"Two Friends and A Truck" Commentary

Nathan Hoobler · Post by **Nathan Hoobler** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:30 pm

All,

Ask and you shall receive. Here is my audio commentary for "Two Friends and a Truck." Hope you enjoy listening to me talking for 25 mintues.

Nathan

http://www.aiohq.com/TruckCommentary.mp3

COWBOY OF TEXAS · Post by **COWBOY OF TEXAS** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:35 pm

Nathan Hoobler wrote:All,

Ask and you shall receive. Here is my audio commentary for "Two Friends and a Truck." Hope you enjoy listening to me talking for 25 mintues.

Nathan

http://www.aiohq.com/TruckCommentary.mp3

YAY! $\:D/$

I shall listen to it soon...

-Cowboy

Trent DeWhite · Post by **Trent DeWhite** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:37 pm

Nathan Hoobler wrote:All,

Ask and you shall receive. Here is my audio commentary for "Two Friends and a Truck." Hope you enjoy listening to me talking for 25 mintues.

Nathan

http://www.aiohq.com/TruckCommentary.mp3

Haha, awesome. Thanks! $\:D/$

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:07 pm

*is listening now*

Dude, we need more of these $\:D/$ Thanks Nathan

Trinarius · Post by **Trinarius** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:16 pm

I'm listening to it now too! It's so cool hearing behind the scenes info! $\:D/$ Hehe, you sound a lot older than you look, Nathan.

Me · Post by Me » Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:35 pm

That was great, Nathan! Thank you so much!

AIOfan11 · Post by **AIOfan11** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:45 am

That is great! I have only gotten half way finished though.

Thanks for the time you put into it!

Broadcast · Post by **Broadcast** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:47 pm

Nathan,

The commentary was quite a treat to listen to and I look forward to more in the future.

In a way, I find it simmilar to when the director of a movie discusses the movie in the "Behind the Scenes" part of the DVD; and I mean in the sense that they point out what the listener themselves have missed. Some people say that when a writer has to explain what he's written to the audience, then he didn't do a very good job. I disagree completely. The viewing audience don't all have the same levels of insight, and when the writer explains the angle the show was going for, it somehow fleshes out the show and makes it all the more interesting.

If I could, I'd go through the show and quote and respond to everything you said, however, it would be a painful process (too bad it didn't come with a text version). However, I appreciate what you said when talking about what you enjoy working with within an episode; and where the so many multiple layers of inspiration came from. You mentioned a preference working with the older and classic characters. It seems the show has returned to centering on these characters much more than it recently did. I've been a little confused on the intention of this. Is Odyssey producing these types of shows again on purpose? Or is the team suddenly feeling inspired? (In otherwords, Do you guys first say; "Let's make a show with Connie and Eugene"...or do you say "I have an story idea; let's use Connie or Eugene")

Overall, I found the whole thing fascinating. When I was young I found the behind-the-scenes in making a show much more complex and complicate; which made me admire you writers all the more. In recent years, I think that admiration has slowly faded--but hearing the step-by-step explication of how an episode came to be truly regenerated that feel, and truly shows our inferiority as fans.

Joni_Slade · Post by **Joni_Slade** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:16 pm

That was awesome, Nathan, thank you! 25 minutes of pure insight to what goes on behind the scenes. My favorite story was about the AIO fan mechanic guy you ended up calling for info about cars.

I hope you do another commentary sometime!

Nathan Hoobler · Post by **Nathan Hoobler** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:33 pm

All,

Thanks for all the comments. As I mentioned at the end of the commentary, it was very fun to do and I'd love to do more. Any suggestions on another episode to do?

Broadcast wrote:You mentioned a preference working with the older and classic characters. It seems the show has returned to centering on these characters much more than it recently did. I've been a little confused on the intention of this. Is Odyssey producing these types of shows again on purpose? Or is the team suddenly feeling inspired? (In otherwords, Do you guys first say; "Let's make a show with Connie and Eugene"...or do you say "I have an story idea; let's use Connie or Eugene")

The pendulum swings back and forth on the show...it always does. There are periods where we use the "classic" characters more and periods where we need to develop new characters. Right now, we're trying to use the "classics" as much as possible while also developing some new story arcs, many of which have already begun.

As far as which comes first -- character or story -- that depends. Some shows (like "Two Friends and a Truck") come from the characters. Marshal gave me the assignment: "Write a Eugene and Bernard show." Other shows (like "Stars in Our Eyes") come from ideas. On that one, Marshal wanted to do a show about heroes. The specific characters came later. (Marshal did the outline for that show, by the way.)

Broadcast wrote:Overall, I found the whole thing fascinating. When I was young I found the behind-the-scenes in making a show much more complex and complicate; which made me admire you writers all the more. In recent years, I think that admiration has slowly faded--but hearing the step-by-step explication of how an episode came to be truly regenerated that feel, and truly shows our inferiority as fans.

Goodness! I didn't intend the commentary to show the inferiority of fans. As has been said many time before, fans are our lifeline! Plus, some fans end up working on the show!

Nathan

Bmuntz · Post by **Bmuntz** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:02 pm

Thank you so much Nathan! $\:D/$

And if you were to do another one The Champ of the Camp would be one I would love to here.

Arwen · Post by **Arwen** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:01 pm

Cool, thanks. I'll listen to it as soon as I get a chance. (Which, of course, may not be until summer...)

Post by **Catspaw** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:16 pm

I just listened to the commentary and enjoyed it very much! I loved hearing about the different versions of lines and why some things are done the way they are, and the video commentary idea.

I kind of wish I had been able to hear the scene with Eugene and Connie - the "where's the fun in that?" one that Nathan Hoobler mentioned was not included in the ep. It sounded delightully Connie and Eugene-like! $\:D/$

If you ever have the time and inclination to do more of these, I would love to hear them, Nathan! And you have a wonderful voice - you actually kind of reminded me of Paul McCusker, but slightly less scary (as in, you've never played Philip Glossman).

Carrie Ingalls · Post by **Carrie Ingalls** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:17 pm

Bmuntz wrote:Thank you so much Nathan! $\:D/$

And if you were to do another one The Champ of the Camp would be one I would love to here.

Oh yes! It would be really cool to hear more about that show! I really liked that one.

I really enjoyed the commentary. Thanks so much for doing that.

~OrigamiKid

Joni_Slade · Post by **Joni_Slade** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:06 pm

Nathan Hoobler wrote:Any suggestions on another episode to do?

It's going back a ways, but I'd like to hear about "Pink Is Not My Color", because I love that episode. I'm really curious how it developed. The story stands alone so well, but also weaves seamlessly into the Connie/Mitch storyline.

NatetheGreat · Post by **NatetheGreat** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:19 am

Downloading it now! $\:D/$ Can't wait to listen to it! I'll post a review after I'm finished listening.

J-man · Post by **J-man** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:03 am

*downloads* I'll let you know what I think when I'm done..

EDIT: That was great! $\:D/$ It's interesting to hear about it from a writers perspective.

Thursday Next · Post by **Thursday Next** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:17 pm

I loved it. I have to say it was different hearing a commentary on an audio show. I know this would take some time, but what would be fun is if you had like a character commentary and I think the best show for this would be is "Dobson Comes to Town". I know that's already been released as a bonus feature but if you had a commentary done by connie and Eugene that would be funny.

Bennett · Post by **Bennett** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:45 pm

My three favorites that you've written (out of those that aren't in some sort of saga or anything) have been, "Silver Lining", "The Taming of Two", "The Pact", "The Triangle" and "Two Friends and A Truck".

Now that one of them is done, I'd be interested in any of the others. "The Pact" would be long, I fear, same goes with "The Triangle, ...Silver Lining would be interesting, however, it doesn't contain enough main characters. In conclusion, personally, I'd enjoy hearing "The Taming of Two" the most as a commentary show.

The BC

Evil Chick · Post by **Evil Chick** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:43 pm

Woah! That was awesome! You should definitely do this again! I learned so much about making AIO, and about this episode. I don't really care which episode you do next, just do another one!