Rewatching The Early Years

[adam436]

On 31/12/2023 at 11:06, cymbaline said:

Would they still have given Bobby the parents she had if Alan had stayed? 

I suspect not, as there would have been no need for it. 

Maybe she would have been Celia's daughter instead, the result of Celia spending the night with Les before he went off to war. Or would she have been too young? 

[j.laur5]

Also I really enjoyed Stewart siblings relationships as there love/hate relationship between them  and I enjoyed when Alf and Barbara had screens as was like they were two most normal siblings as Celia and Morag were two eccentric siblings.

Alf used quite often talk down to Morag and Celia in early years but didit with Barbara and Alisa once said to Alf Barbara most normal one of you sisters .

 

[early years fan]

I do have the sad piano music stuck in my head now from the sad scenes, it was played so often

[Bobby Forever Missed]

1 hour ago, adam436 said:

I suspect not, as there would have been no need for it. 

Maybe she would have been Celia's daughter instead, the result of Celia spending the night with Les before he went off to war. Or would she have been too young? 

too young it was said in Martha's diaries Celia was newly engaged around the time Bobby was conceived and knowing Celia there's absolutely no sex before marriage

[nenehcherry2]

The jury's still out for me on this possibility... after all, Bobby had inherited Celia's hairstyle and colour by circa 93! 

[CaptainHulk]

15 hours ago, Bobby Forever Missed said:

too young it was said in Martha's diaries Celia was newly engaged around the time Bobby was conceived and knowing Celia there's absolutely no sex before marriage

"Lester Palmer, You get that distasteful notion out of your head at once!"

"Fair go Ceils! I *am* shipping out tomorrow!"

[cymbaline]

Is Celia succumbing to the sins of the flesh really more implausible than the Martha ridiculousness? I could see her having a one-night-only special with Les just before he went to Vietnam, and being torn between the two sides of her personality. The prudish god-bothering side we all saw, and a more hidden red-blooded-woman side. When she found out that Les had died and she was pregnant, she hid the pregnancy. Perhaps she saw it as a shameful lapse and something nobody was to ever know about. To that end, she gave her baby up for adoption and doubled down on her prudish, religious persona. 

 

[adam436]

Another thing I've noticed in the early years is the use of recurring and guest characters. 

On-going guest characters like Alan and Barbara Fisher, Nico Pappas, Narelle Smart and Brett Macklin are integrated into multiple storylines and the wider Summer Bay community, compared to later years in which guest characters just serve a single-storyline purpose and only interact with those directly involved in the story before being shipped out. For example, in the episodes in which I up to, Barbara has developed friendships with Tom and Bobby, serves a function as a teacher, is an integral member of the Stewart family, whilst her main story purpose is the Alan/Donald stuff. Narelle is also introduced as Lance's cousin, but then moves in with Frank and Martin, works at Alf's store, has a friendship with Bobby and gets along with pretty much everyone except Celia. 

The Barlows also had scenes at home without any regular characters present, which felt unusual to me too. Those Barlow domestic scenes felt very A Country Practice, where we would often see the guest characters at home to reinforce the social issue of the week. 

I suspect Narelle Smart was meant to stick around much longer, but it didn't eventuate for some reason. According to Wikipedia, she was tipped to replace Kylie Minogue as the #1 soap star in the UK... 

[Bobby Forever Missed]

8 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Is Celia succumbing to the sins of the flesh really more implausible than the Martha ridiculousness? I could see her having a one-night-only special with Les just before he went to Vietnam, and being torn between the two sides of her personality. The prudish god-bothering side we all saw, and a more hidden red-blooded-woman side. When she found out that Les had died and she was pregnant, she hid the pregnancy. Perhaps she saw it as a shameful lapse and something nobody was to ever know about. To that end, she gave her baby up for adoption and doubled down on her prudish, religious persona. 

 

They already did hiding the pregnancy with Morag though, so either way it’s the same result Bobby is in the Stewart bloodline 

[early years fan]

The repeat guest appearances do play a big role… such as the recurring involvement of the group of mean girls at summer bay high, led by Alison Patterson. She plays the part very convincingly