658: Game for a Mystery

[Irwin]

Yay!

[Bren]

I hope you guys like it.

[American Eagle]

Pretty good overall. It wasn't very thrilling, though, which I'm hoping will return to the new season.

3/5 stars.

[Irwin]

Wait, Nelson is voiced by a girl?

[Laurie]

Good episode!! Not terribly exciting, but still good. 4/5

[NateMaxwell]

Heres the Review I wrote :

I think the relationship between Emily and Matthew can almost be described as flirting which is why I somewhat disliked it. Nelson's Cameo in a non Kidsboro episode was pretty sweet. Garret seems like a nerdy Jimmy Barclay which makes me happy. I also liked how Chris had us look in Proverbs, She hasnt given us an assignment in awhile! All in All I think the episode will be a stepping stone for many more fun adventures with the Jones and Parker Detective Agency. It was OK so I give it Three Stars ***

[Moontide]

I like it! 97%!

[EMBEE]

I'm recording it onto my mp3 player right now so I can listen later!

[Crazy 4 Pugs]

It was okay, but a little boring. Maybe they're overdoing the slice-of-life theme in this album?

3/5 stars

[KODY 105]

Heres the Review I wrote :

I think the relationship between Emily and Matthew can almost be described as flirting which is why I somewhat disliked it.

I disagree. I was glad to see a boy and girl hanging out without thinking about anything like that. They're friends, and they solve mysteries together. Now overall, I think the episode was a bit less than interesting.

[Bennett]

Wow...I got so bored with that one, I never finished it. I'll try again later tonight.

[King Butter Turtle]

Main Thoughts

• I wasn't very impressed with this episode. There just wasn't really anything especially entertaining about it.

Theme

• I'm surprised that we still haven't heard the whole theme but, at least we got to hear more of it this time. I really like it!

New Characters

• New character overload! There wasn't nearly enough distinct introduction to each new character. It was just like, "Hey, I'm Emily and that's my brother Barret and those are my parents and then there's these two other kids and we're all going to do all these short, confusing scenes because our voices all sound the same!" Isn't that like the cardinal rule of writing radio drama. I pretty much got it straightened out the second time but still, I think Emily's name was only mentioned twice, it was never explained why Matthew was just kind of there.
• Barret was portrayed very negatively. It seemed like he's the Jimmy of the family and Emily's the Donna. (I know, I know, I got to stop comparing everyone to the Barclays but, you have to some standard of excellence ) But, he's the one who plays trombone, right? So, I think I'm going to like him. Also, didn't he sound a little bit like Nathaniel?
• Emily was... interesting. I'm not quite sure how her and Matthew fit together and the whole detective thing was pretty cheesy but, we didn't find too much out about her yet so, I'll wait to decide.
• The parents were awesome.
• Nelson's back! Ugh! I really hope they give up on using the kidsboro characters because I didn't like... any of them.

Mystery

• I thought the mystery was very poorly done for the simple fact that the listener had no way of figuring it out other than the little bit of foreshadowing. How were we supposed to know the size of the teeth marks on the garbage? Did they forget this is radio? From the latest podcast, I was expecting a very Encyclopedia Brown, Perfect Witness type episode but, found the mystery to be hard to get caught up in.

Credits

• Chris has been doing more complete recaps this season. I like that. It was getting to where all there was time for was to say the names but, now she's doing a more full review of what was learned.
• Wow! That's a lot of new names. With the exception of Chris Anthony and Christopher Diehl, I didn't recognize any; new actors, new writer, even a new composer.

Other Notes

• Zapazoids has finally been replaced as the cool video game in Odyssey.
• This episode was very kid centered, with the exception of the minor parent roles. It almost felt like Kidsboro.
• I'm somewhat surprised to still have not heard from Wooton one third into the season, with him being a main character and everything.

Rating

• 2/5

[Crazy 4 Pugs]

Zapazoids has finally been replaced as the cool video game in Odyssey.

I miss Zapazoids

[Marvin D.]

Zapazoids has finally been replaced as the cool video game in Odyssey.

I miss Zapazoids

Me too.

But I do not think that Emily and Matt are flirting. It was boring though.

[EMBEE]

Everything I wanted to say has already been said. 2.5 If I had to round, I'd round down.

[Bennett]

Hmm. That wasn't very good at all. I don't have time to list all my reasons--but it was a little insulting to children's intelligence. "Clutter" and "Inspiration Station" were decent 'Odyssey episodes'. This one wasn't. Poor story, script, pacing, dialogue...I was completely disappointed.

In case some of you are wondering, I will be writing a full review of the album, as well as each episode, in celebration of the "new series". However, just so you know, I feel bad being so negative about this one.

Was the writer the same as the one on this website I wonder?

http://www.kirbyatkins.blogspot.com/

[V-lady]

I was unimpressed. In order for episodes of this style to be entertaining, it's usually best if they contain lots of humor, fun music, ect. In my opinion, it didn't really have any of those things. That and the overload of new characters pretty much ruined it for me. And what's with Barret? He seems to only have one volume...loud. In a whiny, over the top sort of way. Ugh.

I feel very negative right now.

Oh well, I'm sure next week will be better.

[Catspaw]

I think I enjoyed the first half more than the second for this episode, because I agree with those who have said that the solving of the mystery was disappointing. I didn't really feel like I was involved in it. It's fun to try to piece things together, but here we really didn't have the information to do that. I did like Emily and Matthew working together, and I can definitely see some fun future potential for their detective agency, but I felt like this episode could have been better.

Bennett, you always have interesting comments to make - I look forward to your reviews.

[Jeremy]

Another horrible episode. I'm surprised I'm the only so far to give it only 1 star.

In order for episodes of this style to be entertaining, it's usually best if they contain lots of humor, fun music, ect.

Agreed.

And what's with Barret? He seems to only have one volume...loud. In a whiny, over the top sort of way. Ugh.

Yeah, I noticed that, too.

Jeremy

[Sapphire]

I didn't like this episode as well. It was kind of stupid. All that fuss over a video game. It was cool how they kept you guessing the thief. I liked that Nelson Swanson was in it. Emily is a pretty neat kid. I don't like her brother Barret very much. He reminds me of my brother. Always playing too many games and not enough work. I give this episode a decent 3/5 stars.