beau_t

When does the school set change to the one seen in the mid 90s that was destroyed in the earth quake (with the big stair case) and is the reason for the change mentioned onscreen?

^ which is precicely why I hated this storyline from the second Nicole told Marilyn "I'm pregnant." Because it was obvious what was coming - and there's only one way a storyline like this can play out, and I knew what it meant for Marilyn.

I completely agree with Red Ranger. The second Nicole told Marilyn "I'm pregnant" in the season finale, I knew this was a bad day for Marilyn's likeability and my fears were confirmed when Nicole stated she was going to give Marilyn her baby. For a start, it's just such a serious storyline. I'm not saying Marilyn can't have serious storylines, but not ones that will put her in such a dark light as I feared. "Surrogacy" storylines (though it's not really surrogacy) like this in soaps can only follow one pattern and that's the pregnant one chopping and changing her mind about whether she wants the baby, and the one who wants to adopt coming across as pressurising, insensitive, and overbearing (even in an unintentional way with the best of intentions). Not to mention it's such a serious issue anyway that Marilyn just seems to constantly be in a bad mood, or at best pensive and sombre over it. I agree with Alexx also that it's like the writers made the effort with Marilyn for the first couple of months and then figured that was enough for some reason. Her dialogue was always "Maz-specific" in previous years, even during serious times. Now, her dialogue could be coming out of any character's mouth and if it wasn't for Emily Symons injecting what she knows as "Marilyn" into the role, the character would be beyond saving to me. Not especially important, but I did read on Summer Bay Journal some time last year that the scripts in Marilyn's return episodes had her called Alf "Alf", and Emily changed the dialogue herself to "Mr Stewart", as she had always called him. It's understandable that the current writers might not have known that, but it's an example of how important Emily herself is to the character of Marilyn, and if we were to look at the writing alone in current episodes, without Emily's portrayal, it's not Marilyn at all.

I don't remember that at all. Was she a bit happier than she was when she left? I always thought her exit was horrible and unresolved.

What a great feature - thank you!! ^ It says Jade Sutherland subsequently made a guest stint after her exit. I don't remember this?

She was ill (mentally). She wanted to punish Donald for making Alan so unhappy. I guess with no kids around and no family, she had become lonely and isolated. With nothing but Alan's book for company, in which he talked about how bad Don was to him, things got a bit twisted in her mind.

That's very interesting, thanks! I'd always thought it was an entirely different place, maybe because the lack of an upstairs in Scott's boatshed just confirmed for me that it wasn't Michael's. How strange that it was built right next to the original. Rob must have been busy indoors during those 2003 scenes!

I'm sure these are probably already in your "To Find" list... Fisher's original house, Morag's mansion (Blaxland mansion), Alf's early 90s supermarket and then the smaller store, and I know it's no longer standing but would love some information on the real life location of Hogan's General Store, what it was in real life, why they knocked it down etc... Also was Scott Hunter's short-lived boat shed really the same one that Michael owned in the 90s? Was this ever stated in the show? I always thought it was a different location.

Why did they move Sally's shot? Were they trying to integrate her more with Shannon and Selina? Is it also worth noting that the shot of Kelly and the shot of Steven and Travis were linked with Kelly throwing a ball to them? I think this is the only time this happened between different credit shots...?

Dan do know any explanation why they changed the exteriors of the Beach house and Nash house? Did the owners of the houses no longer want them to film there or something?

Thanks Dan. I have something interesting to add (or at least I find it interesting). The two girls running along the beach in the shot that replaced Rob, are the same two girls sitting on the guys shoulders in the pool in the penultimate shot of the credits. One of the girls was also a regular extra on the show at the time, I always noticed her in the Diner. She was also at Shane and Angel's wedding and can clearly be seen behind Selina after she catches Angel's bouquet.

^ It's more that they have failed to write her as a character. As someone posted somewhere on here recently (can't remember where) the complete lack of focus on the reasons behind Ruby's awful behaviour have ruined her character. She goes from obsession to obsession with no sense of realism behind it. i can't STAND her and I skip all her scenes. I feel terrible for Rebecca Breeds.

It's true. Sid is soooooo serious. I guess Don Fisher was too. But Marilyn made him really silly sometimes, which is an effect she has yet to have on Sid really.

Very much looking forward to the Morag-heavy 1989 season.

I have to say, I prefer shop-keeper Ailsa to Diner-owner Ailsa. She lost that "centre of the community" vibe. Anyway, that's ages away. Back to topic in hand. I forgot how good this Samuels storyline is.

I didn't say it wasn't legal, just that the writers wouldn't want to do it so they invented Marilyn rather than bring back Narelle. Just my theory.

I completely agree. The "dizzy" side of her character has been dropped but (for whatever reason) this was deliberate. Emily said it on one of the video interviews on the official site. She said something like "She is less dizzy and more spiritual"... I guess they wanted to take the character in a different direction, maybe they were worried about just making her a cartoon of her former self? It's a shame, I miss dizzy clutzy Marilyn but I still love the Marilyn we have now, I wouldn't give her up for all the tea in China

I agree Narelle was great but if she had stayed around they probably wouldn't have written in Marilyn. I always thought they (the writers) kind of liked the idea of Lance dating someone like Narelle but obviously couldn't (becuase they were cousins) so they replaced her with Marilyn.

And also ARRGHH Why don't people spell Ailsa properly?!?!?!?!

I still don't think it was strange. Alan was clearly her favourite. She even once said she wished she had a daughter like Bobby! I don't think she liked Rebecca very much!

I think originally they did try to hide it because when Debra took over the role I always looked hard to see if I could spot Vanessa Downing in any of the family photos and I think they removed her from them all! But as time went on it became a part of the show's history and when enough water was under the bridge I think they realised they could acknowledge it and the fans wouldn't mind. That's my opinion. To be honest Pippa as a character wasn't that great. She didn't really do much over her 10 years. Her only strong storylines that I can think of were: Her brother Danny The deaths of Tom, Michael and Dale Her coma and recovery She has now been far surpassed by Irene both in terms of years on the show and in terms of strong storylines. Leah I think is currently on a par year wise but also surpassed in terms of storylines and definately in terms of character development. Pippa was a mum, and she was great, but they couldn't really develop or grow her character. That's not to say I didn't like her, in fact I think the show benefitted a lot from having that strong earth mother "heart of the Bay" type character who was friends with everyone and always had a pot of tea on for you. Since she left it has never quite been replaced. I'm not going to get into VD/DL comparisons because it was the same character! Although I will say that I felt in Pippa's (original) final episode when she left with Ian, they took the character back to her "Vanessa Downing" roots. She played basketball with Sam in the caravan park and described the house to Rebecca as being full of "horrible rotten messy adorable kids". Both very "early Pippa" things to do and say, and not something you were used to DL doing/saying.

There is no ambiguity at the moment. Rebecca was specifically mentioned when Barbara first appeared on the show. She told Donald that Rebecca's piano lesssons were doing well, or something to that effect.

Well I guess some people find that kind of arrogance hot. I would not complain if I looked like him Not sure of him as a character. Kind of reminds me of Dodge when he returned in the early 90s. Very cool and laid back in appearance, but beneath the surface he is constantly planning and calculating.

Yes you are right I've noticed this before. There are clips on SBJ. When Marilyn returns around the mid 90s she walks up to Lance's/Colleen's mobile home and laughs (you get the impression there should have been a flashback here) and there are no stairs whatsoever. So they must have removed the stairs for whatever reason when they stopped showing the mobile home after Lance's exit. I think this was the first time it had been shown on screen for years. In 2000 when Sally talks to Lance on the steps and also in the storyline where Les returns to win Colleen back, the steps have returned but now go straight out instead of sideways. I thought I was the only one who noticed these peculiar details. What I have never been able to determine for sure, is whether the interior set in 2000 for the Colleen/Les storyline is the same one that was used for Lance and Martin in the 80s. But if we ever do see Colleen's mobile home again in the future, it won't be the same one we know and love, because as Ryan said it was destroyed by Josh West and she got a replacement. Also (as we all know) the real life one was destroyed in the bush fire.

I think when they brought him back in 2000, they may have got the name of Colleen's ex confused with Celia's. Celia's fiance that was killed in was called Les and she talks about him a lot. The writers of the "Les" episodes in 2000 may have thought they remembered correctly, but were actually thinking about Celia's ex. Didn't they make a similar mistake that year by saying Colleen's maiden name was O'Rourke? That was in fact Ailsa's real maiden name. Colleen's was Hickey. It was probably the same writer again thinking they remembered correctly, but not getting it quite right.