Kidsboro

Chandler · Post by **Chandler** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:35 pm

All right, so I'm a little behind on this but I finally listened to Kidsboro for the first time a couple weeks ago. Originally I thought of it like Passages—just an introduction to a book series, so I didn't pay that much attention. But then I learned on whitsend.org that more shows are planned in the future and the kids will appear in "regular" episodes as well.

When I listened, I immediately recognized the lead, Adam Wylie, as Mike from Last Chance Detectives. I wouldn't have guessed that he was an adult except that he sounds exactly the same—four years later. The girls and Pete sounded like adults to me as well. The only character that I thought was actually voiced by a kid was Nelson. So I decided to do a little research on Google and see if I could match each credit with the people in the show. Sure enough, they were adults, and since there were four girls credited then I concluded that Georgina Cordova must be the voice behind Nelson Swanson which Trent confirmed here.

Quite an irony... Kidsboro voiced entirely by adults!

So I'm guessing this is for longevity. They can use the same "kids" for a long time. Which makes sense, I guess, because if they had to keep replacing Kidsboro kids in addition to Odyssey kids they would have to make a spinoff show instead!

At least, as I'm understanding this, Kidsboro is a kind of spinoff within Odyssey, right?

Boswell · Post by **Boswell** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:01 am

I wouldn't mind having a new three-parter Kidsboro once a year, outside the normal twelve-episode season. I don't expect this to happen, since the book series is supposed to take over from the radio episode, but I wouldn't object.

In fact, why doesn't AIO use adult actors for the kids ALL the time? They could keep them for much longer, and we wouldn't have to wait for some of them to get through their annoying phases before they got good.

Chandler · Post by **Chandler** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:24 am

Boswell wrote:In fact, why doesn't AIO use adult actors for the kids ALL the time? They could keep them for much longer, and we wouldn't have to wait for some of them to get through their annoying phases before they got good.

Maybe because kids sound more like kids?

Mr.Whit · Post by **Mr.Whit** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:22 am

Chandler wrote:
Boswell wrote:In fact, why doesn't AIO use adult actors for the kids ALL the time? They could keep them for much longer, and we wouldn't have to wait for some of them to get through their annoying phases before they got good.
Maybe because kids sound more like kids?

And they make it sound more real

Laura Ingalls · Post by **Laura Ingalls** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:44 am

Maybe because kids sound more like kids?

Definitely. That was one thing I didn't care for in the Kidsboro episodes...you could really tell they were adults trying to sound like kids. At least to me.

To be honest, Kidsboro wasn't my favorite, and I don't really care for more episodes about that. Not that I hated it or anything - it just didn't seem like Odyssey with these totally new (adult sounding) kids popping up out of nowhere.

Evil Chick · Post by **Evil Chick** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:18 am

Laura Ingalls wrote:
Maybe because kids sound more like kids?
Definitely. That was one thing I didn't care for in the Kidsboro episodes...you could really tell they were adults trying to sound like kids. At least to me.

To be honest, Kidsboro wasn't my favorite, and I don't really care for more episodes about that. Not that I hated it or anything - it just didn't seem like Odyssey with these totally new (adult sounding) kids popping up out of nowhere.

Yeah, I'm with Laura on this one... I didn't really like Kidsboro too much either. The voices were definitely not kid-ish. And the story was just kind of weird in my opinion. A good idea, but could probably have been made a lot better. I don't really remember a whole lot of details, 'cause I haven't listened to it since it first came out. I'm pretty sure my little siblings enjoyed it, though.

Jacob Isom · Post by **Jacob Isom** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 1:56 pm

To tell you honestly, I thought that the kids had the familiar cartoon character, snob-like, smartalic voices that we hear on television cartoons. I forget her name, but one of the girl characters didn't have a nice comment to say the entire episode and was extremely bratty. I don't think we should be want to model our kids after her.

Alas, I found the Kidsboro shows to be extremely obnoxious and distasteful.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:07 pm

I agree with Jacob on this one. Valerie is not a very likeable character, and some of the other kid characters in this show don't "ring true" (like Alice...). I thought the storyline was okay, but I didn't like some of the theories of government and ecomomics (or at least how they were put into practice--reminds me more of Obama than Washington), and a lot of the humor was not in line with other AIO shows (what's so funny about Valerie sitting on Nelson's chest or Alice throwing a kid against a wall and demanding to use a gun?).

In saying that, though, I'm still open to future Kidsboro shows. The concept is original and fun, but needs a little tweaking.

And real kids are always better than adult kids.

Reddo · Post by **Reddo** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:57 pm

Chandler wrote:But then I learned on whitsend.org that more shows are planned in the future and the kids will appear in "regular" episodes as well.

Boswell wrote:I wouldn't mind having a new three-parter Kidsboro once a year, outside the normal twelve-episode season. I don't expect this to happen, since the book series is supposed to take over from the radio episode, but I wouldn't object.

Starting with the 2009 season the "kidsboro" kids will be the new kids of odyssey (this already started in the truth chronicles), and using the town of kidsboro will kind of be like the imagination station, where it will pop up from time to time but won't be a part of most episodes, although a fourth episode of "kidsboro" is planned for the upcoming season, this one focusing on the freedom of speech.

Laura Ingalls wrote:Not that I hated it or anything - it just didn't seem like Odyssey with these totally new (adult sounding) kids popping up out of nowhere.

I agree it didn't really seem like an AIO episode without all the characters that we're used to, but it's happened before where almost all of the characters get replaced without any introduction (ie. after the DBD album all the kids except for lucy we replaced) and it will mostly likely happen again in the future

Chandler · Post by **Chandler** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:02 pm

I just looked at The Truth Chronicles on AIO Wiki and discovered that Nelson and Jill, at least, are also in some of the Truth Chronicles shows. I was not aware of that. I think a lot of people here probably haven't heard those shows yet.

KODY 105 · Post by **KODY 105** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:08 pm

Reddo wrote:I agree it didn't really seem like an AIO episode without all the characters that we're used to, but it's happened before where almost all of the characters get replaced without any introduction (ie. after the DBD album all the kids except for lucy we replaced) and it will mostly likely happen again in the future

Is that when the major split was? I thought it was when Whit returned. Perhaps I am incorrect, though.

Chandler · Post by **Chandler** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:19 pm

It was after album 28, Welcome Home. That's the album with "It's a Wrap!"

Oh, and speaking of adults trying to sound like kids... keep in mind that Aria Curzon (Mandy) is 21, Lauren Schaffel (Liz) is 20, and Corey Padnos (Trent) is nearly 20.

KODY 105 · Post by **KODY 105** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:25 am

Chandler wrote:Oh, and speaking of adults trying to sound like kids... keep in mind that Aria Curzon (Mandy) is 21, Lauren Schaffel (Liz) is 20, and Corey Padnos (Trent) is nearly 20.

Really? That is incredulous. When were the Official Guide pictures taken? They look like about fifteen years old in those pictures.

Post by **Bren** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:50 am

KODY 105 wrote:
Chandler wrote:Oh, and speaking of adults trying to sound like kids... keep in mind that Aria Curzon (Mandy) is 21, Lauren Schaffel (Liz) is 20, and Corey Padnos (Trent) is nearly 20.
Really? That is incredulous. When were the Official Guide pictures taken? They look like about fifteen years old in those pictures.

Good point. Sounds like something Trent might have the scoop on.

Trent DeWhite · Post by **Trent DeWhite** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:44 pm

KODY 105 wrote:
Chandler wrote:Oh, and speaking of adults trying to sound like kids... keep in mind that Aria Curzon (Mandy) is 21, Lauren Schaffel (Liz) is 20, and Corey Padnos (Trent) is nearly 20.
Really? That is incredulous. When were the Official Guide pictures taken? They look like about fifteen years old in those pictures.

I don't know exactly when they were taken, but they definitely aren't recent photos. My guess is they were taken 3-5 years ago?

Taq · Post by **Taq** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:06 pm

I rated the Kidsboro episodes as average (which isn't a bad thing since the average AIO episode is enjoyable). The three-parter offered an overall enjoyable story that taught about integrity (e.g., Ryan got caught up in deception, was later seen returning change, and was restored to the mayoral position) and government (Loved how the kids kept coming back to Whit for advice/info in the first part). The idea of Valerie--pretty, mean, sister and bully to Nelson--kinda made things seem juvenile, but I won't let that ruin the episodes for me. I wouldn't mind hearing more Kidsboro episodes in the future.

I bought and read and enjoyed the first Kidsboro book in Colorado. There were additional great characters like a detective and a preacher, and I got a fuller sense of the whole town. (The audio show only has time to follow a few kids.)

31899 · Post by **31899** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:54 pm

Well if you read the books you will realise a large difference between the episodes and the books and they changed the characters a lot. Also on the radio they made Vallery (spelling) peer evil and I thought that the episodes were a pour representation. But really this is just my opinion.

P.S. is my signature working

Follower of Christ · Post by **Follower of Christ** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:42 am

My younger sisters enjoy the shows with Kidsboro. I don't really like them as much as the older episodes.