Slade

He doesn’t know for sure he suspects, which is why I would imagine presumably he hasn’t done anything. Even if he did, I feel it’s reached the stage where he’s so into her that he would most probably be in denial.

I see your point but this is pretty straight forward from my point of view. Like I said before it would have been different if she genuinely liked going out and spending time with Angelo but was still in love with Aden, obviously that would have been harder and more understandable. But no, she’s going out with him because of his connections, i.e. using him. Angelo even said it to Charlie previously “Do you ever feel that dating a cop could be useful?” As someone said, at least Aden’s trying to do the right thing. And just to clear things up, I don’t dislike Belle (although admittedly I’m not as keen on her anymore) as I feel essentially she’s a good person and everyone makes mistakes. It’s just I’m not sure about her and Aden being together. Although the flip-side to that is if they are together at least they aren’t hurting other people in the process.....

It definitely wasn’t Belle’s fault initially. However the fact remains that she was the reason why I felt he wasn’t concentrating on his treatment. All he was thinking about was getting back with her when he was up on very serious charges and needed to show the psychologist the reason why he acted the way he did was because he experienced a breakdown and was making every attempt to come to terms with what he did. You saw what his attitude was like at first in the clinic. He actually seemed quite proud of what he did. Even after the court case he still needed help and Belle knew that he hadn’t fully recovered yet she wants to continue going out with Angelo and seeing him on the side (knowing full well how hung up over her he was). If she doesn’t like or love Angelo, that’s fine why can’t she just do honourable thing and finish with him.

Yep, I can only mirror the previous comments about him. Loved the scene with Kane in the hospital as well. Felt so sorry for him when he was crying. Another scene I liked was with Miles and VJ in the Den when he made the coin disappear from his hand. Just liked it when he told Oliver to pick a hand and he slapped both hands several times – So cute.

Aden did chase Belle when they first got together. But as we can see (UK pace here) she was still taking half-naked photographs of him, still turning up at Roman’s and still hanging around him even though she’s supposed to be going out with someone else. And I’m not sure if they have a positive affect on each other either. When Aden was in the clinic and supposed to be receiving treatment he made himself miserable by focusing and pinning after her (remember his reaction when he climbed through her window and saw Angelo and Belle together - distraught) even though he was supposed to be concentrating on getting better. I know they let him out of the clinic because they thought the treatment was complete but it was apparent that he still had unresolved issues and as I’ve said several times before Belle is detrimental to any recovery process in my opinion. And then there’s the issue of her still going out with Angelo when it’s so obvious that she’s clearly in love with Aden. It’s not so much the cheating that I have a problem with because she’s been no worse than people in the past (Cassie and Martha are the two I can think of) and I can understand her being in a situation where she cares for both Aden and Angelo but can’t decide however this is not the case. She basically admitted to Aden that the reason why she didn’t want to break up with Angelo was because she still needed him to help her expose the council and the issue of the waste-disposal. So basically she’s stringing him along. I actually used to like them when Aden was first pursuing Belle but when they got together it just didn’t do it for me. All that seemed to happen is that they would both end up being miserable. And now it’s reached the stage where I am starting to find this whole thing (which seems like Drew revisited) quite tiresome. When they are not together and we see scenes when they are apart, I actually think the characters are more interesting and have more individuality (such as Aden’s relationship with Nicole, Roman etc, Belle’s talks with Geoff). So I don’t mind them separately it’s just the idea of them as a couple which bothers me. Assuming they get back together, let’s hope they are not breaking up every five minutes as I’m not sure I could stomach that….again.

Geoff’s a prime example why despite coming from a very religious and Christian family I no longer go to church and defiantly do not consider myself to be a Christian as he reminds me of people I’ve met in the past – Hypocritical, judgmental, intolerant etc. He bangs on and preaches about all these religious values yet he is one of the biggest hypocrites around. I remember his attitude towards Jai when he noticed Annie started taking an interest in him. He was acting like he was a total menace and wanted his sister to stay away from him like he was some kind of hardened criminal. He didn’t even consider that Jai had recently lost his entire family and his best friend died from a motorcycle accident where he walked away. It says in the bible not to judge yet he judged Jai. When he spent the night with Nicole on the island he had no qualms about sleeping with someone he wasn’t married to even though there are so many references that specifically label fornication as a sin. It seems as though he only wants to abide by the rules when it suits him and break them when it doesn’t. In his defence he has gone out of his to help and see the good in others such as Nicole, Tam, Melody and even Aden. When this stuff happened with Elliot, he got shot in the leg by a dart (I still can’t figure out how he managed to swim to shore and carry Nicole to safety). He helped Melody escape from Christine twice and got run over for his efforts (Again you start to wonder if he was invincible as Jai was at this point). However, nearly all of them have had one thing in common. He has taking a liking to them at some point (I’m still making my mind up about Aden). So maybe he only prefers to help people that he’s physically attracted to – Very selective. If as he says he wants to become a minister then he needs to become a lot more opened minded and tolerant of people. Something he is lacking at this present time. At the moment I don’t like him but looking at a trend of how the writers try and change characters I do get the feeling Geoff will eventually become more tolerant and less judgmental so I can see myself liking him in time. On a final note in terms of entertainment for my own purely selfish reasons, I would LOVE to see him debauch to total sin, corruption and turn badboy.

I think the problem with Leah is that she hasn’t really had a major storyline as of late. In fact I can’t remember the last time she had a decent storyline. Her husband Dan did die about a year ago but I would hardly call the way it was handled a major storyline. In fact it was very much anticlimactic. I think it has now reached the point where she is much like Irene, always there but simply as part of the furniture and only really playing a support role to some of the other characters. I don’t think we see nearly enough of her home life. It was only up until recently (UK pace here) that we actually saw her Charlie and Ruby under the same roof. Also she is supposed to be good friends with Rachel but we don’t really see them socialise with each other very often. Most of the time we see her she is almost always at work. You could argue that a full time relationship would to her wonders but I’m not sure if that would improve the character. Perhaps if the writers took a risk and showed a darker side to her nature that would make her more interesting. Even though I’m a Kirsty fan I actually enjoyed the telling off she gave her (which I found quite funny) when the green-eyed monster reared its ugly head. She was the same with Jazz, although she bit her tongue in that case - More of that please.

Ah ha! Now I get it. I was always kept thinking of course your character, or in some cases two characters is less than 3. It’s only one or two characters. Thanks for clearing that up Barbara. It had been bugging me for a while.

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask but I’ve noticed on the signature of quite a few of the forum members they have xxxx <3, where xxxx is usually the name of the character(s). What does the <3 signify?

I liked Jade but that’s as far as it goes. She defiantly wasn’t one of my all time favourites and I don’t think she was anywhere near as good a character as Kirsty or Dani but she was ok and was an essential part of the Sutherland clan. The problem as highlighted in the original post was that she simply didn’t get enough storylines. She was there as a support role to Dani and Kirsty. However this wasn’t Kate Garven’s fault. I don’t think she was a bad actress, just didn’t get the material. I did like her interaction at times with Kirsty and Dani especially when she always had to keep covering for Kirsty. I thought that whole twin storyline with Laura was terrible to be honest. It was obvious it was a way to write Jade out of the show but they could have done a lot better than that. I remember way back in 2000 (I think) after the landslide when Jade was trapped Kirsty instinctively knew where she was because they shared a psychic bond owing to the fact that they were twins. Then all of that is completely disregarded and everything we’ve been made to believe for four years flushed completely down the toilet when the Degroots turn up and announce that Kirsty and Jade aren’t actually twins – A massive continuity error. Then in a short period of time she goes completely of the rails, not consistent with the character in my opinion. Also something which bugged me was why didn’t Jade come down for Kirsty’s recommitment ceremony? Shelly did. After she popped into the hospital when Kirsty was diagnosed with Kidney disease (loved the scene with her and Shelly BTW) she apparently disappeared after that. It’s funny because she was supposed to be roommates with Kit who used to make visits to the bay on a regular basis and there was no mention of what happened to Jade. As Kirsty’s now back in the bay I wouldn’t mind seeing Jade again, along with the rest of the Sutherlands it would have been interesting to see her reaction to this whole being on the run for three years situation.

Oh wow I wasn’t expecting that. I loved the way you did the first part of the epilogue obviously giving the impression that Aden was still behind bars. As I said before I’m quite choosy about the fan-fics I read but after reading this one, I guess I’ll have to start looking at others as you’ve shown they can be interesting and well written. And most importantly you’ve stayed true to your word as although you got your revenge (so to speak) I felt that you did present the characters in a balanced fashion. I know this was an exception as you used this as some sort of way to vent your frustration with the way the character had been portrayed in the show but do you generally tend to write stories for any character or do you have a particular preference?

Hmmm…Dani Sutherland. What can I say? I’ll start by saying (If you hadn’t guessed already) that I’m a massive Kirsty/Kane fan so it should be pretty obvious how I feel about Dani…wrong! Danielle Sutherland was without doubt one of my favourite characters in Home and Away ever. Period. When she first came into the show I really didn’t like her. She was stuck up, pompous, obnoxious and totally into herself. It seemed as though at the time the writers were trying to portray her as a spoilt brat. I wasn’t sure what to make of her and Will either. Most of the time Will seemed reasonably laid back. And then he starts going out with Dani, someone who in my opinion was high maintenance. But they gelled well together and he seemed to be able to handle her (probably because he was laidback). Also he was very supportive of her after the rape. Out of all of her relationships, I honestly believe Will was the only person that Dani was truly happy with until that was ruined by the pregnancy with Gypsy. I could never understand why so many hardcore KK fans seemed to hate Dani. I just couldn’t get my head around it. Going through previous forums (not just Back To The Bay) reasons cited included Dani was ruining Kirsty and Kane’s happiness because she wouldn’t let them be together. I mean come on she was raped. I do feel part of the reason for this was because at the time a lot of KK fans included the younger audience members that hadn’t fully understood what actually happened. Don’t get me wrong because for me it was KK to the end but I felt that the writers messed up. It wasn’t so much the ambiguity of the rape which bothered me but the way they dealt with it from 2003 onwards when Kane returned. More prudent would have been for the writers to maybe have Flynn set up more mediations sessions, between Kane and Dani with even Kirsty sitting in the mediation and have them come to some sort of understanding. A lot of people say Kirsty was selfish but I don’t feel she herself fully understood the effects her relationship was having on her sister and family and the mediation might have helped her to. Regardless of whether you liked Dani or not there’s no denying that she was involved in some of the best storylines – The attack itself, the first trial, the accident, the second trial, the mediation, her time in prison etc. And I felt the whole KK forbidden love thing just wouldn’t have been as good without her. KK aside think of the article she wrote which was the trigger for the Sarah Lewis storyline and in my opinion one of the most significant events in recent years. Mainly because this seemed almost like a catalyst for other events and how many characters resulted indirectly from that story. If you were to draw a timeline of events in Summer Bay a lot of the ones over the last few years would have appeared from that. I can understand people disliking Dani because at times she was all about me, me, me and she was whiny but that in the end I felt was actually one of the things I liked about her and she wouldn’t have been the same without that. The ironic thing was that she was made out to be selfish but I thought she was anything but selfish. She sacrificed her own happiness and made herself miserable because she loved her sister so much and wanted her to be happy. That was one of the reasons why I actually grew to admire her. I felt really sorry for Dani mainly because she always came across as an extremely sad person and Tammin played the part beautifully. I wasn’t happy with her final episode and her ending (as I felt that someone who contributed so much to the show over a four year period deserved better) but the reality is that characters don’t always get happy endings. And regardless of whether her ending was good or bad, I did feel as KK’s ending suited them similarly Dani’s ending suited her.

Sorry I haven’t posted here in a while. I can only mirror the previous comments in regards to the counselling session, although I hope you don’t do what they did on the show and suddenly decide that he’s cured after a total of two hours. You would expect something like this to go on for months. I can sense the finishing line. I’m hoping for some major event, near cataclysmic to occur. On the other hand it could just be an anticlimax.

Admit it, you received a more favourable response to your story than what you originally thought and you just can’t stop right now. I’m also glad it’s going to be longer than nine chapters. I’m really starting to get into it and if the next chapter had been the last, I wouldn’t have been too happy about that. I have a feeling Aden will be released before the story is over. Keep it up!

And that’s why you’ve got a battle on your hands to impress and get some of the others onside with this fanfic Red Ranger. You say that you like being risky. I should have known from the depreciation thread. I bet when people were applauding and giving the thumbs up, your eyes were closed and you could feel the rush of adrenaline and ice cold blood flowing through your veins. How dare you go on the character discussion and write something negative about Aden. It is tantamount to blasphemy! Now seriously, I didn’t mind you breaking up Aden and Belle but I wasn’t too keen on you removing her altogether. But going back to the remark you made on one episode the other day about how you were fed up with them, can I guess that’s why you decided to give her the elbow? Like I said, I actually think it would be better for Aden if she’s not there. Assuming he get’s out of this predicament, it would be better for his reform if there aren’t any obstacles. Great update by the way. I was wondering how you were going to compensate for Belle’s absence. It’s early days but perhaps you decided to explore a different direction of action packed drama as opposed to romance. We’ll just have to wait and see...

I know this isn’t a competition but with so many other Aden/Belle/Adelle fanfics, to be honest I think it’s risky taking Belle out of the equation like that (you possibly stand to lose up to two thirds of your audience). And as predicted you have decided to exact your revenge – “Those who live by the sword die by the sword”. I bet you enjoyed writing that part. Let’s see what chapter 7 has in store…

I Love Music, I couldn’t agree more. To be honest I thought that the writers slipped up here. However I felt that the main reason for this was because the time constraints prohibited them from actually using the word “rape” in the show. So for a lot of people it was ambiguous as to what happened. I have to admit even I didn’t realise right away. In regards to Kirsty I was a bit surprised she didn’t do something sportier. If you recall she won the triathlon and I believe won a scholarship to join an academy with the prospect of competing in the Olympics one day. She was also a duty lifeguard (she saved Kane from drowning) and the star player of the football team. Although admittedly she did develop kidney disease and I don’t recall her doing anything physical after that so perhaps she is still unable to. As I said before I was very displeased about her getting together with Miles so quickly. I remember when Kane first broke up with her, she was extremely depressed for a good 2-3 months after he left. Also she ran off with him twice and married him even though she knew it was illegal. A more plausible reaction would have been for her again be depressed for a bit (not as long as before) and pick herself up for the sake of her child. I could have seen her maybe being like Leah is now, just focusing on the child and making ends meet. Although I do feel the situation with Miles is that it is possibly security that she is thinking of. So she is actually putting her child’s needs before her own.

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to post on this thread. Kirsty’s always been one of my all time favourite characters. I liked her even before she started going out with Kane. I remember some of the episodes in the past that made me really appreciate the character, especially when she went of the rails. The nightclubs, the drugs, alienating herself from her family, her arguments with Shelly, and the failed relationship with Dillon - the person who they thought at the time was her half brother. As with the KK discussion, I can understand completely why people don’t like Kirsty. At times she’s been quite selfish, she’s lied and refused to take responsibility for her actions. Most importantly there’s Kane. Kane aside, it’s ironic because those are the reasons why I like her. I’ve never really been into the characters that are perfect. I much prefer those that are flawed. And it’s her faults which I felt have made her more interesting. Also, I’ve always thought Kirsty was pretty hot and when her and Kane got back together in 2003 I felt they were unstoppable and liked her even more. I think essentially she’s a good person but one of those people that simply does not consider the implications of her actions. And unfortunately she’s always been like this. In regards to her return I was dead against it. The reason being that when she left in 2005 I thought her time was up. And the episodes she was in just weren’t as good anymore - At least not without the other Sutherlands. Watching her in 2008 she’s been ok but I feel is a shadow of the character who she was previously and the show has now moved on. I’ve always been highly sceptical in regards to characters that return to the previous roles as history shows that they have been somewhat ruined (Shelly/Chloe/Jesse as examples). And already they are ruining her character as I’ve seen quite a few people who were fans of her before say they no longer like her. I don’t really like her with Miles as I feel that contradicts everything her character stood for over the last few years. And as I’ve said before there are two things that really bother me: 1. The fact that she’s been able to move on so quickly (weeks rather than months) to another relationship. He was supposed to be the love of her life. The person she gave up her entire family for. 2. There has been no contact and hardly any mention of the Sutherlands since her return. This I feel is very unbelievable. I can’t for one second believe that they haven’t heard of her return and I feel it would be out of character for them to not have tried to get in touch with her as least for the sake of Oliver. Admittedly the actors are unlikely to return but the should have at least had a scene where Kirsty went to the city for a few days. I just hope they somehow get her back together with Kane and write her out the show before they do anymore damage.

I’m so glad somebody decided to start this. I’m a hardcore KK fan for sure. One of the reasons why I liked them so much because they went through so much yet still stayed together whereas some of the other couples floundered. Think back to all the events during the time in the bay, their bonding after the Mirigini sunk, the accident (after Dani ran Kane over), the trial, the secret wedding, the fake pregnancy, Kirsty’s kidney disease, Kane’s cancer etc etc. Think of how much they had to go through to actually gain acceptance. Another thing was that there was such chemistry between them. I still remember very vividly the recommitment ceremony when Kirsty was singing to Kane. You could see it in their eyes. You could almost feel the love. This was due to the fact that Christie and Sam were so convincing with their acting. I completely understand why people hate them - The main reason being obviously that Kane raped Dani. Other reasons stemming from the rape include Kirsty’s selfishness (wanting to be with him despite how her family felt etc). The only thing I can say to that was you could see after the second mediation session that Kane did seem to show genuine remorse for what he did. In hindsight he probably should have gone to jail but he didn’t. And think of how many people he helped after that (such as Shelly, Kirsty, Max and Noah). Also most importantly, Dani forgave Kane for what he did and they eventually became friends. And what typified it for me was in Dani’s final episode she said to Kirsty, “I wish Scott and I have what you and Kane have but we don’t”. To me that spoke volumes. Even Dani could see the mutual love they shared for one another. In regards to their return I was totally against it. I just felt that their ending and the way they left the bay was perfect. i.e. they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. Also, I don’t really think it would have been viable to bring them back without the rest of the Sutherlands as their whole relationship was mainly based around them. And already we can see Kirsty who has been there for months doesn’t appear to have made any contact with them and vice versa – implausible. But that is a whole other thread. I was extremely displeased when they split them up but always held onto the notion that as Christine was only there as a guest start that at some point she and Kane would be reunited. I’m only at UK pace at the moment but Kane has only just contacted Kirsty for the first time since being in jail and she’s now working long shifts to try and raise money for his appeal (despite borrowing $5000 from Bartlett). I do hope that they reunite them before Christine leaves as this will at least in part make up for the debacle that was to bring them back into the show in the first place.

You know what? As there are a lot of hardcore Aden/Belle/Adelle fans coming here you could be really cruel and torture them with the story. But you wouldn’t do that, would you? Anyway…yay - Nicole and Aden. That’s what I wanted to see. I think you’ve got Nicole down to a tee. Aden’s stuck in jail and she’s starts talking about her mother’s dress. It sort of reminds me of the episode just after Aden bashed Axel and he was in his room thinking and she strolls in and starts going on about how unfair it was having to work for Roman.

I felt quite sorry for Angelo. I don’t know maybe I’m just thinking about the way Belle’s been treating him in the actual series. I actually think breaking it off with him is the best thing she could have done - The sort of cruel to be kind type thing. I’m now really starting to get in to this fanfic, which is quite unlike me because I only tend to read the KK ones. It just goes to show that I should have been more open-minded. I wouldn’t be too surprised that you’ve generated more interest than you thought. Aden’s a very popular character at the moment and you’ve portrayed him quite well up to this point (as with some of the other characters). Can’t wait for the next one. Have you already wrote the entire story Red Ranger or did you make a start and are now doing it as you go along? Oh and BTW Sorry I just had to reply to this (last time!). I thought Target 2006 was one of the best stories from the UK comic line. I loved the way they brought Death’s head into it and when he blasted Scourge. There were other stories that I liked including Legacy of Unicron and one of my all time favourites – Time Wars. I’ve got all of the Time Wars issues and I loved the cover with Megatron and Galvatron back to back – “Twins of Evil” - What a combo! Apologies to anyone that’s here to read the story of Aden behind bars. You really shouldn’t have to put up with this. This should have been continued in the another thread. Anyway that’s me done!

Sorry, I grew up during the '80s so I remember the old comics and cartoons...I think this is the point where I realise a lot of BTTB members weren't born then and feel unspeakably old. I wasn’t confused I know exactly who Optimus Prime is. I’ve still got quite a few of my old UK comics in a box on top of my wardrobe. The confusion was that I thought Megatron was better. Soundwave was pretty good as well. Anyway I digress. In regards to Aden when he returned to the show he was not a nice person, you could argue that he was a bully. After reading the second part I’m now wondering if he’s going to receive the same treatment in jail. It’s almost a form of payback or Karma to be more precise. One of the things you highlighted in the Discussion thread was that you thought he possessed a total lack of empathy towards others. Perhaps if he receives a hard time in jail he will finally understand what he put those people through. Also, I’m surprised he was prepared to request to do his exams just like that. I thought he would have been more likely to tell Masterson to where to get off. After that I would expect him to mop around and feel sorry for himself for a while. Now I’m thinking way too much. I’m taking a leaf out of your book. I should just sit back and enjoy the story.

Optimus Prime??? Megatron was far better and besides he crushed Prime with his bare hands. I haven’t been posting on Back To The Bay for very long and when I started coming here, I only looked at the UK Discussion Thread. I thought your posts did stand out because they were quite informative and more importantly impartial. Where a lot of people (myself included) would express emotion in regards to certain characters you would generally tend to stick to summarizing the episode and perhaps give a balanced view of certain events. I thought they were so unbiased, at first I couldn’t tell which characters you liked and which ones you didn’t. And I had thought you had been impartial up until the last few weeks when I noticed you complain (more than once) about certain characters *cough* *cough*. Then to my surprise I saw the deprecation thread with your name as the starter. What was even more surprising was reading what you had to say. Don’t get me wrong because everyone is entitled to dislike whoever they wish as the characters are ficticous but because you had been so impartial previously, I didn’t think it was possible for you to dislike a particular character so much. Anyway, each to his own. In regards to the actual storyline what will also be interesting to see what the hardcore Aden/Belle/Adelle fans think of this. This will probably give some indication of how well the characters have been portrayed, although I hope there isn’t too much disappointment if the ending doesn't go according to how they'd hoped.

I’m a bit surprised you decided to go down this route Red Ranger. The impression you gave with your posts was that you’d had enough of Aden/Belle/Adelle etc. It will be interesting to see how he copes with life behind bars and how his imprisonment will affect people such as Nicole and Belle. What also intrigues me is if your frustration with the character is reflected in the storyline or whether you try to approach it from a more balanced viewpoint and simply portray him as you felt an impartial writer should have done.

Cerise/Eli, Many thanks for the clarification. P.S. - I can’t even spell “necessarily”.