H&A Spring Break - From the Bay to LA

[H&Alover]

Thanks Dan F, I did read your lists, but on my TV system you can get a brief précis of the episode that is to be shown and each day this week it's mentioned Dex driving April to hospital after she got food poisoning, someone somewhere got it all wrong.

Anyways, back to Tuesday and Wednesday. I'd forgotten Irene in her blonde days and she was doing as she is now running the Diner (1994/1995 version). Tuesday was pretty boring taken up as it was with mainly Roxy and Rob. I was also reminded of Maddie and Spencer two young people supposedly madly in love though neither couple had taken the next step and who eventually break up. Shannon and Curtis may not have been blood brother and sister but they had been living together as adopted brother and sister which brings it into the grey area of whether it's right or wrong, even it was just kissing. If they were supposed to be keeping it secret why risk having a kiss outside the Surf Club in broad daylight! As he didn't know their true relationship no wonder Alf was so shocked when he saw them having a snog on the sofa. I saw they were using the freeze frame ending in that episode and last nights. Michael was evidently heading for some kind of breakdown by the way he was going on, he did seem to be trying to hold down a lot of jobs to keep the money coming in. Shame we don't seem to have a General store anymore in the bay, that was another meeting place for people to gather and gossip.

Btw I did notice at the Beach house the downstairs bedroom that isn't used anymore didn't exist it was just a blank wall.

Last nights was much better and a lot had happened in the year of 1994 (Tuesday) and 1995 (Wednesday). Angel had been run over by Alf and ended up in a wheelchair, but was determined to walk down the aisle which she did on Don's arm, she'd found her son which she had had to give up to his paternal grandmother. Curtis and Shannon had obviously long broken up and now she had this obsession with Shane, much more dangerous then a crush the way she was acting. Angel must have been feeling pretty insecure if she even thought Shane was cheating on her with Shannon, had he been giving her any cause to make her doubt him. The way she just believed Shannon about her sleeping with him rather than go and tackle Shane says her belief in him was shaky. Shame their relationship ended so sadly. I remember Selina's arrival, she was a real wild child with quite a reputation, deserved or not.

Maz had curly hair back then, something else I'd forgotten, her and Irene's friendship was really good back then. So typical of Maz that she'd say yes to going out with O;Reilly rather than disappoint him.

That was a hard time for Alsa and Alf when she suffered from what is now known as PTSD after she was attacked.

[Dan F]

Well the first 1997 episode hasn't seen the bizarre edit to the end credits that was on a few of the 1997-1999 ones last time around, which Channel 5 claimed was "how they received them" - so it'll be interesting to see if the next few eps remain untouched too.

The Shannon/Katherine story wasn't quite how I remembered it, but it has been a while since I had a gander at those eps. Of course any fan who was watching in 2005/2006 will recognise Linden Wilkinson from her later, slightly more memorable role.

Reference to Rachel wanting to see Mrs Smart - context again, Colleen had returned to Summer Bay in the previous episode from living with her sister in Cairns, which was her first appearance since 1989. It was only a one-off appearance though, and whilst she was known to be living in Summer Bay and often babysitting Rachel, we didn't see her again until she became part of the main cast in late 1999.

Nice to see a short appearance from Kelly, I always appreciated her character and wasn't too keen on how she was written out, but I know a lot of people found her a bit bland. And 'Apple Eyes' by Swoop playing in the diner in that scene as a bonus, which made it to the H&A soundtrack album

Actually it's just reminded me of an interview with Katrina Hobbs I saw a while back - she talks about H&A from 3:46 to 5:50, and says the same sort of thing about Kelly.

[CaptainHulk]

Yeah, Colleen originally came back in 1997 to clean out the old Mobile home in order to sell it and was supposed to stay for six weeks but ended up sticking around 15 years! and just wasn't seen for two of them.

[Jamie2811]

Wow Shannon's mother, a far cry from the Mumma Rose role she played a few years later!

Anyone know the background of the article Shannon wrote and where her mother fits into it?

[CaptainHulk]

Anyone notice Tiegan's uniform was a little on the short side in 2085, notably the breakfast scene at the Ross family's table when she's about to leave for school? Just an observation, nothing sinister.

Also the 1996 production cycle was probably one of the longest since 1989. The eps with copyright 1996 ran into about Mid-April 1997, around about the time Curtis left.

[c120701]

The opening credits seemed a little blurry today. Whilst they probably look the least dated, they don't seem to have faired as well in quality as the earlier styles oddly.

Another episode where Shannon seemed to have taken a bit of a backseat sadly, but nice to see Belinda Emmett as Rebecca and also Kelly. I too quite liked her, and I liked the Kelly/Angel/Shane/Travis friendship.

They have been quite good in that the episodes so far have featured Irene, Alf, Marilyn and/or Leah fairly strongly at times. It's nice to see those characters when they were at the forefront of the show.

[beau_t]

Yeah, Colleen originally came back in 1997 to clean out the old Mobile home in order to sell it and was supposed to stay for six weeks but ended up sticking around 15 years! and just wasn't seen for two of them.

Not quite. Her first scene in 1999 showed her "arriving back to Summer Bay" with suitcases in hand. So she'd obviously left at some point after her 1997 appearance (and all the references to her babysitting Rachel) and then come back again.

Interesting interview with Katrina Hobbs. Wow, she has hardly changed! I never thought Kelly was bland. She certainly had plenty of drama surrounding her. But I understand what she was saying re "why can't she have an affair, or be bitchier" etc. I suppose she wasn't the most exciting character in terms of her personality and doing no wrong, but I felt she was a strong character with a lot of screen presence.

[CaptainHulk]

Always thought that was a holiday visiting Lance she came back from.

Shannon was somewhat prominent in 2085 (it was her vs Katherine) but nowhere as much as Selina or Tiegan.

[Slade]

A little bit further on from yesterday. Donna and Jack are gone but we have Rebecca, Kelly and Jesse. I'm another person who didn't mind Kelly. If this was in 1997 then I don't think I was watching the show very much during that particular period.

I quite liked the dialogue/rivalry between Shannon and her mother especially the idealist part pertaining to Shannon's crusade against her. Again you could argue she was in the wrong with Fisher and the article. She might not have intended it to come out the way it did but she was blinded because she was on a mission. But again I couldn't get annoyed with her because she was such a little cutie. A fiery little redhead.

I do remember quite liking Tiegan sometimes even though she had a chip on her shoulder (and I recall her having a fight with Justine one time) but she really wasn't doing herself any favours in that episode. I liked the way Joey was trying to help her and I didn't blame him for telling Pippa that she couldn't read. I actually thought Joey looked a little bit like Corey.

I think I preferred Jesse more when he didn't have hair.

[beau_t]

The opening credits seemed a little blurry today. Whilst they probably look the least dated, they don't seem to have faired as well in quality as the earlier styles oddly.

The older styles were just normal videos but I think they used all sorts of grainy filters and video effects stuff on the 1996-1999 credits which were fine for TVs back then but probably don't look as great on modern high quality screens.

Always thought that was a holiday visiting Lance she came back from.

I'm pretty sure she said something about "moving back to the Bay" but happy to be corrected .