Baby Remember My Name

It's Alumni week and past students return to the school for a reunion. Dryenforth suggest that they year book be done in video form and that the return students be interviewed as part of that.

Chris is asked to talk to the drama class about his experiences since he left school. However he pretends that everything has been easy for him and it's not been difficult for him finding work. He soon realizes that it was wrong to lie and goes back to give a second talk to tell the kids the truth.

Leroy's teaching assistant  position is under review and he has to fight for the job to continue in the following year. He is also cast in a show which is being directed by Michael Taftner who was also a student at the school who is struggling dealing with his situation & is no longer getting the kind of work he used to. He and Leroy class over the roll which forces Leroy to question himself and he decides it time to finally leave the school and dedicate himself to his career.

 Taking the episode title from the lyrics of the Fame theme is so fitting for this the very last episode. I personally had to wait years to finally see this episode and although I knew Valerie and Carol returned to the show I wasn't aware of the other characters returning too so that wasa lovely surprise. For me this episode is really an episode of 2 parts and the first part I really love while the other part I'm not keen on.

It seems really strange to me that with so many cast members both current and returning that a guest star is brought in to become the focus of what seems like most of he episode. So for me the part I don't like is the age old problem of guest star syndrome.

I'm sure most fans, like me, aren't interested in the Michael Taftner's story and so when he's on screen I am just waiting to see the returning cast members and their scenes all too brief. Surely the writers and producers realised that this would be the case so why they didn't adapt Michael Taftner's part for one of the recurring characters I don't know. 

Leroy and Chris' stories are fine but I would have liked Danny to have more of a story and seeing all his old friends maybe he would come to the conclusion that it's time for him to leave the school too. Maybe it could have been his last term anyway and he be scared of going out into the real World but talking to his old friends makes him realise it won't be as bad as he was imagining. 

It's great to see Doris, Bruno, Coco, Holly, Sherwood and Montgomery back. I love the reunion and all the little pieces to camera and we get a little insight into the lives of our favourite characters. It's a great idea for them to do a video year book.

Instead of the Michael Taftner story I would have liked to see some of the other characters do a speech to camera particularly the teachers, Lydia, Sherwood and Shorofsky. It would have been nice if the current cast had a little piece to camera too because they are pretty ignored apart from standing behind the camera while interviewing the others. I personally can't help wonder where the missing characters are like Reardon, Morloch and Julie. I wonder if Morgan , Ken and Lori were actually asked back and declined.

For the most part I'm not keen on the music in this episode as I wanted proper songs rather than instrumental music. The final dance I actually think is pretty boring and seems to go on forever taking away air time from the things I do want to see.

Instead I think I would have used brief flashbacks to other episodes and showed some of the best loved songs which would have been a way to show the characters that have come back particularly Nicole. I believe Nia was on set during the filming as she was dating Carlo at the time so they could have always filmed a new scene with her to show as flashback for Nicole.

So after the reunion scenes and the returning characters interviews to camera the best parts come at the end when Leroy decides he doesn't want to continue as a teaching assistant and is leaving. The scene is so beautifully played by Gene and Debbie and always makes me cry. Debbie has said that for her they were real tears and I'm sure the same was true of Gene too as it sums up the audiences feelings of saying goodbye to the show.

The finale with all the cast singing Fame is also wonderful and it's great to hear the returning cast sing a few lines. Erica opening the song always gives me chills as it's such a reminder of the show at it's best. The key of the song doesn't seem to fit some of the cast though and their vocals aren't up to the usual standard. It is a totally fitting way to end the show and for once the season 6 writers were right on the money with the writing.

Debbie was pregnant with her second child by the filming of this episode and I've heard her say that she was just about showing although personally I never noticed this.

It was sad to see the show finally end but by the last season there was definitely a clear difference between the quality of the show in the early years and the quality at the end. the new characters never matched the original characters and personally I don't think the 6th season should have been made and the show ended at the end of season 5. Overall it is a good

Original  air date in U.S.A. 18th  May 1987

Original air date  in the U.K.  The Children's Channel  Broadcast April 1993  

Original air date  in France 01st April1996