j.laur5

I love how much Alf spoke with such hate towards Barlow after he saw Barlow knock his daughter out. Alf really gave it to him about him being dog meat in prison. The scene really showed that Alf Stewart is not someone to get on the wrong side of.

I think could kept Billie around for few more months and have VJ and Billie leave together . Hunter and Olivia I think they could left together since they left close together. I know they weren’t couple and they were siblings but thought was shame Colby and Bella didit leave together after everything they went through and had circumstances being different in there’s characters storyline’s it’s likely would happened. But writers never seemed to give Colby and Bella break from problems they were having to face and witch normally cause conflict between them and I get they need drama but most times characters get break from drama for period but with Colby and Bella they never seemed get break from situation they had to face witch normal meant conflict between them. Matt leaving with his wife and sister was my favourite exit storyline ever as shown great character growth from bad boy high school bully into kind responsible young man and now husband and legal guardian to his younger sister Ellie as was hinted right from beginning Matt and Evie becoming couple and did not happed until much later and even when Matt was bad boy he still took care of his sister and knew was best for her to live with there aunt until he got life sorted and eventually he did and Ellie returned to him.

So if Vanessa Downing had stayed we likely would have never gotten Dale storyline . Personally I am alright older adult characters be more like supporting characters as it makes them feel more realistic.

In way Celia could really be written out then in 1989 as she really did not do much at all after she return from lengthy absence other then cleaning out Morag house and hot dog stand and she wasn’t even really much of comically character or busybody by then as she seemed to mellowed by then with her gossip and getting into comical situations. I could be wrong but I think Fiona might already let producers know she was going to leave at end of her contact and Fiona said interview that she left H&A because she wanted back to Melbourne and Fiona thought show was only going last couple of years.

I was under impression that it was possible that they were going to become regulars but changed in show direction might changed plans.

Also I really enjoyed Stewart siblings relationships as there love/hate relationship between them and I enjoyed when Alf and Barbara had screens as was like they were two most normal siblings as Celia and Morag were two eccentric siblings. Alf used quite often talk down to Morag and Celia in early years but didit with Barbara and Alisa once said to Alf Barbara most normal one of you sisters .

Even though I prefer Tom and Vanessa,Pippa but do feel Micheal and Debra ,Pippa did bring more natural presence on screen due to being married in real life marriage as it made them feel like such believable couple even though Michael and Debra ,Pippa were more harsh at times then Tom and Vanessa ,Pippa. I can very easy imagine Tom and Debra,Pippa together but I have more trouble imagining Vanessa ,Pippa and Michael together.

Well we saw Vanessa's Pippa in a bikini once . I guess Natalie when she arrived was the same age as Pippa was in the pilot . I thought middle aged women like Judith and Gina both seemed realistic as principals even though Donald thought Judith was too young. But I guess Judith was about 10-15 years younger then Donald . I wish Judith had stayed longer but I guess the producers felt she did not have much more purpose left since only had one child who already left and they had Donald to return as principal.

It turns out both actors who played Rhys and Shelley were only in there 30s when they started and they seemed more like in there mid 40s.

Colleen was the type of character I enjoyed more in rewatching and I can understand now what made her such an impactful character. I love Alisa and Colleen's scenes as like how Alisa was one of the few people who ever took Colleen seriously. I have noticed having both Colleen and Celia on the show at the same time people tend to get fed up more with Celia whereas with Colleen they all seemed bit more sympathetic towards her in early years and even Donald started to sympathise with Colleen after saying his dislike her at first.

What I enjoyed most about 1988 season is having more older characters around and also we had recurring characters too like Walter/Niko/Bob/Jeff/Brett Philip/Andrew/Betty/Colleen/Stacey/Narelle /Barbara and Morag etc.

I think Phoebe lot more mature then both Flick and Eden as Phoebe just said no when did not want get married to Kyle.

I agree I haven’t very happy with storyline’s in last five years as so many characters have be ruined expressing one’s regarding there character exit or history rewriting like Alf wife being alive after all and Marilyn having long lost daughter and also there way they write justice system is terrible.

Mackenzie really has bounced back from going off the rails a year ago and has become the down to earth, wise, likeable and strong willed character she once was. I can understand why she did go through a rough patch given she has lost so many people in such a small space of time. At first she had to hopelessly watch Colby, a man she once loved and still good friends with after they broken up go on a downward spiral to prison. Then had Ari harshly dumped her for Mia. Then found out she was pregnant with Ari's baby. Then she lost the baby, then Ari was sent to prison and later died. Then she had friends leave her in a short space of time. Bella/Jasmine/Ryder etc and Logan left her pretty much soon as he found out she was hitting rock bottom and recently terminally sick Gabe left her harshly without goodbye and later found out he died.

Matt was not only my all time favourite character but he also had the best character journey developing from bad boy bully with a chip on his shoulder to becoming the nicest and most responsible young guy in town. He changed over time gradually and I think that made his development so endearing to watch as his character was never boring to watch . I know I have said in the past he was in the background a lot towards the end of his time however I have grown to realise that was part of his character development to become a more natural character living a more realistic life in Summer Bay then some of their other characters in town and having more realistic storyline’s like taking care of his sister Eloise and slowing getting together with his best friend Evie and I think that’s how we totally meant to feel about his character journey and development. But I do think he definitely left at right time and definitely left at his natural end. So I am greatly appreciated and forever thankful they gave my all time favourite character happy ending .

I really don’t think the actor Nicolas Cartwright who plays Cash suits the good cop role. I think he would be more suited to playing a bad boy or bad cop!. It almost feels like the wrong actors were cast in the wrong roles. I think Tim Franklin suited playing a good cop more and Nicolas suited playing a bad cop more. Tim just had that heroic chemistry about him when he was being a good cop and taking down bad guys. Tim just had that good guy face about him whereas Nicolas just looks a bit more rough around the edges as a cop and seems more suited to playing bad cop. I know obviously you can’t change casting now but personally I think Nicolas should played Colby instead and Tim should played Cash.

Colby and Mackenzie.

But if Tim Franklin was not leaving show at that point they could easily have changed it that Colby wasn’t sentenced to jail or at least released after a month or so. I think they made a mistake with doing Colby backstory the way they did it and killing Ross as it just made his character too predictable on how his exit was going to be. I just think Tim Franklin suited playing good guy more and Colby was more believable as a good guy. I think if they did Colby backstory differently and not had Colby kill Ross then I think Colby could be quite a likeable character even though I always found him likeable because here’s one my favourite characters ever because he was such complex character and could understand where he was coming from. But having said that I by no means in anyway calling Tim are bad actor and he played Colby very well as Complex character and when Colby went on darker path. But I think I just would preferred it if he had more lighter character arc.

No i believe it was not same cult or any relation to each other.

I hope we get character like this again one day.

I feel Colby got rather a harsh exit. I know a lot people felt he deserved to go to jail for killing someone regardless of how they were but how I look at it was that it was someone who killed both his parents and hid his sister for years and later kidnapped his sister, his wife and best friend and shot Willow. It’s no wonder Colby was pushed over the edge. I do think Colby mostly wanted to be a good person but I think certain circumstances and factors got in the way of his better judgment. I do think that if Colby had just owned up too killing Ross from the beginning he would likely have just got self defence and would likely have got kicked out of the police force and with possibly suspended sentence or good behaviour bond. I do think 25 years was rather a harsh sentence given they did not fully explore the background on what lead to Ross to shooting. I guess burying the body did not help matters but Colby did not bring Dean down with him and some ways understood why Willow did what she had do even I went off her character after that and even Ziggy said you betrayed your mate despite what you did took guts. I though was harsh how lot Summer Bay residents got cold towards Colby as Mackenzie was being hypocrite given she was dated ex arm robber Ari and think Ziggy was far to quick to play judge on Dean and Colby and Marilyn and Nikau made harsh comments on Colby even though at time Marilyn was harsh about everyone as wasnt in her right head space. As for Angelo i truly hated his character after this and he was so hypocrite of him given he killed Jack and even it was not tensional and letting Hugo run free after all his criminal behavior and just felt he wanted to get back Colby because he was part gang that chase him out of town ten years previously and okay did not help matters Colby having affair with his wife. It’s funny in early days of Colby and Dean they were saying Colby always cleaning Dean mess here’s in and then later days it was them saying Dean always getting into Colby mess. I know Colby told Bella to never visit him but hope Bella at least called her brother to tell him she was moving to her other side planet. Hopefully Colby might return one day and redeem his harsh exit .

I guess Barbara being a teacher and a nursing type character she could become another foster mother like Irene did once and become a regular. I guess we could have had another regular teacher on the show instead of having Donald acting as a teacher as well as principal. Also I noticed in 1988 Alf seemed to look down on Morag and Celia whereas with Barbara he didn't so much. But like you said, during the 90s era they seemed to want to keep a more teenage and young adult focus and even though older characters certainly weren’t completely ignored in 90s. Alf said in 2016 he had four sisters and mentioned something about Colleen being the sister to drive him most crazy to Justin and so therefore I think it's safe to say Debra may very well just be close family friend child or cousin.

But in 2000, on Floss's return it was said she sold it but I guess that’s a problem with tv shows/movies sometimes you have overlooked things.

It’s a shame we never got much with Morag and Barbara. The only time they shared screen time was when Morag was reading Alan's will. Morag was being quite civil in those and was being even civil to Bobby but I guess it was before the whole mother and daughter reveal. I remember Ailsa saying to Alf that Barbara was his most normal sister and I bet in 1996 Ailsa changed her tune .

Also if Pippa had stayed I think she would have been a great asset to a drop in centre which came into the show around 2000. It’s a shame 7two episodes of the Early Years stopped as it would be great to see Pippa's final episodes again. Even though her final episode was a let down . But given they did not kill off Pippa I think it's possible they were hoping one day Debra might agree to return permanently. Debra said in an interview on Back to the Bay site that the main reason she left was because she wanted to move back to Melbourne as her mum lived there. Who knows had her circumstances be different she might have stayed on the show till this day. But I guess it is what it is .