Long
time
Adventures
in
Odyssey
fans—not
planning
on
listening
to
Album
53:
The
Green
Ring
Conspiracy?
If
that
is
so,
you
will
really
be
missing
out.
"On
what?"
you
may
ask.
"Well,"
says
AIO
marketing
manager
Brock
Eastman
in a
recent
interview
with
AIOWiki,
"there
are
some
past
characters
returning
[in
53].
I
think
the
fans
will
be
pleasantly
surprised
at
who
reappears,
as
was
I
when
I
heard."
The
next
question
most
of
us
Odyssey
fans
ask
is
this:
"Will
Jason
Whittaker
be
coming
back
to
the
show
in
album
53?"
I
can
answer
that
question
right
now.
The
Odyssey
team
is
not
going
to
tell
you.
However,
if
you
have
been
paying
attention
to
the
show
and
its
various
fan
websites
for
a
while,
you
can
pretty
much
guess
the
answer:
Jason
Whittaker
will
almost
certainly
return
in
album
53.
In a
fan
podcast,
the
host
asked
Odyssey
writer
Nathan
Hoobler
if
Jason
was
coming
back
to
the
show.
Of
course,
Mr.
Hoobler
would
not
answer
the
question
definitively
one
way
or
the
other.
Similarly,
on
the
Town
of
Odyssey
message
boards,
he
was
repeatedly
asked
this
question
again
and
again.
Ultimately,
his
response
was,
"I'm
seeing
the
Jason
questions.
But,
I'm
a
purist.
I
don't
like
to
know
when
characters
are
coming
back.
I
don't
want
to
tell
when
(or
if)
Jason
. .
.
[is]
coming
back."
But,
if
Jason
is
not
coming
back,
why
not
say
so?
Holding
fans
in
hopeful
suspense
on
such
an
important
issue
and
then
disappointing
them
later
is
not
the
trick
a
wise
writer
would
play
on
his
fans
for
fun.
No,
Mr.
Hoobler
must
be
hiding
Jason's
return;
he
is
trying
to
retain
the
element
of
surprise
up
until
the
actual
moment
of
the
event—an
event
supported
by
an
increasing
amount
of
evidence.
Since
Jason's
debut
on
the
show,
he
has
been
in
every
major
action-adventure-intrigue
story
arc
that
AIO
has
done.
It
is
not
likely
that
the
Odyssey
team
would
decide
to
end
that
trend
now.
Furthermore,
in
the
83rd
Official
Podcast,
producers
Dave
Arnold
and
Paul
McCusker
all
but
promised
Jason's
return
to
the
air
waves:
Mr. McCusker: "I think it was always in our plans at the end of album 50 that Jason would reappear in the show. Now, I don't believe that he can come back to [the town of] Odyssey [because of] the way we wrote his exit in album 50. But, it's entirely possible—it's entirely likely…
"In fact we've talked about it," interjects Mr. Arnold.
"Yeah," agrees Mr. McCusker. "I have an idea that I really want to develop. But, Whit and the gang would have to go out of Odyssey and meet with Jason somewhere else."
So, do Whit and the gang leave Odyssey to go see Jason Whittaker, alias Jason Israel, in 53? The album summary certainly makes provision for that possibility by saying "The Green Ring Conspiracy [is] . . . a scheme of international proportions [emphasis mine]."
The
album
53
summary
also
says
"old
friends
have
secrets
they
must
keep."
Jason
definitely
falls
under
the
category
of
"an
old
friend
with
secrets
to
keep,"
considering
the
fact
that
he
is a
pre-album
51
character
and
a
former
secret
agent
who
must
keep
his
true
Whittaker
identity
and
whereabouts
a
secret.
Additionally,
McCusker
used
the
word
"idea"
to
refer
to
something
he
really
wanted
to
develop.
This
word
brings
to
mind
thoughts
of a
series/story
arc,
not
a
single
episode.
Unless
plans
suddenly
changed,
The
Green
Ring
Conspiracy
must
be
the
story
arc
that
he
was
referring
to.
Given
the
evidence,
Jason's
return
is
undoubtedly
imminent.
Granted,
as I
am
merely
a
fan,
my
prediction
could
turn
out
to
be
wrong.
Jason
might
not
return
at
all
in
album
53.
Nathan
Hoobler,
with
all
his
stalling
and
evasive
answers,
might
just
be
trying
to
keep
fans
on
the
edge
of
their
seats
and
surprise
them.
Besides,
if
Jason
does
return,
it
certainly
would
not
be a
surprise,
as
Brock
Eastman
said
the
character
reappearances
would
be.
Perhaps
the
surprises
Mr.
Eastman
was
referring
to
were
the
return
of
some
other
characters:
the
Chairman,
Robert
Mitchell,
or
Richard
Maxwell.
Either
way,
Brock
Eastman
said
that
"there
are
some
past
characters
returning
[emphasis
mine],"
so
expect
more
than
one
character
reappearance.
And be on the lookout for a guy by the name of Jason Israel.
Marvin
Grant
is
an
Adventures
in
Odyssey
fan
and
frequents
The
Odyssey
Scoop.
