What Are You Currently Watching (on tv/dvd)?

[fish]

...work...

Language Dahls, please.

[Ian]

2004 Neighbours still.
Stingray streaking at Stu's inauguration as a cop.

It's also very funny how other characters, such as Sindi, have started saying stuff like 'caketaker' now.

Last one I saw was a corker. Everyone - well, 'cept Suse - knows that Izzy's pregnant now to Karl (well, that's what they think anyway), partially thanks to Sky. Boyd going off at Sky was not undeserved, though I don't blame her for just hating Izzy so much.

[fish]

Yeah, naah!
I never could get into Neighbours and I doubt I'll live long enough to catch up with the last 16 years that I've missed.

[Santi]

2004 Neighbours still.

?????
You must be Vintage LOL

[Ian]

I haven't watched it "current" for donkeys years. I just tuned in the other week to see Sky and Lana come back briefly (and actually end up together), and that inspired me to search out the 2004 season to see Lana's original stint again. I was just going to watch that originally, but I thought "eh, may as well watch the whole season building up to that too".

[Ian]

Still 2004 Neighbours, but.... the lovely Lana has arrived.

In typical classic soap opera fashion, while she instantly hits it off with Serena when working together at the coffee shop, she barely meets Sky, and unfortunately still manages to unintentionally make a negative first impression on her by innocently saying Izzy seems cool but she's "not sure about the old guy" (i.e Harold, Sky's granddad!). Oh dear. Poor Lana. Foot in mouth disease.

I think I'll take these a bit slower now rather than burning through them.

Have to point out the scene with Harold, who is largely over his stroke and back to normal now but still having the occasional out-of-character moment, talking at first negatively about women's lingerie and then going off and starting to wax lyrical. It's Max's reaction that had me ROFL. The look on his face as Harold starts going on about PVC underwear, and then he just slowly turns and walks away...

[fish]

Did I hear right that they're about to make a new series?

[Ian]

Of what?

[fish]

Neighbours.

I heard it on the radio.
(isn't that the name of a song?)

[Ian]

They've never stopped making it. It was probably that they had to shut down for a few weeks because of the coronavirus, but they've started up again with some jiggerypokery to get around restrictions.

[fish]

...jiggerypokery...

I'm so embarrassed not knowing that already.
Pretty sure the jiggery wasn't at fault, but you can never have enough pokery in my humble opinion.

[Ian]

I quite agree. Pokery is the best.

Talking of Neighbours... (albeit 2004 still). Lana is trying way too hard to fit in at her new school, and keeps on managing to put her foot in her mouth in front of Sky. Oh dear. Poor Lana.
I've a feeling saying "poor Lana" is going to become a theme of these comments.

[fish]

...keeps on managing to put her foot in her mouth...

Now that's real pokery.

[Ian]

Wicked Science, first 3 episodes. This mid 2000s Aussie kids/teen sci-fi show is about two teenagers, Toby and Elizabeth, who are involved in some sort of freak accident that turns them both into super-geniuses. And while Toby is decidedly wary of his new abilities, Elizabeth is more than happy with them.
I freely confess (cough) that the reason I started watching this in the first place is that Elizabeth was of course played by the lovely Bridget Neval, best known as the lovely Lana in Neighbours. Not that I was or am in any way sweet on her or anything. No sirree. Not me. Perish the thought.

It's still pretty good, if flawed at times. Sometimes it's a bit too kiddy - mainly in the first episode so far with that woeful mid2000s TV budget CGI dinosaur - but the characters, particularly Elizabeth, are quite compelling, and a lot is somewhat different to how I remembered.
I'm appalled at how badly Elizabeth is treated, and it's unsurprising she starts lashing out when given the ability and confidence. Pre-accident Elizabeth is painful to watch, so painfully introverted and shy and socially awkward, with everything from the way she dresses and carries herself - stooped posture, hunched shoulders - speaking volumes, and you can practically see her flinch at every cruel jibe or casual dismissal. Particularly painful is when the "hot" new girl just casually steals the seat she sits in next to Toby, who she clearly has a crush on already. "I sit next to Toby," she says uncomprehendingly, and you can see see how the brief social interaction with him that arrangement affords her, which means less than nothing to him, is probably the highlight of her week. Watching her embarrassedly stumble to find another seat, head down, is just...
Post-accident Elizabeth has more confidence, and certainly dresses better, but you can see that seething anger that must have been boiling under the surface for years at how she's been - and is still being - treated finally being given the chance to be expressed. Yet she's painted as the bad guy.
As for the other characters, Toby is generally likeable enough, and is at least depicted as initially being indifferent to Elizabeth (and also perhaps embarrassed by her obvious crush) rather than outright nasty, but his friends are absolutely awful, constantly belittling, insulting and provoking her, and then getting all huffy and offended if she hits back. I really didn't remember hating Dinah so much, but she is an absolute bitch to Elizabeth, even pre-accident Elizabeth, from moment one, for absolutely no reason. I don't blame Elizabeth for fricking despising her.
The most uncomfortable thing is it's really unclear whether the show even realises how terrible they all really are to her or not. This certainly shifts later on, especially in the second season when Toby actually starts to care about Elizabeth and their relationship verges on even being romantic, albeit with him still wary of her abilities, but at this point it's deeply uncomfortable to see the way even the supposed "good guys" treat her, and then act she's like crazy or evil for being angry about it.
I'm kinda hooked, though. Which may even be the point after all.

[fish]

...some sort of freak accident that turns them both into super-geniuses...

Don't know 'bout you, but that's always happening to me.