Aviva "Viv" Newton - Mouche Phillips

[adam436]

What did everyone think of this character? 

A relatively short-lived early years character, who in my opinion, was the first regular female teen character to lack personality or uniqueness. During her "down time" she was just another run-of-the-mill teen, but when given her own storylines, she came across as selfish and ungrateful towards Don. For example, when Donald was charged with murder, she seemed more worried about what was going to happen to her, when the department found her foster family, she lashed out and crashed Alf's car, and then when Emma first arrived, she rebelled against Don. 

I was also not a fan of her and Steven. I think he had more chemistry with Emma and think they would have been a better match.

A few other random anomalies with this character. She was given her own solo shot in the opening credits directly after Tom and Pippa and before she actually appeared onscreen, before being moved into a shot with Carly. Also, there were a few times early on where Don refers to her as "Vivian", despite her true identity being known at that point - presumably just continuity errors though. 

[j.laur5]

I like her first time round but second time round i was quite indifferent to her.

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

Was Viv supposed to be some kind of "stand-in" for Rebecca?

In early 1989, Rebecca (when she was being played by Jane Hall) came to stay for a few weeks, got to know Bobby, mourned Alan's death, and spent too much time with Steven for Fisher's liking.

Viv was then taken in by Fisher and then also got into a relationship with Steven, but with the freedom of not being Fisher's piano genius daughter.  Would he have tried "the birds and the bees" talk with Rebecca if she had stuck around?  Would Fisher have tried to stop Steven from getting more serious with Rebecca?  What would Bobby have said?

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

On 05/07/2019 at 23:54, adam436 said:

she came across as selfish and ungrateful towards Don. For example, when Donald was charged with murder, she seemed more worried about what was going to happen to her,

Viv had been abused for years at home, couldn't really do things with friends like normal teenage girls did, and having a boyfriend would have been out of the question.

With Donald, Viv felt safe and secure for the first time.  She had begun to settle in, make friends, have a steady boyfriend, and just generally have fun.  Donald being charged with murder threatened that sense of security, and Steven had also brought the experience to the table of his ex Sandra having to go into fostercare after her dad was charged with murder, her having to move to the city, and then losing contact with each other after 3 letters.  Viv didn't want to leave Summer Bay and was lashing out.  She also made the dumb mistake of listening to Simpson after she overheard that he was blackmailing Donald, but she apologised soon after that.

I haven't got further than this yet though.

[Stewarts Point]

I admit I don't remember her from first viewing, but on watching back I really liked her. She was pretty and 'viv'acious and worked really well with Emma as her friend and Steven as her boyfriend.

Seemingly the actress wanted to leave, which is a shame because I think Emma was diminished as a character by Viv not being there in the last few months of her stint on the show.