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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Mr. Whittaker

As I lay in my bed last night, listening to The Mortal Coil for the first time in what feels like years (and probably is), I was inspired to do a post today about Whit. Plus I figured you guys might appreciate a non-review post. I haven't really talked too much about my thoughts about how Mr. J. A. Whit has changed over the years, so I've decided to do it now.

My first Odyssey album ever was a now out-of-print collection called AIO 10-CD Collector's Edition. Apparently it's so rare that even Jacob hasn't heard about it, because it's not at the Odyssey Scoop in the Quarantine Merchandise section. I don't think I had ever listened to Odyssey before my mom got that for me and my siblings when I was six or seven. Mr. Whittaker was my favorite character from the beginning, and still to this day remains at least in the top three.

Hal Smith did an excellent job as Whit from the very start. I obviously haven't been around since the beginning, but I remember loving Whit, and being very surprised when I first heard Paul Herlinger introduce The Great Wishy Woz on the tenth disc of my first collection. I wondered for awhile who that guy was since he wasn't Whit, but he was introducing a Kids Radio program. A couple years later, after I had listened to the CDs we owned over and over again, we stumbled upon The Children's Radio Funhouse on our local Moody Radio station, where Odyssey continues to be played every Saturday morning at nine. And later we found out that AIO was also played every weekday at 4:30. I don't remember how I learned it, but eventually I found out that somewhere along the road, the original actor for Mr. Whittaker had died, and he was replaced by someone with a slightly deeper, gruffer voice.

It was soon after this that I started getting albums for birthdays and Christmas. I'm pretty sure that my first album was Gold Audio Series #9: Just in Time. I continued to like what I called (and still call sometimes) "the old Mr. Whittaker" better than "the new Mr. Whittaker". As I continued to get more albums, I got more and more used to Paul Herlinger as Whit, and eventually made him my favorite. While Hal Smith has a more bubbly voice, and is better for the wise, advice-giving Whit, Paul Herlinger is better for the computer-savvy and adventurous Whit. Action/Adventure episodes tend to be my favorite, so that's probably why "the new Mr. Whittaker" eventually won my heart.

But Paul Herlinger is also very good as the Whit who sits behind the counter giving out ice cream and advice. I wish I had been an avid listener when the switch of the actors was made so that I could be used to it at least a little bit, because I really don't like the newest Whit very much. While both of the other Mr. Whittakers were great at giving Biblical advice and counsel (especially Hal Smith), Andre Stojka as Whit seems to have nearly totally lost that aspect to his character. I understand that it's mostly due to not-as-good writing, but I also from the beginning haven't really liked his voice.

Listening to The Mortal Coil last night and hearing Whit almost die, and listening to all of the spiritual lessons he learned from that experience, it's almost like now he's completely forgotten all of that, or that he's been replaced by a different, laid-back and relaxed fake. This new Whit doesn't seem to be nearly as passionate about the kids, helping them to learn valuable life lessons and teaching them the things of God, but rather a good teacher, dragging out of the kids what they learned after they stumble, rather than catching them before they get into trouble like he used to.

So I guess I'm not complaining so much about the voice that Andre Stojka gives Whit, but the writing that he's been giving more recently. I hope that episodes will continue to get better as the seasons come and go, and I am getting more used to the new voice, but they haven't sold me yet for sure.

I'd love to hear what you think about all that I've said. Please comment!

P.S. Be sure to listen to the newest Official Podcast which features an interview with Whit (ha!) Hertford, the voice of bully Jay Smouse, and a preview of this weekend's episode Grandma's Christmas Visit. I was surprised to learn that Jay is played by an adult, but I guess I shouldn't have been since Rodney, Vance, Nelson, Ryan, Pete, Jill, Valorie, Emily, and Olivia are also played by adults. ; )

21 comments:

  1. http://www.aiowiki.com/wiki/Special_10_CD_Set is this what you have? if so could you upload a picture of the back for the wiki somewhere?

    Thanks
    Reddo

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  2. Wow, yes! That's exactly what I have. I haven't been able to find it anywhere on any of the sites. Thank you, Reddo.

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  3. If you haven't seen it yet, I posted my answer to your request on your Usertalk over at AIO Wiki.

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  4. Wow!!!! An actual non-review post!!! That is absolutely exciting! Maybe you could do more of them? Maybe if I ask real nice? I liked your posts before your haitus. Especially your conjecture that Marvin was Nelson. Great stuff. It made me laugh!

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  5. Not to say your posts now aren't great.

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  6. Hey I agree w/ everything u said about whit!!

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  7. I definitely enjoy doing these sorts of posts, it's just that I don't have 1. Enough time most of the time, but I'm nearing Christmas break, and have most of my schoolwork done, and 2. Enough ideas; I only was inspired to do this post Tuesday night. Most of the time I don't have anything good to say. I guess maybe I could start going through characters like Connie and Eugene and Wooton and give my thoughts on them.

    I also enjoyed my posts better before my hiatus. ; D I had fun trying to accuse Marvin of being Nelson. But I still don't know who he is, especially now that he's gone on a "vacation".

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  8. HAHA Christian ur copying Tim lol "Charatcer REviews"

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  9. Hey christian I'll remind u ahead of time r u doin another poll?

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  10. Actually, yes. I was planning on putting it in tomorrow morning after this one has expired.

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  11. I agree with what you said about the differences in Hal and Paul. I think the reason why we could love them both is because they had strong points of Whit's character that they could play out well, but could still change if needed (Hal could still do shows involving computers and adventure and Paul could still take on a more grandfatherly role). All that to say, the writing does need to improvement, but then again Andre may still need time to develop his strong points of Whit's character, something that may be difficult to do, seeing how Hal and Paul did such a great job before him.

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  12. http://www.odysseyscoop.com/merchandise/10CDSet.htm ... Is this what you were looking for, Christian? ;)

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  13. Yes, it is Jacob, thank you. I hadn't been able to find it on the Scoop before. How recently did you add it?

    @ Blog Consultant: Thank you for your thoughts. I hope as you do that Andre will continue to improve as Whit, because right now, I'm not liking him too much. But I definitely think part of it is due to not as good writing from the newer Odyssey writers who joined in Album 51.

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  14. Psshht. I wonder where Nelson has gone...*mumbles*
    But yeah, your previous ones were so much better...

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  15. Christian u should do one like u did 4 whit only about Mitch

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  16. @ Marvin: You're pretty funny. I still have a slight suspicion that you're Nelson. ; )

    @ Brittini: It's hard to come up with a good post. I suspect that's why Audrey has pretty much stopped AIO Insanity. But I'll try my hardest to try to come up with another one soon. Maybe it will be about Mitch. ; )

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  17. Perhaps you could give us your speculations on the Green Ring Conspiracy based upon the description given on AIO Wiki. The theories about about Richard Maxwell's return, possible villains, things like that.

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  18. Loved Paul Herlingers voice. Then Hal Smith's. Do NOT like Andre's voice!

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  19. I'm seconding the request for a speculation on the Green Ring Conspiracy.

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  20. I totally agree!!! Thank you for making my point for me!!

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