so much in love, yet the dark cloud hanging over their heads is imminent right from the start. This was great writing.

The character of J.R. is also established pretty quickly. It’s a little subtle at first, but by the end of this episode you can see how this character had the potential to steal the show.

And the shows opening sequence, is it still iconic after all these years with a memorable theme tune?

No answer even needed here. It will never stop being iconic for me.

Over to you all, and do the video clips illicit any memories of the show when you first watched it?

I didn’t start watching until season 7 (DVD), so I didn’t get a chance to see the early episodes until much later. But still, those clips do remind me of when I started watching, and even more importantly why I started watching. Simply put, it was an iconic show with iconic characters and an iconic theme song. What wasn’t to love?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It helps that the 1978 miniseries was shot in the winter (despite that February "hurricane" with snow on the cars -- because the drunken executives at CBS deemed it was "written for heat," which why Pam's dunking in that lake was re-shot) because the winter ambiance enhanced the ominous mood, the sense of grimy Texas backroads, that the subsequent series, with its late-spring creped myrtle in full bloom never quite did.

It's one of the things I actually liked about TNT's nuDALLAS: it enhances the tone of deep corruption and danger, a sense of the past.

 

[Garry]

It's one of the things I actually liked about TNT's nuDALLAS: it enhances the tone of deep corruption and danger, a sense of the past.

That's what I hated about TNT's Dallas. Apart from a couple of episodes the autumn / winter exteriors always made it look so damn depressing. I wanted to see the Texas summer heat and the Ewings by the pool etc. However the depressing look did match the mood of J.R's Masterpiece.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

That's what I hated about TNT's Dallas. Apart from a couple of episodes the autumn / winter exteriors always made it look so damn depressing. I wanted to see the Texas summer heat and the Ewings by the pool etc. However the depressing look did match the mood of J.R's Masterpiece.

But how do you feel about the winter vibe of the miniseries?

 

[Garry]

But how do you feel about the winter vibe of the miniseries?

Well it was the beginning so there was nothing to compare it to. Love the mini-series. The scripts kept you hooked so the weather just became a back drop.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Well it was the beginning so there was nothing to compare it to. Love the mini-series. The scripts kept you hooked so the weather just became a back drop.

I guess I liked the autumnal and/or wintry thing because it seemed to convey the passage of time somehow.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I kind of liked the wintery weather in the miniseries myself. It gave it all kind of a gloomy feeling that fit the struggle between Pam and the rest of the Ewings. It set the tone for the series.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I kind of liked the wintery weather in the miniseries myself. It gave it all kind of a gloomy feeling that fit the struggle between Pam and the rest of the Ewings. It set the tone for the series.

Yes, and Jerrold Immel's background -- and even John Parker's early scores -- enhanced that gloomy feeling.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

I can't even begin to describe how dang confused I was when the episode started with a recap of the episode. I started watching Dallas in the last decade I thought I missed an episode when Digger's Daughter started with a set of scenes summarising a plot for a show I'd never seen. I hate it from a modern perspective. It's almost like watching the trailer for a movie right before you go to the cinema to see that movie, it's all too fresh and you're expecting the big moments before they happen.

The episode itself was great. The characters are set out reasonably well, even though they don't necessarily stick exactly to those personalities or plots throughout the first couple of seasons. The story was easy to follow, while also being intriguing. There are threads of information you get immediately and know are told to us by an unreliable narrator, which makes the truth more interesting.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I can't even begin to describe how dang confused I was when the episode started with a recap of the episode. I started watching Dallas in the last decade I thought I missed an episode when Digger's Daughter started with a set of scenes summarising a plot for a show I'd never seen. I hate it from a modern perspective. It's almost like watching the trailer for a movie right before you go to the cinema to see that movie, it's all too fresh and you're expecting the big moments before they happen.

The episode itself was great. The characters are set out reasonably well, even though they don't necessarily stick exactly to those personalities or plots throughout the first couple of seasons. The story was easy to follow, while also being intriguing. There are threads of information you get immediately and know are told to us by an unreliable narrator, which makes the truth more interesting.

I've always felt the pilot should have started with Bobby's license plate, and not gone to the opening credits until Bobby and Pam pull away from the gas station headed towards downtown Dallas.

No introductory teaser recaps-in-advance for a pilot installment.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

It has been some time, so I may have missed some details.
Bobby was a good guy, not a self-righteous as later.
Cliff was more serious, more likeable/rootable as an underdog, less corrupted.
Digger seemed more sympathetic, at least initially.
At that point, the viewer at least considered that Digger's claims about Jock Ewing might be at least partially true.
I never cared for Pam. I could understand Digger and Cliff feeling a sense of betrayal.
Jock was totally in charge
What a thrill to see Major Nelson and Ginger LOL

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Let's say you haven't watched Dallas in a long time and you put the very first episode on.

What are your first impressions of the show just by seeing the first few opening scenes?

First impression is that they did an amazing job with contrasting the new and energetic couple against the established and staid background. Look at how they set this up. The camera rests on the nice shiny car and pans up to show the cold, gray, and dreary background.

Interesting that they are driving around with the top down, almost as if they are pretending it's not cold. They don't know it yet, but this will be their winter of discontent.

 

[lbf522]

It has been some time, so I may have missed some details.
Bobby was a good guy, not a self-righteous as later.
Cliff was more serious, more likeable/rootable as an underdog, less corrupted.
Digger seemed more sympathetic, at least initially.
At that point, the viewer at least considered that Digger's claims about Jock Ewing might be at least partially true.
I never cared for Pam. I could understand Digger and Cliff feeling a sense of betrayal.
Jock was totally in charge
What a thrill to see Major Nelson and Ginger LOL

I like your lists and agree with all of it.:

1. Yes Bobby did become self-righteous but also a mindless hothead. They all became self-righteous later on.

2. Yes, I liked Cliff much more when he was a crusader against the Ewings not only because he wanted to avenge his father but also because he saw Ewing Oil as evil that needed to be brought down.

3. I always felt sympathy for Digger.

4. I felt that Jock may have cheated Digger out of his share as Digger said and not the whitewash they wrote later on.

5. Pam marrying the son of the man who cheated her father did make it hard to me to like her as well. At first I wondered if she did this to help Cliff go after the Ewings as JR suggests. I wondered if she married Bobby for his money especially when she asks why he does not have more of a role in Ewing Oil.

6. Yes Jock was certainly the Patriarch who was in charge.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I like your lists and agree with all of it.:

1. Yes Bobby did become self-righteous but also a mindless hothead. They all became self-righteous later on.

2. Yes, I liked Cliff much more when he was a crusader against the Ewings not only because he wanted to avenge his father but also because he saw Ewing Oil as evil that needed to be brought down.

3. I always felt sympathy for Digger.

4. I felt that Jock may have cheated Digger out of his share as Digger said and not the whitewash they wrote later on.

5. Pam marrying the son of the man who cheated her father did make it hard to me to like her as well. At first I wondered if she did this to help Cliff go after the Ewings as JR suggests. I wondered if she married Bobby for his money especially when she asks why he does not have more of a role in Ewing Oil.

6. Yes Jock was certainly the Patriarch who was in charge.

Thank You for your response. Always nice to communicate with polite people

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Thank You for your response. Always nice to communicate with polite people

You are definitely right, Jock Ewing Fan.

The people on these boards make coming here a complete joy. The respect shown, even when we disagree, is one of the things I enjoy the most.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I see the first video has been removed, however here's quite a pivotal scene from Diggers Daughter.

One which will define the show for many years to come.

Hard to believe Miss Ellie could be so openly hostile to Bobby once Pam has gone into Southfork (the Cloyce Box version) to freshen up.

You can really see the progression Dallas takes over the years it ran, just by watching this little scene from it's first episode.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

"Digger's Daughter" was a good start, and does hold up. It gives us a sense of the legacy, and the show immediately begins to exude what it would continue to be until at least the 7th-8th seasons. That sense of legacy, power, and heritage. However, I will say that I personally became most entertained with "Winds Of Vengeance", and especially the episode that concluded the mini-series, "Barbecue". "Barbecue", to me is one of the most, if not the most representative episodes of the series.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

"Digger's Daughter" was a good start, and does hold up. It gives us a sense of the legacy, and the show immediately begins to exude what it would continue to be until at least the 7th-8th seasons. That sense of legacy, power, and heritage. However, I will say that I personally became most entertained with "Winds Of Vengeance", and especially the episode that concluded the mini-series, "Barbecue". "Barbecue", to me is one of the most, if not the most representative episodes of the series.

Indeed, the interaction been Jock and Bobby and Digger and Jock was must see viewing.

I just love the way Jock shakes Digger's hand!

 

[DallasFanForever]

Hard to believe Miss Ellie could be so openly hostile to Bobby once Pam has gone into Southfork (the Cloyce Box version) to freshen up.

I can certainly understand it though. Pam was the sister of the man that was going after them publicly and the family really didn’t know enough about her yet. For all they knew at this point she could’ve tried to hurt them as well.