Classic Episodes on 5★

[alexx]

I hated the change to the underwater blue credits and I've never really liked any of the opening credits used since. Another change was in the incidental music, which changed sometime in late 2000 I think, it wasn't as promiment anymore, and didn't have the old Home and Away feel to it.

Yeah I agree. Also with the incidental music change, yeah from 2001 they started to make it more subtle, but at least Mike Perjanik was still scoring. Occasionally he'd score in some new renditions of the old 80's tunes, like when Fisher was looking at the photo of Alan and having flashbacks to the day he died. Also I loved the scoring throughout Fisher's final episode, especially the flashback montage and then the end of the episode. Very emotional and had a 'classic' feel to it.

I wonder what the show would feel like now, if Mike Perjanik was still the music producer (left at the end of 2003 for those who didn't know). He came back to score the episodes involved in Alf's birthday in 05, such as the scene Sophie and Blake find Alf on the beach and the 'surprise' and then the scene between Fisher and Duncan out on the porch, plus of course Bobby's theme. You can tell it's his music because he manages to capture what the character is feeling, even if they don't say it with words. These days the music fails to do that Imo.

[Red Ranger 1]

I think people are being a bit hard on the early noughties.I think that late '90s teen group is quite a strong one and even the short stay characters like Edward seem to be pretty memorable.Even Proper Mitch had a bit of a spark about him.Hayley was on the show seven years(after Donald left, she was the longest serving after Alf, Sally and Irene)and had some pretty decent storylines:If she'd been on the show at the height of its popularity rather than after ratings plummetted, she'd be as iconic as Angel or Shannon.I'm rather fond of Nick and the Sutherland twins too, I don't see what the deal was about their ages, they were what, 13/14?I think possibly they write other characters too young rather than them too old:Looking at Sally in the early '90s, she comes across as a lot younger than she's supposed to be. (Incidentally, I was surprised to see that Chloe came across as a fairly weak and poorly acted character in 1995/1996, it seemed to take Kristy Wright a while to find her feet, although that may have been a relic of the slightly ditzy way she was portrayed in her early episodes.)Even Rhys, who could be annoying at times, added a dry humour to Summer Bay House that wasn't really seen again until Miles turned up.

As for Ailsa's death...I think the only mistake they made was the time skip between seasons.If we'd seen the reaction of Sally, Irene et al to the news, I think it would have worked fine.If you look at Michael's funeral, you've got Marilyn and Irene having a comedic chat about Donald's proposal at the wake but it doesn't feel out of place because we'd seen the community's reaction in the previous episode.It's not like Ailsa was forgotten quickly, it sent Alf into a depression for months that pretty much permanently damaged his relationship with Duncan.

[H&Alover]

Alex O'Han played Joey going schizoprenic was well played for one so young, tough enough for adult actors. Saul certainly was a hard character to get rid of wasn't, even dead he's still about. Kaia may have been a bit whacky, but was wise enough to know Joey was too much to handle. Nicely pitched with Ailsa sitting alone and getting all jittery, plus mysterious phone call (was it a wrong number)? Not sure if it was a slip, but we could see it was Alf letting himself in.

Ah Maz going into labour and Vinnie coming to her rescue, bless him. Who was it who said that they would have trouble getting their head around the fact Vinnie was a hero? I had to smile at Don's face when Maz said they would have to fit the name Vinnie in into their sons' name somewhere.

I liked that scene with Vinnie coming home in his mouse outfit (made me remember him dressing as a bear at VJ's birthday party before he left to go into the WPP) and flopping on the sofa with Sally.

I've said before it's strange seeing the characters then, but knowing what we know now what happened to them or their relationships. Noah and Hayley and Will and Gypsy for example.

At last a sighting of the lesser spotted Colleen Smart, and yes didn't Leah look young! I had to check who the guy giving Vinnie a hard time was, Ted, Leah's ex. Should have been apparent to him who she cared for when she announced to all and sundry she was clear (after the needle accident).

Pretty frantic goings on with Gypsy's car crash, the scenes at the hospital, Will finding out she had been cheated on, Joel blaming the girls, though since when had Gypsy ever listened to anyone? It was good to see Peta again albeit briefly.

As sson as you saw those boxes piled up and Alf saying he's going to move them later, you just knew Ailsa was going to move them and suffer some kind of reaction.

I'd forgotten how moving that book launch was, Don getting all choked up and then Hayley giving her speech and 'seeing' Ken which gave her the nerve to carry on. Great seeing June again.

[Red Ranger 1]

Hmm, well, I don't think I've seen that episode from the London trip since the Five Life run but the storyline still felt rather familiar.Nice to see it though.Wonder how many heads the Atomic Kitten cameo went soaring over.Wow, wasn't Kirsty sweet when she was young:I wonder if complaints are because instead of the usual 18-playing-14, they actually cast actors who looked the age they were meant to be for once. Interesting how Shauna was one of the first people who heard the truth about Gypsy's pregnancy, I seem to remember Gypsy was one of the few people who didn't judge her when the whole thing with Flynn happened.

So, season finale and Lily and VJ born on the same day.Whatever happened to them..?I had completely forgotten Gypsy got sent home from hospital, seems a bit premature(and her and Will's silent "Oh cr..." moment when her waters broke was rather nice, along with the way she cut short his proposal by just saying "Yes").Vinnie being led away by the police is even more traumatic now we know there's no happy ending in the offing.(At least Will got, ahem, fudge-the-age years with his daughter.)Ditto Chris' "Name the next one after me."Loved Nick in that episode, the way he just carries on eating breakfast while Gypsy's in labour, his winding up Irene and Gypsy and the way he and Hayley were shoving each other out of the way to get to the door.Ah, Brodie's Judge Dredd phase.Nice to see Chris being a good brother to Alex, not something we saw all that often.

[beau_t]

As for Ailsa's death...I think the only mistake they made was the time skip between seasons.If we'd seen the reaction of Sally, Irene et al to the news, I think it would have worked fine.

Exactly. Hence the complaint. They didn't show that. So we don't like it. I don't understand who you're disagreeing with.

[c120701]

I love the Pouloses, they should've brought more of them in as regulars.

[James Martin]

Anyone else notice a very distinct change to the cinematography when we got to 2000, made more prominent I guess by the move to 16:9 in 2001 and then progressive HD in 2003 (the SD material was always interlaced). I notice this is the time when "wooshing" was used for scene changes a lot. Looking back, there was a definite attempt to reposition the whole show in 2000 (indeed Seven got a HUGE revamp which the H&A revamp was a part of) which seemed like a good idea at the time but have ironically made the show seem so dated in a way the 80s and 90s episodes haven't done.

[beau_t]

Anyone else notice a very distinct change to the cinematography when we got to 2000, made more prominent I guess by the move to 16:9 in 2001 and then progressive HD in 2003 (the SD material was always interlaced). I notice this is the time when "wooshing" was used for scene changes a lot. Looking back, there was a definite attempt to reposition the whole show in 2000 (indeed Seven got a HUGE revamp which the H&A revamp was a part of) which seemed like a good idea at the time but have ironically made the show seem so dated in a way the 80s and 90s episodes haven't done.

I liked the "wooshing" between scenes

[Red Ranger 1]

As for Ailsa's death...I think the only mistake they made was the time skip between seasons.If we'd seen the reaction of Sally, Irene et al to the news, I think it would have worked fine.

Exactly. Hence the complaint. They didn't show that. So we don't like it. I don't understand who you're disagreeing with.

I dunno...I mean, I think the actual funeral is good and I don't think you could say that the people there aren't bothered that Ailsa's dead.But I guess there were other plot threads left over from the finale that they needed to pick up on and people didn't like that.I can see why they did it the way they did and, once you accept the way they chose to tell the story, it was okay.But yes, I accept there was a miscalculation.Ironically, the beginning of this year showed how it should have been done, when you got two episodes of reaction to Charlie's death before the funeral so they could play out other storylines in parallel.

[H&Alover]

I found the 'whooshing' bits annoying.

Ah those London scenes! A few more buildings to wonder at since then and County Hall is no more!!! Covent Garden looked good though. What was the point of the Atomic Kitten appearance? Robbie came across as very intense and I'm wondering if Hayley had stuck with him would he have turned out a right control freak? I liked the way Will and Gypsy telling their stories was done.

I'd completely forgotten VJ and Lily were born on the same day!!! Which was in 2001 so he (and Lily) are only 11, despite TPTB suddenly deciding he is 12 nearly 13!! Could blame Nick's age on him being so cool about the (non) panic, and was that shoving about at the door the second time round for real or a goof? What a difference in the two births, Leah going through agony for 15+ hours and Gypsy just popping out Lily like a cork out of a bottle, that was sweet Gypsy saying 'yes'. So sad when Vinnie was led off by the cops, but he was so dignified about it. Good that Leah had her family around her. Nice to see Charlotte again, was she the current one and only doctor at that time?

It wasn't until Brodie mentioned him that I remembered Miles.

Something that occurred to me during these last couple of weeks is the doubling of past and present names. Casey(male and female), Miles, Tigan/Tiegan, Nick and others. Just as well they weren't all around at more or less the same time, could have been very confusing.