673: The Owlnapping

[The Kings Daughter]

What do you guys think of this episode? I'll post my ratings later.

[AIOCREFan]

What did you think of this episode? Let the reviews flow!!!!

[Shennifer]

I thought it was an amazing episode; very funny and creative. Predictable moral, but still fun along the way. I liked all the characters, and I could actually tell them apart this time. I'm still getting used to Whit's voice (probably taking longer for me because I'm listening to older episodes, and hearing these new ones in between)
But I liked how the story was comprised of newer characters (with the exception of Whit) and of course all the things Ryan had to do before getting the Owl.
And the ending was great too; I picked up on the Karate Kid reference and there may have been a Maximum Ride character reference (Coach Fang?? lol I'll have to listen to it again.)
Overall a creatively awesome episode

[Peachey Keen]

Why did they have to change Pete and Vance's voices? Arrrr! It's annoying!

[DanP740]

Kill the coach. Please. He's so annoying...
Yeah, the coach being there kind of lowered my opinion of it... and what's with all these new people with similar voices again? And was that Barrett (or Matthew) asking Vance to sabotage the team? Do they not like their own school?
At least it didn't quite end with "Well, we can't find the mascot, but you just need to get your confidence back that you lost when you thought you needed the mascot."

3/5

[Steve]

To say that I was pleasantly suprised with today's show would be an understatement. After being slightly dissapointed with Opposite Day, I was not expecting a lot from this episode. I was thankfully wrong. The Owlnapping, which happens to be a great title by the way, was a success with me.

The Characters:
I was very very happy to realize that this episode included Ryan from Kidsboro. I liked Ryan in the Kidsboro episodes and was happy to see him come back up out of the dark hole where Mitch and Officer Harley most likely live. I also thought that Pete was a good character. Now, my question is: is this the Pete from Kidsboro, or is this a new character. I could tell it wasn't the same actor, but does that mean it wasn't the same character. A little clarification would have been nice. Another note would be that Vance King is being played by a different actor. I didn't really have a problem with this as Jason Earles kept making me imagine Vance as Hannah Montana's brother. I don't get why people don't like coach Feng, I know he was a little on the edge with a few lines in Target of the Week (Album 51), but the team seemed to correct that this time. Some of his lines were hysterical. I really liked his monolouge at the very begining of the show. The one about the basketball and the scoreboard. That rocked. Whit was spot on perfect this time for me. No problems. I really liked Andre' in this show. In fact, when I read Whit's lines in a book or quote, I hear Andre'. Just sayin'

And now the story and moral.

The story was fantastic. Hilarious. Total ownage. It made me laugh so hard. The whole scene with Ryan running around, oh man! "Go to the guy at the end of the counter and eat a spoonful of his soup." Oh my word. That was genius and the little girl movie spoiler scene! That was good! The only part I didn't get was when Ryan went to the barber shop. I mean, it was funny, but not explained too well. For starters, why did Vance send him to get "The Owl Cut" why not just a plain old mohawk? That's the real name for it. And why did the barber say, "Oh, you're that kid." ? Did the barber know that Ryan was coming in? Did Vance tell him beforehand? Why didn't the barber question "Why did this punk kid tell me that this other kid is going to come into my shop and ask for this ridiculous haircut?" Just wonering? I picked upt the reference to Karate Kid . That just made it for me. Also, when the Owl's sound clip played, did anyone notice that it was Andre' doing the Owl voice he used in Winnie the Pooh? I bet that they wrote the part specificly for him. The moral of the story was good. People do worship mascots and even things like crosses and not what is right. Now I'm not advocating worshiping sports tieams, just God, but people do this and worship teams. Like crazy sports fanatics. But that's another post for another time.

In all, The Owlnapping was great episode. Good characters, good story, god morals. A true Odyssey standout and winner. (I couldn't choose one.) Four out of five stars!!

[American Eagle]

Why did they have to change Pete and Vance's voices? Arrrr! It's annoying!

Voices change... especially teenage guys.

The Owlnapping is my second favorite episode of Album 52, but it could have been better. The main characters were good, and Vance has shown, yet again, that he is one of the best new characters of the relaunch. Eating a guy's soup? Spoiling the end of a kids' movie? Those are brilliant stunts and Vance put them together well.

I didn't like most of the guys on the basketball team, but oh well. At least they weren't the main characters.

[Marvin D.]

Kill the coach. Please. He's so annoying...
Yeah, the coach being there kind of lowered my opinion of it... and what's with all these new people with similar voices again?
3/5

Yes, the coach is so annoying. I really don't feel like rating episodes I don't like so much, so I won't say much. But, the coach is so annoying. Vance's voice was changed, and that opening scene was...cheesy. Too professional, in a...teenager sort of way. The point was actually rather obvious from the start. At least we hear from Ryan. Final rating: 5.5/10.

[Bennett]

Here is my review:

http://aio-thechangingtimes.blogspot.co ... pping.html

[Taps]

Wow this was a good episode!
MY THOUGHTS OVERALL
I was PLEASENTLY surprised when I listened to this episode. I was very happy that Vance was back but for some reason his voice sounded different. I really enjoyed the plot about superstition and how kids that age CAN fall into that trap. Oh we can’t win without help from spinning backwards! Or something like that. I thought Ryan was a good leader in this episode and how he didn’t really believe it was going to make a difference (which it didn’t) and I was glad that they didn’t win the game. Otherwise kids would be like oh the owl has magical powers and it did help them after all! No matter what Whit or anybody else would say about it. This was a very good episode. Also when Pete was in the alley waiting for Vance and Vance said I said COME ALONE and then Pete’s like WHAT?!? I SO wanted Matthew and Emily to show up then and help get the owl back. I thought Jeez these basketball players aren’t very bright are they? You’d think they’d know not to bring the WHOLE basketball team. I mean come on! Ok I’m done with that now. Next: my thoughts on
THE ROLES IN THIS EPISODE
I though Vance was really well played this episode. I like the idea of him being the extremely smart bully instead of Rodney. I really think I can get used to Vance. Next I liked Whit in this episode and his regular classic advice at the end thing. It was pretty classic and I enjoyed it. Coach Chang Fang still does not sit well with me. Some of his stuff about new age is still iffy with me. I really didn’t like his role in this episode and I’m like: last season you were a baseball coach: now you’re a basketball coach: and you didn’t make the playoffs either times! Think about it… otherwise I liked Ryan and how he was played in this episode. His whole running around Odyssey scene was funny. I didn’t laugh out loud but I thought it was entertaining.
OVERALL
I REALLY like this episode and give it 9/10 stars.

[Sapphire]

I tremendously enjoyed this episode. It had a great moral to the story, and I loved the characters. The coach had a very interesting voice. I still can't figure out what accent he had. I really didn't care coach, but I wasn't annoyed by him. I am liking Vance more and more. I think he has made his place in AIO (in my opinion). I hope he will be in many more albums. He's like Rodney Rathbone, yet he's different too. I was very happy to see Ryan in this episode. Overall, I give this episode four out of five stars.

[Laura Ingalls]

I finally got around to listening to this episode, since I missed it on the radio Saturday. It was great! I enjoyed the running around town bit, and the coach's lines were quite funny. Was Pete played by the same person as Seth? It sounded like it to me.

Anyway, I'll rate it 4/5 stars.

[Cbriggs45]

the coach reminds me of the teacher guy who always said "ya know" before each sentence.

i liked it.

it kept my attention and made me engage my sluth-y ness. which is hard cause i have a very small attention span for being an adult.

[TigerintheShadows]

I enjoyed this episode, I really did. I felt more like I was with my classmates (or rather, classmates I'd want to have; most of the guys in my grade are a bunch of jerks). I think it's good to incorporate teenagers--even those still in middle school--with those younger kids, even if there isn't much direct involvement. I really love Adam Wylie as Ryan--seriously, that voice is amazing.

Jason Marsden as Vance was really great. It's not like Jason Earles did a bad job as Vance; in fact he did a fabulous job. Jason Marsden, however, had this overall tone that really kept the character believeable. He's been known for talented voice acting, which is probably one of the reasons why he was selected for the job.

Did anyone else find Vance's scrubbing-the-gym-locker scene at the end to be hilarious? I seriously loved that. It was fabulous.

[jennifertwt]

I have listened to this episode twice now and my mind keeps zoning out in the last 5 minutes and I never remember who actually stole the owl. I kept thinking all along it was the coach himself. I guess I need to just listen to the last 10 minutes. I can't keep track of the kids.

[Parker Family]

About 3.5 star pretty good

[Christian A.]

Here's my review:

This time I actually did really, really like this episode. I have almost nothing bad to say about it. There were a few things that could have been better, but I actually only have one complaint.

At the end of the episode, when Chris summed up the show and gave the moral like she usually does, she said that like the kids learned in the show, we shouldn't give more attention to the symbol of something instead of the thing being symbolized. Then she compared it to our relationship with God, and how we should be worshipping the true God, and not a false one. "That would be silly," she says, "almost as silly as paying a ransom for a stuffed owl." It was disappointing that the writers had her say "silly" rather than sin. And then even more disappointing was the fact that she basically said that the sin of idolatry wasn't as bad as what the kids were doing in this episode with the owl. Just something I noticed that I thought I'd point out.

I really liked pretty much everything else in the episode. The first scene was really well done, and was a great way to start off the episode.

I don't think that we've had a basketball episode since The Fundamentals. I very much enjoyed the return of Coach Fang, and look forward to more of him in the future. It's interesting that he's the coach of both the baseball and the basketball team. And I loved that last scene in the episode where they alluded to The Karate Kid with the "Wax on, wax off." : )

It was great to have the return of so many of the newer male characters (Ryan, Pete, Vance), but as in the last episode, sometimes it was quite difficult to distinguish between characters because of the abundance of actors of the same gender.

The sequence of scenes where Ryan was following Vance's directions at Hal's Diner and the movie theater and the barber shop was my favorite part of the episode. It was especially funny when Vance told Ryan to go to the front of the theater and shout out what he did, and Ryan said, "But that'll ruin it for everyone!", showing that he had seen the movie before. : D

Overall it was a great, original episode with a pretty good moral. I was glad that Whit was the one to give the moral at the end; it was a good way for him to continue growing into the part. It was also good that Whit showed that the owl didn't ever really do anything for the team in the past. It reminded me of The Greatest Weapon, where Sam Johnson was trusting his performance in the baseball game to the bat Connie gave him.

This episode reminded me more of older Odyssey episodes than any other in the new season so far, and I hope there will be more like it.