712: Child's Play

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Bren
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712: Child's Play

Post by Bren »



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The Kings Daughter
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Post by The Kings Daughter »

Eugene introducing the show, small imagination station adventure moment, Cal Jordan record, fantastic closing for kids listening. ^.^ Chris finished the show quite nicely, like older episodes. :) She helped make the lesson apply to kids, as well as adults. I keep missing, however, a specific Bible verse for Chris to read at the end of the show. Bible examples are good, but quoted words from God are SO much better! Fantastic episode. However, the kid's questions to Whit's question seemed a little cliche...and unrealistic. ;) Sure those things mean the most to kids when it all comes down to it, but many don't realize it until much later in their lives. His wrap up was good as well. ;) And 'Jebediah Ripples', first name just made the answer amusing. Eugene's play on words was good too. :P

Katrina walking out of the room and then returning when Joy asked the question was so sweet. Almost everything about this episode made if feel like an older one. :anxious: I also loved how applicable/realistic they made the kids, with almost every thing they did I had a flashback to doing something like it we did as kids. xD ^_^
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Post by Knight Fisher »

A lot of it seemed cliched. Mr. Whitaker's, and the kids lines about their favorite moment especially. And they got some of those answers wrong... Decent, but not great or greatly memorable.

2.5/5
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Post by DanP740 »

It was interesting hearing Eugene's intro to the show, because it's the same lines he did way back in the day, but now he speaks a little differently. I liked the reference to Cal Jordan. I think it's the first pre-restart character reference I've noticed. And it was interesting seeing them as parents. I actually liked this one a bit.

4/5
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Post by whittaker96 »

Overall, I enjoyed this one. The moments with Eugene & Katrina and the kids were good; I thought Wooton's personality was used well in this episode. Eugene's voice was deeper in this episode and made him sound a lot older...liked the Cal Jordan reference. My only qualm about this episode was that, like KF said, a couple lines were not well acted or just cliched. However, Chris's wrap up was good, and so was this episode.

82/100 B-

Did anyone get a different feeling about this episode? Normally, when I listen to Odyssey, it's CLASSIC ODYSSEY. A couple times since the hiatus, it didn't feel like that (i.e. Game for a Mystery, Stage Fright). Child's Play was a good episode, and it felt different, and it's really hard to explain. Maybe it just feels different since we haven't had that many Eugene/Katrina episodes yet? Well, whatever it was, I like the character development.
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Post by DanP740 »

Yeah, the amount of Wooton was good. Not too much, just a scene or two, with him being him, but not too crazy like other times.
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Post by EMBEE »

Overall, I really liked the episode. I loved that they mentioned Cal, and that Eugene sang the song Summer Is A-Coming In, which was the song that he sang way back in the episode A Day in the Life. My only problems were that, as others have said, some bits seemed cliche and unrealistic. I'm going to give this episode 4 out of 5 stars.
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Post by Peachey Keen »

I was really surprised to hear Eugene introducing the show. Shocked is more like it. I hope they do this more often and with other characters, too. BTW, Eugene's intro is not the same as the one used before the hiatus. Go listen to some old episodes.

Some wonderful scenes with the Meltsners, hearing kids played by real kids, and some very funny and sweet moments make this episode one of my favorite eps since the hiatus!

Plus, it was tons better than the awful Agreeable Nanny.

4 1/2 stars
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Post by Moontide »

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Post by Christian A. »

I guess I'm finally going to get around to reviewing this episode. I probably shouldn't have read so many others' reviews before I decided to review the episode, because now I'm afraid my thoughts aren't going to be very original. But I'll do my best to at least put things basically in my own words.

However... I will start out with this quote from Ben Warren from his review at The Changing Times. I thought he summed up my core feelings about this episode very well in this paragraph:

Ultimately, "Child's Play" is significant because it delves a little more into Eugene and Katrina's married life, and these sorts of stories are always more worth telling than stories about children or characters we may never hear from in 5 years. It also included scenes that highlighted the beauty of marriage; there's something very nice about listening in as they sit in their bedroom, getting ready for bed, discussing their concerns and fears with one another. That's the point where Eugene and Katrina feel, not only interesting, but real.
And that's what I thought made this episode another great story to add to the other excellent stories in Album 55. We haven't had an episode totally focused on Eugene and Katrina since their wedding episode "For Better or for Worse" in Album 44. And I thought it was very nice. The episode was slow-paced, and it gave us a look at what Eugene and Katrina's relationship is like behind closed doors. We got tastes of this in "How to Sink a Sub" and "You're Two Kind," and we got a closer look in "To Mend or Repair," but since this was a whole episode dedicated to their experience with babysitting children, it felt different, like we got to learn more about them than we have in a long time.

I really liked the kids in the episode. They were both very realistic, and they had great actors. Unless I'm a terrible judge of this, I was pretty certain that adult actors were not used for the kids. ;) That was a great choice. I don't think I would have liked the episode as much if the kids weren't played by real kids. I also liked the distinct, different personalities each kid had. It was a humorous situation for Eugene to have to keep up with such an active Kyle, and it was an interesting challenge for Katrina to stay sane while Joy asked her so many questions.

I thought Wooton was great in this episode. For once, I didn't think Wooton was annoying. He did his part, and he didn't intrude into anyone else's part. He felt like the old Wooton to me. You know, the one that was around at the same time as...Cal Jordan! Oh, it was so great to hear an old character mentioned! No longer do we have to think that all of the people at Whit's End suffered some sort of amnesia that caused them to forget everything and everyone that came before Album 51! But, yeah, it was nice to see that nod to the last generation of Odyssey kids...even though Cal's record was beaten about five minutes after we know it existed.... :P

Connie was also interesting. I thought it was, again, realistic, that she got tired of Joy's questions really fast. I would have been the same way. Which is why it was all the more admirable that Katrina was able to cope with them for so long. It almost leaves you wondering why the writers teased us with this episode, when you know the Meltsners won't be getting any kids of their own, apart from a miracle. Eugene and Katrina seem like they'd be so good with kids, but they can't have their own kids, so what's the point of knowing that?

But aside from that, I really liked this episode. It was entertaining, and yet not silly or too fast-paced. Just seeing a husband and wife, whom we've grown to love over the years, grow together and love each other was material enough for a superb episode. I hope there are more stories like these in the future. But...then again, I don't, because I think it was the uniqueness of this episode that made it so good. :)
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Post by Catspaw »

EMBEE wrote:I loved that [...] Eugene sang the song Summer Is A-Coming In, which was the song that he sang way back in the episode A Day in the Life.
I loved that too! \:D/ I recognized the re-use of the song right away and thought that it was hilariously wonderful. I also loved Eugene and Katrina's conversation as they were falling asleep after a full day with Kyle and Joy. I even said (out loud) "Cuuute!" \:D/ This was a nice episode overall. I enjoyed the way it continued Eugene and Katrina's story.
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Post by CreativeThinker101 »

This show brought back memories of the old days, when free speech meant something! (Sorry, I recently listened to Thy Will Be Done.) I absolutely adored that Eugene opened the show. I wonder if they'll continue doing it. I also like the idea that Eugene and Katrina babysit since they can't have children. Kyle and Joy might be rather annoying, but they're pretty good characters. Does anyone else think Kyle sounds like Everett? That's something I noticed. The Cal Jordon reference was great as well!
Last edited by CreativeThinker101 on Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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