the Parker Family

[Dr. Bluegaard]

Is it just me or are the Parkers in just a FEW too many episodes? Seems like album 51 revolves around them, and from what I've seen involving spoilers from album 52, they're in the majority of those episodes. Perhaps they should have been introduced gradually instead of BOOM, here's a whole album with these guys! Maybe go back and forth between the Parker and the Jones families a little more? Maybe introduce a couple other families? Maybe have Wooton and Eugene go look for Bernard in an entirely different country where the Parkers happen to not be? I don't know, after just one album with the Parker's I'm getting sorta tired of them already...

[TigerintheShadows]

I know, it seems to me like the Parkers are being overused. I think perhaps they're trying to make the Parkers into the next Barclay family, which of course they will not be. The whole point of AIO is the stories of scary cool old guy with an ice cream shop in a small town, some tales of which do involve the various other people in said town. The point of AIO is not family life; I prefer to leave that to DGL.

[Dr. Bluegaard]

I prefer to leave that to DGL.

DGL being...?

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

Down Gilead Lane... not that I've listened.

PS:

I know how you feel. They were definitely overused, and still will be in the next album... and probably the album after that...

The Barclay's were used a lot, but they weren't in every episode, and they were a lot awesomer. So... yeah... the Parkers are overused and lack some....

[Dr. Bluegaard]

10-4. I do think that Whit is the "main" character even though Focus seems to be trying to avoid having a lead/main character. Another point is that Whit's voice(s) isn't/aren't as abrasive. I'm sorry but after listening to Olivia Parker for about 30 seconds I want to rip my hair out. She sounds like a naggy girlfriend . Probably in part because she's voiced by an adult, but...

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

Connie, Eugene... Tom/Bernard... and Whit all were main characters. In something like this, its hard NOT to have a main lead... or a few main leads...

But yeah... a reason why I didn't listen all season. After the first ep, I was like "Something's happened to Connie, these people aren't going to work for me - back to listening to DBD all the time" (which I do anyway... so it wouldn't have mattered).

And Whit's voice almost doesn't sound right... *sigh* I won't go into that one. Took me a few years to adjust to Paul, and then I couldn't tell the difference...

[Dr. Bluegaard]

I actually didn't have much trouble with Andre's voice. I think he sounds a little MORE like Hal Smith than Paul Herlinger did at this point... I still want to see Eugene and Wooton go looking for Bernard. Or Eugene have a kid. Or Leonard... What happened to him anyway?! Or maybe a nice 15 album action-story arc.

[TigerintheShadows]

Probably in part because she's voiced by an adult, but...

Actually, several of the now-teenagers in Odyssey were voiced by adults--Connie being the prime example. You just can't tell the difference because the actors themselves were brought in as kids/teenagers, and so their transitions into adults weren't as noticable as someone who already was an adult.

Or Leonard... What happened to him anyway?!

He was conveniently put on a bus to Africa with Everett.

Or maybe a nice 15 album action-story arc.

That would be so awesome.

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

Probably in part because she's voiced by an adult, but...

Actually, several of the now-teenagers in Odyssey were voiced by adults--Connie being the prime example. You just can't tell the difference because the actors themselves were brought in as kids/teenagers, and so their transitions into adults weren't as noticable as someone who already was an adult.

The only example I know of where a kid played a character, and then came back into a teenager/adult in the same voice is roughly Dave Griffin, Jimmy Barclay. Connie, or Katie, has been an adult in the show since the beginning. (The main reason Connie shows up four episodes into album one is because Katie Leigh had Adam!)

But, yes, many and most teenagers are played by adults. Not all. Mandy was played by a 18-19 year old (Aria's age slips my mind a lot, but she's not that old). And yeah, a lot of other teenagers are played by kids/teenagers. Granted, Rodney Rathbone was played by an adult... and probably a few others these days.

Its a mixture, really.

[The Top Crusader]

Yeah... the Parker's are fine, but they definitely were the focus of 51. Whit and company were basically secondary characters, which rubs me the wrong way.

Plus Wooton shouldn't have survived the rebooting phase.

[jennifertwt]

Having just listened to Clutter for the seond time (I don't own Album 51 yet), I find I enjoyed it more because I felt a 'relationshp' with the Parker family more than the first time around. But, I can see potential for overuse. I liked André by the time Album 51 began, but am very glad we had Passages to help us make the transition. I'm hoping Album 52 will go into more of Mr. Whitaker's past. Did anyone catch the fleeting reference to an incident with the clock tower in Whit's youth in The Inspiration Station? I only caught it the second time around. I wonder if this is the basis for The Mystery of the Clock Tower coming in Album 52. I agree, Eugene and Wooton should go on a road trip looking for Bernard, just like in Wish You Were Here, and then find him nice and comfortably retired in Florida. Then they could go looking for Tom and find out he's been kidnapped, then they can bring him back to Odyssey (as a new actor). I miss the interaction between the 'older' generation of characters, not because I'm way above the target audience age, but because kids need to hear that kind of wisdom. It would sound artificial coming from Connie or even Eugene. Whit IS and shold be the central character, with Whit's End as the central gathering place. It's what made the show so great in the first place. Just as God is the center of our lives, Whit's End is th center of Odyssey (no blasphemy intended).

[TigerintheShadows]

Plus Wooton shouldn't have survived the rebooting phase.

Let it go.