Album 59: Taking the Plunge Discussion

[truAIOfan]

I don't know if I will be able to wait until next September! AHH!

I hope there won't be another long drawn out engagement, like with Eugene and Katrina. The cover art for this album makes me think that Wooton and Penny will make their decision a lot quicker. Also, they need to have the wedding in the same album! I won't be able to wait again!

[Novatom]

I hope the un-aired second part of this album won't have the episode with Penny and Wooton's wedding.

Where did it say that there would be a second part of this album that would be unaired? I never saw that anywhere.

I thought I heard somewhere that there was a second half of Taking the Plunge that was exclusive to OAC. I'm probably wrong about that, though.

[Nelson S.]

It looks like it will be the same thing as album 58.

Nelson Swanson is leaving the town of Odyssey until AIO can come up with something interesting.

When AIO gets it together, call me.

[Novatom]

Nelson is leaving? Not that I liked him much, but this is disappointing. I knew AIO was going downhill, but now they're REALLY going downhill.

[TigerShadow]

No, he's talking about himself—the user Nelson Swanson.

[Novatom]

Oh, okay. The town of Odyssey he meant as in the ToO. Got it.

[Gooey98]

Nelson is leaving? Not that I liked him much, but this is disappointing. I knew AIO was going downhill, but now they're REALLY going downhill.

Sort of off topic, but...
Look back through every album of AIO, I can only find a few albums in which I like every episode in it. Most of the albums have about 50% or 60% episodes I like, and 50% or 40% episodes I don't think are very good. I think some people tend to act like AIO used to be amazing, and now it's getting bad. I do think that 2001-2008 were pretty much the best years AIO has had...so coming out of that, new episodes seem unprecedentedly bad to some. But that's just my opinion of course.

[Audrey]

First off: Woah. Gooey, when did you get here? xD

Second off: Six episodes. Really. I think FOTF needs a new PR department to get in touch with how the listeners are feeling. First it's only one album a year, now it's only six episodes? Really? I hope those six episodes are meaningful, at least. Granted, now that I think about it, the normal AIO post-hiatus album only has about 3 episodes that actually have a true lesson, so maybe this might be alright.

Third off: I think both the cover and title are very appropriate. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

Fourth off: How did I not know this information? I mean, I don't keep up with AIO anymore, but still. I'm slightly ashamed.

[Doll]

I don't really understand /why/ people are upset, to be honest. No where does it say that they'll be doing less albums a year, nor does it say that the albums will be the same price. And hey, if a mini album means me get episodes sooner, I'm all for it. I'd rather have less episodes that were quality, than horrible episodes, but more of them.

[Wakko]

I don't really understand /why/ people are upset, to be honest. No where does it say that they'll be doing less albums a year, nor does it say that the albums will be the same price. And hey, if a mini album means me get episodes sooner, I'm all for it. I'd rather have less episodes that were quality, than horrible episodes, but more of them.

Well it is coming out around August/September, I don't think they'll put out another album that year since their schedule (was) in the early spring then fall. :-

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

I don't understand why they have to do this, though. Are they just out of ideas for the other six episodes? I can deal with the Odyssey Adventure Club album coming out every year, but to cut the regular album in half for seemingly no reason at all seems almost a little lazy on their part. But I don't know the full story or whether or not they'll make up for the 6 episodes some other time, so don't quote me on that one.

It seems to me that AIO has it in them to release 24 mostly quality episodes per year. And if this is just going to be six episodes of Penny and Wooton "wrestling" over a decision that's already been made by the writers and guessed by the listeners, then I don't think we can guarantee those will be quality episodes anyway.

[Bren]

All I can really telly you guys is nothing will get cut. From a marketing standpoint, this will help improve their financial situation. They won't have to pay to have the big jewel cases made for the full albums.

[Gooey98]

Here's a summary, fresh from the AIO update:
(contains album 58 spoilers)

In the all-new album, Taking the Plunge, your favorite Adventures in Odyssey characters are faced with life decisions and hard lessons. Will Penny “take the plunge” and say yes to Wooton’s marriage proposal? Will Eugene solve a mystery about missing money? Will Buck make the right kind of new friends? Will Olivia discover how to create a perfect family? Take the plunge into adventure and learn valuable life lessons about commitment, conflict, expectations, and secrets in six audio dramas from the award-winning team celebrating 27 years of fun and entertainment for the entire family!

So we were partly right, and partly wrong. Anyway, I prefer storyline to one-off episodes, so I'm glad they're continuing what they already started.

All I can really telly you guys is nothing will get cut. From a marketing standpoint, this will help improve their financial situation. They won't have to pay to have the big jewel cases made for the full albums.

From that, I infer that they will be releasing two 6-episode albums, which usually have cardboard cases (Wooton's Whirled History for example). That makes sense, and is a relief.

Woah. Gooey, when did you get here? xD

I joined almost 3 months ago, but only made 11 posts or so before this. I prefer discussing AIO news and news-related theories than discussing random, AIO-unrelated topics or things that happened ages ago.

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

Thanks for the summary, gooey.

All I say now is that it sounds... intriguing. The whole missing money mystery (say that 5 times fast ) sounds like something AIO has done about a million times already, so I hope they do a new spin on that, but I am absolutely thrilled that they're continuing Buck's story, a story that was grossly underdeveloped in Album 58. I hope we actually get a chance to see him wrestling with his inner demons, à la Jason in episodes like "Shining Armor". I'm shocked and delighted that they're continuing the Olivia thing. I actually thought her contemplations on family were among the best Album 58 lessons. Kill me for saying this, but I actually liked her methods better than Whit's train analogy. Let's just hope AIO doesn't screw all this up...

And I think I understand the whole "six-episode" thing a ton better now, if Bren is correct. That makes much more sense financially, and I don't think any of us care what the albums are packaged. But the question still remains: will AIO release Album 60 right after 59 or will they wait a couple months, or even longer? If they wait for half a year, it would effectively defeat the purpose of making up for each year by releasing two albums instead of one.

[SirWhit]

All right. With your new information, Bren, I think I understand why they're doing it.

[Bren]

Well, as I said, if you want to send your specific questions to info@thewepodcast.com I'll try to get them answered.

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

I'd like this question answered, Bren: Will AIO release Album 60 right after 59 or will they wait a couple months, or even longer?

[Mickey]

I saw when it's coming out next August I can't wait!

[truAIOfan]

From a marketing standpoint, this will help improve their financial situation. They won't have to pay to have the big jewel cases made for the full albums.

I wonder if part of the reason is because of all the OAC episodes that they are planning next year.
I wonder if: half the regular album, half the price?

@Arnoldtherubberducky: On aiowiki it says that album 60 will come out in 2016, unfortunately.

[Pound Foolish]

Something to keep in mind: things aren't taking longer to come out, companies are anouncing them earlier.

The album art is great as ever. Tiger Shadow's assessment of it sounds perfect, hopefully the art indeed reflects the album.

As to the fewer episodes, that's still unconfirmed, isn't it? Maybe they're just cutting back on the number of CDs. Less plastic, less money. But if they are, oh well. We've all heard about the budget cuts going on over there. They're trying to do everything they can without lessening the technical quality of the shows. Keep in mind, these cost about as much to make as some TV shows. Evidently, they're losing too much money and just trying to keep their head above water.