Unpopular AIO Opinions

[coffeeappreciation]

Logging into my AIO club acct and this quote immediately reminded me of this thread.

No whit in aio?

Talk about controversial! This is a good one.
I for one hope this never happens. It was hard enough when Mr. Herlinger passed away, and I'll never forget the mixed feelings waiting for Mr. Whit to come back to the show with a new voice, and getting used to him!

[Catspaw]

That is definitely controversial, though I know a few people would agree. I think that they did a great job making some wonderful episodes between Hal Smith and Paul Herlinger, but I don't think that's a good enough reason to say that Whit isn't needed. It's a fictional town with an established funky passage of time. Whit can live forever!

[Wod Fam Choc Sod]

I'm sure I have plenty of unpopular opinions but right now, I can only think of three...

1. I hate the Novacom saga. It's just--horrible. Horribly frightening and CREEPY
2. Harlow Doyle drives me crazy =P He's funny for about thirty seconds and then I get annoyed
3. Jason and Connie need to get married. I want that sooooo bad... (partly because I very much relate to Connie and because I've had a crush on Jason for... never mind.)

[Jonathan]

-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.

I agree with both of you. I try to withhold my judgements of new episodes until I've had a few years to marinate with them, but since album 58 that's how I've felt.

- I don't want Buck and Jules as a couple

Getting caught up on this thread and I see this, and now I feel like I just read a spoiler (I'm a couple of albums behind)

[Monty_Whittaker]

Odyssey just. . at least for me personally, dropped off HARD after Album 57. It doesn't help that 51-52 aren't great to begin with. . .

Also, I think that it's really lazy that we know that you can bring back Marvin and Ed and they never do except for one episode each (albeit both of the episodes they were in were better then average, definently some of the few post-57 episodes I'm willingly to relisten to.)

[Jonathan]

Odyssey just. . at least for me personally, dropped off HARD after Album 57. It doesn't help that 51-52 aren't great to begin with. .

I actually liked Albums 51 and 52. Definitely agree about the drop off though.

[Monty_Whittaker]

51 and 52 just don't have that many episodes I'm big on - though I will say that the Owlnapping is great, I can't really say besides that and Jubilee Singers that I remember or like most of the episodes from those albums.

[Wod Fam Choc Sod]

I'm sure I have plenty of unpopular opinions but right now, I can only think of three...

1. I hate the Novacom saga. It's just--horrible. Horribly frightening and CREEPY
2. Harlow Doyle drives me crazy =P He's funny for about thirty seconds and then I get annoyed
3. Jason and Connie need to get married. I want that sooooo bad... (partly because I very much relate to Connie and because I've had a crush on Jason for... never mind.)

Man, what was wrong with past me??? XD Lemme change my opinions veeeeeery quickly here...

1. I LOVE the Novacom Saga. I have become inordinately obsessed with it. It's so deep, so insightful, so fascinating... and also Mitch is the best. Fight me. XD
2. Harlow Doyle isn't as annoying as he used to be. Note, I was also once upon a time annoyed by both Eugene and Wooton. Remind me not to ever pass judgement on a character again before I have had a chance to fully get to know them. Somebody slap my former self, please.
3. While I would still like seeing Jason and Connie married, I am now so fully convinced of the absolute perfectness of Mitch and Connie as a couple that I... AGH okay, so I am seriously upset that the whole Mitch and Connie storyline fizzled out the way it did. Mitch is now my favorite Odyssey character (besides Whit himself) and there just wasn't enough of him and they just... didn't treat his character right. He should be the police detective in Odyssey, NOT Polehaus... unless he was working WITH Polehaus, cuz then he'd have the kind of work he loves and he'd be able to stay with Connie. Ahem. Anyway. Take THAT, former self.

[Perilous Pen]

- I don’t like War of the Words. Thomas still being set on boycotting Whit’s End even
after Whit explained what happened was ridiculous and he should've given Whit one last chance.

- Even as a Christian, I find The Final Conflict's ending too haunting for my tastes.
I would've gone with the bittersweet ending where Blackgaard accepts Christ,
but sacrifices himself to save Jack.

- Parkers and Washingtons > Barclays. George and Mary are too melodramatic sometimes when the kids mess up

- Apart from agreeing with the AIO team and fans that Eugene eating, the Strata-Flyer and Connie not appearing from day 1 was dumb, the animated series isn’t as bad as they make it out to be imo and starts to match the audio series in quality from A Stranger Among Us onward.

- I think they should’ve tried using Dylan Taylor as a recurring audio kid-character at least once.
If fan complaind, I just wouldn't have used him again. I feel like if he had Sam and Marvin’s roles in episodes like
Tom for Mayor and The Impossible instead, then those stories would’ve still been fine.

- I don’t hate the relaunch era and just find it hit or miss. 28 Hours was the best album in ages to me.

- I wasn’t a fan of how Matthew was randomly written out of the show without warning

- Change their placement and some lore around and I think that The Forgotten Deed or Malachi’s Message
would’ve been perfect as a series finale. AIO ending with the guys reaffirming the goals of Whit’s End
or the concept of Whit receiving a “well done, good and faithful servant” from an angel of the Lord would've been
a pretty touching and powerful note for the series to go out on

- I’m fine with CDs going away, but I think they should keep digital downloads.
I can’t wait to see what this next kind-of-newish era is like after Album 80.

[Catspaw]

- Even as a Christian, I find The Final Conflict's ending too haunting for my tastes.
I would've gone with the bittersweet ending where Blackgaard accepts Christ,
but sacrifices himself to save Jack.


- I don’t hate the relaunch era and just find it hit or miss. 28 Hours was the best album in ages to me.

I see where you're coming from but to me, it's too much of a stretch. Not everybody makes the right choice in the end. Decades of wrongdoing weigh on a soul, and as much as I love to hear the odd true story where someone makes a huge change for the good late in life, and I believe it's never too late, that doesn't mean that many who choose evil for so long will realistically change it all right at the end. The ending seems more realistic to me this way.

I agree with you on the second thing I quoted! I agree that was a great album that kept me listening and curious. I love a multi-episode mystery arc!