Rewatching The Early Years

[adam436]

That's probably a good way to describe 1994 actually. Most of the early 90s had very little plot, but at least each year had one big iconic story to define the year: 

1991 - the David and Sophie story.

1992 - Meg's death

1993 - Dale's and Bobby's death.

 

1994 had no major iconic story really, and 1990 was such a transitional period between the original cast and their replacements it was probably too hard to have a defining storyline.

It's not hard to see why the 1995 shake up was need after a rather complacent 1994.

[j.laur5]

Personally I preferred 1995 as we had Marilyn back and Marilyn really added energy to show. 
 

 

[Bobby Forever Missed]

7 hours ago, adam436 said:

That's probably a good way to describe 1994 actually. Most of the early 90s had very little plot, but at least each year had one big iconic story to define the year: 

1991 - the David and Sophie story.

1992 - Meg's death

1993 - Dale's and Bobby's death.

 

1994 had no major iconic story really, and 1990 was such a transitional period between the original cast and their replacements it was probably too hard to have a defining storyline.

It's not hard to see why the 1995 shake up was need after a rather complacent 1994.

1990: Tom’s death and/or Ben and Carly’s wedding 

[Homeandawayfan.]

Yes (including after the 1995 shake up) back then, the drama and big stunts, tragedy, crime etc was not in virtually every episode like today.

[nenehcherry2]

I don't see Tom's death as that iconic and wonder if it's BECOME iconic further down the line with a) him being an original character and b) it being reran / rewatched since so many times. At the time of airing, the show had only been on air for 2 years, perhaps not enough time for any characters to achieve icon status. Whereas Bobby had been a far prominent character for almost triple the time, by which point the show was no longer "new". 

[adam436]

39 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

I don't see Tom's death as that iconic and wonder if it's BECOME iconic further down the line

I also think Tom being absent for much of 1989 was a contributing factor too. If he was still front and centre as he was at the beginning, then his death would have been more shocking. 

It also felt like the show just wanted to move on from Tom as quickly as possible, rather than grieve for him for months like they did with Bobby.I think the Pippa recast a month or two later lessened the impact of Tom's death too and helped everyone move on more quickly. 

Edited July 24 by adam436

[nenehcherry2]

47 minutes ago, adam436 said:

I also think Tom being absent for much of 1989 was a contributing factor too. If he was still front and centre as he was at the beginning, then his death would have been more shocking. 

It also felt like the show just wanted to move on from Tom as quickly as possible, rather than grieve for him for months like they did with Bobby.I think the Pippa recast a month or two later lessened the impact of Tom's death too and helped everyone move on more quickly. 

Very true point! 

For me, it's the recast of Pippa itself which was the most iconic thing of 1990. And, back then, that seemed to be a much bigger news story than Tom's death or Carly and Ben's boring wedding saga. 

[adam436]

Agreed! I think Pippa's recast felt bigger because we'd already lost Tom, so it felt like Summer Bay House had a big change. In fact, by early 1991, Kate Ritchie is the only original actor still living in thay out.

Tom's death felt quite downplayed. It didn't really feel like the central character was being killed off to be honest, but just one of the supporting characters. The Pippa change was a factor too, since the recast further removed the connection to Tom (I know it's the same character, but I don't associate Debra's Pippa with Tom at all, if that makes sense!).

It's possible that the rumoured rift between Roger and the producers was a factor too, and they just wanted to kill him off and move on as quickly as possible.

[nenehcherry2]

9 hours ago, adam436 said:

Agreed! I think Pippa's recast felt bigger because we'd already lost Tom, so it felt like Summer Bay House had a big change. In fact, by early 1991, Kate Ritchie is the only original actor still living in thay out.

Tom's death felt quite downplayed. It didn't really feel like the central character was being killed off to be honest, but just one of the supporting characters. The Pippa change was a factor too, since the recast further removed the connection to Tom (I know it's the same character, but I don't associate Debra's Pippa with Tom at all, if that makes sense!).

It's possible that the rumoured rift between Roger and the producers was a factor too, and they just wanted to kill him off and move on as quickly as possible.

Completely agree with all of that too. There's an article Cornelia did with a UK newspaper from 1990 (maybe I've shared it here before, can't remember?) where she says that, whilst she was axed by a Producer she didn't click with, the fallout led to Roger, Fiona and Vanessa also departing. An overall sense of "scrapping the oldies in the quest for younger blood". And that's exactly what that late 89-1990 period feels like for me. 

According to one of the annuals from the time, Roger's initial 89 hiatus was due to a minor heart attack but who knows the real reason for that (he was well enough to film a hospital bed scene)? There were rumours in several UK magazines at the time that the producers had issues with his sexual orientation (from my knowledge, Roger has never directly confirmed the latter or even his sexuality). 

Edited July 25 by nenehcherry2

[adam436]

27 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

According to one of the annuals from the time, Roger's initial 89 hiatus was due to a minor heart attack but who knows the real reason for that (he was well enough to film a hospital bed scene)?

Didn't he also film a scene where someone found him on the floor of the Macklin office? It's been a while since I watched those episodes, but I don't think we ever actually saw Tom collapse.