Worst Odyssey Album

rickyderocher · Post by **rickyderocher** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:24 pm

Ok, folks, what do you think is the worst Odyssey Album? Here are the choices:

Vol. 20 - A Journey of Choices
Yawn!

Vol. 29 - Signed, Sealed and Committed
At least for me, this album starts a decline in overall episode quality that would last until "The Big Picture" album started making AIO intresting again.

Vol. 34 - In Your Wildest Dreams
The age of "split-episiodes" Agghhh!

Vol. 39 - Friends, Family, and Countrymen
This one gets my vote as worst ever album. With episode titles like "The Popsicle Kid" and "Aubrey's Bathrobe" this album represents the worst of the worst of AIO...

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:44 pm

Most of your choices I don't agree with.

rickyderocher wrote:Ok, folks, what do you think is the worst Odyssey Album? Here are the choices:

Vol. 20 - A Journey of Choices
Yawn!

Yawn?

Here are the episodes from this album:

261: Afraid, Not!
263: When Bad Isn't So Good
264: Making the Grade
265: War of the Words
266: It Began with a Rabbit's Foot...
267: ... It Ended with a Handshake
268: Pet Peeves
269: Fences
270: The War Hero
271: The Secret Keys of Discipline
272: Two Brothers... and Bernard I
273: Two Brothers... and Bernard II

There are only two bad episodes there, imo. Araid Not, and The Secret Keys of Discipline.

Most of the rest are just mediocre, and not bad. And the Rabbit's Foot/Handshake episodes were just plain fun. Certainly not a very strong album, but hardly my least favorite.

Vol. 29 - Signed, Sealed and Committed
At least for me, this album starts a decline in overall episode quality that would last until "The Big Picture" album started making AIO intresting again.

This one I don't agree on for two reasons. One, despite the difference we saw in the series, there were plenty of good episodes between here and the splits. And most of the eps in the album were fairly good as well. Here are the episodes:

372: For Whom The Wedding Bells Toll I
373: For Whom The Wedding Bells Toll II
374: For Whom The Wedding Bells Toll III
375: The Pushover
376: Chores No More
377: Just Say Yes
378: The Painting
379: Best Face Forward
380: The One About Trust I
381: The One About Trust II
382: Viva La Difference
384: Amazing Grace

Just Say Yes and Viva La Difference are the only ones that are subpar, imo. Especially the latter. The rest are good, with some great ones (like The Painting, The One About Trust, and especially Amazing Grace.

Vol. 39 - Friends, Family, and Countrymen
This one gets my vote as worst ever album. With episode titles like "The Popsicle Kid" and "Aubrey's Bathrobe" this album represents the worst of the worst of AIO...

Again, I'm not sure I agree. The eps:

461: B-TV: Obedience
476: Relatively Annoying
480: The Popsicle Kid
503: Between You and Me
504: Aubrey's Bathrobe
505: The Toy Man
506: For Trying Out Loud
507: The Benefit of the Doubt
508: The American Revelation I
509: The American Revelation II
511: The Pact I
512: The Pact II

Between You and Me was annoying, partly b/c it was a C&M ep, and the object lessons seemed...I don't know. I just wasn't comfortable with it.

I also had some problems with The American Revelation, but it was still a good ep.

The rest of the episodes are, in my book, fine. I'm especially surprised that you don't like Aubrey's Bathrobe--I thought it was a good episode about witnessing. Silly title, perhaps, but I digress.

There are two albums I don't like. The first is album 33. One reason was Blackgaard's Revenge (the only low point in the Blackgaard Saga--even though I refuse to consider such a ridiculous and error-stricken episode part of the saga. Let along canon), and the other reason was because it was the start of the splits. However, it doesn't get my vote b/c 1. It had the best splits on here (ex, Chain Reaction) and the normal episodes were sorta good.

My vote goes towards the one on your list I did agree with:

Vol. 34 - In Your Wildest Dreams
The age of "split-episiodes" Agghhh!

Indeed. Despite a few bright spots (Passages, No Boundaries, and I Slap Floor) this wasn't a good album. Being a die hard AIO fan, I can live with it.

But I can honestly say I don't like it b/c it nearly ended my being a fan. When I first heard it I had only been listening to AIO for just over two years. It was late 2002. I had only heard a few albums, and the newest album I had heard up to that point was album 19. I knew nothing of the AIO online community, or that Hal Smith had even died, or anything about AIO past the early 90s.

So when I checked this album out of the library at church, listened to it in great disappointment, and seeing the very recent copyright date, I came to a very natural assumption--this is what AIO was like now. Substance-less. So, I decided to listen to all the albums up to album 19, and then I was done.

Thankfully I got my hands on album 10 shortly thereafter (after a short break from listening to AIO at all) and heard Dr. Regis Blackgaard for the first time. Thanks to that, my zeal for listening to episodes I hadn't heard increased significantly. I googled Blackgaard, and found aiohq. Thanks to that, I spent three weeks clicking around that website reading everything I could find on AIO. And thanks to that, I was able to see that the whole split thing was just a phase. And thanks to that, I decided to remain a fan.

So that's why album 34 gets my vote. If it weren't for the internet, I would likely not be a fan now thanks to those splits.

Blipadouzi · Post by **Blipadouzi** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:06 pm

I have to agree with you guys about the split-episodes era...the one redeeming episode from all that is Mandy's Debut. Though it isn't presented as a split episode, it is considered by some fans as being one.

That is what they should have done with the others, found a common theme, or surround them in a sequence of events intertwining them into one episode.

jasonjannajerryjohn · Post by **jasonjannajerryjohn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:36 pm

In Your Wildest Dreams is great. I love the Mandy's Debut episode, and I like the animatronic Whit... lol. I Slap Floor was also a very great episode. I liked the Blaackard's Revenge episode, it was fun.

The worst album for me is A Journey of Choices. I must say that this is the single worst album ever because of the boring episodes. The only one I liked was the Jacob and Esa story. The rest are extremaly boring.

Agent3xq · Post by **Agent3xq** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:43 pm

jasonjannajerryjohn wrote:In Your Wildest Dreams is great. I love the Mandy's Debut episode, and I like the animatronic Whit... lol. I Slap Floor was also a very great episode. I liked the Blaackard's Revenge episode, it was fun.

I don't believe Blackgaards Revenge was in album 34, I thought it was in the album before which was Virtual Realities

Anyways...my vote goes to album 34 as well for mostly the same reasons as Jonathan previously stated

Laurie · Post by **Laurie** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:50 pm

agent3xq wrote:
jasonjannajerryjohn wrote:In Your Wildest Dreams is great. I love the Mandy's Debut episode, and I like the animatronic Whit... lol. I Slap Floor was also a very great episode. I liked the Blaackard's Revenge episode, it was fun.
I don't believe Blackgaards Revenge was in album 34, I thought it was in the album before which was Virtual Realities

Anyways...my vote goes to album 34 as well for mostly the same reasons as Jonathan previously stated

Blackgaard's Revenge is in album 33 Virtual Realities, not album 34.

jasonjannajerryjohn · Post by **jasonjannajerryjohn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:52 pm

Whatever the case, Blaackard's Revenge is a good episode.

Laurie · Post by **Laurie** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:55 pm

jasonjannajerryjohn wrote:Whatever the case, Blaackard's Revenge is a good episode.

I agree.

Fei · Post by **Fei** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:59 pm

The split-episodes drove me crazy. "In Your Wildest Dreams" is certainly the worst album of them all. The story lines are weak and the split-episodes, well speak for themselves.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:12 pm

Laurie wrote:
jasonjannajerryjohn wrote:Whatever the case, Blaackard's Revenge is a good episode.

I agree.

That is very debatable

Laurie · Post by **Laurie** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:17 pm

Jonathan wrote:
Laurie wrote:
jasonjannajerryjohn wrote:Whatever the case, Blaackard's Revenge is a good episode.

I agree.
That is very debatable

I respect the fact that there are those who do not like this episode. It just happens to be one of my favorites and that is not going to change.

Shadowpaw · Post by **Shadowpaw** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:45 pm

It's been a while but I had to post after reading Jonathan's comments... mainly because I definitely have to side with Ricky on these albums. "A Journey of Choices" was by FAR the worst album for me until "Virtual Realities" and "In Your Wildest Dreams" came along. "Friends, Family and Countrymen" was also a pretty incredibly terrible album, which is sad because those are the episodes I was able to watch being created right in front of my eyes when I was an intern for the FotF team. The only episode in that album that stands out is "The Pact." The rest were all pretty poor (especially "Aubrey's Bathrobe"... sorry Jonathan).

The only album that I generally don't put in my "least" favorite albums list would be SS&C. Though it doesn't rank very high either... none of the shows really grabbed me. I didn't really care for "The One About Trust" a whole lot, since I felt it tarnished some of the characters... (Whit and Connie) but I know some people love that show. I believe it's Fenix's favorite episode of all time.

Anyway, I disagree with Jonathan and agree with Ricky. These albums are pretty bad. The only ones I would add is "Virtual Realities" and maybe "In Hot Pursuit."

Lucy Pevensie · Post by **Lucy Pevensie** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:36 am

I disliked "In Your Wildest Dreams . . ." I'm undecided about "Friends, Family, and Countrymen" because I enjoyed "For Trying Out Loud," "The American Revelation," and "The Pact."

Agent3xq · Post by **Agent3xq** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:52 am

Alright here's my more in-depth look at this...

Album 20: I don't have any close connection with this album because I only recently acquired it, but I still think it is a decent album. It has its ups (Two Brothers...and Bernard, The War Hero, and It Began with a Rabbit's Foot...It Ended with a Handshake) and it had its downs (Afraid Not!, The Secret Keys of Discipline, and War of the Words) so I would consider this album to be one of the worst, but not necessarily the worst.

Album 29: I actually think this was a good album despite the lost of old characters like lucy and sam and the addition of new characters that didn't work out too well like cody, but there were good new characters like jared and mandy. I do have some childhood attachments to this album especially To Whom the Wedding Bells Toll so I may have some bias. Nevertheless, I think The Painting and Amazing Grace were still two very fine episodes that came out of this episode so I consider this to be quality album especially for the time period.

Album 34: As I said previously, this was probably my least favorite album including episodes like Idol Minds and What Do You Think? Although I Slap Floor appears to be a favorite of a lot of fans, I honestly didn't care for it in that there didn't seem to be much of a moral to the story, which isn't always necessary but I didn't even consider it to be comical. It was creative, but not necessary humorous in my opinion.

Album 39: Ok, I have mixed feelings on this album because it had The Pact and The American Revelation which weren't flawless episodes, but still good and then you have Colby, whoever that is and more of Mitch and Connie. Overall not the best way to start out after the ending of a series like novacom, but not the worst album.

And to touch slightly on what Corey said about album 41 being in the running I agree in the mitch and connie portion of the album, but it did have some comical episodes such as The Mailman Cometh and The Taming of the Two.

If I had to pick another album to be in the running it would have to be album 17 which I've never grown very fond of for some reason

shasta · Post by **shasta** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:56 pm

Definitely In Your Wildest Dreams, I'm surprised there's any debate. Jonathan's story is very close to mine...

Jonathan wrote:when I checked this album out, listened to it in great disappointment, and seeing the very recent copyright date, I came to a very natural assumption--this is what AIO was like now. Substance-less. So, I decided to listen to all the albums [before then]... and then I was done.

Thankfully I got my hands on album 10 shortly thereafter (after a short break from listening to AIO at all) and heard Dr. Regis Blackgaard for the first time. Thanks to that, my zeal for listening to episodes increased significantly

jasonjannajerryjohn · Post by **jasonjannajerryjohn** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:46 pm

Corey wrote:It's been a while but I had to post after reading Jonathan's comments... mainly because I definitely have to side with Ricky on these albums. "A Journey of Choices" was by FAR the worst album for me until "Virtual Realities" and "In Your Wildest Dreams" came along. "Friends, Family and Countrymen" was also a pretty incredibly terrible album, which is sad because those are the episodes I was able to watch being created right in front of my eyes when I was an intern for the FotF team. The only episode in that album that stands out is "The Pact." The rest were all pretty poor (especially "Aubrey's Bathrobe"... sorry Jonathan).

The only album that I generally don't put in my "least" favorite albums list would be SS&C. Though it doesn't rank very high either... none of the shows really grabbed me. I didn't really care for "The One About Trust" a whole lot, since I felt it tarnished some of the characters... (Whit and Connie) but I know some people love that show. I believe it's Fenix's favorite episode of all time.

Anyway, I disagree with Jonathan and agree with Ricky. These albums are pretty bad. The only ones I would add is "Virtual Realities" and maybe "In Hot Pursuit."

Yes! The great Shadowpaw, while not mentioning me, has agreed with me! And posted!

WatchaCall · Post by **WatchaCall** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:52 am

There are no truly bad collections but, looking back, I don't care as much for "It's Another Fine Day." I thought the episode "A Rathbone of Contention" was decent, but no favorites on that album.

Dakota Bud · Post by **Dakota Bud** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 5:09 pm

I have voted, but I'm not say'n what I voted for.

Mandy Straussberg · Post by **Mandy Straussberg** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:58 pm

I voted for Friends, Family, and Countryman.

Say what you will, I really enjoyed all of the other albums listed--even the split episodes. I'm glad they are no more, but I liked a whole lot of them.

Mandy

Waluigi Freak 99 · Post by **Waluigi Freak 99** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:51 am

jasonjannajerryjohn wrote:In Your Wildest Dreams is great. I love the Mandy's Debut episode, and I like the animatronic Whit... lol. I Slap Floor was also a very great episode. I liked the Blaackard's Revenge episode, it was fun.

"Blackgaard's Revenge" wasn't in In Your Wildest Dreams; it was in Virtual Realities. The only episodes with any strength in In Your Wildest Dreams were "I Slap Floor", "Mandy's Debut", "No Boundaries", and "Passages". Compared to over a dozen split episodes there with no substance.

And you liked "Idol Minds"? Please tell me I'm misinterpreting. Animatronic Whit was a Novacom conspiracy to try to destroy AIO.

The worst album for me is A Journey of Choices. I must say that this is the single worst album ever because of the boring episodes. The only one I liked was the Jacob and Esa story. The rest are extremaly boring.

"The War Hero", "It Started with a Rabbit's Foot", "It Ended with a Handshake", and "War of the Words" were boring, were they? "The War Hero" was a really great story, and the other three were just plain fun.

I don't think that album 20 was poor, just a bit bland with some episodes. The ones towards the end more than compensated for it. Album 29 was the perfect way to kickstart AIO after the hiatus (though a few "slice of life" episodes were somewhat subpar). Album 39, I haven't listened to, so I won't give a call either way, but I think that the "bland, not poor" argument applies here.

Album 34 is by far the lowest point AIO has ever stooped to. That one got my vote.

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