The Voice of Odyssey

Happy New Year!

2012-01-20T13:04:00.004-05:00

*sighs* Leave it to me to say I'm going to post on New Years' and forget to do it until more than halfway through the month. And the only reason I remembered is because there was some new news to let you guys know about. And now I can't even find the Wooton New Years' picture I was going to post. *curls up in shame*

But anyways, the AIO Wiki posted some new Gary Locke artwork today! We now have a picture of Penny Wise:

What do you think of it? I think it's pretty accurate. It matches the voice pretty well. I imagined her a little more heavyset, shorter, and without glasses, but hey, Gary Locke and I obviously don't share a mind, so I think it's pretty good. It works.

In other news, the Avery Awards are open, so make sure to go vote in those A.S.A.P. if you haven't yet. I'm not going to take the time to post all of my picks and predictions like I did last year--mainly because I don't have time, but also because Ben Warren at The Changing Times already did that, and I agree with most of what he said.

The AIO Wiki also posted some new info on Album 56 today, including some episode titles, and a little about what will be in the episodes. We'll get to hear a Room of Consequence episode for the first time since Album 41, I believe. It will feature at least an older Barrett and an older Matthew, it seems, so that's definitely something to look forward to.

There's a new episode summary for the episode Mistaken for Good in Album 55. It's about as simple as a summary could get: "Jay Smouse is mistaken for being a good guy." That's all I got for the upcoming season, but I'm sure there'll be more to come soon. We still need the name of the final two-part episode of the much anticipated The Deep End album, so be on the lookout!

Thank you to all of my faithful readers who bear with me...even when I only post once a month. :P Hopefully I can post again soon. And maybe I'll find that picture of Wooton that I said I'd post. Anyway, your comments are greatly appreciated, so say something if you can! Thanks again!

Mr. Jones!

2011-12-29T11:58:00.013-05:00

I received my January 2012 issue of Clubhouse Magazine in the mail yesterday afternoon, and in the Adventures in Odyssey section of the magazine, I saw this picture:

Gary Locke has again done an amazing job in putting a face to the voice we hear on the radio. I, for one, think it is an excellent representation of my mind's picture of Mr. Jones. I did imagine him a bit heavier though...

This first issue of 2012 also featured new pictures of Emily and Barrett Jones further on in the magazine:

(Is it just me, or does Barrett have huge feet?)

I hope I'm not violating any copyright issues in posting these pictures. I stated that Gary Locke was the artist behind the new drawings, so I think I should be okay. But if anyone thinks otherwise, please let me know, and I'll take them down.

P.S. If there's anyone who'd be able to offer me some assistance with the technical aspects of the blog, I need some help. The Internet Explorer version of my blog has the entire right sidebar on the bottom of the left sidebar. No matter what I do in the "design" section of blogger, I can't fix it. All the other browsers seem to be fine. But Internet Explorer is what the majority of my viewers use, so I want to try to get it fixed.

Yes! I Finally Posted...

2011-12-24T13:35:00.006-05:00

...but it's still not a review. :(

However, my news does (sorta) pertain to reviewing. Although I still don't feel like I have much extra time to be spending writing reviews, I have received something that will aid me in that regard: Album 54! Now, rather than digging back into the archives (or going to FAIO [heh-heh]) to listen to previously-aired episodes, I can just pop a CD into the laptop and review as I listen.

My family celebrated Christmas today on the 24th rather than on the 25th tomorrow in order to maintain the importance of the Lord's Day. We didn't want the celebration of Christmas to conflict with our celebration with Jesus' resurrection tomorrow, so we opened presents today. As you can see in the picture below, I have much reason to be happy with the presents I received. ;)

I'd love to hear about any presents you've received--especially if they have anything to do with Odyssey. And I promise I will try my best to get a review of Forgiving More...Or Less out as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience! Have yourself a merry little Christmas celebrating Christ's birth! But don't forget to go to church on Sunday and celebrate His resurrection.

New Album 55 Episode Titles

2011-11-23T16:38:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry I still haven't gotten around to posting the reviews I promised. I am done with the Bible Bee now but, having been away from school for so long, much of my attention is currently focused on that. Plus, the holidays are coming up, and I really doubt I'll have any time soon to sit down and dedicate my time to listening to an episode and writing a review. But if I ever do have that time, I will certainly do my best to get a review of Forgiving More...Or Less up here.

On the bright side of things, I just saw this afternoon that AIO Wiki posted some information given on the Odyssey Scoopcast regarding more titles of Album 55 episodes. These three new titles are Child's Play, Mistaken for Good, and To Mend or Repair. Added to the seven titles we already knew, these new ones leave us with only two titles to go in Album 55. Here is a list of all the titles so far, if you haven't been keeping up:

Sgt. York, Parts I, II, III, and IV
The Labyrinth, Parts I, II, and III
Child's Play
Mistaken for Good
To Mend or Repair

This album is really building up to possibly be the best release since the relaunch. Now I can't wait for some descriptions of these upcoming episodes!

Now You Can See It

2011-11-15T13:30:00.005-05:00

If any of you were lucky enough to see the cover of Album 55 during the few hours that Marvin (The AIO Fan's Life) and I had it posted before we were asked to remove it, congratulations! It's great to know that you follow our blogs so closely. But if you didn't see it, here it is, officially. We were asked to take it down last week because The Official Podcast wasn't going to release it until today. Now it's released, and I'm fairly certain I can give you the picture. So here it is:

I posted my thoughts about the cover last week, but since I had to delete that post, I'll review it again. I think Whit looks great; but why is he wearing his full outfit--including a thick, leather jacket--in the pool? Connie looks a little to Asian, in my opinion; her eyes get more and more stretched out and slanted with every new picture we see. Eugene looks weird in sunglasses, but it reminds me of the days when we couldn't ever see his eyes; but one thing I noticed is that he has a lot of wrinkles for a guy in his thirties. And Wooton...typical Wooton. He is what makes this cover art so great. Although I actually think AIO Wiki's mockup cover (bottom) makes it look better. It seems to add some needed depth perception, and I hope the official cover will follow suit.

But I don't really get it. Is this a scene from an episode? Or is it merely representative of the album's theme, as in the case of Days to Remember? And who's the kid cannonball-ing into the pool? Is it maybe one of the "old friends" mentioned in the album description?

I'm really looking forward to this album. I'd love to hear your opinions of the cover and the album. Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

Patience Management

2011-10-22T07:32:00.003-04:00

This was a really great episode. It truly felt slice-of-life, even though it had the slightly extreme situation with the salon in the family room. Probably the main reason it felt that way was because it had a strong moral, and a very applicable moral at that. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't struggle with anger mismanagement. And I feel like I'm the "chief of sinners" in that regard. I feel like I'm always working on it, but always falling back into temptation and sinning. Thankfully, I think this episode had a permeable enough message that it will stick in my head and maybe help me in some situations.

I think the reason many of the episodes in this season so far have such great morals and takeaway values is that, because the writers decided to base the album on 1 Corinthians 13, they had to start with the moral and then work out the episode--rather than working the other way around, starting with an entertaining episode idea and then fitting the moral into it. I believe that's also the reason that I didn't like A Penny Saved as much. If I remember correctly, it, along with A Penny Earned, was added into the album at a later date than the rest of the episodes. So I assume the writers had already come up with the storyline and had to fit it into one of the "love is" or "love is/does not" morals. That's probably why the aspect of love was harder to catch in A Penny Saved. It was very obvious in Wooton Knows Best, The Amazing Loser, and this episode, Anger Mismanagement. With the way this season is going, I'm starting to really look forward to the rest of this album (except A Penny Earned, but maybe Mr. McCusker will surprise me).

The first specific thing I wanted to mention about the episode is that I actually really liked Wooton this time! All of his humor felt like old times, and it was all laugh-out-loud funny. Plus, I noticed that none of it disrupted any serious moments. Sometimes, it even added to the seriousness of the point he was trying to bring across to Mrs. Kramer or Olivia. A couple of times during the episode, I was reminded of Grady, because of the teaching mode that Wooton was in with Olivia.

All three of the situations where the characters' patience were tried were very true-to-life circumstances. With Mrs. Kramer, it was an example of when someone gets angry at you for something you didn't have anything to do with. With Mr. Parker, he got angry because others kept him from doing what he wanted to do. And with Olivia, she got angry because someone else had stolen the spotlight for something they didn't do. Each one of those is something that most people have to deal with on a regular basis, so I thought it was great that the writers made the episode so applicable to everyday life.

Olivia's voice continues to really please me. Kelly Stables gives her a voice that expresses her tendency to change emotions and over-express herself. Although it does get annoying and uncomfortable sometimes when she expresses herself a bit too much, it still fits her character really well. And this episode was the perfect way for her to show those qualities, since she shifted up and down from angry to happy to annoyed to patient.

I noticed that Valerie's voice was changed, and I'm glad. Whenever I listened to the Kidsboro episodes I always got her and Jill mixed up. There were literally times where my whole understanding of the episode was messed up because I thought Jill was Valerie. And since Olivia and Valerie had a couple exchanges, it was good that the actress was switched to avoid more confusion. In addition, I think the voice change was good for Valerie; she now sounds more like the popular "chick" girl that she is described as being. In my opinion, she sounds more obnoxious and full of herself than she did before. ;)

I loved Mr. Parker's character in this episode. As usual, the actor pulled off the perfect husband and father voice, and as a result, I really felt for him the entire episode. His reactions and emotions were so genuine, and I was annoyed together with him when he missed "one of the best games in professional football history." I thought he handled his anger quite well, though--better than I would have in his situation. And I liked how he still maintained his role of leadership in the home by making all the decisions.

I didn't know that running a salon would be particularly of interest to a European grandmother, but go figure. It certainly made for an entertaining side of the show. I thought Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Ortega were really in character throughout the whole thing. All of the actors and actresses did amazing jobs.

So I really, really liked this episode, as you can see. Unlike Wooton Knows Best, I didn't even have a single complaint (unless you count Olivia's over-expressiveness). I don't think this one had as strong of a moral as Wooton Knows Best did, but it definitely surpassed it in entertainment and cleverness value. I learned from the episode, which is not a very common occurrence in Odyssey episodes, so I don't think I can give the episode any lower of a rating than I gave Wooton Knows Best. I really feel like this episode deserves a 9.5/10 just like its predecessor.

Thank you for reading! I really love reading your comments, so if you have something to say, please say it! And be sure to come back next week when I review Forgiving More...Or Less.

An Unexciting Winner

2011-10-15T07:15:00.003-04:00

I woke up late this morning, because our electricity temporarily was out, and thus I did not hear my alarm. But thankfully, this episode was relatively simplistic, and I don't have all that much to say about it, so I should be able to review it this morning before I head to soccer.

I liked this show quite a bit. I've always been a fan of scavenger hunts--on the radio or in real life--so I enjoyed all of the clues and riddles. Of course, when you don't know the town of Odyssey like these kids do, it's near impossible to figure out the clues before they do, but it's still fun. The only other two Odyssey episodes that I can remember that are centered around a scavenger hunt are Have You No Selpurcs? and Treasure Hunt, both of which I always enjoy listening to--especially the former, because it has a very good moral.

I thought the moral in this episode was pretty good. It definitely fit "Love is not self seeking." I do wish it had been a little more apparent, like in Have You No Selpurcs? where Kurt and Lucy are supposed to show kindness all the way through the episode. So maybe Barrett could have had several opportunities throughout the hunt to show compassion, rather than just the little girl. But that part of the story was pretty powerful, so I think it did okay standing alone.

I noticed we got to hear Hal from Hal's Diner for the very first time! Is it just me, or does he sound very similar to Mr. Jenkins? Maybe he's Hal Jenkins, and he runs both Hal's Diner and Jenkins' Supermarket (or whatever it's called).

I'm glad they didn't overdo it on the lovey-dovey stuff between Barrett and Priscilla. What they did have wasn't really all that bad. One thing that's good about the couple is that they show commitment. They've been together for 4 albums now. ;D They made a good team, I thought. I'm warming up to Priscilla a little more.

Jay and Matthew were an unlikely team, but they seemed to do well together. Jay was aggressive and competitive, and Matthew was the brains. Jay's humor was great, as usual, and he kept the episode interesting.

I totally fell for the thing with the little girl and her shoes. I was sure that it was like in Have You No Selpurcs where the trick was to spend the money for the right things. And since Barrett was the only one to have compassion on the girl, he and Priscilla were going to win the game. I thought it was all set up by Mr. Whittaker, because he knew Jay wouldn't give the girl the time of day. But it did turn out well in the end.

The twist that "Hail to the Chief" not being the right song was a real surprise to me. I don't know anything about the presidents' musical habits and abilities (other than that Bill Clinton played the saxophone), so I had no idea who made that comment about "Dixie." But I predicted the outcome, without having to know anything about what Abraham Lincoln said, because I knew that Jay had spent his penny, but that Barrett had kept his, so I figured the penny was the missing object, since it featured a picture of President Lincoln.

So there isn't much to address in this episode. It was an entertaining listen, but it wasn't anything all that special. There wasn't anything not to like about it though, so I'll give it an 8/10. Thanks for reading the review! Be sure to tell me your thoughts, and read my belated review of A Penny Saved, if you haven't seen it yet.

The Nickel Rescued

2011-10-14T19:07:00.002-04:00

Please forgive me for not getting a review out sooner. I have to juggle school, preparing for the National Bible Bee, this blog, and a job, and daily responsibilities all at once right now, and sometimes this blog becomes the lowest on that list of priorities. Thanks for your patience.

I'll say right now that most of this review will be either restatements of, or counteractions to the paragraphs of the review that Marvin at The AIO Fan's Life wrote. I won't follow his order exactly, but most of my points will come from points that he makes. I don't have time to re-listen to the episode, but I've heard the majority of it twice, and Marvin pretty much covered it all, so I'll assume that he's fine with my doing this, and proceed this way. (Hopefully this will be the only times this season that I have to do this.) I'm really tired though, so if the review is a bit disorganized, and I ramble more than usual, I apologize.

My initial perception of the episode when I finished listening the first time, like Marvin's, was that it was very simple. I agree with Ben Warren (the Odyssey Scoop's reviewer) that this felt much like episodes after Darkness Before Dawn and The Novacom Saga that were merely transition episodes. Rather than having an original premise, it merely ties up loose ends that were left at the end of The Green Ring Conspiracy. The only problem with that is that not really any of the issues addressed in the episode were problems at the end of the GRC. Sure it was nice to know that Dr. Trask got what was coming to him, but we could have deduced that outcome for ourselves. He was captured and taken into custody, and there was loads of evidence stacked up against him, so who wouldn't have thought that he'd be found guilty on all charges? But I never would have guessed that Penny would be so depressed about it.

Honestly, I was not looking forward to another episode with Penny in it. In my opinion, apart from the part that she played in helping the folks from Whit's End get more information about Dr. Trask, she could have been taken out of the album, and I wouldn't have missed anything. I really disliked her character and the influence she had on Wooton, and she was just a flat character that didn't intrigue me in the least. Now in this episode, she became more round, because the episode revolved around her, but that didn't make me like her much more. I understand how she would have been really bummed to have to testify against a man who was a friend and a father to her, but I thought the extent of it was slightly unrealistic, and then her quick turnaround at the jail was even more so. I don't think this single episode gave the writers enough time to flesh out Penny's problem and then fully resolve it. Yes, there was a semi-satisfying explanation during the picnic scene, but even that was not much. I probably would have liked the episode more if it was maybe a two-parter that gave me more chance to be emotionally connected to what Penny was really feeling.

I was glad to hear from Detective Polehaus again. It seems like he might become the new Officer Burke or O'Ryan who shows up for any Odyssian crime. I liked that he seemed to be one of Whit's End's regular customers. I look forward to hearing more from him. His humor was pretty good, as usual, and his chemistry with the other characters remained great.

Wooton.... I had mixed feelings about him in this episode. On the downside of things, there were, as has been the writers' ongoing habit, many times where a serious subject was being addressed, and he threw in a punchline that was supposed to get me to laugh, but really just made me groan on the inside. I actually did think he and Connie made a good team though. It seems right for him to be sharing his feelings with her, rather than Penny, or even Whit. I dunno, but they just seem to go well together. I liked the little exchange about how he uses humor to cover up true feelings. Maybe that was Mr. McCusker's way of apologizing for all of the times in the GRC that Wooton killed the sobriety of the moment with a joke. If so, then it was an acceptable apology that made me think for a while. But I still wish he and other writers would hold back on the jokes just a bit. Wooton isn't merely loved for his jokes. In fact, I think since Jay has really taken up that position now, Wooton should primarily be loved for his openness and honesty, which we got to see in this episode. He was always great with kids and a good spiritual example to follow, but recently all he's been is the court jester who comes around to lighten the mood, but who ends up being a nuisance most of the time.

I liked how Connie was wanting to be a faithful friend to Penny throughout the episode. As others have mentioned, I think it's great that Connie finally has someone her age with whom she can socialize and connect emotionally. (I personally just wish that someone wasn't Penny.)

I thought the scene with Professor Bruce was a little weird. Why would he be so annoyed at people who put a counterfeiter behind bars? Sure he was a respected professor at the college, but all that time, he was ringleading a nationwide counterfeiting operation aimed at financially tearing down America from the inside! That's about as bad of a non-violent criminal you can get. But the scene with the college student was pretty funny, freeing my mind back up with some great humor. Some have asked why he was so quick to ask Connie out, and I wonder if those people have ever been around secular college kids. It was very realistic. I listen to a radio show where a guy goes and witnesses to kids on a college campus. And most of them are just like this guy was: morally ambiguous and postmodern--no respect for right and wrong, only caring about their personal views and opinions. (Note: I know that I have many readers who attend college so know that I'm not meaning this to be a generalization of all college kids, just the majority of America's young people.

The thing that I liked least about the episode was that it really didn't feel like it belonged in a collection about 1 Corinthians 13. I have to admit that I totally forgot that the episode was supposed to be describing an aspect of love, and I didn't realize that that was supposed to be the moral of the story until I read somebody else's review on the Town of Odyssey. To me, the episode felt like it was just a story meant for entertainment (though it did a poor job had that been the only purpose), like the rest of the GRC. I didn't notice that an aspect of love was being demonstrated at all. Now, of course, I see how that would have worked, with Connie and Wooton, relentlessly pursuing Penny to help her and understand her feelings, but I really didn't get it while I was listening. Maybe I was the only one who felt that way.

So I wasn't especially interested by this episode. It met my expectations as well as a Penny and Wooton episode could, so it wasn't all that great. Maybe my thoughts are just clouded because I'm tired, and I'm being overly negative, but I don't think this would be an episode I'd want to listen to over and over again. Unfortunately if and when I get the album, this show will most likely be on the same CD as Wooton Knows Best, so I'll sorta be forced to hear it multiple times. Oh well. Please let me know what you thought of the episode, and express any of your differing views about the points I made about various characters. I always love to read what you have to say. Hopefully I can get a review of The Amazing Loser out tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Rating: 5.5/10

Bassett Thinks Worst

2011-10-01T05:22:00.002-04:00

Yes, the title is a little cheesy, but now that we're back to regular episodes, I have to go back to opposites. See if you can guess what the title for next week's episode review will be before I post it. :D

Well, I don't have much time to write this morning. In fact, I'm surprised that I am able to do it now. I had to get up really early and hope that whitsend.org had posted the episode link already. Thankfully they had, and I'm listening to it right now. My review might not be as good as usual, because 1. It's early and I'm tired, 2. I have a time deadline rapidly approaching, and 3. I'm just getting back into the reviewing frame of mind after having been off for several months. Plus it's going to be hard doing a different style of review than I did throughout the GRC. So bear with me.

Wow. I actually loved this episode--really loved it. I hope I can go into more episodes this season with low expectations, because this one blew me away. I can honestly say that I liked it more than any other episode that has come out since The Jubilee Singers. It was fully entertaining, and yet it had a very powerful moral that was powerfully driven home without merely being suggested or implied. You could tell that the writers truly wrote this episode to bring across a point, rather than just to entertain. This is the first episode since The Inspiration Station that I actually felt really applied to my life. I was greatly moved by the message, and it's the first time in a very long while that an Odyssey episode really convicted me and made me want to change.

Well now that I've got that off my chest, I'll go review the episode the way I did back in Albums 51 and 52. There isn't really any order to it, but I'll do my best to make it interesting.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear Olivia's new voice in this episode, since I had totally forgotten that that was coming. She sounds like a mix between Charlotte (after she's revealed to be Charlotte) in An Agreeable Nanny and Jill from the Kidsboro episodes. However, I actually think I could like this voice more than I like Hope Levy's voice. As far as I know, she's still played by an adult actress, and there's still a hint of that in there. Oh, I just looked over at AIO Wiki, and not only is she played by an adult, but that adult is Kelly Stables, the same woman who voiced Jill in Kidsboro! I think this new voice is a bit of an improvement, even though she does sound a lot like Jill. Whereas when Hope Levy was Olivia's actress, I complained about how old she made the character sound, I actually like the older, slightly more mature, feeling that Kelly Stables brings to the character. She really brings out the dramatic side of Olivia, which I think is what the writers originally expected Olivia's emphasis to be when they created her. For once, I actually look forward to hearing more of Olivia throughout the rest of the season.

I really enjoyed the sibling rivalry in the episode. The new voice for Olivia fits perfectly to be an arguing opponent against Matthew. Hope Levy's Olivia always left me annoyed after she'd had a fight with Matthew, but Kelly Stables' Olivia really fit well for the role. Her fights with Matthew actually, for the first time, really reminded me of how Jimmy and Donna Barclay were. Could the Parker children finally be giving themselves a good name in Odyssey history as a fictional family that we non-fictional families can fully relate to? Anyway, I was reminded of myself and my arguments with siblings a lot throughout this episode. I once heard Sarah from the Unofficial AIO Podcast say that whenever she encounters families with siblings that almost never fight, she wonders what's wrong with them. :D I agree with her. I think bickering and fighting among siblings, though it is sinful 99% of the time, can bring us closer together and help us to understand each other more. That's exactly what it seemed to do in this episode for Matthew and Olivia. And I loved the resolution scene; for the first time, I think, it really sounded like the Parker siblings really loved each other. :)

Is it just me, or has Wooton's voice changed a bit? He seems to have a more raspy, less silly, edge to his voice these days. But he is still silly. A little too silly. I know he's supposed to be the stereotypical fun-loving, somewhat absentminded, joke-telling, but good role-model character, but I'd like to see the serious side of him once in a while. We did see a little glimpse back into that old, somber side of him when he was faced with a hard decision in the episode, but then he was quickly back to silliness. There was a perfect balance when we had Grady. But now Wooton doesn't really have anybody that he's talking and relating with on a regular basis (unless you want to count Penny, but what kind of an influence on his character has she been?), so we only see him as a flat, one-sided, silly, barely-adult character who is merely there for laughs. Yes, he had a fairly major part in this episode, and we did see a side of him we haven't really seen before (Sunday School teacher), but I was more than a little dissatisfied with him.

The scene with Olivia and her dad was really powerful. I think that's the first time since Always with Ben Shepherd and Aubrey that there's been a real, heart-to-heart, father-daughter talk, let alone one that I felt emotionally connected with. And the music in that scene was amazing; it really added to the poignant atmosphere of the situation. I loved how Scripture was the teaching factor, and not merely words of wisdom from Whit, or worse, a brief lecture from Chris at the end of the show. I honestly think this show had the best moral and the best teaching moments of any show since the relaunch. I very much hope that there will be many more episodes like this to come.

So, that's my review. It was certainly shorter than my GRC reviews, but it was one of my longer ones. I enjoyed writing it, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please tell me what you thought about the review, and especially what your reaction to the episode was. Did you like it as much as I did or not? What'd you think about Olivia's new voice? Was Wooton a nice or annoying addition to the heart of the episode?

Rating: 9.5/10 stars.

Be sure to be back next week when I, Lord-willing, review A Penny Saved, which, because it features Penny, I already have low expectations for. Maybe Paul McCusker will surprise me. :D

Repack Covers and Album 55!

2011-09-03T17:47:00.007-04:00

The new covers for both Album 23 and Album 29 have been released! (These ones are actually official [if AIO Wiki can be trusted ;)].) They are a small improvement from the fake ones released before, but I still think those were wonderful! Here they are:

And then here we have the official back cover art for Album 54:

All of these look fabulous! I am continually amazed at Gary Locke's ability to create such quality and yet fun art.

Now for the more exciting part of the post: Information about Album 55! AIO Wiki has put a summary of all that we know about Album 55 (and Album 56) on their "Future" page. The most notable piece of information that I'll include here concerns one of the three-part episodes that we've heard about before:

While The Labyrinth, the episode featuring Jason and Mr. Grote, will remain the same--a three-parter--Sgt. York will not. "This was originally a 3 part episode. However, after editing the voice tracks, the AIO team discovered that the episode is 18 minutes too long. Rather than cut out 18 minutes out of the story, they decided to make it into AIO's first 4-part episode. Because of this, an episode from album 55 will be pushed back to be released in a future album."

Wow!! I have some friends who don't really listen to Odyssey, mainly because of the modern turn it's taken over the last ten years (sometimes featuring snarky and worldly characters); however, I know that they really enjoy the story of Alvin York, so I'm very excited to know that this will be an extended episode about which I will potentially be able to give them a good report. And from what I've heard them tell me about Sgt. York, it should be a very interesting and riveting episode. I can't wait to see how the writers handled it; it has the potential of becoming as much of, if not more of, a favorite than the Jubilee Singers.

Well, I don't know about you, but, minus Album 54, I'm excited about where Odyssey is going in the future, particularly with Album 55. We'd better all stay tuned for what's coming in the days ahead!

More Misinformation

2011-08-24T13:02:00.009-04:00

So, it turns out, I was wrong...again...in the information I thought I was relaying from the Odyssey Scoop. Those five album covers I posted the other day are not final; they were created by a fan. I personally think they look wonderful, and AIO should consider using them as the final products. But they aren't official.

Anyway, here's some breaking news: The Blackgaard Chronicles is out today! And there's a special Official Video Podcast to celebrate. It features a "pop-upisode"--A Name, Not a Number, Part I. If you don't remember from the Album 50 videos, a Pop-upisode is an Odyssey episode put to a video with a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes information running throughout it. It should be very interesting.

The word from Jacob Isom (and I'm pretty sure I can trust this information, since he has his own copy) is that The Blackgaard Chronicles features the thirty AIO episodes pertaining to Dr. Blackgaard over 13 hours of audio entertainment on 10 CDs. And just like the Novacom Saga, there's a bonus disc, but in this case, it's a DVD featuring a 30-minute interview with Paul McCusker and Phil Lollar about the creation of Regis Blackgaard. But Jacob argues that the best feature of the new collection may be the brand-new illustrations of Jack Allen, Jason Whittaker, Dr. Blackgaard, Richard Maxwell, and Phillip Glossman!! This alone makes me very badly want to get the set for myself. I so hope this new artwork is released somewhere sometime soon.

One other thing: Just before the pop-upisode starts in the newest video podcast, we see Brock opening the Blackgaard Chronicles package, and behind him there's a dry-erase board that has written on it: "55 Episodes Sgt York The Labyrinth" Could these be the titles of the two three-parters we've heard talk of?! Only time will tell. :D

Thanks for reading! Be sure to tell me what you're thinking about all this new stuff in the comments!

P.S. Here's the back cover for The Blackgaard Chronicles, if you were wondering what episodes are included:

EDIT: There's more breaking news, now that I've watched the Pop-Upisode!!! If you watch the whole thing, almost exactly halfway through, you'll notice that the title of Album 55 has been released! It will be called The Deep End. I was totally not expecting to learn this so soon! Some other special things included within the video were original drafts of The Blackgaard Chronicles' artwork, and original drawings of Dr. Blackgaard. And for those of you who like the Imagination Station series, at the end of the video, you get a peek at the newest book's cover. Also, we get to see new illustrations of Jack Allen and Jason, in addition to the ones already released on Album 23's new cover! This all made the time it took to watch the Pop-Upisode very worth it!

Misinformation

2011-08-23T08:06:00.008-04:00

A couple weeks ago when the new cover for Album 29: Signed, Sealed, and Committed was released, I relayed the information on from The Odyssey Scoop that that album, along with every new repack after it, would feature the new AIO logo. It turns out, that was a rumor from CBD that was not true. Album 29, along with all the other new repacks will, as has been reported in the past, feature the older AIO logo. I think this makes much more sense, and I'm glad AIO has chosen to take this route. Sorry for giving bad information.

Oh, and since I'm posting, I may as well post the final products of the repacks for which I've already shown the art (Albums 2, 23, 26, 29, and 34):

I think all of these look wonderful! Even the album 26 cover. The hot pink background actually totally rights the wrong of the weirdness of the art, in my opinion. And all the others look great as well. What are your thoughts? Please comment!

P.S. If you were wondering why, I have no idea why this front page ends with the previous post. I can't figure out what's wrong with the system, so just bear with me until I fix it. You can find older posts by clicking on "Older Posts" or by looking back through the blog archive.

WOW!

2011-08-19T08:36:00.005-04:00

I was expecting these soon, because we got one of the five albums shown in the Facebook video a few months ago, but I wasn't expecting them in bulk this soon! Unlike I was thinking, all of these are exactly the same as they were shown in the video, and I think at least three out of the four look really good! Here are albums 2, 23, 26, and 34:

I'm sorry the pictures are so small. For whatever weird reason, Blogger won't let me post big pictures anymore because there's an overflow of information. You'll have to go to AIO Wiki or The Campbell County Connection to see the big versions.

I don't have time right now to give my thoughts on them, so you guys'll have to guess which one I don't like as much. Thanks for reading! I hope you were excited as I was to see these. Please comment!

Wow! Album 55 Summary!

2011-08-15T20:53:00.004-04:00

I am very excited! FreddyJay over at The Campbell County Connection just posted this information he came across on AIO Wiki:

There's now a page on AIO Wiki for Album 55, and there's a summary for the album already! And it sounds very exciting:

"When Jason Whittaker tracks the villainous Mr. Grote to London, England, he discovers another ominous plot. With the help of some old friends, will he unravel it in time? Back in Odyssey, Eugene and Red reveal the story of a World War I hero—Sergeant Alvin York."

And, nearly just as exciting, the updated album art for Album 29, "Signed, Sealed, and Committed" has been released as well:

Sorry I don't have a bigger picture. Blogger wouldn't let me post one that was any more detailed than that. You'll have to go to the Odyssey Scoop to see the one Jacob posted there.

This new cover is just as unrevealing as the previous one was, as I was hoping it would be. I love the colors and how it's all centered on the cake. The word is, according to Jacob, that this album will feature the new Odyssey logo, contrary to previous reports. And every repack from now on will also feature the new logo--even the albums that have already been repacked. I'm not sure what I think of that idea, but I can't wait to see what future repacks will look like!

This was the best news we've had in a long time, and I'm glad I was able to see it tonight before going to bed. :D

The Official Podcast Knows Best!

2011-08-13T07:52:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted about this yet. I was out of town yesterday, and am only seeing this breaking news this morning. I don't have much else to say, but for those of you who don't read The Odyssey Scoop or The Odyssey Times and haven't seen this yet, a whole twelve minutes of an Album 54 episode has been released!

Wooton Knows Best, the first episode of the season, is the episode that was half-released. If your mind needs refreshing, this is the episode summary: "Olivia and Matthew Parker compete for a chance to be Wooton Bassett's camp assistant."

I wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but I guess since it's been released by the Official Podcast, I'll give in and listen to it. But I am definitely not downloading anything before hearing the season on the radio. What are your thoughts? Please comment while I go over and take a listen!

Album 54 Episode Summaries!

2011-08-05T07:59:00.003-04:00

Well, for the first time in a long while, another blog beat me to the latest news. *gasp* But I guess being the second one with the news out is just as good. :D The episode summaries for Album 54: Clanging Cymbals and the Meaning of God's Love have been released (in case you couldn't read the title of the post)! Thanks to AIO Wiki, we can now know which episodes to look forward to, and which ones during which to conveniently be busy as they air. Just kidding. But a couple of these do concern me a bit. Here they are:

Wooton Knows Best:

Olivia and Matthew Parker compete for a chance to be Wooton Bassett's camp assistant.

(We haven't had a camp episode, I don't think, since Champ of the Camp; and, at least for me, that is one of my favorite camp episodes. I don't know what to think this one could be like with Wooton in it. Hopefully it will turn out well, and who knows, maybe it will actually be a genuinely funny Wooton episode. It's written by Marshal Younger, who hasn't written many Wooton episodes at all, but he wrote a few over the last couple seasons, so that might not be a good sign.)

A Penny Saved:

Penny Wise deals with the aftermath of her role in the Green Ring Conspiracy and plans for the future.

(This should be an interesting episode, I think. Now, it does have Penny in it, but it doesn't seem to indicate that Wooton joins her, so it might be okay. Penny isn't really bad by herself, it's just when Wooton enters the picture...*shudders* My guess is that Penny will be looking for a job in art--and she'll probably get it--based on a later episode summary. And apparently this episode won't be about her salvation. :( I don't know how intriguing the episode will be, but it's written by Paul McCusker, so it can't be too bad.)

The Amazing Loser:

When Whit's End sponsors a band camp, Matthew, Jay, and Barrett compete in a musical scavenger hunt.

(Another camp episode? It must be summer. ;) I don't know what to expect with a musical episode like this. It's Dave Arnold's only episode of the season, but that really doesn't mean anything, because he only wrote one episode before the relaunch, and since the relaunch, he's written a wide variety of episodes [The Jubilee Singers, Grandma's Christmas Visit, The Malted Milkball Falcon, etc.]. We haven't really heard one centered on music, however, since Odyssey Sings!, though we heard just a little bit in Stage Fright. Odyssey Sings! is an okay episode, but because my younger siblings love to listen to it, I've gotten pretty sick of it. But it looks like this one will have a little mystery to it, and it's a mystery without Emily, so I might like it.)

Anger Mismanagement:

Frustration abounds as David suggests Grandma Lucia try a test run of her salon business in his living room, and Olivia discovers Valarie stealing the media spotlight for a big parade.

(So, Grandma Lucia is back. She's been in one good and one bad episode, but both times, she's been in a single-storyline episode. This one seems to be two half-episodes put together for the purpose of a singular moral lesson [a la Hear Me, Hear Me or Blood, Sweat, and Fears]. The second story described looks like it will probably be a little annoying, mostly because Olivia is in it. But it will be interesting to hear from Valarie again. This is one of Kathy Buchanan's many episodes this season, and she wrote Opposite Day in Album 52, so I'm not optimistic.)

Forgiving More...Or Less:

After hearing a story from Red Hollard, Camilla Parker decides to make a forgiveness list.

(Seems like quite a simple episode, but it's from Paul McCusker, so something tells me it won't be. We haven't had an episode solely focused on Camilla before [For the Birds was close, but this looks closer], so it might or might not be a nice change. Red hasn't made many appearances either. In fact, I think he totally disappeared over the last two seasons, but many people didn't seem to like him much, so maybe that was for the best. Hopefully this episode can redeem him.)

You're Two Kind:

Ryan decides to partner with Brad for a school project, but has second thoughts when he overhears Brad making fun of him. Meanwhile, Connie gives Eugene a series of bejeweled gifts and he struggles to tell her the truth--he hates them.

(Here's another two-story, one-story episode with two parts that have nothing to do with each other. They both seem quite original, in that Odyssey hasn't really covered the topics before, but specifically the second story sounds really weird. Does anyone know what "bejeweled" means?)

A Penny Earned:

Penny Wise searches for her future in a job and as Connie Kendall's roommate.

(This is the first Penny episode to be written by someone other than Paul McCusker: Kathy Buchanan, so maybe this could be a turn for the better. Mrs. Buchanan wrote all the Connie/Mitch stuff, so hopefully this could make Penny a more likable character--even if Wooton's involved.)

Never for Nothing:

Grandma Lucia recounts to Olivia her story of a childhood friend, an event that taught her that love is "never for nothing."

(I can't figure out what in the world "love is 'never for nothing'" is supposed to mean, so maybe I need a lesson from Grandma Lucia too. But I doubt it. Hopefully this episode can paint her as more of a Whit-like character than she currently is. I suspect it will have some Spanish culture involved, which can be pleasant or annoying, depending on how much it is used. I think it will be Kathy Buchanan's first Spanish-related episode, however, so she could do something good with it.)

Emily, the Genius:

Emily is overwhelmed when a school test shows that she is a genius.

(This is another very simple-seeming episode. But it sounds kinda weird. I thought Emily already knows that she's a genius, based on the episode I so hate from Album 51. Why does she need to be reminded of it? Hopefully this episode will deal more with the issue of pride than that previously mentioned episode did. It's written by Bob Hoose, who brought us The Inspiration Station and An Agreeable Nanny, so there's no telling what will happen.)

How to Sink a Sub:

When Katrina becomes their substitute teacher, Jay and Valerie rouse the class to revolt, even persuading Olivia to help with a plan to get Katrina fired.

(This episode is just weird all around. Katrina a substitute teacher? Jay and Valerie working together? The class is persuaded to revolt against Katrina? Olivia joins the bullies in getting Katrina fired? And all this ties in with sinking a submarine? Very weird. I wish they hadn't put Jay and Valerie together. I had high hopes that Jay could turn around and become more of a nice guy with a suggestive attitude, but Valerie is the opposite, so it doesn't look good for him.)

Unbecoming Jay:

Jay schemes a way to ditch his cousin Cindy by leaving her with Barrett, but Priscilla grows jealous of the new friendship.

(This just has not-appropriate-for-younger-listeners written all over it. And yet it's written by Bob Hoose, whom I wouldn't expect that from at all. I don't see how this storyline has anything to do with Jay trying to unbecome himself, but I guess we'll see.)

Childish Things:

Before a gallery exhibit of her work, Penny tries a variety of methods to decide whom she can trust in life.

(This one seems like it could be kind of boring, but, again, it's from Paul McCusker, so it should be okay. I don't see what Penny's search for trust has to do with a gallery exhibition, though.)

So what do you think? Do any of these look very good or very disappointing or in-between to you? Do you agree or disagree with my assessments? As usual, I'd love to hear from you in the comments--no matter how long a comment you leave. Thanks for reading!

The Third Semi-Annual Avery Awards!

2011-07-28T10:39:00.002-04:00

The next Official Podcast is out, and we finally hear the winners of this season's Avery Awards. This episode was created by The Ceiling Fan Podcast, and has many allusions and references to the podcast for fans of the show, so the sound design is more creative and interesting than usual, and there are a variety of situations. The podcast was pretty corny, but still fairly enjoyable. I must quickly be getting too old to be all that amused by these things. ;)

Well, as has been with the previous two Avery Awards Ceremonies, I was a little (okay, maybe a lot) dissatisfied. What I voted for, for the most part, wasn't the majority's opinion, and thus didn't win, but I can deal with it. This time, though, especially in the actor/actress nominations, it seemed like it was more based on the popularity of the character than the talent of the actor/actress.

For those of you who don't have time to listen to the podcast, here are my votes, the actual winners, and my opinions about the selections:

Best Actor:

My Vote: David Selby as Jebidiah Skint
Actual Winner: Robby Bruce as Buck Oliver

I could have predicted this, but it still annoys me. I seem to be one of the only people who really didn't like Robby Bruce's acting. Throughout almost the whole album he sounded like he was faking his accent, and it just distracted me from liking his character--whereas Mr. Selby played his part wonderfully. His accent was perfect, and he was a perfect cast for the part. I enjoyed hearing from him throughout the whole album, but it was always with hesitation because I knew we'd be hearing from Buck. I think this category was based more on the huge popularity of Buck among younger listeners (as we'll see later), than it was about Robby's performance as an actor.

Best Actress:

My Vote: Kimmy Robertson as Penny Wise
Actual Winner: Kimmy Robertson as Penny Wise

I was glad to hear that my choice won in this category, but I suspect that it was for different reasons than most others chose Ms. Robertson. I chose her because I thought she did a wonderful job with her acting. She pulled off sounding like a young college student even though she is over fifty, I believe. In fact, if I remember correctly, she's older than Katie Leigh! So this category was a very easy choice for me. However, my guess is that the reason Ms. Robertson received the award is because Penny was the most popular female character of the season, which I simply disagree with. She seemed to bring out the worst in nearly everyone she came in contact with, so I almost wish she hadn't won the award.

Best New Character:

My Vote: Detective Don Polehaus
Actual Winner: Buck Oliver

I wish I could see how close the votes were, because although Buck seemed to be pretty popular among younger listeners, I wouldn't have thought he'd win this one. I picked Detective Polehaus because, honestly, he was the only new character I liked. If you don't count Monty or Jason, which you shouldn't because they weren't included in the nominees, he was the funniest and most interesting character introduced. I'm fairly certain that if Phil Procter was included in the Best Actor category, I wouldn't have thought twice about my choice, because he did such a good job; I almost never heard any hint of Leonard Meltsner's voice, which surprised me. Even though, at times, the detective seemed a little naive and unprofessional, it never got too bad (unless you're Marvin), so I hold him as my favorite new character.

However...Buck...urgh. He seemed to bring out the worst in everybody too. He made Emily fall for him and that brought a very annoying aspect to this season. As I've said before, I don't understand why we have to have a "love story" everywhere these days. You can't get away from it anymore, and it never ceases to annoy me. Young kids (yes, I'm calling 8-12 young) don't need that kind of stuff put in their heads. It only leads to flirting, bad relationships and heartbreak. And their even younger siblings certainly don't need to hear all that. It just drives me crazy--all in Christian love of course. ;) But then there was all that junk that Katrina was telling him too. I know that that message is very prevalent in the church today: "You have a good heart, but you have problems that Jesus can fix. Just accept Him into your heart and everything will be okay." Now that causes righteous indignation; I can justly be driven crazy by that. But knowing what I now know about Paul McCusker, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I don't want to point a finger at him personally, but it is because there's now a different religious perspective on the Odyssey team that their messages must be more wishy-washy. What Katrina says to Buck throughout the season would neither be offensive to Catholics nor the popular evangelical movement, but AIO doesn't seem to realize that it is because of that very fact that people like me are offended. The gospel is offensive. Jesus "came not to bring peace, but a sword." His message of sin, righteousness and judgement should offend people, and it is not our job to water it down. Alright, I'll stop now.

Best "Whitta-Cliffhanger":

My Vote: Monty Is One of the Plane Crash Victims!
Actual Winner: The Infamous Stiletto Is Really Jason Whittaker!

This one was a tough choice, because both Jason's and Monty's returns were very exciting to hear about. But because the news of Jason's return had already leaked to me before I heard the "Whitta-Cliffhanger" at the end of the episode, I chose the other one. However, now that I think about it, I sort of already knew about Monty's return as well, because Amazon released 10- to 15-second clips of each episode before the season aired on the radio, and I remember Monty was discreetly mentioned in one of them, so I knew about both epic returns before either happened. Hopefully that won't happen the next time AIO puts out a season-long mystery with some surprising returning characters. :D

Best Quote:

My Vote:
Buck: You have a thing about big trucks?
Jay: Oh yeah. Ever since I was a kid, you know, (makes truck noises)
Buck: If you want to make friends, don't ever do noises like that again, OK?
Jay: Yeah.
Actual Winner:
Buck: You have a thing about big trucks?
Jay: Oh yeah. Ever since I was a kid, you know, (makes truck noises)
Buck: If you want to make friends, don't ever do noises like that again, OK?
Jay: Yeah.

That exchange was hilarious! 'Nuf said.

Best Writer:

My Vote: I honestly don't remember because it was so ridiculous. (But it may have been "Paul E. McCusker.")
Actual Winner: Paul McCusker.

I already expressed my main negative thoughts about Mr. McCusker's writing, so now I'll shoot for the positive thoughts. This was actually a good mystery, in my opinion. For the most part, it kept all of us guessing until the true villain was revealed. It didn't seem like an unrealistic take-over-the-country operation; I thought it was pretty clever. Some were afraid that the writers would try to create a world domination plot that would seem way too fanciful, having been only developed over twelve episodes. But I thought that it was very convincing that Mr. Grote chose to try to break down America by distributing millions, if not billions of counterfeit dollars. Mr. McCusker could easily be a big mastermind behind a counterfeiting scheme, because it's really a good idea. (The evil in my nature thinks it would be something fun to try. ;D)

So anyway, great job Odyssey! Even though there are many things I personally would have done and not done with this album, it was satisfactory, and I have enjoyed listening to the saga a few times now that I own the album. Please share your thoughts with me about what you thought of this season's Avery Awards in the comments!

Brock Eastman Interview

2011-07-12T08:10:00.004-04:00

The Odyssey Scoop has posted the second part to their interview with Brock on the ScoopCast! I don't remember seeing that they had posted a first part, but it's exciting anyway. There was a little bit of new information shared, so I'll record it here as usual.

Brock has already heard six of Album 54's episodes, and he finds them quite exciting.

This upcoming album's episodes are definitely more along the lines of slice-of-life episodes, rather than the big conspiracy we just had.

The writers are already working on Album 55 shows, and Brock thinks that they are very exciting as well.

There is an episode in the upcoming season where we hear from Grandma Parker again, and there is a hilarious part combining Mr. Parker and tortillas.

Album 54 should really help us start connecting with the personalities of the members in the Parker family.

The Hispanic aspect of this new family was introduced to try to reach out to that Hispanic part of our culture which has always loved Odyssey, but seldom felt included in the stories.

Kevin McCreary plays a very minor character by the name of Kevin in the new Grandma Parker episode. His first Odyssey appearance was in The Green Ring Conspiracy Part I at 10:30. He calls out as part of the press as Detective Polehaus is leaving the crash site, "Detective, Detective! Wait, wait!" (I believe he was also the first person cast to play Robert Mitchell in Green Eyes and Yellow Tulips, according to the Novacom Saga's bonus CD.)

Brock has "cameoed" in a few episodes as well. In The Inspiration Station, he was one of the kids whom Connie had to clean up after in her dream, but his voice was replaced. And in The Mystery of the Clock Tower, he was a voice in the crowd at the end of Part 2. :P Diane, however, has been in many, many roles.

The Imagination Station series' Book 5, Showdown with the Shepherd was written by Brock, and Book 6, Problems in Plymouth was written by Marshal Younger. Plus, work has already been started on Books 7-12. Either Book 7 or 8 will feature Patrick fighting a dragon!

Brock's non-Odyssey series The Quest for Truth's first book, Taken, is out, and can be found at all major book retailers. He started writing the series in 2005, and he just last year finally found a publisher for them. (His blog about this series can be found here. [Be warned, the main picture may scare you away!])

The original premise for the series was going to feature four missionary kids in Africa, but Brock ended up having his character flying through space on a ship called the Phoenix! His purpose for writing the series was to give kids something to read that was a fun action/adventure story, but avoided the unnecessary elements that much teen fiction has today.

After the interview (which will be concluded in a third part in a couple of weeks), Kevin played a commercial/preview of the book series. You can hear that at 11:49 on the ScoopCast, if you're interested.

Well, I have to admit, I am getting a little bit more excited for the release of Album 54. I'm trying to get more optimistic about things so that I can come to the season with a neutral mind, but I'm not sure how well that's going to go if we have to hear from Penny and Emily. :P

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for any new Odyssey news. Please comment!

Paul McCusker Interview

2011-07-06T08:35:00.006-04:00

For one of the first times ever, I'm listening to The Whit's End Podcast. AIO Wiki posted a link to a podcast interview with Paul McCusker. The sound quality isn't as great as The Official Podcast, but it was still very interesting to listen to. There was some new information revealed, so I'll record that here for those who aren't interested in listening to the podcast.

The new and updated Official Guide is set to come out sometime in the next year, year-and-a-half, around the time of Odyssey's 25th Anniversary. It will include some repeated information (mainly episode descriptions), but Nathan Hoobler is planning to include a lot of new behind-the-scenes stuff that wasn't in the first guide, because he doesn't like repeats.

Mr. McCusker wasn't sure how early they will be releasing Album 54--whether they'd release it in download form as early as Album 53 was released or just in album form before or after the album airs. You should e-mail them if you really want to know the answer or give your thoughts.

There are no immediate plans to do anymore Passages books or audio episodes as of now, mainly because of Mr. McCusker's time management.

Phillip Glossman and Dr. Regis Blackgaard will never return!

Bernard is always a possibility for the show, but there are no plans yet to put him in a new episode.

Two dozen episodes of Adventures in Odyssey translated over into a video production in India have been completed and are being aired on television over there.

China was interested to have Odyssey translated into their language to share with their youth. Hispanic countries are receiving many episodes in the Spanish language as well.

Oliver Twist will be the next FOTF Radio Theatre project, hopefully coming out next year. For those of you very attentive listeners, there was a reference made to this project in Album 53. Tell me in the comments if you know what it was.

In England the word "skint" means that you're poor; that's where the name for Mr. Skint came from.

The reason Odyssey characters don't open up the new episodes is that the writers were trying to simplify things a little bit and get back to the original Chris-only openings.

It's very exciting for the writers to see Andre Stojka as he continues to do better and better in the role of Whit. Just as Hal Smith and Paul Herlinger developed their own styles of Whit and came to him with different approaches, the writers definitely notice that Andre has his own unique style that he brings to Whit, and they mold his lines to fit that approach. It was in this most recent Album 53 that Mr. McCusker felt that Andre really clicked as the right choice for a new Whit.

There are not any more current storylines for Montyn, but Mr. McCusker says that since his return was so well-loved and -received, they plan to bring him back at some point. Maybe in another twenty years? :P

Although three shows from Album 54 were removed to create room for the three Wooton/Penny shows, we will likely be hearing them in either Album 55 or 56.

Continuing in the never-ceasing joke about the paradox of Odyssey time, Paul McCusker explains how whereas there isn't really any jump of time between the end of Album 50 and Album 51, in Part IX of the GRC, Jason mentions that ten years ago, he took on the role of the Stiletto. They are very vague about the passing of time during these last few albums, so Mr. McCusker suggests we just lay back and roll with it, without trying to get wrapped up in the time scheme of things.

With Album 54, the writers decided to go with the idea that each episode is inspired by 1 Corinthians 13, but very often, Chris's wrap-up at the end will point to a specific verse. For example, one of the Penny episodes called Childish Things points to the actual verse where Paul says, "Put away childish things." But some are a little broader than that, because they aren't trying to accomplish "expository preaching," but rather a broad overview of the meaning of love, as expressed in the chapter.

Well, we got a bunch of information in that podcast, so I'm glad the AIO Wiki posted about it. It was especially nice to learn some new things about Album 54, including what the third Wooton/Penny episode will be. Now I know what three weeks to be on vacation. :P Just kidding. Anyway, thanks for reading! Please comment!

New Revelations

2011-06-29T17:39:00.003-04:00

Well, there's a new Official Podcast out, and this one actually reveals a lot! It's a Q & A session with Paul McCusker and Dave Arnold. There are several things revealed about Album 54 and beyond. If you don't have the time to listen, I've listed the answers to all the questions here.

There will be a resolution to the Jason/Mr. Grote saga involving an Agent Billings.
There is no connection between Mr. Grote, Dr. Blackgaard, and Mr. Charles.
Buck will probably make a re-appearance in Odyssey.
The directors played with a variety of different voices with Townsend Coleman to try to get a good Stilletto voice. They ended up choosing the one that they thought would best disguise Jason until he was revealed.
Detective Polehaus will be heard in the next album in at least one episode.
If Buck re-appears in Odyssey, Mr. Skint will certainly be somewhere nearby.
Throughout the recording of the first six episodes of the GRC, the writers were planning to have Penny end up being a double agent, working for Dr. Trask, but because of the direction the actress's voice seemed to be taking her, Mr. McCusker had to go back and re-write the rest of the episodes to keep her on the good side.
Mr. McCusker has been growing a beard since 1981, is currently sporting a goatee, and at times has been totally clean-shaven. At one point, his wife commented that he looked like a badger and she really wanted him to get rid of it, so he had to shave it.
Mr. Arnold didn't really like his work as Jesus in the original Imagination Station, but he enjoyed any time they did a live show.
All of the writers' creativity is God-inspired, but their ideas come from a variety of sources. It's a collective effort every time they write a story.

There was also a one-minute clip featuring snippets from several episodes in Album 54! I can't say that I'm much more excited about what's ahead, but it was still interesting to hear new things from our favorite characters. I don't really have time to explain everything that happened in the preview, so you'll just have to hear it on the podcast.

Finally, the Avery Awards for Album 53 are up! They're a little different than other ones have been before because all the episodes had the same name. It'd be a little difficult to pick best writing, sound design, and overall episode this season, so that's not what it's like this time. Instead, the best actor and actress remain, but then there are new catergories such as "Best New Character," "Funniest Quote," and "Best Cliff-Hanger." So make sure you go vote!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! Please comment!

Star Trip

2011-06-28T08:18:00.000-04:00

If you've ever heard the Odyssey episode Hidden in My Heart, you'll surely remember the ten-minute parody of Star Trek within the episode. A group of college students from Taylor University in Indiana who are part of the Adventures in Odyssey Fan Club at the campus spent a lot of time and talent to create a ten-minute live action video portraying this part of the episode. I found it to be one of the most well-done live action Odyssey videos that I've seen, and I believe it stays with the actual episode almost word-for-word.

Very interesting to me was that I actually know one of the actors in the video. I've come into contact with the girl who plays Crock (parody of Spock) a few times. Her parents live near where I am in Ohio, and I've been in the same soccer league as her. And she was also in the National Bible Bee during its first year, as I was. She won first place in the Senior Division at our local competion, and then she went on to compete in Washington D.C. at the national event.

Anyway, I just thought it was cool that I knew someone in a popular video. I hope you enjoy it! Click here to watch it over at the Odyssey Scoop.

Am I in a Passages Book?!

2011-06-22T15:54:00.001-04:00

No, actually, I'm not. But that would be cool! :P

About a year ago, either in late spring or early fall, I don't remember, the AIO team created an opportunity for fans of the Passages series to endorse the books. I think it even included receiving some of the books if your entry was used in any of the republished books. Gooey98/Will has brought it back to my attention that it would appear that I am one of the people who ended up getting on the final cut of the endorsements page. Brock's blog posted a picture of the page that I believe he is referring to around the time that the contest was announced. Here it is:

The paragraph in question is the third one right in the middle which, as you can see, is signed, "Christian A., age 14 Martin Tennessee." Well, though I'd like to get credit for writing that endorsement, I can't. There are two problems with it. First of all, when this picture was released, I was only thirteen. I didn't turn fourteen until September. Secondly, if you scroll down this page and look on the left side of the blog, you will see an "About Me" paragraph. And if you click on to my Blogger Profile, you will see that I live in Ohio, not Tennessee.

So, sorry to disappoint those of you who thought you knew someone whose name was in a book. ;) Although, there is another way that could be true. If you haven't noticed before, on the "Acknowledgements" page of the Official Guide (First Edition, 2008), there are some people you may know listed. Jacob Isom, the webmaster of The Odyssey Scoop is there; along with Chris and Sarah from The Unofficial Adventures in Odyssey Podcast, and Corey/Shadowpaw, the creator of The Soda Fountain, AIO Wiki, and The Town of Odyssey. So if you've ever communicated with any of those people, you do know someone whose name is in a book after all. (And their ministry is probably way better than mine would have been had I been the one to write that endorsement for Passages.)

Here It Is

2011-06-20T11:42:00.004-04:00

Due to somewhat popular request (whether spoken or unspoken), I have decided, against my better judgement ;) to show my attempt at an entry for the Odyssey Dollar Contest. I never really finished it, and this was only going to be a rough draft, but I didn't get beyond the rough draft, so this is the best I can give you:

So there, are you satisfied? :P

Well...

2011-06-16T06:14:00.005-04:00

As you've probably noticed, the new season, Album 53: The Green Ring Conspiracy is over. I've finished all my reviews, and now you guys are asking for more? :P Well there hasn't been much news recently, and I've been fairly busy. But I'm done with school now, so I should have time to do some stuff here this summer. Maybe (I said maybe!) I'll do some more character reviews like I did over last winter. But those are very time-consuming, and I often can't come up with much to say, so we'll see about that.

If you were involved in the Green Ring Art Contest, or if you'd just like to see the entries and vote on them, you'll be pleased to know that a video podcast was released on the Official Podcast Site yesterday evening. It is a pretty entertaining episode that is, of course, centered around the mischievous Brock. It even features a subtle guest appearance from Kevin McCreary! After you watch the video, you can see the top three entries for each age group and vote on them. Some of them are very well done--enough to confirm my speculation that any attempt of mine wouldn't measure up. ;) So get over there if you're interested.

That's about all the important news I think there is to report. Unless of course you wanted to see TLC's 19 Kids and Counting episode featuring FOTF and AIO, but you missed it. If that's the case but you want to watch it, it's not available for free, but you can buy it on Amazon here for $1.99. I haven't seen it, but from what I've heard, it's pretty enjoyable. There is a short preview of the episode on the Amazon page that gives a sneak peek at the activities on which the family embarks while they're in Colorado Springs.

So, thank you for reading! I'm glad I have readers who are eager to have me writing on a regular basis!

Okay, Now It Really Ends.

2011-06-02T06:42:00.002-04:00

Okay, so we left Jason running across the top of the train to get to the engine to stop the train to stop the trip across the county to stop the counterfeiters from getting their money distributed everywhere. Important stuff. I think Marvin had a great idea in comparing this episode to Exit, the last episode in the Novacom saga, where everything is a fast-paced attempt to end a plot to take over the world with mind control. I think Novacom did do a better job with making you feel like it was a world-wide conspiracy because there were several episodes were Jason was experiencing Andromeda's effects in Alaska and even to some extent when he was in Ecuador. In this newer saga, we're only just now starting to get the idea that this could be an American crisis, but it really doesn't feel that way; it certainly doesn't seem like a few guys (i.e. Dr. Trask) could be behind a plot to overthrow America from the inside. But Jason did relay that Mr. Groat said that these guys think that they're just in it to get money. They don't know the deeper purpose, whereas in the Novacom Saga, everyone except probably the employees at Novacom knew what was going on; it wasn't controlled by some big guy in Korea. The chairman was right in town at one point. But in regards to the type of episode--fast paced, adventure/thriller--TGRCXII and Exit are pretty similar. But unlike Exit, as my dad remarked, there were a lot of things in this episode that had to come together at just the right time. That ends up making the episode feel somewhat rushed and implausible. In Exit, however, everything made sense and came together in a liquid way that didn't seem coincidental. But now that I've taken care of that comparison, I'll get back to the review and try to finish it before I have to go eat breakfast and start my day.

Whit and Polehaus arrive at the train track, and again, to the detective's surprise, the bad guys got away! Who would have guessed that a train would be faster than a few old men on foot? Whit calls his research team at Whit's End to ask where the tracks lead because the police's maps don't have the track on them. Matthew says that the track continues down the mountain, past Shadow Springs, and on to...Haggler's Junkyard! What a crazy, random happenstance! The train just happens to go to a split in the track where it could head off to the business of someone who's involved in this whole thing. I think maybe Archie would have been smart enough to look ahead on his map and see that there was a possibility for a run-in with his brother, and then he would have done everything possible to insure that wouldn't happen. But that's where the train finds itself, and Mr. Whittaker ends the scene telling Eugene to pray--specifically because he believes Connie, Penny, and Wooton are on the train.

Eugene calls Wally Haggler at the junkyard who can "hear the train a-comin'. It's comin' round the bend!" When I heard that line I knew it had to be alluding to something like a line from a song or a movie. Sure enough, the ever-faithful AIO Wiki reports that it's a reference to the song "Folsom Prison Blues," an old Johnny Cash song. Anyway, in their attempts to figure out how to stop the train, the investigative team at Whit's End figures out that there should be a track-split with one track going into the junkyard. Wally confirms the information, but says that it's old, overgrown, and it leads right to his storage shed! (We can just see the disaster coming. ;D) But Eugene commands that stopping the train must be the priority. They look around for the electronic box or button to switch the track, but then Matthew asks what type of train it is. Wally replies that it is part of the Barrymore line, and what a coincidence, that's the same one that Emily hammered Matthew for knowing too much useless information about. Matthew tells him that there should be just an old-fashioned manual switch he'll need to throw right at the spot where the track splits. Jay goes on the same tirade Emily previously did, but Emily shows her excitement and says that she's glad Matthew knows what he's doing. Hmm...maybe more evidence of a crush? ;) Matthew yells to pull the switch, and Wally tells Jay to help him do what the man said. But Jay's too concerned about the fact that his uncle just called Matthew a man; Wally yells at him to drop it and just help him pull the switch!

Over on the train, the engineer, a wonderful voicing job by Jess Harnell, argues with Barney, a wonderful voicing job by Phil Lollar, about where and when the train will need to drop off the freight cars. To the extreme surprise of the engineer, Jason appears, no longer disguising his voice. Jason expresses his desire to stop the train, but the engineer stops him because he doesn't have orders for that. He tells Barney to call Uncle Archie to see if the orders came from him. Jason makes an attempt to grab the phone, beginning an all-out, old-fashioned radio fight accompanied by exciting music. The three guys are in a tussle for control of the train, knocking over the engineer's coffeepot in the process, to his utter dismay.

Meanwhile, Jay cheers Wally on as he tries to pull the switch. Then Wally gets the genius idea that maybe Jay should help him. Jay is disappointed, because he thought he already did his hero bit yesterday when he threatened to shoot Buck with the ice cream scoop, but he reluctantly helps his uncle. When they finally get it, they take a moment to bask in their victory, but then realize that they should probably get out of the way, and they make a run for it. Back in the train, the engineer stops the fight over the phone when he notices the two characters who just messed with the tracks. They realize what has happened, Barney yells for the engineer to stop the train, but he doesn't have orders, so he's paralyzed. Therefore, Jason just yells for them all to brace themselves because they're going to crash into the storage shed. And crash they do! There's a very prolonged crashing sound that sounds great in my earphones that are apparently equipped with surround sound. It was a classic radio sound effect that must have taken the sound designers a good bit of time to construct.

After a commercial break, Wally and Jay get up at the crash site, and Wally whines about his demolished shed, but Jay consoles him with the thought of all the sheet metal he'll get out of it. To most everyone's surprise then, Archie Haggler pulls himself out of the wreckage wondering what happened. He says hello to Wally and George...er...Jay, and Wally welcomes his brother to his place of business. But Archie is concerned about the fact that they weren't supposed to stop here. Wally lets him know that his train made a detour, but that he might have a job for Archie...once he gets out of jail. The carnival master hardly thinks he's going to jail, but then police sirens are heard blaring in the background, and Wally tells him he's not getting out of this one. But if he decides to stop being a haggler and starts acting like a decent human being, Wally says, he might get an early parole. A very disillusioned and discombobulated Archie seems to have a hard time getting that thought through his head. Sad.

Rewind a minute or so, and a little further down the track our favorite trio of hostages experience the train crash from their position on the train. As soon as Wooton makes sure everyone is alright, he starts another attempt of making light of the situation and he and Penny talk about how comfortable the crash was because of all the money, and that Uncle Archie should think about instigating them into his Whiplash ride to make it softer. They are pretty oblivious, because not only did the carnival just auction off all of the parts because they were finished with them, but Archie is part of a nationwide counterfeit ring, and they still want him to run a carnival. Unbelievable. Connie realizes right at that moment that the man with the accent whom they found in the box was Jason! Penny ends the scene with a remark that whoever he was, she doesn't give him high marks for his train driving.

Then for probably the last time ever, we hear the Skint music. *sniffs* I think I'm going to miss it--not! Buck and Mr. Skint have come back to the trailer to take Katrina as a hostage. But Buck is very opposed to the idea, and he argues with Mr. Skint about it. Skint assures him that he wouldn't do it unless it was necessary for their survival. But Buck understands all that now, and he sees through Mr. Skint's lies, and he now knows that there's more to life than survival. Mr. Skint tells him that it's fine if he wants to stay, but he warns him that, unlike him, the police know what Buck looks like, and if he takes Katrina back, he'll almost certainly be caught. But Buck stands up in the face of his guardian, and makes the right choice. Skint leaves, and Buck unties and ungags Katrina; she tells him that she prayed he would do what he did.

Back at the junkyard, Whit comes upon Monty and tells him he should be in the hospital. But Monty asks if they have the money and the bad guys. Whit says that the boxes have been rounded up, and Archie and his gang are in custody. I'm wondering how Jason got away without getting arrested, but that isn't answered. Connie runs up to Whit and tells him that she saw Jason and he had a message: the plates are at TLC. I'd never heard this before, but apparently those initials usually stand for Tender, Loving Care, so that's what Whit assumed. But when Monty hears about the plates, he knows that Jason meant the engraving plates. When I heard this, I thought that they were being strangely naive, because I thought it was obvious that TLC ment Trickle Lake Concrete/Cement.

Over at Whit's End, Eugene thanks Matthew and Emily for the critical part they played in stopping the criminals. They say they were glad to help--except that they had to be in a library so long with computers that are so outdated. :D Then Katrina comes in and tells Eugene about her mission to rescue Buck that got flipped around so that he rescued her. Buck comes down the stairs and says hello. Eugene somewhat reluctantly thanks him for saving his wife, and then Buck apologizes to Matthew, but Emily specifically for all the lies and for using her. He says that they're good people who deserved better. (Once again, Katrina's horrible indoctrination is putting the wrong things into his mind. And I absolutely hate to think about what this may have done to the actor, who more than likely isn't a Christian. "There is none good but God." We all deserve hell! Not anything better. How can unbelievers see their need for savlation if they think they are good people?) Just before Katrina leaves to take Buck to the police station, Emily asks where Mr. Skint is. Buck explains, and Emily says she's sorry. After they leave, Matthew asks Eugene what will happen to Buck. Eugene says he doesn't know, but whatever it is, he wants to believe it will change him for the better, by the grace of God. There we go, right there! 1. Buck needs changed for the better. He doesn't have a good heart. Jeremiah 17:9 and 2. It can only happen by the grace of God. We cannot do anything to change our hearts for the better. It is God who regenerates us; it is God who saves. We have absolutely nothing to do with it, other than the fact that it is us God chooses to save--us, wretched and wicked as we are. Even though it was our sin that put Christ on the cross, God loves us anyway. That is the message that needs to be carried across, and I'm glad it was strongly hinted at here. Eugene's line comes close to redeeming everything wrong Katrina previously said. But not completely.

In the next scene, Detective Polehaus meets with Whit and Monty, telling them his team has everyone who was on the train booked, and he's got APBs out on Skint and Trask. But they still have to figure out what is meant by TLC. Monty reminds them that a truck stopped at Trickle Lake Cement, but Polehaus says that was checked out, and it was supposedly for material for Archie's patio--except that there's no concrete patio at Archie's house. They seem to be at a dead end. But Monty didn't come all this way just to fail at the end. Whit reminds him, however, that it was only a few days before that he met with Mr. Skint on the dock, so he hasn't failed at all. That triggers something in Monty's brain though, and he now knows what TLC means.

They rush to Trickle Lake and head to Dock C, where the original meeting place was. There is a chain hanging on one of the posts of the dock, and the team figures out that the truck's stop at Trickle Lake Concrete must have been to get a hollow block of cement in which the engraving plates could be stashed and hidden. No one would have ever guessed to look for them at the bottom of a lake, and Dr. Trask is still out there, so he could have pulled those up at any time and escaped to another part of the country to restart his operation. But wait, do I hear another weird coincidence calling? Yep! At the very time that the guys are looking at the lake, they hear a sound from inside the nearby boathouse. Detective Polehaus kicks down the door again, and who is there but...Dr. Benjamin Trask. He claims to have been admiring the waves, but somehow, I think Polehaus doubts that was what he was doing from inside the shed, so he arrests the professor. As Trask is hauled off, he tries to explain to the detective something about his lawyer and the circumstantial aspects to the events at hand. Oh boy. To end the scene, Detective Polehaus thanks Whit and Monty for all their help, and then Whit ties everything up by congratulating Monty on the completion of his first big case and telling him to go call his mother like Whit promised Jana he'd do.

In the last scene, Whit comes upon Jason who's gotten into his house, apparently by breaking a window. He says that he had a meeting with Mr. Groat before he was drugged into the crate. He decided he didn't trust him anymore and was trying to get rid of him. Now Jason's going to follow him back to Hong Kong and try to tie up that loose end. Whit warns him not to get lost in the labyrinth, and then he leaves. Whit closes out the album by remarking, "Case closed...for now." Hmm...

Chris does an extra-long finishing speech about what we should have learned throughout this album. She says she hopes that listening to this will have given listeners things to think about and discuss with family and friends. Honestly, I haven't thought about doing that at all. I don't really think to apply the principles used in mysteries to real life. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not planning on talking about how to see through deceit and lies and discerning truth with my friends. But maybe that's just me. Chris gives a short salvation message right at the end that is a little better than last week's, but not much. But I guess I can be thankful it was there. Then she gives the list of actors and actresses, and implores us to join her next time for another Adventure in Odyssey. I certainly hope to.

Well, that's it! I'm done! Whoo-hoo! *does a dance around the room* This has easily been the toughest reviewing season I've done yet. Hopefully I won't have to do my reviews this way again for a long time. Please tell me what you think! Thank you for reading!

...And So It--ENDS!

2011-06-01T07:51:00.001-04:00

I'm debating within myself over which way I'm going to review this last episode this week. The last couple of weeks, I've listened to the episode all the way through once, and then I've started to review it. Then I hear it on our local radio station later in the morning, get some new insights, and then finish the review, scene by scene. But this week, since it's the last show of the season, I'm thinking about reviewing as I listen for the first time. It'd be more difficult, and I think it'd take a little longer, but it might turn out better. But I so badly want to listen to the whole thing and see how it all turns out! I don't know what I'm going to do. I've been waiting for weeks to hear this last episode, even though I could listen at any time now that I have ownership of the CD, so now that I'm finally authorized to listen to Part 12, I think I'll just enjoy, then I'll review it.

Wow. Fast forward half an hour, and I'm pretty impressed. Pretty much all the story lines were resolved, and all without making the episode feel too long. In fact, I think this episode was actually a bit shorter than most of the others, because there was time for an extra-long ending with Chris at the end. But anyway, here's my review:

The first scene of the show takes place apparently an hour or so after the last one left off. Detective Polehaus is reeling and yelling over the fact that after a 20-mile chase with the trucks, not a single dollar was found. He yells to Martin that he wants all the drivers arrested and every single inch of the equipment in the trucks disassembled, because the money has to be somewhere! Duh, but I highly doubt that the counterfeiters would be so dull as to let their money be in such an obvious place. Maybe, detective, you could look for the money in a less obvious place, since criminals usually try not to be obvious? :P Just a suggestion.

Martin gets Mr. Whittaker on the line, at Polehaus's command, and in the next scene, Whit connects him with Eugene in a conference call. Polehaus informs them both about the absence of money in the trucks, and Whit deduces that the only other place they're hoping the money could be hidden is the Old Ross Compound. But Polehaus reminds them that he checked the whole compound and didn't find anything. He says he has a man staked out there now, but it's been quiet. They stormed Dr. Trask's house, but he was gone, and there was no room for millions of counterfeit dollars, so the compound really is their last lead. Whit remembers that Matthew and Emily were researching at the library, and he asks Eugene if they found anything about the compound. Emily jumps in and tells about a layout that she found of the five buildings in the compound. Polehaus stops her and asks if she's sure there are five, because he only saw four. Emily says that yes, there is an extra building that's over to the east of the compound. Matthew found some information that suggests it's a gigantic underground bunker that would be covered over to look like a hill. That's enough information for Detective Polehaus--he decides to raid the place! (But somehow we just know that isn't going to work. :))

So they raid the bunker, but all they find is...hay bales? How is this possible?! Detective Polehaus was so sure that he was going to catch them! He was so sure that the criminals would be dull enough to stay in one area long enough to be caught! How could they have gotten away with Polehaus's men watching all the roads?! Uggh. Polehaus is way too full of himself and way too intent on catching the bad guys. He really thinks that they are going to be dumb enough to stay in one spot so he can catch them and haul them off to jail. I thought he was supposed to be a professional detective. But I guess he is only from Connelsville. Anyway, Whit's concerned about another aspect to this whole thing that has just been brought to light. He sees licorice bags, raspberry soda cans and a Winnie the Pooh picnic blanket on the ground. Was it the criminals taking a quick break to celebrate Polehaus's stupidity? I think not. Whit knows enough to be sure that it was Wooton. And who else would Wooton be having a picnic with than Penny and Connie? This means that the conspirators must have kidnapped the trio! Oh no! I'm so concerned that this could mean the end of Wooton! No, not really.

In the next scene, Monty, as Whit's "one last hope" to find out from Dirk Beggs what the numbers mean, bursts into Beggs's hospital room to make one last interrogation. Of course, the nurse is ticked again, and she runs off to get Dr. Graham. I think Marvin made a perfect analogy when he compared her actions to a little girl running off to tell Mommy that Big Brother is disobeying. :P With her out of the way, Monty threatens Dirk with being left to the Stiletto (even though neither of them yet knows who he really is), and Dirk decides to give in and spill everything, since he guesses that the money is probably long gone by now. He reveals that the numbers in his cell phone were from a text message that Mr. Skint sent to him. He scribbled the numbers down from the cell phone, and he was supposed to pass it on to the Stiletto, but Agent Tanner called, there was a tussle in the plane, and it crashed, and everything went downhill from there. But back to the point, Dirk finally uncovers the key to this whole puzzle: the numbers are freight cars attached to a private train.

Jumping right to the next scene, Mr. Whittaker relays the information to a very surprised Eugene, and Matthew finally understands how everyone disappeared from the compound. There's a line on the map that appears to be a dry riverbed or a road which leads to a railroad track. The counterfeiters must have used it to get the money to the waiting freight cars, and by now they're traveling at high speeds to distribute the fake cash all across America.

Back at the hospital, Monty is getting more information out of Dirk. The train will be taken to Chicago on a track that hasn't been used in years. Along the way, the freight cars holding the money will be coupled off with other engines waiting at places throughout the country, and then they'll be taken to rendezvous points where the money will be collected and distributed. As Monty remarks, it was a great idea. What better way to inconspicuously distribute counterfeit money throughout the entire country but by train. No one but the hardest thinkers would even consider the possibility of using a train, so it could all be done possibly right under the noses of watching policemen and detectives. And you have to give props to Mr. Groat for coming up with this big plan from his station in Korea; it's the perfect way to break America down from the inside, without anyone aware of it. Financial terrorism, Jason called it. Genius. After that explanation, the nurse comes back in and Monty has to leave, but we've gotten all the information necessary to stop the counterfeiters. And now the question is, can we stop them?

In comes the Skint music, along with the sound of a train, and Mr. Skint tells Buck that it's all over now; everything is taken care of. But Buck's concerned about the three hostages in one of the freight cars. Skint assures him that they'll be alright; they'll probably be dropped off and pointed back in the right direction somewhere along the way. However, Buck isn't satisfied, because he remembers that Archie talked about getting rid of those who got in the way. But Mr. Skint says that that isn't their concern, but that they need to focus on the one task they have left to accomplish. To me, it sounded here like Skint meant to get rid of Buck, but as the show progresses, it seems that he really does care for Buck, and the one last job they have to do is to take Katrina as a hostage for insurance.

Then, after a commercial break, we get our first view inside the train where Connie is starting to get into her stressed mood. She doesn't know where she's going, she's trapped, and she's surrounded by millions of dollars she can't spend. (Honestly, the sinful, wicked part of my nature is telling me that I would have stuffed my pockets with some of that stuff. I don't know how the counterfeiters trusted them to do that. But the righteous, godly part of me would have done something like opened all the boxes and dumped them out of the train. :D That would have been fun.) While Connie is stressed, Wooton is care-free and making his annoying wisecracks, and Penny is dejected and doesn't feel like even trying to get out because the man she trusted most in the world has turned out to be a fake. Then Connie makes an amazing revelation and tells us that that is the very reason why she doesn't trust anybody. What? Is she serious?! No, actually. But (and in comes one of the most theologically deep deliveries in the whole season), we have to know where to put our trust. She says that Christians start with Jesus (yes, exactly!), putting our trust in Him, and then everything else comes after that--the Bible, and the Holy Spirit for wisdom and help. The Spirit's illumination using the Scripture is how we discern between who we do and don't trust. Connie tells Penny that although we still make mistakes, she likes to think the Holy Spirit's influence cuts down on a lot of them that she's inclined to make.

I'm so glad that that all was put in there. Yes, we are inclined to make mistakes as part of our totally depraved sinful nature. But we need to first and foremost trust in Jesus' atonement to cover over our sin and to vindicate us before a holy God. And we trust in His perfect life that's accredited to our account to present us as righteous before God. And then the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to cut to our hearts and convict us and give us truth for life. Amen! All that may have almost totally redeemed all of the sketchy stuff about good hearts and good people that Katrina's been spewing out like a hose spurting filthy water. Anyway, Wooton, who is getting really good at ignoring spiritual things, changes the subject to the fact that based on his knowledge of a train that someone he knew from Alaska once owned (could this be the same friend who owned the underground bunker?), there should be a trap door right behind the pile of boxes in the corner. But just before they start to clear the way, a loud banging sound starts to come from a large man-sized crate. They undo the latches, and see a man wearing sunglasses and a hat with a New Yorkian accent who is groggy from drugs used to persuade him into the box. I don't know about you, but I'd be a little freaked out if I came across a shady character such as the Stiletto. He asks Wooton which way will get him out of the train, and as he goes out, he tells Connie by name that she needs to tell Mr. Whittaker that "the plates are at TLC." He then leaves, planning to run along the top of the train because Wooton tells him that it usually gives him inspiration. I'd like to know how many times Wooton has had the chance to run atop a train to know that it frequently gives him inspiration. But my main concern is that I hope there aren't any tunnels coming up any time soon. Yeesh!

Well, I'm sorta out of time for now, so I think that I'm going to do what Marvin did, and divide my review into two parts. Hopefully I can get the second part out by tomorrow morning. But I'd still like to hear your comments on this part! Thank you for reading!

My Apologies, But...

2011-05-31T15:59:00.005-04:00

the episode titles for Album 54 are out, as of today!!

The "My Apologies" part is about the fact that I still don't have my review of Part 12 of the Green Ring Conspiracy out yet. I've had a very busy Memorial Day weekend, as I suspect some of you have had, so please forgive me. I'll try to get the review out either tomorrow morning or Thursday morning.

But there's huge news! On a brand-new video podcast out today at the Official Podcast website, Brock secretly reveals the episode titles for the entirety of Album 54: Clanging Cymbals and the Meaning of God's Love! He only showed them for a split-second before Bob and Jesse cut him off, but I paused it, and here they are:

1. Wooton Knows Best
2. A Penny Saved
3. The Amazing Loser
4. Anger Mismanagement
5. Forgiving, More or Less
6. You're Two Kind
7. A Penny Earned
8. Never for Nothing
9. Emily the Genius
10. How to Sink a Sub
11. Unbecoming Jay
12. Childish Things

Honestly, to me, some of those seem a little fake, and it's hard to trust Brock sometimes, but I guess they look real enough that those are most likely the genuine titles. I have to admit, I'm not that excited about this album, because so far, since the relaunch, I don't think the issue of "love" has been dealt with all that well. Barrett and Priscilla in When You're Right, You're Right, Michael Butler and Wendy Jennings in The Mystery of the Clock Tower, and Buck and Emily and Wooton and Penny throughout Album 53. So I'm hoping that the AIO team redeems themselves with a more proper view of the sacred subject of love between a male and a female. Maybe they'll use the album to give a better portrayal of true love, whether it's agape love (unconditional love for others as neighbors), storge love (general affection for someone, usually as a family member), philia love (general love between friends--enjoying company), or eros love (romantic love between a male and a female--most specifically the emotional connection of the relationship). I hope they will handle the subject delicately, as it should be handled, and not flippantly, as I fear.

But episodes like #s 2, and 7, which are known to be episodes in the Wooton/Penny saga are giving me concerns. And I'm hoping Unbecoming Jay isn't something even remotely along the lines of the fake (or at least I think it was fake) description it was given for a short amount of time at AIO Wiki. It described Jay as wanting to improve himself for his girlfriend, so Emily and Matthew had to help him out--similar to Changing Rodney, except that episode didn't have a girlfriend in it. I wish AIO would stop putting those kinds of relationships in their shows. I actually liked the Trent and Mandy saga, because their love for each other was portrayed as something special and almost sacred, especially in A Class Reenactment. But in this new season, those kinds of relationships are tossed around with no honor or respect whatsoever, so I'm concerned and not sure what to expect from Album 54.

Please comment and tell me what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this subject!

...And So It's on the Edge of Its Conclusion...

2011-05-21T05:35:00.005-04:00

Boy. This episode was probably one of the best yet. We didn't learn a whole lot, but there was enough new information and action to hold my attention the entire time. When it finished, I couldn't believe it was already done! It's going to be so hard to wait all this week until I can hear Part XII next Saturday. It's so difficult to be patient when I have the means to hear the end of the saga in my possession right in my bedroom where I could pull it off the shelf at any time! But I promised that I would listen to the episodes as they aired and not take advantage of the fact that FOTF has done things differently this time around, so I'm going to do my best to keep that promise. But it's so hard!

I probably could review this episode in a short form, but I got up extra early this morning to get it done today, and I've had a couple of people tell me they really enjoy reading my reviews, so I'm going to do my best to do another long one. Here goes.

This episode begins with Penny and Connie on their planned hike together. But Connie isn't enjoying it very much she was expecting more of a leisurely stroll than a rock-climbing expedition. But Penny encourages her to keep on because it will be worth it when they reach the top and see the view. Connie asks her how she found the area, because she didn't know there was such a place in Odyssey. Penny says that she and some of the class have come up a few times with Dr. Trask to "meditate on the beauty of God." Connie remarks that Dr. Trask must really know his way around the area. That will become important later in the episode. Penny ironically remarks that she's not a big fan of trip like this though. She'd rather go skeet-shooting. I had to look that up. It's a recreational game involving the shooting of clay disks that have been flung into the air. Here's the link to Wikipedia's explanation. I've done something similar called pigeon shooting before. It's pretty fun; I don't know whether I'd rather do it over rock climbing though. Both are moderately fun activities to me. I'm not that outdoorsy of a person.

Anyway, the next scene finds us at Uncle Archie's Carnival where the auction is just starting. A funny-sounding man who's obviously played by Jess Harnell named Hubbard Gutman is the auctioneer. We hear him throughout the rest of the show whenever there's a Whit-Detective Polehaus scene because they keep watch at the auction for the entire episode. By the way, I wanted to mention that I think I trust Polehaus now. I'm done thinking that he's secretly working for the other side. Especially after the events in the last episode and this episode, I don't think there's any way that he's involved with the counterfeiters. In this scene, Polehaus tells Whit that he's been trying to find the Stiletto in the crowd. Whit quickly changes the subject, and asks the detective if he's had anyone see what went on at Trickle Lake Concrete the day before. But Polehaus says it's not his top priority. That pretty much tells us that something big must have happened there, because obviously Whit is smarter than Polehaus, and the pickup truck wouldn't have stopped there for no reason. Plus, Sullivan (Archie Haggler's Goon #1) non-subtly told us last time that the engraving plates were dropped off there.

Well, after that exchange, Whit gets a call from Monty who informs him that Derk Begs (I found out I've been spelling it wrong this whole time.) is finally out of his coma. It feels like it's been forever since that first episode when he was taken to the hospital, but I think it's actually only been two or three days! Monty wants in on the action, so he tells Whit that he's going to go try to get some information out of Derk. Whit tells him to ask about the numbers on the paper in the backpack that matched the ones sent in a text message. Then he started to tell him something about the Stiletto--I would guess he might have mentioned Jason--but the nurse started to come into the room, and all Monty got before hanging up was that the Stiletto is in town. He's able to use that information to threaten Derk later.

Then we hear the little ditty informing us that a Skint-scene is up next. He's preparing to leave to go check on things at the auction and then head over to the compound. He tells Buck his plans, warns him to keep a low profile, and leaves. No sooner has he exited than Ms. Katri...er...Katrina appears. She explains how she found him, but he's still surprised--especially when she explains that she's come to rescue him. He strongly hesitates, and she tries to persuade him by telling him that given a chance to get away from Mr. Skint's influence, he'll see what a "good heart" he has. Now, not to pick on her theology, but what's that verse in Jeremiah 17:9? "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Umm...that's pretty straightforward and clear. It's things like this, along with episodes like Opposite Day and When You're Right, You're Right that convince me that Odyssey is slowly moving toward the liberal side of the scale.

Anyway, when Buck argues that life isn't about good hearts or bad hearts, but rather about survival, Katrina responds that life is about the choices you make--you can choose evil or you can choose good. I guess you could say that, but in my Calvinistic point of view, life is about the choices God has made. That gets into the issue of free will vs. God's predestination, and I don't want to get into that, so I won't elaborate. She then implores him to choose God. Again, I'm pretty biased, but doesn't Jesus say, "You did not choose me, but I chose you"? Buck says he doesn't know anything about God, so Katrina tells him to come with her so she can explain it to him. They start to argue because Buck says he can't go, but then Skint appears and says that no, Buck can't go. (I'm sorta glad he popped in, because otherwise, there might have been a scene where Katrina explained "salvation" to Buck, and then I suspect I would have had a lot to complain about. But, unfortunately, Chris had a lot to say at the end of the episode, so I guess I'll have to say something when I get to that.) Mr. Skint had come back for his car keys, and he commands Buck to tie and gag her.

Back at the hospital, Monty goes to visit Derk Begs. After he walks in, Derk expresses his frustration over the fact that Monty double-crossed him. If this was a movie, the exchange probably wouldn't have been G-rated, but I'm glad it stayed that way. :) After they discuss German jazz bands, Monty cuts right to the chase and asks Derk about the numbers. Derk says they should be self-explanatory if the phone's working, so he suspects that Monty is bluffing. He starts to make a deal, but the nurse (who doesn't even care if he's the king of Siam) comes in and orders Monty to return to his room. Monty leaves Derk with the wonderful thought of what the Stiletto might do to him now that he's in town.

Now we go to one of the most pivotal scenes in the episode. Matthew and Emily decide they've collected enough information from the library, and Emily calls Eugene on the walkie-talkie thingamabob. She tells him that she's searched through any instances in Odyssey's past that involved counterfeit money, and then she cross-referenced those dates with national archives. She discovered that pretty much any time the subject popped up, Uncle Archie's Carnival was nearby. (What a surprise!) Matthew discovered a picture taken 20 years before featuring Archie Haggler and Benjamin Trask together, celebrating the beginning of The Consolidated Arts Company. Then comes the surprise (unless you were already expecting it like I was). Matthew went way back in the history of Dr. Trask, and found an article about him from 30 years before when he first came to Odyssey. The kids send the information to Eugene, and when he sees what the professor's occupation was before coming to town, he exclaims, "Unbelievable! Excellent work! I have to contact Mr. Whittaker right away!!"

Thankfully, we aren't kept in suspense for very long, because right in the next scene, we come across Whit telling Eugene to slow down because he can't understand what Eugene's saying. He slows down and tells Whit that the e-mail the kids sent him told him that Benjamin Trask was formerly a template engraver for the U.S. Mint! He was one of their top designers! The only reason he stopped was that he had to retire because the fumes were having a negative effect on his system. Hey, I wonder if that's why his mind has conjured up so much fluffy junk about meditation and God. ;) Eugene lastly counsels Whit to call and warn Connie to tell her that Penny could be involved in the conspiracy along with Dr. Trask.

Back at Trickle Lake, Connie and Penny are climbing down from the "small pile of rocks" remarking about how beautiful the view was. Just as they're starting to discuss the beginning of their business partnership in copying paintings, Connie's cellphone rings. (Even though she's changed the ringtone since A Thankstaking Story, it still might be too rocky for conservative listeners.) We hear Whit tell her to make sure she doesn't react, but that he has important news for her. She walks away from Penny who figures she must have left the cash register open again. We then hear a "WHAT?!" in the background, and Penny remarks, "Oooh. There must have been a lot of money in that drawer. :D

Over at the auction, Whit fills Detective Polehaus in off-air about Dr. Trask. He says he'll send one of his men up to his place. I don't know about you, but he seems awfully calm about the situation. You'd think having figured out the identity of a thirty-year counterfeiter would get him excited. Nope. He's more concerned about what he sees at the carnival. He tells Whit that he's noticed that everyone at the auction is winning equally; no one person is getting the top bid on any of the equipment. It's rigged. Whit deduces that that must be how the counterfeiters conveniently get the money distributed all over the country. But Polehaus assures Whit that the trucks holding the equipment and money won't get past their roadblock. He then makes a comment about the smell of victory. He's really getting out of character here. Usually he's totally suspicious and pessimistic that anything could go right for him, and now that he's at the pivotal point of the whole conspiracy, he sits back and talks about how superior and victorious he feels. Give me a break.

Now we get back to Connie and Penny's hike which, according to Penny, has turned into a "marathon" because Connie is so bent on getting back into town to talk to Whit. And Penny wants to know what in the world Mr. Whittaker could have said to her to get her heading back so quickly. But before Connie can say anything, lo and behold...Wooton pops out from the bushes! Oh joy! Rapture! (More like "Oh, migraine headache!" which I happen to have right now.) While Penny is amazed at the coincidence that Wooton was hiding in the woods just as they were going past, Connie scolds him for scaring them. He reminds her that he was planning a picnic at Montague Point. (I think that name is an allusion to the last name of the character Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I just read that for Literature this year, and it's usually a word used when referring to a forbidden relationship. [Romeo and Juliet had a forbidden love.] I think it might be a reference to the fact that Wooton and Penny are forbidden by the Bible to have an intimate relationship because Penny isn't a Christian. That's probably a longshot though. But maybe that's why they never make it to Montague Point. Does any of that make sense?) Connie tells Wooton that she forgot about the surprise, but that they need to get back to town.

Penny practically begs Connie to tell her why they're suddenly in such a hurry, so she gives in because she trusts Penny (oh, and we'll assume Wooton too). When Connie finally spills the beans that Penny's mentor might be the crime boss of the whole counterfeiting ring, Penny is shocked and immediately changes her mind and, to the dismay of Wooton, sides with Connie about going back to town. Penny leads them on a shortcut that will take them "to the truth."

*insert Skint music*

But, *gasp*, it's not a Mr. Skint scene! Marvin was wrong! Well, while he did say that it was always there when a Skint scene was coming, he didn't say that whenever it came, a Skint scene was coming. But this is a Buck scene, so it's pretty close. Buck has just finished tying and gagging Katrina, but she has something to say to him. After she promises not to scream, he takes the gag off. She tells him that he still has a choice as to whether or not he's going to follow Skint. She promises to pray for him every day, and then she gives him a talk about Mr. Skint. She tells him that though he may be loyal and that may seem like love, if he really loved Buck, he'd do the right thing. But that strikes a nerve, and Buck tells her that's enough talking for now. I have to commend Buck for his loyalty; even though Skint is doing the wrong thing for him, Buck, I think does love him, and he doesn't want to think of leaving him. But I think he'll eventually come to his senses, and that's when he'll leave Mr. Skint. The question is, what will he do then? He has nothing. That's why I think that it's perfectly plausible that the Meltsners will adopt him. It is a weird idea, and it'd take a lot of getting used to, but what other option is there? I mean, he could just go along with the counterfeiters, but that would contradict everything to which the Katrina-Buck saga seems to be leading. I don't know.

After a commercial break (I'm not sure if it was the first or second one), we get back to Whit and Polehaus where the auction is over and the trucks are leaving. Detective Polehaus is disappointed that he hasn't gotten to see the Stiletto, and Whit nearly ruins things when he says that he's been looking for him all day and he's concerned. But after a double-take by Polehaus, Whit quickly corrects himself, and the detective tells him he might be spending too much time in the sun. Whit changes the subject, drawing the attention to Uncle Archie, who's looking very pleased with himself. Polehaus remarks that he's confused about how they got the money into the trucks. We know from a few episodes ago that the plan was changed because of the Stiletto's suspected treachery, so that's not how the exchange is going to happen. Polehaus then speculates that maybe the trucks are headed to a rendezvous point, but then he chuckles because he "knows" that the roadblocks will get them.

Back in the woods with the three wheels (of which Connie was originally the third, but now, since the tides have changed, of which it seems Wooton has claimed the title), Penny claims they're almost to the place where the truth will be revealed. Judging by the barbed-wire fence, Penny says that they should be right about to Dr. Trask's property. Connie is shocked and frustrated that Penny brought them to his house, but Penny says that they need to get to the bottom of the issue, and this is best way to do it. However, a guard, who has a voice strikingly similar to Mr. Dosh from the Old Ross Compound, comes to them before they enter the property and informs them that this isn't Dr. Trask's house, but rather, they should go down a road over to the other side of the property where they will find him. Unfortunately, Mr. Skint picks that time to walk up, confirming to us that this is the Old Ross Compound and that is Mr. Dosh. He asks Mr. Dosh what the trouble is, and at that moment, Penny decides that she recognizes Skint--even though he's shaved his entire head and face. (She'd know his dreamy blue eyes anywhere!) Mr. Skint acknowledges her then, but at that time, Connie realizes the danger and starts leading the group away. Therefore Skint commands Dosh to get out his weapon and take them to the bunker and lock them up. He, not unlike Wooton, doesn't trust awfully strange coincidences. ;) By the way, I absolutely loved Phil Lollar's (Dosh) "You'll see" at the end of the scene.

Over at another yelling-detective scene, Polehaus is radioing Martin for a progress report on the blockage of the trucks. He redeems himself from any doubt I had that his heart is in this chase, because as soon as Martin describes the situation of eight trucks going in separate directions, Polehaus yells nearly at the top of his lungs to pull them over. However, the truck-drivers have lost their minds and are speeding on. But have they lost their minds, or are they quickly headed to the rendezvous at the Old Ross Compound. I'm going for the latter.

At the compound, Wooton, Penny, and Connie are locked in the bunker (reminding me of The Other Side of the Glass) which, relievingly, has both a light, and more than enough space for the picnic blanket. Wooton starts getting out the food, while Connie desperately tries to figure out how to escape. Okay, maybe not desperately, but she's pretty stressed. Wooton says that even though there's only one way out, there'll be another chance to leave because the bad guys will have to come back for all the boxes of money. And of course, the boxes have to be full of money, because who would go to all that trouble to package Cabbage Patch Dolls? Connie rips open a box and finds that it is full of money, and she concludes that adding that with all the other boxes in the bunker, there must be millions of bills! Penny remarks, "How could this happen?" But of course she doesn't mean, how could she be duped into helping Trask with this scheme--she means, how could she lose her taste for raspberry soda! *sighs* Seriously. To quote Marvin, "DIE...PENNY! DIE!"

So they're stuck. But maybe not! Wooton exclaims, "This is a job for Captain Absolutely!" But Connie quickly shoots back, "No it's not." Man! I totally believed him. I thought maybe the counterfeiters were going to come in and maybe he'd do some kung fu and make it out and tell the police and apprehend them all. But, then again, that'd be totally unrealistic and...unrealistic, so I'm glad it didn't happen that way. Instead, Skint barges in with some goons and they begin taking out the boxes. Dr. Trask then comes in and, after Wooton and he have a nice little exchange about the wonderful Montague Point, Penny starts into him. First she asks how he could do all this with all of his classes and talks about the beauty of God; they were just lies! But he says that everything he taught he believes is true. (That's awfully comforting.) So she digs further, making her first very good point of the season, saying that he didn't live it; none of that talk is any good if he doesn't live it. Dr. Trask commends her for making that point, and says he'll consider it...while he's living off of his millions of dollars. Finally we see the bad side of the professor. That seemed so out of character, but I guess the real time he was out of character were any of the times he was acting innocent. Then Penny takes the opportunity to make a very thoughtful observation: "You are not a very good person at all!" "Oh, good, bad," says Dr. Trask, "they're all a state of mind." Yeah, sure. Depravity of man--right there. Even the worst of criminals can't admit that they're bad. Anyway, the episode ends with Dr. Trask letting them know that they aren't getting away; they're getting moved with the money--and they're not using the roads! *Dun-dun-dun*

Okay, that's it! Well, not exactly. Chris said some interesting things during the ending segment about how we receive "salvation." (I put it in quotations because I don't believe doing what she said gets us true salvation.) I won't bore you with all that I think about what she said, because I'd probably spark a theological debate, which I don't want to do, so I'll just say I don't agree with her, and that's that. (Though you're perfectly welcome to ask me about it; I just don't feel like writing anything else now.)

Thank you for reading the review! I know it must take a long time, so I appreciate those of you who do. Please comment!

...And So It Nears the Finish Line...

2011-05-19T08:21:00.000-04:00

This episode was a little disappointing. We didn't learn much of anything new at all, but it was more that the good characters were really frustrated over the fact that they weren't getting anywhere with the mystery. And while they are still trying to fit the pieces together, the bad guys are getting ready for the big operation.

I'm going to do the review much the same way I did last week, because if I didn't, I'm not sure there would be much for me to say. This episode didn't really have much to it, so I'm going to try to go through it scene by scene, without making it too incredibly long.

The episode starts out with Detective Polehaus frustrated with Buck because he refused to give any information about the counterfeiting ring. He claims not to know anything about counterfeit money, the green ring, what was on the AppleBerry, or whom it was that knocked out and captured Monty. But my question is, what else did he think all of the printing equipment that he was around so often was? And back when he was first commissioned by Mr. Skint to get the phone, Mr. Skint made it seem like Buck knew what was on the phone and how bad it would be if it got into the wrong hands. I believe him that he doesn't know about Monty, but Polehaus obviously isn't going to believe him since his DNA was found at the spot. He's convinced that Buck may look like a kid, but he's actually a criminal genius who's playing a big part in the conspiracy. Then he takes a shot at Buck's relationship with Mr. Skint, saying that it doesn't seem very nice of Skint to leave him like this. But we find out later that Buck knew all along that Skint hadn't abandoned him, and that he was set to meet up with him ASAP.

But because Polehaus thinks he's gotten an emotion out of Buck, since he suddenly goes quiet, he tries to retrieve some information about the compound and the truck that showed up. Buck doesn't give him anything though; he just says it was probably taking stuff to the carnival from their big storage area. Polehaus says Dosh showed him that area, and there wasn't anything there. Buck is at a loss for words and says he doesn't know anything about it. I'm not sure what to believe about what Buck knows. His actor does a good job of hiding whether or not he's telling the truth or not. But from what he says to Mr. Skint later on, it seems that he knows more than he was letting on. Something still tells me though that he doesn't know much about the counterfeiting ring.

Anyway, Katrina saves Buck from having to give Polehaus a real answer because she's playing Ms. Over-Sympathetic again, concerned that Polehaus is questioning him too long and hard. Apparently, as a minor citizen, Buck has rights to having a guardian or a lawyer or somebody with him if the questioning goes on for too long, so Katrina's concerned that this conversation might not hold up in court because Polehaus didn't obey the law. I guess it's a legitimate concern, but since when has Katrina been so interested in the law, and why is she still being so sympathetic toward an obvious criminal. I know this is supposed to go along with the story about how the people at Whit's End are being so compassionate and loving to Buck, but I think this takes it a little too far. We should be loving, but not so much so that a criminal might get out of a punishment. Surprisingly, however, the "very compassionate" Detective Polehaus decides to let Buck go. But compassionate nothing. He just wants to get the boy headed back to Mr. Skint so the policemen can follow him.

Then there's one more little exchange between Katrina and the detective right before he leaves. Polehaus warns her, "Look, this is not a kid you wanna get attached to." After he leaves, she says under her breath, "No, of course not." I'm not sure, by the tone of her voice, if she meant that sarcastically, or if she was actually considering taking his advice for once. I think she's really torn emotionally over him, because she genuinely cares about him, but she's disappointed that he's gotten himself into this mess. I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but my theory is that when all this is over, Buck is going to be found not guilty of knowing much about the conspiracy, and then he's going to need a guardian because Skint is in jail. So I think that Eugene and Katrina are going to adopt him. That's just a thought--one that doesn't have much evidence behind it--but I think it would be interesting, to say the least. I've always thought Eugene and Katrina should have a kid, and I think it works out better for them to adopt one than for them to have a biological one.

Anyway, the scene finally changes, and we go to the basement of Whit's End where Whit is coming down to check on Eugene, who's working on the broken AppleBerry. He says that although the phones are supposedly known for their durability, he's not getting anywhere very fast, so they won't be getting any information out of it for now. Whit tells him that Detective Polehaus is counting on him to be the one to fix the phone, so if they're going to get anything from it, it's up to him. Whit goes to leave for the hospital, and you can tell by the change in music that Eugene's about to start the short, spiritual conversation of the episode. He stops Mr. Whittaker to tell him that he has a strong sense that they're losing this battle to the bad guys. Whit, of course, reassures him that he's sure there are key pieces to the puzzle that they just haven't found yet, and God knows where they are. This implies the idea that if it's in God's will for them to solve the mystery, He will give them help in just the way He's always planned to. This is a timeless message that all of us need to hear at some point in our lives. I know I've had my share of trying times--Marvin's going through one right now--and I'm sure that all of you readers have known days where you feel like the devil is winning the war for your soul. All we can do when we're in those situations is trust that God has us in His hands and he won't ever let us go. He knows what we're going through, and He, if you are truly His, is working everything together for your greater good, and for His glory. So this story actually had a pretty good spiritual application, if you elaborate on it like that.

Well, now we switch gears and head over to a story that we haven't heard much from recently. Connie is visiting Wooton at what sounds like late at night while all the other stuff is going on. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this either, but the chemistry between Connie and Wooton has always been amazing. Whenever Connie's bothered about something, Wooton (unless she goes to Whit) has always been able to help her get in a good mood. Penny's entrance into the picture has almost totally destroyed that connection, and now the Connie-Wooton scenes have become uncomfortable and...just...out of character for both of them, I guess. With all of the episodes that they've been in together, I think they'd make a great pair--much better than Penny and Wooton. Yeesh. Anyway, after a somewhat humorous, but unneeded and distracting exchange about Wooton's doorbell, the two of them sit down on Wooton's porch swing to talk.

Connie starts to try to tell Wooton what I assume was going to be her advice about not getting too close with Penny because of her strange beliefs, but the fingernailless, nervous wreck-Wooton assumes that she must be bringing the bad news that Penny doesn't like him the same way he likes her. With the subject slightly changed, Connie reassures him that everything's fine, and Penny and she are just going on a hike together. Then she tries to get back to her original reason for coming, but Wooton takes the ball and runs with it, inviting himself to their outing and making plans for an all-out surprise picnic. Connie tries to tell Wooton that she's concerned, probably because 1. she'll end up as a third wheel again, and 2. she still hasn't talked to him about being careful with Penny because of her strange "Christianity." But Wooton, in his always-jovial food-based mind, thinks she must be concerned about what food to bring. She tries one more time, but there's no getting a word in when the smitten Wooton has a chance to be with Penny. *sighs*

After a commercial break, we finally get back to Buck and Polehaus. Polehaus having set up a meeting between himself and Mr. Skint the next morning, Buck is free to go back to the compound, and he's going to be escorted by a police officer. After he leaves, Katrina expresses her doubt that they'll show up for the meeting the next morning. Polehaus agrees, adding that he doubts Buck will even go home in the police car. So he's set up agents all over the area who he's sure will follow Buck wherever he may run off to. Katrina asks him if he's sure about that--Buck's a shrewd young man, she says. But Polehaus is counting on his team of experts to be able to track a fourteen-year-old. Oh...what's that old, biblical Proverb? Pride comes before a fall? :D I knew this next part was coming.

Polehaus slams his fist down as the next scene cuts in. Of course, his men call and tell him that they've lost Buck. He yells at them to find him, hangs up, and mutters that he's "got the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers, and the Keystone Cops all rolled up into one unit!" Katrina practically tells him that she told him so, and then Whit appears out of nowhere, probably having just come up from the basement and states the obvious: that Buck is probably headed back to Mr. Skint. But no one knows where Skint is, so that's no help. Polehaus storms out of Whit's End ranting about his bad fortune and screaming for Martin.

Eugene enters from the basement, and is surprised to see Katrina still there. The two have a husband-wife chat, where Katrina admits to Eugene that she has to prove that Buck is a willing accomplice to Skint before she believes it. She says she'll find him one way or another, and then she's really going to get to the bottom of all this.

Marvin mentioned somewhere that he thinks Mr. Skint has his own music that always starts the scenes that he's in. Having listened to the first six episodes of Album 53 again now that I have the CDs, I agree. We hear that little ditty as we go to the next scene where, sure enough, Buck meets up with Mr. Skint at Trickle Lake. Buck updates him about what happened in Whit's office. He's proud of himself (which means he inserts his annoying southern laugh into every other sentence) for not letting any new information out, and for getting away without being followed. Skint is very happy with him. And again, I find it hard to believe that Buck could know nothing about what Skint is up to, because, especially in this scene, they seem to have a very close relationship. Mr. Skint doesn't at all seem to be involving him in this by force, so I don't see how Buck could end up being innocent of anything.

Well, now, to Skint's surprise, Uncle Archie walks up, commenting on Skint's use of the word excellent to describe the current situation. I really like the chemistry between the two of them in this scene, and I think it's great to finally see Skint as not the one in ultimate control of everything. Anyway, Archie is concerned that Skint is endangering the success of the next morning's operation with his incompetence, but Skint assures him that everything is going according to plan. And I think he's right--so far anyway. The folks at Whit's End are at a dead end. They have absolutely nothing to go on currently. Archie isn't satisfied though, because, he says, the benefactor is not happy. But Mr. Skint is sure that by the end of tomorrow, they'll all be laughing about any doubts they had that the maneuver would go off without hitch. Buck adds, "Yeah, all the way to the bank!" (Again, I really think he knows more than anyone thinks.) Archie warns that the alternative is, of course, crying all the way to jail. He then tells Skint to clean himself up for the big day tomorrow, to ditch Archie's pickup truck that they've been using, and not to go back to the compound, but rather to sleep at the carnival. Finally, he leaves them with one final direction: Get rid of Whittaker and Polehaus--by whatever means necessary!

The next morning, Whit goes down to check on Eugene, who's gotten an early start in the basement again. Eugene reports that he's retrieved a few bits of information, but the one thing that caught his attention was a text message consisting of a string of numbers that looked familiar to him. He remembered that they were on the piece of paper they found in the backpack with the money. (Does anyone else remember that, because I don't!) Whit acknowledges that it's the best lead they have, so they should see if it leads somewhere.

But then Matthew and Emily come in, and Emily's whining about how she missed all the excitement yesterday. Matthew shoots back at her that it was her fault, because she didn't want to be embarrassed. Then Emily shoots back that he's the one who--Whit interrupts them, and gets back to what he was saying when they came in. He was thinking that since the counterfeiters have been working out of this area for so long. They need to figure out the identity of the man (I assume the "benefactor") who's been in town all along making the counterfeit money. He says that there should probably be a little something in newspaper archives at the library, and of course the kids immediately volunteer.

While Eugene goes to get his and Mr. Whittaker's new walkie-talkie/earphone invention that should help them stay in contact, Emily asks Whit if he really thinks Buck is in trouble because she's worried about him. She wants to believe that she can trust him. Whit says that he doesn't know either way, but that he understands how she must feel. She opens up about how horrible she feels about how he used her to accomplish his evil purposes. (Anybody thinking of Richard Maxwell?) I hadn't really thought about how she would be feeling after finding out what he did. Whit advises that they should pray for Buck, and for themselves--that God would give them the grace to forgive him.

Then the scene skips over to Mr. Skint who's trying to wake Buck up. Buck hesitates, and then nearly jumps out of his skin when he opens his eyes and sees Skint. He's shaved, and cut his hair, and...he's wearing a tie!! After calming down, Buck reveals his thoughts to Skint about what Archie said the night before. He doesn't like the idea of hurting Mr. Whittaker or any of the other "good people" at Whit's End. But Mr. Skint tells him that they need to be looking out for themselves, not caring about anyone else. Buck says that if it comes to hurting anyone, he won't do it. Skint returns, "Not even to protect me?" Then Buck does one of the smartest things he's done all season: He turns that back toward Mr. Skint and asks if he would have come to help him if he'd gotten caught by the police the night before when he ran. But Skint dodges the question and changes the subject--he reminds Buck that everything they've worked for gets paid off today.

The end of the second commercial break brings us to Detective Polehaus giving his team a synopsis of the day's coming events. He delivers a speech reminiscent of an army general addressing his soldiers before a battle, directing them to watch every bit of activity at the carnival, because it's usually on the big day that the bad guys get careless. He ends telling them that they must report anything and everything--no matter how unusual, and then the team heads out. Meanwhile, Whit comes in to tell Polehaus about something he found in his office.

The scene switches over to the office, where Whit tells the detective about the numbers that Eugene found in the AppleBerry which match the ones on the sheet that was found in the backpack. Then he advises Polehaus to check the traffic cameras around town to see where the pickup truck went. But Polehaus tells Whit that he's a step ahead for once, and Martin's on the job right now. As if like clockwork, Martin walks in the door and shares what he's found--the truck went into the city from the compound, going to first, the Burger World Drive-In, and then to Trickle Lake Concrete, before finally ending up at the carnival. But there's one more very interesting piece of information that could finally turn the whole case around--the Old Ross Compound is owned by The Consolidated Arts Company, which also owns Uncle Archie's Carnival. I knew Dr. Trask had to be involved! What else could it mean? Maybe Whit and the gang will finally get to the bottom of this. The scene ends with Whit telling Polehaus he'll have his "Crack Investigative Team" check out the Consolidated Arts Company.

Of course, that team is Matthew and Emily at the library, which is where we go next. It's a short little scene where they make contact with Eugene via their walkie-talkie-earphone thingies, and they tell him what they'll be looking for in the database. Eugene calls Emily a super-sleuth, and Emily is surprised. After they sign off, Emily asks Matthew about it, and he *gasp* confirms the compliment! And he did it in an almost flirty way, because as soon as she tried to pursue it, he changed the subject. Hmm... I'm not sure if I should be happy with this or not. At least Emily seems to have let go of Buck!

Then we finally get back to the Stiletto storyline. In this last scene, Jason comes to Archie in what I assume to be his office at the carnival. Archie had apparently sent him a message that he wanted to talk to him. So Jason came, and now Archie is breaking the news to him that his services are no longer needed--of course, this is because somehow Jason's cover has been blown. At this point, Archie's goons come in and, at his command, start tying Jason up with duct tape. Jason tries to fight, but stops when Archie points six "good reasons" at him. :) He tells Jason that Mr. Groat (or Grote, as Marvin spells it) wants to meet with him, and he's not happy. My guess is that this is when Jason is going to be disposed of. I still can't figure out who could have blown his cover though. But it doesn't help anything that Jason is so ignorant of anything. Maybe that's what showed him to be phony to begin with.

The last bit of interesting information in this episode is given by one of the goons taking Jason out the door. Archie asked if he took care of the business, and he basically says that he took the engraving plates to TLC--which I assume to be Trickle Lake Concrete. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next episode. I can tell it's going to be exciting!

Okay, so I guess that wasn't a very short review at all. I actually think it was quite a bit longer than last week's. Oh well. Hopefully you read the majority of it. I'll try to get the review of Part 11 out earlier than I did with this episode. Thank you for reading! Please comment!

A Penny Saved

2011-05-18T07:07:00.003-04:00

I've picked up around different Odyssey sites that a new title has been released for Album 54: Clanging Cymbals and the Meaning of God's Love. The episode, which I think is going to be three parts, is called A Penny Saved.

It will deal with the Wooton-Penny-Connie storyline started in Album 53. People speculate that it will probably feature the clearing-up of Penny's bad New-Age Pan-En-Theistic theology. Who knows? Maybe she'll become a Christian. But I really don't think, even if she does, that I want her to remain a regular on the show. That is, unless she becomes way less annoying. She and Wooton, however similar they may be, don't fit together, and she's doing bad things to Wooton's character rather than improving him like a spouse is supposed to.

Anyway. That's all I have for now. I still haven't gotten to that review yet. I'm sorry. I'll do my best to get it out tomorrow. But I'm nearing the end of the schoolyear, and I have a lot of work to do.

Look What I Got!

2011-05-17T08:40:00.005-04:00

Well, I didn't get it, again, but my younger brother just did for his birthday!

I promise I won't listen to Parts 11 or 12 before they air on the radio, although I'm not sure my siblings are in agreement with me. But I gave my word when the album was first available that I wouldn't take advantage of that, so I'm sticking to it.

Sorry I still haven't gotten a review out. It was a pretty uneventful episode, so I'm working on going through every scene again. But that takes a lot of time, and I've been pretty busy, so I decided to post this as something for you guys to enjoy while you're waiting. I'll do my best to get the review out either tomorrow or probably Thursday at the latest. I don't want to have to combine my reviews of Parts 10 and 11, but unfortunately, it may come to that.

Thank you for being faithful readers! I greatly appreciate it!

...And So It Approaches Its Termination...

2011-05-07T07:27:00.006-04:00

This was another pretty good episode. It didn't seem as long as I would have liked it to be, but it did have quite a bit of new information, and things really are starting to come together. I'm going to take this review in the direction that Marvin usually does--going through each scene--because every part was important, and I want to make sure I don't forget to mention anything.

It's so good to have Jason back! He's one of my favorite characters, and Townsend Coleman does an amazing job with his voice. Just having Jason in an episode makes everything seem as if it was thrown into action/adventure/mystery mode. It's great to have someone on the inside whom Whit can talk to to get information about the counterfeiters.

If you haven't figured out that you shouldn't like Buck yet, this next scene should convince you. He is really bad at play-acting. "What's the password?" "I'm not going to tell you!" That's like the universally understood way to tell someone that you don't know the password. It's again like he's trying to make himself look as guilty as possible. And when Matthew and Eugene get too "nosy," he whines that he thought this town was all about "love and trust and friendship." He's really disappointed. :P But I love that the other guys finally start to see through it. Eugene came back at that with exactly what I wanted to say: "Love, trust, and friendship aren't the same as blind stupidity." :D But then the computer bleeps that it has found the password, and we finally get to see to whom it belongs! (Well, I guess we already know, but we can be excited for the characters who finally get to find out!)

Now we skip back to Jason and Whit for one of the most revealing scenes so far in the season. We learn that years ago, the real Stiletto was captured by the police, and the government decided to take advantage of the fact that no one knew who he was to turn it into an undercover operation. Jason discovered this while vacationing in Hong Kong, where he ran into a group of terrorists who wanted to destroy America through technological and financial attacks. He took the cover of the Stiletto, and used that cover to meet with the ringleader of that espionage group, Mr. Groat. Jason told him that he was bringing together a ring of counterfeiters across America and was going to distribute tons of fake money. He does that via Uncle Archie's Carnival, which travels all over the country, and on the last day in a city, it auctions off equipment, and then transports the money in the same trucks as the equipment.

Then we learn that Agent Tanner is trying to work on the inside, but she started late, doesn't know much, and just wants a piece of the fortune. However, Jason may think that she really is a rogue agent, but she might actually still be on the good side, but she's really good at faking it. Or she could be lying to Whit, and she really is just in for the money, and she's working against the good guys. But it turns out that both she and Monty were making Jason's job a lot harder, so he has put both of them out of the picture for now. Whit wonders how Jason keeps everything straight without getting "lost in this labyrinth of lies." But Jason argues that if he doesn't do it, who will? Whit says that they'll have to talk about that some other time. That made me smile. Whit is still Jason's dad, so he can tell him what to do. The chemistry between the two actors actually strikes me as pretty decent. I wouldn't have thought that Andre would have done that great of a job talking to Jason as his father, but he was actually pretty good. I look forward to seeing them together more in the episodes and seasons to come.

The next scene is one of the most disturbing of the season. First, Penny discusses meditation with Connie. She shows her how to look past things of an imperfect nature to the perfection beyond them (i.e. beyond the crack in the ceiling to the beautiful bird's nest outside). The subject of meditation is a touchy subject. While it's not necessarily wrong to meditate (a godly example is given to us in Psalm 19:17), it is usually associated with Eastern religions and mysticism such as Hinduism, Buddhism, or New Age. It is normally used to clear one's mind, to rid oneself of one's affections and/or desires in order to be filled with the spirit of whatever god you are thinking you want to be filled by, or to set your mind on whatever singular thing it needs to be set on. Yoga is the most common example of meditation that people use today. By definition, it is used to liberate oneself from the world and unite oneself with the supreme being. Meditation is a dangerous subject that is best not to be tampered with by Christians.

As if that wasn't bad enough however, Dr. Trask presents to his art class for exploration and meditation a work by Salvador Dali called La Muerte (which means "death" in Spanish). It is described as being an evocative series of paintings he did as part of his "Tarot" collection. Salvador Dali is described on Wikipedia as being best known for the "striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work." He had "an affinity for partaking in unusual and grandiose behavior." That doesn't seem like a guy whose paintings I'd explore and meditate upon in something like a Bible study. And then there's what Connie mentioned: Tarot--as in tarot cards. Tarot cards, again according to Wikipedia "are used throughout much of Europe to play card games. In English-speaking countries, where these games are largely unknown, tarot cards are now used primarily for divinatory purposes." But in the 18th and 19th century, the cards were adopted by the occult for use with mysticism and magic. Now, all this isn't to say that Dr. Trask is involved in Eastern religions or the occult, but he obviously easily tolerates them and the things they propagate, so he isn't someone I would put in the position of spiritual mentor. But he does say that God is in everything because He created everything. That is outright Pan-En-Theism. God is separate from His creation. And it doesn't help anything that Dr. Trask "appeals" to God only as "Oh Great Creator", and he says that God is "in us and through us and beyond us." If we are Christians, God is in us, He works through us, and He is far beyond us, but I doubt that's what Dr. Trask means.

Well, with that said, now we jump back to Whit, who's on the phone with Dr. Graham. He is somewhat frustrated that she won't let Monty out of the hospital, but she makes a good point that despite what movies seem to show us, a blow to the head that knocks someone out is very serious. She scolds him for making this mystery more important than the well-being of his grandson, and he secedes. I don't know about anyone else, but I really like the character of Lilly Graham. She has really good chemistry with other characters, especially Whit, and I just really like her voice. Hopefully she can become the new regular Odyssey doctor that Dr. Morton was.

Anyway, as soon as Whit's off the phone, Detective Polehaus barges in, and Whit gets to try to convince him of the disappearance of Agent Tanner like Jason told him to. I'll just go with an understatement and say that Whit doesn't do a good job. ("You haven't seen my sneer!") Whit tells him everything he knows (or knew before he met the Stiletto), and Polehaus tells him everything he and Eugene have found out about Buck. Then the detective tells Whit that he's off to another lead that he got saying that the main hideout of the counterfeiters is The Old Ross Compound near Trickle Lake. (Why have we never, ever heard of this place before?) Then Polehaus gets a call saying that a truck--"a big truck" has just pulled in to the compound. And he's off to catch the counterfeiters. But we know that since there are still three-and-a-half shows left, there's no way he's already going to be able to apprehend everybody.

Now we head back over to Whit's End where Katrina comes across Jay as he "watches the counter." He tells her that Buck is trying to get the phone from Eugene and Matthew in the basement, but that she shouldn't trust Buck any farther than Jay can throw him. But then Whit calls, and Katrina updates him. Whit therefore learns for the first time that Dirk Beggs's phone has been found, and then warns Katrina not to let Buck get anywhere with that phone.

Back down in the basement, Buck insists that they give him the AppleBerry. Eugene refuses because he won't tell them the password. Then Buck "admits" that he doesn't know it, but as soon as Matthew reports the computer's findings that it is "stiletto", he suddenly remembers that he named it that because of his knife collection. Sure, Buck, we believe you. (I would expect something more like a toothpick collection. When have we ever seen him with a knife?) I wonder how much Emily would like him if she knew he had a knife collection. :D Anyway, when Matthew has entered in the password, Buck tries to grab it from him. Just then, Katrina comes down to talk to him, but sees the fight. So she yells at the top of her lungs, stopping everyone in their tracks. I definitely would have stopped dead still because that didn't sound like Katrina to me at all. Connie sounded weird in Grandma's Christmas Visit with all her over-the-top yelling, but that was ridiculous! In any event, it stopped the commotion, and Katrina then tells Buck that she needs to make a citizen's arrest on him. Buck, who apparently has anger problems, throws the phone to the floor, making it shatter into several pieces. (Oh how badly I wish Emily was there to see that. She probably won't even believe Matthew when he tells her that Buck did that.) I totally wasn't expecting that, and it was a really good surprise. I guess we had already gotten enough information about Groat, Skint, Beggs, Tanner, and the Stiletto with Jason's help, so we didn't need it anymore and the writers decided to resolve it all that way.

Buck runs upstairs, and despite Jay's attempts to shoot him with an ice cream scoop, he makes a clean getaway...until he runs into Mr. Whittaker who doesn't let him go anywhere. Finally Buck gets what was coming to him, and Whit sends him to his office. I'm glad Emily wasn't at Whit's End at the time or she might have come to Buck's rescue and run away with him or something. Yeesh.

Back with the real counterfeiters, Mr. Skint and Mr. Dosh (who is, interestingly enough, played by Phil Lollar) have a short but sweet conversation about Martin, the policeman down the road watching. Mr. Dosh is concerned that he might compromise their operation. But Mr. Skint assures him that everything will be fine, and he'll send one of his guys to give him some "special coffee" because it's the neighborly thing to do. ;)

Then we get back to Connie and Penny. Penny tells Connie that she needs to ask her a question. Connie says she already knows what Penny's going to say, and then she goes off on a lengthy explanation for why she felt uncomfortable sitting through Dr. Trask's lecture that afternoon. And it was nearly exactly what I would have said! Yes, Connie actually did a good job for once! Well, not for once, but for the first time this season. Then Penny admits that all she wanted to know was if Connie wanted her french fries. Boy, she and Wooton really were made for each other--silliness in the midst of seriousness. I wouldn't be surprised if they are both diagnosed with ADHD someday. Then Penny assures Connie that they'll discuss these things tomorrow when they go on their hike. (I can't wait for that conversation!) And then the scene ends with Penny asking Connie if she's going to eat her pickles. *faceslap (to borrow Marvin's lingo)* Seriously!

Back at the compound, Polehaus takes a call from Whit informing him that Buck is in his office ready for questioning. He tells Whit to stay put until he can send someone over. After getting off the phone, he comes across Martin who has fallen prey to the effects of Mr. Skint's "special coffee." When Polehaus has shaken him awake, Martin tells what he knows about what's transpired so far. All he can really tell us is that a pickup truck drove in, and they gave him coffee. One of the guys from the compound came out and said that he knew how hard it is to stay awake on a stakeout, so he gave Martin some coffee, which Martin thought was a pretty nice thing to do. Honestly, Detective Polehaus, what kind of people do you have working for you?! Well, we can give him some credit; he took down the license plate number of the pickup, and after running it through headquarters, he found out that it belongs to Uncle Archie's Carnival. That does it for the detective, and he leaves to go have a talk with the people at the compound.

Meanwhile, at the edge of McAlister Park, Mr. Skint gets a call from Buck, who is wondering what he should do now that he's been caught and cornered in Whit's office. Skint tells him that "this is just like Detroit--just like it," that the people at Whit's End are trying to use Buck to lure him in. Therfore, he tells Buck goodbye and shuts the phone. We're left wondering what this means for Buck. Mr. Skint has abandoned him, so what can he do now? I can't see any other way he can go than to tell Whit the truth. What else can he say? But what will happen to him now that he no longer has a guardian? Hey, maybe Eugene and Katrina will eventually take him in! Now that's an interesting thought.

In the last scene, the Stiletto meets with Archie to "confirm the plan." I have to admit, Jason isn't going about this in a very convincing way. If he's the big boss that he's supposed to be, why does he need Archie to tell him the plan? Things have changed since Jason got the debrief from Mr. Groat. The benefactor (please tell me if you know who that's supposed to be) decided that the money will not be transported to the rigged winners of the auctioned equipment by truck, but Archie won't tell what the new plan is. The plan was changed because the benefactor caught wind of an undercover operation in Chicago--right in the Stiletto's area, and supposedly, Dirk Beggs was told the change of plans, and he was supposed to tell Jason. But he didn't. Nor did Jason know that Mr. Groat is actually in town. So Jason concludes that he's going to be in suspense until the next day, and he bids Uncle Archie goodnight. As soon as Jason leaves, Archie does exactly what I knew was going to happen--he calls somebody (probably the benefactor), and tells him that the Stiletto needs to be removed from the operation--no, better yet, removed altogether! Oh boy! So there's going to be an attempt at murder before the season is done? *rubs hands together in excitement and cackles*

Well that's my review. Sorry it got so long. I probably won't be doing that again. But I hope you read it. Please tell me anything you think about it, and let me know if you like my reviews better this way or the way I usually do them.

Thank you for taking the time to read the post! Come back next week as the events of Album 53 draw to a close!

Album 55 Cover?

2011-05-04T06:31:00.003-04:00

Brock just released this picture on the AIO Facebook Page, and I saw it on AIO Wiki. But I can't really tell what anything in it is because it's so small!

I was able to zoom in with a program on my computer, but I couldn't post the picture that way, so you'll have to try to do that yourself. I think the piece of paper by Mr. Hoobler's arm is the cover for Album 55, but I can't figure out what's on his computer!

Please tell me what you think!

P.S. I'm having surgery today at 11:00 AM (EST), so if you think of me, please pray!

...And So It All Keeps Coming Together...

2011-04-30T07:38:00.004-04:00

I just got done listening to the episode, and I don't know about you, but I'm quite shocked! We just met the Stiletto, and already we know who he is. Of course, I already knew who he was, but I wasn't expecting him to be revealed so soon! And I especially don't understand how he can be involved with it while being a good guy. I know that the writers wouldn't have made him turn bad, so I assume that he's working with the Secret Service against the counterfeiting ring from the inside. The big question is how he is so well-known by Wally, Polehaus, and Tanner. How could he have become such a big-name gangster who is supposed to be dead in just the few years it's been since he left Odyssey? Now I really can't wait for next week's episode. This was the worst cliff-hanger of all!

Well, we finally found out why Penny's "Christianity" sounded so suspicious. Dr. Trask started out by saying that he would call their group "a group of like-minded people of faith who are seeking God together." Stop right there. "Seeking God?" If you are a true Christian, you have unlimited access to God and His blessings, so they shouldn't need to seek God. Romans 3:11--"there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." He says, however, that they seek God as one would seek a painter or composer by learning as much as they can about that person's work. "We're dedicated to finding the beauty of God in nature, art--within ourselves. And in doing that, we get to know him better. And through Him, we find His beauty inside of us. We can see our true potential--who He wants us to be." Now there isn't too too much wrong with that. We can see the glory and attributes of God in a small sense by looking at creation. But creation is fallen. The beauty of the image of God is marred by the curse. We do not have any natural goodness inside of ourselves. Romans 3:12b/Psalm 14:3b--"there is no one who does good, not even one." Furthermore, Dr. Trask describes the Bible as having "the poetry, the prose, the stories, the insights into our humanity. It is pure revelation." Now all that is right, but did he say that it is God's Word? It does give us insight into our humanity, but probably not in the way he's thinking. He also says, "I believe that God has created within us something unique and beautiful. But over time, that uniqueness and beauty gets covered up with the soot and constraints of life. Our vibrancy and color fades. Our little group wants to restore who we really are. There's a beauty inside of you Connie--a potential you haven't begun to explore." Yeesh! And Connie doesn't see through any of this! Jeremiah 17:9a--"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure." Psalm 51:5--"I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." I don't see anything there about "uniqueness and beauty" or "vibrancy and color." I sure hope Connie talks to Whit about this. She nearly fell into this trap twenty years ago. I hope she's learned by now.

I was so glad that Emily and Buck and Penny and Wooton weren't together in this episode. There was a small amount of talk about the subject between Penny and Connie, and now we know that Penny feels the same about Wooton as he feels about her. Big surprise. But we did hear from Buck. And I'm still not sure whether or not he knows exactly what he's caught up in. I think he knows that Mr. Skint is involved in something illegal, but I haven't seen any evidence that he knows it's a counterfeiting ring. When Jay confronted him about it at Whit's End though, he almost sounded like he was trying to make himself sound like he knew nothing about what Jay was talking about, but maybe he actually did know. I'm not sure. I guess Robby Bruce does do a pretty good job with his acting--even if he gives Buck what sounds to me like a fake accent. In any event, I certainly hope Eugene and Matthew can keep him from stealing back the AppleBerry.

Detective Polehaus is finally learning a lesson about trust, but now that he is getting more trusting, I don't think the actor is doing as good a job of playing him. He isn't sounding convincing as a tough detective who just got proven wrong. He's too okay with the fact that his whole "worldview" as he calls it was crushed. But aside from that, there was another thing that I noticed. When Whit told him about seeing Agent Tanner at the place to which he had tracked Monty's location, Polehaus told him, "Don't do anything until I get there!" and Whit answered, "No promises." I don't know what other episode that reminds me of, but I remember another situation very similar to this happening in the past where a detective or policeman or somebody told Whit to stay put, but Whit didn't, and the detective ended up being in on the plot against Whit. If any of you can tell me what episode I'm thinking of, please tell me in the comments! Anyway, according to that episode's reasoning, I'm really starting to think that Detective Polehaus might not be who we've thought he was. And maybe Agent Tanner is telling the truth for the most part.

So that brings us to Agent Tanner. I still don't know what to think about her. At first, when Whit approached her as she was entering the Stiletto's hideout, and she gave that explanation about why she was there and what she had to do with Monty, I was ready to believe her. But then when Jason seemed to give sketchy details about her, I wasn't sure anymore. He said that she had been a double-crosser, but to whom? He didn't trust her with his true identity, but that makes sense. Obviously Polehaus and Tanner are on different teams, but which one is on our side?! My guess is that we'll find out for sure next week since Polehaus is on his way to the Stiletto's hideout, and he's bound to run into Agent Tanner.

Well I think that's about all I have this week. I'm not going to throw out a bunch of questions, because I don't have time, and I don't think there are any more than I've already asked. Other than of course: What is Jason doing as the ringleader of a counterfeiting ring?!?!

Please comment!

P.S. Check out the news at AIO Wiki! It has the final cover for the new Kidsboro release, along with a really special video from Brock that shows us the covers for five new album repacks! Very exciting! Although I'm not sure whether I should trust some of those pictures that Brock showed. They don't look up to the normal quality of Gary Locke's work.

...And So It Starts to Wind Down...

2011-04-23T07:05:00.003-04:00

Well today's episode was again not available on the FOTF Media Player, so if you can't find Part 7 on YouTube (because I couldn't since FOTF has deleted almost all of them), then if you're really desperate like I was, you can go to FAIO's website here and have a listen. I know there was a controversy about them a while back, but think of it this way: you would have listened to it for free already today anyway, it's just that FOTF's version isn't working, so it's perfectly legal. Just make sure you don't download it or go ahead and listen to the rest of the saga that's posted there. Oh, and when you listen to the episode, there will be a list of comments that you can scroll down and see. Don't scroll down!! I can't stress that enough! I made the mistake of doing so before thinking, and saw a comment that someone was rude enough to post about who the Stilletto is, and now I know. Now they didn't specifically say it was the Stilletto, but this was the comment form: "I knew it was ********!" so I assume.... Anyway, with that said, here's my review:

This episode felt like the shortest one so far. We didn't really learn anything new. There was just a bunch of comparing notes among the three main storylines. But I was really glad that happened, because all this time Whit and Polehaus, Eugene and Katrina, and Wally and Jay. Whit finally gets a clue about Katrina's investigation about Buck, and Detective Polehaus finally agrees to work with Mr. Haggler. And both are focused on Buck, Mr. Skint and the fake address. Hopefully there'll be more action in the next episode.

If this title wasn't already taken, and if all of the episodes in this album weren't called The Green Ring Conspiracy, this episode could have been called Love is in the Air. I mean seriously! Can they shove any more mushiness and annoying "smitten"ness down our throats? Could Wooton be any more unintelligent? Since when does he get smitten so easily. And he's so predictable that Connie was able to tell him exactly how he was feeling! "It's like you're living in a refrigerator box in the Municipal Park of my mind!" He wasn't even this slap-happy with Victoria! And he nearly immediately went and asked her if she was saved. But Penny apparently is different enough to get past his brain and take hold of his heart. But I guess the heart is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," so it makes sense. But isn't Wooton a Christian? Isn't his heart being conformed to the image of Christ by the Holy Spirit? I dunno anymore.

And then Emily and Buck. UGGH! I cringed and crossed my eyes with practically every line between the two of them. And I haven't even listened to it with the rest of my family yet! That's going to be interesting. I have a bunch of younger siblings. I can't believe Emily's throwing Matthew out the window for a suspicious kid who's obviously older than her who has an extremely annoying accent! But haven't I stressed that enough already? At least she tried to make up with Matthew at the end of the episode. I'm very interested to hear what occurs when Matthew and Buck officially meet up next week.

I appreciated that Agent Tanner was finally back in the mix. But it seemed that they were trying too hard to make Agent Tanner suspicious. Something's telling me that she may not be who we're making her out to be. But maybe the writers were just making her that way for the little kids who enjoy saying, "Oh, I can tell she's not telling the truth. She's the bad guy!" So I'm really not sure what to think. She doesn't seem to have a higher boss that she's reporting to. Back in the Novacom days, when Jason was with Monica/Paula, we would hear subsequent scenes where she reported to Mr. Charles about her progress. And in Darkness Before Dawn, we heard Bart and Phillip Glossman at times when they reported to Dr. Blackgaard (before we knew it was Dr. Blackgaard). Maybe we'll hear some of that soon. Or maybe Mr. Skint will say something about her at some point.

Buck's toothpick finally came into play! Now we know why it was so prevalent in these last couple episodes! The only thing is, how in the world did Detective Polehaus notice that on the ground so quickly? And how did he connect it so quickly with Buck? Couldn't an adult have been chewing on a toothpick in that area too? I mean, if practically all the men (and some of the women) who work at the carnival look like Mr. Skint, you'd figure there might be at least a few other people who chew on toothpicks. But I guess Polehaus has trained himself to trust no one and be suspicious of every one, so it kinda makes sense.

The thing that probably redeemed this episode all by itself was the scene with Jay and all of his hilarious lines. I'll give you some samples: "You heard me! Or do I need to say it again in Braille?!" "You're a regular Judas Benedict Arnold!" "I'll bet my case is bigger than your case!...Like, yours is probably just a little case with those clip-lock combination thingies, where my case is like a big trunk with lots of compartments and huge steel padlocks that are strong--Oh, I got lost in a metaphor for a second." And then later in that scene Emily tells Buck, "I couldn't have done it without you...or Jay, unfortunately." That made me laugh.

But there are still so many questions, including ones that were added as a result of events in this episode: "Will Buck get the AppleBerry from Matthew before someone can stop him? What information is on the phone that Buck and Mr. Skint are so concerned about? What will happen between Wooton and Penny? Will Emily ever come to her senses and let go of Buck? Will Buck ever stop lying through his teeth and tell anyone the truth? How will he do with his first day on the job at Whit's End? Will he end up causing any trouble? Can we trust Agent Tanner? Or will she ever be exposed? Will Polehaus be able to set aside his prejudice against the Hagglers long enough to see what Wally has discovered? Will Katrina continue to get "too personally involved" with Buck, and eventually uncover his secret? And will any of you listen to my warning not to scroll down the comments on the FAIO page and keep away from finding out who the Stilletto is? ;D

I guess we'll have to just keep listening. Thanks for reading my review! Tell me what your opinions are in the comments!

Plagiarism with Permission (so I guess it's not plagiarism)

2011-04-19T13:18:00.006-04:00

There isn't any new news to share with you guys, so I'm going to post something from another blogger.

Last week, Ben Warren over at The Changing Times posted an excellent article called Focus on the Fans about the "evolution" of Odyssey and its listeners over the years. It was so good that I asked him if I could post it here, and he said I could. So here it is:

Yesterday, Jacob Isom released the results of the ScoopYourself contest. I did not enter, but I thought I would display a portion of my collection (right). There you have it. All 52 albums...but no action figures. Simple, yet expansive.

But who cares? What's the point of even having a collection? I don't like to listen to my old tapes anymore because I'm too afraid of wrecking them. So what purpose do they serve?

Well, to tell you the truth, I like the look of them. I like the way they're organized. I like how some have some history and have been around since I was born. And, sure, I like to brag about them, too.

...[I]f you keep things around only because you enjoy possessing it, then it's wrong. Remember the Matthew 19: 21, when Jesus told the rich man "Sell everything you have and give to the poor [...] Then come, follow me". But he couldn't, because he enjoyed his things too much. Am I keeping my collection simply because I like possessing them or because they have some use to me?

* * * * *

Putting aside that little Sunday school lesson for just a moment, some of you might be wondering, "where have you been?" and "where are the posts? "Well, I've been busy with quite a few things, lately. However, my attention is slowly returning to the blog, and some may be pleased to know that I will be writing my usual reviews, essays, and works of criticism once again.

Well, until May, that is. This summer I will be once again planting trees in Western Canada; therefore, my attention (and my body) will be somewhere else. I plan to be updating during the summer, but just not as often.

But what do we need another blog for? Aren't there plenty of other great blogs on the web? And, is it just me, or has the Odyssey community gotten a whole lot more sophisticated, not to mention wonderful, these days? Have we gotten to the point where Adventures in Odyssey has become more about the fan community than about the show?

We have sure come a long way since a couple of years ago. Whitsend.org has never been so organized and updated so regularly. I remember the days when the website was the least up-to-date place on the web. They had an Adventures in Odyssey timeline that was always a few years behind with tacky pictures of Dylan and ten other characters from the video series (I don't know there names, do you?). All of that has changed. Bob and Jesse have done a fantastic job hosting a weekly podcast, and the website usually has something new every week.

Meanwhile, the Odysseyscoop remains the most active fan website around. They have a professional-sounding podcast, up-to-date news, and fun contests. No other fan website compares right now.

And not since Hoobler's aiohq.com has there been a place with so much information quite like AIOWIKI. It has prevented every other fan website from becoming fact-focused or news-oriented, forcing them to become more discussion-based. It's basically a Wal-Mart. Now we have fans actually giving opinions about Odyssey-related issues on their website instead of spitting out random facts. The most recent example of this is atwhitsend.org. If you haven't checked it out, do it right now. It features terrific writing and I hope the author, Matthew, has enough in him to review all 690 episodes. We shall see.

The fans also have so many fantastic podcasts to choose from. I never truly became a fan of theceilingfan podcast until I randomly listened to an episode with brilliant pieces of dialog like "...we were Amish a while back which explains why I'm afraid of cars and fast moving things like bicycles." And then I went back and started listening to season one and found myself really enjoying it. So, if this is a series about a boy who happens who be the biggest Adventures in Odyssey fan out there, will someone be making a series about a kid who's the biggest fan of ceilingfanpodcast anytime soon?

And, of course, Audiotheatrecentral is currently the best thing out there for older audiences interested in Christian Audio Dramas. Meanwhile, Austin Peachy is still rocking it with his 20th blogcast while Regis Blackbeard is still doing his thing at the thewhitsendpodcast.

So what's the next big thing? Will it be you? Will it be the upcoming "Novafiles" project headed by Garrett Vandenberg? Why isn't anyone doing video episode reviews in the fashion of an Ebert and Roeper video? And does anyone find this series of youtube videos as awesome as I do?:

So yes, to answer my original question, Adventures in Odyssey fans are becoming more sophisticated. Though many have wondered whether Adventures in Odyssey is at its lowest point ever, we must all agree that the fans are hitting their peak. The creators of Adventures in Odyssey have not only marveled us through their creation but, throughout the years, have inspired us fans to fabricate our own. Adventures in Odyssey has not only entertained, but has shaped our interests and sharpened our skills. Through this blog, I am becoming a better writer; through his website, Jacob Isom has become a better web-designer; through making you-tube videos, no doubt that girl in the video is becoming a better actress. It's remarkable to think that no matter how you currently view the series, the show is somehow still influencing its fans in ways its creators could never have imagined back in 87'.

This week's Scoopcast featured a particularly nice moment in an interview with Whit Hertford. At one moment, Kevin McCreary said, "You can want to do something, and you can do it. [...] Sometimes people have dreams and they don't accomplish them cause they think they're out of reach. But some dreams are reachable, you just have to work at it." What a great statement. If you're listening to Odyssey wishing you too could start an awesome podcast, get into voice acting, start an awesome website, or create your audio drama, then go ahead and take a step in that direction. Don't worry that your creation won't be "as good" as what you see at those other websites.

In the same way, if Adventures in Odyssey has inspired you to either become a better person or form a better relationship with God, then make sure you do that too. Don't just let those messages "sit on your shelf" uselessly (were you worried I wasn't going to tie that in?). Adventures in Odyssey is doing its job in creating uplifting entertainment for us to learn about the Bible, but we have a job too. Can we take those messages and do something with them? Do we absorb, and then in turn, react? Fantastic stuff can inspire you all the time, but if you don't do anything, then that great Adventures in Odyssey collection you have on your shelf-- the one you clean and take pictures of--is kinda worthless.

Regardless of what you say about the series, its fans are a living testament that Adventures in Odyssey is alive and functioning as it has always been--maybe even better.

...And So It Drags On (in a good kinda way)...

2011-04-16T07:01:00.005-04:00

Okay, before I get to the review, Ahhhh! Look what the AIO Wiki posted today!!!

This is so cool! I wasn't expecting this at all! If you look closely at the checker/chess board, you can see that the pieces are Connie, Eugene, the Imagination Station, Whit's End, and Tom on Whit's side. And on Blackgaard's side we have a computer, a building that's probably Blackgaard's Castle, a man who could be Glossman, but he's fatter than I imagined him, and then a woman of whom we can see the top of her head. This is an overall amazing picture, and I couldn't have dreamed of anything better to have as the cover of this amazing set!

Alright, now to the review: Well, we're finally halfway through the season. And we heard the words "the Green Ring Conspiracy" for the first time, and we actually learn how it is that the carnival is most likely the cover for the counterfeiting scheme. Monty's explanation makes a lot of sense, but something tells me it was just given to make us suspect Uncle Archie and his carnival goons. But maybe something else is going on. Maybe Monty's in on it! And Mr. Skint is a good guy!! No, I'm just kidding, but I'm really not sure what to think about what Monty said.

I really like Uncle Archie's voice. But because of his tone, it's really hard to tell whether or not he's a good or bad guy. He seems to like Detective Polehaus, but it's not the same for Polehaus. I can't tell if Archie has a bad past with the detective, so that's why he doesn't like Wally, or if Wally has a bad past with him, and that's why he doesn't like Archie. Or maybe it's both, and they just have an all-around bad family. But we now know that Jay isn't the son of Archie, but he's the child of "Nick and Sylvia," not "Betty and Reggie." (It's a big family.)

This episode felt kind of short, because, like episode four, we didn't really get much new information out of it. A lot of the episode time was spent with the various characters' experiences at the carnival. Wooton and Penny make an odd pair, but their both odd, so I guess it's kind of even. I don't think they really have a future together, but maybe that's just because I think Penny's annoying, and she doesn't really bring out the best in him. I think even Victoria would have been better for him, especially considering the fact that I continue to doubt her "Christianity."

It sounds like a fun carnival though. However I've never actually been to a real carnival before, so it could be missing a lot. But all the rides and attractions mentioned sound fun. But it's freaky that practically all of the men and some of the women look like Mr. Skint, according to Archie. I'm not sure how much fun I could have with a bunch of people that look like that. If you've ever read A Carnival of Secrets in the second Odyssey novel compilation, Danger Signals, you know why I don't trust carvinals with a bunch of thugs for employees. They can't be good news.

Buck and Emily... That's just weird to me. I don't know what it is she sees in him. He is secretive, older than her, and he has an annoying Southern accent that sounds fake. I wish Matthew would act on the crush we all know he has on Emily (or vice versa) and get rid of Buck! Hopefully Emily won't end up helping Buck find the AppleBerry and giving it to him.

I'm glad suspicion was drawn out of Katrina after meeting with Mr. Skint and Buck. I wouldn't know what to think of her if she took that encounter at face value. Mr. Skint seems to want curiosity to be thrown his way. But I guess he has to go to drastic measures if he's going to get that AppleBerry back. I loved it when Monty didn't fall for the old "Watch out behind you!" trick, but then that was the trick! So yet again, there's a cliff-hanger involving Monty.

What will Mr. Skint do with Monty? What will Katrina and Eugene do when they get to the address that Buck gave her? What is Uncle Archie's connection to this conspiracy? Is Monty right about the carnival and auction being a cover for the counterfeit ring? What relationship will develop between Wooton and Penny? Will he and Connie be able to find her in the Hall of Mirrors? Will Matthew take Jay's advice and change Emily's mind about Buck? Will Buck find the AppleBerry before Matthew and Eugene figure out the password? What is Wally Haggler's secret past? What will Jay find out from his stakeout? Where is Agent Tanner hiding? Is Dirk Beggs's part in this mystery over, or will we hear from him again? And when will they ever tell us the answer to the mystery about a duck's quack?!

I guess we'll just have to keep listening. Thanks for reading my review! Please tell me what you think in the comments!

P.S. This picture was also posted on the AIO Wiki today. I think the pink works much better with the picture than the previously-speculated lavender did. Plus, it fits with the "love" theme.

...And So It Endures...

2011-04-09T08:15:00.005-04:00

Wow! Episode five was packed full! I think it's my favorite episode so far! We didn't exactly learn all that much new stuff, but it was a great episode! Here's my review of this week's episode combined with last week's.

I love how Connie continues to have no idea what's going on. How surprised she must have been when Whit and a detective came in to her and Penny and interrogated Penny like she was a criminal. And then she asks Whit in the style that Tom continued to do in the Novacom saga when she's going to find out what's going on! I'm interested to see what part she'll play in the drama as it continues to unfold. Maybe she'll get kidnapped and Mitch will come to rescue her again! Maybe he's the Stilletto!

Andre Stojka is growing on me more and more as these episodes continue. He does a pretty good job in mystery mode, although I do have to admit, I still think Hal Smith and Paul Herlinger did better. He still seems like a Winnie-the-Pooh to me, and doesn't really get all that involved in the mystery. But the chemistry between him and Monty is pretty good. Their voices fit together, and it sounded good when Monty was giving Whit the scoop about everything that had happened up to this point. Monty doesn't sound exactly like I would have hoped, but he's okay. The guy who plays him played the bully in Another Man's Shoes years ago, so I have that guy's personality stuck in my head when I hear his voice, which isn't such a good thing. It gives more of a possibility for him to actually be a rogue agent. But I think that's been cleared up now, and now I suspect Agent Tanner.

I kind of suspected her from the beginning, since she suggested that Monty was a bad guy. Plus, her voice just screams that she's up to no good. Just as Detective Polehaus pointed out, she had no agents with her, and she traveled from Springfield in impossible time. I think her head really was turned when a lot of money was offered to her. She was the one who called Dirk Beggs and convinced him to change flight plans and go to Atlanta. I think that when Matthew and Eugene finally figure out the password to Dirk's phone, they're going to find Agent Tanner's phone number in there.

I liked the presence of kids in this episode. I think that's what's kept the last couple of episodes from being more exciting these last few weeks. I'm liking Jay more and more, since he continues to try to help catch the bad guys, and he trusts his uncle despite what the detective has said. I'm interested to see what he and Wally find out about Mr. Skint and Buck in the next episode that we might not already know. By the way, speaking of those two, this is what I think Buck and Mr. Skint look like as a result of their descriptions:

That picture of the man on the left (the villain from The Spiderwick Chronicles movie) was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the description of Mr. Skint in episode four. And then hearing the description twice more at other times, combined with his southern accent, I think that face fits him almost perfectly. The one on the right is a picture of the boy who plays Buck. I think how he looks in the official podcast better fits Buck's voice, but this was the only picture I could find. Although his southern accent continues to sound fake to me, this is how I think he should look.

I think Audrey Wasalewski did a great job as Katrina in part four, and I look forward to hearing her response to Buck's suggestion that she meet Mr. Skint at the carnival. I hope she gets to play a major part in the rest of the season, because I want to hear her with Eugene more. They're husband and wife, and yet we hadn't heard mention of her in four seasons! So I want to hear more of them together. Maybe they can work together to catch the counterfeiters.

Moving on, I don't know what to think about Penny Wise and Dr. Trask. I was thinking that the fact that they were involved with the painting of the carnival poster would link them to the bad guys, but so far, it doesn't seem to. But the counterfeiters would need an artist to design the fake bills. Who else could it be but the suspicious "Christian" local artist teacher at the college? But as Chris always says, I guess I'll just have to keep listening to see what happens with them. :)

A bunch of questions were answered in these last couple episodes, but now a bunch more have been brought up: Are we going to hear anything more from Dirk Beggs? Will he try to do something to Monty to keep himself clear? What will Matthew and Eugene find on the cell phone if they figure out the password? Will Katrina's suspicion about Buck lead her on a search to the address Buck gave her? Will she be convinced about Mr. Skint if and when she meets him at the carnival? What significance do Uncle Archie and the carnival have in all this? What is the connection between Archie and Wally, and when will it come into play? Are Penny Wise and/or Benjamin Trask real Christians? Do they have any connection to the counterfeiting? What will Detective Polehaus think about the printing press at Haggler's Junkyard? Will Monty stay put at Whit's house? Or will he seek out Agent Tanner? Is she really on the bad side or are we just being made to think that? Is there maybe something that Detective Polehaus is hiding?

Boy, I don't know if I'm going to be able to wait seven more episodes until all these are answered! And then I hear that there are more questions after that anyway! Aaah! I can't wait for next week!

Thanks for reading my review! Please comment with any thoughts!

P.S. @ odysseyzone: If you haven't been there, there's an Odyssey website called The Odyssey Scoop, and each year the last two years, the webmaster there has had a contest called "Scoop Yourself" where fans send in pictures of their Odyssey collections. I got my title picture from that website, so no, unfortunately, it isn't my own handiwork. :) If you want to see some other ones, click here or here.

Interview with Monty

2011-04-07T07:59:00.005-04:00

I listened to the fourth episode in The Green Ring Conspiracy this morning, and I've decided to merge my reviews of this episode and Part V. For one thing, I don't really have time to write a full review today. And for another thing, I don't have enough to say about the episode. So I'm going to try to review both Parts IV and V on Saturday.

In other news, the Official Podcast has come out with a new episode featuring an interview with Chad Reisser, the voice behind Monty Whittaker and 25 other characters in Odyssey's history since before it was even called Adventures in Odyssey, beginning with Mark Forbes in Dental Dilemma.

This was a very interesting podcast, and it was encouraging to learn things about Mr. Reisser like the fact that he is a Christian and leads worship with his wife at his church in California. Plus, there was a sneak-peek at this weekend's episode at the end of the podcast. It gives a hint at what I assume is Dr. Benjamin Trask's involvement in the counterfeit scheme. So if you have the time, go check it out!

I Finally Got It!!

2011-04-05T09:02:00.005-04:00

Well, I didn't get it, but my little brother did, and he's sharing, so it counts. :D

Sorry I haven't written in a while. My family's been out of town for Spring Break, but I had written that April Fools Day post before we left, so I just saved it as a draft and then posted it from where we were. I'm going to try to get a review of The Green Ring Conspiracy Part IV out tomorrow, but I haven't even listened to it yet, and I've got a lot of things to do having been out of the house for a week.

I listened to the first CD in bed last night, and I've gained a new appreciation for The Mystery of the Clock Tower. I guess it wasn't that bad of an episode. I had only heard it once, so I was really surprised when what I thought wasn't that great of an episode won the Avery Award for Best Episode. But I think it deserved it for the most part. The music, for one, was phenominal, and it made it sound like an action/adventure/thriller movie. The mystery part was pretty well thought out, and aside from the mature story behind it that might give some kids bad ideas, it was an entertaining episode. The writers did a good job. And the actors did great jobs too. Will Ryan deserved Best Actor for his job as Eugene in that episode, and that Best Scene was actually the best scene of the season, in my opinion. If Heather Simpson, who played Alicia was up for Best Actress in that episode, I would have chosen her hands down. She did an amazing job and portrayed her character with all of her complicated emotions exquisitely. So after hearing it for a second time, I think The Myster of the Clock Tower Parts I and II really did earn its title as Best Episode of Album 52.

Again, I'll try to get a review out tomorrow, but I won't give any promises. I still haven't started school, so I know I won't have time today, but maybe tomorrow will be better.

P.S. There's proof for those of you who thought I was black. *cough-cough* Tim and Luke *cough-cough*

AHH! Big Updates!

2011-04-01T08:00:00.003-04:00

I got an e-mail from Brock for the first time in a long time! He sent the descriptions for the episodes that we presently have the titles for. I couldn't believe it! This is so similar to what happened last year with Album 52! Here are the descriptions:

Unbecoming Jay: Jay Smouse is devastated with the news about his uncle's past involvement in illegal activities, and he's afraid that with the way his life is going, he might end up in prison too. So he asks the Square One Club to help him with his problems and try to make him a better person. But Whit tells Jay that there's only One Who can make him a better person. Only He can truly help Jay and stop the family line of bad behavior.

The Amazing Loser: Barrett Jones is frustrated. No matter how hard he tries, he is losing at everything--he can't get the notes right on his trombone, he's always the last one picked for football because of his lack of ability, and he keeps messing people's days up. Therefore, he's even losing Priscilla, who's turning her attention to the changed Jay. He goes to Mr. Whittaker for help, and ends up getting sent on a trip in the Transmuter.

Wooton Knows Best: In yet another episode containing the name of this fan favorite, Wooton is being pummeled with kids who want his advice. It all started when Whit wasn't available and Wooton was at the counter, but now the kids love his advice, and start coming to him all the time instead of Whit! However, the real adventure starts when Whit asks Wooton for advice about one of his new inventions....

Anger Mismanagement: Principal Vogler is noticing the overabundance of bad behavior at Odyssey Middle School. He recruits Matthew and Emily to try to find out the cause behind everyone's irritation and frustration. But what they find surprises all three of them, and soon they are affected. Only one person can come to the rescue...Eugene!

In other news, the release of the Blackgaard Chronicles has been moved up to July, and the cover is to be released very shortly. Also, there's rumor of a new two-part Blackgaard episode being added to the tenth CD because of a two-episode shortage. I'll be watching this one very closely.

Finally, you can head over to the Official Podcast to see a video of some of the recording of Album 54! AHHH! See the actors for kids like Barrett, Jay, and Priscilla as they act! AHHH! This is so cool! Make sure you check it out! Oh, but read my comments first!

Thanks for reading! Make sure you keep coming back for any new exciting news! Please comment!

...And So It Persists...

2011-03-26T06:59:00.003-04:00

These episodes are probably going to get harder and harder to review, so please bear with me as I try to do my best. It'll probably sound jumbled up and slightly unorganized, because I don't have much time to be righting this.

I don't think we got as many answers to questions this episode as we did last episode. We didn't here anything from Mr. Skint, Dirk Beggs, or Monty. But we did get at least a little information about Monty and Beggs in Agent Tanner's soliloquy about his involvement with the counterfeiters. As far as I can tell, the Secret Service was suspicious of Dirk Beggs, so they sent Monty in on a mission to get information. For a while, it seemed like it might be a waste of time, but then Dirk started giving Monty information. But then they both disappeared until they were discovered after the plane crash, and now the Secret Service assumes the worst and considers Monty a rogue agent. I definitely agree with Whit that Monty wasn't the type of kid who would get tempted by money. So I'm considering him innocent until proven guilty.

Connie at art classes at CCCC...weird. But I'm sure it has something significant to do with the ultimate plot. We'll just have to see how it plays out. The character of Penny is weird, but I'm sure she's supposed to be that way. I never knew Connie was interested in drawing, let alone that she has the ability to copy the Mona Lisa! But what is this obsession with fangs? And I don't know about you, but I'm suspicious about the "Christianity" of Penny and Dr. Trask. Something tells me it's going to turn out to be some kind of weird cult, as in Bad Company. Something about Dr. Benjamin Trask makes me suspicious of him. Maybe it's the fact that he sounds like he's played by the same actor as Detective Polehaus. Are they related? Then again, Penny sounds like she could be played by Katie Leigh, so there's probably nothing there.

I definitely agree with Marvin (I think it was Marvin) who says that this relationship between Buck and Emily is Richard Maxwell/Lucy Cunningham-Schultz-like. It's an oldish boy whom we know is working for the bad guys playing with the heart of a girl who's obviously much younger than him. And, as he told Mr. Skint on the phone, Buck's going to use her to accomplish his diabolical plan to find Matthew and the AppleBerry. I don't know why Emily is being so naive all of a sudden. You'd think that since she's a detective that she'd be on guard for villains. Especially when there's a counterfeit money scheme involved. But I guess girls will be girls. : )

I was expecting to hear from Jay, Matthew, and Nelson, or at least Jay since I was told by Marvin that we'd be hearing from him in every episode. But they were in the "Previously on Adventures in Odyssey" clip at the beginning, so maybe that's what Marvin meant. Hopefully he'll be in the next one.

Well there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered: What is the significance of Penny and Dr. Trask? Will their "Christianity" prove to be genuine? What will Buck do with Emily? Will she help him find Matthew? What is on the phone, since Mr. Skint wants it so badly? Will Emily maybe turn Buck around and get him on our side? Or will Buck end up nearly killing her like Richard did to Lucy? What's up with the Stiletto? Is he only a myth? And is Monty a rogue agent? Why was he in Whit's house? And is he going to be okay, since we couldn't hear him responding to Whit? What is Detective Polehaus going to do with the counterfeit money? Is he a bad guy? Will he link it to Buck because of the "Oliver" Twist book in the front pocket? Will there be a cliff-hanger involving Monty in every episode?

I can't wait to hear the fourth episode next week! Thanks for reading my review! Please comment!

Books

2011-03-25T08:21:00.011-04:00

Remember that picture I posted a couple months ago from the AIO Wiki?

As posted today at the same place, this is the cover for the upcoming October release of The Fight for Kidsboro, a large compilation of the first four Kidsboro books. Here is the summary the Wiki gave:

Kidsboro is a small town in the woods behind Whit’s End in Odyssey. It’s a nice little place. It has a church, a store, a police station, a bakery, a weekly newspaper . . . and a total of zero citizens over the age of 14. It’s a town run by kids. Ryan Cummings, the mayor, helps enforce the laws, create new job opportunities, and in general, keep the peace in a town where he seems to have lots of friends and only a few enemies. The Kidsboro series teaches not only moral and biblical principles, but also concepts of government, politics, economic principles, the judicial system, United States history, and Bible stories. The Fight for Kidsboro is a compilation of the 4 books from this popular series.

I have the Kidsboro books, and I really like them. Marshal Younger is nearly as good a writer as Paul McCusker is for the Passages books. They all have great storylines, and I hope some day they get transferred over into the audio series. You can check this book out here.

There's also been a release of the description for the fifth Imagination Station book, Showdown with the Shepherd, which is also coming out in October of this year:

The key to adventure lies within your imagination! Cousins Patrick and Beth go to the Holy Land in the tenth century BC. Their goal is to get back the ring Hugh stole and return him to 1450s England where he belongs. But troubles await them as soon as they step out of the Imagination Station. First they meet an angry bear and later an angry giant. Set against the backdrop of the David and Goliath story, the cousins learn that having a giant faith is more important than having a giant on your side.

I've never read the Imagination Station books, because they seem to be directed more toward younger children, but if you're interested, you can go here for more information.

There's also one more book that was announced with a description today--the sixth Imagination Station book, Problems in Plymouth:

The Imagination Station Adventures continue! Patrick and Beth’s next adventure leads them to Plymouth Plantation in 1621. There they meet William Bradford, Miles Standish, and Chief Massasoit, who are trying to establish peace between the Pilgrims and the Indians. Things are anything but peaceful, however, when a musket is stolen and the Pilgrims conclude the Indians are planning war. Only Patrick and Beth know who the real thief is—the traitor Hugh—and it’s up to the cousins to find him and stop him from causing trouble. When the cousins hear a gunshot during the first Thanksgiving feast, their worst fears are realized. They rush to the Mayflower and try to set right history, even as Hugh desperately tries to change it.

This book is also due to come out in October of this year.

Finally, while I was at the Wiki, I decided to take a look at the Album 54 page, and when I got there, I saw this mockup cover of the album, and I thought I'd share it with you:

In my opinion, it looks much better with the border around it, and I can definitely see this looking good on the front of an album now.

Thanks for reading! Please comment!

One Year Anniversary!

2011-03-24T08:01:00.002-04:00

I only just realized like five minutes ago that I had started my blog in March last year, so I decided to look back and see on what day I posted my very first post. I was very surprised to see that it has been exactly one year since I began this adventure on March 24, 2010!

I can't believe it's already been a whole year! Now, granted, I have had a couple of hiatuses (hiati?), so I guess I haven't been here that entire time, but it's close. I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to do this in our amazing age of technology, and I'm very thankful to all of you readers and commenters who have stuck with me this whole time.

Thank you to Marvin, Audrey, OJ, FJ, and Brock for being long-running faithful readers and commenters.

And thank you to Brittini, Lydia, Hannah, Tim B., Burn 4 Him, abbyjoy1797, Jay, THE OLD GEEZER, Luke, Brickster, Agent 3XQ, KMAP, Macy, Mandy, Jessa, Garrett, J.J., Jenn, Camilla, and chesster for being newer faithful readers and commenters.

Thank you all for your support! I hope, by God's grace, to continue this blog for many months to come. And I will keep trying my best to bring the best and newest news about Odyssey, because we all know, if the fans are silent, the CDs cry out. We cannot let that happen! :D

Some More Random News

2011-03-23T08:18:00.007-04:00

I don't know where FreddyJay got this confirmed, but he told me in the comments that in this picture,

the girl is Priscilla Peterson, the boy with the black hair is Jay Smouse, and the boy with reddish hair is Barrett Jones. Those would probably have been my guesses if I had to guess, and they make sense: Jay is being annoying, Barrett is playing trombone, and Priscilla is with Barrett. :P But I'm not sure how much I like the illustration. I imagined Priscilla with dark hair, Barrett with really short blond hair, and Jay with black hair, but at the same length as Barrett's is in the picture. But I can't complain, because very rarely do the illustrations look just like I pictured them to look. Sometimes the actors end up looking like they sound, but almost never the illustrations.

Plus, FJ told me that he thinks this is just a draft, that it looks to un-polished to be the final cut. I think I agree. The colors and tints don't seem to be as solid as Gary Locke's usual work is. And obviously it doesn't have the border around it yet, so maybe it'll end up looking better with the AIO logo and album title.

In other news, information for The Blackgaard Chronicles is finally out! We were told about this upcoming saga repackage several years ago, and now it's finally coming! This is the description that was posted on AIO Wiki two days ago:

Evil has a name and it's Dr. Regis Blackgaard! The small town of Odyssey will never be the same! When a man named Dr. Regis Blackgaard arrives to build an "amusement house for kids," chaos and danger follow him. A top-secret government computer program is unleashed at Whit's End. Tom Riley's barn burns to the ground. And that's just the beginning of the schemes that Dr. Blackgaard has planned for Odyssey and John Avery Whittaker.

Follow the ever-twisting story in The Blackgaard Chronicles, a collection of thirty episodes following Whit's greatest nemesis. Along the way, the folks in Odyssey learn lessons about God's protection, sacrifice, forgiveness, salvation, and more. Once you start the story with "A Bite of Applesauce," you won't want to stop listening until you hear the dramatic conclusion. The Blackgaard Chronicles contains 30 episodes on 10 CDs. Over 13 hours of entertainment.

I'm wondering what episodes are going to be included in the package. I like all the Blackgaard episodes, and I own all but three of them (the last CD of my Darkness Before Dawn album is missing). Hopefully it will, in addition to the episodes in Darkness Before Dawn and Daring Deeds, Sinister Schemes, include episodes such as Waylaid in the Windy City and A Name, Not a Number. Those are some of my favorite Odyssey episodes. Blackgaard was always one of the best villains, and I'm glad they kept him around for so long, even bringing him back from the dead in Blackgaard's Revenge. :)

I hope I am able to get this set, because, as the Novacom Saga did, I'm sure it's going to have some great bonus features, let alone the fact that you get thirty episodes in one package!

Well, I think that's it for now. Oh! I just remembered. Original Joe just today gave me a link to Gary Locke's blog where he posts all of the artwork he does for all kinds of things, including Focus on the Family's Clubhouse Magazine. You should go check it out! (Alert: If you are not a Republican and/or if you are totally content with and supportive of our current president, you could possibly be offended by some of the artwork. :D)

Also, if you're interested, Brock's been posting lately about his experience with the Duggars when they came to FOTF just this week. It's very interesting, especially if you already know a lot about the Duggars (they're the family with 19 kids that you may have seen on TLC!). You can go to Brock's blog here. (FYI: There's a weird-looking blue boy with no shirt on at the top of the page. Hopefully you're not offended by it. If you are, you can take it up with Brock. ;P)

Thanks for reading! Make sure to come back on Saturday for my review on The Green Ring Conspiracy Part III!

...And So It Continues...

2011-03-19T05:56:00.003-04:00

This part was even better than the last one! But they're getting harder to review. It's difficult to review an episode that's a part of a bigger story. That's why, in past seasons, I've always reviewed episodes as a whole when all the parts have aired. That's not really possible this season though, so I'm going to do my best. By the way, if you haven't been there, FreddyJay at The Campbell County Connection is reviewing the episodes in a very interesting way. He's comparing them with the episodes in Album 25: Darkness Before Dawn each week. The first review last week comparing The GRC Part I to A Little Credit Please was very interesting, and I expect this week's to be even more so, so go check it out!

I thought that the opening scene to this second episode was even better than last week's opening scene with Matthew and Emily. This time we got some answers to questions right off the bat, and I hope the same thing happens next week. I really like the characters of Mr. Skint and Buck, but already a bunch more questions have been brought up. I'm wondering if the fact that they both have southern accents will come into play later on. I would think Detective Polehaus should have been more suspicious of Buck upon hearing his strange accent. (I personally think it sounds fake--kind of like the Australian boy, Simon, in A Little Credit, Please.) Somehow they have a connection with Uncle Archie of the carnival, and I think that's going to matter later on.

Detective Polehaus keeps making a big deal about how bad of a family background Wally Haggler has, and I don't know if anyone else caught it, but Uncle Archie is his brother. (So does that mean he's Jay's dad?! Or just another uncle?) I think the detective must know something about Archie's involvement in something, or at least he's suspicious, or he wouldn't be harping upon Wally's background so much. I thought it was intriguing that the detective also knew immediately who the Stiletto is, and that he thought Wally was lying as soon as he was brought up. I looked up the word stiletto in the dictionary to see if that'd give me any clues, but it only means "a small dagger" or "a thin high heel on a woman's shoe". I still think it could be Mr. Charles or the Chairman. I don't think it's Mitch, Richard, or Jason, because each of them is a Christian, and wouldn't do something like that. Well I guess Richard isn't necessarily a Christian, but he's always been a good guy, and he understands forgiveness and repentance. I really have no clue who he could be though.

Monty works in the Secret Service? I never would have guessed that he'd go that direction from his earlier shows. I wonder if Jana knows anything about it. Maybe his dad got him into it. But I think it makes sense that he'd be investigating the counterfeit case. My theory is that he is a spy for the government, and Dirk Beggs, Mr. Skint whoever the other guy is think he's in on the plan. The only sign that he was an agent was the disc under his skin, so I don't see how any of them would know, or why he'd tell them. I can't see him being a double agent against the government, so I don't think he's actually working with them. But now he's right back out of the hospital, and he left us with another cliff-hanger!

Eugene seems to have his action/adventure cap on in these episodes. His attitude and tone remind me of the days when he was trying to find his father with Whit. The chemistry between him and Emily, in my opinion, is really, really good, and I think he'd make a more fitting partner for Emily in a detective agency than Matthew does. ;) And also, the music again really added to the show. John Campbell does a great job composing for mysteries. It hearkens back to the Novacom days. But I'm still waiting to hear from Katrina! I hope she comes in soon. And I hope Audrey Wasalewski starts doing a better job with her voice. In past episodes with her and Eugene, I agree with those who say that she isn't as good of a Katrina as Pamela Hayden was. But she hasn't been in mystery mode for a while, so maybe she can redeem herself.

The kids were really good in the episode again. I thought Matthew especially did a good job. He was right to say that he shouldn't go to meet a stranger, and then I thought it was great that he said he wanted to meet at the police station. I'm really itching to know what's on the AppleBerry phone, to find out why Mr. Skint is so concerned that it will fall into the wrong hands. Georgina Cordova continues to do a great job playing Nelson, and I'm continually amazed at how much she can make him sound like a boy. His argument with Jay about the plane crash made me laugh. Jay also did a good job in the episode. It seems that he's going to be a very important character in the episodes to come, since he links the bad guys to the good guys. I look forward to hearing more from him, since Marvin says that he's in every episode this season.

There are still so many questions, despite how many were answered in this episode: What is Dirk Beggs' secret? What's on the AppleBerry he dropped? What's Uncle Wally's part in all this? And what is the significance of his relation to Uncle Archie at the carnival? Who is Monty working for? Why and how did he escape from the hospital? What's going to happen with the counterfeit money? Is that the "knapsack or something" that dropped from the plane during the fight in the air? Why is Detective Polehaus so suspicious and hostile toward Uncle Wally? Does the detective have any secrets himself? Who is the Stiletto? And why do all the suspicious people know who he is? What part is Connie going to play as the episodes continue? Is her place at the college going to play a role? What's going to happen at Uncle Archie's carnival? And when will we ever learn if a duck's quack really echoes?!

I can't wait to hear the answers to all these questions as the season continues to unfold. I'm glad that this episode had a good moral presented by Chris at the end. Hopefully the rest of the episodes will end up following suit. Thank you for taking the time to read my review! Please comment!

P.S. I think this should be okay since the Official Podcast has released it, so here's the album art for Album 54!:

I have to admit that I don't like this one as much as I've liked the ones in the past. I feel pretty much the same about it as I did about Album 51's art when it first came out. It just doesn't seem like it'd look good on the front of an album. But maybe it will look better when it gets a border around it and actually goes on the album.

By the way, I think, based on the title as presented on the Official Podcast blog, that the title of Album 54 has been changed slightly from Clanging Cymbals and the Meaning of Love to Clanging Cymbals and the Meaning of God's Love.

Nevermind!

2011-03-18T08:48:00.003-04:00

I just finally figured it out! And now I know what Album 54 looks like! But I'm going to leave you to find the last character that I couldn't find. Here's the puzzle again:

P E O L I V I A
C V C R I N K C
W A E O I P A J
O J M U N A T O
O A I I G N R H
T S L L L E I N
O O Y V O L N E
N N G L E R A E

Again, all you have to do is find ten Odyssey characters, cross out the letters that make up their names in the puzzle, and then enter the remaining letters into this box at the Official Podcast website. I'll give you a clue: The final word has fifteen letters in it.

I'm Going Crazy!

2011-03-18T08:26:00.005-04:00

The Official Podcast posted this word search puzzle on their blog, and I cannot, for the life of me, figure it out!

P E O L I V I A
C V C R I N K C
W A E O I P A J
O J M U N A T O
O A I I G N R H
T S L L L E I N
O O Y V O L N E
N N G L E R A E

As soon as I can find just ten current Odyssey characters, and then enter the letters in the leftover spaces into the "Secret Word box", I get to see the cover of Album 54! And you do too if you can figure it out! But I can't find the last character. I've found Olivia, John, Camilla, Emily, Eugene, Connie, Wooton, Jason, and Katrina, but I can't find any others at all! The word that you enter into the password box is supposed to be a character we're going to meet in Album 54, but I can't finish the puzzle!

Please tell me if you've figured it out, so I can see the new album cover!