Classic Episodes on 5★

[Blaxland 89]

Great to see the boat disaster again. And a cracking online episode tonight as we head into the Coral Drouyn era. The show really started to regain its' modjo in 2002 after a few years in the wilderness. Paula Forrest and Tammin Sursok were fantastic actresses.

Agree This was the first time I took an interest in the show since mid 2000

[Blaxland 89]

They've always been good with continuity regarding Carly's alcoholism - in 2000 when she returned for Sally's wedding she was pouring champagne for everyone but was drinking OJ herself. Whether they did actually remember when writing the scripts for both occasions, or whether it was Sharyn that pointed it out whilst filming the scene, is anybody's guess - but either way it's a great subtle touch without the need for "Oh I don't drink, an OJ will be fine"

But there is a scene in 2008 where it looks like Carly is drinking champagne and she mention something about having a drink. I may be mistaken though and she may not have been talking about herself. Does anyone know the scene I mean. Its in Summer Bay house around the time Sally leaves.

[c120701]

I loved the scene between Irene and Will in his final episode with Gypsy, which is very similar to the Pippa and Frank scene on the stairs at Summer Bay House in 2000.

I always see the Smiths as Irene redeeming herself to herself more so than the other kids, mainly because there were two boys and a girl, so Will is Nathan, Hayley is Finlay and Nick is Damien almost in Irene's mind.

That's an excellent analogy. I'd never thought of that.

I don't know if that's what they intended as there were always three of them, right from Will's arrival.

[Red Ranger 1]

I loved the scene between Irene and Will in his final episode with Gypsy, which is very similar to the Pippa and Frank scene on the stairs at Summer Bay House in 2000.

I always see the Smiths as Irene redeeming herself to herself more so than the other kids, mainly because there were two boys and a girl, so Will is Nathan, Hayley is Finlay and Nick is Damien almost in Irene's mind.

That's an excellent analogy. I'd never thought of that.

I don't know if that's what they intended as there were always three of them, right from Will's arrival.

That's an interest point.We saw that episode from just after Will arrived and Irene finds a photo of the three of them and actually says "They remind me of my three" or words to that effect.

[H&Alover]

I loved the scene between Irene and Will in his final episode with Gypsy, which is very similar to the Pippa and Frank scene on the stairs at Summer Bay House in 2000.

I always see the Smiths as Irene redeeming herself to herself more so than the other kids, mainly because there were two boys and a girl, so Will is Nathan, Hayley is Finlay and Nick is Damien almost in Irene's mind.

That's an excellent analogy. I'd never thought of that.

I don't know if that's what they intended as there were always three of them, right from Will's arrival.

That's an interest point.We saw that episode from just after Will arrived and Irene finds a photo of the three of them and actually says "They remind me of my three" or words to that effect.

I hadn't thought of that either, maybe it was a second chance for Irene to get it right this time? Yes she did say that Red.

[Light of the Bay]

It's been so long since I've seen Fisher's final episode! It's gonna be emotional

[patrick]

I love fishers last episode, I have been trying to find it on you tube for years Home and away did his charater justice !!

[James Martin]

I enjoyed seeing Fisher's exit again. Can't say the same for the wedding. Yeah, it's a landmark episode but ultimately one that's been done to death on Summer Breaks of yore. And the Mineshaft disaster was great from an SFX point of view, but in the scheme of things, it wasn't important. There was no fallout whatsoever from it apart from Seb bonking Jade in Alf's flat a few weeks into 2004.

It would have been nice to see some alternatives. Angie's demise or Angie's death. Tasha's arrival. I'd have even suggested the School Formal episode where Kit and Noah patched things up and Kane had a massive go at Rhys. There's also the "Hearts Divided" era with Dani running over Kane to consider - you could run a whole afternoon of episodes based on that. And the trial episodes were great too.

2003 and 2004 are two of the best years of Home & Away, and I just feel 2003 was badly represented there.

2004, predictably, centres round the Olympic Cliffhanger, but rightly so. I'd have personally gone for the first episode back after Athens 2004, or the third slightly "Christmas Carol" episode back. You don't really get any closure from Hayley in the one that's being shown - really, you need to watch the first three episodes back in one 90 minute sitting.

I wouldn't bust a gut to watch the online episode. Rhys marries Beth and Kane and Kirsty run away, but again it's not that important in the big scheme of things. I'd have gone with another equally short-lived marriage and chosen Hayley & Noah's wedding, with Kane & Kirsty renewing their vows (but again, you need watch it back to back with the following episode at the Surf Club reception to do it justice - it feels like a one-hour episode hacked into two.)

If you've never seen them before though, especially if you weren't watching at all in 2004, please please please WATCH TONIGHT'S TELEVISED EPISODES. If you're out, Sky+/V+ them or get your ass to Demand Five. When people moan at me for slagging off the current show (and my Facebook followers do!) because I claim it's not "character-based" enough, this is what I mean. This is where Home & Away got the balance of Drama vs. Characters just right.

The first one works best in the dark with the sound up by the way... ;)

[Red Ranger 1]

Don's farewell really was a thing of beauty.I missed it when it was repeated one weekend a few years ago so glad to see it again.Maybe there were a couple too many speeches in there(Noah and Kirsty, really?And Irene was probably only included because she's long-serving)but it kind of worked and it was a decent send off.I really wish we'd seen Kirsty kissing him on the cheek, which I think must have been shortly beforehand given her oblique mention of it.I was shocked at how many characters actually turned up, it feels like that sort of thing is rarer these days but maybe we're just seeing a lot of those big episodes in this run.(I think there may even have been more characters there than I saw, it was a bit of a shock to see Simone and VJ credited at the end.Have to see if I can pick them out some time.)The flashback sequence was perfectly pitched, even though I've only just seen them all getting glimpses of the likes of Shannon, Selina and Gypsy plus Don's punk outfit felt rather nostalgic(and seeing Don's farewell to Belinda Emmett's Rebecca feels especially poignant), and the reminder of his and Sally's first meeting felt like a little passing the torch moment.Didn't realise we'd get some of the surrogacy stuff in that episode, was rather nice.Angie felt a bit out of place but I guess it was a reminder of the mess Don was leaving them all to cope with.I absolutely loved the stuff with Rhys and Max:They tend to be the most maligned of the often maligned Sutherlands but that scene showed just how good they could both be when given the material.

Sally and Flynn's wedding...yeah.Like James Martin, I wasn't too bothered about this one.Pretty standard wedding fare, I think even the first time round I found the first half of that episode dull:I liked Sally and Leah's bickering but there wasn't really any doubt that Sally would make it to the wedding sooner or later, when Scott turns up we were presumably meant to think "Oh thank goodness they're all right" rather than "Oh thank goodness that's over."I was convinced Carly was among the returnees so surprised to hear her make her excuses, nice that a more minor character like Ashley got a mention too.Kind of ironic that right after Don's farewell we got his first return visit.Good that Sophie's sorted her hair out and that someone finally remember Christopher exists(although still no mention of Pippa's daughter...), shame he was forgotten again after this visit.I dunno, I was never really sold on Sally and Flynn so maybe I'm not the best audience for this.Best bit of the episode:Paris' reaction to Irene catching the bouquet.

I'll watch the online episode tomorrow but apart from wanting to stick my fingers in my ears and close my eyes at the thought of Jade and Seb together, I think the mineshaft incident is possibly an important beat in Kane's development:Even Beth is willing to believe he might be responsible for the Sutherlands going missing but, while it would be several months before he was accepted by everyone, after he and Seb had basically dug their girlfriends out with their bare hands I think everyone had to accept, however much they might not want to, that whatever his faults he was genuine about Kirsty.Reserve comment on the 2004 episodes until I've seen them but I'm perhaps a bit more cynical about them and I don't think the escalating repeat performances were to anyone's benefit:Peter's comment that in a place like Summer Bay Sarah is a one-off rather than the norm would soon be rather debatable.

[H&Alover]

Really lovely seeing Don's leaving episode, got all teary all over again. It was so wonderfully done and that they arranged everything without him having a clue was great! Actually having Angie there like a sceptre not quite at the feast was neatly done. The fact she wasn't invited spoke volumes to me. Alf was still recovering from his op then? When Angie was speaking to Don on the beach and said to him "I can see myself living here for a long time" I immediately thought 'Oh no you ain't!!'. That was a nice inclusion of Don and Sally's first meeting, who would have thought that from that inaspicious meeting, when she looked terrified of him, they would become such good friends. Odd there were no telegrams form absent friends or relatives.

Btw when Irene was having a pop at Angie (the best woman we have loved to hate ever imvho) and said she would kill her if anything happened to Nic, Dylan walked up and once Irene had walked away Angie thanked him for defending her and he replied he hadn't he was making sure Irene didn't say anthing that she might regret. Now as far as I can recall he never said anything, did he? The Max, Rhys and Colleen scenes were a nice diverson, Colleen and Max had a good relationship. He obviously hadn't learnt from the charges of possible plagarism as he used lines from the poem Don had read them in his tribute poem.

I'm probably one of a few number that haven't seen the rerun of Flynn and Sally's wedding so for me it was nice to see it again. One thing that did strike me as odd was when Leah and Sally were tramping through the woods not once did they mention what had happened to Scott and if he was OK.