The Missing Years Night 2

The Thorn Birds 2 - The Missing Years Should have stayed that way, MISSING!!!
The Missing years should have remained MISSING. The one part that really bothers me in the original, at the time of Dane's death Meggie says to Ralph, "Do you think I could ever go back to Luke or any other man after you." The meaning of course being that he should have known Dane was his. The missing years completely blows the whole meaning of the line, along with it the premise of the show. The acting was good, and all in all well done except for Julia Blake who played Fee Cleary. I don't think she did justice to the character created by Jean Simmons whose presence was sorely missed. Amanda Donohoe did a great job. She's a fine actor. Richard Chamberlain was his usual charming and talented actor he has always been. Simon Westaway, who played Luke, did a fine job as well. The story itself was lacking all the way around. The only decent part was when they made love. Yet, another inconsistency. When he goes back to her years later, Meggie says, and I paraphrase "It's not been that long...

If you want the "real missing years" read the book
I can sympathize with TV producers who wish to make "prequels" or "sequels" to Mini Series but not "in betweeners". In this film Ralph de Bricassart (played again by Richard Chamberlain) comes back to visit Meggie (now played by Amanda Donohoe) while Justine and Dane are growing up (something that never happened in the novel). She also gets a visit from Luke (who also never resurfaces in the book except in a letter) years after she told him off. Meggie and Ralph are as distant as they were before Matlock Island in it, making the first "19 years later scenes" irrelevant (even before Ralph helps Dane tell Meggie he wants to enter the priesthood). There is also a place where Justine discusses Ralph with Dane though they don't see him, and Justine hints that Meggie must have fancied him, and the like which again ruins the book text/sciptwriting from the forementioned "19 years later segment". Since the original series is hitting DVD...

Thorn Birds-The Missing Years-Misses the Mark
This sequel departs from cannon of the original story so, one wonders if the creators actually viewed the original mini-series.
It was a shame to see Colleen McCullough's carefully detailed characters (some of them) bent to suit the plot of this contrived piece of work.
Oddly, Feonna Cleary (an a-vowed atheist in the original mini-series) has suddenly found faith and speaks about "God's greatests blessings" a multitude of times through out the film. To-wit, also, after years of running Drogheda, she is relagated in this sequel to knitting and a "cheery attitude".
Amanda Donahoe does a reasonable job of potraying Megan Cleary-O'Neil. Richard Chamberlain seems to work very hard at keeping the characterization of Fr. (now Arch Bishop) Ralph D'Brickesar authentic.
A portion of the original mini-series is totally ignored in respect to the character of Luke O'Neil (in respect to Meagan's ending her relationship with him) And Lastly, this is really the nineties (well...

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