The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years

My entire life I only heard bad things about "The Missing Years". I once even saw a copy at a local thrift store with "not good" written on the cover in sharpie. I ended up buying a DVD of each miniseries on DVD and I decided to watch both of them. While it is true that I do prefer the original (unusual for me as I generally prefer the sequels), I did not hate The Missing Years at all. Had the original cast returned I think people would be far more kind to this misunderstood midquel. It had a tall order following up the second highest-rated miniseries in history at the time, but I feel that they still did an admirable job. In studying the history of the production, it is clear that The Missing Years was a labor of love. Unlike the original, they actually filmed this miniseries in Australia. They had to painstakingly rebuild Drogheda from the ground up, and the set designs look AMAZING. The streets of Rome look far better than they do in the original. As a history enthusiast, I was even amazed to see that they went the extra mile to accurately show correct Italian and Japanese weapons for the time period. The Catholic Church also really did shelter Jews during the Holocaust, which was portrayed here as well. The filmmakers clearly did their homework (although there are of course historical errors here and there). Obviously, some of the shots don't hold up (namely the bombing raid on Rome which suffers from some painfully dated mid-1990s CGI) but overall this is a very well-shot, well-acted, well-written show. The Missing Years even explains a few things that never quite added up for me in the original. Why didn't Meggie's brothers ever have children of their own? Why were Meggie and Jussie so bitter at the world? How exactly did Ralph get promoted to cardinal? These questions are answered in this miniseries. Most of the recasts didn't even bother me. The only one that really stood out was Vittorio, and he was only even on screen for a few minutes. Nobody can replace Jean Simmons, but Julia Blake as Fee played the part very well. In my opinion, by far the stand-out performance was from Simon Westaway as Luke. He absolutely nailed the voice, accent and attitude of everyone's least favorite Aussie. They even appear to have put make-up on his forehead to imitate a scar on Bryan Brown's face in the original. While there are inconsistencies with the original (which seemed to imply that Ralph had never met Jussie or Dane before), they are all minor and easy to ignore. Many of the so-called inconsistencies are nothing-burgers. 19 years is a long time for people to change. Overall, I found The Missing Years to be a welcome addition to The Thorn Birds story. It is not perfect, but no work of art is. And if you watch it with an open mind, maybe you will see the miniseries that I saw: a flawed but underrated labor of love that deserves more appreciation for trying to tell a missing side of the story. Like I said earlier, 19 years is a lot of time for things to happen. And I appreciate the filmmakers for trying to show a small portion of the 19 years that went missing in the original.

Richard Chamberlain plays a perfect part it is a very moving Film which impressed me and my wife. the filming must have been very difficult and the conditions very warm but it was very well put together and acted by all.

Just saw your review of the movie and it made me smile. My son Zach played Dane in the movie. The funny part is that Zach is anything BUT a goody-goody; how he was able to turn on the charm when the cameras were rolling is beyond me. The character definitely was a bit too sappy and innocent, but it worked within the framework of the story. My opinion is that Amanda Donohoe was poorly cast as Meggie, which was the mini-series' downfall. You say that the movie is available on video, but I haven't seen it anywhere, nor has Warner Bros. released it to video stores. ( I do, however, have my own copy of it, sent to me by the studio. )

Shooting the film in Australia was a complete blast -- the best experience we've ever had in this business. Thanks for your comments. It's interesting to read reviews about my son's work!

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 now the millinium) Does anyone really sigh with relief when Luke O'Neil arrives on the scene because (as "Fee" puts it) "We need a man around the place"? I say rent or own the original and leave the missing years missing in action!

I liked it. Better and better. At first I found the lady cold and not at all like the Meggie I had grown used to from watching the series over and over, but she was farther along in her story now - she'd borne Ralph's child and raised him to the age of thirteen. The world was at war. She was lonely and becoming a pragmatist. She didn't expect to see him again. (We didn't either.) THAT is the gift here - more time with the lovers.

Before commenting on the consistently good performances, which were (for the most part) written and played true to the characters lined in the book and performed in the original mini, I must protest the unsympathetic, growling characterization of Vittorio, Father Ralph's mentor at the Vatican. The writer was dead wrong in having him threaten Ralph with his love for Meggie. "Get over it!" he says, essentially. "Get on with your life!" Vittorio would never have acted so. Maximillian Schell was serious miscasting, but he didn't write his own lines. The same judgments apply regarding the casting and meddling attitude of Meggie's mother- too sensational, too cruel. And out of character.

The confrontation between Ralph and Vittorio comes so early in the story that one is tempted to judge the entire production by it, but it is important to keep watching. Eventually the characters fit in to the almost sacred memories we have of the earlier version and stand as logical segues to the time-line that they must fit into. The son Dane, by the way, is a real goody-goody. I didn't like him as an adult and I didn't like him as a kid, but he was true to character.

Look - Richard Chamberlain is the best. The love story stands. It was the main reason we watched the first one - that and the wonderful performances by the major stars - Kiley, Stanwyck, Simmons. Those folks aren't there; two of them we will never see again, and we will miss them, but we have Richard Chamberlain here again, and he was, after all, the heart of the story.

Look - try thinking of it as a road company performance with a star turn. It's worth seeing. Take another look and see if you don't agree- it's available on tape.

I cried.