Zach Callison

[Reddo]

As you may have heard by now, the AIO teams has bid farewell to Zach, thoughts? should Matthew get recast? or just disappear?

[Woody]

Wait, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? They can't just get rid of Matthew! He's the biggest kid character on the show! And they just replaced Camilla. They're recasting the entire Parker family. O_o

Is there any specific reason Zach is leaving the cast?

I can see only one good thing coming of this: The END of the Jones and Parker Detective Agency!

*prepares to be killed by ERKers*

[Marvin D.]

He left because his voice changed too much.

Then let the characters grow up, I say. It's been seven albums and three years; he's not going to stay 10 forever >.> And considering how much Matthew and Emily were used in the previous albums, I doubt they'll keep him away.

Then again, they did it with all the former kid characters, and Bart and Tom as well, sooo.

[jennifertwt]

As an adult fan, I cannot say I connected with the new characters well. But, it does seem to limit them if they do not replace him. I have to say I did not notice the replacement of Camilla as I sort of half listen to the new kids. I guess it depends on how promininant they want the Parker family to be. If they are bringing in a new lead family, then let him go. If they intend on having the Parkers as core characters, then he needs to be replaced. Maybe Emily will get a new partner in "crime". That could be fun.

[The Old Judge]

This is bad. Honestly, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not only is the Odyssey team trying to squeeze more money out of us with the OAC (and messing up the AIO canon), they're trying to bend time even more. They let Trent and Jared and Jimmy change. They should do the same for the current cast. Do they plan to do this with any of the other boys?

[Tea Ess]

Then let the characters grow up, I say. It's been seven albums and three years; he's not going to stay 10 forever.

I definitely agree with this. Any of the alternatives I see will just create an unnecessary interruption/unnatural jump in Odyssey.

I wonder if this has to do with AiO marketing to a younger age range. Maybe they thought that younger children would have had a hard time relating to a slightly older Matthew?

I can see only one good thing coming of this: The END of the Jones and Parker Detective Agency!

*prepares to be killed by ERKers*

I also agree with this. Although I am slightly disappointed because the J&P Mystery episodes had been improving. As to the original question, I am against Matthew randomly disappearing, particularly because he would undoubtedly be replaced a) by someone we can't stand or b) in an awkward, unnatural way that creates additional confusion. The next best choice that I can see would be replacing Zach Callison with another actor and keeping Matthew's character. Even if the voice sounds completely different, at least there will still be the same core group of characters a little longer.

[Woody]

I can see only one good thing coming of this: The END of the Jones and Parker Detective Agency!

*prepares to be killed by ERKers*

I also agree with this. Although I am slightly disappointed because the J&P Mystery episodes had been improving.

Apparently, you haven't listened to Big Trouble Under the Big Top.

But yes, TGRC and The Lost Riddle were an improvement in the J&P episodes. I got hopeful, but Big Trouble Under the Big Top pretty much destroyed said hopes.

[Tea Ess]

I had actually considered Big Trouble under the Big Top improved when compared to other older J&P episodes. Apparently you don't share my sentiments, though.

I don't even consider TGRC (or even parts of it) an extension of J&P just because it was so much better, more natural, and non-painful to listen to compared to any of the standard mystery episodes at the time.

[jennifertwt]

I liked Big Trouble Under the Big Top. And I did not consider The Green Ring Conspiracy to be part of J /P. Maybe because I do not get the magazine, I was unable to really connect to the Jones Parker Detective Agency. I guess by the time you are my age (plays the age card), you have heard so many kid detective stories, that they are not new anymore. So, I sort of half listened to them.

[Marvin D.]

Big Trouble Under the Big Top was horrible

Frankly, they should replace him. Or just. .keep him. It's real life. Kids grow up. I think it'd make more sense to have the orignal Matthew, who just sounds, what? 15? instead of getting a new kid. Really. If they get rid of Matthew, it'll just be awkward. Odyssey feels a lot different without some of the previous defining characters, mainly Bart, Tom, Rodney, and the kids. Tom was Whit's good friend, Bart was the con man who never really learned his lesson, and Rodney was the quintessential small town bully. I get the whole idea of relaunch, but I feel it's more like. .restart.

[jennifertwt]

true. Whit needs a new friend especially now that Jack is gone too. Jay does a good job of being the bad kid. I would like to see Buck come back as an older kid. It seems like there is no "middle" age group here. Everone is either a kid or an adult, no middle schoolers or high schoolers. Don´t some of these kids have older brothers and sisters or all they first born.

[Marvin D.]

I believe that Ryan, Brad, and Pete are middle-schoolers, but we hardly hear from them. Jay's all right as a bad guy, but he's. .not completely as good of an archetype of a bully as Rodney was. Vance might have been, but as with the others, he's hardly around. It's mostly either the Parkers or the Joneses, along with Priscilla thrown in. I think the other characters need some people to relate with more. Whit, definitely; Connie, someone other than Penny; Eugene, since it's always either Whit or Connie--I'm excluding Katrina, since she's his wife. When you've got characters who, for the most part are 12 and under, or completely adults, it cancels out that feeling of relation you have to the show.

[darcie]

Poor male children with vocal changes. Why can't they just Coming of Age him? Growing up exists in real life.

[Christian A.]

Oh gosh, I forgot that you're the spouse of the Coming of Age kid. xD

Yeah.... I pretty much agree with the sentiments that this is a bad idea.... I would have loved to see a character's voice mature. It makes a guy more well-rounded if you get to see him grow. That's what was so great about Jimmy. I'm really disappointed now, because I really don't like either solution.

[Knight Fisher]

So they're getting rid of him because his voice is changing since he's growing up. I guess that makes sense. I mean all the other kids are played by kids. There aren't adults playing them or something.

[Marvin D.]

He's just hardly 16 >.> We heard in Big Trouble Over the Big Top, and he sounded different, yes, but not *unlike* Matthew. It makes him more realistic; getting rid of him altogether is unsatisfactory.

[Jonathan]

This is bad. Honestly, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not only is the Odyssey team trying to squeeze more money out of us with the OAC (and messing up the AIO canon), they're trying to bend time even more. They let Trent and Jared and Jimmy change. They should do the same for the current cast. Do they plan to do this with any of the other boys?

Yeah, gonna have to agree with this (and Darcie) assuming I understood it correctly that they are getting another actor. I'm one of those older fans that really liked the relaunch through album 56. So, keep Zach, or lose Matthew. Kinda thought one of those was going to happen anyway, as Matthew had very little airtime in album 57.

Of course, I'm not gonna pay attention to new episodes anymore, so this doesn't affect me much.

Odyssey feels a lot different without some of the previous defining characters, mainly Bart, Tom, Rodney, and the kids.

There's lots of periods of change Odyssey has gone through, and all are different. Doesn't make it better or worse. And I'm gonna have to disagree about Rodney. After about the year 2000, he was just filler and really didn't contribute anything to the show beyond being a plot device. I wasn't sad to see him disappear.

[Tea Ess]

Marvin, I think Knight Fisher was being sarcastic. I think.

Again, my belief is that the lack of characters over 12 (excluding adults) is entirely intentional. That wouldn't happen randomly.

[TigerintheShadows]

This is bad. Honestly, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not only is the Odyssey team trying to squeeze more money out of us with the OAC (and messing up the AIO canon), they're trying to bend time even more. They let Trent and Jared and Jimmy change. They should do the same for the current cast. Do they plan to do this with any of the other boys?

Let's not forget Marvin. Kendre Berry sounded pubescent even before his voice changed. Then there's Andy Pessoa, who actually (imo) sounds a great deal like Corey Padnos post-voice change, too. Barrett sounds sixteen when he's supposed to be twelve. If Zach was replaced because his voice sounded too old for the part, that's just ridiculous. Child characters on a show like this should be allowed to grow up--wasn't that the whole point of "Coming of Age"? That growing up is something natural to be embraced? So why can't child characters grow up?

It's not like you have to address teen drinking or drug use or premarital sex in order to show a kid growing older and more mature. There are a lot of issues with spiritual growth they could touch on from a Christian teenager's perspective; I would not have been unwelcoming to an episode with Mandy, Marvin, Alex, Trent, and/or Liz dealing with questioning their faith in a world that continuously attacks it at younger and younger ages. It's one thing to talk about atheists (Eugene, Bryan Dern, Leonard), but to discuss a Christian having doubts, and especially a teenager/young adult (people who are already experiencing tumult in other areas) would be very important, and it would be good for younger kids to know possible ways to deal with it later on. I'm sure there are episodes that are like that, but I just feel like an episode with that specific kind of content would be welcome, and I would want a teenager to deal with it--specifically, a teenager we already know, either pre-hiatus or post-hiatus (though as many of you could surmise, I would prefer pre-hiatus ).

I guess I'm soap-boxing this issue like mad because I am a teenager, and I will be going to college and job-hunting within the next few years. An episode dealing with the spiritual battles involved with growing up, especially with characters that I actually relate to (which is why I would push for the pre-hiatus child characters--they were, in my opinion, just better characters overall to whom I could relate more and to whom I can still relate now), would be--if done right--wonderful and greatly appreciated. You can talk about the adults dealing with spiritual battles all you want to, but that's the thing--they're adults. There comes a point when even the adult characters, whose episodes I nearly always found more interesting than the child-oriented ones, aren't relatable by sheer virtue of their advanced age and maturity. I can still relate, but not always to the spiritual struggles, especially since I'm not as spiritually mature as they are portrayed to be, and a teenager would be much more relatable on a maturity level than an adult, and certainly more than a child.

My point, as many have stated countless times over recent months, is that older kids still listen to this show and still enjoy it greatly. I know that this isn't the first time that AIO has gone through a kid-oriented phase, and they seem to be growing into the all-ages phase, what with such beautiful episodes as "Life Expectancy". That does not, however, mean that they cannot become what they once were--a show that did not attempt to appeal primarily to the target demographic, but instead allowed itself to appeal to every age group but with a sensitivity about who their target audience continued to be. That was the Jack-and-Jason era, that was DBD specifically, that was Novacom, that was the Straussberg saga, that was The Highest Stakes, that was just about every episode dealing with Kelly's background, and much, much more. I'm not saying that bringing in teenagers is the only way to RETURN AIO TO ITS FORMER GLORY, but I am saying that it definitely wouldn't hurt to consider the periphery as well as the target.

And wow, we were talking about Zach Callison being replaced, and I got super off-topic on my soapbox. #sorrynotsorry In my personal opinion, though, replacing child characters once their actors get too old to play their roles is indicative of an unwillingness to go beyond "kids and adults". I know--it's always been a thing. That doesn't mean, however, that it cannot change.

[Marvin D.]

Marvin, I think Knight Fisher was being sarcastic. I think.

I thought so I mean, we have Emily's actress and Olivia's previous actress (and possibly the current one; I'm not sure) being older than the character. Pete's played by a girl. So there's suddenly something wrong with having a 16 year old. .play a 12-14 year old.

Now, on to Tiger's post. Her posts are my favorite

Let's not forget Marvin. Kendre Berry sounded pubescent even before his voice changed. Then there's Andy Pessoa, who actually (imo) sounds a great deal like Corey Padnos post-voice change, too. Barrett sounds sixteen when he's supposed to be twelve. If Zach was replaced because his voice sounded too old for the part, that's just ridiculous. Child characters on a show like this should be allowed to grow up--wasn't that the whole point of "Coming of Age"? That growing up is something natural to be embraced? So why can't child characters grow up?

See, with Barrett, he sounded like a whiny 11-year old in "For The Birds," but just a few months later, in "Stage Fright" he sounded. .I don't know, 15? These characters are supposed to be 12; some of them really don't sound it. If that's why they removed Zach, then. .that's just odd >.> Unless that's not the real reason. //conspiracytheorist

As for the rest of the post, if Odyssey's going to keep going from kid to directly an adult, they're missing out on a LOT of potential. It comes to a point when you've done over 700 episodes that you're going to start rehashing topics over and over if you aren't willing to branch out a bit and. .be a bit more realistic. Odyssey doesn't have to go and bring back one of our older teengage characters and put him on drugs, or have one of the girls come back pregnant. But. .look at "Living in the Gray." We had Jimmy at one of the lowest points of his life, dealing with a boatload of issues that had fostered over time when he'd moved out--and it wasn't a show that had big neon signs saying, "Kids under 8, DO NOT LISTEN." It's possible. It can be done. It's far more relatable. I loved Darkness Before Dawn because we had Jack and Jason dealing with spiritual issues that needed to be confronted and Eugene's coming to the turning point of his life; Novacom had Mr. Whittaker back, and then spun a whole new sort of adventure than previously; Eugene's search for his father touched on abandonment and hurt; Mandy's saga with her parents dealt with separation and divorce--all of these were important issues that were dealt with very tastefully and yet didn't skirt around important issues that even 10-year olds go through. I understand that you want to deal with topics like fear (though having Emily try to shout out a moral while a dozen kids flock to sign some papers that will let them be on TV isn't the best way to have it done), but we've been over that again and again.

. .I was going to write a few more paragraphs, but I'll stop for now