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

[nenehcherry2]

1 minute ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

In 1988 Alf was 45 but looked about 58. Also Alf's age has fluctuated a lot. In 1993 his drink driving record on Nick's computer said Alf was born January 1943. But in 1995 he was said to be 47 so born 1947 or 1948. Then he had his 50th in July 2005 so born July 1945. So he was 45 in 1988 and 47 in 1995, I wish I could age that slowly.

Ray's always looked pretty much bang on his own age to me, so it mostly fits with Alf's slightly fluctuating age range! 

[cymbaline]

To be fair, Alf lives in a town that expands and contracts in size all the time. So he's on brand. Yabbie Creek's location has wandered about too.

Edited July 9, 2023 by cymbaline

[nenehcherry2]

15 hours ago, cymbaline said:

I'm not sure Norman Coburn ever looked young! 

Judy Nunn (born 1945) and Fiona Spence (b. 1946) were in their early to mid-forties when H&A began but both looked far older. The hair....the sensible shoes....the dresses. Even allowing for fashions having changed, I don't think any modern-day fortysomething woman would be seen dead in their outfits. It's also curious that Pippa was older than either of the actresses who played her. Vanessa Downing (b 1958) and Debra Lawrance (b 1957) weren't all that old to be playing a long-married foster mother. 

Tom's middle name was wrong on the headstone too. I just love their attention to detail 

I've always assumed Pippa was born about 53/4. Not that I give it much thought, the show clearly has a poorly constructed "fact bible" and ages/birthdays seem to change with the given episode writer

She implies to Bobby in early 91 that she wasn't much older than her when she first fostered Frank (1978). She was supposed to be quite a bit younger than Tom and there's also scenes where characters comment that she's quite a lot younger than Ailsa and Donald. Ailsa was born in 193, ahem, 1950 (yeah, right). Of course, both those mentions were made when VD was in the role!

It's believable that being married to a somewhat older man and becoming a foster mum to teenagers at such a young age would have (mentally speaking) "aged" her a bit (alas Bobby). But Debra's portrayal (and wardrobe) versus Vanessa's definitely accentuates that.

Speaking of Bob, I've seen a few people state recently that Bobby looked about 40 in the early 90s. Not sure I share that opinion and perhaps a bit offensive to Nicolle Dickson. Makeup, written characterisation and wardrobe (though my Sisters of a similar age wore similar blouses then!) aside, Nicolle consistently looks slightly older in the face to me than her true age, maybe more 1966/67 than 1969. But no way has she ever VISUALLY looked 20 years older in the face. 

That said, the "blondification" of Bobby in her final 12 months did her no favours. Blonde just does not suit Nicolle whatsoever. And she starts wearing darker makeup from around the same time. But the end result always looked more, to me, like a woman in her mid-late 20s who'd been put through the ringer a bit! 

As a very young kid, I noticed that Bobby only looked 20something but was playing Mum to a boy even older than me. And there was always something very "youthful" about how Nicolle delivered her lines. It confused the hell out of me! 

Edited July 9, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[nenehcherry2]

30 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

In 1988 Alf was 45 but looked about 58. Also Alf's age has fluctuated a lot. In 1993 his drink driving record on Nick's computer said Alf was born January 1943. But in 1995 he was said to be 47 so born 1947 or 1948. Then he had his 50th in July 2005 so born July 1945. So he was 45 in 1988 and 47 in 1995, I wish I could age that slowly.

Ray certainly did not look 58 to me in 88, interesting perception.

Edited July 9, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[cymbaline]

Who knows what age Pippa is supposed to be? In the show's famously reliable chronology, she had a child with Ian in 1999. 

Ageing Pippa up worked for me when I was a teenager because I always assumed they were 40+.  When you're that age, anybody who's 40 is older than the pyramids. Maybe pairing them with actors who were obviously older worked. Roger always looked his age and then some. Dennis also looked older than his age and that accelerated over the years. 

[nenehcherry2]

 

10 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

Who knows what age Pippa is supposed to be? In the show's famously reliable chronology, she had a child with Ian in 1999. 

Ageing Pippa up worked for me when I was a teenager because I always assumed they were 40+.  When you're that age, anybody who's 40 is older than the pyramids. Maybe pairing them with actors who were obviously older worked. Roger always looked his age and then some. Dennis also looked older than his age and that accelerated over the years. 

VERY true, great point! In my own case, I was a "sunshine baby" and had 3 full siblings who were 15-20 years older than me. I guess that helped in me seeing some of the "nuances" with different age ranges WITHIN "adults". Whereas, to your point, kids usually see everyone as unanimously"old" after a certain point (ie older than your own parents).

At 6-7ish, I assumed that Julie Martin in Neighbours was mid-late 30s. Just because she was "Mum" to Debbie and Michael, who were much older than me (was too young and unexposed to blended families to appreciate the step-parent nuance). But also thought she looked only a bit older than my brother (Julie Mullins is only 2 years older than him). And looked much younger than my own Mum at the time (which she obviously was). So I guess those two opposing factors "averaged her out" in my head to about 35-7 whereas any other young kid would just see her as "old". Now, watching clips, she most definitely looked like a woman ten years younger than I am now (!) in very dark makeup trying too hard to be older! 

Edited July 9, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[cymbaline]

2 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Speaking of Bob, I've seen a few people state recently that Bobby looked about 40 in the early 90s. Not sure I share that opinion and perhaps a bit offensive to Nicolle Dickson. Makeup, written characterisation and wardrobe (though my Sisters of a similar age wore similar blouses then!) aside, Nicolle consistently looks slightly older in the face to me than her true age, maybe more 1966/67 than 1969. But no way has she ever VISUALLY looked 20 years older in the face. 

That said, the "blondification" of Bobby in her final 12 months did her no favours. Blonde just does not suit Nicolle whatsoever. And she starts wearing darker makeup from around the same time. But the end result always looked more, to me, like a woman in her mid-late 20s who'd been put through the ringer a bit! 

As a very young kid, I noticed that Bobby only looked 20something but was playing Mum to a boy even older than me. And there was always something very "youthful" about how Nicolle delivered her lines. It confused the hell out of me! 

Bobby never looked 40 but if you describe where her life was at by the time they killed her off, she might as well have been. Two marriages, a foster child, a mortgage, running her own business... I remember the early 90s well, and get flashbacks when I look at some of the outfits the characters were wearing. Bobby fared particularly badly but that was probably deliberate; she was a tomboy who had other things to worry about. Even now when I look at those old episodes, I forget how young Nicole/Bobby was. She seems like an older person. I think it's the hairstyle as much as anything else.

[nenehcherry2]

16 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

Bobby never looked 40 but if you describe where her life was at by the time they killed her off, she might as well have been. Two marriages, a foster child, a mortgage, running her own business... I remember the early 90s well, and get flashbacks when I look at some of the outfits the characters were wearing. Bobby fared particularly badly but that was probably deliberate; she was a tomboy who had other things to worry about. Even now when I look at those old episodes, I forget how young Nicole/Bobby was. She seems like an older person. I think it's the hairstyle as much as anything else.

I always seem to agree with your posts !

Speaking about hairstyles, a lot of my sisters' young friends had "later" Bobbyish hairstyles in the same period. Bobs were pretty big at the time. I especially quite liked the style Bobby had when she first took in Sam and then met Greg. It was shorter than what it had become by 93. That was SUPER cool at the time, wasn't it? I'm fact, I was watching clips of some raves from 1990-5 on YT the other day and 35% of the girls had "the Bobby"! 

As far as Bobby's styles go, also quite liked her look in the late 89/early 90 period. The "Dumb Street" era. That's like "proto Bob" (but the sides are much shorter). Not a fan of her 88 style, the early 89 cut (wedding to Frank) nor of that awful mess of a do she had around the time Tom died. She also looked nice with long hair (later 90-very early 91). 

But the blonde was dreadful. It's not too bad in 92, it's just some subtle caramel highlights at that point. But into 93, she goes full on beach blonde and it did her no favours at all. I could never work out if her original colour was brown or auburn.

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[cymbaline]

After a while, no woman knows what her real hair colour is  Lighter colours never suited Nicolle. Seeing as we're discussing her appearance, what was the story with her glasses? Did Nicolle genuinely need them or did they just bring them in as a prop? 

[nenehcherry2]

10 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

After a while, no woman knows what her real hair colour is  Lighter colours never suited Nicolle. Seeing as we're discussing her appearance, what was the story with her glasses? Did Nicolle genuinely need them or did they just bring them in as a prop? 

Nicolle has been short sighted since she was a child (believe she's since had LAZIK) and was already in glasses most of the time offset by the time the show started. Read interviews from the time where she said the glasses became a necessity for Bobby too as her eyesight worsened and she was struggling to film without them. But then she soon started wearing contacts, so we can assume they were no longer needed when she was at work on set either. Shame they couldn't keep them for Bobby at least, it was great realism to have a character with glasses on the show (H&A's answer to Deirdre Barlow, at least Bobby stopped short of a Weetabix-shaped perm!). And no on screen explanation for their disappearance

Interesting fact, the last time Bobby wears them was the episode before Greg arrives. Her first meeting with Greg also happened to be the last time she ever uttered a "rack off". 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by nenehcherry2