‘New’ Dallas’ first season on DVD for mere $39.98

What is it? Dallas, Season 1, 10 hour-long episodes on three discs from Warner Home Entertainment (Season 2 starts Monday) How much? $39.98 When? Now Have we entered a time warp back to the 1980s? No. Well, not quite. This is the same Dallas and it isn’t. Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) is still kind and good-natured, still running the Southfork Ranch. His son, Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe), is a chip off the old block. After spending time away, he returns home full of plans to build the Ewing name and fortune in the world of alternate energy sources.

That’s not quite good enough for Christopher’s cousin, John Ross Ewing (Josh Henderson). He’s hell-bent on returning the Ewings to prominence in the oil industry by drilling on Southfork land. He takes after his devious daddy, classic TV villain J.R. (the late Larry Hagman, who died midway through filming Season 2).

When we rejoin the Ewings, J.R. is shut away in a nursing home suffering from depression. But anyone who has seen Dallas knows that it is a very bad idea to ever count J. R. out of the game. He’s as wily as ever.

The two sides butt heads right off over the land, oil and, of course, women.

Christopher and John Ross both grew up in love with Elena (Jordana Brewster), daughter of the family cook. She was once engaged to Christopher, but now she’s in a personal and professional relationship with John Ross. Christopher, meanwhile, is marrying sweet young Rebecca (Julie Gonzalo) and you just know she has to be hiding something.

Bobby has gotten remarried, this time to loyal, loving Ann (Brenda Strong), who has a few secrets of her own.

J.R.’s ex-wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) is still very much in the picture and has a successful career in politics.

Other old and new faces pop in and out with regularity and, naturally, you can expect manipulation, double-dealing and family bonding. After all, the Ewings will stab each other in the back without blinking an eye, but they stick together when they’re threatened by outsiders.

But, as J.R. says, “Blood may be thicker than water, but oil is thicker than blood.” How is it? Not a whole lot has changed since the original series ended in 1991. Of course, everyone has gotten a good bit older.

The creators of the new series wisely brought back some of the original characters to appease fans of the old show, and they do have plots of their own.

But the focus is clearly on the younger generation.

It’s a nighttime soap with pretty people doing not-so-pretty things and a plot that twists and turns like a snake. If that’s your cup of tea, you’ll be very happy at Southfork.

Are there extras? There are a handful of very brief promotional pieces (including one on the granddaddy of all cliffhangers: “Who Shot J.R.?”) and two longer ones on the making and legacy of the new series.

New this week: Downton Abbey, Season 3; Hey Arnold!, Season 3; Misfits, Season 2; Pan Am, Complete Series; Wodehouse Playhouse, Complete Collection.

Next week: Above Suspicion, Season 2; Alias Smith and Jones, Complete Series; Cougar Town, Seasons 1-3; Gunsmoke, Season 7, Volume 2; Southland, Seasons 2-4; The Virginian, Season 7.