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The original Scott was much cuter
Upon watching the first episode of neighbours from 1985 when it was on the seven network, I must confess I thought the first Scott Robinson was much cuter.
By the way, Jason Donavon auditioned alongside the original and was rejected as the first was a better actor. When the soap moved to the ten network this recast was reversed as they now wanted better looking younger cast.
By the way, Jason Donavon auditioned alongside the original and was rejected as the first was a better actor. When the soap moved to the ten network this recast was reversed as they now wanted better looking younger cast.
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I remember being gutted at the time that Darius Perkins had been replaced by Jason - i soon came round to the idea and fancied him (hey i was young!).
Darius had a big (but short) role in home and away a few years later iirc, seem to remember him blaming himself for his parents car crash death or something.
Didn't realise until reading on here in the anniversary week that he was in Neighbours last year!! (Despite watching all the eps with him in last year i just didn't twig!)
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s14/neighbours/news/a497181/former-neighbours-star-darius-perkins-to-join-cast-as-marty-kranjancic.html#~p7RcxW3uhd8QwP
http://perfectblend.net/features/interview-perkins.htm
I thought Jason Donovan auditioned for Danny Ramsay and Guy Pearce originally auditioned for Scott. Might be wrong though.
I've always preferred Darius Perkins to Jason Donovan - thought he was better at the time (better actor and 'fitted' in with the Robinson siblings better) and still do now.
Yes, he was the sports teachers younger brother, Gary Samuels (i think) who Carly initially accused of having raped her because he looked like the man that had a year or so earlier. She then dated him when she realised he'd been wrong but he turned out to have a lot of psych problems, stemming from him having caused his parents death by playing a practical joke on them. Basically he put a fake spider in the visor, when his dad pulled it down he got such a shock he swerved the car, drove into the Sun and ended up crashing.
So it was kind of a baddie, then goodie, then baddie role all within the space of about 6 weeks!
Yes that's right. Jason said that in his autobiography. I thought Darius was better in the role too. He looked more like Paul than Jason did. I think they just wanted a pretty boy to play Scott so they recast him.
Yeah original Scott was softer and easier going.
I never really liked Jason Donovan as Scott. It was a bit personality transplant as Perkins' Scott was a bit shy and awkward. I also found Donovan's squeaky voice quite annoying.
I don't really remember the show before Scott & Charlene, I think I started watching the show in 1987.
The Ramsays were Max, Maria, Shane & Danny. Madge (Max's sister) didn't turn up till about year two. Des and Daphne mainly took centre stage in the early days.
He was in Prisoner Cell Block H as well.
Didn't he kill himself by jumping off a cliff, nearly landing on Alf Stewart.
He definitely looked and acted like Jims son. He also looked a bit like the original Julie too. Which didn't really matter to Scott 2 as Julie left pretty early on. I also liked his friendship with Danny Ramsay. Wonder how Darius would have been with with Kylie and Guy Pearce had he been kept on by Channel 10.
Interesting thought, but Grundy and ten wanted a better looking young lot, hence the reason why jd was brought in and guy Pearce.
As someone else mentioned I always thought he was axed due to poor time keeping/poor attitude etc.
Ah yes that's it, the Flaming Mongrel scared the fish away. I think in the next episode you had all people like Carly, Phillip, Alison Patterson etc all saying how they could have killed him in a sort of dream like sequence.
I was never keen on donovan's Scott - he seemed to either be sulking or smug with nothing in between. Much preferred Mike and Jane as a couple. I'm also another one that preferred the channel 7 episodes, cast, characters, storylines, atmosphere, sets - the lot.
I loved all the Terry stuff! Always really liked her relationship with Paul and the climax got a bit Sons and Daughters for a while which is my all time favourite Australian Soap.
I recall thinking the Seven version was bogged down too much in petty personality clashes. The Robinson family were snippy, fractious and annoying - nasal voiced Lucy and moany Scott didn't help. The Ramsays were good though. The first year had a format of a guest star showing up for one week and they would dominate things for the five episodes with their own storyline, then on the Friday they'd depart. I thought that seemed a bit blocky-I preferred the less predictable usual soap formula where people drift in and out at different times.
I actually recall noticing odd continuity between scenes, in that one person would give someone a patronising lecture, or accuse someone of something they didn't actually do, but in later scenes the reactions of the two seemed off. Like they weren't reacting normally in the later scene to what had happened before, like the earlier incident hadn't happened. I watched other soaps then too, but generally thought Neighbours had an overly simplistic treatment of its stories, character reactions, etc. Maybe I analysed it too much!
Terry Robinson and her criminal associates was a bit of a change for the series but I loved that one was played by Louise Le Nay - Sandy Edwards from Prisoner!
Glad it's not just me!!
If they'd just wanted a 'better looking' Scott (and i'm not sure Donovan actually was) i think Guy Pearce would have been a closer match to Perkins and actually Mike as a character was more similar to original Scott that Donovan's Scott was.
Interesting. I've been rewatching the channel 7 stuff recently (the UK released dvds go up to just before Paul and Terry's wedding so first 6 months or so) and enjoying it immensely.
Some aspects do feel a little disjointed, as you say they seem to go off on subplots with characters that only appear for a couple of weeks quite often - Max nearly has his own spin off going on for a while at the Boarding House he moves into after splitting with Maria. There is a bit of a Public Service Broadcasting tone to it at times - one astounding episode where we get a spiel from a RSPCA woman about puppies being abandoned when people go on holidays and how they vaccinate before rehousing after a musical montage of the Robinsons shopping for a new dog, statistics about how many teenagers run away each year in Victoria and teaching children the importance of road safety when learning to ride a bike. But generally i really enjoy it.
The terry stuff was obviously them trying to 'sex it up' a bit to make it more like Sons and Daughters and increase ratings to stave off cancellation. I enjoyed that as well though and could just about buy there being one 'rotten apple' that brought major crime into this quiet, suburban street. And at least Terry's actions did have a long term effect on Paul, changing him forever rather than just being forgotten about although that was mainly dealt with on channel 10 of course.
The Terry stuff was a very deliberate plot to increase ratings on 7. The also planned to revamp it but alas 7 axed it before they could.