Thorn Birds:Missing Years: Amazon.ca: DVD: DVD

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The phenomenally popular The Thorn Birds was one of TV's hardest acts to follow, so it's a surprise that The Missing Years turned out as well as it did. Produced 13 years after the original 1983 miniseries, this is not a sequel but an "in-betweener," filling part of the 19-year gap in The Thorn Birds and beginning in war-torn Rome in 1942, where Father Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain) is struggling to rescue Italian refugees after the latest wave of bombing. He is sent back to Australia to investigate the potential for refugee relocation there, and is reunited with his former lover Meggie Cleary (now played by Amanda Donohoe, replacing Rachel Ward), whose beloved farm Drogheda is in the grip of a two-year drought. Their still-powerful love must remain unspoken, however, because Meggie has reconciled with her estranged husband Luke (Simon Westaway, assuming Bryan Brown's role), and is about to be engaged in a heated custody battle for her son Dane, whose father is actually (and secretly) Father Ralph.

These family secrets, and the turbulent emotions of Meggie's teenaged daughter Justine, create enough familial tension to fill The Missing Years with the kind of ripe, involving melodrama that fueled the original miniseries. Accepted on its own merits, this is a respectable, above-average TV production, bolstered by the fine performances of Chamberlian and especially Donohoe, who intelligently plays Meggie with warmth, inner torment, and plucky tenacity, making the role fully her own. The sweeping wall-to-wall score is excessively manipulative in its attempt to elevate The Missing Years to Gone with the Wind proportions, and some viewers may question the integrity of a plot (bearing no relation to Colleen McCullough's bestselling novel) that forces a noble priest to solve his dilemma with a vengeful fistfight. Still, this is an eminently watchable TV romance that can stand on its own, without the long shadow of its much-beloved predecessor. --Jeff Shannon

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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2.6 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst thing i've ever seen, May 8 2003

By

Richard Poulsen "and Family" (Moraine, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

Ce commentaire est de: Thornbirds 2:the Missing Years (VHS Tape)

I loved the original thron birds as well as the book. This was probably the worst film ever made. First of it doesn't at all compliment the original series weather it be story line or otherwise. Although richard chamberlain is charming as ever i cannot understand how he could ever acted in this disgraceful film. The book didn't even go with this story. Nothing they added was mentioned in the other movies or book except the background about mary carson which still wasn't covered. The fact that luke returns to maggie in this thinking dane is his son is unbelievable considering when maggie last saw him was when she was already pregnant with dane. Knowing that he wasn't anywhere near her after justine was born, it should have struck him as odd that maggie had another child knowing that dane could never have been his. Plus in the original series Maggie pointed out she never returned to luke! Also considering dane and justine saw father ralph for the first time when they were grown up to begin with makes it very hard to follow with the timeline. I tried to picture it as if it happened after the second part of the thorn birds and no matter how i looked at it , nothing goes along with the other movies at all. Overall this was a major dissappointment!

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1.0 out of 5 stars If you want the "real missing years" read the book, Jan 26 2004

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Eric Pregosin (New Carrollton, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

Ce commentaire est de: Thornbirds 2:the Missing Years (VHS Tape)

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 next week, and they decided not to include this (being the DVD is gonna sell a lot less expensive than the VHS copy), you are much better off buying it (the DVD of the original that is). If you really wanna know what happened in the time between Dane's birth on Drogheda, and the "19 years later" segment that comes next in the Original, then read the book, there is more story there, none of which is covered by this very "brief" miniseries. If THIS in betweener ever hits DVD, I will debate ALL Pros and Cons before buying it.

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1.0 out of 5 stars hey, people!, Dec 4 2003

By A Customer

Ce commentaire est de: Thorn Birds Ii Missing Years (Audio CD)

This is an audio CD. Why are you are reviewing the movie. Come on folks, stick to the idea here.

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