The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years

What started my interest in The Thorn Birds WAS "The Missing Years." I read the article on the series in TV Guide (a '97 Valentine's Day issue) that named Ralph and Meggie as one of the most romantic couples on television. I didn't know where to get the series...and then about a year ago, they showed "The Missing Years." This series introduced me to Ralph and Meggie, and, admittedly, it was hard to follow the storyline. But I liked it. I mean, so what if the people aren't the same?

One day I broke down and bought the whole series. I sat down with sodas watched it from beginning to end. Some people say that Missing Years is a bad piece. Well, I disagree. Why should Ralph and Meggie wait 19 years? If anything, it brought an interesting reason for Ralph's return: he was ordered. He is shown suffering in "Missing Years." In the original, it seemed like he decided to show up...waiting 19 years to do so. Their reunion was wonderful...and sweet. The way they saw each other after their 10 years of being apart (by accident) and both were taken away. Like in the original, they had fought their passion...so it stood to reason that they tried to tell themselves, once again, that they were over their passion. Their parting in Missing Years was sweet and brought tears to my eyes. It was a private moment between them. If his reputation is already on the line (and no doubt, would be severely tarnished if Dane's paternity were revealed), how would it look for Archbishop De Bricassart to be hugging and kissing Meggie at the train station?

Dane's character seemed true to how it was in the original. If anything, it was easier for me to see young Dane first and THEN adult Dane. In the original, Dane said he'd always wanted to be a priest. Well, in the Missing Years, young Dane seems at peace with his decision. We see his placidness and calmness in several instances. Also, in the original, Ralph said he'd always felt closer to Dane. It was good that he meet Dane at a younger age and get to know him. Granted, in the original, he just meets Dane as an adult...so there's a plot difference there, I'll admit. Yes, Dane is a goody goody. But he's supposed to be--he's the more priestly version of his father. I liked the young boy that played Dane...I thought he did a great job. He seemed, to me, more real than his zombie-like adult counterpart. Granted, Philip Anglim had a strong resemblance to Richard Chamberlain and could easily be seen as an adult version of a Meggie-Ralph combination. It was highly important that there be a young Dane. After all, you needed to see Meggie's partiality to Dane as a child. In the original, it takes awhile before it's shown that Dane IS Meggie's favorite. In the original series, young Meggie says "I'll never love any of my children different from the others." "Missing Years" shows that she's contradicted herself. Meggie DOES love Dane more than Justine--it's shown in their first scene together; in the original, she TOLD Justine she did--the younger Justine picked up on it more--the sibling rivalry for Justine against Dane was realistic. Ralph and Dane had a strong connection even when Dane is a youngster. Plus the fact that Dane, at a young age such as 10, knows he wants to be a priest is a harsher blow to Meggie... because she has to hear about it everyday and suffer through her denial that "He's just a child--he'll grow out of it." It made sense that she kept saying that.

Fee, in the Missing Years, was a lot worse than the Fee in the original. I mean, spoiling any shot of happiness for Ralph and Meggie? Jeez...that's harsh!

I must admit to being naive when I saw the Part II preview. I actually thought that Ralph would give up the priesthood...but then he couldn't, could he? Granted, I didn't know that he'd become Cardinal and die as thus.

All in all, I liked the movie a lot. I may be alone here, but I saw a lot of chemistry between Amanda Donohoe and Richard Chamberlain. Sure, it was different than the Ward-Chamberlain chemistry, but still...it was strong. The love scene was good...after all, they'd been in denial about their passion for so long and couldn't fight it anymore. After ten years of being without the woman he loved, it stands to reason that Ralph would doubt where he belonged. On one hand, he wants solely to be Meggie's...and Meggie's alone. On the other, the Cardinal's robe looks awefully promising. I LOVED watching him fight for Dane. I think it's realistic that he could've won--after all, it's the lion protecting his cub, albeit subconciously. I loved the line: "The boy is MINE." If Ralph only knew...

I thought there was more focus on Meggie & Ralph in the Missing Years. I was glad for it. They have to see each other again and remember...then they have to try to tell themselves it's over. But it's NOT over. In the end, as Ralph puts it, their love "is a blessing, not a burden." Their farewell is peaceful and, for once, leaving no hurt feelings. That makes the next nine years they're apart, no doubt, easier to bear. THEN they can reunite when Dane is older.

The passion between them (in both series) have made Ralph and Meggie one of my all-time favorite couples. I just can't hate (for the most part) "Missing Years" for being different--in some places I appreciated the differences.

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!

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.

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!