Marilyn Chambers - Emily Symons

[j.laur5]

I feel like they have watered down Marilyn too much now. The character traits are ALL coming from Emily Symons (which is fantastic) but the writers/directors dont seem to be giving her any material to work with at all. When was the last time she said anything remotely 'dizzy' or got her words mixed up? Its as if they kept it up for the first few months and then dropped it all. Basically everything she does and says now could be coming out of the mouth of any other regular character, there isn't anything in the scripts that are specifically character based on Marilyn.

I'd like to see some more of this kind of thing coming from Maz these days;

(0.17)

But you have to understand Marilyn is more mature and older and sort of becoming like a parent and role model towards the Walkers and Nicole.

It's like Irene when she was back in the 90s used to wear short skirts a tiny bit more loose. Now in 2011 Irene would not be seen dead in a small skirt because she is a first class lady now. The same could be said about Leah. She used to be very hypo when she frist arrived but now she's not.

I think its realistic that characters change as they get older.

Edited March 1, 2011 by john003au

[alexx]

I think I've been into this before, I disagree. I am not saying she shouldn't become more motherly/older and wiser etc, that was evident during the 90's as she matured but I am complaining at the fact that her personalty traits have disappeared, people change yes but they dont become someone else. Same can be said for Irene and Leah too Imo To me its just lazy writing or not truly knowing the characters. Irene used to be a uni student and still very much acknowledged the fact that she was the town 'dill', but that went long ago.

Its like saying Colleen shouldn't be gossipy or eccentric becuase she is older. Alf shouldn't say flamin becuase he is older etc That is part of their character, makes what they are as characters. I just think they've forgotten how to write Marilyn (or the current writers haven't written scripts for her before). Yes she can still want to adopt and settle down and still be motherly to Nicole etc but that doesn't mean they should dismiss what was a HUGE aspect of the character for 10 years. Haven't you ever seen adults who are rather dizzy and bubbly? They were young once too.

At the moment I see the current Marilyn as how she was written when she was depressed after Byron was diagnosed with cancer 1999, she became quite serious and pensive showing the odd smile now and again. Its the same now, she doesn't seem happy.

Edited March 1, 2011 by alexx

[Red Ranger 1]

I'm actually finding Marilyn very unlikable at the moment.It's nothing new, there were quite a few times in the '90s when I didn't like her.In fact the current plotline reminds me of when Chloe got pregnant and Marilyn tried to get her hands on her baby.Of course, back then Chloe told her to get lost after a couple of episodes whereas here we've had weeks of Marilyn manipulating and taking advantage of a scared and vulnerable teenager.And I get the feeling the writers don't even realise they're doing it and expect us to see her as cute and perky.Much like they didn't seem to notice she'd come charging into Miles' home, thrown out his things and tried to bully him into doing what she wanted.Much like they don't seem to have realised her standard response to Sid daring to have a different opinion to hers is to throw a tantrum and storm out.I really hope she doesn't get her own way on this:Nicole came to her needing help and support and instead she's only interested in pressuring Nicole into giving her what she wants and doesn't seem to care about what's best for anyone else or how her actions affect them.

This whole insistence that Marilyn would be a good parent reminds me of the way people say it about Gina or to a lesser extent Leah when the on screen evidence is very much to the contrary.I think she's far too selfish and immature to look after Nicole's baby, Nicole's think about other people more than her and she's less than half her age.I'm astonished people think she's motherly because she barely acts like an adult most of the time, even when she's sad and serious it's a child's version of sad and serious.She's been good with Nicole or Dexter on occasion but she seems more like a big sister than a mother figure.At the moment she barely qualifies as a friend to Nicole, she seems more like a user.

There really are times when I wish they'd kept their word last year and killed her...

[alexx]

I think the only comments I agree with in your post are;

I get the feeling the writers don't even realise they're doing it and expect us to see her as cute and perky...She seems more like a big sister than a mother figure...standard response to Sid daring to have a different opinion to hers is to throw a tantrum and storm out.

That is what I mean by she doesn't seem happy or like her old self - a major reason the audience would see Maz as 'cute and perky' is the sort of zany stuff she would come out with, the dialogue, the scripts and then Emily's portrayal obviously. But a lot of it has been missing from the writers/directors side. I certainly dont see her as manipulative though.

Her relationship with Sid is pretty much, if not all based on disagreement, I dont get it. Its certainly not a match for the love that was evident and written faultlessly (Imo) between her and Fisher.

Edited March 2, 2011 by alexx

[Red Ranger 1]

Okay, "manipulative" may be a bit extreme, although she doesn't seem adverse to emotional blackmail to get what she wants, intentionally or otherwise.(Sid, and probably the other Walkers, only seem to be going along with it to keep her happy.)It's odd that they seemed to set up some half-decent plotlines for her at the end of last year, with her giving away her belongings and suffering a crisis of faith, which have been barely acknowledged in favour of her obsessing and behaving in a proprietorial manner about a baby that, frankly, is nothing to do with her in a way I find very unattractive.At best, she's making a difficult situation even worse out of wilful blindness.

[beau_t]

Okay, "manipulative" may be a bit extreme, although she doesn't seem adverse to emotional blackmail to get what she wants, intentionally or otherwise.(Sid, and probably the other Walkers, only seem to be going along with it to keep her happy.)It's odd that they seemed to set up some half-decent plotlines for her at the end of last year, with her giving away her belongings and suffering a crisis of faith, which have been barely acknowledged in favour of her obsessing and behaving in a proprietorial manner about a baby that, frankly, is nothing to do with her in a way I find very unattractive.At best, she's making a difficult situation even worse out of wilful blindness.

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.

[Alfie1]

Make Marilyn more dizzy!

[j.laur5]

I understand where you are coming from guys but like I said last tme Marilyn is more of role model now and a parent.

I am more than sure we will see her being dizzy now and again but you have to accept that it's realsitc that most people slow down as they get older.

Edited March 18, 2011 by john003au

[alexx]

I understand where you are coming from guys but like I said last tme Marilyn is more of role model now and a parent.

I am more than sure we will see her being dizzy now and again but you have to accept that it's realsitc that most people slow down as they get older.

What do you mean by slow down though? I think you miss my point when I say just becuase you get older doesn't mean your personalty diminishes or is toned right down to almost opposite. If you say daft things or laugh at silly words or get your own words mixed up every now and again for all of your life, you dont suddenly stop because you live in a house with teenagers (Colleen is an example of this - she is older and yet even more eccentric than she ever was).

Even if that was humanly possible (to suddenly change), dont you think it is boring to strip a unique fun character of their personalty and turn them into yet any other wise old role model? I thought I read that you said you had gotten bored with Marliyn, maybe this is the reason.

Besides she isn't a role model in the show, no one goes to her for advice, they go to have a friendly chat with her now and again but she isn't written as a motherly figure. I'm glad about that too, I dont want them to try and turn her into Pippa becuase that isn't the character. She was the one who needed advice from friends and whilst she could at times come up with some poignant and quirky things to say to people that helped them out, it was usually done unintentionally (which made those moments quite sweet) ending with dialogue like 'Thanks Maz' 'For what?' 'Being you'...and Marilyn is left oblivious.

Edited March 19, 2011 by alexx

[j.laur5]

I understand where you are coming from guys but like I said last tme Marilyn is more of role model now and a parent.

I am more than sure we will see her being dizzy now and again but you have to accept that it's realsitc that most people slow down as they get older.

What do you mean by slow down though? I think you miss my point when I say just becuase you get older doesn't mean your personalty diminishes or is toned right down to almost opposite. If you say daft things or laugh at silly words or get your own words mixed up every now and again for all of your life, you dont suddenly stop because you live in a house with teenagers (Colleen is an example of this - she is older and yet even more eccentric than she ever was).

Even if that was humanly possible (to suddenly change), dont you think it is boring to strip a unique fun character of their personalty and turn them into yet any other wise old role model? I thought I read that you said you had gotten bored with Marliyn, maybe this is the reason.

Besides she isn't a role model in the show, no one goes to her for advice, they go to have a friendly chat with her now and again but she isn't written as a motherly figure. I'm glad about that too, I dont want them to try and turn her into Pippa becuase that isn't the character. She was the one who needed advice from friends and whilst she could at times come up with some poignant and quirky things to say to people that helped them out, it was usually done unintentionally (which made those moments quite sweet) ending with dialogue like 'Thanks Maz' 'For what?' 'Being you'...and Marilyn is left oblivious.

I never said I got bored with her.

Okay well, look at Susan on Neighbours. I was watching episodes from 1999 and Susan was a lot stonger in personality and seemed more active. But then I watched her now and she's slowed down so much.

But put yourself in Marilyn's shoes. She's now kind of a step mother to Indi and Dexter and I guess she wants to try and be a role model to them. And while I am sure we will still her fun side from time to time I think the producers want to try and balance between her fun side and her more serious side.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Jen
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