Speaker 1: And now Audio Theater Central. Hello, welcome to Audio Theater Central.
This is the show that explores family friendly audio drama
through news, reviews and interviews. I'm your host, J D. Sutter.
This is episode two twenty six. Thank you so much
for joining us today. We have got a review of
Adventures and Odyssey album seventy seven, a new perspective that's
coming up. Austin Peachee will be joining me for that,
and we've got some feedback from William Chad Newsom and
a Spotify user. We'll be getting to that later on
in the episode. And I've got a bunch of audio
drama updates that we'll be jumping into in just a
couple of minutes. But first, I was having a conversation
with somebody who listens to the show and has for
quite some time, and the topic of Amazon affiliate links
came up, and they did not realize that all of
the links that we have on our website to Amazon
or Christian Book Distributors or Libro, all of those are
affiliate links, which means that when you use those links,
you are helping to support Audio Theater Central. So I
wanted to make sure that I mentioned that because it
isn't really something that I talk about all that much,
and I wanted to make sure it was clear to you.
So just in case you didn't realize that those links
help support us. We get a small percentage of your purchase,
though the price for you does not change at all,
so you pay whatever you would if you just went
straight to Amazon, but by going through our links in
our show notes, that helps support Audio Theater Central. Now also,
anything you purchase on Amazon, it does not have to
be audio drama. So while we do link to specific products,
of course, there is all also just a generic link
directly to Amazon, which is in the sidebar on our website.
On the homepage, you scroll down, you'll see shop our
Affiliates and there's a big Amazon logo. If you click that,
that'll take you right to Amazon and you can search
for whatever product you are going to purchase. But that
is also an affiliate link, so we get a kickback
on that as well. So when you're going to make
any purchases on Amazon, think about coming to our website
first and click that link and then make your purchase
because that helps us out. And even though it's only
a small percentage of each item, those can add up
and really help us, so I wanted to make sure
to bring that up in case you were unaware as well.
All right, enough of that, let's jump into the updates.
Speaker 2: We interrupt this program to bring you a special.
Speaker 1: Report and in other news tonight.
Speaker 2: A brief look at the headlines.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: They want exciting, fast piece news that's relevant and entertaining
like this.
Speaker 1: As always, if you have any updates about any family
friendly audio drama projects that you're involved in or know about,
be sure to send those over to us. Click the
link in the sidebar on our website or head over
to PFM dot link slash atc News. First up, a
couple of events. This one is coming up really quickly
here later this month on three twenty eight in Indiana.
This is a live audio drama on stage of the
story of Ben her This is a really really cool idea.
Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it,
but if you are in the area, this was written
and directed by Tim Gregory of Unshackled, so I'm sure
it's going to be a great show. Link is in
the show notes to get your tickets again. That is
on three twenty eight in Munster, Indiana next up. I
know we've talked about Sonicon a few times, but I
wanted to let you know that we do have an
exclusive discount code for you if you haven't heard about
it yet. Sonicon is coming up June thirtieth through July second,
and we have a code to give you ten percent
off of any pass that you purchase, So that is
ending at the end of this month, or actually on
April first, so through April Fool's Day. You can get
ten percent off when you use the code ATC ten.
Link is in the show notes to the post which
has all the details there and a direct link to
get your passes for Sonicon twenty twenty six. And I
just mentioned Tim Gregory of Unshackled a moment ago, and
Unshackled is the longest continuously running audio drama in the world,
telling real stories of people's lives who have been changed
by the gospel. And that show is aimed at adults,
but a few years ago they launched a show for
children and it's called The Clue Crew. Well, the Clue
Crew just recently launched a membership on their website so
you can get access to all of their episodes. They
are airing on radio stations as well, so you could
give your local radio station a call and ask them
to add the program. But this is an option to
get access to all of those shows and any future ones.
So for five dollars a month, you can get full
access to stream the entire catalog of the Clue Crew episodes.
Link is in the show notes to their website to
learn more. That is cluecrew dot org. Now, if you
are a fan of superhero stories, Austin Peacheye has been
curating the Ultimate List of family friendly superhero audio dramas,
So that was just published on our website and there's
a bunch of great shows in that list. So if
that's the kind of story you really enjoy, there is
stuff in there for all ages. So check out that
list and you'll find something to listen to for you
and your family, I'm sure. Next up, this item is
for the Adventures not a cy fan. There is a
new Adventures not a cy Trivia show out and this
is from somewhat significant audio productions. This is Ben Kimp
who is behind the show A Bit of Time Travel
and this is a new podcast which is a lot
of fun. The first episode recently dropped and it features
Austin Peachee in the hot seat, and it's just a
lot of fun, great references to AIO throughout, and it's
fun to see how well you can do on these
trivia questions. And the production value of this trivia show
is just really well done too, So it's a lot
of fun. It's called if you don't not know links
in the show notes to check that out. I highly
encourage you giving it a listen. And also from somewhat
significant audio productions. I mentioned their show a bit of
time Travel, but they also have a show called The
Church at Tressel Falls, which the first episode of that
launched oh quite some time ago, was called The Hold Up,
and I think it released in either December of twenty
three or January of twenty four. Well, here we are
with episode two. It's called Pughes Versus Chairs, Part one,
and that is dropping on Saturday, March seventh, so just
a couple of days away. And I have really enjoyed
the show so far. I'm excited to hear where Ben
takes these characters. So in this episode you'll hear in
the cast Frank yu, Lee, Tricia Rose, Nathan Marlette, Craighart,
Jonathan Cook and Dominic Trice composed the music for this episode.
So again that is episode two of the Church at
Tressel Falls and that is coming on March seventh. Link
is in the show notes to get your copy, and
coming out in April is the next installment from the
Surround Bible. It's called The True Story of Easter. They
recently recorded this multi parter in la and so that
will be coming soon. You can find out more information
at Surroundbible dot com and there is an extended sample
or excerpt of that program available on the website there,
so give that a lesson. The True Story of Easter
coming in April twenty twenty six. And lastly is a
project from a brand new producer. This show is called
The tally Light Broadcast and they have launched a Kickstarter
to help fund the first couple of episodes. This is
a sitcom about the day to day operation of a
radio station in a small town, and they do have
a pilot episode out there that is a rough version
I guess of episode one and I did listen to it,
and the story is quite funny, some interesting characters. The
production quality is a bit rough in places. But as
I said, this kickstarter that they have running throughout this
month is to help fund a new version of this
episode one and also episode two. And there are some
familiar names involved in the project on the cast side,
so we have Craig Heart and Glenn Haskell among others.
So if this is something you're interested in, you can
check that out link in the show notes to the
kickstarter that's going to be running for about a month longer.
And that show again is called tally Light Broadcast. Well
that'll do it for the updates this time. Let's jump
into the review with Austin Peache.
Speaker 2: It's a murder mystery sort of cross between William Shakespeare
and Lakaba Christie.
Speaker 1: No, it's not that I didn't like it, it's that
it wasn't a good play. This will be one of
the best shows we have ever done. Such an amusing show.
Speaker 2: What was that line you coined? I never knew acting
could be so much fun.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure that if you've been a long time
listener and you saw the title of this episode, you
pretty much freaked out. They're finally talking about Adventures Odyssey again,
reviewing another album. Yes, yes we are, and Austin Peache
is here with me to talk about album seventy seven,
a new perspective.
Speaker 2: Hello, it's great to be back.
Speaker 1: And you know, as I said, we're a bit behind.
This one was released back in October twenty four and
begin airing on the radio from October through November of
twenty four. But they say better late than never, right, So,
but we do love talking about Adventures Odyssey. It's a
fantastic show. It's in many many ways the foundation of
the family friendly audio drama industry. It has been the
one of the highest quality shows for a very long time.
And so yes, we definitely don't want to neglect it.
And so this is an album seventy seven which has
a duration of about two and a half hours two
hours twenty nine minutes, plus another couple of minutes of
bonus content on the CD release I guess on the
digital release as well. But so we're gonna we're gonna
go through all six of these episodes here. I don't
remember if I usually do this or not, but I'm
going to do it this time. We have the heavens
declare the Smouse Show painted into a corner, making nice
unmanageable and facing the music. So, Austin, will you do
us the honors and give us the official summary of
this album?
Speaker 2: Alright, whether it's thinking about science, friendships, teammates, or family members,
your friends in Odyssey are looking at the world from
a new perspective. Jules thinks the Banshee joined Mannic Gravioli
could unlock purpose in her life, but Connie disagrees, especially
after noticing the bad influence it's having on her elsewhere,
not in Odyssey. Sorry, sorry, I see the word elsewhere there,
and that's what I think of elsewhere. A tough football
game forces Cooper to reconsider how he leads the team,
and Penny faces woot AND's thorny family relationships head on
when his parents unexpectedly appear at her art show. Over
at witsand Jay catches a glimpse of a world where
he's the seven center of attention and which challenges renees
belief that science and faith are incompatible. Take another exciting
trip to the town of Odyssey or your experienced new adventures,
a new frame of mind and a new perspective.
Speaker 1: Indeed, and if this is your first time checking out
one of our aio reviews, here is your warning that
we do get into spoilers. This is not standard practice
for our other reviews, but for Odyssey we make the
exception to go into spoilery detail on these episodes. So
let's jump into it. So we have our typical crew
here of producer of Nathan Hubler and executive producer Dave Arnold.
But we'll go through the crew on each episode as
we get to them, and the cast as well. So
let's start off with episode nine eighty eight, The Heavens Declare.
This was written and directed by Phil Lahler, with sound
designed by Zack Schneider and music by Jared Depesqual. So
the first note that I had on this episode is
the gallery is back kind of so I think it
would be it's kind of interesting, like do a rundown
of some of the newer inventions in what's in so
since since Inspiration Station, Like, what what else have we
had since? Then?
Speaker 2: There's the whatever that was from the launch in the
first Club season that they had that little computer thing
that how Eugene's voice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that portable device.
Speaker 2: I can't remember what it was called. I don't remember
either portable imagination station since album fifty and that showed
up like in Third Club season, I think, and then
an album sixty eight. Yeah, I'm not sure of any
other inventions besides that, And.
Speaker 1: Then of course the portraits in the gallery here. So
it's it's interesting. One part of me is like, it's
cool to see some doing some new things. On the
other hand, it's like, he's got so much other stuff,
why don't we just use what we already have? Does
it really open up new storytelling methods or not? So
I don't know. I'm still not sure about this one
because I think, yeah, from my point of view, I
think everything that happened to this episode could have happened
in the Imagination Station.
Speaker 2: Yeah. This episode, like, I'm okay with them experimenting. They've
done that in the past, and you know, if it
doesn't work, then they may not do it again. But
this episode and kind of the way this was kind
of meshed together was so much like the Truth Chronicles,
because in that one there was at one point where
we hooked up this room to the Imagination Station. So
we walk into a room and I think it's in
the Truth Be Told. It's like the second Truth Chronicle episode.
And then later on he had the kids Radio thing
where it's kind of interactive where he's like telling it
to you, but you could stop it and you can
like picture it in your mind or whatever. And then
we had pushed the red button in an album fifty
six where like connect all this stuff together. And you
know sometimes like they mix the different kind of machines
kind of lose their specialness or you mix them together,
like wait, really, do we really need both of them together?
I think this one of those would be good. But
it's still a cool concept, I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And maybe the reason was because of the way
the doors work in the Imagination Station in the current
version of the Imagination Station, So maybe that's why they.
Speaker 2: Went that way with so many voice commands.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, it would function a little bit
differently if it requires doors to go to walk through
to change scenes or something. I don't know, but regardless,
it is interesting to kind of take a step back
and look at the way the different inventions show up
in the episodes. Now, I have to say this is
probably one of the most didactic episodes in a very
long time. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It's an
important topic and I think it was handled well. The
arguments that were presented. You see both sides articulated well,
so that part of it was good, but not necessarily
the most exciting episode ever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I mentioned, it feels like a Truth Chronicle episode,
which no shade on it for that because I love
the Truth Chronicles and I thought it was very cool
that we had an episode like this, like we don't
have it very often, like if this is always you know,
part for the course. Again, like it's a kind of
a bit of experimentation with this too, Like it's interesting,
like if you already know the character of Renee and
are interested in history and science and things like that,
I think this is an episode that, even though not
a lot happens plot wise, but there's a lot of
like that in between stuff Like it's very much a
snapshot of kind of what it's been doing with Renee
and trying to convince her that God is real and
science isn't like science is you know, compatible with faith. Yeah,
things like that. So and also with me, you know,
I love Jonathan Park, I love the original series and
the new series two, and you know Nick Guy Private Eye.
I love apologetics and this kind of stuff, So really
enjoyed that aspect of it. But I understand that most
lot of people probably wouldn't have enjoyed this or come
back to it a whole lot, but interesting stuff to
you know, ponder.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Now I hate that we're starting
off this way with me kind of feeling a little
underwhelmed by this one in a few different regards. But
I think this might be the only time I've ever
felt this about a piece of Jared deep Esquall music.
But the underscoring in that opening scene with Wit and Renee,
right when they're starting to get into the things, not
necessarily like the very opening queue at the beginning of
the scene, but after they had had their discussion started
and they start moving into the actual adventure kind of thing.
I'm not sure how I feel about it, because it
felt almost a tad distracting to me in that moment.
It was it was very busy going on, like there's
a lot happening in the music, and it kind of
did draw attention to itself a little bit there for
a few moments, So I'm not sure. I'm kind of
on the fence about it. It sounded really cool, but
sort of like we're gearing up here for something, but
almost a little bit over the line for me personally.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean that could be the case, but it
could also be an intentional thing. With this episode being
you know, less exciting and that kind of stuff, the
music is kind of meant to be that way to
kind of compensate for it being a less you know, exciting,
you know, plot driven story.
Speaker 1: Maybe mm hmm, okay, that could that could be, Yeah,
an intentional decision, because yeah, it's very low on the
on the action sequences, so there's there may be was
a reason to do that, but yeah, it was just
something that stood out to me, so I thought I
would mention it. But the cast as always did a
great job. And I have to say Townsend Coleman's voices
for these characters, he did a couple of them in here,
just great stuff. He's so good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great hearing him do different voices because
usually he plays Jason, so the times that he gets
to do other voices is really fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I immediately picked up on fred Tatashore's voice.
I love his deep, resonant kind of voice, and it's
been a while since I've I've noticed him, and so yeah,
always cool to hear him, you know.
Speaker 2: One thing that we haven't heard in a long time
was a mention of Camilla. Kamila Parker is mentioned at
this like, oh, that's cool, we haven't heard her. We
haven't heard from her in a long time. But that
kind of leads into something that I had a little
bit of a gripe with this episode, is that I
felt like Wit was a little bit too harsh and
Renee and her not helping Camilla with her projects because
her personally, if she doesn't believe in God and she's
not a Christian, then you know, if she doesn't feel
comfortable doing that, that should be perfectly fine because if
she because she knows Camilla is a Christian, you know,
Wit is, but if she doesn't feel like she can
do that honestly, like I know, at the beginning, kind
of it's more like, Okay, why are you feeling this way?
And then kind of addressing that. But I felt like
Wake came up a little bit too harsh and making
her feel bad that she didn't want to help, Like
that's the underlying issue is you know, Renee's doubts and
things like that. I don't think she should be criticized
for not being a part of that if she feels
like she can't do it fairly and accurately and make
sure that she's not, you know, leading Camille away from
her faith like she like what mentions about like talking
to her parents and that kind of stuff, Like why
does Renee have to talk to her parents? Like she
didn't offend Camilla, like she just turned her down, like
you know, if she was being rude about it, that'd
be one thing. But there's no need for Renee to
talk to Camel's parents about, you know, her not helping
out or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. I didn't take it
that way. I mean, I took it as was kind
of like, you know, hey, this is the kind of
place we have here at WIT's End. These are the
kind of questions you're gonna get faced with as an
employee here, so you need to be ready to help them.
But I guess I can kind of see, you know,
from her perspective is you know, I don't believe that,
So I didn't feel like I should have to help her,
but I could kind of see where you're coming from.
But yeah, I didn't take it that way at all,
but I could see how somebody.
Speaker 2: Would going back to you know, the things that are
learned in this episode, like debunking several myths like about
Galileo and things like that, and the object lesson like
with you know, things being on the same field are
not in the same field, and things like that very c. S.
Lewison or Lewison or I guess that's the right word
term for it of like you know, bringing complex terms
down to Layman's terms. With that, I thought it was
really really cool, and things like Galileo, Like I didn't
know those things, like I I know because I took it,
like you know, Christian curriculum when I was in like
from kindergarten through high school. And I barely remember Anthony
about Galileo, but except that he was a Christian. But
I think I remember, like my last history class in college,
talked some about my history or science classes and you
know some of those things that you know, Renee was taught,
I was probably taught. And sometimes you know a lot
of history like gloss over, especially you know Christian beliefs.
They might say, oh this person mey either like leave
out their you know, religion or whatever completely or just
kind of gloss over it. Yeah, but you know, when
you're a Christian, no matter if you're scientists or anything else,
you can't separate that from a you're I love how
this episode just kind of shows how much you know,
like has that kind of montage or whatever, like all
these names of Christian scientists and like how modern science
start because of Christianity, and even further going from that
is like you know, just like the versus, like you know,
disaster relief and you know, orphanages and things like that,
those things are started by Christians. It's not just science
that you know, Christians led the way in that because
you know, like I think Wit point out in this episode,
how you know that curiosity and wanting to find out,
you know, what God has made and things like that.
This wasn't in this episode, but I love hearing about
George Washington Carver about how much he you know, talked
to God and like, you know, how did you make this?
Or you know, like why did you make the peanut
and that kind of stuff and then all these kind
of things, and it's just a good reminder that you know,
so many things that we know today. You know, different
laws and things like that in science or even the
technology that we have a lot of it is because
of Christian scientists and again because you know, they followed
God and God inspired them to do great things.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, they definitely covered a lot of ground. And
there was the bonus scene that was deleted, which also
was focusing on another well known piece of art, and
that was the Mona Lisa, So we got an extra
scene there in the bonus material, so that was kind
of fun. But yeah, overall, I understand the point of
the episode and I agree with it, and I think
it was presented well. Just not my favorite episode on
the album.
Speaker 2: So does that mean you also didn't enjoy the Truth
Chronicles as well? Since those episodes were most of them
are pretty much like this kind of episode.
Speaker 1: You know what? It has been probably fifteen or twenty
years since I've listened to those episodes, so I don't
really remember much about them, oh okay, or however long
when I don't even remember when they first came out,
But I know it's been a very very long time.
So yeah, I probably couldn't even answer that question. I
would have to go back and listen to them again
to see. But I remember enjoying them at the time,
but I can't think of anything specific about any of
them off the top of my head.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well for me, like I you know, this episode
is very different, but not as different as say something
like Walter's Flying Bus. I know a lot of people
did not like that one because it was so different
than what they expected, and it was again experimental with
the Inspiration Station, like new things that you wouldn't get into,
like the Imagination Station and things like that. And you know,
because it's like experimentation, you know, we sometimes get you know,
really great episodes and it may not be everyone's favorite,
or i'd be a little bit more forgettable than others,
but it maybe even better things like you know, the
environment Enhancer as an experimental thing back in the day
and that led to the Imagination Station later. With this episode,
I really like it where where we're getting so much information,
like where it's not just you know, surface level morals
or things like that or just throw away conversations where
it's all built around this. And again, like, I don't
think every single episode should be like this, And you know,
I do like the new Jonathan Park series and what
they're doing now, but I love the old series which
was kind of more like this, where there's so much
teaching packed in along with the story where and this
one didn't have as much of a story where it's
not really an action and adventure like jhnthan Park had.
But you know, I enjoyed it overall for what it presented.
And you know, it's not what I'd go back to
over and over again. But you know, I listened to
for the second time getting ready for this review, and
there's some things I forgot about. It's like, oh, yeah,
that was really profound. So revisiting again, I think is
very helpful. Again if you want to dig deeper into
these kind of ideas and facts and things like that.
But hey, if you don't like this episode, go and
study some of these things, like go study about Galileo
or our divention things like that, or like I mentioned C. S. Lewis,
like he has a lot of this kind of stuff
that you know, puts very complex stuff into you know,
simple terms to understand. And yeah, hopefully this you know,
makes people go and you know, learn more from themselves.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and of course you got to think about the
fact that we are not the target audience necessarily for
the show, even though I know, I know Phil would
say this is a show for the family. It's not
necessarily just for children, but you know, we know what
the target audience is, and so for them to hear
this kind of information is really good. So all right, well,
let's move on to episode nine nine The Smouse Show,
written by Abigail Geiger and directed by Marshall Younger, with
post production by Luke Gano and music by Connor Sovoka.
Is this the first or second episode that Connor's done.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I know he did. He did the
club episode where Buddy Jay or like they're entering their
autodromatic competition Toma Vincent. I can't remember what that one
was called. I know you did that one, but it
might have come out the same year as this one,
so I'm not sure which one released first. But I
know this is like the first, you know, mainstream album
episode that Connor's done music on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and uh, in case you don't know, listener, I've
worked with Connor for years, and he composed music for
Versus in Vox, the show or the poetry program that
we used to produce years ago. He also did the
music for Greenhorn Tales, a comedy audio drama that we
produced a few years ago. So it's really cool to
see him working on this show, the big show in
the industry. Now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was so happy when I heard his name
in the credits. I don't think I heard that he
was he had done music for a show, and I
heard it like because his like back even in his
first Auto drama time Chroniclers, like his style is very
similar to John Campbell, so like I think most people
Prayer would have a hard time picking up that it
wasn't John Campbell with this, and I heard that, like, oh, yeah,
that's awesome. I'm so happy for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the sound of it has a lot of
like classic Aio sort of chords or notes or progression
that it felt very it sounded very Odyssey m M. Yeah. Well,
and we were talking about the inventions in the last
episode and now we're back with another one, and this
time we have the room of Consequence. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was excited about that because I don't think we've
heard that that in you know, the mainstream albums since
I want to say album fifty six at the Grand Design,
but I know we had we've had a few club
episodes with that. I think when you were re winning
the Big Picture back in like twenty nineteen maybe something
like that, but yeah, it was great to hear from
it again.
Speaker 1: So overall, we had a few really solid j lines.
And if you've been around here for any length of time,
you've you've heard me say it. I love the character
of Jay s Moouse. He's he's been a lot of
fun over the years. He had like in particular, the
one that just made me laugh out loud was when
when somebody, I forget which scene it was, I think
it was when he was getting on the roller coaster
or something like that, and they said smile and he says,
you can thank my orthodonist for that. Ladies. You know,
he's got a beautiful smile apparently. But there were there
were a few lines like that that were really fun.
Speaker 2: My favorite one was actually, think of the first I
think I keep perst into the room where the newspaper
team is meeting whatever and didn't you see the sign what? Ever? Said, Yeah,
but it had a fun I didn't respect.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that kid, he just cracks me up. But uh, overall,
I mean, this is probably one of my least favorite
Jay episodes. It's I just thought it was an okay episode,
But the big takeaway for me was I'm really glad
they addressed and stopped that whole constant flirting thing, because
I think I have talked about that in past reviews
how it kind of was feeling like it was getting
they were beating a dead horse, but also it was
kind of getting a little little to the uncomfortable stage
in some time. In some places they were just like, Okay, okay,
we've we've done this enough. Let's let's stop with that.
So I'm glad they did that, and it did have
a really nice twist at the end. I mean, I
don't think this is nearly as good of an episode,
but it kind of is reminiscent of the of Gloebers.
But yeah, it was a decent episode.
Speaker 2: Well, I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. I
didn't realize that it was going this route. But I'm
so glad again, like you mentioned that Jane and Zoe
thing resolved, because I've been one of the biggest voices
I guess to push against that. I know a lot
of people, like people think that, oh, they're so cute together,
and I shipped them and all that, and it's like,
how this is like because I feel like again, especially
in today's world and things like that, like if this
was happening in real life, because I think the hard
thing was Jay is kind of like he's a kid,
but he's actually a teenager. He's in high school or
middle school or whatever. Like if he's a lot younger,
then maybe it's less ikey. But the older he is,
the more icky it becomes. And since they're using it
more in the high school situations and episodes and things
like that with like the older character like you know,
like Ryan or Buck and people like that, you know,
it gets even more like, guys, why did you ever
think this was a good thing? Like it was kind
of fun, you know, first episode, like Zoe, like the
first episode was like she was introduced, you know, you know,
Jay was like kind of like, you know, all goga
over her and that kind of stuff, and it's kind
of fun for that, and then it's kind of stretching
out even longer, and like.
Speaker 1: It was like a interaction between the two characters. There
was something that he would some comment he would make.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it was. It was uncomfortable. So I'm glad
that was resolved. And Abigo Geiger wrote this episode and
I have to say, she's probably the one that's saving characters,
like redeeming characters in fixing situations. I think that fans
have not liked because back in album seventy five, she
did Who's the Company, Three's a Crowd with you know,
with and Emily that resolved there and and with this,
you know, getting you know, Jane and Zoe getting that
thing resolved. And she's great at writing episodes, you know,
she loves writing episodes that you know about, you know,
kind of the interpersonal relationships and conflicts and things like
that and how I'll work through those things. So I'm
very happy again the whole team. Other people, you know,
should a runner and executive producer, all that would have
to prove this. But I think she's the perfect person
to make this episode because of that reason, the reason
of you know, resolving this long standing issue that's been
going on for a long time.
Speaker 1: And again, this feels like a really long time, even
though it probably feels longer because of the way the
release schedule has been over the last several years, just
long gaps in between, and in reality, the number of
episodes is probably less than it feels like. But yeah,
it went on for too long. In my opinion, but again,
some really solid lines from this character. But there was
a poignant moment towards the end there that I really liked.
And you know, he's like he's realizing my need ist
stop this and he makes a comment and suddenly he
immediately is like, oh did I do it again? Did
I do that right there? And he's like, oh man,
this is gonna be hard, and Witt says most good
things are and I was like, ooh, yeah, that's a
good one. That's a good one with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he actually even starts to cry and tear
up a little bit near the end, which was like
unusual and also too. Some of the best Jay episodes
are the ones where like he's his mask, his persona
is kind of like it slips and you kind of
see the real the real hurt, the real insecurities he has,
like you know, I'm mistaken for good and even like
they're and back again and things like that, because I know,
in one of the official podcast they mentioned how Jay
is a static characters the key, so it can't change really,
but with this one, like you know, it's something It
wasn't always Darren Jay's character, but this was introduced and
it was resolved, so you know, it's not like totally
changing his characters, like he hasn't become a Christian yet
and he's not. He still has a big ego ego
and that kind of stuff. But I'm glad we got
an episode like this because that's usually I think when
Jay shines is when he's challenged, where he's not being
the one challenging other people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and of course we can't talk about the character
without mentioning Whithurtford, the actor who plays him. He just
does such a fantastic job. And I remember several years
back when he was away from the show for a
while because Witt was over in the UK. I think
he was doing a theater show or something like that
and wasn't able to do Odyssey for a period, and
it's like, oh man, I missed that character. So it's
so cool that he's back on the show. And I
think he's just I don't know. I mean, I know
there are some people that really don't like the character,
but I do quite a bit. I just I like
him a lot, So I'm glad that he's back a
part of the show.
Speaker 2: Same and another character that made return was Andy Rome
back from album seventy four, So it's cool to hear
from him again.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, and uh he pops up just to
here and there of course in the uh in the
school newspaper situations, which don't come up super frequently. It
feels like those don't come up with this character with
these new characters as much as they did back in
the day, with like Lucy who's constantly working on an
article for the Odyssey Owl. It seems like, but I guess,
you know, newspapers aren't really a thing all that much.
Do schools still still do newspapers? I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And speaking speaking of like technology changes, like you know,
this one has like a lot of a lot of
phone usage and things like that. And I don't know
if you caught the reference. I can't remember. I I
caught it the first time I listened to the episode,
but I did the second time. Where Olivia says TikTok,
It's like, uh, yeah, I'm sure that was intentional. Like
I may just be feeling the gap because you know,
TikTok is a big thing, but since it's kind of
you know, the video life online and things like that,
like I'm pretty sure that was intentional in the line.
Speaker 1: There, Oh and she's trying to tell him to hurry up. Yeah, yeah,
oh right, right, Okay, yeah, I heard that, but I didn't.
I didn't think it was a reference, but man, maybe
it was.
Speaker 2: It's one of those things that it could be unintentional
or intentional. It works either way. But I think the
whole concept of you know, this reom consequence adventure that
set up is like they don't say it fully outright
in the story, but if you're gonna think a little
bit deeper, this whole thing is kind of like an
extreme version of how Jay treats Zoe, like she has
to do this with me and things like that. And
with this you know, this show about his life, like
the fans they tell him what to do and what
he can't do and things like that. It's like very
micromanaging everything. And it's like a again, like I said, like
extreme example of how what he's doing to Zoe, not
listening to her, not you know, caring about what she
wants and wanting what's best for her, and like he
sees that, you know, with this kind of extreme you know,
realm consequence, which is real consequence is great for this.
I think it was a great usage of the machine
here for that and it's one of its but it's like,
it's really cool how you know, you were kind of
walking to another man's shoes or woman's shoes, kind of
like the transmuter not thing is it has been used
in ages, Yeah, but it kind of kind of with
this way. The way it was used, I think was
really clever in that way, and also kind of tap
into kind of the the unfortunate reality of some many
people being obsessed with people online and their lives and
things like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, talking about Zoe, we got to
mention Natalie Lander, who does such great job with that
character too. So just a great cast. I mean that
kind of goes without saying with this show most of
the time, they always have such great actors, and I
mean there's rarely ever anything to complain about on the
acting side with Adventures not Asy And.
Speaker 2: I should probably mention to Andy Rome He's played by
al Ko Feel I think I'm pronouncing that right. I'm
not sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's correct. Well. That brings us to
episode nine, Painted into a Corner, another Abigail Geiger episode.
She also directed this episode with post production by Luke
Gano and music by John Campbell. This one is a
really great episode. This is probably my favorite Abigail Geiger
episode so far. I might even go so far as
to say this is one of her best ones that
she's written so far. There's a lot going on in
this one. Even though, boy, this just sounds like I'm
complaining the whole time, and I don't mean this way
at all. But even though I'm not the biggest fan
of Penny and this is an episode about Penny, I
really really thought this one was pretty solid. I mean,
there's humor because it's Penny, but there's also a lot
of heart and some really I mean, families can be
complicated family relationships, I mean it is it is not
too difficult with some people to find yourself at odds
with him and you don't end up speaking to them
for years, and it's not uncommon, unfortunately, And so I
think it was really interesting and it didn't feel like,
oh this is this is too coincidental, like how in
the world, you know, because sometimes there are circumstances that
come up in the show you're like, it's a bit
of a stretch. But no, it felt like it all
made sense for these sort of things to fall into place.
The only really wacky things where or what was going
on with Wouten and his cousin. But overall this I
really liked this episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is you know, some of Apico
Geiger's best work as well, and I think it's the
best my favorite episode from this album. I really like
that we're seeing more of Wooten's family, hearing from his
mom for the first time. And like I said, like
Penny is not my favorite character. I haven't really been
a big fan of her too often, but like ever
since Paul McCusker left the show, Penny has usually been
written a lot more comedic and kind of Wooten in
a way. But I think Abigo Geiger usually she's the
one writing their episodes, like she wrote if I Never
Told You and I'm Blinking on another one. But I
mentioned like she she does these kind of interpersonal conflict
episodes so well and makes it, like you said, like
sound realistic. She's just done such a great job writing
for like Wooten and Penny and writing them in a
way that most other writers don't. Marshall Younger does pretty
good with Wuten's character, like he wrote, I think the
Forever Gift, and I think that was a good episode.
But Abigo Geiger, she treats these more comedic characters and
remembers that these aren't one dimensional, They're not just there
for comic relief. They have a heart and showing their
vulnerability in a way that's not all comedy all the time.
I love how she presents the characters in this.
Speaker 1: Didn't she write the one where we have the whole
sort of aftermath of Trask and his family?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, she wrote, Yeah, that was an album seventy five,
the first episode of that album. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she
wrote that one too.
Speaker 1: And I remember, you know, thinking that there were some
really good moments in that one as well, And I
thought Penny was handled pretty pretty well there too. Of course,
Penny played by Keimmy Robertson and Wooten by Jess Harnell.
And you know, I think, you know, you can correct
me if I'm wrong, But I think these the two
actors for the parents are are newer to Honestly, I've
never heard of Leslie Wohlman before, who played Evangeline Bassett
and Jamison Price played Winston Bassett. Has he been on
the show before. Have we heard Wooden's dad before?
Speaker 2: Jameson Price sounds familiar, slightly familiar. I think he might
have been on the show before, but not as Wutin's dad.
Leslie Woman, I think is new. But the last time
I heard Wuten's dad was in Wooing Wooten An album
forty nine and he was played by Fred Tatastre there,
which is weird because later Fred Tatasur plays Bradford the Butler. Later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I have to say both of them. Their
performances all throughout this episode top tier stuff. I mean,
really solid, like the mother Evangeline. She's got some more
lighter moments with Penny, and then you know, like the
she's heading up this art auction thing, so she's like
the take charge kind of personality in a couple of moments.
But then we have that really poignant moment at the
end where it's kind of a tender exchange between her
and her husband, and again she just nailed it. I
mean it was so so good, and that moment where
she's overhearing Penny talking on the phone, and then she
was never brash or you know, loud throughout, but she
was she was more of an outgoing kind of thing.
But that in that moment where she just makes that
statement where she observes, I forget the comment that she makes,
but making that comment about hearing that exchange between Penny
and Woutin, and just there was a tenderness in just
like a wistfulness in the delivery there. It was just
really really good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think another thing that really helped with
that is the music. I have notes in this that
the music, especially when they're talking about like the swing
set picture and you know, the resolution some of John
Campbell's best work, Like it was so emotional. It wasn't
like two over the top. It wasn't just you know,
not enough, Like it perfectly matched, you know, the acting
for the characters, and there's like, this is so beautiful,
this is such beautiful music here.
Speaker 1: It really was, It really was.
Speaker 2: But then you also have some really humorous moments, like
you know, Wutin and we don't hear Hadley. He's kind
of like Vincent in this. We don't hear him atal
but you're all the crazy stuff happening. But I really
love my favorite lines, comedic lines when Penny's trying to
avoid talking about whutin like, oh, he works with the
government just we should in communication and then talks about
him being humble, and Winston says, yea, he was have
a good father and says he he definitely has a father.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I liked that too.
Speaker 2: There was actually, I think a goof in the writing
of this. I noticed I went back and listened to it,
and I think I'm correcting this. Early in the episode,
Winston shows up. He says that him and the board
members got tired of waiting for George to show up
and making decisions without him, and so he came. He
later says when he comes clean to Evangeline, he says
George didn't cancel the board meeting, that Winston didn't go
to the board meeting, So like, that doesn't compute because
earlier he said, like you had were at the board meeting,
but he didn't show up, Like I know he was
lying to her, but again his lot, it didn't make
sense when he came clean either with that, because George
didn't cancel the board meaning like they might have canceled
it because of him, but George didn't cancel the board meeting.
So there's a small little goof again, it's a little
really small nitpick, but yeah, I really enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a that's a good one. I think you're
I think you're right about that. I didn't pick up
on that, but yeah, good catch. But yeah, again, solid
solid episode. I'm kind of hoping we hear from his
parents again. That would be cool. Yeah. All right, Well
that brings us to episode one, not nine one one.
We don't have an emergency around here, and it's called
making nice. This one's written by Jesse Kellam fourth, directed
by Marshall Younger and post production by Zack Schneider. Music
by John Campbell. So the first thing that stuck in
my mind about this one is, of course it's Jay
A love his line he's like time to turn on
the smouse charm or as I call it, the smarm
just cracked me up. It's like, oh, you know, the
funny thing is is in some ways he he sometimes
seems like he is educated, like he knows certain things,
and in other times he's like completely dinse to certain things,
like do you not know what it means to be smarmy? There? Jay?
Speaker 2: You know I didn't get I didn't get that until
just now. So Oh, I guess I'm like Jay in
that respect. You did not pick up on that both times.
Speaker 1: I mean when I first I listened to this quite
some time back, and then listened to it again actually
just today in preparation for this review, and I just
remember it cracking me up both times. And the funny
thing is, right now, I'm also in the middle of
reading rereading David Copperfield, and for anybody who has read
that book, you know, the character of the definition of
smarmy in there is Uryah Heap, and so for some reason,
I just drew that correlation when I heard that word smart,
and I just immediately started thinking about Uryah Heap. But
that's not related to Odyssey.
Speaker 2: So part my favorite line from this episode from Jay
is I often leave a path of blown minds my wake.
It's like one of those lines that could be taken
negative or positively.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think I've liked, for the most part,
Jesse's episodes too, so this was another one that was
pretty fun. I'm you know, I'm not super into the
sports episodes all that much, but we've had them ever
since the beginning, you know, they go way back in
the show, so I'm not.
Speaker 2: Wits Flop was a sports episode.
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, so I'm not necessarily criticizing them, it's just
that they're not They're not usually my favorites. But the
whole idea of sports among kids is the opportunity to
teach interpersonal skills a lot of times, and so it's
a good metaphor for life in a lot of ways.
So I understand why they do it. And of course
playing sports is part of many kids life, so it's
something that they can relate with, so it makes sense.
But what makes it funny is having Jay in it,
and of course him as the mascot makes total sense.
I mean, he's the perfect character to do that. So
there's a lot of fun moments in this one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this episode was interesting and one of the reasons
I kind of liked this album quite a bit is
kind of the more standalone episodes, not necessarily a two
parter like the last two are kind of a two parter. Yeah,
very very story arc driven. But this is the last
non sturlient episode in a mainstream album. This is kind
of the episode that we get in the club because
since the albums are only six episodes or recently and
then up until album eighty, like every episode has to
continue aus storyline or like there's no episode that you
can listen to like kind of out of sequence or whatever,
or not know anything that came before it, or have
to know what's happening after that. So that's one reason
I liked this episode so much is that it wasn't
It didn't have all these other things attached to it.
It was just a fun episode.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and fun characters. You know, of course Jay, but
also Myron. He was fun too. The whole thing with
the musicals, Like musicals, they don't make any sense. I know.
Speaker 2: I took a little bit of a hits to that
because I like musicals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, me too. But I remember when I went to
New York and we were going to see Lamez, and
I did not know this before going in that it
was a sung through story. I just didn't know. I mean,
this was several years ago and my I hadn't actually
read the novel up to that point. My only exposure
to the story had been through focus on the family
radio theaters version. So yeah, it was quite a shock
when you know, the actors came out on stage and
then they're just singing the entire time. Through and I
was like, oh, so I took a little while to
get adjusted to that. So I kind of understand where
Myron's coming from a little bit. But I do enjoy musicals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've never seen the musical of Limiz, but I
think that would be a little bit too much for me.
Like I'm okay with songs interrupting dialogue, but no dialogue
interrupting the songs. I don't know about. But another funny
line from Jay, like when he's trying to get Myron mad,
He's like, just remember with what the hills are alive?
Speaker 1: Yeah? What? What's? What was it? He asked him, what
which one is your do you hate the most? Or
something like that. Oh the sound of music.
Speaker 2: Like the nazis er after what would you stop to
sing a song?
Speaker 1: Yeah? He had a lot of great lines, and he
was an interesting character too. He wasn't just like the
stereotypical kind of like a moose in the Archie comics,
you know, the jock who has no brain. He had
a little bit of a personality too, because at the
end he's like he recognized that Jay actually was helping
him in a lot of ways. So I liked him.
Speaker 2: I liked him. I think Jesse wrote kind of sympathetic,
like he's not just a one note character, like he
has some funny because he's naive or kind of not
aware of certain things. And again he's kind of a
foil to a certain extent to Jay. But again, like
you mentioned, he wasn't just a cartoon character there, like
you should you saw progression with that and you and
this also who played my Ron Bryce Pappenbrook, I think
is how you say it? Okay, Yeah, he did a
great job with that because you know, a lot of
the acting also goes on the directing for this too,
but he played that character so well where it wasn't
just totally comedic. There was like underneath you could hear
this kind of person that's kind of like like not depressed,
but he's like not sure what he's doing with his
life and he feels, you know, a lot of pressure
and things like that. So I think that nuance really
helped make him a believable character.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and we get to hear Bob smith Hauser
a couple of moments there as the football game announcer.
I think mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And also Ryan almost said Ryan Matlock, Ryan Cummings
makes an appearance too, mm hmm.
Speaker 1: And of course I mean the lesson. It's it's a
great lesson that the difference between being nice and being
kind I guess to some extent in a certain circumstance
might also be like a difference between true love and
just caring about somebody. But you know, you're you're you
really want to help them, you want to make a difference,
and so sometimes you just have to tell them straight
up with tact and with kindness, but you got to
speak the truth in love, like the word says. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love the lesson, and in this it's one that
I don't think it's talked about much. I know it's
it's kind of addressed in your two kind and album
fifty four. It wasn't a great that was it wasn't
a great episode. I think this brought it out much better.
And I love how Chris talks about in a wrap up.
You know, nice is usually trying to avoid conflict, doesn't
want to hurt. But you know, kindness is you know,
telling the truth even if it means it will hurt others,
being bold and courageous with that. But you're oneing what's
best for them, not what's kind of best for you
or what you think is gonna you know, kind of
keeping the peace kind of thing. Where is it a
true piece if you know, you're not addressing the conflict here.
But yeah, I really I really appreciated the theme in this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a it's a solid episode, all right. That
brings us to the final two episodes of the album, which,
as you said a moment ago, are sort of like
a two parter. We have episode nine nine to two
Unmanageable and Facing the Music and nine three, which are
both written and directed by Kathy Buchanan, with post production
by Nate Jones and music by John Campbell and Nate
Jones on both of these last two episodes. So the
band always cracks me up. The name Manic Ravioli just
it's hilarious. I love that it sounds like the name
of some garage band, you know. It's just perfect for that.
Speaker 2: I do have to say I wasn't here to review
album seventy six for right now it's wrong key, but
I wanted to talk about this before going to episode
two as well. This is something I've had a beef
with for a little while. But for me, I felt
like Odyssey's inclusion of their music and lyrics was too far,
especially the song Hollow, like in album seventy six that
quite a few those lyrics are used in it and
it's very kind of depressing, and it's going to use
some in this episode, I think a little bit in
the next episode, and it's like, well does he used
to have it? Where Like if they had something that
was kind of considered to be bad or not stuff
that should be replicated, they don't focus on it too much.
Like back in album sixty three, Friend or Foe Jewels,
like the band change in Despair with the song says
I'm so unhappy. I remember them talking about the on
the podcast that they only had like the last lyric whatever.
I think Scott White was doing the lyric in that
or singing that because I didn't want kids to listen
to it, and that kind of get into, you know,
that mindset of it, because there's like kind of showing
that Jewels into this kind of stuff where she's depressed,
she's not a Christian, all that kind of stuff. But
as much as they stretched this out in this I
don't think that was a good fit. And I know
for me, personally, I didn't feel like that was great,
especially since you know a lot of kids are listening
to this. I don't very impressionable in that way. And
also too, I may get some disagreement on this, but
the music kind of more closer to hard rock kind
of style, not just in the transition music, but in
getting for the song itself. I know of few people
friends and family that would not appreciated that, and I
know obviously doesn't usually go too much into that. So
I know this kind of storyline and the inclusion of
this has been difficult to hear in some ways, but
I know where the story is going now. No spoilers,
but yeah, I felt like the Oyosity team had a
misstep there with that, because you don't want kids replicating
or singing these kind of lyrics, and because there's and
there is some pushback a little bit in this episode
in the next episode again from like Connie and things
like that. But you know, it can show the darkness,
but don't spend so much time there that you know,
people listening might get wrapped up in that, or they've
listened to this kind of songs or whatever they've had
that in their past where that kind of may trigger
something in the past, like, yeah, I don't want to
hear hear that. That's I'm not into that anymore. You know,
God's brought me away from that, so yeah, I'll get
off my soapbox now.
Speaker 1: I don't remember how much of the song was in
the last album, but it's only like a line and
a half or so in these two episodes, so it
didn't really bother me all that much. And the whole time,
Connie's saying the the lyrics aren't good. She even mentions
that to Pamela a couple of times, So I see
what you're saying, but I didn't have a problem with it,
and I, you know, the whole storyline itself is the
thing that I was concerned about the most as the
as we've had this whole progression of the whole buck
Jewels thing, and obviously they had a reason for doing it.
The trajectory of the character. It's it's kind of like
when you look back, you're like, Okay, I see where
they were going at certain points, it's like, not great
in the moment of what we're experiencing right now. And
I think they were even more sensitive to that effect
that the stories can have with the whole Olivia thing,
they intentionally, you know, even change the release schedule so
we can get back, get through those darker moments, get
to the resolution quicker. I think that was the great,
great move on their part with that. But yeah, I
can see because I honestly I was getting a little
nervous about the whole Buck Jewels thing, seeing certain early
signs of the of the relationship and some of the
things that were happening. But I don't necessarily have a
problem with how things went in this episode or in
this album, and having heard beyond this now and knowing
where things end up like where, I like the way
it plays out. But in the moment you're I can
see where some people might be a little bit too,
I don't know what the right word is, but a
little concerned or not super enthused. But the whole music
aspect of it didn't necessarily bother me all that much.
But I can I can see why some people might
have concerns with it. But I'm sure there's going to
just be differences of opinion on that among all kinds
of fans. Some people listen to all that kind of stuff.
I mean, we even had some Odyssey fan type of
music that's very much has a similar sound like the
McAllister Park stuff that Kevin McCreery did many years ago. So,
you know, to each their own, I think with the
style of music, but I think the more justifiable thought
to me would be the lyrics thing, and because it
was so apparent that the adults in the room to
phrase it that way, were not on board with the message.
But it's interesting too because even Buck, even though we know,
you know, he's still struggling with his own things as well,
but a lot of times he's sort of been like
the I don't know, the angel on her shoulder a
little bit, or the content. Yeah. Yeah, he even didn't
even pick up on anything wrong with the lyrics, you know.
He when he went backstage, she was like telling them
a how how great they were and everything, And Connie
is the one who had to point out, Yeah, she
told me she was going to change in the lyrics,
but she didn't. So it's a it's a tough line
that they have to to lock whenever they're presenting these
kinds of stories, And honestly, I don't envy the team
on how they have to do this, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, back to the story, but to.
Speaker 1: That point about all of those kinds of influences in
your life. You know, Jewels makes that comment about you know, oh,
they don't affect me, you know, I can be my
own person or whatever, and Connie says, people you hang
out with always influence you. You just don't realize how much.
And she wasn't speaking directly to her necessarily, or or
speaking only of her, but she was speaking just in general.
That is true of every single one of us. You know.
There's that saying of that you become the sum of
the five people that you hang out with the most,
or something along those lines. It's true. The people that
you associate with, they do rub off on you. Regardless
of how much you think you are your own person.
You are influenced by your family and friends and even
your work colleagues or whatever it is, the people that
you're around the most. It happens. It's just part of
being human and you have to be aware of that.
But right at the top of this episode, totally a
sign of the times, talking about going into restaurants and
picking up orders with somebody's name, like you know, that
wouldn't have happened you know ten years ago, five years ago,
maybe well about five years that started to become a
thing that a lot of people did. But I mean
it's a relatively recent kind of thing that you could do.
Just walk into a restaurant and say, yeah, I'm picking
up an order for so and so, and then just
have a stack of orders they are ready to go.
But yeah, you talk about some of the technology that
gets referenced in an earlier episode, and and this is
just this is not technology necessarily, but it's just a
sign of the way that Odyssey is following along with culture.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was one thing I wondered to, like, how
is it How does this happen with them not people
stealing an I think I've like briefly thought about that before.
So when they brought it up, and it's like, Okay,
I'm guess there's probably some people that probably do steal
stuff and do that way. And of course, different restaurants
we have different procedures on how they hand out food
and things like that. But one thing I caught like
they travel all the bad things that they've done, Like
raz he mentioned that excluding the tires from around car.
So I'm picking up flowers from a cemetery, and I thought, oh, yeah,
Rodney and green eyes and yellow tulips.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was a good. Yeah. I don't know
if that was intentional, but it with it being Kathy,
it might have been.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But you know, I talked about Leslie and her performance
as Wooden's mom, but there's a there's a moment in
Katie's delivery in this episode that I just thought was
so so good. It's like, right after that that moment
that I just mentioned a minute ago, her interaction there
with Jewles early on in the episode and she's like,
I don't I don't need your Christian stuff or whatever
it is that however Jewels phrased it, but she walks
out of the room and Katie's delivery she says, oh, Jules,
you do need that. And the way that Katie delivered
that line was just like you could feel the anguish
and the love she has for her sister and just like,
I want you to understand what I'm trying to do here.
And yes, we know for for comedy, we have her
kind of going overboard a little bit and and you know,
maybe pushing her away but not intentionally, but that that
moment was really really good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and even you know, the closing prayer at the
end of the episode too is very heartfelt from Katie
playing Connie there as well.
Speaker 1: M h.
Speaker 2: And I was not expecting this at all, but we
get to hear Pamela and her daughter in this episode. Yeah,
that kind of blew my mind a little bit because
we had Millstones back in twenty twenty, which I did
not enjoy that episode. We only hear Pamela on the phone,
but I don't think there's ever mention of her having
a kid at that point. I know we had Pamela
has a problem where she's thinking about getting abortion and
she ended up not doing that. But it's really cool
even they don't mention that history kind of showing how
she chose life to give her daughter life and seeing
her you know, interact with her mom and with Connie
as well. It's like very subtle, like if you don't
know those episodes, again, Pamla has the problems that lost episodes,
it doesn't get air on the radio anymore. But if
you know that history, it's kind of a that kind
of like confirmation in that kind of excitement and happiness. Yes, again,
this is like a fictional character, but you know, hoping
people will do this in real life too, Like I'm
so glad she chose to have that baby.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and they actually they got the same actress
as the one who appeared in Millstone, so that was
kind of cool. Her name was Aaron Fitzgerald and her
daughter Sadie. What an adorable little voice. Oh my goodness.
I don't know how old that actress is. Charity Joy
Harrison is her name, but I just loved her voice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this brings up another Adoboly too. It's like,
how old is Connie now? Because that was like years
ago and now her daughter, Pamela's daughter, sounds like she's
like me seven or eight or whatever. Like I'm sure
the people that are so conserned all the Odyssey timeline
like wait what, okay, how old is Connie now? Then
like this has happened or whatever. But you know, like
people don't live in Odyssey, they age, but people in honesty, Dylan,
that's as simple as I can make it.
Speaker 1: Well, she's not sixteen anymore. She's a homeowner.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's true. Connie has aged a little bit.
Speaker 1: I thought it was really funny. We just had Jay
as a life coach in the previous episode. Now he's
showing up as trying to be the band's manager. So
it's like he just can't stop trying to tell people
what to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he learned his he learned his lesson with Zoe,
but not for everybody else.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a very j centric album. Again, it's
only six episodes, but he's in three of them, so
he's in half of the album.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But he did have some really fun lines with this,
Like I liked his mention of Smeu's miracle water. Again,
it's like for those with discerment issues, and I think
one of the bandmates says, like, I have discernment issues.
And then like they're trying to look like how they
look like it tossled hair and a kind of broody
look or whatever, and comes in and says, you know,
stop looking like he'll murder me of by sleep. Yeah,
he's great, Like he's he's like totally brutal with them,
like he doesn't pull bunches. And there was one trope
in this story that was kind of, uh, the expectation
was flipped a little bit because you know, whenever you're
you know a lot of out of drumas or whatever.
When your libraries people are talking and it's like, sh
all right, this is a library and things like that.
That happens quite often with Jay tells the Bayad that
they were performing at the library, says the library. He goes,
sh that it was hilarious, Like that's such a great
like a joke, like you hear it several times and
then like I know, like the rule three. I think
it's like, you know the third time is you flip
the expectations, like you set up how it is and
then you flip the expectation or whatever in the third one.
But it's such a fun thing to do. Like they're
not in the library, but they're saying it so loud.
Jay's like going with the trope is like if you
get loud in the library here s Yeah, it was
just a phenomenally funny line.
Speaker 1: You know what I totally missed. I mean I remember
that happening, but I totally didn't pick up on the
train of thought there, And that makes total sense. That's
hilarious now that I think about it. But all of
his interactions there with the guys, you know, that kind
of illustrates my point earlier. Sometimes he does have really
good knowledge about how the world works, and then other
times he's such a dunce. So I guess he's not
always the most consistent character. I mean, he made some
really good moves for them, like sitting up a website
and having a store where people can purchase their music
and stuff like that. They didn't even realize he'd done that,
and he did all that for them and stuff. So yeah,
it's it's interesting. I guess it doesn't necessarily all have
to make sense, but well.
Speaker 2: That kind of goes with you know, the last episode too,
is like he was actually a pretty good life coach
for Myron helped him quite a bit in this, Like
he really helped the band so much, like they got
more gigs, they got you know, more prestige and things
like that, like more than what they wanted. And kind
of the reason why he stops is because they were
fighting so much and that kind of stuff, and their
egos got in the way and things like that. And
he has a big ego himself. But he's like, okay,
maybe like there're like later on he said he said, like, yeah,
if I wanted to see an entital narcissist I would
go home and look in the mirror. Yeah, yeah, like
like he sees them acting like that, Like, Okay, it's
okay if I do it. But you guys know way,
I'm not sticking around this.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, I know this isn't your favorite part here,
but I just want to mention this is something that
I can't recall of ever happening before. I'm sure there
have been instances where we actually have one of the
sound designers get credited as part of the music. I
know sometimes they've helped do certain things with John, but
to actually be listed in the credits, I think this
is something that I can't recall having happened before. But
it is interesting that Nate Jones is actually credited here
because Nate is actually a guitarist himself, so he's an
accomplished musician. So he worked with John on all the
or not I shouldn't say all. I know at least
on some of the transitions in and out of those
scenes to and from the band.
Speaker 2: So on the next episode two right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: So on both of these episodes. So kudos to Nate
to add a music credit to his name there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that I think is a first for like somebody
having an extra credit to that point. The one thing
I can think similar is like sometimes the writers wills
to write some of the songs for like the musicals,
like and I fronted with like Odyssey sings, right. Phil
Lahler did that with Will Ryan for Ikey and Cat
and Balting Bones. I refused to sing it. I stopped
myself from I did not. I was not gonna sing it.
I have our time to do with that SubTime, but
you're welcome. It's not karaoke time.
Speaker 1: But you know, these two episodes are you know, kind
of like a really great example of foreshadowing and laying
out bread crumbs for all the pieces to come together.
You know, we have the band member's trickery that gets
referenced to at the beginning. We have Pamela's convention that
gets mentioned, and we have the rental car thing and
all these little seeds that are planted throughout and it
all comes together in a really nice way when we
get to facing the music. So another thing kind of interesting.
The only episode on the album that we have a
parental warning, and it's by Chris this time. So that's interesting.
And as we always say, when there's a parental warning.
It usually means it's going to be a pretty solid episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And there's a different kind of print of warning too,
which also too, I think this is back in painting
into a corner that it had a different Christian interest
and here comes another Adventures in Odyssey like it. It's
a different intro, really really quick for that, and then
this printal warning said it might be a good idea
to get your parents. Like I don't think they've ever
said it might be a good idea. It's like kids,
go get your parents or listen to you with your
parents or whatever. So you're like, oh, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But it was the interesting how there's a printal warning
for this episode mainly because of the alcohol issue, but
there's other episodes like like twenty eight Hours with a
near fatal car crash and bomb explosion but no warnings
on it is like, okay, wow, that's a choice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. I remember when I first heard it,
I was like, oh wow, I wonder what's coming up.
And then I was like, oh, okay, well that wasn't
all that that crazy. But I get why it was,
you know, for the alcohol use. But yeah, it was interesting.
I gotta say though, the opening queue of this episode.
It's really really good. I really liked the sound of it.
Speaker 2: Speaking of sounds, it's a very subtle thing, like if
you hadn't heard any episodes before this, and if you
know what a grudge band is and where they usually perform.
But I think at the the beginning of the first
scene they kind of finish up and then you hear
the garage door going up, like you don't even they
don't mention it, they just have it go up Like
that is such an awesome way of setting the scene,
like scene dressing or props or whatever for like the
sound where these people are without saying outright, not using
wooden dialogue, and also too like you know, I guess
you know again, you know, don't want to disturb the
neighborhood or need fresh air or something like that, Like
you don't need to point out, oh, hey, can you
open the grudge door? Sure, and then you know, they
just open it and then you're like the band playing
a grudge band, they're playing in a garage. It was
very subtle, but I really like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm so glad you mentioned that because I definitely
picked up on that too, and I meant to mention
it and I forgot. But yeah, and not only is
there that sound, but the sound of the room changes
a little bit as the door comes up, so it's
it's not as boxy because there's more ambient sound outside.
And yeah, it just you're right, it's a it's a
really small it's a subtle thing, but it's just those
details that just make it feel so genuine and authentic.
And it was a great, great little addition.
Speaker 2: Yeah, kudos to Nate Jones on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, with that warning on it, maybe you
know you're you're first listening to it, and we have
Connie come storming up and just grabs jewels and rushes
off and then she just drops her off and drives away,
and like, Okay, this is what the warning is about.
Connie's just flipped her lid. She's just dropped her sister
off at the lake and just went off to the
left her and like you gotta walk back or something.
It's like, what in the world is Connie doing?
Speaker 2: This is gonna be a survival show?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it was not that, thankfully.
Speaker 2: I kind of guess that it had to do with Buck.
At first. I was wondering I think by the beginning
of the of the second scene. I think it was
I had picked up Oh yeah, it's probably surprised with
Buck being there, but also at the same time too,
like how much of it was her kind of over
reacting or kind of making misdirect from what she was,
you know, bringing jewels to see Buck, and how much
of it was like her, I really don't like them
being together.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's probably both for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And she kept a secret like she was trying,
like I Am not gonna do it, like she's told
so many secrets in the past. Yeah, kudos to her
for keeping the secret.
Speaker 1: And she said that to Jillian too, I'm getting better
at keeping secrets or something like that.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like my life depends on it. Connie.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was interesting. I for some reason, it
totally caught me by surprise that it was a meeting
with Buck. But she was great. And again I said earlier,
as the whole thing with Buck and Jules was first
sort of starting to take shape, it wasn't my favorite thing.
And I'm I'm totally with her there just as she's
trying to talk through this, like what do I do here?
Like I don't really care for this, I don't even
want them to be in a relationship, she says. But
for once, Jillian actually gave her some pretty solid things
to think about there. She said, well, at least you
know where they are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes a lot easier for when she's not
trying to do it as dizzy Julian.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that scene in the in the garage there
were where Buck meets the band, it was like, man,
the tension there was so palpable. It's like you could
feel the awkwardness. I was like, man, these they every
one of these guys are doing such a great job.
And of course the post production there is is taken
on a big part of that to making sure the
timing and the pacing of it all fits well. But yeah,
it was just it just came together really well, the
combination of their performances with the way that it was
all cut together. But yeah, it's like man, awkward.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and also too as the audience, like we don't
really like Gunner, like at the end of right and
it's wrong key, like he's like I do anything for you,
Like I don't like this guy. Yeah, not because I
want Buccan Jools to get together, but like Yeah, I
don't think this guy is even more not right for
Buck if I heard that makes sense.
Speaker 1: More not for jewels, not Buck right.
Speaker 2: Something like that, like, yeah, Bucks, I don't think Buck
is right for jewels, but I also think gunners even
more not right. I don't know double negatives and all that. Yeah,
that's my fault.
Speaker 1: I totally agree.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're you're the wordsmith and the word expert,
so I'll I'll let you take this one since you
know more than I do. Julian had some really funny lines,
like when she's playing ditzy Jillian in front of Jewels,
like when Jeel's trendthing of an idea to surprise Buck,
like what is he like? And like, oh yeah, he
likes anything bacon and likes the Porsche and it likes
movies with explosions. And then Jillian later says, oh, we
can blow up a Porsche. It's like no, And then
I thinks she went to something else so we could
blow up with this or whatever. It's like, isn't your
suggestion something that's not a federal fence or something like that? Yeah,
And the later she comes up with like actually bake
and wrapping so many different food items, which sounded really good,
except for like the raspberry thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that would be a little interesting, or at least
she she did suggest like grilling and bacon wrapping giraffe
or something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd be going too far. But it's fun too,
like having her and Connie, like you know, doing the investigating,
like checking out who running the car. It was a
kind of fun mystery, Like it's kind of again like
you mentioned, like sets set up in the last episode
and you can kind of be kind of guess who
might have it been. But having the characters walk through
this and finding out the exact reasons or like exact
how this thing happened and things like that was fun
and also kind of like I love Nightmares by Constance.
I love the episode where like Chilian before we knew
she was a secret agent, was like acting that way
helping Jason, but this she was still acting DITZI. But
Connie didn't do a whole lot, but you know, she's
still able to get the information out and like she can.
She's a good agent, whether she's you know, playing like
she's smart or dit Sie.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and it kind of made me think I
was listening to a podcast recently for writers, and they
were talking about how the use of different points of
view can help you share certain things with the reader
that even your main character doesn't know because they don't
have the context of all these other povs. And so
that's exactly what they did here. That's what Kathy did
with this episode, is we heard all those other things
that the band was bragging about that they did at
the beginning of the episode, but Connie didn't know those
and Angelian didn't know those. Then whenever we see these
other things that have happened, then of course we get
to put it all together. But they're still trying to
figure it out, so it's kind of fun. Now. Of course,
you could overdo that where it's like the listener loses
interest because they already know where things are going, But
I don't think that was the case here in this episode.
I think she did it. It was the perfect balance
of we're getting to watch Gillian and Connie kind of
uncover things that we are already sort of suspecting. But yeah,
it was done well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I really liked you know, talking about you know,
the band members using alcohol that kind of stuff, and jewels,
talking about her dad, which you know, Bill Kendall, we
haven't heard that aspect for a while actually since Psycher
first episode. Like I think there is mention of it
in Life Expectancy, but we get a little more about
her history, Like she said, it's en her relationship with
her mom and herself, so we know why jan I
think it is Jules's mom, So we kind of know why.
I mean you might have kind of guessed it because
you know, he doesn't change, he doesn't get redeemed in
his character. So but it was it was nice hearing
Jewels say that and kind of saying that and again
bringing out like how alcohol destroys lives, and also it
kind of shows like the pure pressure like yeah, I'm
not part of that, Like she mentions kind of a
buck kind of later, like the thing is you hang
around people that do that long enough, and then the
stuff that was repulsive to you can become you know,
like you start was it. There's a lines quotes about
you know, you soon accept the things that you first
tolerate or something like that, me tolerate being around it,
and then you actually endorse that or partic of it yourself.
Speaker 1: M yeah, yeah, and and well what a way to
wrap up the album like and it shows again how
this was part of the plan all along, and not
just in these two episodes, but even going way back.
All these different things that have been these breadcrumbs that
have been have been laid this trail, and frankly, this
is this is how it needed to play out with
the breakup, I think, and it's it's again one of
those moments where it's it's not enjoyable to hear that happen, right, Like,
you don't enjoy hearing because you care about these characters,
both of them. You know, they may be making mistakes,
they have their own things that they're facing, their problems
that they're going through and trying to figure out life,
both buck and Jewels. But it is the way that
it needed to go. And I think it was a
good move that they had Chris in the episode by
saying this is not the end. Basically not in so
many words, but she was basically saying, this is not
how we're gonna leave things. But because it ends on
such a dramatic, kind of heart wrenching moment, because I
know a lot of the fan base were like totally
on board for Buckles, but I think it was a
good move for them to have Chris make that little
comment there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was. I'm probably the only I had this
of my notes Yay they broke up. H Sorry, I
probably I did not tie that right, like, oh, man,
he's in a store of water out of his nose?
Speaker 1: Is he.
Speaker 2: Sorry? I don't want you to invest up your computer.
Speaker 1: I managed to keep it, keep it in.
Speaker 2: So I was probably among the few people that was
feeling this way because I was not one of the people.
I was rejoicing that they got together now seventy four,
which at the end of that album kicking in my heart.
And I'm sure that a lot of fans are like, oh, yay,
they're finally making it official. For me, its like I
never thought it was a good idea for them to
be a couple. Yeah, so I was kind of excited,
like I wasn't taken like a fiendish pleasure in other
people's disappointment and things like that. But like you mentioned,
it felt earned like this needed to happen. And I
think they mentioned the official podcast after this episode came out,
is that they've planned to have them break up all
this all this time, which made me feel a lot
better about it. Yeah, And that's another thing too, where
like I may not always know where the story is going,
and sometimes it can be easy to criticize it in
the moment, but if the writers have a long term
goal in mind for the character, it works. But that
it's always happened. Sometimes some of the writers make up
stuff as they go along, or they change a vision
or there's no vision to begin with, and then it's
kind of messy. But with this, I felt, you know,
all this time again, like bucks life, like trusts a
major thing for him, having to trust people and living
the conartist's life and things like that, and then Jules
with her constantly pulling herself down and other people around
with her, and Buck finally saying like I don't want
to be a part of this, like, you know, you
broke my trust with that, and I've you know, mentioned
this in the past, to know other people to mention
like Jules is just not good for Buck because she
keeps kind of getting him in trouble as well getting
herself in trouble. And that I was really glad that
Buck had the courage enough, Like I felt bad for
him as a character, but I felt really good that
he you know, made that tough decision to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Like I said it, it was something that
needed to happen, and I'm with you on that. I
was not on board for that to begin with, though
after it happened, there were some fun moments that happened throughout,
you know, with those characters that I you know, I
enjoyed some of the interactions with them, and they did
have some neat moments and stuff like that. But still
it wasn't my favorite thing. And I was with Connie
the whole time when she was just like, I'm not
really crazy about this. So I am glad it played
out that way. I wasn't really in a state of
experience any shot and Freda, but like you were, but
I did think that it was the right course of
action and so but the only thing is, it's like
that is a crazy way to end the album, but
we're not going to get into what happens in the
next one, even though we've both heard that. But overall,
a pretty solid album. First couple episodes weren't my favorite,
though I still think they're pretty decent. But I quite
enjoyed this, and I think you had a really good
point as we wrap this up about making Nice being
a really good sort of stopping point in the middle.
It's completely self contained. Even though the first two also
can sort of stand alone, they are dependent on having
that context of Renee prior and Wooden's relationship with his
parents and all that stuff back context for the second episode.
But the third one really does completely stand alone, and
I like it when we have those episodes where we're
not necessarily depending on continuing an arc or wrapping up
a thread or something. So it's a pretty solid album
and it's pretty good, kind of good balance to it.
There's some humor, there's some heart, there's some some more
dramatic moments and some slower moments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this album. I would compare this a little bit
to album sixty nine and seventy because Album seventy six
I did not really like the album quite a bit
with the Rodell story, and then with Jewels, I like
kind of like the Buck two parter. That's like the
one thing I kind of liked, but I felt like
I did after Album sixty nine with that, But then
album seventy came along, like, man, this is so great,
and there's another thing to I kind of want to
reiterate like there are times, like I mentioned earlier, like
we not know where the storyline's going, like don't jump out,
don't jump out of the boat yet because you know
the next thing that comes up, may you know, give
you a different viewpoint or appreciate the journey that brought
it to that point. And you know, this album I
really enjoyed because it did great things with the characters. Again,
like the Jane and Zoe thing, big thing probably next
to Rydell. That was like the biggest issues I had
with Odyssey, with the characters, with kind of the storyline
progressions and things like that. So I'm glad that was
resolved there. And again like with Buck and Jewel's breaking
up and finally come to a literal breaking point breaking up,
and you know, that breaking point for Buck and then
you know sets up things for stuff in the future.
And then with the Renee it's not like an absolutely
necessary episode, but for those that only know Renee in
the mainstream albums I haven't heard the club, it's it
is quite necessary to kind of see where she's coming
from and what was been teaching her before they heard her,
like on the radio on the CDs, and like that,
and there was like a good, really good balance, and
I think that's helpful too, because a lot of times
you have a lot of multipartners. Again, like the last
two is kind of a multi part but having so
many like different kinds of episodes with like some more comedic,
but some kind of heartfelt and some more I guess,
uh more theology and things like that. Like I think
it's a really good mix of episodes in this album,
and pretty much all of them I enjoyed quite a bit.
Like I had some you know, issues like with the
music stuff in the Jewels episodes, but I really appreciate
the storyline and the topics they addressed there, and then
like that making nice even it was a fun episode,
funny episode, but great message with that, and again happens
to declare like some great apologetics and things like that
as well. And yeah, so it's very much like that
album sixty nine, album seventy. I was like, ugh, I
don't evenly like this album that much, like Nike me
not as feel as great about the future of auditsy episodes,
And then I get the next album, like, oh wait,
I actually like this, Like it's a roller coaster in
some cases, but like you know, just because you don't
like this, like I don't like it's one er, I
don't feel like it's going in the right direction. Like
Chris says, keep listening. Yeah, things are going to get better.
You're gonna have a different perspective as things go on,
and you you're gonna miss some really great episodes if
you be able out too soon.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, good points. And just a final note here,
I mean, I know that the writers don't always choose
the titles. Sometimes that's a group kind of thing where
a lot of people have input, or Nathan Hubler pulls
a great idea out of his hat or something like that.
But I think the titles for the last two are
just like great. I mean, Facing the Music, I mean
that's that's a perfect title for what happens double meaning exactly. Yeah,
and even Unmanageable, which is more of a play on words,
more of a pun there. But I thought those were
really solid episode titles too. So overall, a really good
adventures Natus the album number seventy seven a new perspective.
And while we're talking about titles, I mean, I think
that's a pretty apt title for the album as well.
So any final thoughts or are we good to go?
Speaker 2: I think that's it. It's been a lot of fun.
Always always love talking with you JD, and love talking about.
Speaker 1: Odyssey absolutely so as always links in the show notes.
If you want to go grab your copy, you won't
be able to do that for much longer. There's only
a couple of other albums you'll be able to do
that with. But if you want to grab a copy
while the CDs are still available, if they are when
you listen to this, you can do that. But it's
always a great time talking about Adventures and Odyssey on
the show in general. But it's always fun talking about
it with the Odyssey geeks, so always fun.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being here, my pleasure. Let's see what do.
Speaker 2: We have in the mailbag? It looks like letters or something.
Speaker 1: Is that your phone? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Hello, I just sent you a text. You've got tons
of comments on that entry. You're like famous, Oh, let
me get to these comments.
Speaker 1: What number? Why are you calling? Always enjoy getting to
hear from our listeners, so thank you so much for
sending in your feedback. You can email us feedback at
audiotheatercentral dot com. You can always comment on the show notes,
or send your texts or leave a voicemail at six
two three six eight eight two seven seven zero again
six two three six eight eight two seven seven zero.
Now you can also comment on Spotify. That is an option,
though it doesn't make it to me as frequently as
these direct methods. But we got to comment on our
last episode ATC two two five, where we talked about
the new artwork for Adventures in Odyssey and the program
to bring Odyssey scripts to the stage with Madeline Ware.
Oh by the way, while I'm talking about it, thank
you so much for all of you who reached out
to her and are interested in putting on an AIO
theater show. I'm excited about that. Madeline said she got
some really great contact, So thank you so much for
reaching out to her. And if you missed that episode,
pop back and listen to it. It's a great one. Anyway,
back to this comment, this user's name is Zippy Jams subtybes.
I'm sorry, I can't even say it with a straight face.
Epic user name. Oh my goodness. Anyway, they said, I
love the new designs, but I don't like the use
of AI assistance in a lot of the episode art
they are adding. Now, just to be straight, I don't
really use the AIO Club all that much, so I
don't log in super frequently, so I hadn't seen a
lot of this. But apparently what's going on is they're
going back and they're adding individual episode art to a
lot of the previous episodes. I'm not sure why that is,
but apparently they're using the actual character designs and adding
some AI generated backgrounds or something. I don't know exactly
what's going on there. I'm not sure how I feel
about it. I can understand where people are coming from
not caring for that usage. I don't know. It's a
tough call. I mean, I know they're using character art
that they have had designed by artists, but yeah, I
don't know. I don't know how I feel about that.
It's a tough call, but I understand where you're coming from.
Zippy jams sometimes. But thank you so much for the comment,
and if you have thoughts on this, I'm definitely open
to hearing from you. All Right, now, this is a
long one, but this is also a comment in response
to our last episode, and this is from actor William
Chad Newsom, and he posted this he said the play
project is interesting. About four years ago, I wrote this
on the EIO fan club Facebook page and he pasted
in his previous comment and it says, after the days
of the first Arthurian stories, men of later generations wrote
new ones. Same with Saint George Beowulf, Sir Gawayne, Robin Hood,
Sherlock Holmes, Zoro, the Lone Ranger, the Shadow, and Doc Savage.
Just so, if we begin to think of Adventures Odyssey
as more than just a timeless Christian kids story franchise
and more like a late twentieth century American small town mythology,
then we can envision a longer, generation spanning life for
this Odyssean book of tales. I imagine the AIO team
has given some thought to the legacy of Odyssey and
what its future might be beyond their time. Will there
be new works in the late twenty first century, and
beyond what if focus on the family closes shop someday,
who will carry on the storytelling if anybody. Fan art
and fan fiction already exist, and there have been a
few times where Odyssey went beyond mere fiction to venture
a bit into the realm of literature, but what if
that became more normal. Imagine a world with Odyssey epic poetry,
Odyssey operas, Odyssey plays, Odyssey symphonies, Odyssey sculptures. The point is,
Adventures in Odyssey can have a much longer lifespan if
it's makers view it less as a show with episodes
and seasons destined to end when something more popular comes
along or when the funding runs out, and more as
a collection of tales with histories and legends and the
potential to grow and expand beyond this age of man.
And that was the end of his previous comment, and
he added this, this new project seems to indicate that
they are open to such things. So I thought that
was a really interesting idea, really interesting comment there from
William Chad Newsom. And yeah, it does seem that they
are open to that. And I think with the idea
of them venturing into the realm of movies, and obviously
they have multiple book series going on, so they are
obviously thinking about this and where the brand is going.
And that's the keyword. I think I mentioned this in
the last episode. They are thinking about this as a
brand and not just a show. So I'm cool with that.
I'm loving the adventures and Odyssey related books. You know,
the young wit and the blackered stuff, But I don't
want them to ever lose sight of where it started,
and I want the audio drama to always be a part.
That's just my personal preference. But thanks Chad for the comment.
Really appreciate that, and if you have any thoughts on this,
love to hear from you as well. Well. That's going
to do it for this episode. Thanks again to Austin
Peachee for joining me for this review. If you would
like to get in touch with us, head over to
audio Theatercentral dot com slash contact. All the ways to
get in touch are listed there show notes for this episode,
or at audio Theatercentral dot com slash two two six,
and of course join the ATC Insiders. That's our email
newsletter which we'll use to keep in touch with you,
to let you know about stuff in between episodes as
they come up. But for now I wish you would
do I'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. Audio
Theater Central is a production of Porchlight Family Media. Our
theme music was composed by Sam Avandanio. The show is
produced and edited by Yours truly, JD. Sutter and our
website is Audiotheatercentral dot com.
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