H&A Spring Break - From the Bay to LA

[Pierced Musie]

Oh 2004 episodes... how I miss thee!

Makes me wanna break out the VCR & watch the tapes I've still got.

It will be interesting to see all of this weeks episodes, just to see how much better Hemsworth got as an actor through his years on the show. Plus... I assume Kit will feature in some Kim episodes. Woohoo!

[emmasi]

Oh 2004 episodes... how I miss thee!

Makes me wanna break out the VCR & watch the tapes I've still got.

I have a lot of old tapes too, but they don't go as far back as Kim's arrival The ones I do have are impossible to part with, even though the picture/sound quality is terrible and the VCR barely works.

[H&Alover]

Max was Rhy's nephew, son of Rhy's wayward brother and Henry was Beth's son. Max and Colleen were good friends I remember

Irene couldn't help but overhear Kim and Hyde as they were shouting at each other, not as if she had her ear to the door! Who would have thought they would go on to be a couple. We all found out later why Barry and Kim were the way they were towards each other.

I liked the Flynn we saw to the other one, as usual the actor playing the doctor is always the only doctor on duty. Am I right in remembering Hayley had a car accident? Didn't she marry Scott and leave the bay?

Odd that we finished H&A with a boxing (or not) storyline then the first oldie episode we see of H&A is also boxing themed! Max and Henry are a lot younger though and they were both suitably protected. If I'd been Henry I would have been so embarrassed if my mum had turned up and stopped it. I did like Max gloating because he was getting all the attention from the girls, being smaller and the loser!

Nice to see Robbie and Tash again, kind of the Dex and April of the time.

[c120701]

It's great to have opening credits and hear the theme again, even if it is a butchered version until we get to Shannon week.

Doesn't the show look dark? It does make you appreciate the production values now.

If Summer Bay House had it's 2004 decor with the current lighting it'd be gorgeous.

I miss Irene working at the school.

[Red Ranger 1]

Was that Caitlin chatting to Max near the end?I seem to remember it was her and the BTTB guide says so but I completely failed to recognise her and she wasn't credited

No it doesn't appear to be Caitlin unless she changed a lot since the 2003 ep I compared it to.

Ah, thanks, Dan.Glad I haven't gone senile enough to have forgotten what she looked like.I'll swear she was in at least one episode in early 2004 though, after which the presence of Henry and Matilda made her a bit redundant.

Max was axed during the Bevan Lee era, as was Rhys. I remember that it was documented here at the time however that Jade and Seb's axings came from further up at Seven and Coral Drouyn's hand was effectively forced.

Ah, okay, Bevan Lee didn't care about Max.Possibly evidence that he wasn't as infallible as some people think, although maybe I was the only one that liked Max.Frankly, well done whoever put a stop to Coral trying to foist two characters who'd always been nothing more than friends and not even particularly close ones on us as soul mates when I was still mourning the end of Jade and Nick.Not her best move either, and it's a shame no-one steps in these days to stop showrunners clinging onto once great characters whose time has past.

I remember when Scott allowed Kane to start working with him on the Blaxland and he would go home talking to Dani about his shifts and even one time told her about the scars on Kane's back and Dani didn't like the fact that she felt Scott was trying to make her feel sorry for him.

I actually really liked Jade's hair. I remember when she changed it and thought it really suited her.

And we get to see fake Flynn with Hayley. Can't remember what happened to her.

Hayley had just driven her car into a tree while arguing with Brodie.I remember Jade's between episodes haircut despite there being no time for it to have happened (she hasn't even changed out of school uniform!):Jade climbed through The Window (for the first time?) and Nick hangs a lampshade with "What are you doing and when did you cut your hair?"I think the bad blood between Dani and Kane slowly dissipated throughout 2004 until it was well and truly gone by the time of the Felix/Sarah storyline, at least by that point we'd moved on from the very uncomfortable in retrospect 2003 "Dani and Kane constantly at each other's throats and most of the audience are siding with him and are probably meant to" phase.

Is there a way for Aussies to watch these eps online...?

I don't think Demand5 is accessible outside the UK but Kim and Robbie's first meeting is in 3677, might be worth looking around to check whether other things are blocked or not...

Am I right in remembering Hayley had a car accident? Didn't she marry Scott and leave the bay?

See above and Hayley got engaged to Scott and left the Bay, never heard if they got married or not.

Today's ep!

Ah, the early days of Kim and Kit.I absolutely loved the way she was looking at him after her "He's behind me, isn't he?" moment.It really is to the show's credit that they kept this bubbling along in the background for nearly three years until...well, that's the end of the week.Kit's hair was weird though, as was Leah's(and indeed Leah's outfit in the first half of the episode).2004 must have been a bad hair year.Hayley playing matchmaker is fun(ahh, we're in the "Noah's two women" period here), except that jarringly the chemistry between her and Kim is already there and I'm indulging in multiple shipping.Sigh.Even by this point, only about nine months down the track, Kim has already developed into a more mature and likable character and I found Chris' laidback acting style appropriate for the part.

Beth annoyed me again but that was only in the recap and she was okay in the actual episode and more measured.Colleen oddly worked well here when she's sparring with Morag without either of them actually saying what they're saying.This was the point, I think, where Morag was well and truly cemented as one of the "good guys", moving back to Summer Bay and doling out legal advice to all and sundry.

It always surprises me, looking back at these old episodes, how young Leah seems.I really did find her attitude towards Jesse to be harsh here, and it's hard not to feel a bit bitter about her effectively stopping him being Pippa's godfather.It's also hard not to feel, in retrospect, that she might have been better off waiting for Vinnie rather than lumbering VJ with a succession of short-lived stepfathers (literally short-lived sometimes):She worries about the confusion of moving from Jesse to Dan here, it's only going to get worse.Might have stopped Vinnie ending up under that tractor too...

[Dan F]

Max was axed during the Bevan Lee era, as was Rhys. I remember that it was documented here at the time however that Jade and Seb's axings came from further up at Seven and Coral Drouyn's hand was effectively forced.

Ah, okay, Bevan Lee didn't care about Max.Possibly evidence that he wasn't as infallible as some people think, although maybe I was the only one that liked Max.Frankly, well done whoever put a stop to Coral trying to foist two characters who'd always been nothing more than friends and not even particularly close ones on us as soul mates when I was still mourning the end of Jade and Nick.Not her best move either, and it's a shame no-one steps in these days to stop showrunners clinging onto once great characters whose time has past.

From Bevan's 2004 Q&A with BTTB:

I was just wondering why the character of Max changed so much towards his exit? For example, ever since the Eloise storyline ended, and I think Henry & Matilda came on the scene, his scenes were very few and far between, and was certainly not in major storylines. Even his farewell wasn't emphasised that much, in the end we probably hardly noticed that he had gone! He used to be an interesting character at one stage.

Asked by Igor

I never took to the character of Max personally. I know Coral enjoyed writing for him, but he didn't work for me. So when I came on to the show and had to lose some characters to cut down the cast budget, I made Max one of the ones I wrote out. Had I not had to make those economies, I probably would have kept him. I down-played his exit as we had a number of people leaving at that time and I didn't want to fill too much air time with a lot of goodbyes. There were some very touching scenes with Colleen however and I thought Sebastian did an excellent job of playing them. I think he is going to mature in to a very good performer. He has been written out in a way where Max could easily return to the Bay in the future if it is thought desirable for the story. Sorry I deprived you of a favorite character. Hope I've made up for it with what I've done with the others.

[atrus]

Yep, we're nearly three years on from the rape at this point.Henry lasted a year and a half as I recall, Max about two years with following a guest stint the previous year.

Thanks. Yeah, it's funny - I barely remember Henry at all, so I'm surprised he was there that long, but Max is quite clear in my mind (despite having forgotten about him until yesterday). I particularly recall he had some strong storylines with Colleen, who it was nice to see again today. Great to have a Morag episode, too. It made me wonder where she's got to in recent years. Seems like forever since she was last in town.

I always really liked Kit Hunter as a character - she had more personality about her than most of that family put together.

Presentation geeks will have noticed the rogue appearance of the old Five logo and the original 2004 break bumpers. Surprised that they would have been physically cut onto the tape and not generated live in the playout gallery.

Yes, I thought that was incredibly odd - firstly that they were ever on the tapes in the first place, and secondly that they didn't lop them off for the repeats.

[Blaxland 89]

Does anyone know if these episodes will be put on demand 5?

Sorry. Just read previous post

[CaptainHulk]

Hyde's fate was left ambiguous, like Jesse's. We never knew how long

Both went down for

[Jamie2811]

Loving these episodes, so nostalgic! Tonights episode makes me miss Morag from the current show, hope to see more of her later in the week. Also miss Colleen, but not to the the same extent as Morag. Weird to think what would be revealed a few years down the track. looking forward to see Kim's development through the week. Was interesting to see Irene back in her school secretary days, am i right in thinking sometime between yesterdays and todays Irene bought Alf out of the diner?

Why was Hayley in hospital in yesterdays episode?