I just finished watching it JUST NOW, and I watched it back to back with the original. The change of actors was distracting, good thing I think Chamberlain is damn sexy or I may not have bothered, but I know the movie can't be faulted because the original actors didn't want to come back. I wish they had made the story a little more believable, because "Missing Years" contradicts the entire second half of The Thornbirds.
They didn't even call the daughter by the right name she was "Jussie" as a baby and they still called her by that nickname at the end of the first movie. It was like a fan fiction alternate ending!
I really didn't care that Luke took Dane, I KNOW he ends up back with Meggie! And it was pointless for Meggie and Jussie to patch up their relationship, seeing how things stood around 10 years later. Watching Richard Chamberlain cry to God in the sheering house for Meggie when she was miscarrying, I couldn't help but laugh I kept thinking: He's just trying to make chicks cry! The fact it contradicted the original story curtailed any possibility of emotional depth! Spec stories should not be filmed! Who okayed this?
Also, I think it's really bizarre that the first three people to respond to you were deleted. Why would someone delete them for agreeing with you, and not delete yours? Weird!
He was just turning to go when he stopped with a start.
Richard Lermontant at the home of Dolly Rose, Feast of All Saints (Anne Rice)

No matter where it was filmed(yes I know it was in Australia) the movie itself was a big fat bomb. Were Chamberlain not in it himself i would have stopped my DVD half hour into it.Everyone has a right to their opinion like it or not!

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Your opinions are not incontrovertible facts, they are just opinions.
It's very arrogant of you to talk of other peoples views as though they are "wrong" and your opinions are "right".
People think differently to you. Deal with it.
As for myself - I think that "The Missing Years" is as flawed as the original series of "The Thorn Birds". neither of these mini-series lived up to the hype for me. I didn't think the original was a flawless masterpiece neither did I think "The Missing Years" was a piece of utterly worthless crap.
One of the few things that "The Missing Years" did better was in filming the series in Australia with a cast of mostly Australian actors. Speaking as an Australian, I think that the second series is more faithful to Australian history and culture than the first one. in the first one, no one bothered to do an authentic Australian accent (except Bryan Brown who is Australian) and the place where they filmed it just didn't look right.
The first series did have a more compelling story - but this was offset by the goofiness of the acting and the production values.
The second series had some very good acting and a much more convincing period atmosphere - but the story wasn't as compelling as the first.
This is all just my personal opinion, of course, it aint gospel.
I think that a lot of the glowing reviews might also be a backlash against the kind of scathingly negative reviews this has received in the past and also a backlash against how rude, arrogant and nasty "Thorn Birds" fans have been to fans of "The Missing Years"

I saw the missing years for the first (and possibly last) time yesterday - the missing year would have been a more honest title. Nothing in this adds anything to the classic mini-series, in face it goes against several statements in the origonal. (Ralph back for the first time in 19 years, Dane praying for a father he never met etc)
As a matter of interest, was any of this in the book?
Have a good time, all of the time
Viv Savage - Spinal Tap

"He also said that Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown were really falling inlove with each other at that time and that is why her performance was so goodshe wasn't totally acting "
Aha! That's exactly what I thought when I watched it again!
Goodness, I'm good :)"
They have been married for many years! i had a crush on meggie(rachel). loved her in Sharky's Machine!

"He also said that Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown were really falling inlove with each other at that time and that is why her performance was so goodshe wasn't totally acting "
Aha! That's exactly what I thought when I watched it again!
Goodness, I'm good

I think "The missing years" are some kind of cheap remake, it's like a soap opera. It has nothing to do with the original story. Maggie in the miniseries was "able to love despite everything" as Ralph said, she was a hundred percent romantic character. Maggie in the Missing Years is some kind of action girl, she does all kind of man work, she is too modern, she is not that woman who desperately loves a man. This remake is not romantic at all, it's not suggesting me a love story. I know almost nothing about Australia so I'm not able discuss the accent, buildings, atmosphere I will only talk about the plot and actors' performance. Chamberlain also is not the father Ralph I saw in the miniseries. The miniseries had something special this movie hasn't. And the fact that made the miniseries so special is that the actors playing Meggie, Ralph, Luke, Fee somehow had something in common with their characters. Chamberlain said once in a TV Show that from all the characters he played, father Ralph is the only one he had something in common with. They were both living a double life and they both kept a dark secret within them, for Ralph it was the love for Maggie, for Richard it was the fact that he is gay and the fear of not being discovered. He also said that Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown were really falling inlove with each other at that time and that is why her performance was so goodshe wasn't totally acting
I wanted to see The Missing Years because I loved the miniseries but unfortunately the remake totally dissapointed me.

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