51. Take it From the Top Review!

[Shadowpaw]

First, it was very interesting listening to the show again after years of radio silence. I remember when I was in Colorado Springs for the Live Show and I heard about the plans for a hiatus and the promise that the show would be rebooted. This idea was extremely exciting for me. I think the original concept was that the show would "jump forward" several years and not need to explain the absence of Tom, Jack, Bernard, Edwin and some of the older characters who would need to be written out of the show due to the various actors' unavailability. I think I expected too much, and had the reboot happened the way I had hoped, I probably would have tuned in sooner. I know that Focus on the Family wants to keep Whit at the center of the series, but AIO was always at its best when the writers were challenged, and the Jack/Jason era produced some of the best episodes in the show's history. I had hoped for a new era of Odyssey that didn't rely on the crutch of John Avery Whittaker and explored the town after his death... maybe starting at this funeral and use Connie/Eugene to bridge the gap between the previous 50 albums, and the 50 albums ahead. Eugene would no longer be working at Whit's End (that doesn't really make sense any more) and Connie would be the sole person running the shop but over the course of the two or three part season opener, she can't deal with the pressure of going it alone, and Eugene leaves his job as a Professor as Campbell County College to give her a hand. This is just one of many possible futures I envisioned for the show, and I'm not saying it had to happen even remotely close to that, but the point I'm trying to make is that I felt the show could use the hiatus in a constructive way and breathe new life into the aging series. The last thing I wanted was the same old show.

And now that I've heard the whole first album, my original feelings are stronger than ever. It was a struggle to get through most of the album. Don't get me wrong, I'm 30 years old and I'm well outside of the target demographic and I'm sure many of the episodes I remember fondly are because my life was much simpler back then. None of the episodes were awful, but none of them were episodes I'd want to listen to again anytime soon. I love the Parker children, but the performances of the parents left much to be desired, which is unfortunate especially because I'm a fan of Marc Evan Jackson's other work. His delivery was so precise and polished that it never felt real and his wife's accent was super distracting. I'm guess it's to show she's Spanish, but it was so subtle that I'm not sure it's even necessary (and having seen some of her other work, she can talk just fine without it!)

There was also an issue with the sound design in many of the episodes, though it first really came to my attention in "Target of the Week" and later "For the Birds." The action happening in the background always felt off from what was happening. The opening scene of "Target of the Week" was a prime example, where classes are ending and there is ZERO commotion in the hallway... these are the most well behaved children on the planet. In fact, Matthew makes a comment that everyone is staring at him and up until that moment I had no idea anyone but Matthew and Nelson were supposed to be in that scene. There was also some extremely odd sound choices when their coach was presenting the awards near the end and an effort was made to show the scene switching from the podium to Matthew and back again, not to mention the awful "squeeky shoe" scene in which the steps were in sync with the voice and I can't picture anyone walking that slow. I didn't notice it so much in some of the other episodes, which I suppose means it was fine... because I think GOOD sound design is something you don't notice. Speaking of "Target of the Week", I was a bit bothered by a lot of the "potty" humor in it. I get that they're children, and I probably was much worse when I was a kid, but I've made that comment about the newer Odyssey episodes before and it still stands. It's a low form of humor and sets a bad example for children.

The parallel between "The Inspiration Station" and drug use was neat, though it almost felt too contrived and silly in the same way that the talking chicken episode from a decade ago was. I also don't see why an entirely new machine needed to exist, and I fear it will end up being as pointless as The Transmuter was... we've seen countless episodes where Whit makes a modification to the Imagination Station to make it do something different, and that should have been the same case here (the same goes for the Transmuter). I think in both "The Imagination Station Revisited" and "Malachi's Message", the writers wrote themselves into a corner by having Whit introduce a new machine to finish off the season on a hopeful note, and neither idea was ever fully fleshed out to the point the inventions needed to exist. And speaking of inventions, how amazing was that talking painting in "The Jubilee Singers"? I think it's great that Whit's retrofitted his gallery with interactive paintings, but the line of realism is completely ignored by having a painting that interacts with you no differently than a human does. Why couldn't Red Hollard have told the story to Olivia? Or have the painting be a real person that is working with Red? The three-part finale was a standout episode in every other respect, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the episode wasn't a three part talent show episode (which is what I thought it was for all these years), but the talking painting that I forgot was a talking painting because it was too realistic was irksome.

So there you have it. My thoughts on "Take it From the Top!", which was an extremely vanilla, paint-by-numbers album. Again, I want to stress that I'm not trying to be nitpicky, but I'm also trying to be honest in how I felt about the album. It wasn't a train wreck in the way "In Your Wildest Dreams" was, but it was a very weak album to kick off the new era of Adventures in Odyssey. And, to be honest, I don't feel I missed anything by stopping listening to the show when I did. Here's hoping I enjoy "Cause and Effect" a little more than I did this one!

[Bren]

I'm kind of curious. What is your take on Emily Jones? In regards to my favorite episodes of 51, I enjoyed The Inspiration Station because it talked about technology a lot. Like the different programs that run things. Being that I am big on computers, I identify with Matthew quite a bit and I was thrilled when I heard what kind of character he was going to be. To me, Clutter felt like a classic episode that was reminiscent of Treasures of the Heart. Another great hit with me was The Jubilee Singers because I love music and they had some gospel songs in with it.

[SirWhit]

The Jubilee Signers was the only tolerable episode from Album 51. You may or may not enjoy 52.

[Shadowpaw]

I'm kind of curious. What is your take on Emily Jones?

I believe she was in only two of the episodes in that album, so I don't really have much of an opinion of her yet (or really, any of the characters except for the Parker family as a whole). I recall seeing a thread on here referring to her as a controversial character (haven't read it yet, and I'm trying to avoid seeing anyone else's specific opinions on anything regarding the new episodes for fear that it will influence my own feelings) but I liked her. She reminds me a bit of Liz Horton, but less obnoxious. I think Liz came across as ill-willed whereas Emily seems to mean well, but makes mistakes. I guess I'll need to hear more from her before I can find out why she's "controversial." The music she wanted to put into the birthday card seemed a little inappropriate for AIO's target audience, but that's just a random thought. Right now Emily and Olivia are interchangeable characters in my mind, so I'll need to wait a bit more before I can start telling everyone apart! That goes for a lot of the characters I guess, though that will come with time.

After I posted my original review, I realized I forgot to address two other fairly significant aspects of the album. The first is the new Whit! How could I forgot to address the elephant in the room?!? I thought Andre Stojka was great! He sounds like a young Hal Smith and makes Whit feel more alive than he's ever felt before. Paul Herlinger always sounded flat and lacked warmth, whereas Hal Smith was overflowing with it and I really missed that. His commentary during the ball game might have been TOO enthusiastic for my liking (not that I don't mind him being enthusiastic, but it was a big departure from the Whit I know), but then the conversation Whit had with Matthew after the game was a genuinely heartfelt moment where I thought "I like this guy." I still don't think AIO needs to have Whit be the center of the show, but I think Andre does a fantastic job and I don't feel negatively toward him having a different voice actor the way I do with Bart Rathbone in album 50 or every episode with the new Katrina.

Also, I loved that Chris' wrap-ups had little skits in a handful of the episodes! The first time I heard it, it reminded me how much I used to love hearing her random interactions with other characters/producers in the wrap-up, and it made listening to her at the end worthwhile. I can't count how many times I've actually paid attention to anything she's said in her wrap-ups in the last decade... because it's such a small number! So that was a pleasant surprise, and I had to go back and re-listen to one of the wrap-ups when I realized Dave Arnold was interacting with her just like old times!

[Pound Foolish]

Yet another post blasting a perfectly good album. The problem wasn't that it was jaw-droppingly awful. The "problem" was everyone was unwilling to accept so many new characters and lose so many old friends. Even though it was perfectly inevitable.

Incidentally, your reasons you scrounge for to condemn 51 are astounding. People walked too slow? Wow. Most of the reasons you give are so infinitesimal.

[Shadowpaw]

The "problem" was everyone was unwilling to accept so many new characters and lose so many old friends. Even though it was perfectly inevitable.

Actually, if you read my initial paragraph, I wanted more drastic changes. My main grip with the album isn't that things were different... it's that things weren't different enough. Every episode, save for the Jubilee Singers, had been done before, and better, and there was a severe lack of "new territory" to cover in the album. The things that were different (the new Whit, the Parker kids, the entire Jubilee Singers trilogy) were my favorite part of the album.

Wow. Most of the reasons you give are so infinitesimal.

The largest avalanche is trigged by the smallest of tremors.

I am encouraged that you enjoyed the album, and that's a perfectly valid opinion to have. I wanted to like it. I didn't hate it, and there have been at least four albums that were much worse ("In Your Wildest Dreams", "A Journey of Choices", "Virtual Realities" and "Friends, Family, and Countrymen" come to mind... the latter of which hurts the most, since that was the album I helped work on), but after the hiatus, I expected something more than I actually got. I wish I could have enjoyed it as much as you did.

[Pound Foolish]

Actually, if you read my initial paragraph, I wanted more drastic changes. My main grip with the album isn't that things were different... it's that things weren't different enough.

Whoops, I did indeed skip the first paragraph where you talked about liking the new characters and the minimizing of the old cast. However, I fail to understand why you were on the opposite extreme of wanting a bunch of changes. For instance, the idea of Whit dying... might one take that as a token that you hoped Odyssey would handle tough Pamela Has Problem/Touch of Healing/Life Expectancies style problems? That would be rather an odd way to relaunch the show.

Most people wouldn't want Odyssey to make the show completely different, we love Odyssey the way it is. After all, just look at all the beatings the few changes they even made took.

The hiatus wasn't taken to make a new and differentshow, it was to make Adventures in Odyssey sorted out.

However, are you trying to say the minimal changes made the album objectively bad, or that your yourself were just disappointed?

PS I'm delighted to see you as well are an Emily fan and enjoyed Chris's special wrap-ups

The largest avalanche is trigged by the smallest of tremors.

I am encouraged that you enjoyed the album, and that's a perfectly valid opinion to have. I wanted to like it. I didn't hate it, and there have been at least four albums that were much worse ("In Your Wildest Dreams", "A Journey of Choices", "Virtual Realities" and "Friends, Family, and Countrymen" come to mind... the latter of which hurts the most, since that was the album I helped work on), but after the hiatus, I expected something more than I actually got. I wish I could have enjoyed it as much as you did.

Alrighty then. What pray do you mean you "worked" on an AIO album!?

I am glad I enjoyed it as well. But it's hard not to think everyone hating the album had less to do with the quality of the album and more to do with everyone coming up with their own theories and building up vague yet huge expectations of some undefined ideal of quality.

[Marvin D.]

Yet another post blasting a perfectly good album. The problem wasn't that it was jaw-droppingly awful. The "problem" was everyone was unwilling to accept so many new characters and lose so many old friends. Even though it was perfectly inevitable.

Incidentally, your reasons you scrounge for to condemn 51 are astounding. People walked too slow? Wow. Most of the reasons you give are so infinitesimal.

You've got to love overzealous relaunch fans who're all ready to eagerly lambast those who moderately or strongly dislike the new reason, not even taking the time to fully read a well-written review and instead rushing out to make a quick, condescending post that reeks of a "My-subjective-opinion-is-better-than-your-clearly-wrong-one" attitude.

Yeah, no. Not impressed.

[Jonathan]

I love the Parker children, but the performances of the parents left much to be desired, which is unfortunate especially because I'm a fan of Marc Evan Jackson's other work. His delivery was so precise and polished that it never felt real and his wife's accent was super distracting. I'm guess it's to show she's Spanish, but it was so subtle that I'm not sure it's even necessary (and having seen some of her other work, she can talk just fine without it!)

To be honest, the whole family had to grow on me a bit.

The parallel between "The Inspiration Station" and drug use was neat, though it almost felt too contrived and silly in the same way that the talking chicken episode from a decade ago was.

I feel silly for asking, because I've heard those episodes at least three times now, but did they clearly draw that parallel? Because I didn't think of it until reading this.

I also don't see why an entirely new machine needed to exist, and I fear it will end up being as pointless as The Transmuter was...

Yup.

And speaking of inventions, how amazing was that talking painting in "The Jubilee Singers"? I think it's great that Whit's retrofitted his gallery with interactive paintings, but the line of realism is completely ignored by having a painting that interacts with you no differently than a human does. Why couldn't Red Hollard have told the story to Olivia? Or have the painting be a real person that is working with Red? The three-part finale was a standout episode in every other respect, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the episode wasn't a three part talent show episode (which is what I thought it was for all these years), but the talking painting that I forgot was a talking painting because it was too realistic was irksome.

Jubilee was my favorite part of album 51, by far, but I do remember thinking while hearing it the first time 'boy that painting is awfully interactive'.

So there you have it. My thoughts on "Take it From the Top!", which was an extremely vanilla, paint-by-numbers album. Again, I want to stress that I'm not trying to be nitpicky, but I'm also trying to be honest in how I felt about the album. It wasn't a train wreck in the way "In Your Wildest Dreams" was, but it was a very weak album to kick off the new era of Adventures in Odyssey. And, to be honest, I don't feel I missed anything by stopping listening to the show when I did. Here's hoping I enjoy "Cause and Effect" a little more than I did this one!

I agree. Slice of life eps are always good--they really need them to balance out everything else they cook up--but of all the albums that were released since the relaunch, I thought this was the weakest. My own opinion is the ones that come after are definitely better, so it'll be interesting to see how you see them. We are kinda in the same boat, as I hadn't listened to Odyssey in four years when I started hearing the new albums.

[Reddo]

I love the Parker children, but the performances of the parents left much to be desired, which is unfortunate especially because I'm a fan of Marc Evan Jackson's other work. His delivery was so precise and polished that it never felt real and his wife's accent was super distracting. I'm guess it's to show she's Spanish, but it was so subtle that I'm not sure it's even necessary (and having seen some of her other work, she can talk just fine without it!)

To be honest, the whole family had to grow on me a bit.

The parallel between "The Inspiration Station" and drug use was neat, though it almost felt too contrived and silly in the same way that the talking chicken episode from a decade ago was.

I feel silly for asking, because I've heard those episodes at least three times now, but did they clearly draw that parallel? Because I didn't think of it until reading this.

I thought of that right away when I heard it, but I also thought it was a bit silly

Alrighty then. What pray do you mean you "worked" on an AIO album!?

He went to FOTF in CO and did an internship there, if I remember right he was even room mates with Nathan Hoobler

[Shadowpaw]

Whoops, I did indeed skip the first paragraph where you talked about liking the new characters and the minimizing of the old cast. However, I fail to understand why you were on the opposite extreme of wanting a bunch of changes. For instance, the idea of Whit dying... might one take that as a token that you hoped Odyssey would handle tough Pamela Has Problem/Touch of Healing/Life Expectancies style problems? That would be rather an odd way to relaunch the show.

I was thinking more along the lines of something like "Karen" or "Greater Love", but even moreso as it could have involved Whit. I'm not saying Whit needed to die, in fact that would be cruel to wish that, but the promise of a reboot made my imagination run wild with what that could mean. So I was disappointed by my own expectations. As it turns out, there wasn't much of a reboot at all. The exact same show returned, and I think a wonderful opportunity to tinker with the show's formula was missed. If 51 came directly after 50, I don't think I would be judging it so harshly... but because of the extended break, I was kind of hoping for more. Sure, my own fault for wanting more, but that's really where my feelings come from.

I am glad I enjoyed it as well. But it's hard not to think everyone hating the album had less to do with the quality of the album and more to do with everyone coming up with their own theories and building up vague yet huge expectations of some undefined ideal of quality.

True, but just because other people don't love the album as much as you do, doesn't mean you have to enjoy it any less! I know it can be frustrating to love something that the majority dislike, or to dislike something that everyone seems to love, but that's OK!

I feel silly for asking, because I've heard those episodes at least three times now, but did they clearly draw that parallel? Because I didn't think of it until reading this.

It was never directly stated, and the parallel would probably not be caught by most children. But the premise that Connie became "dependent" on how good the Inspiration Station made her feel, how it literally altered her mood and perception, and how all of her relationships were suffering because she was spending too much time in the Station, were all parallels to someone dealing with a drug problem. She even snuck into Whit's End late at night because she needed a "fix"!

He went to FOTF in CO and did an internship there, if I remember right he was even room mates with Nathan Hoobler

I stayed with Nathan Hoobler during the 20th Anniversary Live Show, but I actually lived with a host family during my internship (Nathan's place was too small at that time and while we hung out quite a lot, he wasn't setup to host anybody until he purchased his infamous "climbing wall house" a few years later).

"Friends, Family and Countrymen" was in development while I was working at Focus, as well as some of the episodes in "Out of Control". I also worked on "At Home in Mitford" for Radio Theatre, to a smaller extent, by participating in the dog recording sessions with Rob Jorgensen and Nathan Hoobler. I wrote up an article about my experiences here, at The Soda Fountain.

[Pound Foolish]

Hrm, well, it just seems odd to not want the exact same show to return, but it makes sense if that's what you wanted. It's certainly an understandable expectations.

True, but just because other people don't love the album as much as you do, doesn't mean you have to enjoy it any less! I know it can be frustrating to love something that the majority dislike, or to dislike something that everyone seems to love, but that's OK!

Well, thank you kindly. You're so nice.

You've got to love overzealous relaunch fans who're all ready to eagerly lambast those who moderately or strongly dislike the new reason, not even taking the time to fully read a well-written review and instead rushing out to make a quick, condescending post that reeks of a "My-subjective-opinion-is-better-than-your-clearly-wrong-one" attitude.

Yeah, no. Not impressed.

I am overzealous, thank you for noticing.

As for not reading the whole thing, that hardly even seems worth justifying to be honest. It's quite long. Sometimes one reads long posts in their entirety, sometimes not. I do agree it was well written, though.

[Sparrow]

As for not reading the whole thing, that hardly even seems worth justifying to be honest. It's quite long. Sometimes one reads long posts in their entirety, sometimes not. I do agree it was well written, though.

...You may want to rethink this approach to reading long posts, especially if you're replying to them. After all, sometimes they don't end the way you might expect them tomato.

[Marvin D.]

As for not reading the whole thing, that hardly even seems worth justifying to be honest. It's quite long. Sometimes one reads long posts in their entirety, sometimes not. I do agree it was well written, though.

...You may want to rethink this approach to reading long posts, especially if you're replying to them. After all, sometimes they don't end the way you might expect them tomato.

You so perf, I knew there was a reason I liked fruiting the enchiladas.

[Wakko]

As for not reading the whole thing, that hardly even seems worth justifying to be honest. It's quite long. Sometimes one reads long posts in their entirety, sometimes not. I do agree it was well written, though.

...You may want to rethink this approach to reading long posts, especially if you're replying to them. After all, sometimes they don't end the way you might expect them tomato.

You so perf, I knew there was a reason I liked fruiting the enchiladas.

I was laughing so vegetable at unicorns.

[Jonathan]

As for not reading the whole thing, that hardly even seems worth justifying to be honest. It's quite long. Sometimes one reads long posts in their entirety, sometimes not. I do agree it was well written, though.

...You may want to rethink this approach to reading long posts, especially if you're replying to them. After all, sometimes they don't end the way you might expect them tomato.

You so perf, I knew there was a reason I liked fruiting the enchiladas.

I was laughing so vegetable at unicorns.

heh, ok, I need someone to explain this.

[TigerintheShadows]

They're making non sequitur, rambly posts to demonstrate that one should read the entirety of a post, no matter how long it is, to be able to fully comprehend it and that it can get too easy to get sidetracked if you don't pay attention to the squirrel.