The Last Years of Southfork

So back to the beginning...I guess I´m lucky because 99% of what I have written, I reposted it on my fanfic site "Soaptime Fiction".

My first Dallas fanfic was written in 1992 after watching the disastrous "Conundrum" episode. So it´s back to 1990 (I didn´t count the Dream Season year) and to Southfork after J.R.´s suicide. Because yes, I did believe for 5 years that he was dead indeed...

This is the summary of "The Last Years of Southfork", what now would be called a "midquel", this uniting classic "Dallas" with my "real" sequel "Ewing Empire". I hope you enjoy it (step by step, a thread for each different fanfic). I also want to thank all of you who also write here more often than me, your work is inspirational, and encourage you to go on writing!

part 1: the last oil baron

Spoiler

Register or Login to view Spoiler content!

part 2: never say goodbye

Spoiler

Register or Login to view Spoiler content!

part 3: reunions

Spoiler

Register or Login to view Spoiler content!

part 4: storm over southfork

Spoiler

Register or Login to view Spoiler content!

part 5: secrets and lies

Spoiler

Register or Login to view Spoiler content!

Epilogue

Spoiler

Register or Login to view Spoiler content!

The story continued 5 years later in "Ewing Empire"...

This Miniseries will be published in a longer format within this current year in my new niche "Supersoaps Universe", along with "Ewing Empire", "Return to Knots Landing", and "Star: A Hollywood Saga". More on this soon. You can check out the original summary with pics on my site:
https://sites.google.com/site/imperioewing/home/the-last-years-of-southfork

 

Here are a few little videos for TLYOS...

​

 

And here´s another teaser and the Opening:

​

 

First of all, thanks a lot for reading it. It´s the summary of the story and you are right, though I may not have seen it this way until now. Actually, since I´ve been writing "Ewing Empire" for the last 12 years (and since I did mention the main events, and even put in some flashbacks), I sort of took for granted that any reader would know the events that had happened before EE in a very general way.

It´s true that there are a lot of spoilers, but I thought at the time that the second Star Wars Trilogy also had the same problem (we knew the characters´ fates), so I myself could re-tool the material I had written as summaries just after "Dallas" ended in Spain in 1992, and put it down in the form of a sort of prequel-miniseries of 5 parts.

As usual your comments are spot on, and give me a lot to think about, if I should re-write the summaries, but the truth is that I want to publish this prequel as soon as possible, so I can focus on my other fanfics. The music theme you can hear in the Opening does NOT belong to "Dallas", but it´s written by one of its best score composers, Bruce Broughton, in his Emmy-nominated work for the western of the 80´s "Silverado" (maybe you watched it: Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner and the marvelous little big actress Linda Hunt
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090022/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1

I always thought that this score had the same powerful style than Jerrold Immel´s theme for "Dallas". The title of "The Last Years of Southfork" refers not only to the last years of the ranch as we knew it (they live in a mansion on EE), but also the disappearance of the eldest members of the family (Miss Ellie and, of course, J.R. after shooting himself), and others who seemed to me expendable (Carter McKay, Michelle Stevens, Jack Ewing, Jeremy Wendell, and, ahem, Jenna Wade) but deserved more than just "not be mentioned again".

Though as some go away, others return...especially Ray, James and the women: Pam, Donna, Lucy, Sue Ellen, Afton and even Katherine.

 

"Silverado" is actually a feature film, directed by a very good writer and director, Lawrence Kasdan, who has signed the best "Star Wars" sequels (V, VI & VII), and also directed a lot of interesting films, like "Body Heat", "The Big Chill", "The Accidental Tourist" (probably my fav of him) and "Grand Canyon", among others. If you liked "The Bodyguard", it probably was thanks to his clever script, because the initial premise was paper-thin, even as a vehicle for the late Whitney Houston.

(Sorry for the off-topic) Of course I was angry because they killed J.R., or at least so it seemed. But they had previously killed so many couples and single characters both physically and / or psychologically (Pam, Mark, Donna, Ray, April, Nicholas, McKay and he even weakened Miss Ellie in her latter years) that I almost expected such a chaotic closure (or lack of).

If I know you a little, I think you will like the way I reunite the couples, each of them for a number of reasons, not "just like that". I probably wrote a few situations that may be seen today as "over-the-top", but I do assume it was a soap opera and I couldn´t make it any worse than Mr. Katzman himself, honestly. I think all the remaining characters act "in character" most times and if they change, it´s because they would have changed too in real life if submitted to such strained events.

I turn to a few flashbacks when needed, and I can tell you that the Miniseries itself begins with a flashback set in the 50´s. When I write about "Dallas", I envision it as a long novel (with a two-generation past and a two-generation present) that will never end, because it´s bigger than life. I try to give it touches of my own, like J.R.´s "appearances" in "Ewing Empire"...which I never explain directly. During the first 7 1/2 years, the show was like that, but it sort of got corrupted when they followed the "Dynasty" pattern too closely, and then of course with the infamous "dream scenario".

Oh and the flashback is short but it´s kinda sweet, I think. I´ll post it very soon...

PS: Have you published any story of the ones you wrote with your sister? I´d love to read something else signed by you...
:10

 

"The Last Years of Southfork"
(Part 1: "The Last Oil Baron")

Starring

barbara bel geddes
patrick duffy
linda gray
joshua harris
steve kanaly
omri katz
howard keel
ken kercheval
sasha mitchell
charlene tilton

guest stars:

george kennedy
audrey landers
dack rambo

special guest stars:

barry corbin (sheriff washburn)
kimberly foster (michelle stevens)
george o. petrie (harv)
barbara stock (liz adams)

introducing

jessica lange
as
barbara​

As I specified above, the timeline of this story goes one year backwards in the show´s last season production time (I don´t count the dream season year), so it begins in 1990. It also runs parallel to "Knots Landing"´s timeline, so in this first chapter, the events precede the Season 12 early episodes. Here are a couple of links in case you want to refresh what happened "previously" in both timelines:

"Dallas"´s season 13: https://sites.google.com/site/mundodallases/origen/season-13
"Knots Landing"´s season 11: https://sites.google.com/site/mundodallases2/knots/season-11

 

"The Last Oil Baron"
​

Southfork Ranch, Braddock, Texas. 1956. "Junior...!" J.R. Ewing turned around when he heard that name, with an angry expression in his eyes. He didn´t let anyone call him like that. He wasn´t "Junior" anymore. He was J.R. Ewing, Jock Ewing´s first-born, who already worked with him at Ewing Oil part-time.

"Junior, please...!" He began to walk towards the person who was calling him. He noticed that voice belonged to his youngest brother and it came from his treehouse. Once he was there, he looked up and saw his little brother Bobby, looking scared:

"Please Junior, help me come down, the ladder just broke!" J.R. checked it out and gave him a half-smile:
"What are you doing here, so early in the morning, kid? I can´t help you. I gotta go to work with Dad..." Bobby looked terrified. "But you can´t let me up here all the day long!" "I´ll tell you what I can do: I´ll help you down if you give me a right answer to a question about Ewing Oil, ok?" Bobby nodded. "When and where did he find his first oil gusher?" Bobby opened his mouth, and, after half a minute, he said: "In Pride, year 1931." "Oh, really?", J.R. teased him. He looked away, hiding away his big smile, and turned around, and told Bobby: "Come on boy. Jump and I´ll hold you!" Bobby jumped and fell into J.R.´s open arms. "Thank you, J.R.", said the child, before kissing his brother´s right cheek. J.R. blushed, and he smiled ear to ear while Bobby ran away, back to the main house.


"Bobby...?" Bobby´s mind returned to the present, May 1990. It was Sheriff Fenton Washburn who had called him. Still teary-eyed, half an hour after finding his brother J.R.´s dead body, he answered:
"Yes, Fenton?" "I know it´s a tough situation, Bobby - the man told him - but we need to know what happened exactly. The sooner we begin, the sooner we finish." "Ok. I came from the airport. My son was taking a flight to London to see his cousin John Ross...I parked my car, saw J.R.´s car still was here, walked inside, and saw an empty bottle of bourbon at the staircase. I assumed that J.R. would be in his bedroom since he was nowhere at sight downstairs. When I got to the first floor, I suddenly heard a shot coming from J.R.´s room. Then I rushed in there and... (Bobby coughed, trying to clear his throat) I saw him."

Fenton asked him then: "Did you hear anything else? Noises, any voice?" "No, not at all." "I just saw he had my father´s gun in his hand, and called you right away." "We will have an autopsy done, before 24 hours we might know exactly what happened." "What do you mean?" "I mean, if he committed suicide or it was an accident." Bobby looked him up and assured him: "J.R. would´ve never have shot himself, you knew him Fenton. It was an accident for sure." "We must check out by ourselves, Bobby. We really must." Fenton stood up and gave him his condolences. "I count on your discretion, Fenton. Keep the press out of the autopsy´s results, ok?" "Of course, Bobby. I´ll call you tomorrow to keep you updated." He nodded and Fenton and his men went away, leaving him alone. He started to cry silently.

To Be Continued

 

Miss Ellie woke up suddenly, in the middle of the night. She didn´t remember she was staying at a Spa Resort in Miami, where her friends the Andersons also were vacationing. Actually, they were in the next door´s bedroom. They had called her to come over with them a couple of weeks ago. She went first, and then Clayton would join her after visiting Southfork. The woman felt a stabbing pain in her chest, followed by a sense of foreboding...Was anything going wrong at home? Clayton would arrive the next morning, and she couldn´t wait to see him. She got up, walked over to the window, opened the curtains and stared at the glowing moon. It looked so beautiful that she forgot her pain and worries completely. She wished that Clayton were by her side that night.


The next morning, Cliff Barnes received an early call: it was his secretary Jackie, who had heard the news of J.R.´s death. When he hung up, he wasn´t sure if he had dreamed the whole thing. Had J.R. been found dead by Bobby at the ranch? And most importantly, how would that affect him and his new company Ewing Oil? Cliff called back to Jackie, and ordered her to shut up the offices all the day and begin to work on a complete report about his recent adquisition of Ewing Oil. They would call a press conference that afternoon at 5 pm. And he remarked: "And above all, Jackie, don´t forget that the company´s name will be Barnes-Ewing Oil. Yeah, that´s right...In that order!" After making two more calls, Cliff sat down and realized that he had been missing something: would J.R.´s death have any effect on his sister Pamela? And how?


The Southfork door had to be closed and extra guards had to be called in order to keep the newspaper people away. Bobby had seen how those "vultures" (as her mother used to say) circled around them when some kind of tragedy hovered over them. After breakfast, he got a long-distance phone call from Switzerland. It was his half-brother Ray:

"Bobby, is it true? Is J.R. dead?" "Yes it is - he answered bluntly. "I found him in his bedroom last night, next to Daddy´s gun..." "Do you mean he...?" - Ray babbled - "...he shot himself?" "That´s what it seems, Ray. But I don´t want anybody to know, ok? Especially the kids." "Sure Bob. Do you need me to come immediately?" "It depends on Jenna and you, Ray. I still don´t know when the funeral will be held. I´m expecting news about the forensics." "What about the rest of the family? What about Gary, John Ross, Miss Ellie and Clayton?" "Gary called me early this morning. He was upset and saddened, because he was gonna call me to tell me that he and Val were going to re-marry, and now this..." "I know, Bob. Every time something good happens to us, there´s a bad thing waiting for us around the corner...What about John Ross?" "I´m trying to contact Sue Ellen, I hope he doesn´t learn about it through the news. And if I know Clayton, he´ll be calling me when I hung up. He´ll try his best to hide this tragedy from Mama, though I doubt he can make it this time. After all, it´s her first-born who died."

Minutes later, Bobby was talking to Clayton and he agreed to let him find the right time to tell her what had happened. "Be careful Clayton - he told him - . If Punk and Mavis are staying with you at the Miami Spa, it will be impossible for you all to hide the news. Maybe you should let Mavis tell her about it. She´s her best friend and a mother too." "You´re probably right" - answered Clayton. Later, in his bedroom, Bobby opened the two-door wardrobe and, in the upper shelf, he found a box. He took it and put it over his bed. It was full of photos of him, Pam and Christopher. He took one taken the day he was officially adopted, and placed it over his night stand. He looked at the image for a few seconds and said to himself: "Pam, I always thought you´d be with me when this happened...! It´s gonna be real tough to me to live on without J.R., and without you..."

To Be Continued

 

Thanks a lot Karin, I also loved your Dallas one-shots. Don´t worry about the spoilers, if George Lucas made millions with "The Phantom Menace" and its sequels, even with the whole world knowing how they would end, I guess I can manage to make the plot intesting enough for you...It´s not the what you write about, in this case, but the how...Anyway, there´s a lot of stuff to include here, so I won´t be giving long depictions or monologues, and try to make the plot advance as quick as possible.

:thank:

 

You´re welcome Karin! Of course I will, sooner than you may think!! Few stories have such potential for so many people creating sequels and alternate universes as "Dallas". Maybe "Star Trek", but hey, "Dallas" is sexier!!

 

Today I will continue publishing the first chapter of this "multi-stellar" Miniseries, but now it´s publicity time...

​

 

Actually, this was a no-win situation for me as a writer. You just can´t keep a character who tried to kill one of the leads and then hired a killer to frame his fiancée´s ex-husband (won´t mention what she did in Pam´s nightmare...). It was beyond any rational argument IMHO unless she started to act "out-of-character" and sort of redeemed herself (a la "Melrose Place").

All I could do was using her "absence" as something "feared" and "felt" by the people who knew her, something I think Katzman should have done when he brought Katherine back for 2 scenes in Season 10.

I didn´t link Katherine to Pam´s reluctance to come back, as you can see (or not, I think I didn´t really explain why she was held back in the surgery clinic, so much better for the readers here!), but of course, I will hint that Katherine somehow has found out Pam left that clinic and put someone following her steps.

In this first chapter, I homaged the "Who Shot JR?" storyline with Cliff as the victim now. It was too easy to guess who had shot him, so I focused on making him a kind of JR redux and create a long list of people who want him pay for his acts. It´s like a sort of "catharsis" for the Cliff character, because in my fanfics, he´s not like TNT´s Cliff at all, though keeps his trademarks...After this shooting and a long time of recovery as a recurring character, he´s get back into action but not as a bad guy anymore.

Anyway, after the whole "Katherine is dead" debacle seen on TNT´s Dallas, I kind of regretted to have "killed her off" in my parallel universe. But a warning for the readers of "Ewing Empire": notice that Wentworth Industries are often mentioned and part of the business storylines in the last season and the new one too: John Ross and his wife co-own it. So if there is someone out there who might think that´s unfair, and has Katherine´s DNA, do you think he/she will just think: "Oh that´s ok, JR´s son and his wife own the company that should belong to a Wentworth...How nice!" Just some hints for you to think about...

 

If you are interested in reading my first fanfic "Star", I have just posted the first two entries of Episode 1 (follow link below). It will be quite long because it comes to be the "Pilot-Episode" (though it´s no Pilot because I did write 150 eppis!) and introduces all the characters. As you may know already, it starts in 1980 and the action takes place in Hollywood, featuring a family, the Stevensons, who lives from movie industry. Any kind of feedback will be welcome!

http://www.soapchat.net/index.php?threads/star-a-hollywood-saga.285/#post-15966