Try to imagine Alexis Carrington at 16. That would be Sydney.
Full name is Sydney Orion Rutledge. The middle name is not shown in the credits and is only mentioned once in the show. The pronunciation given to it suggests it might be spelled Orien or Orienne. The IMDB, however, is going with Orion and so am I. She was born 13 March 1978 around 11:45 pm at Swans Crossing General Hospital during the Great Flood. See Sydney's Horoscope. Sandy Swan was born at approximately the same time and place. The daughter of Mayor Margaret Rutledge and grandaughter of the late Cyrus Rutledge, Sydney has the same initials as her grandmother (S.O.R.)
Sydney tries to never wear an outfit more than once, only bites her nails when she is really stressed out, Reads books about horses (she is an accomplished equestrian), is always in the mood for shopping, and has her own phone line and answering machine message (pre-cell era)
She loves a challenge, can't think when she's nervous, and has always liked finer foods, lemons, and Garrett.
Margaret once said, "Ten generations of Rutledge women and Sydney is the first one not to have light eyes"
She isn't exceptionally smart
Sydney was "an ordinary baby"
She has smaller feet than Nancy
In the fifth grade she had "pigtails and buck teeth"
Sandy is the only Swan to be born a blonde.
The signal Garrett used to tell Sydney he wanted to meet her in No Man's Land, was to hang a shade with a picture of Fabian on it in Glory's window.
Garret always gave Sydney a red rose. He gave her one before he left for France
Advised Katie to "watch out for the boys that always smile at you"
Feels that no one's ever helped her and everybody leaves her
Was afraid of the rumors, suspicions, and even just what the gossip would do if Garrett revealed that she "was Sandy"
Favorite color is red
Her mother named her Chairperson of the Rock Concert Stage Commitee
Her horse's name is Sugar, and the riding collar has her initials on it
Didn't place at her first horse meet but got her first horse before Nancy and got the name for the horse that they both wanted; Sugar
When Nancy got a horse without telling her parents, Sydney helped her hide it in her room (evidently a very large room) and the plan worked until Nancy jumped over her bed with it. Nancy got to keep the horse. (This is discussed but not shown.)
Had three dream sequences. Onewith with a wizard who transformed her into Sandy Swan. A second an antique slot machine (in the background were coloured lights and giant dice), and a third in which several of her friends mock her while being served canapes by Ralph.
After the third dream sequence, at 5 am, she went to the dock and dropped her grandmother's locket into the water. After diving in to retrieve it, she got her hand stuck under a rock trying to retrieve it and Callie had to save her.
Quote: "All men love surprises."
Quote: "Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride."
Above is the sequence showing the rescue of Mila after she falls in the water when the towers collapse on the pier at the Swans Crossing July 4 celebration. Several things stand out about this. First, it is about 30 seconds from the time Mila falls in until anyone jumps in to save her, although a lot of people saw her fall in. Second, only males jump in to rescue her, and only young males at that. No adults. Third, none of these young males, although they waited about 30 seconds, used that time to kick off their shoes or remove their shirts, either or both of which would have made swimming a bit easier. Now, I cut out Sydney's long flashback sequence to shorten this a bit in an attempt to convey real time. From the time Mila goes under until she is brought to the surface is about six minutes and thirty seconds. That is an awfully long time to be without air. Coach Gromme, one of the folks who did not jump in, said that there was hope for her survival because of the cool water. It was July 4. As I write this, it is July 31. The water temperature off Newport, RI today is 68.9 F. Off Fall River, MA, it is 76.3 F. Off Eastport, ME it is 53.8 F. This may be an indicator that Swans Crossing is in Maine.
Then there is the Baldies' map (on the screen of their fabulously advanced computer)
which
seems to indicate the vicinity of Providence, RI:
Part of an envelope sent to Professor Vann, the personna used by Neil and J.T. to disguise their scientific activities, is shown in the show. Note the zip code (which I have enlarged). The zip code shown is a New York City zip.
Sarah Skilton blogged about THE DOLL CONSPIRACY, a theory that has pretty much disappeared from the web.
There are 19 Swans Crossing dolls up for bid on eBay at the moment.
The phone number for Swans Soda Shop was mentioned in the show (234-643-xxxx The last four digits add to 19. All four digits are different. Three of them are even numbers. The largest of the digits is the second and the smallest is the fourth. Digits one and two divide evenly by a common third number >1, as do digits three and four. None of the digits is twice any of the others.) At the time the 234 area code did not exist. Presently, however, it is located in northeast Ohio. The number does belong to someone now, but it is unlisted.
There were four types of dolls: Dance Party, Slumber Party, Rock Concert, and Hangin' Out. Not every character had all four types of doll. Apparently no dolls were made for the male characters.
Cast of Swan's Crossing with Gellar at Center
EPISODE ONE SYNOPSIS: Sydney returns from horse camp. Garrett returns from France. Callie and her father return from the Seychelles. Ralph gets a ticket for doing 80 chasing Garrett on his mini-bike (at Sydney's urging). They are all greeted by J.T. and Neil's rocket launch, which explodes on the pad. Garrett runs toward Sydney, who has caught up with him, as the rocket is launched, then ducks out of sight under cover of the smoke. Sydney becomes hysterical, thinking she has killed him. After a few minutes, Sydney realizes what Garrett has done and says that if Garrett doesn't show at Swans Soda Shop in one hour she's going to send the cops after him. Garrett sits by the water, planning to wait one hour and ten minutes before returning, when he is confronted by a helmeted figure...
DOWNLOAD WMV VERSION OF EPISODE ONE
EPISODE 65 SYNOPSIS: Sydney and Mila return from shopping in preparation for the new school term. Garrett awaits word from record producers he has contacted on behalf of Mila. Barek discovers that Owen has been filming at random all around town and insists on a screening. He has Owen freeze the frame that first shows one of the Baldies. Sydney and Nancy do more shopping. Garrett announces to Sydney his intention to make public her "questionable" ancestry. Mayor Rutledge drops all sorts of hints that something unspecified is wrong. Sandy announces that she is a vegetarian. It all ends with the Goodbye to Summer Party (thrown by Sydney). None of the plots is resolved.
DOWNLOAD WMV VERSION OF FINAL EPISODE
NOTE: The only actual place named Swans Crossing seems to be a large camping area in Kerwong State Forest, Australia.
Below is a photo:
