severine rubis Ah the Thorn birds saga..i was 12 the year it aired on TV in 1984 in France for the first time because it had many reruns after.I love this saga and miniseries and loved Richard chamberlain the fine priest Ralph who took care of Meggie like a father when she was a child,a very lovely little girl but rejected by her mother and in need of love and affection because of Frank's departure and many deaths in her life..She was a child when she arrived at Drogheda first at Mary carson's property,a bitter and wicked old lady ,the sister of Paddy Cleary who wanted to leave in Australia to see his sister..And through the years Meggie grew up and she fell for Father ralph knowing he was a priest,this poor young red haired girl with grey eyes,in the book the character of Meggie is red and it's very different in the series but it is good though. She madly falls in love with Ralph who at the death of Mary carson will have to choose between Drogheda or the Vatican..and he will choose both of them.He is an ambitious man actually and won't break his vows not even for Meggie..We 'll see his torments and visits at Drogheda after the fire,the kiss the reject then later the coming at the Mueller's then Matlock island where he and Meggie will live three weeks of passionate love like wife and husband but not for long..the birth of Dane who is the son of Ralph,the lies,the betrayals..in fact this saga is the story of different feelings,love ,hatred,jealousy,betrayal and the forgiveness at the end.It is also the story of a love that is IMPOSSIBLE UNATTAINABLE because Ralph is a priest and the internal conflicts in a family which are better described however in the Novel ,the family secrets especially like Fee's secrets which will have a big influence on Meggie's life..As a 46 year old woman now i still love this miniseries but i would kick Ralph if i were Meggie more than once.He is so ambitious and so self centered and full of ambiguity..How can Meggie love a man like him? Ralph isn't the nice man after all when Meggie grows up and more in the book ,he is detestable sometimes and selfish.I feel sad for Meggie now as a woman because i think that if she loved Ralph he didn't love her the same way. SHE SACRIFIED HER LIFE FOR HIM. She didn' love Luke but could have loved another man than Ralph and luke..well ,i won't change the story but Ralph is the man to avoid.He only gave Meggie 3 WEEKS OF HAPPINESS ON AN ISLAND AND A SON but when she said proudly"I have beaten God.I have a part of Ralph that the church will never have"she lost! Moreover a priest that runs after a woman like Meggie on an island is a bit unrealistic..The series is nice but it is just a romance! As a teen it made me dream but not now..

ga-bsi I love this mini-series because it was beautifully true to Colleen McCullough's creation. It is such a rich and complex tale because it spans over such a long time period, but they did it wonderfully in this adaptation. I loved to hate Meggie at times, as I did in the book, and I also wanted her to finally be with Ralph. But what really impressed me was the way in which they took such a poetic book and lost none of that when they put it on the screen. The casting was absolutely amazing, from the sensitive and torn manner in which Richard Chamberlain portrayed Ralph, and although he didn't have the colouring that Ralph had in the book, I couldn't imagine any other actor playing this character. To Rachel Ward, who brings the passionate and obsessive Meggie to life with such poise and lovliness, how I mourned with her and hated her at the same time, for the way in which her selfish and strong nature cripples Ralph. But I admired her ability to love. I will always adore this mini series, that proved that love, even denied, can bloom into the most precious treasure two individuals can own.

tikidoll I've only watched the first side of disc one and am so far enjoying it, but what is with the accents? They are supposed to be in Australia and everyone is either Irish or American. The Irish makes sense, but not the American everybody! I'm Australian so I find it disappointing and distracting. I think poor immitations would have been better than effortless American accents.Meggie goes from being an American accented child of an Irish accented father and non-descript accented mother, and grows up into a British/Australian accent.Mary sounds like she's a New Yorker with an Irish brother, but the killer was at the fair when the emcee said to the girl who won something "Good on you!" awkwardly because if he was Australian, it would have been "Good on ya!" I am enjoying it, but this accent issues is quite abominable! I can't wait until Bryan Brown hits the scene to sets things straight. Oi!

Mrs-Misfit I believe the Thorn Birds to be the absolute best romance of all time! It has unrequited love, tragedy, passion, retribution and a love which is haunting and forever. The Australian Outback, Greece, Rome and London are the backdrops of this tragic, passionate, fantastic film.Rachel Ward and Richard Chamberlain deliver the best performances of their careers as lovestruck, tragic Meggie Clearly and confused, ambitious Father Ralph deBricassart. Other notable actors include Jean Simmons as Fiona Cleary, Meggie's mother, who watches her daughter make so many of the same mistakes she made in her life. Christopher Plummer as Vittorio the Cardinal is a great morality mirror for Ralph. One cannot also forget to mention Barbara Stanwyck as the conniving Mary Carson who sets up so much heartache and tragedy, even from the grave. The moral and lesson of the series is to ask how much of our lives we choose and how much is already decided for us? Will each generation make the same mistakes the previous did? Fiona makes the mistake of never having the man she loves but loving his son more than her other children. Meggie loves a man who is unattainable and makes many of the same mistakes her mother did. It is only up to Justine, Meggie's daughter, to attempt to break the cycle.If you have not seen this, you MUST!! It is on DVD which makes it even better for those scenes you just cannot get enough of! Henry Mancini's soundtrack is the perfect backdrop for the movies most poignant scenes.