1996-1999 Storylines

[Skylover]

As I'm never going to get to see these years by the looks of things, I thought it would be nice to have a thread to discuss this era.

I was looking forward to seeing Joey Rainbow. I also wanted to see how the storylines panned out for Pippa, Sally, Curtis, Shannon and Selina. Not to mention the Donald and Marilyn relationship.

I can't believe they stopped just before Michael's death, did we get any good crying scenes from Pippa?

[CaptainHulk]

That period was Ostensibly the Joey era. He lasted damn near 3yrs and outlasted his group. I believe Alex O'Han works in technology now.

There is that big-ass exodus in 1997 to consider (Kelly, Curtis, Shannon, Selina, Stephanie, Liam, Casey M) Though, I think Katrina, Shane, Isla and Tempany quit.

 

[Skylover]

Joey looks like a Jack replacement (in terms of looks). I've been able to see a few of Joey's episodes and it's quite sweet how he didn't know how things in the outside world worked. I found Alex O'Han's Twitter profile last night.

Did Pippa not do much until her exit? I think losing Pippa is the worst thing to ever happen to the show. I wish they would have allowed her to go on a break for a year then come back.

[Jeremai]

Pippa had an interesting storyline where she was hit and knocked out by Shannon's boyfriend Kye. When she came round she had a different personality for a while, really unkind to the kids! She was also awarded the Order of Australia for services to fostering which was nice, although it would have been better if accompanied by some flashbacks.

[Blaxland 89]

Pippa was written so well in her last few months. I loved they way they portrayed how tired she was getting 

We miss Jesse introduction which is a shame not to see he's character in early stages again. And all of Vinnies antics. More storylines from Saul Bennet and Diana Fraser adds a great slice of wickedness in this era. And Don and Max becoming s double act is quite something and nice to see Don being reunited with Rebecca and overcoming some routed issues they had

[Skylover]

On 13/07/2017 at 12:20, Jeremai said:

Pippa had an interesting storyline where she was hit and knocked out by Shannon's boyfriend Kye. When she came round she had a different personality for a while, really unkind to the kids! She was also awarded the Order of Australia for services to fostering which was nice, although it would have been better if accompanied by some flashbacks.

That Pippa storyline sounds good. I saw a clip of the OBE on YouTube.

On 13/07/2017 at 12:42, Blaxland 89 said:

We miss Jesse introduction which is a shame not to see he's character in early stages again. And all of Vinnies antics. More storylines from Saul Bennet and Diana Fraser adds a great slice of wickedness in this era. And Don and Max becoming s double act is quite something and nice to see Don being reunited with Rebecca and overcoming some routed issues they had

I'm not too bothered about Jesse though I would have liked to have seen the arrivals of Lachie, Hayley, Vinnie, Gypsy and Rebecca, and the return of Saul. From what I've seen Aaron doesn't look too bad.

Just can't believe these eps are gonna be on the shelves forever  

ETA: Justine looks like a good character.

[alexx]

I think Pippa was written consistently well from where the early years have ended up until she left. Actually she seemed more prominent and was obviously involved in all of the foster kids storylines in some form or other once Michael died, naturally. I think we got to know her even more as an individual during 96-98.

[Skylover]

37 minutes ago, alexx said:

I think Pippa was written consistently well from where the early years have ended up until she left. Actually she seemed more prominent and was obviously involved in all of the foster kids storylines in some form or other once Michael died, naturally. I think we got to know her even more as an individual during 96-98.

For me Pippa is the centre of the show. I still think it looks like there were good things once she left but I'm sure a part of the show died once she left. From the clips I've seen it really looks like Summer Bay House peaks with Shannon and Sally in 1996/7, Pippa seemed to have more of a bond with Shannon and Sally for some reason.

[Red Ranger 1]

5 hours ago, Skylover said:

Joey looks like a Jack replacement (in terms of looks). I've been able to see a few of Joey's episodes and it's quite sweet how he didn't know how things in the outside world worked. I found Alex O'Han's Twitter profile last night.

In terms of personality, Joey's pretty much as far apart from Jack as you can get.Liam and later Aaron were probably closer to the Jack role with Joey mostly being there to give them someone to talk to. Actually, that's not fair, Joey was probably the strongest character in that era.He bears a vague resemblance to very early Curtis before they made him more conventional, which with Joey never really happened although with the amount of stuff they put him through it's perhaps to be expected that he lost a few of his eccentricities.

I think Liam would have been the next introduction?There was another name nagging at the back of my head at one point but I think it must be him, he came in the week Michael died.Oh, and we just missed Louise Crawford's stint as Selina, which was slap bang in the middle of Chris Hale's exit and Jesse coming in permanently.(Weirdly, my brain is seeing Tempany in Hale's last episode but that's probably wrong. I might even be getting her mixed up with Isla Fisher!)

[Skylover]

From what I've seen, I don't think Joey or Jack were anything alike in terms of character, but they are very very similar in terms of appearance. It looks like they replaced dark-haired, dark-skinned Jack with dark-haired, dark-skinned Joey, perhaps they felt that would appease Jack fans  It probably would have worked on me, I like the look of Joey

I saw a clip of the time around Hale's exit, and they certainly made the temporary Selina actress look a lot like her!

Did Joey have any romances?