Neighbours: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

So good to see you posting here again @AdelaideCate007 Thank you for sharing your experience with the show and finale.

[BetterForgotten]

Hats off to Kylie for wearing a very Charlene outfit and not letting the veneer of her subsequent pop goddess persona detract from that.  

[DRW50]

I know there was a lot of criticism of her not speaking more, but I do think this helped to  keep the character from seeming like Kylie doing cosplay.

If anyone didn't get to see the full video message from past characters (apparently parts were cut in the UK airing), here it is:

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[DRW50]

 

[Vee]

Kylie talks more gushing about the show in this BTS interview than in the episode.

 

[AdelaideCate007]

I forgot to mention it before, but I'm so glad they gave Susan the last real lines of the show (not counting the chatter when Harold and Paul ran up on Scott and Charlene) and ended on her and Karl. I was slightly worried they would give that honour to either Jason Donovan or Kylie, and that would have been fine, but I'm glad it went to Susan who really has been the constant all these years. I also thought ending on the Scott/Charlene/Harold/Paul group, over to Jane and Mike, then to Melanie and Toadie, and finally on Karl and Susan was the right way to end it. It just felt right that all of them were the last ones we saw.

I've seen and heard a lot that if/when Home & Away ends, they'll have a hard time touching this. I agree with that. Not to turn this is into a H&A discussion, but I don't even know who they could bring back that would get this much of an emotional response outside of Sally or ghost visits from Ailsa and Bobby. Bringing back Chris Hemsworth and the likes of Bec Hewitt and Steve Peacocke just wouldn't have the same feelings that Neighbours got out of all their returns. It just shows I think how uniquely special Neighbours and those characters were.

[BetterForgotten]

Susan's end monologue also had a great tribute to those fans in the UK who stuck by this show and kept it going for so many years - "Everyone deserves a place in the in the history of Ramsay Street, even those who watched us from afar. Together, we have been, the perfect blend." 

The show also made sure to give the UK fans a special shoutout on IG:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgnEpZhoJmI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 

I noticed both Home & Away and Corrie also posted fond farewell messages on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgjbpzuv7Io/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgmrrRVM6V3/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet  

Edited July 31, 2022 by BetterForgotten

[BetterForgotten]

Margot Robbie is one of the very few soap alums I've seen that has never been shy of or tried to hide her soap past. I've seen her consistently bring Neighbours up in interviews for years, and how much she owes to that experience. She also sent all of the cast and crew a ton of champagne on their last day of filming...

GOOD NEIGHBOUR I’m eternally grateful for Neighbours – it was perfect training for Hollywood, says Margot Robbie

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by BetterForgotten

[DRW50]

I have watched the show the last few years and mostly  enjoyed it  but I can definitely see where they have moved away  from  their history in a way Neighbours never really did so I can't imagine the ending packing as much of a nostalgic punch, beyond Sally returning. Morag was beloved but sadly the actress passed away some years back (and it was never even acknowledged  onscreen, was it). Otherwise the more known characters from the show are still on it - Irene, Alf, Marilyn. I guess Colleen?

Anyway, this is a good piece  featuring some interviews with former writers and story plans that were never done.

https://www.backtothebay.net/news/2022/07/28/goodbye-neighbours-a-tribute-to-ramsay-street/

[OzFrog]

I grew up as a kid in Australia in the 80s and 90s watching Neighbours almost religiously. The back-to-back Neighbours/H&A hour was a staple in many Australian households for decades. I hadn’t watched Neighbours regularly since around the mid-2000s, but seeing the final episode was just heart-wrenching.

And I echo what a few people have said so far - Guy Pearce and Annie Jones stole that show! For an old-timer like me, it was just so joyous seeing those two interact as if it were the 80s again.

Also, as a result of falling down a Neighbours-related rabbit hole on YouTube, I discovered that someone posted THE WHOLE FIRST SEASON FROM 1985! Yes, the original season that showed on Channel 7 in Australia and was then axed before it moved to Channel 10 the following year.

One of the highlights - watching the Kim Taylor storyline (yes, as in David and Leo’s mother Kim Taylor).

Episode 1 is here below. The same channel has all the others following:

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[Dion]

20 years ago it was Neighbours that was completely ignoring their history with no Robinsons left (I think it was the Perfect Blend website who sometime in either 2003 or 04 bemoaned that Helen Daniels hadn't been mentioned in years) and Harold Bishop being the last "Ramsay". Whereas Home and Away was still having visits from Pippa or her original foster children every 1 - 2 years.

Of course this began to change in 2003 when they brought Teenage Sky Mangel on and Harold's son David, followed of course by Paul Robinson's return at the end of 2004 and the exceptional 20th anniversary celebrations. Meanwhile Home and Away seems to have pretty much cut ties after Sally left, except for Marilyn and Roo returning and the use of Alf's long lost daughter Quinn (originally a brief storyline from 1995) to provide him with another grandson - Ryder.

[Forever8]

They probably would try to bring back Pippa and Don. 

It's quite sad that Home and Away has shed pretty much its true origins since it had worked for them for about 20 years. I remember being surprised when read that the Astoni's were the first "complete" family to feature on H&A since the Sutherlands and that was 17 years prior. 

[Adamski]

I'm about to watch the finale for the second time, and there was so much to take in, but I got the impression that Amy and Joel hooked up after crossing paths in Cairns. So when Toadie asks if she's pregnant she replies 'Ask me in two weeks' or something. I may be wrong, though. 

(I did see on Twitter that people are very taken with how the actor who plays Lance looks now).

Also, thank you everybody for sharing your thoughts on the finale. They really did go out on a beautiful high.

[AdelaideCate007]

Oh it was defo Joel that got Amy pregnant I think. I just meant that Lance said in his message that he never got to marry Amy but there was still time and raised his eyebrows and they cut to Amy smiling. It was like a reverse of the 20th when Amy appeared in the montage and said for Lance to give her a ring and they cut to Lance in the audience reacting. I would have loved if they had had them finally get together instead of doing another thing of them just hinting at each other, but the moment was cute either way.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Nah. Producers wanted Don back years ago to kill him off in a heartbreaking manner during a Marylin storyline but the Network just said: The Fans don’t care for a character like Don! (Even though he spent like 14-15 years in that show)

I love HAA but it won’t touch the Neighbours finale. It’s the network that changed the pace of Home and Away which is a shame.