This section is dedicated to the amusing little “mistakes” and other small, strange things from “Dynasty” and “The Colbys”, that are worth remarking. It is not meant to be bad critic, although some of them really shouldn’t have happened. However, the fans of the show will be lenient and look back at them with a smile. The section is written by Andy König.
“Amnesia forever?” Officially, Fallon’s amnesia started after she had run away before her wedding in 1984. She forgot Jeff and her family, and one of the things which never came back to her mind was the fact that she used to be jealous of women with whom she had to share her father’s love. At least it didn’t seem as though she bore her new sister Amanda any grudges, when she met her in episode 153 (anyway, a very strange happening: Amanda #2 meets Fallon #2). A fact which she also seemed to have forgotten was, that she had used Michael Culhane then at least as much as he had used her and that the Blake’s strange story that Michael had seduced and dumped her was complete nonsense. It was also a very funny moment, when Fallon told Zorelli, that she didn’t like men with dark hair. Remember, except for Miles, there were only dark haired men in Fallon’s life; Michael Culhane, Jeff Colby, Mark Jennings, Peter de Vilbis to Nick Toscanni. Well, maybe she just tried to repress bad experiences. Anyway, all that was after her accident. A rather mysterious fact is that Fallon had also managed to “forget” the murder of Roger Grimes, which she had committed at the age of seven. A little bit fantastic. It is hard to imagine that even the feisty Fallon from “Dynasty”’s beginning had experienced and repressed such a horrible event all along.
“Brainwashing?” “The Reunion” surprised all of us with a lot of strange “solutions” and developments. Kirby Aynders was a well known character from the past, but strangely enough the young woman didn’t really remember what was going on then. Jeff, who hadn’t seen her for years, didn’t even say “hello” after she had saved him together with Miles and Jeff; Blake, who had always been like a father to her, had suddenly become “Mr. Carrington” again, and actually she didn’t even remember what exactly Alexis had done to her in order to make her leave Denver in 1984. The most amazing fact was, that she didn’t even think about her family. She didn’t even mention her bad brother Sean, who had tried to kill Alexis and Blake a couple of years before, and she even told Adam that her mother had died 15 years ago and seemed to have forgotten how and when her father died, since she did not oppose when Adam claimed that he never knew him.
“We are international!” It is fascinating how well the casting of both shows had partly been done, according to the actor’s looks at least. The funny divergence of the accents was another story....
Ben’s daughter Leslie, e.g., had a quite big role during season 8 of “Dynasty”, when she started imitating Alexis and got involved with Sean Rowan and the kidnapping of Adam’s son. Nevertheless, the last time that we saw and heard of Leslie was in the cliff-hanger of season 8, when Steven and Adam found her, badly beaten up by Sean. Not only did they just leave her alone in the house, she was never ever mentioned again later.
Almost the same happened to Blake and Alexis’ daughter Amanda. Remember the fuss that was made about her royal wedding to Prince Michael of Moldavia and her outrageous affair with her stepfather Dex? Even when Catherine Oxenberg’s part was taken over by Karen Cellini at the beginning of “Dynasty”s seventh season, Amanda shocked the family with her affair with driver Michael Culhane, but then suddenly, from one episode to the other, she was missing and all that was said about her was she had not been able to choose between Blake and Michael and that she needed some time for herself. Miraculously both Blake and Alexis accepted this decision and very soon afterwards they spoke again about their “three” children: Adam, Steven and Fallon. Not even “The Reunion” gave us a clue about Amanda’s destiny.
The way how the producers of “Dynasty” handled Sable and Monica Colby was sort of mysterious. At least Sable had a major part in the final season, she eventually had even more scenes than Alexis and her destiny at the end of episode 218 was as open as Alexis’. But against everybody’s assumption “The Reunion” ignored both her and Monica completely. This was even more confusing, since Miles was part of “The Reunion” and didn’t even say a word about his sister or mother.
Jeff had always has a quite strange relationship to his own family in California. In the beginning of “Dynasty” he even ignored them in the first place, in California he fought against them most of the time, and when he was just about to get used to them, he left “The Colbys” - and did not mention a further word about their fate, apart from the few remarks which were mentioned when Monica and Sable came to Denver. He did not even mention what had happened to his mother after her bad accident with Philip, and neither did Fallon, who had been kidnapped by an UFO - as she said - during her search for Frankie in the desert. Sie didn’t even ask Jeff afterwards if they had found her or not. What a caring, happy family....
“Vanity?” A woman’s age is a secret - and in case of emergency she always gets younger, never older. That’s at least what the Carringtons and Colbys had proved to us several times.
Fallon said at the beginning, when her mother came back 16 years after leaving her, that she had to get along alone ever since she was eight. So one might suppose that she was about 24 in 1981 and Jeff sort of confirmed that, when he was searching for Fallon in Bolivia and told Nicole about an American girl in the end of her twenties, whom he supposed to be Fallon. But, no, he and we were wrong! Fallon’s medical file said in 1985: age 25. And Alexis mentioned in 1989 that Fallon was about 5 when Roger Grimes was killed. How nice to have a mother who covers your little lies...
The most incredible case in this respect was Sable and her sister Frankie. It was kind of strange that the younger actress (Beacham, *August 21st 1949) had to play the older sister and the older actress (Ross,*January 29th 1942) was casted for the role of the younger sister. The whole thing was intrinsically far away from being logical. They said that Frankie was left by her husband Philip when she was 18 (when he joined the Vietnam war), had then a one night stand with Jason and gave birth to Jeff in about 1957/58. Thus, in 1985, she must have been at least 46. According to the way they had been made look, Sable was supposed to be even considerably older, at least five years (they even tried to indicate that by dying some grey highlights into her hair). Nevertheless, when she turned up in Denver in 1989, she was supposed to get pregnant by Dex and - oops! - even the “Dynasty” producers woke up at this point - looked at least a decade younger than five years before. All facts considered, it seems wiser to suppose that Sable was logically the younger sister. The allusion of Sable that she was involved with Philip before he fell in love with Frankie was a nice story, but does not really fit into the whole concept (since Jason claimed that he and Sable did not know each other before he got involved with Frankie).
But not only the women did not really remember how old they were in relation to whom. Jason Colby had this problem too, once at least. When he gave Jeff his precious watch for his wedding in 1986, he told him that he had got it from his father, Andrew, at his wedding day because he had been the eldest son. What a pity that this nostalgic anecdote did not correspond with the fact that before and after this remark everybody talked about Cecil being the first born of the Colby brothers.
“Big kids” While the adult family members tended to “get younger” as time went by, the children had a considerable speed in growing up.
Fallon’ and Jeff’s son, LB, was born in 1982 and celebrated his 2nd birthday only some weeks before his mother disappeared in 1984 in order to turn up again in California in 1985. In 1986 he caught meningitis, but before the doctor recognized the disease, he assumed that the little boy had just some problems with some new teeth, which is usual for children aged six.... LB’s little aunt (!), Krystina Carrington, was similarly quick in growing up. She was born only some weeks before Christmas in 1984, but then, suddenly, she turned three long before Christmas in 1987 (only a little while after Blake had lost his memory and shortly after Fallon’s daughter Lauren had been born in California (who had been conceived in July 1986, according to the doctor’s report).
“All-round-talents” The people in “Dynasty” weren’t only beautiful. Some of them were even real all-round- talents.
Roger Grimes, e.g., Alexis’s unlucky lover who caused Blake such a lot of trouble in the end, was Carrington’s estate manager, due to what was said about him during Blake’s trial in 1981. He was also said to be Blake’s architect, according to what they said later when his body was found. Not too bad for a man with such a bad character. The same goes for Tony Driscoll. The good looking young man was supposed to look after Blake’s gardens, before he managed the Carrington-Stables.
“Old Grudges” Not only Alexis seemed constantly unable to forget anything somebody else had ever done to her. Also Steven and Sammy Jo had that problem in “The Reunion” and a little bit more. It seemed quite strange that Steven suddenly was so angry with his father again and accused him of being against his homosexual life style. And he had obviously forgotten that his father had accepted his life style long ago, and that he had left Denver in 1988 because of not being able to cope either with having murdered Matthew nor with making up his mind which life style he’d prefer. Sammy Jo in had obviously forgotten how well they were getting along before Steven had left and treated him like an enemy. Well, maybe her tight jeans had messed up her mind temporarily...
“The Magic of Art” Art was always an inseparable component of the Carringtons’ and Colbys’ lives. And one of the most amusing (or confusing?) matters for the audience. Remember, for instance, Fallon’s beautiful portrait that Blake had got from Krystle for Christmas after Fallon’s death? It was quite a “magical” piece of work, especially since the face in it changed after 15 episodes “slightly” and very discretely from Pamela Sue Martin to something that was supposed to be similar to Emma Samms. Well, at least we recognized the red dress and the necklace...
“Don’t remember Mama?” Even if Blake was always very caring and loving when he talked about his late mother, he seemed to have some problems with the details of the circumstances and the date of her death. In 1981 he told Fallon that his mother had died when he was four. Five years later he was accused of having caused his mother’s death by abandoning her in a fire when he was working in an oil rig.
“We didn’t count the years.” The marriages of the Carringtons and the Colbys were something everybody got confused about. Including the people who were involved in those marriages, for they always seemed to have problems to remember how long the happiness or the agony had lasted.
“Haircutting scissors and hair-dye” Some of the most funny mistakes happened where clothes and hair styling were concerned, although the reasons for these “slips” were always obvious: either the not chronological shooting of scenes or hiatus, which the actors often used to choose their looks.
Nevertheless, it was funny that Fallon had her usual centre parting, when she watched her mother coming into the courtroom in the cliff-hanger of season 1, while at the beginning of episode 1 of season 2 - only some minutes later in “Dynasty”’s reality - fringes! - Which proves that it is always useful to have a pair of haircutting scissors in your purse.
Fallon also proved that not only the length of her hair was perfectly variable, but also the color which she changed frequently and very spontaneously ever since Emma Samms had taken over the part. She was sometimes just a little bit too spontaneous in this respect. In episode 196 she went into Jeff’s bedroom with red, rather short hair, but when she went out again in episode 197, they were brown and long. Thanks goodness she took at least the right dress out with her...
Alexis had permanent problems with her hairstyling. Quite often, she wore a short curly hair cut in one scene and a smooth pony tail in the next one. Cliff-hangers were also an obstacle. When she watched Dex and Sean fighting in episode 196, her hair was short, in episode 197, seconds later, they had grown at least 5 cm in the neck. - The shock perhaps?
Constancy wasn’t a strength of “The Colbys” either. Apart from the fact that they didn’t ever seem to be really sure how old Sable was supposed to be, they obviously weren’t sure either if they should maintain her grey highlights or not, since they frequently appeared, disappeared, grew stronger and weaker within one episode sometimes, together with her age changing make up.
“Wishful thinking” Philip Colby was one of the most mysterious figures of the whole concept. In the beginning in “Dynasty”, we learned that he had died in the Korean war, that Andrew Laird had even been present when his body had been brought back and that he had been buried in the Colby mausoleum in Denver, where Jeff visited him once with Little Blake. The relatives in Los Angeles told another story (and Jeff as well later), namely that Philip had never returned from Vietnam and that he was thought to be dead. Of course he was not dead and returned in 1987 to California, not as Jeff’s father but as his (sterile) uncle, and he disappeared as suddenly as he had turned up after a really nasty accident with Frankie. Nothing was further mentioned about him...
In the beginning of “Dynasty” Jeff claimed that his uncle Cecil was his only living relative. A little bit exaggerated, considering the fact that there were still six living Colbys in California, but remembering how much love had been lost between all of them…we understand you, Jeff, don’t we?
Blake had always seen something special in his daughter Fallon, even if she was selfish, moody, forward and caused him lots of problems with her madness about good looking men, her expensive cars and horses and her unbelievably outrageous tongue. Fallon was a stubborn, spoilt brat, and he knew it - until he came to California to see his daughter whom he had believed to be dead and who did not remember either him nor her own name. The description he gave “Randall Colby” about his daughter Fallon as a beautiful, sensitive woman, who had been hurting herself, when somebody else had been suffering was quite nice and gentle - but did Blake really believe Fallon would recognize herself in this distorted portrait of her own character?
When Lauren Colby was born in California, she was in a very critical condition for some time, and Jeff told his brother Miles that he had gone through something quite similar before with LB. He made it sound like though the doctors had told him then right after the delivery that they had had to operate LB’s heart. But this operation, in fact, had taken place a couple of days after LB’s birth with the consent of his parents. Anyway, in the night of LB’s birth, Jeff wasn’t at the hospital, but with Claudia Blaisdel... Still a guilty conscience, Jeff?
“Family Property” Have you ever wondered why rich people are rich? Right, they are economic at the right occasion - and concerning the appropriate things. Fallon’s big golden mirror from the 2nd intro of Pamela Sue Martin didn’t turn up again when she was first replaced by Emma Samms, but we saw it again in season 7 when Alexis and Krystle had an argument in a clothing store before the black and white ball. And indeed, later it went back into the new intro for Emma Samms. Morning gowns were also items of inheritance. Fallon’s blue morning gown, e.g. was later worn by Amanda (#2), and her white one was passed on to Amanda (#1). Also, there was a strange similarity between the beige transparent dress Frankie wore at Sable’s gala and the one Caress wore in her intro...
“Don’t miss your cue!” Filming is an exhausting business and even more strenuous since everybody has to remember exactly their cues in the lines. But what do you do, if you do remember your cue, but you don’t manage to get your trial files back into your briefcase properly? No problem, just stuff them into the bag, nobody cares, it’s just paper! Ask Tracy Scoggins (“Dynasty” episode 214 - Sins of the Father...)
“Disfigurement” Rich people are also concerned by the destruction and disfigurement of nature. Just remember Fallon’s favorite tree in Blake’s garden, on which she climbed in episode 16, telling Jeff pensively how dear it was to her and that this was the place where she felt save and well when being a child. When he found her there again in 1987, Fallon was again (or still?) pensive, but the tree had ”slightly” changed its shape....
“Every picture tells a story” Photos are something lovely - and magical like portraits sometimes.
In season 9, we saw several times the baby photo of Adam’s son and we were kind of astonished to see Krystle showing the same picture to Krystina in episode 204, telling her that this picture of her had been taken the day she had been born. A joke, probably, even more since Krystina had been a premature birth, as we remember, and certainly nobody was in the mood to take photos at this day.
Fallon always loved to change everything about her, her moods, her name, her figure, her lovers and the color of her hair. Obviously she had started with this manner long before she had grown up: The picture of her as a child, which Blake is looking at once in 1982 is quite different from that he looks at years later around 1989.
The most popular picture of Fallon must be the one that was supposed to be taken before she ran away (Emma Samms in a white pullover, happily smiling). Jeff kept a copy of it in his album and on his desk, Blake and Alexis each a copy in their offices and Miles one in his purse. Although it is questionable how he got a hold of the old picture, it is not very likely that Jeff kept the negative and gave it to him.
"You live just twice" “Dynasty” and “The Colbys” were lavish of clothes and jewellery, but really economical as far as the casting was concerned.
“Keeping up-dated” Isn’t it wonderful, if your family looks after you 24 hours a day? And that they always have a video camera ready to shoot special events for nice family evenings like in “The Reunion”? Blake was obviously very scrupulous in this respect. If it wasn’t for his accuracy, we would never have been able to witness Fallon’s and Jeff’s 4th engagement kiss. He also shot Fallon and Sammy Jo’s cat fight in the mud (“Dynasty” episode 201) and the embarrassing fitting of Krystle and Alexis with the same dress (“Dynasty” episode 43). Isn’t it amazing that Blake was really keen enough to get every move of his family recorded and yet missed more important events?
“Solution without solution” “The Reunion” was supposed to be the answer to the many questions that were left after “Dynasty”’s end of 1989. It was good that they told us so, since we would never have found out by ourselves that this was the purpose. Of course, we vaguely learned what had become of some of the main characters, but concerning the most important questions, we could only guess or assume what had happened.
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