“Adventures in Odyssey” is a production of Focus on the Family, with all the Real True Christian implications that that carries. Though from my standpoint, it’s pretty engaging and well done, except that it often brings you right back to its main point about how you are a sinner and need to accept Jesus. So, before we begin talking about the show itself, let’s start with a basic introduction to the people of Odyssey.
When I sat down to write this, I forgot how much there is to this radio show. That’s understandable, since this show has been airing for about 30 years, but that also means that one post isn’t going to be enough.
The main character of the series could easily be the ice cream parlor/Biblical museum/discovery emporium called Whit’s End, where much of the action takes place. Now, when I was first listening to the show in the ’80s, I got the idea that this was one of those turn-of-the-century storefronts near the downtown courthouse square of Small Town, USA – kinda like the soda fountain in “It’s A Wonderful Life” (more on that movie later). However, the official artwork and later episodes have shown that this is actually a 2 to 3-story converted Victorian home with a greenhouse (which never really gets talked about) on the edge of a rather large city park, and across the street from a giant castle that used to be an EVIL Chuck E Cheese knock-off and now is just a shady knock-off electronic store. Yup. Small Town, USA.
Whit’s End is owned by widower John Avery Whittaker (get it?), World War II vet, former NSA freelance agent (the NSA comes up a lot. I’m not sure why. My guess is that it allows characters to be tech-savvy but not have to be all FBI-Men-In-Black with everyone), encyclopedia company CEO, board member of the local community college, inventor, purveyor of fine ice creams, trusted amateur archeologist, and Real True Christian. Yes, all of these come into play at some point.
Early episodes have Whit being more of a tinker and many of the kids end up messing around with his toys and gizmos. However, his greatest invention is the Imagination Station, which is basically a Star-Trek Holodeck, working on the same sorts of rules, including things being safe until they aren’t. Most of the time, this thing is used for reliving historical or biblical events. This being an Evangelical program, most of the Imagination Station adventures revolve around the few Bible stories that are kid-friendly or teach the “right” values (anyone who’s familiar with the Bible in general will have a good idea of which stories they don’t tell, and why), and Idealized American History, A.K.A. “Benjamin Franklin was a kindly old gentleman who liked to invent things.”
Whit’s two employees are the town’s perpetual teenager, Connie, and resident genius Eugene, who uses big words and often makes sure that everything he says can be taken literally. Connie came here from California – 30 years ago – has enjoyed decelerated aging since then. Connie is our Everyperson to Whit’s Mary Sue. She’s naïve and sweet, not book smart, and starts out just wanting to be a normal teen, despite her parents’ divorce. Which means that on a trip back to California, she realizes how shallow and annoying everyone is and promptly converts to Real True Christianity. Just like everyone’s been hinting that she should do. She spends a lot of time trying to find herself, and early on, is used to show Important Lessons about trusting people or not.
Later, Connie is joined by teenage boy genius Eugene, who also eventually converts (spoiler alert), despite being all scientific-and-shit. He majored in computer science, but ends up being a repository of all things science, that don’t have anything to do with evolution, or at least not on the surface. Eugene keeps the scientific-and-shit mentality especially when later reunited with his father, the Hollywood Atheist – who, surprisingly enough, is allowed to keep a good deal of dignity, despite not being convinced by Eugene’s prodding, and is allowed to maintain a decent amount of dignity.
Long term non-Christian characters, like Eugene, Connie, Leonard, etc, are usually treated with a decent amount of respect while their conversion stories play out (and in a few cases, not), unlike many of the strawmen liberals/atheists/college professors who cross paths with the main characters. Eugene’s voice actor plays the ukulele, which means his character does, too. There are even a few albums of him singing.
At first, much of the supporting cast was made up of adults. Joining Whit were his window cleaner, and deadpan snarker, Bernard, his close friend Tom, who runs a farm and is full of folksy wisdom, and his childhood friend Jack, who deals in antiques, and at dispenses sage advice about things, such as how he’s not sure his first wife will be in Heaven, since he never actually HEARD her say the Magic Jesus Words, and she only lived a good life full of love and prayer. Anyone who’s familiar with the hard core Evangelical way of thinking will know what I’m talking about.
Later on in the series, Whit’s son Jason makes a big splash, as an NSA operative (there’s that organization again…), who gets to be a sort of Christian James Bond, only a lot less interesting or suave. His artwork shows him with a soul patch, so take that for what it is. Rounding us out are Eugene’s eventual wife, Katrina, who’s soft spoken, polite, super smart, and comes from a super WASPY family, and the mailman, Wooten, one of the more interesting characters. Wooten started out as something of a joke. He was constantly taking short cuts that destroyed the mail, is obsessed with comic books, and speaks in a very distinct manner. Lately, though, he’s become a larger break out character, given more depth, a few love interests (one of which carried the warning about how Christians can’t date non-Christians, and by non-Christians, they mean not Real True Christians, of course), and a larger role in the show.
There have been a few families around Odyssey, since this IS a family show, despite the quartet of elderly men that started us out. The earliest were the Barclays; George, Mary, Donna, and Jimmy (I told you “It’s a Wonderful Life” was going to come up again!), who actually had some really interesting character development, despite having some very preset roles of Enthusiastic Dad, Exasperated Mom, Over It Teenager, and Wisecracking Kid.
The Washingtons, consisting of Ed, Elaine, Tamika, and Marvin, eventually took over the role of Main Nuclear Family, fitting into similar, though distinct roles. Tamika is much more driven then Donna, and Marvin doesn’t have Jimmy’s wit, though makes up for it with enthusiasm. Currently, no one family has stepped up to the plate of replacing the Washingtons or the Barclays, though the Parkers, David and Eva, with kids Olivia, Matthew, and Camilla, seem to be coming close (Since Eva is Latina, this gives AIO plenty of chances to show multi-culturalism in the forms of having Spanish guitars play while Eva’s mother speaks with an accent. Oddly enough, there’s been no mention of Catholicism, at least not that in the episodes I’ve listened to).
Lastly, we have the Rathbones, which, if you can’t tell they’re bad news by the name, you haven’t been paying attention. Bart, his wife Doris, and son Rodney, own the Electric Palace, which I still can’t figure out why the people of Odyssey shop there, since Bart is constantly looking for ways to cut corners, Doris is always stealing small things, and Rodney is a teen bully and leader of some Happy Days style gang called “The Bones of Rath.” They all speak in Lawn Guyland accents and make Frank and Estelle Constanza look subtle and nuanced.
In addition to the families, there have been a large variety of kids that have come and gone. This being radio, usually puberty hits hard, and the kids get dropped (or lose interest), to be replaced with another set. Usually, when an actor leaves, their character does, too, though Whit is on his third voice actor. The first died during production and Whit was sent off on a dig. The second actor recognized that his health was failing and kept in contact with the producers, and a third John Avery Whittaker was found. The other voice that has changed is that of Katrina, though I’m not terribly sure why, and a quick glance at the podcast implies different directions which could mean a lot of things. Occasionally, the kids do come back, as a recent episode brought back Jimmy Barclay and a few of his friends dealing with unrequited love during a reunion. This being a timey whimey place, these kids, a few who were apart of the original run, were just out of, or just finishing college (despite Connie having only aged 5-6 years).
Finally, we have the announcer, Chris, who is a peppy woman with lots of Bible quotes to tie into the story, even if they don’t fit. From what she says, it’s clear that she is a resident of Odyssey, but we never hear her interact with any of the main characters.
Now that we have a basic idea of who we’re talking about, we can move onto the actual stories, subtexts and all, in part 2!
Images: Focus on the Family
