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adam436

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Everything posted by adam436

  1. I meant it in a were they more supporting characters or were they thrown in the deep end straight away. They were very much main characters by 1995, but I know Damien, Tug, Sarah etc. were all still around for some of 1994, so I wasn't sure if the newcomers were eased into things while the others were still around. That question has been pretty much answered now though. That period was a mess. The dramatic stuff was poorly written: there was some strange stories like the Zac/Pippa where everyone (Tom, and the residents of Summer Bay!) were so quick to jump to the conclusion that Pippa was having an affair, and details of Emma's introduction were sort of brushed over - Emma dealing her with abuse and Ailsa's relationship with her sister could and should have been major storylines in their own right, but were pretty much sidelined, presumably because they wanted to integrate Dannii Minogue into the show as quickly as possible. The highlight was probably the Danny story, and even that was poorly written at times. Justin Connor was amazing and played the part really well (from googling the actor, it sounds like his career was cut tragically short!) and I actually found him a scarier villain than Dodge or the Summer Bay Nutter. I just found the story, especially the ending, quite rushed, possibly because they had limited time before Cornelia Frances' contract ended. Then there was the the ridiculous stuff like the Summer Bay Bunyip, the mouse(?) funeral, the hotdog stand shenanigans and the pop band stuff with Martin, Lance and Marilyn. I can't remember the sausage mix up or the netball matches though. We had Lance, Martin, Celia, Floss and Neville (the latter two already gone by this point!) take on most of the lighter stuff in 1988, but they were always very much B plots, whereas in this period they were dragged out far too long and in the case of the pop band, treated as a major story. I also don't think it helped that Tom and Pippa barely had any screen time together in their last months - Tom sent to a city hospital for months to recover from a stroke, then there is a few weeks overlap where they are pretty much fighting the whole time over Tom's post-stroke attitude and her suspected affair before she disappears to care for her sick parents. Then Pippa returns shortly before Tom's death, where from what I recall, they were pretty much just fighting again.
  2. The Donna and Angel stories you mentioned were definitely in 1995, but I wasn't even aware of the Tug one. I found Michael and Pippa's seperation quite boring too (I only watched from very late 1994, wmso maybe missed some of the build up), but perhaps that's because I wasn't overly invested in them as characters. I've not watched much of 1994, but how much did Shannon, Selina, Jack and Curtis do in 1994? They all had massive stories and took centre stage in 1995, but I assumed 1994 was a bit of a transition year between the teen groups, with both groups sharing the screen.
  3. I felt like the show needed it though. I must admit I've never watched the 1994 season, but from what I understand it is thought to be one of the dullest periods of the show. I'm not sure if Australian or UK ratings reflected that though. I'm sure it would have alienated some viewers, but it also probably wouldn't be around today if it hadn't have made the move. I, for one, did not bother with mid 1990 through to early 1995 when the show was rerun on 7Two because I found it a little dull. I know there were some big moments in there, but not much of note in between. I'm struggling to think of many "lighter" moments in 1995 to be honest. There was the country music competition with Irene and Donna, but that was very early in the year, before the changes had really taken their full effect.
  4. Not to mention the end of the original Diner and Stewart house too!
  5. I felt the same, mostly because the "iconic moments" episodes were also pretty much a Summer gimmick too. And even that was heavily skewed toward the Lucy Addario years, with the deaths of later-years guest characters like Danny Braxton, Beth Ellis, Tommy, Stu Henderson and Ross Nixon valued equally with the deaths of Bobby, Tom, Shane, Michael and Ailsa. I did hold onto a bit of vain hope we might see more episodes released though, as I thought if it were a Summer gimmick, they'd have opted for the full 2011 season (the beginnings of the River Boys) over the 1988 season because it has been said in the past that Channel 7 or the producers are choosing to downplay H&A's age. What's even more odd is that we have all episodes of eighties soap Sons and Daughters available, and I would have thought demand for classic H&A would be much higher than that. Nothing against Sons and Daughters, but I do feel like it has a limited audience and lower popularity compared to classic H&A and many of other Australian dramas on 7Plus.
  6. Vanessa Downing too! She was only 29 when the series began. I know Carol Willisee was much closer in age to what Pippa would have been though, so that was a last minute swap. If I recall correctly, Pippa and Ailsa were meant to be the same age.
  7. I'd agree it was the Edward pairing that made her memorable. But she still had a good dynamic with the Nash family, especially Gypsy.
  8. Travis just seemed like a rather forgettable character to me. If he hadn't have married Rebecca, I don't think he'd be that remembered at all. I feel like Joel was a more complex character, perhaps because of his job and his relationships with Tom and Gypsy. I think Gypsy is definitely the most popular member of the Nash family, but Joel will always be my favourite.
  9. I'd love to know what the rationale was/is behind the move to being an entirely adult cast. As far as I know, the producers have never spoken about the change in the show. There was never really an official rebranding or revamp, the teenagers just sort of dwindled away with Ryder, Raffy, Bella etc, and then I assume Maggie was written out because there was no school for her to be principal for. I understand that demographics and viewing habits change, so it's probably a case of the audience being the same age as the majority of characters, but surely there people in their 30s or 40s with teenagers or pre-teens that could relate to their storylines. I would have thought enough for the show to invest a token 2 or 3. I remember when the 20somethings and early 30somethings used to be the minority group in Summer Bay with the bulk of the cast being teenagers or 35+ I'd be down for that. Maybe not Alf or Marilyn, but a serial killer would certainly generate some hype for the show, especially if we didn't know it was except it was someone in the regular cast. British soaps (Hollyoaks at least!) has had it's share of serial killers, but I don't think it's been done on an Australian soap before.
  10. The Nashes suffered from poor planning on the writers' part and weren't really given a chance. They didn't move into Summer Bay House until a year into their run, and even then, they were pretty much house guests of Travis and Rebecca. By the time they had the house to themselves, they were pretty much on their way out. The producers clearly had high hopes for them because they decided to recast Natalie rather than write her out (given she was recast in the middle of the Robert Perez story, the timing fit to kill her off!), but I think it was just an unfortunate timing for the family since there were clearly big changes happening in the show in 2000 when they were just settling into their groove at Summer Bay House. Tom was just another cookie-cutter teen, but Joel, Gypsy, Peta and Justine were all great characters, so it's a shame that dynamic didn't continue for a few more years. They weren't like the Fletchers it that they didn't seem to have the same warmth, but the show as a whole didn't feel as warm or light as it did in Tom and Pippa's day. I feel like the producers tried that with Zac and Leah and it didn't really work. When they moved in there, they had five children between them (Evie, Oscar, VJ, Hunter and Matt) and Alf living with them seemed like an odd set-up. The timing didn't help tho since most of them had moved on pretty quickly, but it would have worked better without Alf there in my opinion. It's hard to see how we would ever get a large or foster family back into Summer Bay House while Alf is still around, unless they married off Roo again, which has already been done with Harvey/Maddie/Spencer, or introduce a recast Duncan with a new wife, Bryce and some stepchildren/foster children. Duncan would be close to 40 now going on his SORASed age in 2016, so he could easily head up a brand new family on the show.
  11. Nola was played by Denise Roberts, who went on to become known for her roles in GP and Always Greener. She always played an unnamed customer in Ailsa's store in 1988, who in theory could have been Nola too
  12. Do we think Lynn was misused or underused by the writers? I can see why they axed her - she got sidelined storyline-wise by the older female characters (Carly, Bobby and Roo), and was definitely the least developed of the main Fletcher children. Other than running away early on, she was very much a supporting character for her whole stint. Lynn was meant to be in Steven's year, but they never really seemed that close or used that other than Lynn playing matchmaker between Steven and Sandra. I feel like her and Sally's closeness/backstory got lost too. Less than a year after she left, we were introduced to Viv who had a strict religious upbringing. Might have just been a coincidence though.
  13. I'm curious to see how/if the revisiting of the 1988 season in Australia and the UK will affect their year's Most Popular Character poll. Will the likes of Tom, Pippa, Bobby and Fisher see a surge in points?
  14. Definitely by 2002 when it was supposedly in the works, anyway. The show was very light on long-term characters at that point. We had Sally, Alf and Fisher (who left a few months into 2003 anyway!), and the newly-returned Jesse who had a lengthy stint in the 1990s, but most other characters only had a few years under their better. Leah and Colleen were still relatively new. It's hard to imagine justifying axing a character of 10 years under those circumstances, whomever it was. It would have left the show without a "dedicated" foster parent, which would have felt weird - this was Sally's pre-foster parents days and Alf and Fisher were generally only getting relatives like Sam and Seb by this point.
  15. I'd say Alan's death was the turning point for him that made him "human". Prior to that he just came across as a two-dimensional tyrant/villain. Norman Coburn is the greatest actor H&A has ever had and he brought so much depth and emotion to the character that a lesser actor may not have.
  16. Does anyone know why Rob Storey departed the way he did? Did the actor have to leave suddenly for personal reasons or was there a behind the scenes story? In some ways it feels like Rob's departure was planned with him gradually phased out in his last few weeks with him losing ties to most of the cast - he quit teaching, he moved out Irene's house and his friendship with Donna broke down, but it was an odd move to have his actual exit non-existent. Every character usually at least have a final scene or proper exit, even if it's rushed in the space of an episode or two. The only other time I recall this happening with a regular character was Matt Wilson.
  17. Lance and Martin were big drinkers in the early days too, but likewise, only drank at home. It seemed the only "adult" restaurants were in Yabbie Creek, which we saw occasionally like with Steven and Sandra, Stacey and Jeff Samuels etc.
  18. It could have been an interesting story to go down though - Bobby struggling to fit in and adjust to uni, standing up to lecturers etc. I guess you could argue it would just be repeating her Year 12 though, but it could have been a catalyst for her and Frank's marriage ending. Are Sam and Bobby the only child characters to ever be credited as full-time cast? If they are, it's interesting that they were both among the longest-running characters in the show's history, rather than them staying for 2-3 years before leaving to focus on their schooling etc. The only other characters I can think of never had regular stints in their child years - Dylan Parrish, Rachel McGregor, Christopher Fletcher, Duncan Stewart, VJ Patterson, despite the child actors remaining in the role for a long time and some of them appearing somewhat frequently.
  19. I think indespensible in that he survived Bobby and Greg, and then Pippa leaving, when he could have been written out with either of them. Maybe the producers had decided that as Kate Ritchie was getting older, they needed another child actor to fill that void. I'd say by 1998 he'd come into his own, but in 1993 the Marshalls could easily have been written out as a family unit (as opposed to killing off Bobby) and I doubt anyone would have been upset to see Sam go.
  20. The writers seemed to invest everything in developing Bobby (giving her the diner, the Fisher/Morag stuff), so Carly just got sidelined. She just got the romantic stories which got a bit of repetitive after a while - in 1989-early 1990 there was Matt, Andrew, Adam, Grant and then finally Ben. I can't remember if she dated Grant, but it was definitely another case of "Carly throws herself at new guy in town" story. Given how strong her stories were in 1988, it's a shame she went down that path.
  21. From memory, Shauna's father was a prison warder who raped Ailsa? I also have a vague recollection of it being confirmed he had since died. I've not seen those episodes since they aired though, so my memory is a little hazy.
  22. I don't really remember the details of that story, but why were they worried about Sam and not Christopher. I'm guessing it was to do with Christopher being Pippa's biological child and Sam being a foster child, but were they not worried about him not having a responsible adult to care for him? Debra Lawrence talked about that return in a podcast interview and it sounds like "someone stuffed up" and the producers realised no one was around. It must have been a surreal time for Debra, as she said she didn't know any of the cast at the time either, which is probably true. Ray Meagher and Lynne McGranger were absent (hence, the need for Pippa), and she'd never worked regularly with the other stalwarts of the time, Ada Nicodemou and Lyn Collingwood. She wasn't even in a familiar set either, since she was staying at the Beach House and not Summer Bay House. Who else could they have realistically drafted in to the hold the fort at Summer Bay House? I guess they could have brought back a past foster child like Carly or Frank to hold the fort, but then we wouldn't have had the story of Sam possibly going into care in that situation...
  23. Donald Fisher is one of my all-time favourite characters. This is down to the complexity of the character, the amazing talents of Norman Coburn and the way he was developed throughout the first season. He was written as a two-dimensional tyrant who had it in for the Fletchers, but we gradually see him let his guard down, mostly following Alan's arrival. By the end of the year, I think the writers found that balance. If you watched the pilot and final episode of 1988, you can really see the difference. He's celebrating Christmas with the Fletchers and he and Bobby have developed a mutual respect for one another (the writers knew about the connection, but obviously viewers didn't!).
  24. It certainly was! Far better and memorable than their successors, Matt and Adam. I think the argument is that they were too dependent on each other from a story perspective. With better writing and character development, they could have had their bromance whilst still been able to have their own storylines, love interests etc.
  25. I can't remember how long Pippa was in hospital for (as a 8 year old, it felt like ages), but they obviously needed someone to "fill in" at Summer Bay House, and I doubt there would have been many other alternatives that wouldn't have felt too jarring/obvious. Bert returning as he did would certainly have been preferable than a fully-able-bodied Danny returning in the same capacity.
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