Album 59: Taking the Plunge

[Jehoshaphat]

So album 59 is slated to come out in August 2015. It says on AIO Wiki that it will only have 2 discs which could mean only 6 episodes. It also says that the album will take up right where 58 left off.

Discuss.

[Peachey Keen]

The cover art!



It appears the rumors were true. I am so conflicted right now. Focus did something similar back with Album 44 & 45. They split the album into 2 parts (44a and 44b) and then released the "complete collection." That failed miserably from what I remember and they went back to the regular release with Album 46.

It's cheap. They've already put an album's worth of episodes and spread them out over a year with the OAC, but this is ridiculous. If this meant that we would get Album 59 at the beginning of 2015 and 60 at the end of the year, I may not have such a problem with it. We wouldn't have to wait a year to hear 12 non-exclusive episodes. From what I've read, 59 will come out in late summer. If they don't have a follow up album by the end of the year, I'm going to be really upset.

Be careful with Album 58 spoilers on this page!

[SirWhit]

Now that is just ridiculous.

[Jonathan]

So the question here is are they splitting up albums like they tried a decade ago, or are they cutting the number of episodes per album in half? I'm inclined to think it's the latter, as this isn't labeled 59a, as they were before.

[Leonard Meltsner]

It's even weirder since we just had a 14-part album.

Unless that's part of the reason???

[Bren]

If you guys have questions concerning this news, send them to info@thewepodcast.com and we will try to get some answers for you.

[Jonathan]

Done. If you give answers on your podcast, please let us know when they are included. Though I had to work on being diplomatic in my question as I can't quite understand why every new innovation in the last two years has appeared designed to alienate portions of their fanbase.

[SirWhit]

Johnthan. Yes. That is right on.

[AshleyWhittaker]

So, I got this email from Dave Arnold and it answers the question about split albums:

Hi Ashley,

No, not split, but they moving forward our albums will be in six episode configurations. Were doing this as a result of input from buyers and sellers who say that they would prefer that we release our product more often and with a lower price point. By making this change, we’ll be able to release two six episode packages of new material per year (people won’t have to wait for the twelve episodes to be produced before being able to purchase them), and each package will be sold at a lower price, which we hope helps as well.

The albums may wind up with cliffhangers, depending on whether we decide to do longer story archs, but they won’t be a/b albums like we did years ago.

Blessings! And thanks for listening!

[Catspaw]

Thanks for sharing that, Ashley. That's good to know. This will take some getting used to, but whatever. I can see how it makes more sense for some people. And you never know if things might change back in the future! 6 episodes just doesn't seem like a lot when I'm used to 12.

[Bren]

According to the great Nathan Hoobler...

Most of the questions regarding Album 59 will be answered on the December 10th edition of The Official Adventures in Odyssey podcast. One note to tide people over till then: Though Album 59 only has six episodes, Album 60 is part of the same season. So there will still be 12 new episodes released outside of the OAC

[Marvin D.]

. .what questions were answered in the podcast? I'm too lazy to listen >.>

So basically, it's still no longer 24 episodes a year (at least, public ones), but 12--now just split up into 6-episode chunks to "tide us over."

[Wakko]

Minor bump.
Do we know anything else about this album? I can't find anything about it, which is kind of odd since this album is only a few months away.

[Leonard Meltsner]

Here's my Oddcast notes on what we know right now.

Episode titles
777. First Things First
778.
779.
780.
781.
782.

Album description:
"In the all-new album, Taking the Plunge, your favorite Adventures in Odyssey characters are faced with life decisions and hard lessons. Will Penny “take the plunge” and say yes to Wooton’s marriage proposal? Will Eugene solve a mystery about missing money? Will Buck make the right kind of new friends? Will Olivia discover how to create a perfect family? Take the plunge into adventure and learn valuable life lessons about commitment, conflict, expectations, and secrets in six audio dramas from the award-winning team celebrating 27 years of fun and entertainment for the entire family!"

Paul's notes:
-Paul confirms that we'll explore Penny and Wooton's relationship more before Penny gives her answer about the proposal. She'll take an appropriate amount of time to pray and consider before responding.
-We won't see Buck and Eugene's fishing trip, sadly, but we will get a lot more development building on 58, obviously.
-We'll learn more about Penny's background.
-We'll meet her family in 59 or 60.
-Whit's mysterious health issue wasn't just a plot point for 58. It will carry on in the future in some vague, subtle, yet important way.
-So it sounds like Olivia's adventure in the ROC may be it's own album or even book trilogy called Sideways?! Wow, no wonder it must've been SOME adventure. If it's a book, the first one may come out at the same time as 59.

Release dates:
-It sounds like 59 will hit the OAC in May, digital download in July, hard copy in August, radio in the Fall.

[Moontide]

Is there anywhere I can learn about Whit's mysterious health issue, like on the AiO wiki? That sounds interesting. Maybe it is a part of a plan to kill off Whit.

[Leonard Meltsner]

I'm not sure if there's anything on the wiki, apart from episode summaries for the TTB episodes, but you can listen to the Official Podcast's interview with Paul from December, and hear exactly what he said about it. Victoria and I are convinced that Paul is going to kill Whit as a final mark to leave on the series as he leaves Focus.

[WindowWasher]

the point about splitting the season into 2 volumes will make it cheaper is baloney. You can preorder "Taking the Plunge" on Amazon for $11.09, which means $22.18 for 12 episodes. I used to be able to buy previous 12 episode volumes for around $16-$17 dollars. It will actually cost me more now to buy 2 separate volumes. Just signed up for the club for $1 using the promocode "buck". Offer is good until May 31.

[aragtaghooligan]

Are you taking inflation into consideration?

[WindowWasher]

Well, checking amazon, I bought "The Ties That Bind" back in October and I paid $17.99. CBS is doing the same thing with Gunsmoke and Bonanza. They make more money by splitting the season into 2 volumes.

[JesusFreak777]

I'm not sure if there's anything on the wiki, apart from episode summaries for the TTB episodes, but you can listen to the Official Podcast's interview with Paul from December, and hear exactly what he said about it. Victoria and I are convinced that Paul is going to kill Whit as a final mark to leave on the series as he leaves Focus.

What's this about Paul leaving Focus?