Endless Summer: 30 Years of H&A - Tuesday 17th July

[Summer's Bay]

On 22/07/2018 at 15:52, Mattche1983 said:

I agree that it's difficult to make 30 years into 1 hour (especially with allowing time for commercial breaks too!) but I had hoped for a bit more of structure by telling the story how Home and Away first came about. From the initial idea from Alan Bateman to Bevan Lee's involvement and so on, through to original casting and then up to now. It's depts from the storyboards, script, rehearsals, filming, editing. From mini anecdotes like How there were actually 3 Pippas to more important points such as acknowledging Donna's storyline about domestic abuse and what an impact it had at the time. Pippa and Michaels' son Dales Cot death storyline. 

The iconic song could have had a bit of air time too. Perhaps a chat with Mike Perjanik on how he wrote the song, the incidental music for the show for many years and how his son Nick now does it. Would have loved to see them in the music studio swapping notes at the piano! How whenever a foster kid moved on they would play that infamous Fletcher Theme. How Bobby and Sophie had their own themes. Talk about how telly making has involved both visually and musically. We could never 'really' get away with those lovely themes from way back when. 

Perhaps a few fun outtakes / simply extra footage from those oh so famous opening titles would have been fun to see?

I thought there were many more interesting points that could have been covered and perhaps they could have spoken to 'Back to the Bay' and asked them what they thought we might want to try and have included in it. 

I enjoyed Steve Pennell's style and it was obvious he so enjoyed putting it all together. I didn't dislike it and I'm pretty happy it got its own celebration primetime show. Loved seeing Nicolle Dickson and Kate Ritchie but was a bit of an eye-roller when they placed the newer exit of Sally over the discussion about her first big farewell with Ray. I understand that might sound a bit picky - but I am a pretty big fan and thought about other programmes where there might be a huge 'geek' fan base like Doctor Who and Friends etc. I don't think they would allow for mistakes on those shows so why ours?

For super duper fans, they might find the below link to a very dated (but quite informative at times) documentary about the success of Home and Away (and Neighbours) in the UK in the 90's. Vanessa Downing is interviewed about the show. 

RARE H&A DOCUMENTARY (1990's)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toodtU0-m5w&t=32s
It's more Neighbours at the beginning but from about 42 mins in it's mostly Home and Away. Lovely to see!! 

Lastly - here's a little tribute video to the last 30 years of Home and Away with my piano playing and a bit of singing. It's not totally perfect but I did get to play the theme on a STEINWAY AND SONS piano which was a real thrill. An enjoyable edit all in all. Hope some of my fellow H&A fans like it. 

Here's to Home and Away. Long may it continue.

 

 

Nice documentary and great song. Thanks for sharing

[Mattche1983]

33 minutes ago, Summer's Bay said:

 

Nice documentary and great song. Thanks for sharing

1

Thanks, Summer's Bay!  Super duper pleased to hear that. 

 

[D.B]

I found it wonderful, seeing Ray, Lynne, Emily, Ada, Steve, Alex, Nicole, Kate, Judy and the others talk about how much Home and Away meant for them all and what it still means for them. I felt it was a wonderful tribute to how great the show was/is, though I wished they could have shown more people on it as well. 

[James Martin]

On 19/07/2018 at 06:31, dee123 said:

Debra Lawrance's response to if she'd got back to Home & Away made me quite sad actually

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/neighbours/feature/a861095/neighbours-spoilers-debra-lawrance-liz-conway-home-and-away/

With Home and Away being 30 this year and Pippa being a much-loved character, was there ever any talk of you potentially going back?

"No. Look, people ask me this all the time and I always explain that Alf is living in her house with Roo and Pippa wouldn't live in a caravan. Pippa's place in the show has been filled in – like with Roo's character and they've also got Ada Nicodemou, who plays Leah, as the lovely, gooey mum figure. That's her role now and she does it very well. Pippa would be horrified that everybody is drinking so much and they've got so many guns.

"It's a different show now – you hear people say it all the time. The old days of Home and Away were really precious when we had Isla Fisher and Kate Ritchie in our house – it was such a lovely, innocent time. People do get very nostalgic for the old days of Home and Away.

"Whenever I post something on Instagram, people always crawl out of the woodworks and say how much they miss it, how they want me to come back, and how we need the show back again. There is a nostalgia for the past. It's a much shinier, glossier version of it itself now, whereas I think Pippa belongs to the simpler Home and Away."

Debra's said that in quite a few interviews now, including on BTTB itself.  The 20th was different to the 30th in many ways.  Although it was pre-River Boys, the show had undergone a huge stylistic change under Dan Bennett's tenure - Zoe/Eve, Project 56, Who Shot Josh, The Believers Cult... - but it was also Sally's exit - so they had an excuse to bring Bevan Lee back into the driving seat and in many ways those first few months became an update of the late 80s episodes.  All that stuff leading up to her exit, and then you got that wonderful Ross/Morag storyline (Ross easily the sort of character you might have seen in the Bay in the late 80s) - you had something you could build a nostalgia fest around and it was logical Pippa would come to town firstly after Sally got re-stabbed (I'm trying to remember if Pippa came back for Stabbing 1) and again for the exit.  It was also only a decade after Debra left fulltime, having clocked up several guest stints in the 00s.

This time though, who apart from Alf and maybe Maz and Irene would Pippa realistically come back for?

Still, nothing compares to the fact Tammin Sursok now has an American accent.  I'll NEVER get used to that. 

[Mattche1983]

On 18/07/2018 at 22:39, Dan F said:

Yes that did jar a bit, cutting to that when Ray & Kate were clearly talking about her proper departure.

But then they oddly included the hug from 2008 right at the end of the sequence....so they obviously had the right footage to hand!

I did a recut to see what it may have looked/felt like to see the correct scenes over the Endless Summer interview. (Not the best quality but I think it kind of works!) xx