Dallas To Get Remastered In HD

[Laurie Marr]

Overjoyed by this news. It will be particularly nice to see the video taped seasons rescued from their ghostly hues - and marvel anew at the Bradford May season.

 

[Grangehill1]

Overjoyed by this news. It will be particularly nice to see the video taped seasons rescued from their ghostly hues - and marvel anew at the Bradford May season.

Bradford May’s work is going to look to look phenomenal.
Isn’t it incredible how we was ‘let go’ all those years ago by such short sighted producers.
I honestly can’t wait to see the final seasons as well and what there going to look like

 

[Rove]

and marvel anew at the Bradford May season.

I'm salivating at the thought. As Dallas progressed to the pinnacle of its popularity hiring the likes of Bradford May was pure genius. His lighting and framing was sublime.

 

[Jock Og]

As DYNASTY was released in the updated format, imho it was only a matter of time before the rival from Texas would go the same way. I'm looking forward to the enhanced picture and sound quality. Reading between the lines it is probably a wait and see how the 'Big D' performs, before FC and KL get the same treatment. I live in hope! Let us hope followers of the least popular eighties' prime time soap operas don't have to die in despair. I wouldn't like to be waiting on HD remastered Falcon Crest and Knots Landing, understandably due to SD sales. Sad but true!

J.R. feels that he has fully recovered after a near death encounter, courtesy of sister-in-law Kristin. He talks to Jock about going back to Ewing Oil, (a scene from season 3; DVD-4, 1980-'81):

Jock: "Look J.R.! Bobby didn't want to take this job. He did it because I asked him. I agreed to let him run the company, the way he saw fit. He did just that!"

J.R.: "Dad!"

Jock: "Now just bear me out. Bobby did a damn fine job. Don't you think I owe it to him, to run the company a while longer."

J.R.: "Well, where does that leave me? It's my company. I want it back!"

Jock: "I can't do that!"

J.R. grinds his teeth and walks off the Southfork patio, not pleased at all.

 

[Chris2]

I purchased the first three seasons of FC and will likely purchase the fourth when I’m done with season 3. While it’s generally well done, it doesn’t have that fun factor that Dallas has. Jane Wyman is very good, playing against type as the villain, but she doesn’t have the charm of JR or Alexis or Abby. And a little of the self-righteous Chase goes a long way.

I can understand why Dallas has been rerun more often and why it’s getting the HD treatment before FC.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

Looking forward to seeing cleaned up versions of the footage. It's shocking how much better preserved Dynasty is on regular DVDs. Dallas deserves (and has always deserved) someone taking the time and effort to put together the sets. I'd love for them to put more special features on too, we know they have bloopers and extra scenes.

 

[Rove]

and extra scenes

Are we talking 'Directors Cut?' Wouldn't that be a fun little exercise to revisit. Would Warner Bros have access to deleted scene film? Imagine having all this extra film available at your fingertips and deciding to reinstall this lost footage to episodes for release on a streaming service. Instead of having the dreaded timed to minute episode to suit commercial television back in the day we could have some episodes going for over an hour or so. I'm all for it

 

[TheDeadBobby]

So what footage in general was cut or modified from the original TV airplay verses the double sided (USA region) DVDs (that most or many of us have)?

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

So what footage in general was cut or modified from the original TV airplay verses the double sided (USA region) DVDs (that most or many of us have)?

There's that one scene with Charlie, Ray and Jenna in the car seeing Bobby's car being towed after Pam's crash. I don't know if that aired but it must've to end up online, right?

 

[Chris2]

Yeah, I believe that one aired, but Warner Bros used a syndicated cut for the DVD rather than the original network version so it wasn’t on the DVD release.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

Yeah, I believe that one aired, but Warner Bros used a syndicated cut for the DVD rather than the original network version so it wasn’t on the DVD release.

as if the DVD isn't exactly the place to put the full episode, there are no time constraints.
I'll be happy if they can unearth some content which was neglected in years past.

 

[Chris2]

Unfortunately, the studios often have people who don’t really care about these details putting together the releases. As I mentioned above, I bought Falcon Crest on Amazon Prime, and the haphazard mix of unedited versions vs syndicated versions is kind of amazing, in a bad way, There’s not rhyme nor reason to it. I can understand if they can’t find the unedited version for one of two episodes, but it seems completely random.

 

[Grangehill1]

Yeah, I believe that one aired, but Warner Bros used a syndicated cut for the DVD rather than the original network version so it wasn’t on the DVD release.

It never aired in the original UK transmission

 

[Julia's Gun]

Thanks Garry! DALLAS being released on DVD, DALLAS coming back on TV and now this - yet another thing I was absolutely certain would never happen but then ... did.

This is great to hear, as it shows Dallas is still being acknowledged in the 2020s, not just for the huge impact it had around the world on its original run, but also on the millions of younger fans who are still becoming addicted today.

It would be wonderful to have some HD blu-ray releases as well, together with Knots and Falcon Crest, but as others have said, we are probably (and sadly) entering into dream territory here. But - then again - as James said, you never know!

I am thinking about investing in that single-sided DVD box set though..... I own about half the series on those cheap double-sided discs, but several of those aren't working properly now, especially seasons 9-10. I don't know how they were ever allowed for commercial release....

This thread has whetted my appetite for a complete early years re-watch. Think it's time to bring it on...!

 

[pete lashmar]

I would be overjoyed at a Blu-ray release but am very wary about it too.

If it's all done with real care and with lots of extra value material added then it would be a dream. (forgive me for that).

However, series like Buffy & Stargate have had the HD treatment and they are truly shambolic. Ratios have been cut here, there & everywhere leaving scenes in with missing heads etc, scenes were totally cut out and the fan rage was real when they were paying for an inferior product compared to the DVD sets.

So fingers crossed, I've bought Dallas on DVD twice and would love to have it in HD...but I'll await to reviews before parting with my cash. (I still use cash).

 

[Mel O'Drama]

However, series like Buffy & Stargate have had the HD treatment and they are truly shambolic. Ratios have been cut here, there & everywhere leaving scenes in with missing heads etc, scenes were totally cut out and the fan rage was real when they were paying for an inferior product compared to the DVD sets.

Regarding the missing heads, the Blu-ray of Friends might give us an idea what to expect, since that's another WB property. This article discusses some of the potential pitfalls:

This is the first time Friends has ever been released on home media in widescreen. Friends was only released on DVD in the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame.

Many fans will undoubtedly find this confusing. For this Blu-ray release, Warner Bros. went back to the original film elements and restored them for superior picture quality. During the process, they also made the series open-matte (where the sides are opened up) so that more information can be seen on the left and right and thus creating a widescreen image.

When the widescreen episodes first appeared on syndicated television, some fans took notice that the episodes occasionally featured annoying and out-of-place elements (such as boom mikes and camera operators and the ends of the sets). That sounds awful. Luckily, Warner Bros. worked to resolve these issues by cropping the occasional problematic shots. This leaves fans with an odd camera angle or framing issue every once in a while but for the most part this solved the main issue with opening the series up for a widescreen presentation and the major issues were then addressed effectively.

Of course, the fact that Warner Bros. had to go back and fix some scenes by cropping them to prevent awkward moments such as camera-people showing up on screen begs the question of why the series was transferred to widescreen to begin with. This is clearly not the original TV broadcast ratio that was used for the High Definition release.

This suggests that if Dallas is upgraded to widescreen from the original film elements, WB is likely to crop it to make sure we don't see crew members in shorts or the edge of a set. Whatever the case, there'll probably be complaints that it's not authentic to the original airing (though personally I feel quite excited at watching Dallas in High Definition AND widescreen).



Incidentally, the Friends review also mentions previously-available extended episodes:

Extended episodes have not been included on this release following Warner Bros. indication that the DVD scenes reinserted into episodes to form those extended cuts utilized materials that were not available to create High Definition elements for the extended scenes. In other words, former sequences that had been expanded were likely edited onto videotape and the original masters no longer exist. It's what most likely happened with this uncommon scenario. Thus, Warner Bros. has not included them because these scenes would have been in 4:3 full frame and in standard definition. I imagine that the studio would have also had to reassemble these versions (which may have been somewhat cost-prohibitive for the Blu-ray release).

I'm not sure how this would work with scenes mentioned earlier in the thread that were cut out of certain Dallas airings.

with lots of extra value material added

Much as I'd love that I'm keeping really low expectations around it. My feeling is that the high definition will be the selling point and I wouldn't expect much beyond those extras already available (if that).

WB do like to repackage their popular properties in order to get fans to buy the same series over and over. The way marketing works I'd expect them to hold off on bonus material until fans have bought the set. Then they'll repackage it a few years down the line with new extras or extended episodes or whatnot. But then I tend to be quite cynical about marketing.

 

[bmasters9]

Whatever the case, there'll probably be complaints that it's not authentic to the original airing

Not just true on O-R CBS Dallas, but also of O-R NBC 60s Star Trek (BKA TOS); the remastered edition (I personally believe this is what enabled me to truly enjoy TOS) has been roundly attacked by purists who can't get over that not everyone enjoys seeing TOS in the (more or less) unrefined look of the original 60s NBC broadcasts (notwithstanding that the Blus do allow the choice between NBC 60s and remastered now).

 

[Mustard]

Why does stuff in SD look worse on modern TVs compared to what it does on TVs from the 1990s and early 2000s? Kind of tells us that HD was purely to make people double dip on things that they already have. Same with Blu-rays compared to DVD. And Dallas was shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, was it not? Blu-ray mean stretching it to 16:9 by using pillarbox black bars on the actual footage itself.

 

[Billy Wall]

Why does stuff in SD look worse on modern TVs compared to what it does on TVs from the 1990s and early 2000s? Kind of tells us that HD was purely to make people double dip on things that they already have. Same with Blu-rays compared to DVD. And Dallas was shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, was it not? Blu-ray mean stretching it to 16:9 by using pillarbox black bars on the actual footage itself.

Because HD TV’s have way more pixels than a SD TV, therefore, the imperfections of SD are blown up.

 

[Garry]

Blu-ray mean stretching it to 16:9 by using pillarbox black bars on the actual footage itself.

As far as we know Dallas will retain its original 4:3 aspect ratio. There will be no stretching of the image.

Remastered Friends had the advantage of having more free picture space on the left and right sides. Dallas does not have that luxury for the majority of its scenes.