Stupidest Episodes

Whit's wiping down the counter, Connie's mopping the floor, and the kids are sipping on their milkshakes. If you want to talk about Adventures in Odyssey the radio drama, this is the spot to do just that!
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Stupidest Episodes

Post by odysseyfan1 »

The Business of Business, All Star Witness, It's a Wrap!, A Capsule Comes to Town, Opposite Day, An Agreeable Nanny, and probably lots of others that I can't think of at the moment. What are yours?
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Post by Jesus' Princess »

Finish What you...., Opposite Day, The Inspiration Station, BTV Behind the Scenes, Caroling Caroling, there's probably more, but I can't think of them at the moment.
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Post by Lee »

BTV Behind the Scenes? :shock:

I LOVE that one. :inlove:

:-k hmmmm....

The only one that comes to mind is Between the Two of Us.
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\:D/
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Post by jelly »

lol 'stupidest'. :P
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Post by Leonard Meltsner »

I love listening to Caroling, Caroling! It's the only episode with the full Christmas theme, I believe, unless A Lamb's Tale also has the entire theme. Opposite Day and Finish what You... When You're Right, You're Right. That's all that comes to mind for the moment.
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Eugene-"Well, the sequence of events occured with extreme rapidity, but I shall attempt to recall them. I was powering my two-wheeler along this concrete pathway, when your personnage suddenly appeared directly in front of me blocking my course. My reflexes immediately sprang to life in an attempt to navigate an evasive manouveur around you while still maintaining course and speed, but I evidently over-compensated, and my Schwinn careened off the hardened path, taking me with it, and up-ended us both in this shrub, a Rhododendron of the heath family I believe, deducing from the leathery evergreen leaves, as distinguished from the deciduous Azalea, which as we all know is..."
Isaac-"You mean, you crashed into this bush cause I got in your way."
Eugene-"Well, that of course is another way of expressing it." Isaac the Benevolent
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Post by Catspaw »

Yep, I also love Caroling, Caroling. Part of that is because of childhood memories, but it's a lot of fun. I enjoy the story and the songs. It's something different that what AIO usually does, primarily because of the amount of singing, but I actually wish that they had done another special tape like that. :yes:
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Post by Jesus' Princess »

Well, I guess we're different there, but let me re word what I was saying, I got a little bit sidetracked, BTV behind the scenes, and Caroling Caroling I didn't particularly enjoy, but they're not stupid, they're just different. I'd say the stupidest ones are Finish what you.... and opposite day.
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Post by odysseyfan1 »

Jelly wrote:lol 'stupidest'. :P
Haha, dumbest then. :D
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Post by ric »

Jelly wrote:lol 'stupidest'. :P
'Stupidest' is a word, you know: stupidest, superlative; Lacking intelligence or common sense. \:D/
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Post by jelly »

ric wrote:
Jelly wrote:lol 'stupidest'. :P
'Stupidest' is a word, you know: stupidest, superlative; Lacking intelligence or common sense. \:D/
I actually googled it. \:D/ It is a word, but most uses of the word is considered incorrect grammar.
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Post by Leonard Meltsner »

Jelly wrote:
ric wrote:
Jelly wrote:lol 'stupidest'. :P
'Stupidest' is a word, you know: stupidest, superlative; Lacking intelligence or common sense. \:D/
I actually googled it. \:D/ It is a word, but most uses of the word is considered incorrect grammar.
You mean "most uses of the word are considered incorrect grammar."?
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Eugene-"Well, the sequence of events occured with extreme rapidity, but I shall attempt to recall them. I was powering my two-wheeler along this concrete pathway, when your personnage suddenly appeared directly in front of me blocking my course. My reflexes immediately sprang to life in an attempt to navigate an evasive manouveur around you while still maintaining course and speed, but I evidently over-compensated, and my Schwinn careened off the hardened path, taking me with it, and up-ended us both in this shrub, a Rhododendron of the heath family I believe, deducing from the leathery evergreen leaves, as distinguished from the deciduous Azalea, which as we all know is..."
Isaac-"You mean, you crashed into this bush cause I got in your way."
Eugene-"Well, that of course is another way of expressing it." Isaac the Benevolent
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Post by odysseyfan1 »

Leonard Meltsner wrote:
Jelly wrote:
ric wrote:
Jelly wrote:lol 'stupidest'. :P
'Stupidest' is a word, you know: stupidest, superlative; Lacking intelligence or common sense. \:D/
I actually googled it. \:D/ It is a word, but most uses of the word is considered incorrect grammar.
You mean "most uses of the word are considered incorrect grammar."?
Oh, that's awesome! He corrected my grammar and you corrected his! :badgrin:
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Post by jelly »

Leonard Meltsner wrote:
Jelly wrote:
ric wrote:
Jelly wrote:lol 'stupidest'. :P
'Stupidest' is a word, you know: stupidest, superlative; Lacking intelligence or common sense. \:D/
I actually googled it. \:D/ It is a word, but most uses of the word is considered incorrect grammar.
You mean "most uses of the word are considered incorrect grammar."?
:hilarious:

that just made my day.
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Post by Leonard Meltsner »

Jelly wrote:
Leonard Meltsner wrote:
Jelly wrote:
ric wrote:
Jelly wrote:lol 'stupidest'. :P
'Stupidest' is a word, you know: stupidest, superlative; Lacking intelligence or common sense. \:D/
I actually googled it. \:D/ It is a word, but most uses of the word is considered incorrect grammar.
You mean "most uses of the word are considered incorrect grammar."?
:hilarious:

that just made my day.
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Eugene-"Well, the sequence of events occured with extreme rapidity, but I shall attempt to recall them. I was powering my two-wheeler along this concrete pathway, when your personnage suddenly appeared directly in front of me blocking my course. My reflexes immediately sprang to life in an attempt to navigate an evasive manouveur around you while still maintaining course and speed, but I evidently over-compensated, and my Schwinn careened off the hardened path, taking me with it, and up-ended us both in this shrub, a Rhododendron of the heath family I believe, deducing from the leathery evergreen leaves, as distinguished from the deciduous Azalea, which as we all know is..."
Isaac-"You mean, you crashed into this bush cause I got in your way."
Eugene-"Well, that of course is another way of expressing it." Isaac the Benevolent
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Post by Sapphire »

The only episode I really hate is Fairy Tal-e-vision.
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Post by Laurie »

Mine would be The Great Wishy Woz. Yes I know that people like this episode, I don't.
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Post by Leonard Meltsner »

Sapphire wrote:The only episode I really hate is Fairy Tal-e-vision.
YESSSS!!!! This episode is very child-oriented, and doesn't have a very specific point.
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Eugene-"Well, the sequence of events occured with extreme rapidity, but I shall attempt to recall them. I was powering my two-wheeler along this concrete pathway, when your personnage suddenly appeared directly in front of me blocking my course. My reflexes immediately sprang to life in an attempt to navigate an evasive manouveur around you while still maintaining course and speed, but I evidently over-compensated, and my Schwinn careened off the hardened path, taking me with it, and up-ended us both in this shrub, a Rhododendron of the heath family I believe, deducing from the leathery evergreen leaves, as distinguished from the deciduous Azalea, which as we all know is..."
Isaac-"You mean, you crashed into this bush cause I got in your way."
Eugene-"Well, that of course is another way of expressing it." Isaac the Benevolent
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Post by Bob »

Don't get me wrong, I still like Odyssey as a concept and a series, but there's a lot of silly or stupid episodes... sometimes they seem as numerous as the sand of the sea.

I'll to go through some albums and try to give you at least one bad episode from each one (or if it's an especially atrocious album, more than one). This list won't include decanonized or unreleased episodes (since the Odyssey team didn't think they were any good either, I see no reason to count those episodes as an error of judgement).

Album 01: The Adventure Begins: I honestly don't think there's really any bad episodes in this one; although "Gifts for Madge and Guy" is silly, and "Whit's Flop" isn't the strongest one either, I don't think they're at the level we're aiming for here.

Album 02: Stormy Weather: "The Day Independence Came" is a little annoying, but overall this album doesn't have major problems either.

Album 03: Heroes: "A Single Vote" strikes me as a bit annoying... also "Peace on Earth", where everyone but Tom forgets the reason for the season, is a little bit irritating, but I don't think any of these episodes qualify as "stupid". "The Shepherd and the Giant" is probably the worst as far as lost potential; Samuel was probably poorly cast and Connie is just annoying... it's the classic case of an "Imagination Station"-like episode that would have been better if they didn't try to fit the modern characters in, and just told a straight-up, serious Bible story.

Album 04: Puns, Parables, and Perilous Predicaments: I'm sorry, but "The FUN-damentals" is a really obnoxious album title.

That said, "By Faith, Noah" is a fairly weak episode, but it doesn't hit the low level we're looking for yet.

Album 05: Daring Deeds, Sinister Schemes: At the time it was made, this was possibly the strongest album in Odyssey history; even though the Odyssey team didn't have the strongest grasp of technology, they still managed to produce a great opening to the Blackgaard saga, and produced the best Imagination Station episode(s) ever in "The Imagination Station". No dumb episodes yet (but don't worry, we'll get there soon).

Album 06: Mission: Accomplished: Not there yet, but I'd like to point out again that I think "Elijah" would have probably been better if it didn't have Jack or Robyn in it.

Album 07: On Thin Ice: Now we're getting there! "Front Page News" isn't the worst episode the Odyssey team has ever made, but it has the exclusive honor that it is the first great bad episode... from the very beginning, the point of it seems to be that Curt is evil, and deserves to run track. Even though this is middle school, the Odyssey Owl is already trying to pick up "experienced" or "talented" reporters -- I would like to know where exactly people would develop their writing or journalism skills *before* middle school? Yes, I admit that Curt's motives might not have been the best, but frankly wanting to get out of hard, pointless labor is the cornerstone of human development... and the episode adds insult to injury by having their teacher mock the one part of his (fake) story that was true.

All the things that show up in later Curt episodes -- the unsupported idea that Curt is the villain, and needs to be punished, the misguided moral stories, and the narrator's "righteous indignation" at his actions (ultimately vindicated when he falls back to earth), were done first here. There are worse Curt and worse Odyssey episodes than this one, but this is where the Odyssey team first began producing bad episodes.

Album 08: Beyond Expectations: "Curious, Isn't It?" leaves much to be desired... from the fact that both of its main characters (Esther and Ben) are unlikeable, to the way the entire town of Odyssey decides, based on the most circumstantial of evidence, that Whit is getting married, and throws a celebration because of it. Esther was Emily Jones before Emily Jones -- only without any of the redeeming character traits. Also, even though I know everyone thinks it's funny -- myself included -- "Suspicious Minds" is really very silly and could have been implemented much more realistically.

Album 09: Just In Time: "Have You No Selpurcs?" is an episode I look forward to, with odd amusement... I like it, even though I know I really shouldn't. The episode is a classic "Curt episode"... where the writers have pretty much decided they have nothing better to do but run his reputation into the ground for 25 minutes. He does outrageously immoral things, with no real consequences; the writers have decided that the last episodes he was in weren't bad enough, so they've made him into a thief as well. In spite of all this, he's the only character in the episode I sympathize with, since Lucy is incredibly obnoxious, serving as the embodiment of the writers and their grudge against Curt Stevens. Also, I'd like to point out that although I think "Not One Of Us" is a good idea, Lucy is unbelievably ignorant in it.

Album 10: Other Times, Other Places:"Waylaid in the Windy City" has some weak spots, and the episode probably isn't as strong as I'd like to think, but this is still overall a decent album.

Album 11: Another Fine Day...: "Coming of Age". "Coming of Age". "Coming of Age". "Coming of Age". "Coming of Age".

One of the truly great bad Odyssey episodes, all the more notable because it happened when the Odyssey team was otherwise making good stories... the episode for me will be forever infamous by the fact that it was the episode where Jimmy Barclay cried over not being able to play Juliet.

Juliet? Seriously? No healthy red-blooded American male I know would've been caught dead playing a girl's character -- in adolescence or at any other age. If Jimmy was all, "Great, now I finally get to play a male role", it would have otherwise been a good episode, but as it is, that single part of it makes it entirely unbelievable for me.

Album 12: At Home And Abroad: "Room Mates" is silly. That's all I can say about it... it's one of those cases where you know the episode is unrealistic, but you can't say as much as a single word against it because the dramatic license, and popular opinion, seem to overweigh everything else. That doesn't mean that it isn't a silly episode, though, and a case where the series' realism broke down.

Album 13: It All Started When...: "Isaac the Chivalrous". Sir William is portrayed as a blundering idiot, and that characterization makes it very hard, or impossible, for me to enjoy the episode.

Also, I would like to point out that "It Takes Integrity" is the most blatant, and worst, of all the Curt episodes, from the beginning to the end: The story starts out bashing Curt, and you can just sense the writers' glee. "This is it, this is the episode where we're finally going to get to tear him down." At the end Whit basically blackmails him by using a weak analogy between Lucy's muckraking and Curt's father, but the thing is that what Lucy did actually was her fault, and is relevant to her leadership ability, whereas Curt has no control over what his father is like. Whit exploits what's basically the only really good point in Curt's character (His love and concern for his father and his reputation, shown by Curt's efforts to keep his dad's alcoholism a secret) to tear Curt down.

I admit that exposing Lucy's skeleton in the closet wasn't a nice thing to do, but the fact is that it's in a different league from what Whit talked about doing... if they wanted to get back at Curt, they had plenty of material to work from; they could have mentioned that time he tried to steal Lucy's neighbor's newspaper, or the time he illegally snuck into a movie other than the one he paid for, or the time he told Connie to steal a scarf. Instead they chose the one thing that *isn't* his fault to hang him on.

Album 14: Meanwhile, in Another Part of Town: "Sixties-Something" can be a little silly, but it has a good message, so I don't think it's fair to give it a bad rating. I don't think there's really any bad episodes here -- "Harlow Doyle, Private Eye" is silly, like all episodes with him in it, but it does have a message and does a good enough job of getting it across.

Album 15: A Place of Wonder: "On Solid Ground", and really just about every OT Action News story, would have been better if they didn't have the OT Action News team in them... I think the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is powerful enough to stand on its own, without all the obnoxious modern commentary.

"Pipe Dreams" is annoying because of how they hate on Charles, from the beginning to the end. Okay, I get that he might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but that's no excuse to bash him the entire way through... pretty much the only people who're consistently nice to him are his mom and his teacher; I guess Officer O'Ryan and Ms. Bavaqua are nice enough too, but his classmates are pretty much openly jeering him, and his nickname, "Chunky", is inherently insulting.

Album 16: Flights of Imagination: "The Living Nativity" is kind of silly, but I've been in a play or two before, and they had their own set of problems, so I guess I can't really complain about that... "Best Intentions" really has no reason to exist. Basically, the plot of the episode is "All of Whit's friends come over to his house and bother him". Yawn.

All righty, this post has gotten a lot longer than I thought it would, so I'll leave you with this for now -- hope to get up more of the albums, all the way up to the present, in a subsequent post. All you long-term listeners know I haven't yet gotten to the albums where the *really* bad episodes are yet.
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Post by Catspaw »

Bob, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but with a few of these, I'm not sure why your reason makes it a bad episode, or at least that I would disagree with your reason or point. :-k I do not have the time or desire to go through your entire post, but here are a few things that stood out to me.
Bob wrote:"Pipe Dreams" is annoying because of how they hate on Charles, from the beginning to the end. Okay, I get that he might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but that's no excuse to bash him the entire way through... pretty much the only people who're consistently nice to him are his mom and his teacher; I guess Officer O'Ryan and Ms. Bavaqua are nice enough too, but his classmates are pretty much openly jeering him, and his nickname, "Chunky", is inherently insulting.
Maybe this was the point? :anxious: Kids aren't always rational when they choose stuff to pick on people for. Being a little slow and a tad overweight could be all somebody needs display their meanspiritedness. Why is it a bad episode because Charles has mean classmates? I haven't listened to this one for a while, but I think part of the point was showing how that mean behaviour could have a negative effect, and hopefully help people to choose a different path for their own behaviour. If people not treating other in an ideal fashion (with it being clear that this is hurtful and problematic behaviour) makes an episode bad, it would be really hard to find a good one! ;)
Bob wrote:"Best Intentions" really has no reason to exist. Basically, the plot of the episode is "All of Whit's friends come over to his house and bother him". Yawn.
I've always really liked this episode because of the fun interactions between the characters, but I think it does have a reason to exist beyond that. This episode comes right after "A Mortal Coil." If AIO has nothing following up after a serious medical issue, fans are all over it - "What happened to Whit's broken leg? This is so unrealistic!" This is a great example of when they addressed Whit's recovery, but apparently it still isn't appreciated by all. It always touches on some great examples of how people respond when a friend has had something serious happen. It shows different ways that people try to help and the motivations that can drive them, but despite their "best intentions," sometimes what makes the friends feel better isn't what really helps the person in question. It made Connie feel like she could help Whit and do something to "fix" the problem by making him a healthy breakfast and vacuuming and keeping Tom from visiting. How many times have people tried to help with good intentions but didn't have it work out the way they wanted it to? A lot. This episode isn't even about Whit as much as it is about the response of his friends to his heart attack.

That got longer than I expected it to ;) but anyway, some of the reasons that an episode in "bad" just didn't sit right with me. We all have differing opinions, but to me, there's a difference between "That was a terrible episode" and "That was a weaker episode."
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Post by Bob »

Album 17: On Earth as it is in Heaven: I almost hate to criticize this album, because there is a lot to like here -- it even had an episode which used Danny Schmidt pretty well, which is amazing considering how almost everyone hates him.

Nevertheless, it isn't perfect. "The Power" in particular is very flawed, for several reasons. Let me try to count the ways:

First, its protagonist is very badly characterized. Isaac is basically an anti-hero... if it wasn't for Sam, and the implication that we should know who the main character is, Isaac would be completely unrecognizable from the guy we've seen in every other episode. He's downright ruthless here, basically messing around with Charles for no good reason, and honestly you can't help but feel by the end of the episode that Isaac really does deserve to get beat up on, whether by Nicholas or somebody else.

Second, Nicholas isn't at all where he should be; this is Nicholas Adamsworth, last seen running from Eugene in the Imagination Station, but he is now inexplicably out of the college program, wasting his time dominating in middle school (which makes no sense, since we know that he already graduated at a younger age, much like Eugene once did).

Frankly, the character I like the most in this episode is Rusty, and while that isn't as much of a leap (since Rusty is always portrayed as a "cool", intelligent bully, after his inglorious debut in "Our Father") for me, I don't get the impression that's what the writers were trying to do here.

Album 18: A Time of Discovery: "The Case of the Delinquent Disciples" is a good idea that's rendered just a bit creepy by having a middle-aged man investigate... if I was any of those kids' moms, I'd be half-inclined to call the cops.

"Family Values" is silly. Same deal with "My Fair Bernard". In fact, this album probably has more silly episodes than any album before it -- but if you've had your head under a rock for the past fifteen years or so and think this is the silliest this radio drama could get, that it can't possibly go downhill from here, all I can say is, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Album 19: Passport to Adventure: "The Bad Hair Day". If you've listened to this episode even once, in your entire life, you know why it's on this list. It's... bad.

"Aloha Oy" is three consecutive silly episodes in a row, which I think has to have set a record for Odyssey at the time. Likewise, "Truth, Rivia, and 'Trina" is a little silly as well -- and so is "Naturally, I Assumed".

Album 20: A Journey of Choices: I don't think many of the episodes in this album are bad, per se, but the average silliness quotient (for any episode that isn't intended to be silly) hits a very high average, and that doesn't change much over the next few albums. I take a sort of twisted pleasure out of "Fences", but I have to admit that it is a bad episode... the idea was there, and there's some funny dialogue, but the planning and development fell all the way through the floor.

Album 21: Wish You Were Here: Some silly moments, but this was really a pretty good album on the whole... I'll point out one moment I like about one episode that defies writing stereotypes: In "The Election Deception", the principal is actually a clever man, and helps solve (or tries to solve) a problem, something that has happened in only one other Adventure in Odyssey episode I can think of, "Mike Makes Right".

Album 22: The Changing Times: "Siege at Jericho" would have been better without the modern commentary. "Unto Us a Child is Born" has some good moments, but the silliness overwhelms things... Red Wagons and Pink Flamingos is silly, and gives us the idea that Jason really just doesn't have a clue.

Album 23: Twists and Turns: A good album with a lot of great ideas, that nevertheless could have been better implemented. "St. Paul" would have been better if it wasn't in the Imagination Station... A Victim of Circumstance is a little silly (but nevertheless a good episode). At the church I frequent, the youth sit either with their parents or in the front, so it strikes me as interesting when we see that the Odyssey church does it differently, in "Preacher's Kid"... and see that it doesn't work very well.

Album 24: Risks and Rewards: I like "Top This", but it's undeniably a silly episode. "Poetry in Slow Motion" has some more gratuitous Charles-bashing, and Lawrence is pretty clueless in "Subject Yourself"... it's not all bad, though, because this album has more great episodes than possibly any other album before it, with "The Underground Railroad", "Where Is Thy Sting", "A Touch of Healing", and "The Turning Point". It's the perfect lead-in to "Darkness Before Dawn".

Album 25: Darkness Before Dawn: I don't think anything needs to be said about the quality of this album, or the episodes therein. It speaks for itself.

Album 26: Back on the Air: "Hidden In My Heart" is silly, but that's okay, because it's a radio program inside a radio program -- not real events. I can't think of anything else that this album does that's wrong, except for "Easy Money", which basically tells us that gambling is okay, just as long as you know when to stop. Still, this period, in my mind, represents a high point in the Odyssey team's writing abilities -- from album 24 to 29, the vast majority of episodes are gold, and the plotting is more complex than in virtually any other point of Odyssey history.

Album 27: The Search for Whit: "What Are You Gonna Do With Your Life?" is silly. Likewise, "With A Little Help From My Friends" has a few weak points... most notably Courtney Vincent, a former protagonist, turning to the Dark Side over hamburgers.

Album 28: Welcome Home!: "The Right Choice" is Silly. With a capital S. "It's A Wrap" was a bad idea, and foreshadows the stories that're going to come up in the late 90s. Nevertheless, with "Clara", and "The Other Woman", you still have two great episodes to bail the rest of the album out.

Album 29: Signed, Sealed, and Committed: This album is split into two halves -- the last part of Odyssey's golden age, fighting for survival, and the silly, silly late '90s-style episodes. The conflict between these two sets the tone of this album and what is to come.

This has one of my all-time favorite three-parters in "For Whom The Wedding Bells Toll", and has some more good episodes with "The One About Trust" and "The Painting". Nevertheless, "Just Say Yes" is a little silly, "Best Face Forward" is also pretty silly, and "Viva La Difference" is very silly. Don't get me wrong, just because it's silly doesn't necessarily mean it's bad... but just wait and see what's coming up. The quality of episodes (QEP) generally goes down when the average silliness quotient (ASQ) is raised.

Album 30: Through Thick and Thin: "No Bones About It" is silly. Jephthah's Vow is yet another story that could have been great, if only it wasn't in OT Action News. "Poor Loser" is silly and probably would've been better to focus more on the volleyball angle. In fact, probably the vast majority of these episodes are pretty silly... they aren't necessarily bad yet, but we're getting there.

Album 31: Days to Remember: One of the last great Odyssey albums of this era, the silliness quotient is way down and there are no really obnoxious episodes in this entire collection.

Album 32: Hidden Treasures: Aside from the silly Mulligans and B-TV episodes, this is actually a good album; "Malachi's Message" is a nice, serious set of episodes, "Buried Sin" has some sting, and even Gloobers is a memorable jaunt. Better enjoy it, though, because after this album begins what most Odyssey fans will remember as the "Dark Ages"... if you aren't happy with my inability to find bad episodes in this post, don't worry because this next section is gonna be a shooting range.

-- 01 May 2011 01:58 pm --
Catspaw wrote:Bob, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but with a few of these, I'm not sure why your reason makes it a bad episode, or at least that I would disagree with your reason or point. :-k
I know that not all of these episodes were really bad episodes, per se, but for me, it's hard to find stuff to dislike about the older ones, and I needed to have something to tide everyone over until we get to some of the more obvious ones -- like the episodes in "Virtual Realities", or "My Favorite Things", which is a good ways after the Novacom saga. ;)
Maybe this was the point? :anxious: Kids aren't always rational when they choose stuff to pick on people for. Being a little slow and a tad overweight could be all somebody needs display their meanspiritedness.
I agree that that probably was the goal, but frankly it doesn't seem that Charles gets a lot of support from the writing staff either, when even Chris refers to him as "Chunky" after the episode is over. I think his character could have been handled a little more sensitively... it's an issue of support. I don't mind his classmates tearing him up (since that probably is how it would work in real life), but I do think that the writers could have given him a little bit of help after the story was over, and there was no excuse for Eugene (an allegedly mature character) to go off on him the way he did either.
Bob wrote:How many times have people tried to help with good intentions but didn't have it work out the way they wanted it to? A lot. This episode isn't even about Whit as much as it is about the response of his friends to his heart attack.
I agree that it wasn't a terrible episode -- and that it even had a lot of stuff that was right with it. That said, though, I don't give sillier episodes as much leeway as other reviewers do, and I don't think you can honestly classify Best Intentions as being anything but silly.
That got longer than I expected it to ;) but anyway, some of the reasons that an episode in "bad" just didn't sit right with me. We all have differing opinions, but to me, there's a difference between "That was a terrible episode" and "That was a weaker episode."
It's no problem; all of my posts go on for ages. ;)

A lot of these episodes, like I said, aren't terrible per sé -- but we don't get to a lot of the really bad ones until relatively late in the series' run, and I figure that we might as well cover some of the less publicized bad episodes too while we're at it. Just because it doesn't have bratty kids running amok like the Washington episodes, or because it isn't as obnoxiously pointless as Fairy Tale-e-vision, doesn't mean that it wasn't a bad episode in its time, and that it doesn't deserve a similar level of infamy. ;) I think that, in general, a lot of episodes are overrated -- there's a lot of different reasons for this, like nostalgia, or so. I don't think there's anything wrong with people looking at the older episodes with rose-colored glasses, on the whole, but if you're going to criticize them, it makes sense to go after all the episodes, not just the more recent ones.

No hard feelings here or anything; I just figured it might be interesting to dissect a few of the older episodes along with the newer ones (which I hope to post about very shortly).
Last edited by Bob on Sun May 01, 2011 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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