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

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

Mealtime Moments

I know I haven't posted any news in, like, forever, and I used to post every little thing that ever happened in the Odyssey blogosphere, but I thought this was pretty newsworthy, particularly because I just saw it a couple of minutes ago. ;)

Apparently Odyssey is releasing another devotional, right on the heels of the first one they ever released. This one is called "Mealtime Moments," and will be written from the sole perspective of Whit, rather than various Odyssey characters, as in the first devotional. However, I was especially interested by the artwork for this new devotional. Rather than the typical Wooton-Connie-Eugene-Whit picture, this one features Whit, but also the entire Jones family!

I really like how everyone looks in this picture. Mr. and Mrs. Jones look perfect, Barrett looks great as well (he needed a nice haircut), and even though Emily looks starkly different than she ever has previously, I like the change, for the most part. Her face is more kiddish, and while it doesn't necessarily fit her voice, it fits her character and her supposed age better. Plus, there's no longer any makeup, which I always had a problem with. :P

What do you think of the picture? Please comment and tell me!

--Christian

I'm Not Sure How Official This Is, But...

We may have a summary for Album 56! A girl over at the Town of Odyssey got an early hard copy of Album 55, and inside on the insert was a summary of Album 56. According to her, this is the summary:

"It seems like everyone in Odyssey is looking for something. As Emily pursues her hopes and dreams, she journeys in the Imagination Station to see Whit as a young boy. Penny goes hunting for happiness but her search makers her miserable. And Jay must figure out a strange program in the Room of Consequence that could lead to an unwanted ending. Through his invention and wise counsel, Whit guides the folks in Odyssey along the right path."

I don't know about you, but this is starting to get me very excited for the future. The story about Penny doesn't sound all that intriguing, but Emily's and Jay's adventures sound great! It'll be very nice to hear about the Imagination Station and the Room of Consequence again. And it seems like there could even be some new inventions in store for us as well. :D'

I'm starting to become pretty optimistic about the future of Odyssey. I think I would say that the shows have consistently gotten better with every season since the relaunch, with Album 55 being my favorite so far. I can't wait to see what the writers will have for us as the years progress!

EDIT: Okay, I just saw that AIO Wiki posted this same summary five minutes before I did, so I guess it must be official! Yay!

Album 56 Cover

I had already forgotten that this was soon to be released, but this morning I saw that American Eagle had posted it on The Town of Odyssey, so here, in a very short post, is the new cover!

I really like all of the colorful variety in the picture, and I love it that we get to see into Whit's workroom/the basement! Some people said Whit looks too childish. I disagree. He looks like he's doing what he loves: inventing. And he looks happy to see us. Sure, it's probably directed more toward younger kids, as usual, but I definitely think it's an improvement over Album 55's cover.

What are your thoughts?

P.S. Thanks very much to all of you who commented letting me know you were reading yesterday. As I said, I was feeling pretty down-in-the-dumps, so it was some much-needed encouragement.

Understood as Evil

I probably shouldn't have read Ben Warren's review of this episode at The Changing Times before I tried to review it, because he said everything that I wanted to say, and I might sound like I'm ripping him off, copying everything he said. I'll try to keep this all original, but I'll give the credit to him for bringing most of these thoughts to the forefront of my mind. It has been several days since I read his post though, so I think this should be mostly from my mind.

I really, really, really liked this episode. From the very beginning of the episode, I knew I was going to like it. The episode summary gave away that it was going to have a single storyline, without trying to meld two or three together for a singular moral. Therefore, I had high expectations, since I tend to like singular stories better. And the episode definitely met my high expectations. It was high in entertainment value, it definitely held my attention, and it had a great lesson to be learned.

The plot for this story was very original and genius. Not only have we had very few episodes in nursing homes in the past, but we've never had an episode where someone is cheating one of the residents. I think this is what made the story so emotionally engaging. Two teens stealing money from an old lady is something we can all see as deplorable and evil. So from the beginning, we are genuinely disappointed and frustrated with Jay for taking the money, and then we can later sympathize with him when Vance forces him to keep doing it with blackmail.

The characters and actors were all amazing in this episode. Kelly Stables again did a wonderful job as Olivia. I'm glad the directors decided to keep her on, instead of going back to Hope Levy. Ms. Stables makes her a much more likeable character. Whit Hertford, as always, nailed Jay's character and emotions. Vance's actor gave him the perfect sinister sound. Mrs. Kramer was true to the character we've grown to like over the last few episodes she's been in. And even Andre Stojka surprised me by doing a very good job as Whit. He was only in a couple of scenes, but he seemed much more like Whit than he has in the past. It was great to have him in that climax scene where Jay gets himself caught.

On that note, I don't understand why so many people were confused by Jay's actions in that scene. It totally made sense to me that he was giving himself away. He had already demonstrated that he didn't want to ask for the money anymore, so when he did ask, I knew exactly what he was doing. And I thought it was a very intelligent move. It was a great resolution, and it was what made the episode so great. Jay listened to his conscience and showed us that he is able to do the right thing, even when it meant getting Vance totally ticked at him. And he was content to take the punishment for what he did wrong.

Well I'm running out of time to write this morning, so I'll say, I really loved this episode. It was a true slice-of-life episode, the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time in Odyssey. It was great to hear of places like J&J Antiques and other places around Odyssey that we've known and loved for years. I very much hope that the writers will give us more episodes like these in the future.

Hear Eleven New Clips from Album 53!

The special surprise today was released on the Official AIO Podcast page in video form. Brock supposedly has now made it possible to download the entire Album 53 for free! But that's not all.
Something that I think others probably missed is that on the page where you can download the episodes, you can hear a clip from each and every new episode in the season!! The only reason there aren't twelve new clips is because the first one is the one that was already released.

Spoiler Warning: The following includes new information that you might want to find out for yourself by listening to the new audio.

We hear from characters such as Matthew, Nelson, Jay, Emily, Wooton, Connie, Whit, and Eugene. And we meet new characters such as Buck, Penny Wise, Detective Tom Pullhouse, Agent Tanner, Uncle Archie, Mr. Skid, Officer Hardwick,

But the biggest, hugest, most amazing news, in my opinion is that the new character who is returning from WAY back is...Whit's grandson, Monty! At least that's what I assume is meant when "Whit's grandson" is reffered to. This is big news! I am much more excited for this new album than I ever was before, and I hope you are too!

Thank you for reading; I'll keep you updated on any more breaking news as it comes out.

Mr. Whittaker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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