More Album Artwork!

Things have been rather slow on the Odyssey front lately, but thankfully we have some new artwork for all you news starved fans. This latest repack introduces a scene from Album 18: A Time of Discovery and is a vast improvement from the original cover. I absolutely love the feeling of dread evoked in this illustration, with Jimmy and Lawrence desperately pedaling away from an alleged alien attack.



My only disappointment with the artwork is the inconsistency between Lawrence in the repack for Album 16. Aside from what his character is wearing, there is very little about this latest drawing of Lawrence that resembles the other one.

But I'm really nitpicking here... overall, the cover is great. Thoughts?

In the meanwhile, we finally have our hands on the back cover of the Adventures in Odyssey Live! CD/DVD set. It definitely looks like it's going to be one jam-packed set. Only two more months until it is released!

Adventures in Odyssey Live!

Discovered over at Christian Book, this appears to be the cover for the Adventures in Odyssey Live! CD/DVD set. What we do know for sure is that the product is set to be released in May and will contain nearly 3 hours of audio footage. For more details, check out the info page at the Odyssey Scoop. I don't know about the rest of you all, but I'm definitely getting excited.

One Week!

The end is near. The time has come.

What was once a passing thought is slowly turning into reality. It all begins in exactly one week. I can't believe I'm going to be a part of such an exciting event. To see the faces behind all the voices of my all time favorite show--radio or otherwise--and witness a live recording with hundreds upon hundreds of fans... it's going to be an incredible weekend.

Sarah and I will be on site at the event, so be sure to introduce yourself if you see (or hear) us there. ;o) For those of you who can't make it to the live show, we'll have a few surprises that you won't want to miss!

Keep listening? :D

The Truth Chronicles

With just over three weeks to go until the live show, it seems like the Odyssey updates are coming in fast and furious! Those of you who heard our recent interview with producer Marshal Younger may remember his reference to The Truth Project, a Christian worldview curriculum for adults taught by Dr. Del Tackett. What some of you may not realize is the fact that The Truth Project is a product of Focus on the Family. To be honest, I missed the connection when Marshal first mentioned it!

Ignorance notwithstanding, it's worth noting that Focus decided to create a special series of Adventures in Odyssey episodes in conjunction with The Truth Project. While The Truth Chronicles will not represent the fifty-first album, it will include characters like Whit, Connie, Wooton, and the Kidsboro kids. But don't mistake this for a regular album. The Truth Chronicles were designed to teach The Truth Project lessons for kids, and as such the morals and messages in this particular album will be more overt than "normal" Odyssey episodes. Regardless, I'm definitely looking forward to this special set. Aside from the three Kidsboro episodes, all of which are included in this album, the remaining eight episodes were written by Paul McCusker. Take a look at the cover art!

Keepin' Odyssey Alive

It seems like it's been months already, but it hasn't even been two weeks since the last Kidsbor episode aired. What perfect timing, too, since my full-time summer position started on June 2. That's certainly been keeping me busy for the last little while. But I haven't forgotten about Odyssey! Since it officially went on hiatus, I've already gone through a couple dozen of the older episodes. Hearing episodes from the 90s really puts into perspective how long the show has been running. Remember the days when Eugene and Katrina weren't married? Or how about the time when the Barclay's still lived in Odyssey? Ah, the nostalgia!

I'm sure there will be ample opportunity to discuss the future of Odyssey, so let's put that on hold for the present. With fifteen months until the next new episode airs, what are some of the things you plan on doing in the meanwhile? If you're like me, you'll go back to some of the old favorites, such as the days of Hal Smith, or you might relive the Blackgaard Saga or Novacom Arc. On the other hand, if you're as much of a fanatic as the people of the ToO, you might endeavor to rank every episode! Either way, I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Thankfully, the folks over at Focus haven't left us completely stranded. During the summer, they'll be airing some of their favorite shows from the past twenty years... including special testimonials on each episode from listeners. There's also the live birthday bash event, where they'll be recording a live episode in Colorado Springs. You can find out more details by clicking here. Plus, there's also the new Official Guide which will hit stores this August!

So... what will you do to keep Odyssey alive?

Odyssey on iTunes Update

Don't look now, but as of tonight there are 51 episodes available for individual download on iTunes. That's more than double the amount there was only two and a half weeks ago! At $2.95 per episode, it's a fairly reasonable price to pay if you're missing an episode or two from your collection. As an owner of all sixteen gold albums, I'm not really that interested in obtaining any of the current episodes available on iTunes. However, as a die hard fan of the show, I am extremely excited about the added publicity this will give to Adventures in Odyssey.

In other news, we're hoping to get our next podcast released sometime this week. As Sarah is still catching up on school, we may not be able to have it up until the weekend. But don't let that stop you from sending us more comments and questions!

Adventures in Odyssey... on iTunes?!

With the rapidly changing technology, downloading songs and audio books on MP3 is becoming a popular alternative to buying the actual albums. Until recently, Adventures in Odyssey, has lagged behind. Earlier this year, Christian Audio began selling Odyssey albums, from Vol. 1 through Vol. 38. But this didn't solve the problem for fans who wanted to buy only one or two episodes missing from their collection.

In Nicky's voice... until now! Ahaha!

I recently did a search for Odyssey on iTunes and look what I discovered. Currently, there are twenty-three episodes available, representing all the shows on Album 1: The Adventures Begins and Album 2: Stormy Weather (except for Promises, Promises). Upon further examination, it was noted that these episodes were presented by Audible.com. For those unfamiliar with the website, it's essentially one that provides a wide variety of audio books, magazines, newspapers, radio shows, and podcasts for online download. Anyhow, a quick peek at Audible found individuals episode downloads for not only the first two albums, but Album 3: Heroes as well!

They may not have all the albums up on iTunes yet, but this is a great start. To be able to purchase individual episodes will a huge plus for many. At $3 per episode, it's definitely an affordable price for those who only need a couple to complete their collection. Here's hoping they continue adding more episodes over the next few months.

Adventures in Odyssey Birthday Bash!

What: A show featuring Adventures in Odyssey actors performing the audio drama for a live crowd, with sound effects also being created live. Actors and producers will also answer questions from the crowd.
Why: To celebrate 20 years of Adventures in Odyssey! It’s also a launch party for Adventures in Odyssey: The Official Guide, an exciting new book releasing this summer.
Where: Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Get travel information at this link.)
When: Saturday, August 16, 2008. There are currently two shows to choose from on that date: a 10:30am Show and a 3pm Show.
How to Get Tickets: Please call Focus on the Family at 1-800-A-FAMILY (that’s 1-800-232-6459). Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Our phone lines are open Monday to Friday 6am—10pm, and on Saturday 7:30am—4pm. All times are Mountain Time.

How exciting! Further details will be posted on WhitsEnd.org next week. Sarah and I both plan on attending this exciting, once-in-a-lifetime event and would love to meet ya'll!

"Suspicious Finds" Available!

By the looks of it, they'll be adding new episodes around midnight each Tuesday. That's perfectly fine by me if it continues! Although it's pretty crazy that they've released the second episode before we even reviewed the first one... anyhow, you can listen to Suspicious Finds by clicking here.

"A Capsule Comes to Town" Now Available!

As anticipated, they've added A Capsule Comes to Town to the Oneplace server already! You can listen by clicking here.

Counting Down...

Less than five days remain until A Capsule Comes to Town and potentially fewer if the episode is posted by Tuesday or Wednesday. Here's hoping they do!

A small administrative note to get out of the way... iTunes subscribers, you may have noticed that the latest download was the Feb 20, 2008 edition of the Official Podcast. That was accidentally added when I included a link to the Official Podcast in my earlier blog. I've fixed it now, so the Official Podcast has been removed from the Unofficial Podcast's RSS feed. Those who have it on their iTunes can delete it manually or delete their subscription and re-subscribe to the podcast.

We're nearly there!

An Unofficial Preview!

With the release of the latest Official Podcast, it's clear that this season will soon prove to be one to remember. In similar fashion to Album 25: Darkness Before Dawn, the episodes in the 50th album will be self-contained, meaning all the shows will be interconnected. It all begins with the discovery of an 100 year-old time capsule buried somewhere in Odyssey. This remarkable find coincides with the town's nomination for the best small town in America. It just so happens that The Best Small Town is also the album title for the upcoming season, as confirmed by the product resource listing available at WhitsEnd.org.

As we heard in the preview and in our interview with Nathan and Marshal, favorite characters from the past are going to be making special appearances, including Jimmy Barclay and... Lucy Cunningham-Schultz?! I can't reiterate it enough--this is going to be an incredible season.

As promised, Sarah and I will be back in March to give our full review on A Capsule Comes to Town. We'll also be launching an exciting season-long contest, so check back for more details!

Only nine more days!

First Ten Episodes Revealed!

In our interview with Nathan and Marshal, it was mentioned that all of the upcoming spring episodes would tie back to previous shows... not necessarily in terms of content, but definitely with regards to the title. Nathan suggested, "A lot of the stories will evoke memories of past shows." It'll be interesting to see the extent to which these new episodes relate to their historical counterparts. The writers, especially Nathan, have always done a fine job making references to past characters, events, and episodes, but will it go to a new level with these new shows? Well, you can start speculating because we finally have the names of the first ten episodes of the spring season!

March 1: A Capsule Comes to Town
March 8: Suspicious Finds
March 15: A License to Deprive
March 22: Accidental Dilemma, Part 1
March 29: Accidental Dilemma, Part 2
April 5: A Class Reenactment
April 12: The Forgotten Deed
April 19: The Triangled Web, Part 1
April 26: The Triangled Web, Part 2
May 3: Rights, Wrongs, and Winners

Just 17 more days, folks!

The Wait is Almost Over!

It's almost been two months since the last episode aired and I'm getting restless. Perhaps the most highly anticipated season of all-time will finally commence when A Capsule Comes to Town in less than three weeks! In case you haven't noticed, there's been an extreme deficiency in podcasts this year...

Wait, we haven't released one yet?

Whoops.

Anyhow, to whet your appetite, I'll be posting our latest interview with Nathan Hoobler and Marshall younger tomorrow. In it, we discuss episodes from the past season as well as things to look out for in the upcoming season! You won't want to miss this exclusive preview!

Well, you could, but then you'd have to wait another two weeks to hear anything new about the 50th season. That wouldn't be fun now, would it?

Check back this Saturday afternoon for the podcast!

Only Two More Days!

Well, folks, the spring season of Odyssey is still forty days away, but Nathan and Marshal have graciously agreed to talk with us in less than a week's time! Which means you have less than two days to submit your probing questions for the two writers/directors! Send them in to our inbox at aiofanpodcast@hotmail.com or post them over at the Town of Odyssey!

In the meanwhile, I have new album cover art that I should've posted a while ago but never got around to doing it. I guess that's what happens when you go on vacation for three weeks. ;)



Album 33 has been repackaged and I'd say this redone version is a significant improvement over the original cover. Let me know if you agree or disagree. Back cover art is not yet available, but I'll post it as soon as it is released!

"A second time! It happened a second time!"

Yes, folks, it's happening again! Sarah and I will be speaking with Nathan Hoobler and Marshal Younger to talk about the past several seasons as well as the upcoming season of Adventures in Odyssey. Have a question that you've been dying to ask the writers? Then start sending them to aiofanpodcast@hotmail.com or you can post it over at the Town of Odyssey. Please keep questions pertinent to the most recent seasons (within the past couple years, preferably) and the upcoming season. Questions are due by Monday, January 21st @ 9:30 pm ET. We'll have the interview available in early February!

Chris Reviews AnswerThat!

Digital Praise's latest release of Answer That! Adventures in Odyssey Edition invites fans of all ages to test their knowledge of the show with questions ranging from easy to difficult. Modeled after the popular "Scene It" DVD trivia series, Answer That! challenges players to answer questions from the video series, audio clips, and trivia cards. Although it has a limited appeal to the hardcore Odyssey fan, Answer That! offers a good deal of entertainment for the average fan or those new to the show.



Presentation

I was pleasantly surprised with the board game design. The ability to play on four different paths was an added bonus that many will appreciate. Answer That! included four plastic player pieces which I thought were rather flimsy, but I did like the stickers you could affix onto the pieces. Whit, Eugene, and Connie made sense... and Tamika? She's not exactly one of the most popular characters, but at least she's one of the current characters. Someone like Tom, Bernard, or Katrina might have made more sense, since fans are more familiar with what they look like.

Gameplay

The game board consists of seven different types of spaces:

Eugenius tests your knowledge of Odyssey history and characters
Connie's Character Quotes dares you to finish quotes
Whit's Wisdom challenges you to answer Bible trivia
Room of Consequence sends you to a different spot on the board
My Play is an on-screen question for the rolling player
All Play is an on-screen question for all players
You Choose gives you the choice to select any of the above six options

As mentioned earlier, there are four different paths you can choose: two short paths, one medium path, and one long path. However, playing the short or medium paths will present some noticeable problems for players who have a good knowledge of Odyssey. Because the game allows players to take unlimited turns provided they answer each question correctly, a player could theoretically win the game in only a few moves. One of the problems I found with the Room of Consequence (ROC) was the ambiguity in the instructions. The rules seemed to indicate players could answer the question from the space to which they were directed from the ROC cards, but never provided specific details on when the player's turn ended. In my opinion, ROC cards should force players to end their turn after they've moved (either forward, backwards, or swap positions).

My biggest concern from the start was whether or not the trivia questions would be difficult enough. Digital Praise, thankfully, got it right when they chose to create double-sided trivia cards. One side lists Easy questions, while the opposite side shows Difficult questions. Those who have listened to most of the episodes will probably not see much difference, although there are definitely a handful of harder questions included on some of the cards.

Just as there are an assortment of questions in the trivia cards ranging from easy to (somewhat) difficult, so too do the on-screen questions offer a variety of challenges. Many of the DVD questions were in the Picture This category, which involves the identification of a particular location, episode, or character. Occasionally, the picture displayed would be from album artwork, but I found that too many of the images were from the video or book series. On the other hand, I particularly enjoyed the Chrono-Logic (placing four events in order) and Guess Who (guessing who is being described) categories. Of the seven categories offered in the DVD, those two offered the highest level of difficulty for episode-related questions.

A similarly fun category was In Your Ear, in which the question would be based off an audio clip from the radio series. It really made me want to listen to the episodes again, especially when they played clips from old or favorite shows. The only disappointment was that most of the audio clips gave you the answer in the actual clip. So instead of testing your Odyssey knowledge, it would simply test your listening capability. Admittedly, it would have been nice also if they had included more of the radio series clips, since the audio drama comprises such a large portion of Adventures in Odyssey!

Lasting Appeal

Answer That! boasts over 1000 trivia questions, half of which are on the trivia cards while the other half are on-screen questions. Unfortunately, the DVD does not offer the individual game feature which some Scene It and Trivial Pursuit DVD games include. As a result, don't be surprised if you get the same question more than once. In fact, on a few occasions, we received the exact same question in a row and during the same game! To the designers' credit, you can press the return button on your DVD remote to bypass repeat questions and automatically get a new one. For younger fans and those relatively new to Adventures in Odyssey, Answer That! will be a game which they can continue to enjoy for a long time. Older and long-time fans of the show, however, may quickly tire of the game and its lack of difficulty.

Conclusion

AnswerThat! is a fun and innovative game... and it's all about Adventures in Odyssey! In the end, determining the overall value of the game is highly dependent upon your knowledge of the radio series. If you are a casual fan and haven't listened to all the episodes, then you'll probably enjoy this game the most. If you are a die-hard fan and have listened to nearly every episode, however, then you may be disappointed. While Digitial Praise catered to the non-Odyssey fan by including many questions that could be answered by the casual or non-listener, perhaps they could have spent more time developing more difficult questions.

I found it very interesting that they included the following in their summer press release: "However, even if players haven't had any exposure to Adventures in Odyssey, they'll be able to answer many questions thanks to on-screen audio and video 'hints' -- a key to the game's multi-generational appeal." It doesn't seem like players who haven't had any exposure to Adventures would be interested in the game in the first place. Although it made sense from a marketing standpoint to widen the target range of their prospective customers, I don't know if it was the smartest move to make the game so easy considering most of the people purchasing Answer That! would have to be pretty big Odyssey fans to make the $40-$50 investment. Nevertheless, in spite of its flaws, Answer That! remains in my eyes a fun family DVD trivia game!

Pros:
- Ability to choose length of play: short, medium, or long
- Lightning Play version on DVD
- New fans to Odyssey can participate
- Audio clips from the radio series, movie scenes from the video series

Cons:
- Playing pieces are easily breakable
- Lack of separate games on the DVD (different questions per game)
- Many of the trivia card and on-screen questions are too easy
- Not enough clips from the radio series

Presentation: 4/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Lasting Appeal: 3/5
Overall Rating (not an average): 3.5/5

Countdown to the Spring Season Premiere!

Well, we have the names of the episodes for the next couple months. They've posted all the titles over at WhitsEnd.org, and it looks like we'll be hearing some of the greatest Bernard shows of all-time.

December 22: Suspicious Minds
December 29: Room Mates
January 5: The Conscientious Cross-Guard
January 12: Feud for Thought
January 19: My Fair Bernard
January 26: First-Hand Experience
February 2: Third Degree
February 9: Blind Justice
February 16: Poor Loser
February 23: Bassett Hounds

...which, of course, leads us to the spring season premiere which airs on March 1: A Capsule Comes to Town. In honor of this momentous episode, I've added a countdown to the right-hand column. Only 75 more days, folks!

"Chip Off the Shoulder" Now Available!

So you might have noticed that we didn't release a podcast over the weekend. Considering final exams and studying have really eaten up a large portion of our time lately, we decided to postpone our podcast until later this week. That way, we can review The Highest Stakes in addition to this week's episode. Speaking of which, I might as well let ya'll know that Chip Off the Shoulder is now available! Click here to listen!

"The Highest Stakes II" Available!

Yep, and it's been out for just over 24 hours now, but you can listen to The Highest Stakes II right now! To those of you who have sent me reminders, I thank you verily. However, do realize that I check out the Town of Odyssey on an extremely consistent basis and that I am continually checking Oneplace for the latest episodes. So just because I don't post an update telling ya'll that the episode is up doesn't mean I'm not aware of it. ;)

As you may or may not know, Sarah and I were recently afforded the opportunity to speak with Lauren Schaffel. We had an awesome time talking and reminiscing about her time with Adventures in Odyssey! She's truly a multi-talented and extremely well-spoken individual... who apparently sounds a lot like our very own Sarah. But you'll have to wait for another couple weeks before getting a chance to hear our discussion with her... sorry! We still have to review The Highest Stakes and Chip Off the Shoulder, after which we will release the interview for your listening pleasure!