This hugely popular prime-time soap opera follows the exploits of the Carringtons and Colbys, both "oilrich" family dynasties in Denver, CO, as they accrue and manipulate power and wealth.
"001 "Oil - Part 1" Original airdate 12 January 1981
Wealthy oil tycoon Blake Carrington prepares to marry his former secretary Krystle.
002 "Oil - Part 2" 12 January 1981
Things get even more complicated when an old friend of Matthew's, Walter Lankershim, approaches Matthew about forming a business partnership. But Matthew says his loyalties lie with Blake -- until Walter's oil well is sabotaged and it looks like Blake was behind it.
003 "Oil - Part 3" 12 January 1981
As Blake and Krystle recite their wedding vows, Walter arrives with a gun determined to get revenge.
004 "The Honeymoon. 19 January 1981
The honeymoon is cut short when Blake's Middle East oil business runs into trouble.
005 "The Dinner Party" 26 January 1981
When Blake throws an elaborate dinner party and invites Matthew in hopes of luring him back to Denver-Carrington, Fallon overhears Matthew telling Krystle he still loves her.
006 "Fallon's Wedding" 2 February 1981
007 "The Chauffeur Tells a Secret. 16 February 1981 Michael finds out about Cecil's deal with Fallon and tells Blake.
008 "The Bordello" 23 February 1981
Blake attempts to save his business by putting key holdings in Krystle's name, Krystle pawns an
expensive necklace to help Matthew.
009 "Krystle's Lie"2 March 1981
Matthew discovers one of his own workers was paid by Blake to sabotage the oil rig and blame it on
Steven. Blake goes into a rage when he finds Krystle's birth control pills.
010 "The Necklace" 2 March 1981
Michael tells Fallon that Krystle sold an emerald necklace and gave the money to Matthew. Claudia
picks up a young man at a singles bar but when she changes her mind and calls Steven to come get her, they end up spending the night together.
011"The Beating" 9 March 1981
Steven moves out of the mansion then tells Blake he'll come work for Denver-Carrington. Lindsay finds out her mother slept with Steven, and Blake has Michael beaten after learning he slept with Fallon.
012 "The Birthday Party. 16 March 1981
Michael tells Blake that Krystle pawned her necklace and gave the money to Matthew.
013 "The Separation" 23 March 1981
Fed up with Blake's games, Krystle leaves. Steven also plans to leave Ted, but Ted tracks him to the Carrington mansion where their good-bye hug leads to disaster.
014 "Blake Goes To Jail" 13 April 1981
Krystle returns to stand by Blake after he's arrested for the murder of Ted Dinard.
015 "The Testimony" 20 April 1981
Back at the mansion tempers erupt over Steven's testimony. When Claudia is called to the stand,
forcing her to reveal her affair with Steven, Matthew is outraged and attacks Blake. But all this is just a warm-up to the prosecution's surprise witness.
Season Two (1981-1982)
# Title Original airdate
016 "Enter Alexis" 11/4/1981
017 "The Verdict" 11/11/1981
018 "Alexis' Secret" 11/18/1981
019 "Fallon's Father" 11/25/1981
020 "Reconciliation" 12/2/1981
021 "Viva Las Vegas" 12/9/1981
022 "The Miscarriage" 12/16/1981
023 "The Mid-East Meeting" 1/6/1982
024 "The Psychiatrist" 1/13/1982
025 "SammyJo & Steven Marry" 1/20/1982
026 "The Car Explosion" 1/27/1982
027 "Blake's Blindness" 2/3/1982
028 "The Hearing" 2/10/1982
029 "The Iago Syndrome" 2/17/1982
030 "The Party" 2/24/1982
031 "The Baby" 3/3/1982
032 "Mother And Son" 3/10/1982
033 "The Gun" 3/24/1982
034 "The Fragment" 4/7/1982
035 "The Shakedown" 4/14/1982
036 "The Two Princes" 4/28/1982
037 "The Cliff" 5/4/1982"
Dynasty season 1&2
Skot John Arbery | Perth, WA Australia | 09/16/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The glitz, the glamour, the catfights. I remember it all so well and now I can relive them again and again with the complete seasons of Dynasty. Can't wait for the rest of the seasons to be released."
Good-value bundle pack of the first two "Dynasty" years
Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 06/28/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The ABC Network's answer to the hugely-popular primetime soap "Dallas", DYNASTY was created by Esther and Richard Shapiro to be the most flamboyant, daring and outrageous of all night-time drama series. The lives of Denver's oil-rich Carrington family unfolded each and every week to the fascination of viewers all over the world, who couldn't get enough of their scandalous private affairs.
In the debut season, we first meet oil magnate Blake Carrington (John Forsythe), the tough but fair CEO of Denver-Carrington, as he's preparing to marry former secretary Krystle Jennings (Linda Evans). The show's opening story, "Oil", is spread over three episodes and sets up the characters and plots that would unfold throughout the season.
Sweet-as-pie Krystle is met with all-out resentment by Blake's stuffy butler (SORRY, "major domo") Joseph, played to perfection by Lee Bergere, and the staff follow suit. Meanwhile, Blake's grown children are causing their own headaches. Wild child Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) proudly admits to bedding half the players on Carrington's football team and is also carrying on with studly chauffeur Michael (Wayne Northrop). In the midst of all the bed-hopping comes a tantalising deal from Blake's chief rival Cecil Colby (Lloyd Bochner): if Fallon marries Cecil's nephew Jeff (John James, of the quizzical expressions and upturned eyebrows), he'll absorb the $9.5 million debt owed by Blake and help the continued association between Denver-Carrington and ColbyCo.
Blake's son Steven (Al Corley) is another kettle of fish altogether. Returning to Denver after spending a year in New York with his...da-da-dum...gay lover Ted (Mark Withers), Steven's relationship with his father (and sexuality) goes through some particularly bumpy patches, to say the least. Steven was the first regular gay character on a soap and broke many boundaries.
On the other side of the social divide we find the middle-class Blaisdel clan. Matthew (Bo Hopkins) was kicked out of the Middle East, where he managed oil wells belonging to Denver-Carrington. Lovely wife Claudia (Pamela Bellwood) has suffered a breakdown and spent a long spell in a mental institution, and daughter Lindsay (Katy "New Adventures of Heidi" Kurtzman) spends all her time looking like she's on the verge of bursting into tears. Yawn. Audiences didn't really enjoy their involvement in the show, and the Blaisdel family was written out after the first year, except for good ole "Crazy Claudia" who provided lots of value in some of DYNASTY's best storylines in the years to come.
And what of the legendary Alexis (Joan Collins)? Well, you'll have to stick out the entire first season before she makes her dazzling entrance as the surprise witness in the last episode. Starting in Season 2, Alexis makes pulls no punches in her vendetta against Krystle and the war on Denver-Carrington. The show is still enjoyable without Alexis, but the last few episodes seem to drag a lot in their build-up to her arrival.
Season One includes the following:
Disc 1: Oil (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
Disc 2: The Honeymoon / The Dinner Party / Fallon's Wedding / The Chauffeur Tells a Secret
Disc 3: The Bordello / Krystle's Lie / The Necklace / The Beating
Disc 4: The Birthday Party / The Separation / Blake Goes to Jail / The Testimony
The second season opens with the arrival of Blake's first wife Alexis Carrington as the surprise witness in Blake's murder trial. The one thing missing from the first season of DYNASTY was a real villainess, and Joan Collins' casting as the scheming Alexis gave the show a much-needed shot of adrenaline. Whether she's rolling around on the floor with Krystle or rolling in the sheets with Blake's rival Cecil Colby, Alexis is a complete one-of-a-kind soap creation, an almost epic combination of old school wicked witch and one-woman demolition derby. Did I mention the delicious studio catfight between Krystle and Alexis? It's a doozy.
Claudia Blaisdel awakens in the hospital to discover that Matthew has skipped the country with their daughter Lindsay, and is later pimped and blackmailed by Cecil into stealing valuable documents from Denver-Carrington. Things really go to pot when Claudia and Krystle struggle over a gun and Claudia's brain is literally shot to pieces - here comes "Crazy Claudia"!
Fallon and Jeff break up, and make up...then break up some more...but in between they manage to conceive little Blake Junior who is born premature after Fallon was involved in an auto accident. Nurse Susan (Christine Belford, aka "Wonder Woman"'s duplicitous Baroness von Gunther) is assigned as the kid's nanny. Should have smelled a rat right there...
New characters: In addition to the amazing Alexis, Season 2 also boasts the arrival Dr. Nick Toscanni (James Farentino), a psychiatrist/sometime neurosurgeon with an axe to grind about the role Blake (John Forsythe) played in his half-brother's death, who quickly falls into bed with Fallon and causes a few temptations for Krystle as well! Krystle's "gosh darn" niece Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear) also comes to stay for a spell...looking for her own piece of the Carrington pie!
Season Two includes the following:
Disc 1: Enter Alexis / The Verdict / Alexis' Secret / Fallon's Father
Disc 2: Reconciliation / Viva Las Vegas / The Miscarriage / Mid-East Meeting
Disc 3: The Psychiatrist / Sammy Jo and Steven Marry / The Car Explosion / Blake's Blindness
Disc 4: The Hearing / The Iago Syndrome / The Party / The Baby
Disc 5: Mother and Son / The Gun / The Fragment / The Shakedown
Disc 6: The Two Princes / The Cliff"
Content good, discs bad
J. Berger | USA | 03/26/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Four stars for the content, but only two stars for the discs. All the discs in both packages were smeared and smudged right out of the box, and several of them were scratched to the point of creating glitches in playback."
Fabulous!!!
Linda J. Minor | 07/07/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Thoroughly enjoyed Seasons 1 & 2. I even looked at them a few more times before I ordered the rest of the collection. Nobody has done it quite as well as the Carringtons and Colbys since. If you watched the series when it was on TV, I recommend you buy the entire set. You won't be disappointed."