Classic Episodes on 5★

[Red Ranger 1]

I seem to remember ITV always used to cut straight to that Home and Away sign, which seemed to be on screen for a lot longer than Channel 5 are showing it.

Ah, hello, 1998.Somehow it still feels as nostalgic and I'm getting the same mix of crystal clear memories and "Did that really happen?" shocks.I always thought it was a nice touch that Irene was taken in by Will's manipulations but Joey didn't doubt her for a second.Will looks shockingly young here and his hair's very 90s.His agreeing to stay with Irene seemed very similar to the equivalent scene with Belle.When Joey found that photo of his family, I had a moment of "Oh, this could be very awkward...Oh yep, they have", as Irene gave the camera a massive close-up of a photo of Will and two kids that look nothing like the ones that eventually turned up(Hayley just a few months later).I always liked that scene between Alf and Joel on the beach, at the time it made Joel feel like an old friend simply because that's how Alf treats him.Biggest shock of the day:Gypsy started out blonde?!I guess I've seen those 1998 opening titles recently but it just didn't click.She and Joel seemed to make the biggest impact, Natalie Mark 1(the one who looks scarily like Shelley)seems a bit generic from these two episodes:I guess all characters fit into stock roles(Natalie Mark 2 quickly settled into the earth mother role vacated by Pippa and taken on by Shelley and Beth)but this Natalie doesn't really seem to have had much thought put into her beyond "Adult, female, early 40s."Answering a question we were all wondering when Gypsy turned up last year, sounds like Joel left town around 1981/1982, when Roo would have been about eleven.Loved Joel lampshading one of the show's conventions when he points out Kylie and Chloe not only left the door unlocked but wide open when they left the house.

Hey, we got a Terri Garner episode!(Apart from her brief glimpse in one of the recaps from the last lot.)I don't know if it's me looking back at it from a later perspective or if she didn't really start annoying me until later but I didn't really like Gypsy until about 2000 first time round yet I really enjoyed her scenes here:Her reaction to hearing about Tom and Terri was a laugh out loud moment yet she was surprisingly supportive later on.Irene telling Chloe she had a, ahem, romantic dream about Don Fisher:Seem to remember she had a bit of a thing for him back in 1994...Again, Lucas-from-Neighbours wandering around with a gun didn't interest me as much as the "ordinary" stuff:I nearly laughed at the terror twangs when we first saw that gun.Glad Sally got a bit more to do than lie down and not move at the end, even if it wasn't much more.

No idea when I'll manage to catch the online episode, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.

[c120701]

Nope, the Sal/Flynn/Hunter house first started out as the home of guest characters Sean Ellis and his daughter Daria, before James Fraser and others moved in. The Nashes were the only one to live in this house before Robert Perez burnt it down.

Not quite sure what Five are doing to the end of these closing credits - they're cutting down the final shot (adding their own copyright/year text) and the rest of the theme is playing out over the Seven logo.....they did the same on Friday

Yes that ending looks very odd. Why are channel 5 doing that? The music doesn't fit properly.

Think it was a shot a Pippa as she wasn't in that first 1998 ending credits but she was still in the show.

They did it on the 2nd 1997 episode yesterday when Pippa was still in it - as far as I can see they're not actually cutting any of the previous shots out, just cutting that last one out extremely early. I had wondered if they originally had the website or suchlike appearing on them, but after comparing them with some of the Living repeats there's literally nothing on that last shot other than the year.....so I'm baffled.

Though saying that, there did seem to be a rather abrupt cut a few seconds into 2099's closing credits yesterday, as opposed to the dissolves usually used between shots.

I wonder if Living had an International version without the website but Channel 5 have the Australian version.

[c120701]

Remember when the diner actually served food?

[Red Ranger 1]

It does look very weird, the way they suddenly cut away from that last shot to the logo, which I think appeared on later episodes?

Watched the online episode.Ah, Vinnie with a scam.I think this was the point where I'd grown rather fond of him after a less than promising start, the byplay between him and Jesse was rather good.And Sal as the sensible one in the household, rolling her eyes at them a lot.The ostensible main focus of Don being lost at sea really needed more than one episode to explore, although Marilyn's initial Pippaesque denial was perhaps an early sign of the way she went the following year.Mention of Duncan being in hospital prompts a sage nod of "Ah yes, he'll come out having aged two years and turned into a demon child."

And oh yes, we've stumbled across the Diner's garish makeover, which I thought happened the previous year but they still had the old version in the first of today's episodes.Very...purple.

[c120701]

Natalie 1 is so much like Shelley, as others have said. Was it her decision to leave?

[c120701]

Graeme Squires couldn't act for toffee. I just noticed that they kept the original stools in the diner makeover. I miss that aspect of the diner.

[Blaxland 89]

Graeme Squires couldn't act for toffee. I just noticed that they kept the original stools in the diner makeover. I miss that aspect of the diner.

Very true. He did improve but still one of the weakest actors the show has seen.

[Blaxland 89]

I love 1998. Thought it had a nice mixture of drama and comedy. Would like to have seen more of Vinnie's antics from the late 90s but not to be. I think Roslyn Oades who played Kylie was a good actress. Also its a shame we won't see anything of Joey's mental issue storyline. Alex 0 Han did a great job and I can't see any of the lads in the "golden era" being able to portray such a subject as well. Also Bree Desborough is a very good actress.

[Blaxland 89]

Laughed when Marilyn said male bondage weekend

[James Martin]

I honestly can't remember if the website flashed up when I watched it in Australia back in '98.

Basically what appears to have happened is that C5 have keyed-on their own copyright date (in Lucida Console, of all fonts) and it's glaringly obvious from the lack of drop shadow (and whatever font it is, I'm pretty sure the credits of that era don't use Lucida Console!) it's been added in at C5's end.

What then happens is we go to a very slow-motioned Seven Network Australia endcap over the final bars - infact over pretty much all of the outro section ITV used to broadcast.

Website masking seems the obvious reason - such a practice ran on Channel 5 for a while with them using various techniques to cover it up. Interestingly current episodes now have a Channel 5 web address and an Endemol logo on the end, presumably due to that version of the credits being strictly International-only now.

Is it possible that Living/Trouble acquired dubs of ITV's tapes, rather than direct via Seven?

Or is it a dodgy edit by either Southern Star or Endemol for whatever reason?