Thoughts and questions about Odyssey from someone who listened for the first time in a decade

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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timbo
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Thoughts and questions about Odyssey from someone who listened for the first time in a decade

Post by timbo »

As the title says, recently I started listening to Odyssey again for the first time in about a decade. I stopped as I entered high school, (the last episode I remembered listening to was the one where Connie's mom died) just cause growing up and stuff but recently wanted to connect with faith a bit more and wanted to see if Odyssey still holds up. Here are my thoughts and observations (if anyone cares lol) and a few questions I have.

1. The older era's and episodes still hold up for me. I'm in my twenties and I still get a kick out of a number of the stories and episodes.

2. It seems like the newer Odyssey is still looking for its identity. Albums are only 6 episodes long now? And like every album now has some sort of crime or conspiracy? In my opinion, the reason why people were so attached to the Blackgaard chronicles and NOVACOM is because they were good builds, had some filler episodes to let things breathe, and ultimately stories had times to be told (in some cases across multiple albums). I couldn't necessarily care about the Rydell saga cause I wasn't emotionally invested in many of the characters.

3. What is going on with Whit? I want to preface that I am talking specifically about his character and not the voice actor. What are the writers doing to Whit? It seems like kids are constantly being put in danger on his watch and while yes, I am glad he has faith in God, CAN YOU STOP TRYING TO GET THESE CHILDREN KILLED. There is just something missing about the recent writing for Whit and I am not sure exactly is missing.

4. So many voice changes! Growing up I knew there were occasional voice actor changes (Hal Smith to Paul Herlinger, Katrinas voice actors, a few other cases) but I don't remember it being so crazy to the point that certain characters have multiple different voice actors. I would much rather they move onto a different actor then constantly replace. I constantly find myself asking "wait who is talking now?" I also feel like characters are being added left and right without giving us a lot of info on backstory, what sets them apart.

5. I dislike Wooton and Penny together. I don't know if that is gonna anger a lot of people but the writing for Wooton now seems like he is more of a big idiot than the childlike creative person he was pre-hiatus. Penny is also too much of a caricature for me. I love Harlow Doyle but I would never want him to be the focal point of a bunch of episodes cause he would get on my nerve. That is what Penny kinda is to me.

6. Finally, I think the biggest takeaway for me is that stories need more time to be told. 6 episode albums just aren't enough for me. Is this cause they are needing more time to also come out with new Odyssey Club episodes. I almost would rather they ditch those, go back to the normal 12 episode format and release those maybe a month or a week before anyone else hears.

There are some other thoughts, but overall just wanted to share my opinions. Still love Odyssey and am really enjoying a number of characters (Emily, Olivia, the first Matthew, Buck (when he isn't around Jules) and want to know if there is anything else from album 56-now that maybe I missed or would be good for me to know.
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snubs
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Post by snubs »

Hi, timbo! Welcome to the Town! It's great to hear you are listening to Odyssey again! \:D/ I am quite behind on the last 10 years of AIO, but I have listened to the Rydell saga, and I feel the same about all the voice changes. I guess they just want to keep consistency with characters (namely kid characters/families).

As for the 6 episode albums. If I remember correctly, before the club they would release two 12-episode albums a year, so to allow non-Club members to still have two albums a year (while still producing 24 episodes a year), they decided to split the 12 non-Club episodes into two 6-episode albums. I can understand why you would rather they go back to 12-episode albums for the sake of ongoing stories, but they need to have something exclusive for Club members. That's part of the incentive to subscribe. I'm not a club member, by the way, I just agree with their model of having exclusive content.

Maybe they should break up the story so it continues over two albums. :-k ..I'm sure people would complain about this though because they have no patience. :boohoo:

Since you say there always seems to be a conspiracy going on, how do you feel about the much anticipated "28 hours" album?
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Post by Catspaw »

Hey timbo, welcome to the ToO! It's nice that you're finding yourself enjoying AIO again.

I hear you about lots of characters that aren't overly developed. With some of the new-ish kid characters, I do sometimes find I don't know who is talking and I don't really care that much. Some characters stand out as distinct, while others don't. Maybe some people feel differently. I've listened to a kid (actually in the target age demographic) ;) go on and on about some of the new characters and be invested in their storylines, so I guess some things connect for some people.
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Post by coffeeappreciation »

timbo wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 2:04 pm

3. What is going on with Whit? I want to preface that I am talking specifically about his character and not the voice actor. What are the writers doing to Whit? It seems like kids are constantly being put in danger on his watch and while yes, I am glad he has faith in God, CAN YOU STOP TRYING TO GET THESE CHILDREN KILLED. There is just something missing about the recent writing for Whit and I am not sure exactly is missing.
I have this same question and have trouble listening to the newer episodes because of this. *something* is missing nowadays, and this is definitely a big part of it.

Or maybe I'm an "old fart" and need to get with the times. Must remember being a kid. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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Post by Jonathan »

timbo wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 2:04 pm2. It seems like the newer Odyssey is still looking for its identity. [...]And like every album now has some sort of crime or conspiracy? In my opinion, the reason why people were so attached to the Blackgaard chronicles and NOVACOM is because they were good builds, had some filler episodes to let things breathe, and ultimately stories had times to be told (in some cases across multiple albums). I couldn't necessarily care about the Rydell saga cause I wasn't emotionally invested in many of the characters.
For me, between this and the club, this is why I don't listen to new AIO episodes anymore. The series essentially ended for me at around episode 726.
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Post by Reddo »

I believe the reason for doing two 6 episode albums instead of one 12 episode album was due to cost. Smaller albums have smaller sticker prices and are easier for families to pick up.
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