I hope this embedded video works! If not, watch here!
Argh. I am excited about this. My teenage bestie and I watched the original over and over when we lived in Port Hedland in the early 80s. The beachy culture seemed so very far from our reality, but we definitely had panel vans and bikinis and Reef Oil at our disposal! OMG.
I’ve actually not read the book, so I am going to do that. I really am. In between the other zillions of things I am doing at the moment. Argh. You know, I am a bit too busy, but I love the work I am doing. So no complaints from me!
Are you too busy, too? And do you love Puberty Blues? Swing us some comments, would you love? I would love that. I will read every single one (I always do!)*
xx Pip
* I know that mobile blog reading has nearly killed the comment. It’s okay. I can handle it…! Don’t fret if you can’t comment! I appreciate you clicking here. I really do!
I am really looking forward to the remake. There were two girls in Cronulla in the 70's who I am sure the book and movie were made for,about the only difference was a different school, name and home, everthing else was them to a tee.They used to borrow the Bankstowners boards and stay out all day on them, when the poor boys tried calling them in to to get their boards back so they could catch the train home, the girls would paddle out further.
They were good days. So yes I am definately looking forward to it.
Ahh… Puberty Blues. I grew up in the Shire not long after the book was set. So I'll be watching and experiencing flashbacks all the way.
They've remade the 1980s film Blue Lagoon this year too. Its called Blue Lagoon: The Awakening and it was made as a tv movie in America, it aired in June this year. It stared our very own Aussie girl Indiana Evans (of home and away fame) in the role Brooke Shields played in the original. Haven't seen the remake myself, but you can see the trailer for that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slhFGMB8yhM
anyways, this Pubery Blues tv show looks seriously good! haven't seen any good shows on any of the major channels for a while, and im talking YEARS that looked worth watching. Reckon they;ll try to pitch it too the US eventually too. Looks great!! EXCITED!!! Also noticed Charlotte Best is playing the girl with the blonde fringe. Will be cool too see her as a character that is the complete opposite of the character she played when she was in home and way, Annie Campbell…
This looks great. I wasn't allowed to see the movie and never got around to reading the book, so I will do it in reverse, watch this telemovie, then read the book, then go find the original. Thanks for the heads up. Can't wait to see it. Aren't our brilliant Aussie actors doing fabulous things with nostalgic telemovies these days? So much talent.
Ha ha! I'd forgotten that one Katie! And I sat in an aisle seat yesterday!
oh I'm excited. I loved the movie, learnt a bit from it as well 🙂
Yes! Blue Lagoon!! And fluttering loins!!!
Hurrah!! Thanks Gab x
That looks AMAZING! I wish I could watch it here in the States! My little sis lives out there in Australia tho, I will tell her to check it out, it is so her thing. It reminds me a TINY bit of freaks and geeks, but only a little though. Did you ever see that?
Puberty Blues was from my sisters era! But yes, I'm busy. I'm so busy that I just sit here procrastinating & hoping it will all just disappear! xx
I started by reading the book first, it is absolutely AMAZING! And then it was watching the movie over and over again..
Super excited for this series, you've made my day Pip!
I also read your blog and many others via the feeds, but especially wanted to comment on this one.
I grew up near Cronulla too, although in the eighties and early nineties, so it was a bit removed from Sue and Debbie's world. Even so the kids from my school with bleached blonde hair and year round tans would regularly wag school to surf, and you'd see the cars with fogged windows lined up on Prince St & Mitchell Rd any evening.
I live in Sawtell, near Coffs Harbour now, and seeing kids in school uniform carrying surfboards is very nostalgic for me.
Looking forward to watching Puberty Blues the series, although I wonder how many cigarettes will be smoked in comparison to the original? Definitely historically correct for the kids to be smoking but not so well accepted on screen these days.
Also I notice Ashleigh Cummings (Debbie) is getting a lot of work at the moment, having just watched her as Dot in 'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' and in 'Tomorrow, When the War Began'. I'm interested to see where she goes after this.
I still never sit in the aisle at the movie "in case some pusher comes along and jabs me in the arm".
Pumped!! It looks great. xx
PIP! oh my goodness! you HAVE to read the book! the first time i read puberty blues was on a family camping holiday at the beach when i was 13. i was looking for a book to read on holiday, and when mum saw it in the shop she suggested i get it as it was a 'classic'. reading it i was shocked and interested in equal measures, and i also made my friend who was on holidays with her family too, read it! we were debbie and sue! we sat for hours on the beach on the look out for boys!we snuck out of the house at night and smoked for the first time and by the end of the holiday we were attempting to surf too! thats about where the similarities ended.. but it is probably one of my favourite books of all time – i hope you enjoy it heaps too!!! i checked out the video you posted – it looks amazing, i actually cant wait!
Hello person after my own heart!
You mean Blue Lagoon, with Brooke Shields & Christopher Atkins (squeal!). I LOVED Brooke and her eyebrows and Christopher in his bonde curls and loin cloth did crazy things to a my 12 yr old heart (& fluttering loins)!!
Phew! Thanks for the flashback. I wonder if it's on DVD? Might have to have a Brooke Shields double feature & hire that and Endless Love. Sigh.
Love your work Pip!
Gab x
Two words: Can't. Wait.
I am beyond excited – the movie came out when I was a teenager – you must read the book – was full on and the start of my girl crush on Kathy Lette!
So that's why noone ever comments on my blog LOL!
I've never watched the Puberty Blues movie – my Mum wouldn't even let me watch The Simpsons. I wonder if our little island video shop has it?
I actually grew up in cronulla – my bus driver was in the original movie and one of the houses was in my friend's street. I think this new show is even filmed at my old high school and they are wearing the same uniforms we wore (mega short skirts). I read the book when i was only in primary school, snuck it off my mum's shelf and read in secret – and saw the movie. I loved it. It is funny – growing up in Cronulla at the beach in the eighties wasn't quite like that…but then again……
I was so worried when I saw this was being remade into a series but based on the trailer it looks really good. I do kind of wonder how they'll make it go for more than one season. Unless it's meant to be an Underbelly type deal.
I read and reread the book as a kid. It was so far from my world and it referenced an Australia that, to me in the early 00s, felt dead. I reread it again a couple of years ago and it was pretty confronting, I have to say. I got up to some pretty decent mischief in my teens but nothing that approached that surfie culture.
Hello Pip love! I miss you!!!! And yes, I did love Puberty Blues too. Oh and that other movie… you know the one with a very young Brooke Shields and the blonde boy. What was that movie? And who was that blonde boy? I did have a crush on him. Hmmm, I can't remember his name now.
xx
o.m.g.!!!!! mole, frigid, claudia karvan and DID I SEE suzie whats-her-name in there too! and HELLO pip the light haired gal (sue) LOOKS LIKE you at that age! 'are you old enough, woo woo, are you old enouuuuugh'. You do remember we spent an ENTIRE easter long weekend watching the original around 7 times and memorizing every single word.
please can we have a girls night in and watch this!
Hello Lara!! xx
It's got Claudia in it, so I'm excited! I love the original story and are looking forward to seeing the sets…I wonder if macramé will feature strongly? 😉
Hi there Pip! I didn't even know that they'd remade this and I am SO looking forward to it now! I was always the straight kid, so was fascinated by films like Puberty Blues.
And yes, mobile blog reading has killed the comment a bit – but we're still here! And we're all too busy I think…
Oh I remember as a group of girls at high school, standing in the library, always with one on watch out for the librarian.. as we turned the pages to read the raunchy scenes… the book always fell open just so that you could read it quickly enough before you were "caught"… I was usually the one on watch 😉