Taurus Rising

Monzo

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Does anybody remember Taurus Rising? It was originally intended by Nine to be a replacement for The Sullivans, but then turned into a weekly soap. I know I watched it, but I can't recall any storylines.
 

Carrie Fairchild

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Does anybody remember Taurus Rising? It was originally intended by Nine to be a replacement for The Sullivans, but then turned into a weekly soap. I know I watched it, but I can't recall any storylines.
I've never seen it beyond a clip on YouTube but I read about it in an Australian soap book that I have. It sounds like a classic "doomed from the start" production as they struggled to define what the series was about (including refusing to call it a "soap" and struggling to explain the name to the press), had technical issues with production and then rushed it to air earlier than planned which necessitated reshoots. When it finally went to air, the premiere bombed against Brideshead Revisited and Prisoner (another Grundy production) and after a few weeks, it lost it's primetime slot to Love Boat reruns and was shoved off to Friday nights to see out it's days. Because they were able to provide closure at the end of the series, it was sold overseas as a miniseries and apparently was a huge hit in Turkey and got decent reviews in the US.

Reading about it, it kind of reminds me of the situation with last year's soapy flop Between Two Worlds. Where the concept and opening plot was that convoluted that they couldn't give too much away when discussing it and as a result, didn't describe it very well in the promo interviews.
 

Monzo

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Taurus Rising seems to be some kind of black hole. Just one clip on You Tube, no episode summary online. I remember collecting clippings from the show with episode summaries, so I must have liked it somehow. In German the show was called Who sows hate (Wer Hass sät) - don't know if this title is much better than the original one.
 

Carrie Fairchild

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Taurus Rising seems to be some kind of black hole. Just one clip on You Tube, no episode summary online. I remember collecting clippings from the show with episode summaries, so I must have liked it somehow. In German the show was called Who sows hate (Wer Hass sät) - don't know if this title is much better than the original one.
Probably the same black hole that Pacific Drive and Something In The Air have been swallowed by. There's so many of the short-lived Aussie soaps of the 80's and 90's that don't have the same sort of online presence as their US counterparts, which I'm guessing is down to them not being aired beyond their initial run.
 

Alison Carr

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I had heard of Taurus Rising but had never seen it, wouldn't mind seeing some complete episodes, it had a decent enough cast with the likes of Diane Craig, Maurie Fields, Betty Lucas, Olivia Hamnett, Michael Long, the clip from youtube (mentioned above) can be found here


I also found these clips of interest:

POSSESSION

PACIFIC DRIVE

SOMETHING IN THE AIR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz_2pZ1VO_E

FAMILY AND FRIENDS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HRhOzAKvpA

GP (Full episode)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7cY8TCb0a8

CHANCES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCCLCxeyb90&t=50s

PARADISE BEACH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA63yHovgr4

THE POWER, THE PASSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqyOfiXMmJ8

HOLIDAY ISLAND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_rdFJwIGJ4

ECHO POINT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CSGSRhMyjY
 

Rove

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Reading about it, it kind of reminds me of the situation with last year's soapy flop Between Two Worlds. Where the concept and opening plot was that convoluted that they couldn't give too much away when discussing it and as a result, didn't describe it very well in the promo interviews.
This is what frustrates me most when producers believe they need to create some shock/scandal/secret to entice people to watch but then the actors lips are sealed when conducting interviews to promote the upcoming series. The downside to this is when that shock/scandal/secret is revealed, viewers will shrug their shoulders and say, "That was it?" Then the premise of the series goes down the toilet because this is what the producers/writers have built the entire series on.

Looking at series past not many were created this way. When we look at the Patriarch of Soaps - Dallas - it began with a simple story of a young couple just married. How shocking! However the writing allowed the story and characters to grow organically unlike some series today where characters (from the outset) are shoved down your throat without us understanding why they are doing the things they do.
 

AndyB2008

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I've said it before but that intro music for The Power, The Passion is awful. Sounds like supermarket muzak from the 80's / 90's.
The Power The Passion was strangled at birth even with the theme, as in Sydney and Melbourne it faced The Bold and The Beautiful in the same 1pm timeslot.

Didn't help the lead in was Bert Newton, who had it hard too as he was up against Midday with Ray Martin and Santa Barbara.
 

AndyB2008

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I had heard of Taurus Rising but had never seen it, wouldn't mind seeing some complete episodes, it had a decent enough cast with the likes of Diane Craig, Maurie Fields, Betty Lucas, Olivia Hamnett, Michael Long, the clip from youtube (mentioned above) can be found here


I also found these clips of interest:

POSSESSION

PACIFIC DRIVE

SOMETHING IN THE AIR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz_2pZ1VO_E

FAMILY AND FRIENDS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HRhOzAKvpA

GP (Full episode)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7cY8TCb0a8

CHANCES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCCLCxeyb90&t=50s

PARADISE BEACH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA63yHovgr4

THE POWER, THE PASSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqyOfiXMmJ8

HOLIDAY ISLAND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_rdFJwIGJ4

ECHO POINT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CSGSRhMyjY
Taurus Rising and Possession were killed by awful timeslots.

TR faced Prisoner (putting Grundy up against themselves), which had just brought Maggie Kirkpatrick in to shake it up.

Possession was the same - despite a lead in from Sale of The Century, it was pitted against Sons and Daughters (a fellow Grundy soap) and the sci-fi saga V in the main markets of Sydney and Melbourne, and against SAD and Carson's Law in others. In Adelaide, it aired at 8.30pm against movies due to SAD and The A-Team airing at 7.30pm (a TV bloopers show followed SOTC).
 

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Taurus Rising is still my favorite series after all these years. Watched it here in Germany 1989 again and again and again on my old VHS tapes. Great storyline, classic dialogues and a beautiful score. I never understood why they didn't show it again. This series was far underrated and should be released again.
 

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

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Taurus Rising is still my favorite series after all these years. Watched it here in Germany 1989 again and again and again on my old VHS tapes. Great storyline, classic dialogues and a beautiful score. I never understood why they didn't show it again. This series was far underrated and should be released again.

The same happened with the sequel series of Return To Eden, it ended up being an expensive flop in Australia but a hit internationally. :(
 

kth99

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I had heard of Taurus Rising but had never seen it, wouldn't mind seeing some complete episodes, it had a decent enough cast with the likes of Diane Craig, Maurie Fields, Betty Lucas, Olivia Hamnett, Michael Long, the clip from youtube (mentioned above) can be found here

I think that clip shows the quality of "Taurus Rising": the beautiful score, a powerful screenplay - and Ben Drysdale (Alan Cassell) was a great villain. In Germany he had the brilliant dubbing voice from Christian Rode - who had one the most remarkable voices of any time. The german dubbing, written by the legendary Gert Günther Hoffmann (usually know as the dubbing voice from Sean Connery), gave Taurus Rising a really special quality. I loved the dialogues, they were brilliant - and that lead to the fact that i had become a professional writer years later. I always wanted to write stuff like that.
I can recommend this series (in german: "Wer Hass sät...") to everybody - watch it if you have the chance. Unfortunately i have only my old german VHS tapes so far. And they are in bad shape cause i watched TR more than 30-40 times. :)
I'm still waiting for a DVD release. :cool:
 
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