Behind the Scenes: The Barclay Family

The Barclay's are an interesting family through and through... even their names. Think about in George and Mary Barclay.

This families names are based on the classic movie: It's a Wonderful Life! In case you're unfamiliar with the movie, the main characters are George and Mary Bailey. George and Mary are played by actors Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, hence the Barclay's childrens names Donna and Jimmy!

The writers and producers even wrote an episode based on It's a Wonderful Life for the Barclay Family that we'll see in It's a Pokenberry Christmas (way later :).

An Act of Mercy

This is a parable and a modern day story all in one. First is the introduction of Odyssey's resident bully Rodney Rathbone and his father Bart. Second is the debut episode of Jimmy Barclay (see Behind the Scenes: David Griffen).

Well in this episode we see there's more to Tom Riley than just a farmer and baseball coach, he's also wise. That and you don't want to get on his bad side. When Rodney trespasses on Tom orchard, steals his apples and breaks his fence; Tom shows Rodney mercy and lets him go. But later, Tom hears about how Rodney pushed a boy (a friend of Jimmy's) into a trash can because the boy owed him a dollar! So Tom brings Rodney back, with the permission of Bart) and teaches him a lesson he wont soon forget.

I wouldn't forget rebuilding a fence and picking up a hundred apples either.

A funny side is that while the main story is going on, every time Tom walks into Whit's End Whit and Connie are playing checkers. Whit is amazing at it and Connie can't get a "king" much less win, but she's stubborn... By the end Connie is behind 0-7 :).

The episode lines up almost exactly (minus the checkers) with the parable of the servant in Mathew 18. An Act of Mercy is a really funny episode.

Family Vacation I & II

We've made it to album 2... well kind of :).

We FINALLY get to meet the Barklay family! The parents George and Mary and there two kids Donna 12 and Jimmy 10. This episode is told from Jimmy's journal while their on their vacation to Florida. The funny thing is none of it takes place in Florida at all. It takes place in a little town called Hopwood.

You see on the way to Florida, their car breaks down (DA-DA-DA-DAAAA). Their picked up by a mechanic named Chester and were invited to stay at his house while their car is being fixed. They accept the invitation after hearing about the church picnic the next day. When they get to Chester's house they meet his wife Grace and son Ted whose Jimmy's age. Jimmy and Ted hit it off real good, but Donna is convinced from the start that she's not going to have a good time. Jimmy, Mary and George have a grand time at the church picnic, but Donna continues to wallow in self pity.

Finally Jimmy pulls out a gift given to him by Whit just for the Barclay's trip. It's called Whit's Bordem Buster. While the rest of the Barclay's continue to have a good time, Donna spends an hour trying to figure Whit's gadget out. Donna learns a lesson in spending her time wisely and NOT judging things in advance.

This is an awesome episode with lot's of little jokes and humor mixed in!

OOOOPS... on my part!

Well I'm going to have to skip two episodes in 'The Adventure Begins' because I don't have them. So I'm sorry. But I called a friend of mine who works for Focus on the Family and requested them, so I should be getting them soon... I hope :).

But for now what you need to know is that they introduce Isaac Morton and Lucy Cunningham-Sholtz: two kids who are going to become very important very soon.

The Tangled Web

This episode is really cool becuase I can totally identify with the story. Whit is a author! You learn something new every day! He decides to use one of his short stories he wrote long ago to help Connie learn a lesson about "little white lies". Connie wants to go to a concert her mom doesn't approve of, but has to get time off work. So she lies to Whit about what she is doing with her friend if she gets off early; Whit's a little fast for her. He has her read a story called 'The Tangled Web' about a boy who tells a little lie and ends up getting a citation from the Mayor! Whit gives Connie a little to think about and a sudden end to her plans :).

It made me remember this saying: If you tell the truth, there's nothing to remember! Think about it...

The Circus: Zing Zang Zoom!

This really has no relevance to Adventures in Odyssey, exept for once we get album 42 or something. There's an episode called Like Father, Like Wooton; where a circus comes to town!

But anyway, yesterday night I got to go to a circus in Arco Arena called, get this, Zing Zang Zoom! Their tagline is The Greatest Show on Earth. And I'm almost inclined to agree. I liked Mary Poppins on Broadway better, but my sister didn't so it's up in the air. The actual show was 2 hours long with an intermission. They had everything: elephants, tigers, tight rope walkers, clowns, an upside down act, acrobats in all shape and form, a dog act, horses and zebras!

My favorite act was the dog act... I never knew a maltese could walk on two legs for sooooo long! The different acrobatics acts were amazing too the things they could do with drapes are incredible. There was one where they were on this giant wood "swing" where they had to keep it going and they could flip across the swing.

Overall I really liked it! However it was really worldly which was really annoying, but it didn't entirely ruin the show. If you get a chance to see it DO!

Nothing to Fear

So cool side note did you know there are two main acting techniques.. Ones called The Stanford Meisner Aproach and the other one has a name unknown to me. But I thought it was cool anyway.

Do you know someone whose afraid of almost everything? I personally can't think of anybody but i've gone through so many different phases of being afraid of this or that to the point where I probably have been afraid of everything. Anyway, this episode highlights Shirley,a girl who is really afraid of EVERYTHING, and Jake, a boy who thinks he's as macho as they come. Well not a good mix, obviously.

But it gets worse when Shirly drops and looses Jake's pet mouse; and Jake dicides to get revenge (never a good idea). As you hopefully guessed, it backfires... and Jake tares a few legaments in his ankle and gets caught and gets grounded. But Shirley learns that Jesus' perfect love casts out fear.

This ones a little scary, so listen to it with one of your siblings.. or not!

Promises, Promises

Hi! I got to sleep in today! It was collaboration day or something so i got an extra 30 minutes of sleep. Well Promises, Promises highlights Miss Constance Kendall (Connie) and her non-christianess (if that's a word). What we have yet to learn about Connie is that she's cocky... When she thinks she's right she acts on it. Unfortunatly she's not right all that often.

On the little theme phase under the episode it says New Years resolutions, but I really don't think it had anything to do with that so I gave own phrase: The nature of man. Which is a big issue and a great part of worldveiws and appologetics (need more info go to Worldveiw Academy summer camp, I'll put a link on the side).

See the whole plot is Connie, on the assumption that man is basically good (ENT (that's a buzzer sound) not good or true), promises herself that she will be patient with everyone she meets for a week... Haha like that'll ever happen! Whit calls her on it right away, but she's cocky. So Whit queitly waits for her to break her promise. Of course she does and Whit gets a good oportunity to teach her and us a lesson on making promises you can't keep and what the Bible says on the nature of man.

Although this is a serious and important episode theres this really cool riddle that Whit tell so I'll put it below and you guys can put your answers in the comments (only read it once):
As I was going to Saint Ives I met a man with 7 wives the 7 wives had 7 cats the 7 cats had 7 kits. Kit, Cats, Sacks and Wives! How many were going to Saint Ives???

DO your math right!

The Day After Christmas

What day does this take place on??? If you didn't guess December 26th either you didn't read the title or you need some help :). So have you ever been bored with your new toys the day after Christmas? I'm not sure if I have or not I forget (shiver) thats not a good sign. Well anyway, that's what happened to Annie... I don't get it though cuz when she lists off what she got its longer than any list I've ever gotten (and I'm not complaining, what I got last year was just right). Since Annie's so bored she goes to Whit's End to see if there's anything to do there; and man, that's where her adventure starts.

When Annie gets to Whit's End, Whit's on his way out to a POOR section of the county, and guess who ends up going with him.... Yep Annie. Now as you've probably noted Annie is a little if not alot spoiled, so she's in a totally new world where she's not so cofortable.

The plot of this episode is complicated enough that it would take another hour to explain so you can listen for your self :) sorry. But it shows very well you can't judge a person by their look. It made me want to go work at a soup kitchen or the Jesus Center or something, i liked it alot.

A Gift from Madge and Guy

Whoa!!! What are we on episode 5 or something like that. Now before you read this just look at the name and guess what it's about...


Well it' s Christmas time in Odyssey and like always Whit's got a lesson for the kids... this ones about giving. And it happens to be through a re-organized, hilarious spoof off of The Gift of the Magi. The humor never stops for a second. Kind of like an I Love Lucy episode! It's an important lesson, but the humor is amazing :). Soooooo creative and original, if you want a good laugh, listen to it!

I think that's enough said, you all should definatly listen to it!

Recollections

Wow! This is DEFIANTLY the most intense, saddest episode so far. This episode is a glimpse of the dramatic, touching history of Whit and his shop... as told by Tom. I'm not going to tell you the whole story your going to have to hear it for yourself. But the jist of it is, Whit's End was originally a recreation center for families. Then when Phillip Glossmen, a not so nice city councilmen, came up with an offer from a mini-mall manufacturer for the building, Whit's wife, Jenny, decided to save it. But suddenly Jenny collapses in a session of the city council and the project is put on hold. Jenny is rushed to the hospital, but there is nothing the doctors can do :(. And Jenny passes away within the hour.

As you can guess Whit goes into mourning and wants nothing to do with the Recreation center or the city council... Listen to it and find out how he ends up with it :)!

This is for sure a must hear episode, especially if you want a heartbreaking, almost in tears kinda half hour.

Behind the Scenes: David Griffin

I thought it would be cool to have little "blurbs" of behind the scenes or other info.

The Life of the Party was the debut episode for David Griffin, a very young actor at the time. In life of the party he voiced Freddy and in Connie Comes to Town he voiced Bobby. But David Griffin would go on to be Jimmy Barclay; one of Odyssey's most beloved characters... but you'll have to wait to hear about him.

Connie Comes to Town

Hey again! Well episode 3: Connie Comes to Town. Right out of the box the messege of this episode is to be content with what you have (get what you get and don't have a fit). Which I totally did today when my sisters picked the restraunt we went to tonight and it was my least favorite... lesson learned. Anyway, the story line is Connie (new to Odyssey) gets a job at Whit's End. She wants the job so she can earn money to go back to Califonia
(where her dad lives). While she is working there twelve-year old Bobby (a lifelong Odyssey resident) starts crushing on her and desides he is going to California with her. As you can guess Connie's not thrilled with the idea; so with a little help from Whit and Tom Riley, she is able to get Bobby to give up on the idea. However this forces Connie to stay in Odyssey a while longer and I don't think she's leaving any time soon :).

This is an important episode (in my opinoin) for 2 reasons. One, we get to meet Connie Kendall, a likeable but stuborn/agumentative high school girl. Connies pretty much stereotypical teenager, looks out for number one. The second reason is that Episode 3 shows the importance of Jesus to Whit and the community of Odyssey. As seen in the first annual Bible Bowl. Connie is not a Christian so it's interesting to see her point of veiw as she is hired by Whit to work at Whit's End.

The Life of the Party

This episode (#2) highlights a boy named Craig. Craig just moved to Odyssey and is quick to make "friends". What he calls friends are people who hang around him for his humor, but what happens when he's not so funny? This is the question he has to face. Craig finds out that he loses his "friends" when he needs them the most after his parents have a HUGE fight over if they're going to stay in Odyssey. With the help of Whit and Tom Craig learns there is more to friendship than laughs.

This episode is really relevant to every day life... I enjoyed it!

Whit's Flop

Tis first pilot episode introduces a small town called Odyssey with a soda shop/discovery emporium called Whit's End. The owner of the place is John Avery Whitaker or "Whit".
This first episode tells the story of a boy named Davy. Davy is in short a clutz, who thinks he can't do anything right. But thanks to Whit and farmer Tom Riley he gets a boost of confidence. Davy turns out to be an amazing inventor and turns a failed photocopy machine into an electric oven that makes amazing pizza!

This episode isn't as exiting as some but gives an important lesson in not giving up.

The Challenge Begins

Well, here we go... your probably wondering what my "Adventures in Odyssey Challenge" is. Don' t blame you. For all of you who don't know there's this great radio series called Adventures in Odyssey! It's produced by Focus on the Family a non-profit organization based in Colorado.
Usually a new Adventures in Odyssey (AIO) episode comes out every week, but right now they're postponed after releasing album 50 just recently. In albums 1-50 there are just about 500 half-hour episodes and my goal or "challenge" is to listen to and review all of them by the end of the school year (May 31st).
I just did the math and that comes out to 2-3 episodes a day. So we'll see how it goes I guess. So I hope you stay with me as I review Whit's Flop (AIO pilot episode) through The Imagination Station Revised (AIOs last produced episode).