We've survived the Thanksgiving rush and are
excited to present our latest
review
of
Square One:
Square One is nice, simple, and well thought-out. In
addition to this, it has those extra elements which distinguishes it from
other kid-centric, slice of life episodes: good chemistry and sincere
performances.Read full review...
Expect more
reviews as the Fall 2010 season nears its
conclusion! As always, you are more than welcome
to see what's airing
in the future and submit your own episode
reviews. I'm considering revamping the Scoop's
Interact section
once and for all in the near future. If you have
any ideas for this section, let us know. We'd
love to consider your ideas in making the site
great.
With Thanksgiving festivities nearing an end, I
just thought I'd give you guys a quick update on
what you can expect in the days ahead. The
Odyssey Scoop's 10th anniversary
is approaching quickly this December —
yes, almost ten years ago, the Scoop was born
— and we're cooking up a special giveaway
to celebrate this milestone. Be watching in the
very near future as we get ready to usher in one
decade of Odyssey Scoopness.
Of course, you're more than
welcome to submit suggestions
on how we can make the next decade at The Odyssey Scoop even
better. Stay tuned!
For
a limited time, Focus on the Family is offering
one of its Radio Theatre audio dramas for
free! Celebrate Thanksgiving by going back to
the holiday's roots with The Legend of
Squanto, one of Radio Theatre's
earliest releases:
This audio drama brings to light the story of one of
America's early legends — "Squanto." History remembers
Tisquantum as the Native American who taught early settlers
to fish and farm. He's even credited with the first
Thanksgiving. But few hear the story of the condemnation
that dragged him outside America to a life in chains and
what he discovered after his exile. It's an inspiring true
story of this little-known early American that triumphed
over injustice and changed what would become the United
States.
Only the digital download is
available for free, so make sure you add it to your cart,
not the CD version. You can download this audio release
here.
Our season reviewof
The
Owlnappinghas arrived. Our site reviewer, Ben
Warren, applauds perhaps one of the most memorable episodes
of the fall 2010 season:
The Owlnapping
is a kid-centric episode that returns the word 'adventure' back into
Adventures in Odyssey. Don't take the episode too seriously, even though
it may want you to. Instead, jump in and enjoy the ride. If you do, you'll
see that this is not only a season highlight, but time will prove it is also
one of the series finest too.Read full review...
As always, you
can
submit your review
of season episodes and share what you think
about the direction of the show.
aking
great strides
in 2010. Earlier this year, an AIO album
traveled to outer space for the first time with astronaut
Terry Virts. And following a re-launch of one of the most
popular radio dramas of all time, the show's exposure to
other cultures is looking very promising. Nathan Hoobler—writer,
director, and wealth of AIO knowledge—recently
traveled to Miami, Florida to record the first of many
Adventures in Odyssey episodes for the Spanish language.
And it's all beginning with the same episode we consider to
be the beginning of our English series: Whit's Flop.
Why is Focus translating its
bestselling audio drama for other cultures? Simply, to reach
people where they are and to impact more people. And
translating the series into Spanish isn't the only project
for other markets. Within the past couple of years, Focus
has begun to re-work the show and even created a live-action
version of the show in India. Of course, certain details and
characters are tweaked to fit the needs of different
cultures. Some minor details such as a Whit's End soda shop
may work for Americans (Canadians, I haven't forgotten
about you either!) because we relate to the concept.
However, in India an ice cream shop is less common. To
accommodate this, the ice cream shop was removed and
replaced with a kids' hangout instead. And you can expect
that a central Whit-like character is going to remain as a
pillar to the series.
This isn't the first time
Focus has created AIO products for other languages. Earlier
in Odyssey's history, a Spanish version of the episode The Visitors(Los Visitantes)was produced. Not only
that, several of the AIO animated videos were available in
Spanish as well. With the creation of a Spanish
Adventures in Odyssey audio series—and possibly a
Mandarin version, too—the team is facing new obstacles.
In a recent
interview with AIO Wiki, Brock Eastman, Product
Marketing Manager for Adventures in Odyssey, recently
described the process of moving from one language to
another: "Translating and making the town fit into different
cultures takes time. But what I have scene [sic] about
India's Live Action and discussed about the Spanish version
has been very positive."
There's no doubt in my mind
we'll be hearing some reports in the days ahead of the
progress the team is making with these projects. With Dave
Arnold (executive producer) in India and Nathan Hoobler in
Miami, things are certainly moving forward. And I won't be a
bit surprised if one day I happen to discover a copy of
La Aventura Comienza (correct me if I'm wrong) sitting
on a bookstore shelf waiting to be heard by new audiences.
And to me, reaching and impacting more people with this
addictive character-building drama series is worth every
dinero. Stay tuned.
As promised, today is the day we're
ready to reveal our four winners for the Adventures in
Odyssey Math Challenge
!
On Saturday, November 6, 2010 (10:00 AM EST), we launched a
special challenge in which our visitors could calculate
their way to winning a copy of the latest Odyssey
collection,
Cause and Effect.
We posed a 25-step math problem in which you could use your
Adventures in Odyssey knowledge to compete... and
complete...and be one of the first.
Within hours, we had reached the correct answer from four
people, who we're about to announce. And now, a big
congratulations goes out to the following winners (in order
of submissions received):
Rebeckah F. (Dale City,
Virginia)
Abby H. (Hot Springs,
Arkansas)
Daniel B. (Ham Lake,
Minnesota)
Benjamin K. (Pittsburg,
California)
Winners, be watching your email inbox! We'll be
contacting you in the next couple of days to get your prize
out to you. Also, a big thanks to everyone who gave our
contest their best shot. We received submissions from over
40 contestants within one day. We left our contest open for
an additional day so others wouldn't feel left out and could
get in on the challenge. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
I think it goes without saying
that the many of you who participated might want to see a
step-by-step rundown of the math challenge... and you can!
Click here to see the results.
Be watching in the days ahead for more contests. Don't tell
anyone, but our 10th Anniversary is quickly approaching on
December 22, 2010. And... we might be cooking up a
special giveaway for it. Keep checking back!
Today we bring you yet another season
review.
This time we're taking a look at Opposite Day,
thanks to our reviewer Ben Warren:
...As much as Focus on the Family would like to focus on the entire
family with each episode, this one was obviously packaged for the young,
female, public-grade-school-attending listener, and you know what, I'm OK
with that.Read full review...
As
always, you can
submit your review
of season episodes and share what you think
about the direction of the show.
You may have noticed at the right that
another repack cover is now available. The very first
collection—the one that started
all—has been slightly tweaked to fit
the look of the series. The Adventure Begins
contains the same cover illustration with some tweaks done
to it. The album itself will remain true to its form and
will not lose any bonus features first offered in the
Gold Audio edition. You can see a high resolution image
of the cover here.
To learn more about the repackaging of all the Adventures
in Odyssey albums, visit our Repack Schedule.
Plus, don't forget to check back tomorrow as we
reveal our four winners to the Adventures in Odyssey
Challenge contest!
The
repackaging project continues as Focus brings a
more consistent look to the Adventures in
Odyssey brand. Album 5, Daring Deeds,
Sinister Schemes, has been given a bold
and intriguing new illustration, and it's
certainly more appealing than its older version.
The repack features vibrant colors and an
exciting depiction of a scene from the episode
The
Nemesis. If you'll recall, the Gold
Audio Series is on its way out the door and
albums 1-15 will blend in with the look of the
rest of the series. Expect this album to begin
appearing on store shelves in the future.
This particular
album is the debut album
of the Blackgaard Saga of episodes.
Interestingly, the Odyssey team is working on a
special compilation album containing all the
episodes from one of the most popular AIO sagas
of all time. Imagine, a special AIO collection
with all of those episodes in one place,
complete with exciting bonus features! The team
is hard at work on a Blackgaard Saga
collection, and you can expect some fun
incentives to buy this album when it releases
sometime in 2011.
Speaking of incentives, many of
you recently participated in our Adventures
in Odyssey Challenge to win a free copy of
the latest album,
Cause and
Effect. We'll be awarding four of our
visitors with this awesome prize... on Thursday.
Check back then to see who won! It just might be
you!
We're
giving away Odyssey goodies to our first four
winners... Are you ready to step up to the
challenge?
Now is your chance to win
a free copy of the latest Adventures in Odyssey
collection, Cause and
Effect. This special audio collection of
episodes includes 12 new episodes plus a special
behind-the-scenes bonus video.
Here's how it works.
We're
posing a math problem, and it's up to you to be one of
the first four to submit a correct answer.
Will your math
add up right?
We've provided a list of 25 steps to get to the
final answer of the challenge. You may use any sources
you would like, such as any resources at The Odyssey
Scoop or various sites. Once you reach the end of the
math problem, submit your answer to us. It's that easy--or
is it?
A big thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for
the prizes
. Be sure
to get going on
the contest right away. Time is of the essence!
Plus, today marks the debut of a new AIO
episode: Opposite Day.
You can access details about today's episode or purchase an
mp3 of the episode
here.
Learn more about what's airing during the weekends this fall
at our Airing Schedule. There you can also find a station
that plays AIO near you or listen online. Also, don't forget
to
submit your review of this week's
show.
As we
look down the road towards the Christmas season,
Focus on the Family has released yet another
free episode download of Adventures in
Odyssey! It's
a Pokenberry Christmas is available as a
free download here.
Of course, you're more than welcome to download
other free episodes that are currently available
as well.
Oh, and don't forget to check
back tomorrow at exactly 10:00 AM Eastern
Standard Time. I think you're going to have the
advantage at winning fabulous prizes from The
Odyssey Scoop... assuming you show up then! And
be ready for a challenge.
The
latest edition of the
Official Podcast
brings back one of Adventures in Odyssey's
long-time writers:
Bob and Jesse celebrate Opposite Day, by doing the
opposite of what they would normally do. They don't preview
"Opposite Day" And they can't chat with writer Kathy
Buchanan…or can they?
Listen:
And just in case you're wondering, writer Kathy
Buchanan hasn't left the Odyssey team
completely. She freelances for the show, so you
can expect to hear more episodes from her in the
days ahead
Today we present our review of
Fast As I Can,
thanks to our reviewer Ben Warren:
Fast As I Can is a fun and entertaining
theme-focused episode, albeit an uneven one, that contains enough "highs"
than "lows" to keep listeners pleased with yet another entry in this season.Read full review...
The Fall season of Adventures in Odyssey
is just about halfway through now, and we've
seen a good dose of new shows. As always, you
can
submit your review
of season episodes and share what you think
about the direction of the show. The fan base
for AIO is perhaps one of the most loyal in the
entertainment realm.
For
a limited time, Focus on the Family is offering
one of its Radio Theatre audio dramas for
free! Celebrate Thanksgiving by going back to
the holiday's roots with The Legend of
Squanto, one of Radio Theatre's
earliest releases:
The
latest edition of the
Feeling
daring?
We're
giving away Odyssey goodies to our first four
winners... Are you ready to step up to the
challenge?