What things never made sense to you on Home and Away?

[Homeandawayfan.]

Ages of younger characters in soaps are often messed around with and they are aged or de aged. As Neighbours and H&A have always had a younger age demographic the ages of characters have always been fiddled, or kept anonymous so the writers could tamper with them later on.

Although ages of older characters are probably not sorased or desorased as much, you forgotten about if the shows have no archivist. Like Alf Stewart was 45 in April 1988, and 47 in 1995. Wish I could age as slowly.

 

[Old H&A Fan]

The mere fact that writers can fiddle with the ages of characters at all makes no sense.

Also, what's a "soras" and what's "desorasing"? Is there an internal jargon spoken by fans that I'm not aware of?

[cymbaline]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera_rapid_aging_syndrome

[nenehcherry2]

Sometimes it's not even intentional. It's simply a case of an episode writer in say 1988 saying that Alf is 47 and then a different episode writer 7 years later giving the same age in the context of day to day dialogue. Yes, the 95 writer probably should have checked the "Bible" to reference an accurate age but would him being 52 really have made much difference to the context of the line being delivered? Either way, Alf is still broadly middle aged (aren't we all by now?! ) and being in that wider bracket defines his role in the Bay (with its median age of 20) as one of the "oldies".

At the end of the day, the precise age or birthdate of a character (e.g. whether they're 43, 44 or 47), especially as they get older, is largely irrelevant to their purpose in the show. Their age bracket, on the other hand, is very relevant to the storyline direction given and wider character purpose. Unless, of course, it's one of those things which dispenses with reality (eg Bobby being allowed to foster at barely 20/1 - legally possible in 1991 NSW and an in-character move for her to make but I find it highly unlikely that DOCs would have approved it in real life).

Edited April 4 by nenehcherry2

[cymbaline]

If it wasn't for repeats and chatter on forums like this one, would anybody even notice? Back in the day, you worked on the assumption that if you missed an episode of H&A, you wouldn't see it again. Even if you were recording the episodes on a VCR, chances are you'd tape over them again. Alf and Fisher and Ailsa and Morag always looked "old" even if they were only in their forties when it started. We've already discussed how the character of Pippa was older than both actresses who played her. 

You're on the nose re. the younger characters and their ages. If anybody had been watching for any length of time at all, they'd have noticed the kids ageing particularly quickly. That is noticeable of course because they change the actor. Also, long-running teenage characters packed so much into those few years on-screen, you forget they're still so young. Bobby is quite the example because over her 5 years on the show, she married twice, had a miscarriage, opened a successful business and fostered a kid. What were you doing when you were 22 or 23?

[Luigi Severus Fletcher]

There was a lack of air vents on some of the sets. I was looking for some on some of the public area sets when rewatching 1988. They stood out like a sore thumb in Prisoner for some reason.

[Homeandawayfan.]

On 04/04/2024 at 22:32, cymbaline said:

If it wasn't for repeats and chatter on forums like this one, would anybody even notice? Back in the day, you worked on the assumption that if you missed an episode of H&A, you wouldn't see it again. Even if you were recording the episodes on a VCR, chances are you'd tape over them again. Alf and Fisher and Ailsa and Morag always looked "old" even if they were only in their forties when it started. We've already discussed how the character of Pippa was older than both actresses who played her. 

You're on the nose re. the younger characters and their ages. If anybody had been watching for any length of time at all, they'd have noticed the kids ageing particularly quickly. That is noticeable of course because they change the actor. Also, long-running teenage characters packed so much into those few years on-screen, you forget they're still so young. Bobby is quite the example because over her 5 years on the show, she married twice, had a miscarriage, opened a successful business and fostered a kid. What were you doing when you were 22 or 23?

Also AFAIK H&A has never had an archivist, nor has Neighbours, so scripts will always vary with characters personal details such as age, length of marriage, children etc. In a very early episode Celia said Roo was her only niece, yet later on Rebecca turned up and from then on was always spoken of as if she existed.

Edited April 8 by Homeandawayfan.

[cymbaline]

I don't know if they ever had an archivist but they did have a "bible" in the mid 1990s. You can see Tristan Bancks with it in G'Day Summer Bay. If the link doesn't work below, it starts at 6.09. Whether they ever really consulted it, who knows....

 

Edited April 8 by cymbaline

[nenehcherry2]

On 08/04/2024 at 23:05, cymbaline said:

I don't know if they ever had an archivist but they did have a "bible" in the mid 1990s. You can see Tristan Bancks with it in G'Day Summer Bay. If the link doesn't work below, it starts at 6.09. Whether they ever really consulted it, who knows....

 

That REALLY stood out to me too when I watched this again. H&A always felt like the one show which didn't have a Bible. Surely they rarely utilised it given these sheer factual inconsistencies and retcons?

[cymbaline]

I wonder what happened to it in the end? I doubt very much that it still exists. It'd be fitting if it left this earth with a whimper rather than a bang. I'd say it fell into a bin, was destroyed by a huge mug of coffee or is now stuck behind some heavy bookcase, never to be seen again.