"Snow Day" Puts Fans in Tizzy
By Jacob Isom |
September 1, 2001
Ah, Winter, perhaps one
of the whitest, coldest, crispiest times of the year. The snow flakes gently fall from the
light grey sky and pile up on the ground below. The piles get higher, and after a few
weeks you notice that the snow becomes a grey, soggy, mushy black. And sometimes with that
comes a snow day in your town. It means no school, carefree days, and nothing to worry
about. Such is the scenario with "Snow Day," an episode recently written by
Adventures in Odyssey, or is it the case?
"Snow Day"
brought many AIO fans in a tizzy, angry in a way that AIO had done such an unrealistic
episode. AIO is usually known for its realistic ways and its attention to specific
details. Now we have an episode that just pops up in the season line-up, uncared for,
unrealistic, and generally stupid episode with a moral thrown in. If you've already heard
"Snow Day," then you'll know what I mean. Alex Jefferson goes through his not-so
ordinary day out of school delivering cookies to his grandmother, is chased for a few
hours by Rodney Rathbone and the Bones of Wrath... which reminds me...
Back a few years ago, AIO made clear that the Bones of Wrath were
scattered abroad after Regis Blackgaard tried to take control of the town in pursuit of a
chemical in the inderground railroad tunnel but failed. So how could the Bones of Wrath
suddenly magically appear in an episode after the incident? Where's the realistic
perspective there?
Now as I was saying,
Rodney Rathbone and his Bones somehow track Alex, Mandy, and others down because they want
to eat cookies. Wow! What a logical story! No one who is sixteen years old (like
Rodney...or younger) would be stupid enough to chase kids for a couple hours (or less) for
a little tin box full of cookies. They're cookies for goodness sake! What were they?
Foaming at the mouth because they hadn't eaten in so long? Right. I'll believe that one.
As Rodney once said in an episode called "Changing Rodney," his mother spent so
much time making sure he was well-nourished. What's Rodney's problem?
All these paragraphs
have come along and I still haven't finished the story. Well, as it obviously turns out,
Alex somehow safely brings a couple cookies to Grandma's house, and in turn, she's very
grateful. What could be better, right? No. The story just is plain out stupid at the end
when she decides to use the cookie crumbs for her pie. Where did AIO (not necessarily
Adventures in Odyssey because it was the writer) get its thinking? This episode should
never have made it off the drawing board because of its many faults.
As faults go, yes there
are more. For example. The whole entire time the episode ensues, Alex Jefferson narrates
the tale. That just totally removes the believability of it all even more! Adventures in
Odyssey has always tried to avoid telling the story through a character unless they wrote
a letter to someone, wrote in a diary or journal, or starred on Kids Radio. So why would
they stop their previous policies now? Why would they give up the
"realisticness" of AIO now when they have built it up solidly from the ground
up? I'm not trying to make anyone who likes the episode feel bad, but I cannot sit idly by
and allow this radio drama series to become a fast-paced, almost no-moral, boring show.
This episode reminded me of those split episodes that went over badly.
Also another fault I'd
like to point out is how Rodney is extremely childish overall. Rodney, throughout the
years on Adventures in Odyssey, has been known to be pretty well-behaved, give or take a
few incidences. The Rodney we see now has become a jealous, childish, selfish jerk who
wants some cookies that belong to another person who is trying to give them to his lonely
grandmother! What happened to Rodney's thinking? Oh yeah... then there's the acting...
Rodney has also been known for his good
acting on the show. The Rodney we see now is that of a bad actor, a boring actor, and
rather overwhelmingly overacted. May it be that the actor is having trouble with his voice
or whatever, he needs to bring back the old Rodney. At least he plays Mitch pretty well!
Hmm... what else? Oh yeah. How could I
forget? The storyline. I already mentioned the general storyline above, but I'd like to
say that the general idea of this episode is... Alex gets up, gets excited about a snow
day, has to deliver some cookies to his grandmother, but the bad guy, Rodney, gets in the
way, and does everything possible, even almost committing suicide by sledding down a hill
towards a freezing cold creek. What does this sound like to you? Well to me it paralleled
the story of Little Red Riding Hood!
From all the deep,
probing thoughts above, you can see that I don't like this episode... AT ALL! I wasn't
expecting this article of Extra Extra to be so negative, but as you write you tend to
spill out your thoughts, even the negative ones. And in a way this isn't really an article
either. It's just like reading a second review of my previous review of Snow Day. To read
it click here. And in some ways, I am really bombshelling the writing talent of the person
who wrote this episode (no names mentioned but I'm sure we all know who he/she is).
The moral of this article/review... we need to write
to Adventures in Odyssey and suggest that they be more careful with the episodes that they
write... like "Snow Day." There was barely any moral there, just a fast-paced
"automobile chase-type of adventure." Don't let any more episodes turn out the
way "Snow Day" did. Do something about it. Bring back the Odyssey we once knew!
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