A Lengthy Analysis of Album 58

So....wow.

First of all, I must make a confession. I broke one of my rules in listening to this season. I *gasp* listened ahead of the episodes that were airing on the radio. =P  After about eight episodes of faithfully, patiently listening to one episode a week, I gave in and visited FAIO to listen to the rest, most of which I finished in one day. xP

But, that tragedy aside, wow. Obviously it affected me pretty drastically, because I actually decided to get on this blog and write a post for once. =p  I had started this review about a month ago, though, so it took some extra nudging from a friend to even get it finished and published. But anyways, I'm going to attempt to write a review for a 14-part episode right now -- something I have never done before.. And before I get started, it goes without saying that a certain notification is in order:

~~~EXTREME SPOILER ALERT~~~

You have been warned.

My goodness, this album was good! I even venture to say that this album is the best since the relaunch. I hesitate to say that, because there were certainly episodes that I very much enjoyed in the seven albums that have preceded this one. And there are even episodes that I liked more than certain single parts of this 14-part episode. But as one whole episode, this one did something that I don't think an AIO episode has ever done before. It interwove and expounded at least six major plots (listed later) in a coherent, inter-related, inspiring way. During the last episode, as all of the story lines were being resolved, I was in awe at how well each resolution was handled and how deeply almost every one affected me. 

I looked through the episode titles of the shows from every album since the relaunch, and I realized that I don't think an AIO episode has affected me this much since The Inspiration Station in Album 51, with the possible exception of Your Servant Is Listening on Album 57. Although I recognized the excellence of the writing fairly early on and was anticipating a tremendous season, it was especially the last several episodes that really touched me. It surprised me in many different ways, most of which involved how deeply I found myself lost in the story. In fact, the writing and the acting were so good that I forgot several things that I didn't think I could forget:

• I forgot that I didn't like Buck. Throughout the season he really grew on me, but in the scene where he explained to Camilla why she needed to be content with her upbringing and the way that her family loved her instead of coveting his life... it totally broke down any remaining dislike of his character that I was harboring. The lines were delivered so well, and the emotion in his voice was perfect, not feeling forced or scripted at all. That was one of my favorite scenes, outside of the several scenes that ended the season.

• I forgot that I didn't initially like Shona Kennedy's attempt at voicing Jules. This album was full of character development for Jules, and I thought Shona handled it exceptionally well. The chemistry between her and Vance was superb. (I'll add here that I was also very impressed with Vance this season. I'm very glad that the voice change happened back in 2010, because even though I was annoyed by it back then, I don't think the original actor could have pulled off what the current one did in this album.) And one scene that really sticks out to me is the scene where Buck is walking her home. The exchange that they have in that scene made them so real to me... There was some excellent writing going on. And Shona did a wonderful job with some scenes that had the potential to be pretty challenging.

• I forgot that Matthew had a new voice! O_o  That says a lot about Gunnar Sizemore's ability to fill the shoes that Zach Callison left behind. Perhaps their voices are naturally that similar, but I have to think that Gunnar listened to past episodes to get a feel for how Zach had handled the character; and he did an awesome job replicating that. There were very few times I remembered that Matthew sounded different at all. The majority of the time, I got lost in the episode and totally neglected to notice any change.

• I forgot that, up until this album, I still haven't been totally comfortable with the new voice for Whit. This season featured a Whit that actually taught substantial lessons from God's Word! Consequently, there were very few times that my brain even acknowledged that there was anything abnormal or different about him, when it comes to how Whit's acted in the past. It was so refreshing to have the godly, wise Whit back alongside the grandfatherly Whit that has seemed to dominate the last several seasons.

• I forgot that Wooton has been annoying the last few albums, due to his consistent identity as the provider of lame comic relief. Hadley took that role in this album, and it was a breath of fresh air. Sure, Wooton had his silly moments, but it wasn't overdone like it usually is; it felt like he was finally back in character. And his character was integral to the plot of the album, so he went through quite a bit of emotional turmoil and character development over the course of the 14-part episode. I couldn't be more happy with the more mature character that resulted. Closely related to this point...

• I forgot (and perhaps this one is the most amazing of all!) that I didn't like Penny! I think this was a direct result of the serious subject matter of this season. I honestly can't think of a moment where she genuinely annoyed me or when I was frustrated that she and Wooton got along so well. And that's saying a lot, because her very *presence* usually accomplishes both of those things for me. =P

So yeah, kudos to Mr. McCusker for accomplishing so many things through these episodes that I thought were impossible! xD  But there's still something about this album I haven't mentioned (directly) that amazed me more than anything else. Now, you have to understand, I heard a pretty major spoiler before this 14-parter even began to air. I sort of didn't resist hearing this spoiler, though. A friend told me something along the lines of, "You're not going to believe what happens in Album 58.. >_>" and I said, "Wooton and Penny get married? =O"  And she was like, "Yeah... how'd you know?"  Basically, I had just guessed what I hoped would never happen but knew was inevitable, especially in a season dedicated to exploring the subject of family.

I think it was a couple months after I heard the spoiler before I actually started listening to the episodes, so I had largely forgotten to be listening for it. But as the album progressed, the chemistry between Wooton and Penny was turning out to be really good... Penny supported him through the tragedy of losing his house. (And can I just say right now, could there have been a more perfect tragedy? Could anything have affected fans as much as Wooton losing his awesome house, besides, maybe, someone dying? xP) She was an asset to him, a true companion, not just a partner in comic relief and silly escapades. She was moral support and a voice of reason at some pretty pivotal moments. That's what Wooton needs. That's what any man needs in a wife. So when the last scene started to roll, when I realized what was coming, I was perfectly happy and content with it. I don't think I could be more pleased with how it turned out.

Okay, now on to analyzing the actual plots, the interwoven story lines that formed the backbone of this album. I counted six primary stories which were surrounded and penetrated by nine smaller plot devices specifically relating to families. I also noticed three other very minor ones that I will briefly mention as well. And if I missed any, be sure to tell me in the comments!

So, first, in no particular order, here are my thoughts on the major plots:

1. Buck and the Meltsners: I knew this was coming. I think we all did. Ever since Buck ran off with Mr. Skint in Album 53 after having developed a bit of a relationship with "Ms. Katrina." Then our thoughts were confirmed when Eugene and Katrina learned they couldn't have kids. So yeah, I suppose this was predictable. But Paul McCusker knew that it was predictable, so what does he do? He slips some awesome dialogue in through Connie that lets us know that he knows and that he doesn't care because it's a pretty awesome story, nevertheless. And I agree. Adoption is a beautiful thing, whether that's what ends up happening in this situation or not. And even if that's not what happens, it's still a great picture of Christlike love to take in a kid who has caused you and people you love a lot of trouble. Almost makes me want to forgive all the wishy-washy stuff Katrina said to Buck back in Album 53. xp  I'm actually finding myself looking forward to what comes of this in the seasons ahead.

2. Jules and Connie: We knew Jules was coming back, but I don't think any of us could have guessed how it was going to be handled. One of the most awesome things about her as a character, I think, is how similar she is to how Connie was when she first came to Odyssey from California. Sure, she's a 21st century version with social media to aid her sense of independence, and she has different reasons to feel uneasy in Odyssey, but she's still the same girl. And as I mentioned before, it's really awesome to watch her progress throughout this season. People say her secret intentions were obvious and that her story line was too predictable. I disagree. Yes, it was obvious from the beginning that she was up to something. I even said to my siblings before the first episode was over, "She's the Perilous Pen." But then the Vigilantors get introduced. And Vance seems to have some connection with them. And she hangs out with Vance quite a lot. So for a while, I was really unsure of what she was actually doing. She seems to be more connected to the vandalism than she does to Wooton and his comics, even though she initially shows up at Comic-Connelsville. Of course, if you were astute enough to keep the very first scene of the season in mind, retaining that Wooton's comics were in the supply room at Whit's End, then you would have had a pretty good grasp on every thing. I, like anyone else, knew something was up when Jules kept getting caught sneaking around near there, but I had not paid enough attention to know that it was hiding Wooton's comics. So although it was obvious that she was the Perilous Pen by the time everything was being revealed, I thought the writers did a good job maintaining a moderate amount of uncertainty along the way.

3. The Parkers: I'm going to treat this one as the core of the season, because I think it ultimately was. It was the Parker kids who received the most powerful and direct instruction and explanation from Whit as to the nature of biblical families. Matthew was directly related to both the LGT Festival plot and the Hangman's Hollow plot; Olivia was indirectly related to the LGT Festival plot; and Camilla was indirectly related to the Buck plot. So in a lot of ways, this family is at the center of everything. And they have their own issues to sort out, even if all of the craziness weren't going on around them. I think Mr. and Mrs. Parker really shine as parents in this album. Some people say that the family talks were contrived. I'll give you that. But sometimes that's sorta how family conversations are, aren't they? Sometimes it's just like, we need to have a talk, so let's just do it. It doesn't have to flow well. =P  Others complain that the "tension" thing was never really resolved. But what about after Camilla talks to Buck? Does she not leave him with a newfound appreciation for her family, tense and imperfect though they may be? That was resolution enough for me: they aren't perfect, but God has blessed them richly with an intact family, so they need to be there for each other.

4. Ms. Adelaide and the LGT Festival: (Am I the only one who recognized that the initials of the festival are pretty darn close to those of another association with similar values and aspirations? =P)  Now we come to the plot that gave many fans the most grief this season. And, honestly, I don't understand why. I mean, I hear their arguments, but the arguments just don't make sense to me. This is a show for 8- to 12-year-olds. And many of the children in that target audience have younger siblings who are not quite that old. Do they need to hear the words "homosexuality," "gay," "lesbian," or "AIDS" being thrown around? Even if it would be okay for their older siblings? I don't think so. And this is certainly the case in my family. If all of the subjects either directly addressed or touched upon in this album had been described with the aforementioned words, some of my younger siblings would not have been allowed to listen? Is that because my parents shelter their kids? Perhaps. But it's more just because they want to be able to make the determination about when their children are old enough and mature enough to hear those terms and have them explained to them. I think Mr. McCusker made an excellent decision in the way he wrote the dialogue and set up the situations throughout this season. All young kids needed to understand was that Ms. Adelaide and Mr. Whittaker had a disagreement based on their principles; and Mr. Whittaker got his principles right out of Scripture, so he was obviously on the right side. =P  As they get older and their parents introduce them to these deep issues on their own timing, they will understand more about the message behind these episodes, and I think they'll be able to appreciate them even more. Now, there's also the issue of whether or not Ms. Adelaide was caricatured. Meh, I suppose you could make that argument. There were certainly scenes where she was over-the-top. But I think there are people out there like her who are both inconsistent within their belief systems and also unaware of just how much their belief system affects them. So I don't think it was all together unrealistic. The message was very clear to those old enough to understand all of its nuances, and there were several subjects broached about which parents were then given the opportunity to have conversations with their kids, at their own discretion. That's what Focus set out to do, and I think they accomplished that goal very well.

5. Hangman's Hollow: Ah, yes, the least substantive of the plots. =P  After having listened to most of the episodes two or more times, I feel like there was a lot of emphasis on this plot point at the beginning...without much return at the end. It's almost like the initial mystery about the guy going around buying all the old antiques existed merely to involve Jason and to introduce an opportunity for the Jones & Parker Detective Agency to have a mini-case. =p  I suppose those aren't horrible things, but it does still feel like the low point of the season, with regard to quality of writing. It does seem to serve as a decent source of comic relief, with Harlow Doyle making an appearance, as well as zombies, which were the last thing any fan expected to hear in an Odyssey show. xp  So I'll admit that it was creative! And it was a good way to touch on the interesting study that is the effect of television sitcoms on American life and morals, which I'll talk about more later. So, I guess, although this plot didn't impress me as much as the others, it was still unique and served a purpose, so I can't fault it too much.

6. Wooton and Comic-Connelsville: And, last but not least, we consider what's probably my favorite of the story lines in this season. I don't know about you guys, but I thought this whole "Comic-Connelsville" thing was pretty darn clever -- just barely a notch above corny. =P  When I heard this idea introduced in the first episode, it was basically right then that I knew we were in for a very good season. This is the largest focus we've ever had on Wooton and his PowerBoy comics, among the others that he writes. I thought it was awesome to see Wooton among people who think of him as a celebrity. This plot point introduced so many opportunities for character development -- the deal with Maximized Comics, the possibility of selling artwork, the Perilous Pen, the Sleuth Family Robinson concept, and, of course, the break-in and burning down of his house. I think I loved just about every minute of all the directions this story went. Even Hadley, as a character, intrigued me a good deal, especially as we neared the end of the season. As with Jules, although I had inklings of the things he was involved in, the nature and flow of the story kept me guessing. Of course, once Jules was exposed as the Perilous Pen and it was clear that the Vigilantors had no reason to set their sights on Wooton, it wasn't hard to figure out who was left to be behind the various felonies at Wooton's house. But I still don't think that made it predictable. As I've alluded to previously and will further expound upon soon, I believe this plot was the heart and soul of the album, inasmuch as the Parker family and their involvement were the substance of the album... if that makes sense. =P

Okay, now I'm going to switch gears and try to briefly go over the nine or so family structures that we saw in this album. A lot of these are fairly obscure and discussed only briefly, but every one is important, I believe. 

1. Buck's (lack of) family: This one is really key, I think. Especially when we see the conversation that Buck has with Camilla. Emotional depth permeates his lines, and you almost come away with it even more grateful for your *own* family. It's incredibly hard for me to imagine what it would be like to grow up without committed, loving parents. God is very gracious. So I need things like this as reminders that there are people out there who really struggle in orphanages and foster care systems, always looking for permanence and unconditional love that are seldom found.

2. Meltsners' want of family: Obviously this one is very related to the previous one. This, again, is something that a lot of us with traditional families are not used to thinking about. A lot of us know couples who struggle with infertility, but I venture to say that not many of us at all understand all of the heartbreak that accompanies such a struggle. In our culture that's becoming so comfortable with family planning, birth control, and the like, we lose sight of what a blessing it is to have children. We're more likely to think about how they can benefit us rather than how blessed we are to be given the responsibility and privilege of investing in *them*. And infertility gets in the way of such blessing and privilege. But there is also great beauty in adoption -- often the result of infertility -- and I hope we get to see this beauty expounded even more as we continue to follow the story of Buck and the Meltsners. It's unfortunate that the process is often so costly in our country, but I imagine the rewards are worth the effort and I believe Christ is exalted because of the beautiful picture adoption paints to remind us of what His sacrifice did for us.

3. Jules's family: In Jules we have a great picture of what happens when a girl has no consistent family life -- and when she does have family life, it consists of a father who is not very respectful in his treatment of women and a mother who obviously has better things to care about. Unfortunately, I think this is a very common situation. Way too many teenage girls today do not have a respectable, caring father-figure in their lives. Feminists would say, "Who needs one?" but I think suicide and self-harm statistics speak for themselves. Girls need a man who will tell them they're beautiful, who will treat them and the other women in his life like they're worth something. If they don't have that, they don't have an accurate picture of how guys should treat girls, and they won't end up being very selective when it comes to the guys they date. Case in point, Jules initially having no problem hanging out with Vance and others like him. Her father doesn't treat her with the dignity she deserves, so why should she be turned off by a guy who wants her help to do wrong things? I don't recall what the exact situation is with her mom -- whether Bill has moved on to someone else already or not -- but I do recall that she made it to Odyssey before her parents even thought to worry about her. So hers wasn't a good situation. I'm glad Connie was given the opportunity to have a better influence on her and give her better direction than she'd been getting at home. I trust this season wasn't the last we'll see of their relationship.

4. Connie and her mom: Even though this ended up being a really small and somewhat forgettable part of the season, I still thought it was really meaningful. Connie's mom did a pretty decent job of bringing her up after Bill divorced her, and I think the trunk she saved was just another really sweet example of just how much she cared about Connie. We get a little sense of generational legacy here, since June makes it clear that she wanted Connie to be able to show the stuff to her kids someday. Makes me stop and think about stuff I might want to do for my kids someday that would impact them in a way similar to this.

5. The Parker family: Yes, we discussed them as part of the six major plots, but they're a picture we see of family, too, so they're worth mentioning again. I remember when this family was introduced with the relaunch and Album 51 and we found ourselves complaining a bit about different idiosyncrasies here and there; but who today wouldn't say that the Parkers have grown on you? Even with all the voice changes I think the kids are still very real kids, and many of the listeners in the target audience can certainly identify with them. I love the chemistry of the parents, and I love the times of banter that the siblings often share. It's a very realistic family, in my opinion, and it's an intact one! One without divorce, without extramarital affairs, without teenage rebellion, and without a deadbeat dad or a domineering mom. It's a group of individuals that God has placed together to live life and glorify Him together. We might not all enjoy such a thriving family, but I think most people would agree they wish they had that. So I'm glad Odyssey has consistently kept such a model for us over the years.

6. The family on the TV show: The name of the show escapes me at the moment (they did name it, didn't they?), but you guys know what I'm talking about: The family with *gasp* lesbians at the head. When I heard the producer of the show explaining the members of the family to Matthew, Emily, and Jay, I was simultaneously shocked and overjoyed that Odyssey actually went so far as to mention a family with two moms. I think it's about time we start addressing things like this with our kids, because it's only a matter of time before such "family" units become even more widespread than they are now. When things get to the point where your next-door neighbors are lesbians or a male gay couple, what are you going to tell your kids? Well, I hope to have already prepared my kids for such situations. Obviously we don't have to tell them all of the inner workings and the sexual motivations behind the decision that two people of the same sex make to marry one another; but we can establish for them the biblical model of the family and explain that anything else is rebellion against the law of Christ and direct defiance of nature. That's why I was excited to hear the subject broached in an Odyssey episode. Hopefully it will give parents who haven't equipped their children for such questions and observations the chance to start some important conversations. 

7. The Sleuth Family Robinson: Here we have essentially the opposite of the previous family model. This creation of Wooton is intended to have the opposite effect that the lesbian couple would have in the media. Whereas seeing homosexuality depicted on a sitcom would encourage the normalization and social acceptance of the sinful, destructive lifestyle, seeing an intact, cooperating family portrayed in a good light would promote, in however small a way, a biblical view of marriage and family. We could argue about how much influence one family in a comic book would have on society at large, but we'll set that aside for now. I just thought it was a really cool idea on the part of Paul McCusker to have Wooton create characters like this to counteract so much of the junk we see representing families in most media today, as the Parker family discusses. I wish something like this actually existed, because I found the concept quite intriguing.

8. Ms. Adelaide and her brother: This, I thought, was a very profound move to make. Yes, an awful lot is packed together in this one album, so adding another aspect to the debate on marriage and family could be perceived as overkill. But I thought this particular aspect was handled very well. I mean, come on, would you have ever seen it coming that AIO would feature a character with AIDS? Really? I remember a discussion years ago on the message boards about whether or not it would work for a homosexual character to appear on the show, how the people in the town would respond, what Whit in particular would do in such a situation, etc. And now here we have the answer! Whit handled his conversations with Ms. Adelaide's brother so delicately and with such grace.... It was really inspiring. And the fact that he apparently got saved in the end really just warmed my heart. You could tell he was repentant; he saw where his sin had gotten him, and he acknowledged that it was all his fault. Even his friends wouldn't come to see him because he reminded them of where their own wrong choices could take them as long as they persisted in them. Yeah, sure, not every homosexual ends up with AIDS, and certainly not every one that does end up with AIDS repents of sin and trusts Christ for salvation. But isn't it a beautiful thing to think that God actually does save such people? 1 Corinthians 6 tells us as much. And I like to be reminded of that sort of thing, because I know it was just as much of a miracle that He saved me.

9. Wooton and Hadley: Oh, I could go on and on about how much I loved the resolution of this plot. When the truth comes out that Hadley was the one who caused the destruction to Wooton's house and had been attempting to misuse his artwork; when he goes and tries to sell the artwork to Hugo Wells; when Hugo Wells rejects it because he knows it wouldn't be an honest transaction; and then when Wooton confronts him about it..... I don't know what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn't expecting him to go back in with him and sell the artwork honestly to help Hadley pay his bills. I legit just about cried. My eyes teared up. Wooton is so freaking awesome. And I love it when he does things like that that are just so... Christian. Such evidence that he's been treated with undeserved favor, because he's so ready to show it to others. Really makes me wish I could be more like that toward the people closest to me. 

Alright, then, just to round things off, I'll point out that we also got small glimpses into the Smouse family (Jay can do basically whatever he wants whenever he wants because, quote, "they want him to be quiet." XD) and the Jones family (Emily, as we've seen before, could potentially haggle with her parents until she talked them into letting her see a zombie TV show, if that's really what she wanted to see. =p). And then I wanted to point out that we got another small look into the father-son relationship between Whit and Jason in the short conversations they have after Whit's collapse. (While I'm on the subject, by the way, I don't know what's up with you people who say that that situation was not resolved. Jason says to Whit, "You should have come in to see [Dr. Graham] days ago," and Jules makes a remark that she's certain by the looks of Whit that all the stress just got to his head. So I really think that's all it was... I'm not sure why people want something more, as if his collapse was part of a plot by Ms. Adelaide to get him out of the way or something. xP)

So there you have it! Family, family, family! You're probably sick of hearing me talk about it by now, but I do want to say just a few more things. I work with kids on a daily basis during the school year whose lives are a wreck, mostly because of the horrible home situations they have to return to every day. Some of them go through verbal abuse, and some physical and sexual abuse. A couple have intact families, but the majority have parents who have gone through a divorce, who never got married at all, or who are in jail because of terrible choices they've made. One of the young girls I work with lives with a lesbian mom and her partner. One of the boys I work with never knew his dad because his mom is always switching boyfriends. I could go on and on with stories, but you get the point. Family matters. And God's model for family matters. That's what this album was about. And you have to acknowledge that it drove that point into the ground. If nothing else, my above analysis of just how many family units we saw this season proves it. We are talking about a product from Focus on the Family, after all, people. =P

Was this album perfect? No. But I truly think it's the best we've been offered since all the changes in 2010. I don't think the interconnected-ness of the plots and the constant switching from one to the next detracted from the album; I think it enhanced it. I think it drove home the point that families are integral to society, to everything we do. If we lose that, as our culture seems bound to do, we begin to lose everything. And never have I understood that point so well as I have when listening to and considering this, AIO's first and only 14-part episode. Hopefully my analysis has done some justice to its greatness. ;)

Please comment below if you think I missed anything or if I just have a horrible perspective on something that needs corrected. I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say!

~ Christian A.

Sorry for My Absence... Hopefully This Makes It Up to You a Little...

Yeah.... So, if you hadn't noticed, I've been slightly less than active on this blog. xP  You can blame life for that. *nods*

However. I haven't forgotten about you people! At least.... I remember you about once every few weeks or so. =P  Anyway, two of my little siblings got Albums 56 and 57 for their respective birthdays, and I've been listening to the episodes the last couple of nights... and I realized that I sorta dropped the ball at just the wrong time.

Those albums were *really* good. With the exception of the Penny and J&P episodes, nearly every single one has made me seriously think about something, or has really entertained me. The writers worked really hard to give us entertaining, yet meaningful episodes these last couple of seasons. We saw episodes about prayer, true repentance, tithing, Scripture, and even one where a girl who grew up in a Christian home realizes that she needs to make the faith her own and trusts Jesus for the first time! And as if that weren't enough, a subsequent episode deals with her struggle to keep her newfound faith alive! I don't know if I could have asked for anything better, really.

I don't want to presume upon anything, but.... I think I will anyway. =P  During the Green Ring Conspiracy episodes, I couldn't stop whining and complaining about the lack of solid biblical truth in the episodes; and I was especially disturbed by the less-than-adequate descriptions of sin and salvation that I was hearing. Several times, I believe, I made sure I said that I believed a person is truly saved when they repent of their sins and trust in Christ for salvation. And at that time, I don't think AIO had ever featured a description of conversion in those specific words.

But then fast-forward to The Bible Network. In the first sequence, "Who's the Real Sheep?" we are given a precise definition of how to be saved: "by repenting of our sins and trusting in Jesus." Exactly. What. I. Asked. For. Does anyone think that could be more than a coincidence? Like I said, I don't want to presume that the writers read my blog faithfully and take into account everything I say.... but whether or not that's the case, I have seen a very evident change in the content and focus in many of the episodes.

Just last night I was listening to Disc 2 of Album 56, which has "The Holy Hoopster" and "The Lost Riddle" on it. Both of those episodes explicitly and repeatedly have characters saying "Jesus" and/or "Christ," names that I had felt were conspicuously absent from Odyssey for a long period of time. And even though it wasn't the primary moral of the story, "The Lost Riddle" had a very strong message about the Providence of God. Even though Kenny did wrong to Dale and thereby got a headstart on his career that should have gone to Dale, God worked through it, and Dale says that he wouldn't have it any different even if he could. I was very touched by this episode. And it's even a Jones & Parker episode! I couldn't believe it. xD

All this is to say.... Well done, Odyssey. I complained for a long time, and you didn't have to deliver, but you did. Even though some things don't totally line up with the specifics of what I believe (see my review on The Bible Network for that...), I think what we've been given is much better than what we had been getting. And given the fact that AIO has to cater to a huge audience, made up of people from all kinds of denominational backgrounds, I think they've done an excellent job. I've seen the gospel several times over the last two seasons. In The Bible Network, in Your Servant Is Listening, and even in Life Expectancy. I could hardly be more pleased.

Well, hopefully this hasn't been too long. That's another thing that I needed to work on back when I was on here more regularly: shorter reviews. xP  I don't know how active I'm going to be in the future--actually today I was only planning on giving you a preview of this article and writing the whole thing out at a different time--but I hope you can relate to what I said. =)

TL;DR: Odyssey is awesome. Thank you.

Surprise!

Hey!  If you're reading this, I highly commend you for your faithfulness in keeping up with my blog, even when I take several-month-long hiatuses.  I continue to consider officially bringing an end to this thing, but I keep deciding to keep it alive for a while longer, for just such times as today, when I have some free time and I feel like reviewing an episode. :D

So, yeah, I'm going to review "Your Servant Is Listening, Part 1." I don't think I'll make it very long, but I thought I'd at least put something out. I'm so far behind with Odyssey these days that I still haven't heard one of the episodes from Album 56. Life has finally gotten a hold of me, and I'm no longer a young teenager with too much time on his hands. This summer I've had two jobs, and during the schoolyear I've been taking college-level classes at a vocational school. All of that adds up to...no free time. At least, no free time that I feel like spending on writing long reviews of episodes. ;)

The other part of the problem is that I found myself writing longer and longer reviews, because as I've further developed my theological convictions and opinions, I've found that they often clash with those of the creators of Odyssey.  And if you've ever had a theological conversation with me, you know I can't just let something go if I disagree with it. ;)

So anyway. I had my wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday, so I've had a slow, relaxing week. And I figured, since I don't really have anything to do this Saturday, I might as well give you guys some of my thoughts about the pilot episode of this new season.

I actually found myself really liking this episode. I probably won't have a final opinion on it until I hear the resolution next week, but overall I found this show to be to my liking. And it's funny, because this is the way I felt with "The Perfect Church" last season. It gave me new hope for Odyssey....and then I was let down by other episodes in the season. So I'm trying not to get my hopes too high after this one good episode. But I think it must be that I really like these biblical episodes. In "The Perfect Church," Matthew learned things directly from the Bible that applied to what he was experiencing in modern times. And it seems that Camilla is going to experience the same thing.

And I think that the issue that this episode explores is even more relevant than was the church conflict issue in the other one. In my own family I see several Camillas, who don't really get the point of reading their Bibles or praying consistently. And I thought Mrs. Parker had a very good point: They don't hear the voice of God in Scripture. They don't desire to spend time with God in His Word because they haven't yet come to truly know God. 1 Corinthians 2 says that the things of God are foolish and impossible to understand for those who don't have the Holy Spirit. Now, something tells me that the Odyssey writers aren't going to go so far as to say that Camilla isn't saved, but I still think that's an application we can derive.

But that's not the only lesson we learned in this episode. In a typical Odyssey episode, there's only one moral point that is trying to be brought across. But I was very impressed when I picked up on at least two other semi-related points. Not only did we begin to learn about the importance of reading our Bibles, but we learned about the nature and power of prayer, as well as the meaning of sacrifice in the Old and New Testaments. When the Parkers were noticing the animals around them in the marketplace, I thought to myself, "This would be a great opportunity for the writers to talk about Jesus!"  And when Lucia went so far as to say that sacrifices were offered for the forgiveness of sins, I was pleased. But then she went the extra mile and described exactly what I was hoping for! That the sacrifices required under the Law of Moses were pointing to the ultimate sacrifice: Jesus!  I was very happy to hear that explained in a way that kids could understand.  I've found that not many people understand that connecting strand between the Old and New Testaments these days, so I'm thrilled that AIO took the opportunity to explain such a core Christian concept in the language of kids.

Anyway. I told you I couldn't help bringing theology into these reviews! :P  And it looks like this is going to end up being long anyway... Oh well. I think I've done this before too, and I don't remember anyone complaining then. But hey, I'm not forcing you to read it all anyway, so it's all good. ;P

Okay, back to the episode. On the more superficial side of things, I know people have been complaining about Camilla's new voice....but I really didn't mind it at all. I think the former Camilla had a more annoying voice, personally. Plus, she was starting to sound too old for the part, so I thought it was a good decision. And the new actress sounds so similar to Sydney Shiotani that I think it would have taken me a good while to notice had I not heard about the interview with her on the Official Podcast.

I actually surprised myself and liked the part that Lucia played in this episode as well. At the beginning, she wasn't that great, but during the actual adventure I thought she was a great asset to the story. She added some elderly comic relief, as well as a good amount of wisdom. She almost felt to me like she was playing the part that Wooton used to play, once upon a time. She was funny, but that never came at the expense of her maturity and wisdom. If she can maintain this balance, I would not at all mind seeing her more often on the show.

And then Eva. I liked her just about as much as I usually do. She's not the greatest of characters, but her actress does a good job with her, so she didn't bother me. She's always seemed to me to be somewhat of a pushover when it comes to handling her children, and that showed through a little bit in this episode, but it wasn't too bad. And then I thought it was cool that she got to use her nursing skills (wasn't this the first time ever on the show?) to help deliver Samuel.

I think one of the best things about this episode for me was that Mr. Whittaker was not involved. I know that sounds wrong, but I think it was a good break to have a show where Whit was not the only delivering the moral in a short lecture at the end. Now, that could be coming in Part 2, but for now, I'm very happy with the way it is, without him.

Well... I think that's all I have to say about the episode. I had forgotten how fulfilling it is to finish a long review. I may just have to try to make time for writing one next week... You probably shouldn't get your hopes up though. ;)  Next week I have work in the morning, and the week after that is the Bible Bee. So I really doubt I'll be consistent in putting out reviews. But I promise I will think about it, and I will review Part 2 if I feel like I have enough time.

Thank you for reading!

-- Christian A.

Album 57 Cover!

Hey, I decided, this is an easy post to make and it won't take much time, so I'll give you guys something for being faithful followers. But it's not much.

However, it is exciting! Reddo posted this artwork on the Soda Shop late last night!

 

 

I'm not really sure what I think of it yet, but I don't have time to post my thoughts, so let me know what you think!

A Qur'an Connection

Hopefully that title doesn't offend anybody.  I racked my brain for some other fitting antonym to "Bible," but I really couldn't think of one. It's a little extreme, I guess, but hopefully there are no Muslims who are browsing my site who will seek me out and kill me for using their holy book's name irreverently.

Well, I said I would have a controversial review for you this week. You would think, with a name and a theme so centered around the Bible, the Odyssey writers couldn't go wrong. That's what I thought as well. And that's what I continued to think as I listened to the first two sections of the show. I was actually very pleased with the first one; the second one was a little cheesy and drawn-out, but I didn't have much of an issue with it. But I was sorely disappointed when it came time for the third section. It was an entertaining enough story, and I think the writers were well-intentioned with it, but it had a very major theological flaw in it. And you know how I am about theological flaws. I'll get to that later in the review though. First, I'll tell you what I liked about the episode.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent format. I liked how 2 Timothy 3:16 was the basic framework for the skits, mainly because it's one of the most foundational texts for the Christian faith, since it deals with the inspiration and sufficiency of Scripture. (It was also, along with Verse 17, the focus verse for this past year's Bible Bee. So I know it very well.)  This started the episode out on the right foot for me, because I prefer the Bible to be the starting point for an episode, rather than just a point we try to pull out from the episode once all of the entertainment is over. If you remember, that's what I liked so much about Album 54:  the writers started with a moral, an aspect of love from 1 Corinthians 13, and made a story out of it, rather than coming up with an entertaining story idea and trying to fit a moral into it.  This episode almost didn't feel like AIO at first, because it was so Bible-oriented.

Then we get to the first call/"letter". Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the main concern of this caller, and I understand why Connie answered it the way she did, but the way it was handled may have resulted in some misconceptions. The caller said that her friend was telling her that what she needed to do to get to heaven was follow the Ten Commandments. Connie responds by offering a skit that shoots down that idea by presenting a caricatured guy who advocates doing your best to follow the Moral Law and hoping that your good ends up outweighing your bad. That's moralism. And it is a part of the basic philosophy of today's culture. It's called "moralistic therapeutic deism," which means that there's a god somewhere out there; he's not really involved with our lives, but he got this place going. Since we're his creation though, he wants to see us do what's right, so he has some rules; and he's okay if we don't obey them all the time, but as a general principle of life, we should try to follow the Golden Rule and stuff like that. And when we're depressed or needing love or self-worth, he's there to give it to us. Therefore, it's a combination of deism, the belief that god never interferes with humanity, he just started the universe and watches to see how it'll all play out; moralism/legalism, the belief that all god requires of us is that we do what's right when we can and when it serves our needs, and that'll be enough to please him; and therapyism, the belief that god is here just to make us feel loved and give us a sense that we have purpose in life, that we were made for something more--we're all his children and he's our father who will always try to make us happy.

Notice I used a lowercase "g" to describe the god of those worldviews. Each one has a false god as its object of worship. Therefore, when all of these philosophies are molded together into the ever-popular moralistic therapeutic deism worldview, it is absolutely correct that one cannot get to heaven by following that system. The writers were right in shooting that down. However, in doing so, they may have undermined the Moral Law of God in a way. God didn't give us His Law and then not expect us to obey it. He expects every human being to obey the Ten Commandments, down to every last detail and heart attitude. Unfortunately, none of us are able to obey even one of them, by nature. We are slaves to sin from birth and can't do anything but disobey His Law. So, in that sense, none of us can enter Heaven by obeying the Ten Commandments, because we've been born with a soul already imputed with the sin of Adam, and therefore a nature that cannot obey the commandments perfectly. In addition, God says that all of our "righteous deeds" are filthy rags because of the corrupt heart that they come from. But, the important point I'm getting to is, there was One who was able to keep all of the Ten Commandments perfectly. In fact, it is because of Him that we go to Heaven. Jesus was born of a virgin, shielded by the Holy Spirit, so that He was born without the sin of Adam, without that originally corrupt nature. As a result, He was able to never sin once, throughout his entire life on Earth. And He did go to Heaven based on His righteousness. And we go to Heaven based on His righteousness. Therefore, in that sense, we are saved by obedience to the Ten Commandments--but not our obedience, Jesus' obedience!

Okay, so... all that was to say that the statement that we don't get to Heaven by obeying the Ten Commandments could have been better clarified. But I didn't say all of that for nothing. The previous paragraph will become more important when I get to the problem I had with the third skit. 

Other things I enjoyed about the first skit were Jess Harnell's impersonation of the spiritualist who believes that Heaven is a state of being or something like that, the quick dismissal of the guy who said we're "all good" and "made of the same stuff," and, of course, I was very excited to hear the fifth panelist's answer to the question. It was nearly exactly what I would have said. I almost felt like the writers did it for me or something, after all of the complaining I did during the Green Ring Conspiracy about what the true Gospel message should have been. His definition included repentance and surrendering to Jesus as Savior and Lord--a part that many people leave out these days. Now, the contestant was a bit sketchy on how she explained salvation; she said that it's our faith in Jesus that saves us, while I would contend that it's God Who saves us, not anything we do, like the verse says.  But that was minor, and I was so impressed that she was going through a passage verse by verse that I didn't really care about the specifics of what she was saying. To me, this was a major step in the right direction, even if it was just a part of a little skit.

Then we come to the second skit. I appreciated Connie's introductory remarks to the caller. It drew out another primary function of the Law of God: to show us our sin. Because none of us can live a perfect life, none of us are good, we need the law to show us how we have utterly failed to please God. The BSI skit was a cheesy way of showing that, but I don't really have any theological axes to grind with it, so I guess it was alright. It was sufficiently entertaining the first time I heard it, but listening to it the second time, it felt a bit empty, so it didn't really have much value as something that can be enjoyed over and over again.  Surprisingly, that's about all I have to say about that one. :P   Now on to the biggest problem with this episode.

Right from the get-go there's a problem. The caller says that his friend tells him that he gets to decide what is right and what he wants to do to please God, basically. To me, this sounds like an issue of absolute vs. relative truth. Obviously, we as Christians believe that the Bible is the source of absolute truth and that only it is the final authority in telling us how we are to live. Connie does seem to go that direction with her answer. But then she makes a wrong application. She says that we need to follow the Bible "if we want to be righteous."  Now, just a few years ago, or maybe even a shorter time ago than that, I would have been totally fine with that statement. In fact, there's a VeggieTales episode that teaches the same thing: if we do what God wants us to do, we will be righteous, and God will be pleased with us.  Let's follow that idea to its logical conclusion though. If we become righteous before God by our works, what we accomplish, then we are earning our own salvation. You see, it is only the righteous who will enter Heaven. (Being righteous means that there is no fault in you.) If we can be righteous on our own, then there was no reason for Jesus to live a righteous life for us.  The reality is that it's exactly the opposite from the way this episode presents it. We don't follow God's commands to become righteous. We follow God's commands because we have been made righteous, because the perfect life Jesus lived has been credited to our account. There's a big difference.

In fact, the difference is bigger than you might realize. This issue is what caused Martin Luther to post his 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenburg in 1517. He was taking a stand against the Catholic understanding of justification--that we become righteous before God primarily by improving upon the goodness of Jesus imparted to us. Jesus is not the sole source of our righteousness; we play a part in pleasing God as well. This is why I had such a big problem with this episode. This is an issue central to the Christian faith, central to our salvation. The episode presented us with Catholic doctrine, disguised as Biblical truth. The problem is, most Protestants are too theologically illiterate to have picked up on that. As a result, it appeased Catholic fans, and Protestant fans weren't paying close enough attention (or didn't care enough) to know what they were really hearing.

Now, to give credit to the writers, none of the things that the "soldiers" were doing in the skit were wrong; it's perfectly good for Christians to read their Bibles and memorize passages, to meditate on Scripture day and night. But that's just it, it's good for Christians.  Christians do it because their hearts have been changed and they desire the Word of God because of how great a Savior has saved them; they want to know what He would have them to do--not to gain them a good standing before Him, but to express their gratitude for what He has done for them. Unbelievers would have a wrong motivation behind engaging in such exercises. They would be doing it to try to please God, to try to earn their own salvation. That's why this sort of teaching is so dangerous; it gives the idea that doing things commanded by the Bible are means by which we may be made righteous before God. But the only way we become righteous before God is through His Son, Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God who was fully obedient both in His life and His death. Unfortunately, Jesus was only briefly mentioned in the first skit, and His righteousness was not addressed at all. Instead, the emphasis was on our need to be righteous and to please God.  That was very disappointing to me.

So, there's the big controversy. Do what you want with it. If you are the type who believes that Catholicism is merely another brand or denomination of Christianity, then you will probably discard this issue as unimportant and "arguing over semantics." But if you truly care about the truth of God as revealed in His Word, you will realize that this is really an important issue, and it is our duty as Christians to contend for the truth and to oppose falsehood. That's what I've striven to do here, cleverly disguising it as the review of an Odyssey episode. I tried to present it in an inoffensive way, but I can't please everyone.

I guess you'd probably like to know what I really thought about this episode overall.  Honestly, I have very mixed feelings. As I said, I really liked the first skit, and I liked the framework for the episode. But then the contention I have with the third skit is so great that I think it overrules the goodness of the first part. I can't listen to this episode and enjoy it, because there's such a wrong philosophy behind it.  So, I guess, overall, I don't have a very approving opinion of this episode. I know there will be those of you who disagree, so I would like to hear your opinion as well. Please comment and tell me everything you thought about what I said.

And then, as you know, you should come back next week to read my next review, the next episode being "Happy Hunting." I'm definitely going to have to listen to that episode again, but right now I'm not thinking that my review is going to be very favorable. My thoughts are very similar to what Ben Warren had to say about the episode on his website. But I will still try to keep my review fairly original. Either way, make sure you visit next Saturday and see what I have to say.  Thank you for reading!

-- Christian

With Six Cents Less

Well, I have to say, it's a little disheartening having to review this episode today. I just got done listening to "Groundhog Jay" and would love to review that episode. In short, I thought it was near excellent. But, alas, that review will have to wait for over a month. :(  It's not that "Three Dollars More" was a bad episode, it's just that today's episode was considerably better, and it's going to take some extra thought to review an episode that came out over a month ago. I'm listening to it again, but it's a little hard to remember now the thoughts I had when I first heard the episode.  However, the more of the episode I listen through, the more things I think of that I can address, so this might be a fairly full review nevertheless.

Overall... I think I liked this episode. Originally, when I first listened to it, I had some complaints. I thought it was a little rushed, like "Great Expectations," and I concurred with Alex Jefferson (the blogger) when he said that it seemed a little unnecessary to have two separate failed attempts at an RoC adventure before finally bringing Whit in to help. Also, because of the two silly adventures, I got the impression that the episode was a little bit too focused on entertaining, rather than bringing across the point about tithing.

However, after listening to it again, I've formulated a different opinion. I still have some minor complaints, and I'll get to those later, but I think this episode was actually very well done. Once Whit came on the scene, I thought the moral lesson came across very strongly. Obviously there was a good bit of silliness thrown in for the first half of the episode, but I suppose that can be disregarded, as it was likely designed to keep the younger listeners attentive. But I could use Barrett's words and say, "It was absurd!" or "This is ridiculous!" :P  I thought the acting was good--better than usual, even--and the plot, especially of the last adventure, was very well constructed.

When the episode descriptions for this season surfaced over the summer, I was excited to see that we'd be hearing from the Room of Consequence again. Without looking on AIO Wiki, I guessed that the last time we heard from it was when Liz Horton experienced the adventure backwards in "Hindsight." And I was right. I was wrong, however, when it came to my guess about how many RoC episodes there have been in Odyssey history. My guess was that there were around three or four total. I could think of "Into Temptation," "Hindsight," and "The Eternal Birthday." I guess that just shows how big of an Odyssey geek I am. There are 12 total episodes (including the two from this season) that feature the Room of Consequence! (There are also two Odyssey videos that featured it, I see.) We could have a whole special album full of these episodes! Looking back through the list, I remembered all of the episodes, but I forgot that most of them featured the RoC. It's funny, because I seemed to remember only the very unique RoC adventures. I remembered the very first one, "Into Temptation"; the one where Liz experiences the same day multiple times, "Eternal Birthday"; and the one where the machine runs backwards, "Hindsight." Many of the rest of them, I remembered as Imagination Station adventures, I guess. Most of them are very good episodes. The only one I don't remember very well is "Thy Kingdom Come." Maybe that's just because I haven't listened to it as often; it just seems like that was one of the more forgettable RoC adventures. It's probably different for different people.

Anyways... all that was to say that I was glad to see the return of this machine. It's been odd for it to have disappeared for these 15 albums, since we've last seen it.  And it did seem to run a little differently. It took Matthew and Connie mere minutes to program a somewhat elaborate adventure for Barrett to experience. I don't remember there being much programming involved in the other episodes. I thought it was all based on the user's own mind, as in the case of the Imagination Station.  But, I suppose I can think of an instance or two where the adventure needed to be programmed. Jason programmed Heather's (or was it Erica's?) adventure in the soap opera TV show in "Soaplessly Devoted," and Whit and Eugene had to program Liz's adventure in "The Eternal Birthday."  But those are the only ones I can think of where it was specifically mentioned that the adventure was pre-programmed. It just seemed more like a game than an epic adventure into your possible future when Matthew and Connie were able to manipulate it so drastically with a few keystrokes. Plus, weren't these adventures always supposed to be plausible outcomes of choices? I don't remember there ever being an option where the user would experience a completely ridiculous future, as Barrett did in this episode.

All that aside, I really was happy that we got to see the RoC in action again. We'd had two/three Imagination Station episodes in this season already, so it was time for a change.  The Room of Consequence has always seemed to be very effective in its persuasion of the conscience of the user. This time, the writers decided to utilize the machine to teach a lesson that, surprisingly, hasn't really ever been touched on in Odyssey history. And I thought they did it quite effectively. But I'll get to that later. Right now, I'd like to get out of the way the few minor problems I had with the story:

• As was the case with scenes featuring several tween girls in Albums 51 and 52, particularly, I had a little bit of a hard time following the scenes with the older Matthew and Barrett the first time I listened. It was a little difficult to distinguish the two voices. But, eventually, I got the difference between their voices, and it was no longer a problem. So that was only a very minor complaint.
• One more important problem I had was that on at least two occasions, Mrs. Meltsner spoke in front of the church during a Sunday morning worship service. Now, granted, these events took place during the fictional RoC adventures, but I seemed to me that they were representative of what would be a perfectly normal occurrence. Now, as was the brief complaint I had last week about Emily and her feministic dreams, this is a personal belief and preference that I try to support with Scripture. And this time, I'm backed by my whole denomination at least. 1 Timothy 2, as well as 1 Corinthians 11, I believe, say that a woman should not speak in the church, but that they should remain silent during the worship service. They shouldn't speak up, but should address their husbands with any questions and comments they have later. I know that's just as controversial as what I said last week, what with all of the female pastors and worship leaders and such. But that's what I believe, so that's just something I wanted to add.
• My final complaint is the most relevant to the actual story of the episode. I didn't really like how much Barrett seemed to have backslidden in the future. I know it was all fiction, but Barrett wasn't like, "Hey! I know I'm a Christian now, so there's no way I could act like that and lose my salvation." I just thought it was very odd that Barrett totally gave up on going to church, helping people, and making God a priority, but Matthew still treated him as if he was a Christian and didn't really address that issue.  And then what struck me as most weird was that when Matthew told Barrett that Joey, the kid at the recreation center, had recently "given his life to Jesus," Barrett was like, "That's awesome!"  On the one hand, he seems to have no care about spiritual things whatsoever, but then he's still excited when someone gets saved.  From my point of view, and from the Bible's point of view, if you've been saved, God has changed your heart and your desires, so that you will never ultimately rebel against Him again. You will sin, sure, but He's sealed you with the Holy Spirit. Nothing you could do could separate you from His love, and because of that love, you're not going to want to live in unrepentant sin. Jesus died for your sin, to take the wrath of God away from you. If His wrath no longer abides on you, you could never backslide so much so that you would end up in Hell, with His wrath on you again.  I know many people don't share that conviction either, but that was something that bugged me about this episode, so, again, I just had to bring it up.

Alright. Now to the good stuff.  I really liked the message of this episode. I think my family differs a lot from the traditional view of tithing, in that we don't believe that God requires a rigid ten percent, as He did in the Old Testament. There's no rehashing of that commandment in the New Testament. But there are several passages--particularly in 2 Corinthians 9--that talk about giving cheerfully to the church, supporting your local pastor, and stuff like that. So we believe that Christians are not absolutely obligated to give ten percent of their earnings to God, as is the majority view today. We believe that ten percent is a good starting point, but that it's really about your heart and what's going on inside of you when you're giving your money.

I was surprised to hear that that was basically the main point of this Odyssey episode as well. Whit specifically says to Barrett at the end of the show that he probably figured out by now, tithing is not so much for God's benefit, but for our benefit. It shows us our heart condition and when we're not trusting God to provide for us. When we don't trust God enough to give Him just a portion of our income, it's showing that we probably don't trust Him in other areas either.  So, yeah, I thought the writers handled this topic very well. Better than I was expecting, for sure.

That brings me to another positive. I actually found myself liking Whit in this episode! Andre Stojka's performance in this episode really made me think back to the old days of Whit, where he was the grandfatherly character with good advice and biblical values to teach the kids. And this wasn't just a generic moral lesson, this was a teaching straight from the Bible. And he even made a Gospel application when he said that we should be willing to sacrifice for God, because of how much He sacrificed for us.

And, on the subject of actors, I realized the second time I heard this episode that, Brandon Gilberstadt is back!  I knew I recognized old Matthew's voice the first time I heard the episode, but I couldn't pinpoint it. This time, it came back to me, and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't know he was still around and willing and able to do a voice for Odyssey like this. I mean, he was in that one episode in Album 50, but I thought that was just a one-time thing--especially since they had to get him over the phone. But yeah, it was nice ot hear from him again.

Oh, and one final thing!  Am I the only one who thought that the pastor of Barrett and Matthew's church sounded a whole lot like Paul Herlinger? There were a couple of scenes that started off with him talking, and I was shocked when it sounded so much like the old Mr. Whittaker. I was thinking, why didn't they just use this guy instead of Andre Stojka? I think he could have done a great job sounding like Whit.  But what's done is done, I guess. I really would have liked to see how he would have done though. I'll have to look up who that actor was.

Wow. That was a long review. I had even more to say than I thought. Are you guys liking these long reviews?  If you're not, and they're taking too long to read, I can try to shorten them, so let me know. Thanks for reading it if you did, though.  I appreciate your appreciation of my hard work. :)   Make sure you come back next week for my review of "The Bible Network"!  I have a lot to say about that one. ;)   Please comment!

-- Christian

Low Anticipations

Well, I said I'd be back today. And I am. I can't promise that I'll be up to my usual standards, but I'm here. The past couple of days, being Thanksgiving vacation days, have not been very organized or work-oriented, so it's a bit difficult to get back into the mindset of doing something constructive that will actually look good. ;)  But I shall try.

Thankfully, I wrote down several thoughts about "Great Expectations" after I heard it, so almost none of this is going to come straight from my memory. I listened to the episode online early on the morning it was released, and then I heard some of it on the radio as it was airing. So it's been a while. If there are any points you feel like I missed or misrepresented, please let me know.

Overall... I had mixed feelings about this episode.  In one sense, it was nice to hear from the old Whit and do some traveling of sorts back into the old years of Odyssey. But, although I liked the premise of the episode, I didn't think it was conducted very well. I wish it would have at least been two parts. An important Imagination Station adventure like that deserves more time than it was given, I think. It's rare that an IS show takes place over only one episode, and when it does, it's not all that memorable. There are exceptions, I know, but it seems to me that after such a long gap where we'd seen no IS adventures--until the season-opener which, I need not remind you, was two parts--if they were going to pull off another successful IS show, it needed to have more to it than a fast-paced, slightly confusing, whirlwind episode like the one we were given.

That said, I did like the theme of the episode, to an extent. I like the idea that we never know where exactly God will take us on the journey of our life. It's fairly useless to make long-term plans, if we don't supplement it with the knowledge that God could swiftly and easily change everything for us. I personally have learned this lesson quite recently--actually more recently than the episode aired. At the time of the episode's airing, I would have thought it was ridiculous that God would work in my heart so much to change my thinking as He did, but now, I'm glad He did, because I'm more in His will than I have been in a long time. So, in that sense, the episode rings true for me, so I don't have all bad things to say about it.

One complaint I had about the premise of the episode was something that I didn't get to mention back in Album 54, because I didn't review "Emily, the Genius."  See, I am not all that fond of the idea of women in the workplace. I know, it's a very unpopular viewpoint right now, and I know most of you will disagree with me on this. But, as far as I can tell from the Bible, the main occupation of a woman is to raise children, submit to her husband, and manage the house while he is gone at work as the breadwinner of the family. Therefore, all of this story about Emily wanting to follow in the footsteps of her dad and become a judge (though she did change her mind about that) just doesn't sit well with me. Ideally, she should be wanting to be following in the footsteps of her mom--to have children and raise them in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord." I found it quite interesting that at one point in the episode, Whit himself says, "My wife and children were far more important than a pilot's license."  Why then does Emily give no thought to having a family, rather than pursuing her own career?  I mean, we're talking about a product from Focus on the Family here. :P   But, I know it's the majority view among Christians these days that women should have just as much an opportunity as men to earn a living for themselves, and it doesn't matter if children get in the way. We have birth control and daycare and public schools to take care of that issue, right?  You guys know me well enough that I'm not much of one for following the crowd with my Christian values and beliefs. So, it's quite inevitable that I'm going to disagree with the people who write these episodes. But it just seems to be happening more and more often these days....

Now I just have a few random points I'd like to make about various things in the episode:

• I was sort of hoping that, at some point in the Imagination Station adventure, a connection would be made between Emily and Jack Allen's first wife. I thought maybe she would turn out to be a bigger part of the story than she thought, since Whit kept acting like she was a good friend of his. And I was at least hoping that we would hear from Marshal Younger as Jack. But, alas, no such luck.
• With regard to things going on in Whit's life throughout the adventure, I was hoping more would have been said about the war. It was rushed through, even though I would think it was a big turning point in his life that he had been called to service. And when he came back from the war, it would have been nice for there to have been some talk about it, rather than just totally forgetting about it. I mean, wouldn't it have been great if Emily said something like, "Oh! What happened to your ear? There's some sort of nick in it!"
• I was glad to hear from Jim Custer again as the voice of young Whit. I liked how much flexibility he was able to use in his voice. It really did sound like Whit was getting older as the adventure progressed. And one thing I noticed that was interesting to me was that Jim Custer's Whit seemed to fit better with the Andre Whit than with the other two actors' Whits. I guess the case could be made that he sounds like Paul Herlinger a little bit, but I was very surprised to observe that Jim Custer's and Andre Stojka's voices are quite similar.
• I just wanted to say quickly that I loved the scene where Whit finds out that Jenny is pregnant. I thought it was just perfect, and the emotional atmosphere was terrific. I was so glad to hear that both of them were so excited at the prospect of having a child, even though it would interfere with their plans for the future, as opposed to, say, the scene between Leonard and Thelma Meltsner in "A New Era."  I was just thinking as I listened that I long to have a moment like that with a wife someday; I can't wait to experience the joy of that moment.

Well, I guess I should come to concluding comments. That was a lot more than I was expecting to write. I guess I had more to say than I thought I did. It really helped that I took notes while listening to the episode. I doubt next week's review will be as good, because I didn't take notes as I listened to "For Three Dollars More."  But, I hope you liked what you read, even though you probably disagree with what I said at some points.  When it comes down to it, on the one hand, I'm glad the episode didn't go the direction of saying, "Follow your dreams, no matter what, and God will give you what you wish for." But while the moral was good, the episode just really left me wishing that there was much more to hear. I was surprised when the episode was over.  With the way the episode started, with all of the talk about Emily's future, I was hoping that the Imagination Station part would redeem the episode. And, while it did do some to improve the show for me, it wasn't great. So, it wasn't a bad episode, but I think it could have been better, and I wish it was.

That's it for this week. Be glad I got it out for you. ;)  I didn't really have the time to write all that, but I did it anyway. Now I'm off to wash the kitchen floor and then go to work for the afternoon. I will do my best to get a review out next Saturday, but it will be difficult, so I don't think I can make any sure promises. Anyway, thanks for reading! And please comment!

Christian

Taking a Short Break

Okay, as most of you probably noticed, I have gotten behind in reviewing this season's episodes.  I wrote a draft last week for "Great Expectations," but I got up too late to finish it before we left to help a family from our church move. And, of course, I had no time to get around to it during the regular week.  Well, today, I got up late again, even though I purposely went to bed early, so that I could wake up to either one of my very early alarms and try to finish both reviews before the day officially started.  Somehow, I missed both alarms and didn't get up until after 7:30. I know, for some of you, that's way too early on a Saturday morning. For me, that's terrible; that's about the latest I ever let myself get up. ;)

Anyway, I've changed my plans. The Bible Bee is becoming time-consuming enough for me that I cannot keep trying to focus on getting these reviews out for you guys. Therefore, since I have several more months than usual to review the episodes (the 57th season has been put off until Fall 2013, if you haven't heard), I'm going to stop reviewing until after the Bible Bee. Consequently, the first day I'll be available to review an episode will likely be November 23rd....a little less than a month.  Sorry I had to do this. Hopefully you guys are fine with waiting a few weeks to get my thoughts on more of this season's episodes.

Thanks for understanding, y'all!  Don't forget to comment. :)   And be sure to come back on the 23rd for my next review!

-- Christian

An Imperfect Body, Part II

Well, we come now to the conclusion of Matthew's Imagination Station adventure. And I liked it just as much, if not more than I liked the first installment. The acting was, again, very well done, and the plot, though more heavily reliant upon Scripture this time around, was just as good. I'm taking a little bit of a different direction in my approach to reviewing this week. I'm going to give commentary after listening to each section of the episode, rather than summarizing all my thoughts after I've listened to the whole thing. It'll be similar to what my reviews were like during the Green Ring Conspiracy, but not exactly the same. Anyway, here it is:

I was confused by the first scene of the episode, because I didn't remember the story about an angel of the Lord coming and releasing the apostles from prison. But when I looked it up in Acts, I saw that it was after the account of Ananias and Sapphira in Chapter 5. Then I was more confused, since the events regarding that couple hadn't transpired in the episode yet. Obviously, that was quickly resolved with the recap from Rhoda. And again, I was very impressed with how closely the Odyssey team stuck to the accounts and the chronology in Scripture.

I really enjoyed the argument that Seth had with the Hellenist Jew. Everything they discussed was so historically and culturally accurate and relevant. I really love how much thought was put into the conversations and the struggles of the characters in these episodes.

And then if those intricacies weren't enough, during the feud, Peter and the other apostles return, giving account of the beatings they received in Chapter 5:40-41, connecting Chapter 6 very nicely to the previous events. As I said last week, it's really opening up a whole new world for me to have all these stories connected together in such an incredible way. I'm learning along with Matthew that the church back then was just as closely-knit and personal and real as my church is now. I should never think of it as this stoic, unemotional, passionless entity that God wrote about and worked through, but that didn't really experience things like we experience them today. These were real people, like Seth, Deborah, and Rhoda, who had hopes, hurts, struggles, and joys--just like we do today. It's a refreshing reminder to know that we as Christians today are not alone; thousands have walked the road before us; even those thousands of years ago struggled with doctrines they didn't understand, Providences that they didn't know how to take, and persecutions that they felt like they couldn't endure.

The short conversation that Matthew had with Stephen was excellent. It didn't feel like something read off of a script. It felt to me like a re-telling of an actual account, full of things Stephen really would have said. And then that carried over beautifully into the words that Rhoda spoke to Matthew concerning the sacrifice of Jesus in His crucifixion on Golgotha. It was great to see early Christians making connections in biblical doctrines before Paul explained them in his epistles--even before he was Paul!

And then, the climax of the episode, the discourse of Stephen in the temple. At first, I was a little puzzled as to why the writers would portray the entire speech, as, to me, it always seemed a little disjointed and all-over-the-place. I sort of sympathized with the Jews who were asking him why he was telling them so many things they already knew. But then, chills went down my spine as, for the first time, I understood what connections Stephen was trying to make about the temple and the dwelling of God and idolatry. This was the first time in a long time that I felt I truly learned something from an Odyssey episode that I didn't realize before. The whole scene was superbly carried out, and it flowed together logically so well. And yet it all came from the pages of God's Word!

And the adventure ends in basically an exposition of Acts 8:1-4, a passage I recently memorized for the National Bible Bee. All the points in these verses were covered in the closing minutes:

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.

And, what do you know, I actually found myself really enjoying Mr. Whittaker's words to Matthew at the end. He actually sounded like a wise old man, full of knowledge gained through life's experiences. And through his words, we receive the moral of the episode--and a very good one at that. The church is just as full of problems today as it was back in the first century; and yet, because the true, universal church is made up of believers, it is just as much important to and loved by God as was the church two thousand years ago. Now, that's not to discount that there are errors, and even heresies and false teachers in the church (very many of them, in fact), and we are told by Paul to "mark those who cause divisions and avoid them" and "contend for the faith" and "take heed to the doctrine." So, in that sense, we must always strive for truth. As Martin Luther said, "Peace, if possible, but truth at any rate."  We can minimize the arguments over what type of music, what type of baptism, what type of ministries and programs to have;  but when it comes to the Word of God, the everlasting truth, we are to stand firm and fight to preserve the faith handed down to us by those who have gone before us. The church is "the temple of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth," and that is how we are to act. It's not primarily a mission to save the lost, or to sing good songs, or even to edify the saints--thought those things are definitely very important. No, we are foremostly called to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. We do that by defending His Word, preaching it in season and out of season, exhorting others to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, who died to save us from the wrath of a holy God. If our message becomes anything more or anything less than that, we have missed the mark of being a faithful and pure church.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. :P  As you can tell, I really liked this episode. I love the Bible, so I love episodes that stick so closely to it and accurately teach it. And it was so wonderful how these shows wove together and connected key stories from the Book of Acts to so effectively portray the life and times of the early church. In fact, the only complaint I have against these episodes is that they didn't last longer, that it wasn't a 4-, 8-, or 12-part episode. Actually, I was really hoping that it would at least go to Acts 12, since that's where Rhoda is mentioned. She's the servant girl who answers the door when Peter comes to the house of Mary and John Mark after being released from prison by an angel. I read that portion of Scripture this morning, and I was surprised at how much I could see the fictional character of this show in the character of Scripture. They fit together so perfectly.

But anyway, I really hope that this isn't the last of the great episodes this season. Episodes like this are why I still listen to Odyssey. Amidst the legalistic moralism and worldliness that creep into the episodes at times, I still listen because I know that the Odyssey writers aren't totally unable to write great episodes like this. When they stick to Scripture like this, they can't go wrong. I hope they go this route more often in the future.

Well, thank you for reading my review. I really appreciate it. And I also appreciate feedback, so be sure to make a comment before leaving. And come back next week for my review of "Great Expectations"!

-- Christian

An Imperfect Body, Part I

We finally made it to the new season! Or should I say, the new season finally made its way to us? Either way, I'm very glad that it's finally here. It seems like it's been a really long time since Album 55 started airing. Yet, at the same time, it feels like it was just last week. I don't know. I guess that's usually the way things are. Anyway, I think I may be looking forward to this album more than any album since the relaunch. Now, it's easy to say that, since it's the one I'm currently excited about, but I really do think this album seems to have more potential than any that's come so far since Album 51 began. I can't wait to see the different directions all of the episodes will take and how they will utilize Whit's many inventions.

But, no matter what the rest of the season holds, if it's anything like this first episode, I will be greatly pleased. I loved this episode. But I loved it in a different way than I've loved episodes that have come before. In previous seasons, I've appreciated episodes because of how they furthered character development, or how they had entertaining story lines; but this episode was incredible, because it took its general story from the Bible! And, like all the Imagination Station adventures we've come to know and love from Odyssey's past, it made the stories that we read in the pages of Scripture, which may at times seem dry and static, come to life! It was amazing to see/hear so many different accounts that I've read and heard over the years come together into a unified whole to tell the story of the early church. It makes me wish that this episode wasn't only two parts, but that it filled the whole album and covered the entire Book of Acts!

See, I'm sort of a Bible geek. Before moving to the church that my family are currently members of, I was known as the "smart kid" because I knew so many facts about the Bible and the accounts it contains. I did Bible quizzing for a number of years, and for a couple of those years, the book we studied fairly extensively was Acts. So I know a lot about the characters and events of the early church. Therefore, this episode was all the more meaningful to me. It was great to see how different parts of the story found their ground in major parts of the book, as well as to pick up on how minor plots tied in with more generic parts. For example, I thought it was very clever to have the main characters, Seth's family, be the ones who bought the land of Ananias and Sapphira and gave them the money, which, as most of you will know, they dealt with dishonestly, and they later paid the price for it. This aspect of the storytelling also makes it nice, in that we don't have to wonder so much about what's going to happen in the next episode. However, at the same time, the writers took enough liberty in creating the different story elements that we have a good amount to speculate and wonder about--such as what's going to happen to the church now that Saul is in the picture.

I'm also wondering how far ahead the next episode is going to go, because in Acts 12, when Peter has escaped from prison and he comes to the door of the house where members of the church are praying for him, he encounters "a servant girl named Rhoda." That was immediately who I thought of when Rhoda appeared in this episode. I doubt it's a coincidence that she has the same name as another character of her age in the Book of Acts, so I think either the story will jump ahead a little bit and give that account, or it will at least be hinted at, so that we know that Rhoda actually fits in in Scripture somewhere.

Well, all that said about the story, I'll go on to the characters and the acting. I thought the acting was very top-notch. Usually, with Odyssey, we're used to hearing the same actors voice the same characters week in and week out. But the great thing about Imagination Station adventures is that we get to hear a variety of more general actors who we don't hear nearly as often, and they always do an excellent job voicing their individual characters, even though they don't get much air time. I was particularly interested with the lame man who was healed by Peter and John, because I thought he sounded very much like a mix between Tigger from Winnie the Pooh and King Lawrence from Darien's Rise--meaning then that he could only have been voiced by one person: Jim Cummings! It was cool to have him back, albeit for a short amount of time. But that's what I'm talking about. These actors are talented enough that they bring a superb performance and life to their characters in only the short amount of time they are given.

It was interesting to hear from the actor who played Sue in "The Labyrinth" again. I thought she did a very nice job. Obviously, I could tell it was her, but she pulled off the American accent very well (unlike when she tried to impersonate an American in the previously-mentioned episode :P). I thought she had a very sweet-sounding voice, and the chemistry between her and Matthew was pretty good. Though, at times, she reminded me of Emily, so at those points I wasn't appreciating her voice so much. ;)

I'll touch on this a bit more later, but I thought Eugene was a very good narrator. I didn't find myself missing the old, computerized "Mabel" voice at all. Will Ryan did a great job, and I would hope to hear more from Eugene in this role in the future. Then there's Whit. You all, I'm sure, know how I feel about Andre Stojka doing the voice of this timeless, beloved character. But actually he wasn't all that bad in this episode. Granted, he only had a few lines at the beginning (which I thought was for the better), but he actually did pretty well with what he had. I didn't feel so much like I was hearing Andre, but more like I was hearing Mr. Whittaker. I surprised myself. We'll see how he does in the coming episodes later on this season.

Moving on to the workings of the new Imagination Station: I was impressed. Although there was a somewhat radical change in the way things operated, I really liked it. The changes felt more like an update to the machine, rather than a fundamental adjustment. As I said before, I really liked Eugene as narrator at the outset, and then as a general commentator throughout. I laughed the first time he cut in, with the definition for "Gentile," and throughout the episode it was a believable way for Matthew to receive necessary information on the culture and the era, rather than being completely confused like some characters have ended up in the past. In addition to Eugene's overall narration, I specifically appreciated his reading of Scripture at the beginning. I thought that was very powerful, and I would definitely like to hear more of that in the future.  Oh, and then one more thing. I also liked how the Imagination Station transferred Matthew from one setting to the next. It reminded me of Kelly's adventure in "The Imagination Station, Revisited" with the doors; but this was even better. I chuckled every time Matthew was hurled about through time and dropped into each particular environment. Hopefully all of these modifications to the Imagination Station will stick around through the rest of the season.

Well, I guess I should bring this review to a close, as it's become quite lengthy. We hadn't heard an episode totally devoted to an Imagination Station adventure since the close of Album 50, and the only other episode it's been a part of since the relaunch was "Fast As I Can," where many fans complained that it just wasn't the same, that it was operating differently that it always has over the years. It has also been referenced briefly in a few episodes over the more recent seasons, one of the more notable ones being "Child's Play," but this is the first time we've really seen it since Odyssey was "redesigned." And it was a very refreshing reminder of the past. However, at the same time, it wasn't stuck in the past. It was definitely an improvement on adventures that were previously experienced within the doors of the machine. The writing and dialogue were excellent, and the correlation between the plot and the accounts in the Bible, as I mentioned, were wonderful as well. I was also very impressed with the variety of great themes touched on in the episode. Among the things briefly mentioned were the inexplicable blindness of the hearts of the Jewish leaders, the inevitability of persecution of Christians, the inclusion of the Gentiles, speaking in tongues, Jesus taking God's wrath on the cross, and the conundrum about Jewish traditions and the Law of Moses. All of those things are very important, so it was great to see the Odyssey writers incorporate those themes into the story.

That's just about all I have to say about the episode. Hopefully that wasn't too long. I hope you enjoyed it! I look forward to hearing and reviewing next week's episode. I think we can expect some good action--probably along the lines of the trailer for The Lyin' Thing in "I Want My BTV." There may also be some sober plot elements as well, as the death of Stephen and the great persecution of the church come in Chapters 7 and 8 of Acts.  Anyway, thank you so much for reading my review! Please tell me what you thought about it in the comments. And be sure to come back next week for my analysis of Part II!

--Christian

Get in the Show Finalists!

Okay, I have to admit, I haven't been all that involved with giving updates on the "Get in the Show" contest and its various offshoots over the last couple of months. Mostly, that's been because I'm busy. But I also wasn't all that excited about it. Recently, however, I don't remember where, but I saw somewhere that referenced "making Odyssey history" by making sure you're a part of the GitS contest in some form. And it hit me that voting for these finalists really is going to make a difference the future of Odyssey. All that is to say that voting for the finalists is finally up on the Official site.

I thought there was some very good talent displayed in many of these videos. Some of the actors/actresses were a little over-the-top, but a few of them really struck me as kids with great abilities. The girl Annaliese, in particular, was my favorite of all of them. She was very genuine, and yet still very forceful in the way she delivered her lines. She was an easy pick as one of of the three I voted for. The other two were tougher, but I finally narrowed it down to Hannah and the last boy Timmy. (Hopefully I have those names right.)  And, don't forget, you can vote once a day! So make sure you get over there and have a say in the future of Odyssey!

Also, I wanted to mention that I was very impressed by a recent podcast (or should I say, blogcast?) that I heard on the Adventures in Odyssey Blog. Austin and Natasha interviewed Josh, Jordan, and Kelli Taylor from Blimeycow. If you don't know who those people are, you must look them up! Their videos are full of Christian satirical comedy about today's materialistic and contemporary Christian society. You can check out their YouTube page here.  But even if you don't know who the Taylors are, you should still listen to the podcast. It's a great interview, and it's also one of the last blogcasts that the Peacheys plan to do, as they've announced that this is their final season.

Well, I guess you got another post out of me before the end of the summer. Oh, I guess summer is over. But it doesn't feel like fall until the new Odyssey season begins to air! Which, as many of you know, is happening this weekend, finally! And I can assure you that I will do my very best to keep up with putting out reviews every week. You can expect the first one on "The Perfect Church, Part I" this Saturday bright and early! Or maybe I should wait until Part II airs before I post a review...  No, just kidding. ;)  You've waited long enough, and I am going to deliver!  Make sure to check in later this week for the review!  Thanks for reading!

-- Christian