Started in 1987, AIO has created a safe, Christian
alternative to secular entertainment. Following the eccentric
John Avery Whittaker to Connie Kendall to Eugene Meltsner,
AIO
teaches important lessons like no other audio drama can. Feel
free to navigate the website to learn more about the program.
Finish What You... "Finish What You...
is a less-than-satisfactory experience and appears to be
geared for younger listeners. Old-timers like me won't
appreciate the show as much as the target age group
will, but I guess that's what we all get for growing up."
Grandma's Visit "The
episode is set in a very humorous context, which
entertains younger listeners and appeals to older
listeners as well, who appreciate the small details that
would pass by younger listeners."
When You're Right,
You're Right "I
think that due to the fact that the plot structure is
weak, listeners get a little lost when trying to figure
out the point of the episode. On the other hand, the
slice-of-life feel of the show gives the show a lot of
meaning and keeps you listening regardless of the
weaknesses in the script."
Just a quick heads up for you, fans!
The Ceiling Fan Podcast's "Fan Hijack Contest" is
over, and now you can hear the winning
entry. The winner will receive a nice collection of
AIO goodies. In the meantime, you can be watching for
another contest where the fans of the show vote on their
favorite to determine another winner. You'll get to sift
through all the entries and hear them for yourself! Be
watching in the days ahead.
A whole new season of Adventures
in Odyssey shows is right around the corner, and
more details are being revealed. Take a look at what's
in store in our first VIDEO edition of The Odyssey ScoopCast:
It's our first video ScoopCast,
and host Kevin McCreary is out to get answers to your
"Adventures in Odyssey" questions... but in Nathan
Hoobler's house?!
It's certainly a podcast you won't want to miss!
Click here to learn more about the
podcast and how you can subscribe. It's
subscribers-only, so don't miss out! Oh, and this is the
first fan video podcast ever to feature a member of the
Odyssey team!
We know you guys like seeing
upcoming Adventures in Odyssey covers, and today
is one of those days. Authors Paul McCusker and Marianne
Herring have teamed up to create a book series called
The Imagination Station, in which Odyssey characters
travel through time to experience events in history. The
first two book covers are now available. If you'll
recall in our August 19
post, we mentioned that the first two books (Voyage
with the Vikings and
Attack at
the Arena) would be available in September.
However, the release date has been pushed back to
October 15th. As for Books 3-4, they are planned for a
February 2011 release. You can, of course, learn more
about each release by clicking the links above or
visiting the Bookspage.
In other news, 11 out of 12 episode titles have been
released for the upcoming Album 52, Cause and Effect.
Our 2010
episodes listing is up-to-date as well.
Bob and Jesse show more videos from the Act Like Odyssey
contest, including clips from "Hidden in My Heart," "A Class
Reenactment," "Snow Day," and more!
Visit the podcast
blog for more
information. There are a few more where these came from.
You can also view a couple of the "Act Like Odyssey"
contest entries at our Chicken
Soup for the AIO Soul section. And if that's not
enough, you can submit some videos of your own!
Meanwhile, the summaries for the
upcoming season of Adventures in Odyssey shows
are beginning to pour in. Here's what's coming up with
the new season of shows, and it all begins October 2,
2010!
When the town clock begins resetting itself to
11:45, Eugene and Matthew try to solve the problem
technologically while Whit and Connie research a possible
unrequited love story connection.
In spite of Eugene's best efforts, the computer
that controls the town clock is not responding and now the clock
has begun a backwards countdown to a potential disaster. But who
is behind the plot and why? Is a broken heart to blame? Can the
mystery be solved before it's too late?
Emily and Matthew investigate the strange noises
coming from backstage at the school auditorium that has the
entire cast of the school musical too scared to return to the
show.
After Whit explains that the purpose of fasting
is to give up something you enjoy—though not necessarily food—in
order to concentrate on a spiritual issue, Connie, Eugene,
Wooton, and Matthew choose to fast in ways that are as unique as
they are.
Be sure to visit our Airing Schedule to see what's
in store in the coming months. As we get closer to the
new season, I think news is going to start picking up,
which we'll be covering in the days ahead. Stay tuned!
On
August 21, 2010,
we hosted a special Adventures in Odyssey Scavenger
Hunt, in which fans could competein a
10-question trivia challenge to win the
Novacom collection. 28 people stepped up to the
challenge, which we thought was a good turnout
considering the difficulty of questions in the contest.
We required a perfect score of 10 out of 10 correct
answers since there were so few questions. The first
three entries we received with perfect scores earned the
prize. And now... it's time to reveal our winners!
A big congratulations goes
out to our winners:
1st Place
—
Jordan B. (Mokena, Illinois)
2nd Place
— Julia J. (Sanger, California)
3rd Place
—
Joshua S. (Bartlesville, Oklahoma)
Jordan, Julia, and Joshua will
receive a free copy of
Novacom
from The Odyssey Scoop in the coming days! Winners, be
watching your email inbox as we will be contacting you
really soon to get your prize out to you. Once again, a
big thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for providing
this valuable prize.
If you participated in the contest and would like to
view the answer key (we know some of you searched for a
long time to find the answers!), you can do that
here. Thanks to everyone who took the time to
participate and congratulations to our winners! Stay
tuned for more contests in the future. You never know
what you can expect from The Odyssey Scoop.
For more information on the Novacom audio
release, visit our
product page. There you can access more
information, video trailers, and exclusive audio clips
not available in the collection. Likewise, you can order
your copy of this fun collection, which is great for car
trips!
Now is your chance to win a
free copy of the popular
Novacom audio collection
from Adventures in
Odyssey... and we're
dishing out three copies! If
you participated in our
contest last month or didn't
win this great audio
release, now's your chance
to try again! This time,
we're making you work for
the prize... which means
less people will participate
and and that makes your
chances of winning greater!
So how does it work?
Be one of the first
three people to score a 10 out of 10 on our Adventures in
Odyssey Scavenger Hunt
and the prize is
yours! The deadline is now. Time is ticking, so
begin the scavenger hunt and answer quickly!
The Novacom collection includes a total of 10
CD's, containing 28
Adventures
in Odyssey
episodes,
behind-the-scenes video, along with a special audio
"Inside the Black Box: The Creation of the Novacom Saga"
feature. It also includes
printable discussion questions, a 16-page booklet containing
an Episode Guide, cast and crew introductions, and Novacom's
Master Plan. To learn more about this release, click
here.
What are you waiting for? Click here to learn more about
this exciting opportunity!
Update: We have
our three winners! Check back
tomorrow (August 24th) to see who won! If you submitted an
entry, it may be you!
Adventures in Odyssey book readers may
be excited to learn about a new series of books available in
September called The Imagination Station. Writers
Paul McCusker and Marianne Hering have written four books in
the series so far. Books 1 and 2 will be available beginning
September 24, 2010, with Books 3 and 4 to follow on February
1, 2011. The first three titles have been revealed and are
geared for younger readers:
#1 Voyage with the Vikings
#2 Attack at the Arena
#3 The Kahn's Golden Tablet
In the series, readers will be taken on a
ride in the Imagination Station as Odyssey characters travel
back in time to experience significant events in history. Be
watching the Scoop in the days ahead for cover art,
summaries, and more. For now, you can pre-order all four
books in the series at the
Focus on the Family Resource Center. And from the
looks of things, the price is very affordable.
I
think it would be safe to say that the Adventures in
Odyssey team enjoys talking about what's coming up for
the show. Writer, director, and Odyssey's encyclopedia of
knowledge Nathan Hoobler steps out to share more insights
into the future of the show. Thanks to the
Whit's End Podcast, we now have some more news,
info, and behind-the-scenes stories.
Listen:
Also, if you're a fan of Focus on the Family
Radio Theatre,
it may interest you to learn that the dramas
will begin airing on radio stations again in the future.
This will be very good in generating new listeners and
building interest in future drama releases from this
high-quality series of dramas. I'm a huge fan and would love
to see these things released on a more consistent basis. So
go out and buy Radio Theatre and they'll might make
more!
It's
an in-between podcast, where we ask for visitor input! Find
out how you can get involved.
Listen:
There's more where 7.5.5 came from. Oh, and
in case you're wondering, there was an edition 7.5. In that
special podcast, we showcased a tribute to an influential
duo in the AIO podcasting world.
Click here to
learn more about subscribing to The Odyssey ScoopCast. We're
streaming this in-between podcast to give some of you a
taste of what you've been missing. Plus, don't forget to get
involved in the comments below. We want to hear from you!
Just when you think you've gotten used to a
member of the Odyssey family, things change. We mentioned
earlier this year that voice actor
Paul Herlinger
passed away on February 2, 2010. He had recently resigned as
the voice of John Avery Whittaker due to health concerns,
and actor Andre Stojka stepped in to take on the challenge
of playing Whit.
Many of you have been asking when we would
get to hear the
Official Podcast'stribute to this well-loved actor.
Today is the day to
remember a man who brought Whit to life:
The Odyssey cast and crew reflect on the life of Paul
Herlinger, voice of Whit. Guests include Katie Leigh, Will
Ryan, Chris Anthony, Paul McCusker, Dave Arnold, Jonathan
Crowe, Marshal Younger, John Fornof, Nathan Hoobler, and
Mark Herlinger.
Listen:
After we announced Paul Herlinger's passing
earlier this year, Michael Peters, Creative Services Manager
for KBTC Public Television
in Tacoma, Washington, contacted me to let me know he had
known Paul for ten years. The station's former program
manager worked with him for nearly 40 years, so I'm sure you
can imagine the shock when they heard the news. Paul's death
hit home for the station as they had been involved with him
for quite some time. The station eventually aired a short
tribute screen for Paul Herlinger around one of the programs
that he narrated. If you're interested in taking a look back
at some of Paul Herlinger's narrated documentaries, you can
watch full episodes at
KBTC's website.
Farewell, Mr. Herlinger. You added something
to Adventures in Odyssey that cannot go unnoticed.
It's time! We finally got all our ducks in a
row and it's time to unveil our freshly redesigned Chicken Soup for the AIO Soul
feature. This section is very much focused on you, the
visitor and
Adventures in Odyssey fan. It's a place where you can
showcase your artwork, stories, poetry, audio, video, and
much more. But most of all, it's a place where Adventures
in Odyssey fans can just be Adventures in Odyssey
fans. Visit the
newly-revamped feature and get involved!
I've
been
receiving
quite
a
few
e-mails
over
the
past
few
months
regarding
Paul
Herlinger.
Many
of
you
are
probably
wondering
when
the
Official
Podcast
is
going
to
release
a
podcast
tribute
to
Paul
Herlinger,
voice
of
John
Avery
Whittaker
(1996-2008).
Well,
we
have
good
news.
A
special
podcast
will
be
released
on
August
11th
(tentatively)
devoted
to
the
man
Odyssey
fans
cherish
so
much.
That's
the
next
podcast,
so
be
watching.
Secondly today, the summer-long Road Trip to
find Odyssey has
officially ended. I'm speaking, of course, of the
Ceiling Fan Podcast. Ethan, Phil, and James reach
the end of their entertaining journey at long last. It's a
podcast
series you won't want to miss. Be sure to listen to
Podcast 30 to hear the exciting conclusion.
And thirdly, we're unveiling a very special
surprise tomorrow here at The Odyssey Scoop. As always, I'm
not telling you what it is. Come back tomorrow to see it!
In
a
world
driven
by
entertainment,
gizmos
and
gadgets,
a
small
fictional
town
remains
constant
and
attracts
listeners
from
around
the
globe.
Personalities
like
Whit,
Connie,
Eugene,
Jason,
and
Jack
bring
listeners
back
to
the
old
days
of
radio,
yet
in
an
appealing
and
unique
way
to
capture
imaginations.
One listener recently rediscovered his
interest in the show. Matthew Miller─editor
of
Popsickle, a blog dedicated to relating
Christianity to culture and engaging Christians to transform
culture─details his perspective on
Adventures in Odyssey and the spiritual impact of the
series.
You can read Matthew's
article, "A Town Called Odyssey", here.We found his insights to be a valuable tool in
addressing Adventures in Odyssey's overall goals of
influencing Christian families and even a secular audience.
Be sure to read this article and gain insights for yourself.
Heads up, Odyssey fans!
The Ceiling Fan Fan Hijack Contest is drawing to a
close and all contest entries are due by August 16, 2010.
The winner of this prestigious contest will receive two
Adventures in Odyssey albums (one album of choice,
autographed; and a copy of
Album 52), two t-shirts, and an autographed print of
the AIO cast. You'd better hurry... time is running out!
Also, today the AIO Wiki
is celebrating a historic moment with its 100,000th edit.
Congratulations, wiki friends! You can read more about this
accomplishment
here.
Today is a good day for those of you who have been
waiting for more answers to your Odyssey questions. We've dug into
our vault of several hundred unanswered questions from the fans and
we've answered a few of the pressing ones, and maybe some not so
pressing. You can get those answers at our updated AIO F.A.Q. section. If you're still waiting
for an answer to your question(s), they're coming. Stay tuned!
Today I've got some news for all of you die-hard Odyssey
collectors
.
The final artwork is in for
The Lost Episodes, one of Adventures in Odyssey's
special collections. If you aren't familiar with the
collection, it contains some of the Adventures in Odyssey
episodes that time forgot. Either the episodes were
misplaced in the series or were too controversial for
release in their day. The album features all the same great
bonus retrospective shows and a color insert. You can learn
more about the Odyssey repackaging project here.
Meanwhile, I believe I'm
reaching the end of my search and efforts to fill up the
product Quarantine
here at the Scoop. I've been getting the section up-to-date.
Combined with all the Odyssey products currently available,
we now have info on over 400 products in AIO history. If you
happen to notice that we don't have information about
certain AIO products that are no longer available, feel free
to contact us and let us know. I want to see this thing as
complete as possible. And thanks to the visitors for letting
me know it is a valuable resource in their search for
Odyssey items.
Our
friends
Bob and Jesse
at the
Official Podcast have something to celebrate.
Today marks the release of the 100th Official
Adventures in Odyssey Podcast. It's a celebration
podcast of sorts, with a look back at favorite podcast
moments and more. Take a look at what you can expect:
Celebrate Podcast 100 with Bob,
Jesse, Brock, and clips of your favorite episodes!
If you visit the
blog post, I think you're going to get to hear
some familiar voices, too! And don't miss a new audio
clip from the upcoming episode "Stage Fright." You can
also listen to that here.
Listen:
Meanwhile, if you've been
following Ethan, Phil, and Intern James on their road
trip to find Odyssey, you won't want to miss the
exciting conclusion in the
Ceiling Fan series. It's coming up quick
with Podcast 30, Part 1 airing on a
ceilingfanpodcast.com near you. As always,
special surprises are coming up (I only say this because
I get to follow a lot of the behind the scenes workings
of the show's creators), and your podcast hosts will
deliver on their promise to find the town of Odyssey.
Don't miss out!
,
we're excited to officially announce the winners of our
Novacom-test! From July 10 to 24, we gave Odyssey fans
an opportunity to enter a special drawing for a chance
to win the
Novacom collection (a total of three given out).
Entries came pouring in immediately, and we passed the
100 mark within 24 hours. That's when we knew this was
going to be bigger than expected. Over the course of the
signup period, a total of 305 people entered the
drawing, probably because the prize is such a valuable
gem. With ten CDs and hours of action-adventure, I guess
you could say people wanted a slice of the pie. If I'm
not mistaken, this marks the biggest fan site contest in
AIO history. We've never had such a great turnout on a
fan site. And now... it's time to reveal our lucky
winners!
A big congratulations goes
out to our winners:
Elizabeth Y. (Monroe, Michigan)
Julia R. (Evansville, Indiana)
Cory, Trey, Tobi, and Jesse S. (Fremont, Nebraska)
Elizabeth, Julia, and
Nebraskan siblings Cory, Trey, Tobi, and Jesse S. will
receive a free copy of
Novacom
from the Odyssey Scoop! Winners, be watching your e-mail
as we will be contacting you soon. And once again, a big
thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for providing this
valuable prize.
For more information on this audio release, visit our
Novacom
product page.
There you can access more information, video trailers,
and exclusive audio clips not available in the
collection.
If you're feeling a little disappointed that you didn't
win, then keep checking back
to the Scoop in the days ahead as we will be giving two
more copies of this exciting release away. Thanks again
to everyone who participated and congratulations to our
winners!
Well,
folks, we're nearing the end of our Novacom collection giveaway. Today is the last day
to get your name in the hat for one of the most explosive
Adventures in Odyssey collections ever. With ten CDs and
over 10 hours of AIO entertainment, you can't go wrong.
Plus, there's special behind the scenes bonuses to sweeten
the deal. We will be officially announcing our three winners
on Monday, July 26th, so check back soon! You have until
11:59 EST tonight to enter the
contest. Good luck!
I know
some of you are out there, lurking about, just waiting for
Adventures in Odyssey album repacks to show up in
your local Christian bookstore. Well, today I wanted to take
a moment and give a quick update.
The
Odyssey repack project is just one of those things that
takes time, and while it would be nice to re-release all the
repacks at once and be done with it, it just doesn't work
that way. The repacks are being released as the inventory
levels go down, so that makes things very tentative. Plus,
Focus is aiming towards 5-6 repacks a year which spreads
things out a bit. Slowly and surely, they are getting there.
Don't hit
that back button! The 7th edition of the Odyssey ScoopCast is now available
for download:
It's a Podcast Podcast edition of the ScoopCast,
featuring news about various podcasts in the Odyssey online
community. It's a special shout-out to podcasters who make
our lives a little sweeter.
Click here to learn more about the
podcast and how you can subscribe. Also, don't forget our
deadline for the Novacom Giveaway
is 11:59 EST on July 24th, which means you have just a few
more days to get your name in the hat. It's a 10-CD set with
bonus audio features... and our winner could be you! Click
here to enter if you haven't
already.
After
a seemingly long hiatus, the
Unofficial Podcast has released a new podcast. It's
a special tribute podcast, featuring a reunion with fan
podcast hosts Chris and Sarah, a look into what they've been
doing during their absence, special news about the future of
the podcast, and more. If you haven't the slightest clue who
Chris and Sarah are, they're the two Odyssey fans who
appeared in a couple editions of the
Official Podcast in 2008―right
around the time of the 20th Celebration Birthday Bash for
Adventures in Odyssey. If you'll recall, the two
podcasts switched places (a great crossover opportunity) and
revealed some unexpected surprises. If you've been listening
to the
Unofficial Podcastall along, you know the chemistry
between the podcast's hosts was a perfect blend that helped
Odyssey fans to stay connected for quite some time.
Of
course, there are guaranteed special appearances in their
latest podcast, so you won't want to miss out on this
reunion episode of the show. If anything, this is the
episode you have to hear above all others. It's been quite
an adventure with Sarah and Chris. To listen, click
here
to visit their website.
Also,
thanks to one of our loyal visitors for the heads up, we now
have the closer-to-final cover arts for Album 52, Cause and Effect, and
The Lost Episodes.
I'm not sure who is choosing the colors for the frames
around the cover illustrations, but the albums don't look up
to par as they could be. For instance, the blue frame around
The Lost Episodes
doesn't really go with the darker, rich browns of the
illustrations. There is a minimal amount of green in the
picture, so the blue and green really don't tie things
together. I would much rather have seen a shade of orange
given to the album as it would go so much more nicely to
capture those brown, orange, and red dominating hues. The
blue looks as if it is just there and it slaps your eyes at
first glance. Hopefully the final cover art will have a nice
frame color.
As for
Cause and Effect,
the black frame works, but gives the cover illustration more
of a boring feel. Also, if you notice in the cover for
Cause and Effect,
the yellow left-to-right gradient on the frame lines looks
more like an unintentional mistake by the designers. All the
album really needs are solid yellow or orange frame lines.
Anything else looks like a goof.
Those are
just my thoughts on the new covers. I guess my overall
thought is that the way the covers have turned out so far,
it doesn't look as if much time was put in to choosing the
colors. Perhaps we'll see some slight tweaks before Album 52
makes its way into stores?
In other
news, we'd like to shout out to the Official Site's blog for
linking to our new Adventures
in Odyssey Timeline feature. Thanks, guys!
It's
about time! We've finally ditched that
old, dark design we had for years on the
Adventures in
Odyssey Fan List and given
it a brand-new look. It fits the design
of the Scoop way better. Not only that,
117 new names are also added to the
list, getting us caught up with the time
that just seems to be speeding past us.
If you signed the Fan List in the past,
your entry is up. If you haven't signed
it yet, why not today? Let's get our numbers up!
Help Us Stay Running!
If you like what you see, consider helping us put a dent
in our yearly operating expenses. Give to the Odyssey
Scoop!
Our
mission as a website is to provide the latest news,
information, and much more on the world's #1 audio
drama, Adventures in Odyssey, as well as a safe
alternative on the internet. We need your help
keeping the Scoop alive. Tell your friends,
neighbors, and website visitors about the Scoop. If you
decide to link to us, please link to
odysseyscoop.com, the place that give you the scoop
on Adventures in Odyssey, one cone at a time.
Click here
to learn more about why we do what we do.
We would love to hear from
you so we can improve the Odyssey Scoop. Please take a
few moments and complete our online survey.
On
August 21, 2010
I
think it would be safe to say that the Adventures in
Odyssey team enjoys talking about what's coming up for
the show. Writer, director, and Odyssey's encyclopedia of
knowledge Nathan Hoobler steps out to share more insights
into the future of the show. Thanks to the
It's
an in-between podcast, where we ask for visitor input! Find
out how you can get involved.
In
a
world
driven
by
entertainment,
gizmos
and
gadgets,
a
small
fictional
town
remains
constant
and
attracts
listeners
from
around
the
globe.
Personalities
like
Whit,
Connie,
Eugene,
Jason,
and
Jack
bring
listeners
back
to
the
old
days
of
radio,
yet
in
an
appealing
and
unique
way
to
capture
imaginations.
After
a seemingly long hiatus, the
It's
about time! We've finally ditched that
old, dark design we had for years on the
