The OTHER Biggest Voting Event of the Year!

[AIO Psyche]

Ok, it's time to find out, once and for all, which saga the people prefer!

(hey, this poll hasn't been done on the TOO before!)

Everyone who knows me well, knows who my vote goes to.


NOVACOM!!!!!!!!!

[Chandler]

I really can't vote. Blackgaard is so classic but I love Novacom.

[Me]

Darkness Before Dawn/Blagaard wins in my book. Such a classic!

[spiderman]

Novacom is my favorite.

[Laurie]

Novacom is my absolute favorite.

[Dr. Watson]

The Blackgaard Saga got my vote. Like others have said, it's a classic series. It was also more realistic than the Novacom global brain-control plot.

I also like how AIO spanned the saga over years--starting with The Battle and The Nemesis; all the Applesauce/Connie and Eugene/Connie Goes to Camp subplots. And then of course, the culmination in Darkness before Dawn was very well-produced. It just had a realness to it that Novacom lacked.


Cheerio

[J-man]

I voted Blackgaard. I just listened to it..

[Fletcher]

I really can't decide. I love them both. I really want a saga near the end of "Adventures in Odyssey" where the remnants of the Blackgaard and Novacom sagas team up. I mean Andromeda and Webster Development had to have some kind of connection. Its just too much of a coincidence that Blackgaard and Novacom would both target Odyssey. It would be really cool if Blackgaard and the Chairman had had some kind of black-market connection before Blackgaard was killed. Maybe the Chairman knew Blackgaard was so obsessed with Odyssey, and thought it was worth checking out. Maybe that's why Armitage Shanks had a board meeting in "The Turning Point" right before "Darkness Before Dawn" began.

Excuse my off-topic theorizing.

[David O]

Darkness Before Dawn without question.

I am actually surprised at the number that prefer Novacom. It was pretty good, but DBD was perfect. IMO

[Fletcher]

I read that some of the AIO writers preferred the Novacom Saga because it was more "human." In a way, that's true. I mean, DBD is superb, but how many characters in the series are changed? Obviously, there's Eugene, with his conversion to Christianity, and Jason, with his transformation from arrogant to humble. But in the Novacom nearly everyone has some kind of character arc.

Whit questions some of his key values in "The W.E." and faces some real problems in building the new Whit's End in "Chains." Eventually, he realized that he had been duped the whole time, and had put his trust in God.

Jason all found himself duped by Monica, and definitely learned a lesson there.

Tom was overjoyed that Agnes was healing from her mental illness, but his joy got in the way of him seeing the truth about Novacom when Whit tried to warn him.

Eugene, although we unfortunately never got to hear it, also found himself decieved by Novacom. His enthusiasm in helping the handicapped led him into a trap. In the last scene of "Exit" its obvious he feels an enormous amount of guilt because he believes he was a driving force behind Novacom's destructiveness.

Connie had serious trust issues with Mitch, and then finding him dead (more like "dead" ) had to go through a whole grief and regret process in "Plan B."

I mean, even minor characters in the Saga went through transformations. Monica began as a villian. While her intentions were good, she was using seriously immoral methods to help her brother. However, after being set straight by Jason and seeing that Novacom did not really care about the people they were helping, she turned against them.

Erica Colburn, who was just a bad girl who turned Aubrey down the wrong path in "Under the Influence", becomes much more three-dimensional as she desperately tries to save her father's job in "Twisting Pathway." However, she uses deceptive methods to get what she wants and, as Nathan Hoobler says, "made a deal with the devil."

After this, I can see why some people enjoy the Novacom Saga more than the Blackgaard Saga, though I'm not sure which is better.[/i]

[Bmuntz]

The Blackgaard saga was better. Darkness Before Dawn had every thing that made a great saga. Like Richard Maxwell back in town, Eugene getting saved, Jason was cool, Jack was stellar in that set. And Regis meets his end in a very emotional and well-done scene.

Novacom was good and had a lot of good things going for it but the Mitch/Connie things weren't good. All that time with Connie put her back to the stone ages in character development.

[AIO Psyche]

The Blackgaard Saga got my vote. It was also more realistic than the Novacom global brain-control plot.

Right, and a man 'dieing' and coming back like a soap opera is very beleivable.

I read that some of the AIO writers preferred the Novacom Saga because it was more "human." In a way, that's true. I mean, DBD is superb, but how many characters in the series are changed? Obviously, there's Eugene, with his conversion to Christianity, and Jason, with his transformation from arrogant to humble. But in the Novacom nearly everyone has some kind of character arc.

Whit questions some of his key values in "The W.E." and faces some real problems in building the new Whit's End in "Chains." Eventually, he realized that he had been duped the whole time, and had put his trust in God.

Jason all found himself duped by Monica, and definitely learned a lesson there.

Tom was overjoyed that Agnes was healing from her mental illness, but his joy got in the way of him seeing the truth about Novacom when Whit tried to warn him.

Eugene, although we unfortunately never got to hear it, also found himself decieved by Novacom. His enthusiasm in helping the handicapped led him into a trap. In the last scene of "Exit" its obvious he feels an enormous amount of guilt because he believes he was a driving force behind Novacom's destructiveness.

Connie had serious trust issues with Mitch, and then finding him dead (more like "dead" ) had to go through a whole grief and regret process in "Plan B."

I mean, even minor characters in the Saga went through transformations. Monica began as a villian. While her intentions were good, she was using seriously immoral methods to help her brother. However, after being set straight by Jason and seeing that Novacom did not really care about the people they were helping, she turned against them.

Erica Colburn, who was just a bad girl who turned Aubrey down the wrong path in "Under the Influence", becomes much more three-dimensional as she desperately tries to save her father's job in "Twisting Pathway." However, she uses deceptive methods to get what she wants and, as Nathan Hoobler says, "made a deal with the devil."

After this, I can see why some people enjoy the Novacom Saga more than the Blackgaard Saga, though I'm not sure which is better.[/i]

That is exactly correct. It was so much more character driven, whereas DBD and other were driven by mostly Blackgaard and his deeds. The Novacom saga was driven by the characters. The Chairman. Mr. Charles. Monica. Whit. Mitch. Auther Dent. There were so many great characters that drove the story, and helped it along. The Blackgaard saga had Regis, Richard, Philip.........and that's about it.

[Shadowpaw]

Currently, the Blackgaard saga for sure... because it was years culminating in the epic Darkness Before Dawn. Novacom came and went quite quickly... in the future we might be asking if we preferred the Blackgaard saga to the Chairman saga, in which case my answer might be different. But as far as Blackgaard and Novacom go, Blackgaard's story line had so much build up and years of little incidents leading to a huge incident. Novacom was just a short departure from our regularly scheduled program.

[AIO Psyche]

Currently, the Blackgaard saga for sure

Currently? So, that means that bigger things coming? Hmm.....interesting.

in the future we might be asking if we preferred the Blackgaard saga to the Chairman saga, in which case my answer might be different.

Wow, alot to cover here. First, 'in the future'? So, Novacom IS coming back! Very interesting. 'The Chiarman saga'? What is up with that? Does this mean that the Novacom saga was never the Novacom saga? So, we will have a long story line spanning many seasons. And it will compete with the Blackgaard saga. And your answer migth be changed! Wow, they must have something big planned!


But, I understand your thoughts SP.

[Bennett]

Novacom deffinatly had the better Storyline...and left us with a lot less many questions (I still don't know why Tom's property was so saught out) I'd ahve to agree with Fletcher, and what he mentioned about what the writer's said; The Novacom Saga, in a way more unrealistic, was also much more realistic character wise. Never before had every character participated so much and with such a good response and result. For someone my age, Novacom was better.

However, for the reasons that Shadowpaw said, the Blackgaard Saga did have its advantages. Their was years of buildup. Buildup that I can't imagine how I didn't go crazy wanting to know what would happen next. Also, the storyline was much simpler and not too complicated for someone my age at the time. The badguys were wonderful; Blackgaard, Jellyfish, Rusty, Glossman...they were true classics. Even today, I still love how the Rathbones turned out dirty.

Another thing that Blackgaard had was how close to home it felt. It had more of that intensity because you felt it was truly Odyssey Vs. Blackgaard. For Novacom, it went everywhere and you didn't feel that participation of the town as 'one'. It came and left swiftly.

Blackgaard was a bit more Clicheed, which I don't like. Novacom had sweet action scenes and explosive sound effects with a 'I don't know what's gonna happen next' and a more complicated storyline. Blackgaard was just, Blackgaard. Who can escape that great laugh?

Novacom had Whit involved, too. Something that the Blackgaard Saga didn't always have.

One fault with both of them is the Post-Saga episodes. I have yet to see one which succesfully closes up the sag, or makes decent enough refferences. One episode, they're doing their fight...the next, things are back to normal.

Both are great, however!

BC

[Bennett]

Currently, the Blackgaard saga for sure

Currently? So, that means that bigger things coming? Hmm.....interesting.

in the future we might be asking if we preferred the Blackgaard saga to the Chairman saga, in which case my answer might be different.

It's called my favorite expression from Shadowpaw; ''The Test of Time''. As today's society changes in interests and tastes, and how recent something is, our opinions on things will always be revolving in cycles. One episode was 'Cool' when you heard it on yesterdays Saturday, but in a few months, as you look at the bigger picture, it might just stink as an episode. Novacom may turn into Blackgaard in old you may think it is...or at how classic you think it is.

''The test of Time''...I love it.

BC

[Shadowpaw]

Currently? So, that means that bigger things coming? Hmm.....interesting.

Even when Novacom aired it was always hinted the Chairman would return at some point... that's not news .

in the future we might be asking if we preferred the Blackgaard saga to the Chairman saga, in which case my answer might be different.

Wow, alot to cover here. First, 'in the future'? So, Novacom IS coming back! Very interesting. 'The Chiarman saga'? What is up with that? Does this mean that the Novacom saga was never the Novacom saga? So, we will have a long story line spanning many seasons. And it will compete with the Blackgaard saga. And your answer migth be changed! Wow, they must have something big planned!

Ahem. I said in the future we "might" be asking... not that we will be asking. A lot of what I'm saying is based on speculation. And also notice I said we would be comparing the Blackgaard saga to the Chairman saga... I never mentioned anything about Novacom returning. It is my opinion that Novacom is dead... as is Andromeda. If either company was used in a future story line, there would be red flags all over the place (for both the characters in the story as well as fans). The Chairman, however, is free to return in various different ways that don't seem to be associated with him until later in a story arc. That's why I feel the future question would be related to the Chairman himself... not Novacom (just how many times is a TV company going to attempt what they did?)

I have no inside information on these matters, but logically, I just don't see Novacom returning. The Chairman on the other hand could. And as far as I know, there are no plans in place for future story arcs... though I am certain something will happen eventually.

[Bandit Squirrel]

Definately the Blackgaard Saga. I thought it was perfect, but I don't know how to explain why.

[Catspaw]

I have to go with the Blackgaard saga, and not just because I'm part of the Blackgaard clan. It's classic - it's the culmination of years and years of build-up, and it has so many great characters. Anything with Richard Maxwell has to be great! And insults aimed at Philip Glossman are always a nice tough, too!

The Novacom saga was good, but it just didn't connect as many pieces as the Blackgaard saga. Also, the Chairman, the head guy, was almost unheard from, unlike with Dr. Blackgaard. There were some evil guys, but they just couldn't compare.

However, if the Chairman shows up again for another saga, this verdict could change, like Shadowpaw said. It would be hard to shove good old Uncle Reggie out of the forefront, though.

[DanP740]

It seemed like during Novaco Odyssey wasn't the same place. It seemed like some other radio series sortof. So, I guess it's Blackgard for me. Isn't that right Eugene Blackgaard and Dr Blackgaard?