19th-century Whit

An alternate reality

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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Bob
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19th-century Whit

Post by Bob »

I suppose this isn't strictly related to true 'AIO', but it's probably good fan fiction material, and I think it's an interesting concept. What if the AIO world was set 80 years further back in the past?

In this setting, John Avery Whittaker would have been born in the 1840s. As a young man, he would have served in the Union Navy in the Civil War, in between completing his education. After having adventures around the world and building an encyclopedia company, he would eventually settle down in the town of Odyssey and found Whit's End.

Whit's End would be a converted early-1800s building that used to be the mayoral mansion, built in the Federal architectural style. It would be a soda shop (in this respect, Mr. Whittaker would be similar to other Civil War veterans who sold soft drinks in the years after the war). As an early pioneer in radio, photography, and mechanical computers, among other interests, he would have numerous impressive inventions, including the instant oven (which can cook food in mere minutes), the Environment Enhancer (an audio-visual assisted storytelling device), and the Consequence Engine (which could allow users to choose and see possible outcomes, in an audiovisual 'choose-your-own-adventure' type story, drawing from phonographic, film and early computing technologies). Whit's End would also feature electric lights and other cutting-edge technologies. Whit might have even invented a flying machine. ;)

The show would begin in 1908. One major story arc could focus on WW1, and many of the boys who grew up around Whit's End going to participate in it, from roughly albums 41-43. (I'm not sure how you would account for Dr. Blackgaard in this reality, though.)

I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts you might have about this imaginary Odyssey.
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Post by Patterson »

That's a really cool idea. Whit in that era could've seen the famous story of the first ice cream cone(though the waffle cone was actually patented first by someone else in 1903) at the 1904 World's Fair and have an idea to serve it at his soda fountain. I also think it would be cool if Dr. Blackgaard was a disgraced European war general or something like that. I looked up some late 1800s European wars and something like The Franco-German war might work.

Napoleon III seems like he might be a good visual reference for Dr. Blackgaard in the period though.
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Post by Catspaw »

Fun idea, Bob, and I love your idea about Dr. Blackgaard too Patterson. I had never thought, "What if AIO took place in a different time period?" but now I'm loving the ways it would change the stories, and also the things that would stay the same. The technology and world events would change; the truths about God would remain the same.
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Post by bookworm »

Catspaw wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:17 pmI had never thought, "What if AIO took place in a different time period?"
If it took place in medieval times Whit would look like this as a warrior man!
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Post by Catspaw »

bookworm wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 3:36 pm
Catspaw wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:17 pmI had never thought, "What if AIO took place in a different time period?"
If it took place in medieval times Whit would look like this as a warrior man!
EB has always been ahead of his time! Or behind the times? One of those. ;)
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Post by KODY 105 »

That would be the 29th Century Whit.

So 19th Whit would basically be a steampunk version of himself. I disagree that he would be in the Union navy. His family was from North Carolina, which was in the Confederate States of America. It was dragged by its neighbors; it was the last state to secede from the union.

The whole Blackgaard vs Whit thing would be like Tesla versus Edison (who was also the reason Hollywood was in California: as far away from the Edison's patent trollism as you could get). Tesla and Edison fought publicly over how electrical power should be distributed throughout the country: DC versus AC. Edison even electrocuted an elephant with AC just to try to prove his point that AC was dangerous, and DC was better. So, with this analogy, maybe Whit is Tesla, who had all sorts of obscure inventions nobody has been able to understand or replicate since, and was less business savvy/cut-throat than Edison.

Ooh yeah, Blackgaard would totally be Edison: He runs a sweatshop of young inventors who actually crank out stuff like the lightbulb, but he gets his name on the patent. And his ruthlessness is already established.
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Post by Bob »

KODY 105 wrote: Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:07 am So 19th Whit would basically be a steampunk version of himself.
Yes, exactly! Something like that crossed my mind early on, when I thought about this concept.
KODY 105 wrote: Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:07 amI disagree that he would be in the Union navy. His family was from North Carolina, which was in the Confederate States of America. It was dragged by its neighbors; it was the last state to secede from the union.
Well, when I approached his background, I was thinking of it more in terms of 'relative to plot/character/country traits'. (I wasn't even sure I'd put Odyssey in Ohio* in this world; I was thinking of trying to find a state that, in 1908, had a similar role to what Ohio did in the US in 1988.) If you think of WWII as a great moral conflict, it isn't hard to frame the Civil War as being the closest equivalent conflict in the 19th century.

But even if we wanted to try to preserve Whit's known geographic background, he was born in Scotland, and presumably his father could have moved up north when they came back. Even if he didn't, Whit could still be a Union man. I think it is fairly likely and consistent with his known character and the history:
1 - We know that Whit, in regular AIO, is both a supporter of the United States as a whole, and not someone who feels tied to a single state, growing up in North Carolina, studying in California, and eventually settling down in Ohio.
2 - There were a few Southerners in the Union military, including extremely prominent ones, like the commander of the army, Winfield Scott, and Admiral Farragut, so it isn't unprecedented from that angle.
3 - It is hard to imagine him even implicitly supporting institutionalized racism. Although I'm not sure how he would rule on the matter of the states' 'right' to secede, the fact that the Confederate government attacked the Union gives a casus belli for defending it.
4 - He unequivocally and unhesitatingly said that Lincoln was a 'great man' in the episode Lincoln. I don't think it is a huge stretch to suppose he might have sided with him in the actual war. ;)
KODY 105 wrote: Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:07 amThe whole Blackgaard vs Whit thing would be like Tesla versus Edison
That's an interesting take on it, and it seems right with Blackgaard's original portrayal as someone who is interested in espionage and selling Whit's secrets. The US didn't have many secret agencies back in the day (or is that what they wanted us to think?!? ;) ) , so Whit (and later Jason's) background in this area likely has to be reimagined. In the Gilded Age, a corporate tie-in isn't inappropriate.

---

* Odyssey is not officially in Ohio in the modern continuity, but there is a lot of evidence for it and very little against it, it was the original location for the town before they changed it to being 'unknown', and it is common fanon at this point.
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Post by KODY 105 »

Corporate tie-in, as if the Universal Press Foundation isn't Whit's corporate tie-in in the canon!

We should pitch this idea to the FOTF dudes and ask for some books or alt-history episodes published in this new-niverse, Odyssey '15.
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Post by The Top Crusader »

I think this is one of the alternate universe Whit's that's going to be in Adventures in Odyssey: No Whit Home.
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