More Misinformation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Star Trip

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

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

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

Well...

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

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

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

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

A Thief in the Night

I was debating whether or not to review "Our Best Vacation Ever", but finally decided that I should. Until I came online this morning and saw that Marvin over at the AIO Fan's Life had given his review. He just so happened to write everything that I was going to say. Even down to my favorite line in the episode: "I think Mr. Whittaker's been spending too much time in the Imagination Station"--Jimmy Barclay.

The only thing that I disagree with him about is that I really liked the episode and always have. Yes, the Barclay children are constantly bickering and are a bit disrespectful, but haven't they always been that way? I give the episode a 8.5/10.

There isn't really any Odyssey news to report, but there is a brand-new video interview with Nathan Hoobler that you might be interested in watching. Also, the Odyssey Scoop came out with its fourth Scoopcast and there is a fifth Heartcast for you to give a listen to as well.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

The Panel That Brings Fun for the Whole Family

The Family Fun Panel is a brand-new addition to all released or re-released Odyssey albums. Each new album will include a CD-Rom feature with a video on it. The video will feature Brock Eastman and Diane Ignolia performing tasks specified in the pull-out poster inside the album. The first of many Family Fun Panel videos has just been posted on the Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast Blog . See it here. This video is included in Album 51: Take It From the Top.

My personal thoughts: A little corny, but entertaining. I don't know how long the other videos will be, but this one seemed a bit short. One thing I noticed was that Brock called the mom in the video a "lovely lady", and he's mentioned before that he has a wife and two kids. Hmm... Anyway. I also was impressed with the look of the button that participants who contact FOTF will receive. It looked cooler than I thought it would. I'll look forward to seeing more of these in the future.