Parker Family

[Jimmy Barclay Fan]

Funny. I was thinking something about the Parker kids and decided this was to be a good place to post since it happens in a few episodes. I see something about rude. They talk to their parents and Whit (a man probably in 70's) yea. We were always taught yes and no sir or mam. So it seems strange to me, like they are disrespectful.

And now we know more of Parker heritage and extended family after last week.

[TigerintheShadows]

I usually just say a simple "Yeah" or "No" to authority figures, but certain terms of manners weren't ever enforced to me when I was younger, so that didn't really carry on to me. Now when people try to teach me, it doesn't really catch on.

[Crazy 4 Pugs]

Random thoughts on the Parkers:

- Yep, Olivia seems whiny and a little obnoxious to me. I think maybe it's partly her voice.

- It's nice to have a family with 3 kids. I know at one point, there were 3 kids in the Washington family (Marvin, Tamika, and Xavier or Kelly) and probably some other families I'm forgetting. But since the Washington kids weren't all brothers and sisters (Xavier was their cousin and Kelly was a foster child) and Xavier was a lot older, they didn't have the same dynamic. Nice to see AIO breaking out of their 2 kid family mold.

- Is it just me, or are they being a little inconsistent with Mr. Parker and the kids' knowledge of Spanish? I mean, one minute Mr. Parker is saying "Muy incredibiblio... or something" and 5 minutes later he's translating Eva and Abuelita's conversation? And I noticed that in Grandma's Visit, the kids all pronounced "Abuelita" with American accents. Now I would expect that if their mom speaks Spanish at home and they are part-Hispanic, they would probably have better pronunciation. I'm not going to get hung up on it, because it's probably because the actors themselves don't have great Spanish pronunciation. All that to say, that made me think that the kids probably don't speak Spanish much, or at least not fluently. But it seems like later on, they're more familiar with the language- using Spanish phrases, etc.

- I think it's cool that there's a Hispanic family in Odyssey, but I feel like the writers/producers are going just a little heavy on the lessons in Hispanic culture.

- This family seems like it might not age well. It seems like they're making more references to technology (that one episode where Matthew messed up all their electronic gadgets, Olivia downloading music from iTunes), which will become dated pretty quickly. You listen to the older episodes, and except for an occasional mention of tapes or *gasp* records, you could pretty much imagine the Barclays living in 1990 or 2010 (except, you know, how many 12 year olds are named Donna, or even Jimmy for that matter, in 2010?). Not that it really bugs me with the Parkers, just an observation.

- Are there going to be any other kids in Odyssey?? I know they've had other kids in minor roles (except for that one about the valentine and the video game, two episodes I'd like to forget entirely), but it seems like all the storylines center on the Parkers. That could get old fast. It seems like in the old days they had more combinations of kids; we'd get stories about Lucy and Kurt, Kurt and Oscar, Oscar and Jimmy, Jimmy and Donna, etc. Maybe it's just because they had more kids to switch around, but now it seems like they tend to use the same groupings of friends- like the kids in Odyssey don't really hang out with anybody except like 2 other kids. And on a slightly related note, is it just me, or did Lucy hardly ever do anything with girls? Just about every one of her stories that I can remember were with Isaac, Sam, Kurt, or Jack.

- As far as the "yeah" vs. "yes sir/ma'am", I think we in AIO fandom will have to just agree to disagree about that one. I think it's all a perception based on how you were raised, what was expected in your community, etc. To me, it would seem really weird to say "yes sir" to my dad, but some kids probably wouldn't dream of just saying "yeah". In other words, I don't think we can automatically classify the Parker kids as rude because they don't call adults sir or ma'am.

Okay, so hopefully that all made sense, because it's after 1 AM, I've only slept for about 10 hours in the last 2 1/2 days, and my brain is slowly shutting down.

[Irwin]

And on a slightly related note, is it just me, or did Lucy hardly ever do anything with girls? Just about every one of her stories that I can remember were with Isaac, Sam, Kurt, or Jack.

Sure she did:

• Heather (The Sacred Trust)
• Jill (Connie Goes to Camp)
• Emily (A Question of Loyalty)
• Connie (Connie Goes to Camp, The Curse, among others)
• Donna (An Encounter with Mrs. Hooper, Wishful Thinking, But, You Promised).

[TigerintheShadows]

I really think they should bring back some of the older kid characters as teenagers working at Whit's End or something along those lines--since Eugene's got Hand Up going for him, Aubrey's at college, and Nick kind of disappeared into the great beyond. That way there's more of an interaction between the new kids and other characters under the age of 18 besides Nelson, Vance, and (apparently) Connie.

[Crazy 4 Pugs]

Thanks Irwin! Like I said, my brain wasn't functioning at full capacity that night.

[TigerintheShadows]

I used to do that over the summer all the time--at about 1:00 in the morning I'd get on the computer and get on AIOWiki--once when I did that, all of the episodes out at that point wound up having cast lists.

[therealjoecool]

I've finally been catching up on my Odysseys and am just about finished this album. So far, I've gotta say... I kinda like the Parkers. I agree with others that I wish there were more storylines about other characters (especially some of those we are familiar with), but for new characters, I think they're pretty solid. Reminds me of "Old school Odyssey". They haven't really hit us hard with the "adventure and excitement" but they're giving us some good old fashioned "life lessons". That's something Odyssey's always been good fore.

I also think Andre will hold his own with Whit, though it's still gonna take time to get used to the change. He does kind of remind me of Hal, but not quite. It's funny, because I really disliked the new of voice of Owl after Hal died. Now Owl is Whit, LOL! Oh well, he's certainly doing the best he can do. Truth be told, however, I think Andre should quit "trying" to sound like Whit and just talk. His regular speaking voice sounds closer to Whit than his "Whit voice" does!

[TigerintheShadows]

Has anyone noticed that it sounds awfully quiet around Odyssey as of late? For example, usually in Whit's End you'll hear the chatter of various kids around the shop, the clinking of glasses, and should the bell about the door ring, unless it denotes someone important to the plot, it's muffled and far off (though some feel that the way this was done in Bernard and Saul was a bit of overkill). Now it just seems like the only people there are Whit and whoever's at the counter, like Matthew, Olivia, or Camilla. It just seems like an atmosphere way too quiet for a kid's shop.