Unpopular AIO Opinions

[Monica Stone]

-Jillian isn't too bad.
-Yes, Emily is a good character. I didn't know that was an unpopular opinion.
-Novacom isn't the best.
-The Final Conflict is one of my favourite episodes, mainly because of the tunnel scene.
-The Time Has Come is my favourite episode.
-I think the Parkers could stay longer.
-I didn't mind Barrett and I think he should come back.

Ooh nice!

Emily is a great character imo. I think I've spent so much time reading 2012 soda shop posts and blogs that I thought it was still an unpopular opinion. There was practically a war about her and it is entertaining to read.

I also wish Barrett had stayed longer. I know it would mess up the timeline (but who cares at this point), but they could bring Barrett back and say he's going into college and that would explain why he sounds older. I'd like that.

[Steve]

Bumping because, frankly this forum needs someone to do it! Here's some spicy hot takes for ya.

- Snow Day rules. I don't get the Snow Day hate.
- The show should have ended at Album 50. The cast is seriously starting to sound way too old.
- The Ties That Bind is one of the laziest pieces of writing I've ever heard.
- Gary Locke's current art style is borderline nightmare fuel. The visual art peaked with Bruce Day's drawings in the 80s.

[Catspaw]

Bumping because, frankly this forum needs someone to do it! Here's some spicy hot takes for ya.

- Snow Day rules. I don't get the Snow Day hate.

I'm with you on this, Steve! I've always loved that episode just for the sheer fun of it. There are lots of different types of episodes, so I can see why this one might not be the first choice for everyone, but really, have some fun, folks!

[Jonathan]

Album 51 wasn't a bad album.

Glenn Adams was a great character. I don't know that I'd want to meet him in real life, but on the show he was hilarious. That actor nailed it.

[Catspaw]

Glenn Adams was a great character. I don't know that I'd want to meet him in real life, but on the show he was hilarious. That actor nailed it.

I totally agree with this, Jonathan. The character was supposed to be super annoying, and he was a total success at doing so. Glenn always makes me laugh. I wouldn't want him talking in my ear all day, but that's a totally different subject that being a great character.

[The Top Crusader]

I used to unpopularly really not like the Novacom saga. Although while I remember very little about it at the moment, I re-listened many years ago (probably close to ten, yikes) and it was a lot better than I remembered from when it first aired.

It's been a long time so maybe people have warmed up to him, but I think I like Andre Stojka as Whit more than a lot of people did early on at least.

Jerry Whittaker and Regis Blackgaard should both come back.

The show should be more pro wrestling-centric.

Zapazoids was never good.

Wooton is the worst. Should've been an "okay in small doses" character like Harlow Doyle but they ran with it.

[Polehaus53]

Here are some of mine :

-The Happy Smilers theme song isn’t that bad and is actually pretty catchy.
-The split episodes weren’t an entirely bad idea. They should’ve made more of them.
-The Rydell Saga is one of the most disappointing sagas in AIO.
-Robert Easton should have voiced Bart for at least a few more episodes.

I have some more which I’ll add when I remember them.

[Catspaw]

Here are some of mine :

-The Happy Smilers theme song isn’t that bad and is actually pretty catchy.

I have some more which I’ll add when I remember them.

I agree with this one. It was just a touch annoying on purpose, but quite catchy and fun. I still sing it now and then.

[Monica Stone]

-The Rydell Saga is one of the most disappointing sagas in AIO.

I genuinely don't believe that's an unpopular opinion and I share that one with you. They built up so much hype and deflated it so quickly. It may be my least favorite saga because of how convoluted and strange it became because of the lack of planning.

Here are some more of my unpopular opinions:

-The McKay family was one of the best and most underrated families in Odyssey.
-The Leonard Meltsner Saga is on par with the likes of the Blackgaard & Novacom Sagas.
-Bridget is my favorite member of the Perkins family (she deserves no hate smh).
-Jules Kendall & Buck Oliver are good but kinda overrated? See, I'm conflicted. I like them, but people like saying they're the best characters currently which I disagree with.

[Jonathan]

-The Rydell Saga is one of the most disappointing sagas in AIO.

I genuinely don't believe that's an unpopular opinion and I share that one with you. They built up so much hype and deflated it so quickly. It may be my least favorite saga because of how convoluted and strange it became because of the lack of planning.

Here are some more of my unpopular opinions:

-The McKay family was one of the best and most underrated families in Odyssey.
-The Leonard Meltsner Saga is on par with the likes of the Blackgaard & Novacom Sagas.
-Bridget is my favorite member of the Perkins family (she deserves no hate smh).
-Jules Kendall & Buck Oliver are good but kinda overrated? See, I'm conflicted. I like them, but people like saying they're the best characters currently which I disagree with.

Definitely agree with you on the McKays.

[Patterson]

Here are some of mine :

-The split episodes weren’t an entirely bad idea. They should’ve made more of them.
-The Rydell Saga is one of the most disappointing sagas in AIO.

Yeah! Some of the split episodes were pretty good. Definitely agree on the Rydell episodes. My controversial AiO opinions are:

They should have recast Tom Riley after Walker Edmiston's death. AiO physical releases should go back to cassette tapes (says a guy who still uses 8-tracks). Julius Schnitzelbonker is a better realized character than Jillian Marshal. Bethany's flood was actually good. Harlow needs to be more prominent in modern odyssey.

Odyssey should have it's physical releases on tape because cds get scratched easily making episodes unplayable. While not a mainstream format anymore, cassettes were fairly durable most of the time. And while the sound quality on tapes degrades, it's not that bad. I admit that when my family wanted to use some of my favorite odyssey cds in the car, I backed them up on tape. Tape is also a better solution because younger siblings can scratch up cds in no time flat.

[Bob]

"Exit" is overrated, and a disappointing ending to the Novacom saga in numerous ways. The main surprising thing that happened was that the IS got destroyed, but then Whit just made a better one right after that, so it didn't actually matter.

I don't get what the big deal is with fans bashing Jillian. She isn't my favorite character, but she's not terrible either.

Strictly speaking, from the point of view of keeping things fresh, I think it'd have been fine if Whit never returned to the show. If he did, it should have been brief (like "The Search for Whit" and maybe the aftermath), and then have him leave again.

Club exclusives are, in principle, a good idea. It spreads fan interest out across the year, and AIO makes a lot more money. They could do better in execution than they are now, but overall the potential is higher post-Club than pre-Club.

[Jonathan]

Anyone who liked the splits want to explain? No judgement, just that as someone who decidedly didn't like fall 99/spring 00, I'm genuinely curious what you guys see as the pros here.

[Bob]

I moved from a curmudgeonly phase to being a fan of that era. However, I originally liked the split episodes when they first came out, so in my case, I was putting off an affected critical attitude, rather than changing my mind about something I had always thought.

The major thing the split episodes have going for them is that they are typically fundamentally light and fun. I suppose them being split episodes in itself didn't have much to do with that, since there are also standard-length episodes that are the same way. However, they stand out as their own group, so people comment and say they 'like the split episodes', without mentioning that they also like regular episodes that incorporate a similar mood.

A lot of AIO episodes are technically 'split' episodes, you know, in the sense that they're two (or more) separate stories. "Top This" is one particularly egregious example, since the events going on in Courtney's story and Bryan Dern's don't actually intertwine in any way, other than the radio announcer mentioning Dern and the softball marathon in the same report. Most B-TV and Kids' Radio stories (like "Hidden in My Heart") are the same way. However, they eventually connect to the same moral theme/lesson, whereas the split episodes don't necessarily. You could say that they were an interesting attempt to teach more lessons in the same amount of time. Whether that's a good thing or not is open for debate, I suppose.

[Petrichor]

Anyone who liked the splits want to explain? No judgement, just that as someone who decidedly didn't like fall 99/spring 00, I'm genuinely curious what you guys see as the pros here.

Basically what Bob said. Also, for me, I think I was the right age to enjoy the split episodes when they came out. They were short and fast-paced, which appealed to five-year-old me. I still think they're fun, but nostalgia is definitely a factor in my enjoyment of them. Had I first heard them when I was older--and definitely if I was old enough to expect a typical album instead of a mixture of vignettes and regular episodes--I can see myself being disappointed.

I think I also enjoyed the silly premises for a lot of them, since the shorter format freed the writers up to try some oddball things. Would I want to listen to a whole 25-minute episode narrated by a dead goldfish? Doubtful. But it's perfect for a 10-15 minute story.

[Jonathan]

, which appealed to five-year-old me.

Heh, well, that's my feel old for the moment for the day.

Seriously though, thanks for the insights guys.

[Polehaus53]

Here are some more unpopular opinions:

-the rap 'Communicate' isn’t that bad as the AIO team seems to think.
-The Club exclusive episodes have gotten better in recent years.
-Some of the unreleased episodes had no good reason to be unreleased and should've been (and still should be) released in an album.

Anyone who liked the splits want to explain? No judgement, just that as someone who decidedly didn't like fall 99/spring 00, I'm genuinely curious what you guys see as the pros here.

Bob pretty much summed it up. I am generally a fan of lighthearted humorous episodes. The split episodes definitely meet that criteria. There are some good ones in there. There are also some kid characters who mainly appeared in split episodes. For example, 6 out of David Straussberg’s 15 appearances on AIO were in split episodes. Aubrey Shepherd and Alex Jefferson also appeared in quite a few split episodes.

Also, as someone whose busy schedule occasionally does not allow time to listen to whole Odyssey episodes, the split episodes work well for me because they are short, and I can choose a single one to listen to.

Club exclusives are, in principle, a good idea. It spreads fan interest out across the year, and AIO makes a lot more money. They could do better in execution than they are now, but overall the potential is higher post-Club than pre-Club.

I agree with this one.

[Peachey Keen]

- I like Legacy a lot, especially Part 2. I still dislike the treatment of Tom's death though.
- I don't want Buck and Jules as a couple
- The Club episodes are not inferior to the mainstream episodes.

[Pianoman]

I've always wanted to post in here... so here I go.

-I want to concur with the Bethany's Flood someone posted a while ago. I love the Bethany episodes, the awful puns and weird combinations that somehow work are hilarious and very clever. I think Snow deWhite is my favorite.

-Buck gives me gay vibes. There, I said it.

-Speaking of, Buck is kind of lame and I've never actually understood him. I feel like the audience (and show writers?) know he's going to be a perfect Christian soon, and all this delay and "Oh no, Buck does bad things!" drama every other episode is just predictable and boring. I feel like his character is inconsistent, and basically his only defining trait is that he's a bad guy but not.

-The imagination station is more like an elevator than a spaceship

-Odyssey is better when it is slice-of-life and chill. Yes, there's been some good dramatic sagas and multi-parters, but my favorite episodes are those that seem to fit into anyone's normal life. Post album 51/55, there seems to be too frequent dramatic episodes about stolen objects or break-ins or wars or becoming world famous (?!?) and the unrealism and tension are unappealing to me. I want a normal Odyssey where someone cheats on a test, or vacations at home, or attempts to evangelize in all the worst possible ways. That speaks to me as a human and makes me want to try out new things or really learn with the cast, instead of just being entertained by impossibilities.

[Bob]

-Odyssey is better when it is slice-of-life and chill. Yes, there's been some good dramatic sagas and multi-parters, but my favorite episodes are those that seem to fit into anyone's normal life. Post album 51/55, there seems to be too frequent dramatic episodes about stolen objects or break-ins or wars or becoming world famous (?!?) and the unrealism and tension are unappealing to me. I want a normal Odyssey where someone cheats on a test, or vacations at home, or attempts to evangelize in all the worst possible ways. That speaks to me as a human and makes me want to try out new things or really learn with the cast, instead of just being entertained by impossibilities.

I agree that slice-of-life episodes are a boon. Echoing back to my old days as a curmudgeonly anti-critic, though, I don't think it's fair to make this a 'post-album-50' issue. In fact, we might have to go as far back as Hal Smith to the time when this was actually the norm.

That said, it is fair to say that newer albums can be a little more dramatic in material. Part of that is because of the Club; the writers thus feel the need to pack more of the dramatic episodes (which are generally the focal point of any album) into the regular albums, at the expense of regular things happening. The other part, I think we have to consider that the show has been around for a long time, and it's not easy to find material that isn't similar to something they've already done before. If they do do something that's similar, they'll get criticized for that and how 'stale and boring' the show is, so they're pretty much in for it no matter what they do.

Even if the circumstances aren't always the most 'realistic' (or at least, the most common or likely to happen in real life), what's arguably just as important is that the characters' responses are realistic*. It's to be expected that stories might be about uncommon situations happening, but what makes it obnoxious is when you can't relate to the characters in those situations. I feel that there have been many episodes in the last few years where the reactions have been relatable, even when the plots weren't probable.

* By "realistic" I don't mean in the sense that it is necessarily something that the average person would do in real life, but in the sense that it is something that we might feel or think about doing, although we might not 'pull the trigger' on it.