Adventures in Odyssey (AIO), or simply Odyssey, is an Evangelical Christianradio drama and comedy series created and produced by Focus on the Family. Aimed at families with children age 12 and younger, the series first aired in 1987 as a 13-episode pilot called Family Portraits and has over 970 episodes to date. In 2005, the show's daily audience averaged around 1.2 million within North America.[1] The Odyssey radio series also includes several spin-off items, including a home-video series, several computer games, books, and devotionals. The series is set in the fictional town of Odyssey. Stories center around the people who live there, particularly ice-cream and discovery emporium owner John Avery Whittaker, who was originally voiced by Hal Smith.
In 1982, Focus on the Family began creating several short dramas for inclusion in the ministry's daily half-hour radio show; these radio dramas were commissioned by Focus on the Family founder and then-president James Dobson as an alternative to Saturday-morning cartoons. This effort culminated in a thirteen-week test series titled Family Portraits which aired in early 1987.[2] It was created by Steve Harris and Phil Lollar, who set it in a small Midwest town they called Odyssey. The test episodes engendered a favorable audience response, and led to a continuing radio program in November 1987, called Odyssey USA.[3] The title was later changed in 1988 to Adventures in Odyssey to "increase international appeal".[4]
The goal of the Odyssey staff was to create a "values-based" radio show with production values comparable with or surpassing those of most mainstream audio dramas. While the show aimed to promote Christian values, according to Odyssey's co-creator Phil Lollar, the goal is not to be "a preaching program", but to be an "entertaining program".[5] Large amounts of work were put into each individual story; for the first few years, each thirty-minute episode typically took over one hundred hours to produce.[6]
Several well-known voice actors were brought in to provide the lead roles. Hal Smith voiced the lead character John Avery Whittaker[7] in one of his favorite roles.[8] The rest of the original "key" characters were voiced by Katie Leigh, Will Ryan, and Walker Edmiston,[9] who, along with Hal Smith, had all previously worked together extensively at Disney.[8] Television star Dave Madden played the character "Bernard Walton" from 1990 to 2008.[10]
When Hal Smith died in 1994, Adventures in Odyssey was left without its main character and Focus on the Family considered canceling the radio show.[11] After a search that lasted over two years, a replacement voice was finally found in Paul Herlinger, who sounded very similar to Hal Smith. Herlinger voiced Whittaker from 1996 through 2008.[12] Because of health issues, a mutual decision was made by Herlinger and the crew to replace Herlinger with another voice actor.
Consequently, Adventures in Odyssey took a long hiatus, with no new episodes planned while the staff searched for a new actor to voice Mr. Whittaker. In September 2009, Andre Stojka was selected as the third actor to voice Mr. Whittaker; only months later, on February 2, 2010, Paul Herlinger died from his illness. In March 2010, regular episodes resumed airing as Album 51, Take it from the Top, premiered.[4]
As of 2022, Chris Anthony and Katie Leigh are the only original cast members remaining in the series.
The show has been adapted into Spanish audio and Hindi live-action videos, with plans to create Mandarin audio as well.[3] On January 2, 2014, a subscription service for Adventures in Odyssey fans and their families launched, the Adventures In Odyssey Club. The subscription fee supports Focus on the Family as well as other world relief and ministry organizations. The Adventures In Odyssey Club is available internationally and had over 7,000 members in 2016. Main features of the club include access to over 900 Episodes from the Radio Series, as well as all 17 videos, every Official Podcast, and exclusive monthly episodes available only to club members.
Popularity
By the end of its second year in 1988, the show was on 634 radio stations in North America.[6] As of 1995, it was the second-most popular Christian radio show in the United States.[13] By 2002, the show was on over 6,000 stations worldwide.[14]
Almost all the radio episodes have also been widely released on both cassette and CD collections, and by 1992, almost a million cassettes had been sold.[15]Odyssey episodes have also been released annually (since 1990) as promotional items through Chick-fil-A.[16] Several times, Chick-fil-A has had special CD sets as their "kids' meal" product.
A wall in the real-life Whit's End at the Focus on the Family visitor's center showing the Adventures in Odyssey voice actors, challenging viewers to match them with the characters
Adventures in Odyssey has aired more than 900 episodes and has released 75 main albums, as well as many other special collections, including monthly Adventures in Odyssey club only episodes.
Spin-off products
Aside from the radio drama, Adventures in Odyssey has begun many spin-offs and special series, including an official Odyssey podcast,[17] fan-favorite podcast Whit's Up?,[18] 17 animated videos,[19]Eugene Sings! and Eugene Sings! Christmas, and three edutainmentcomputer games,.[20]
The first Adventures in Odyssey video was released in 1991. This series was created following the success of Focus on the Family's involvement in Tyndale House's video project, McGee and Me!. Originally, the Odyssey video series was created by a separate staff than that of the radio series, and each episode had a budget of about $400,000; by 1998, over two million Odyssey videos had been sold.[23] Currently, 17 episodes are in the video series and several attempts have been made to place this series on television.[15] The episodes were screened in Britain on Channel 4 in the mid-1990s and its upcoming program on Smile of a Child.
Christian video game developer Digital Praise has released three computer games based on the series, Adventures in Odyssey: The Treasure of the Incas,[24]Adventures in Odyssey: The Sword of the Spirit,[25] and Adventures in Odyssey: The Great Escape.[26] Will Ryan, Katie Leigh, and Paul Herlinger voiced the main characters of the games.[27]
The Imagination Station Book Series
The Imagination Station Book Series is based on the machine of the same name in the Adventures in Odyssey audio dramas. It takes characters back to see events in history using the power of their own imagination. There are currently 26 installments in the series, along with 6 audiobooks.[28]
Eugene Sings!
Eugene Sings! and Eugene Sings! Christmas are Adventures in Odyssey musical albums, released by Tyndale House. Both feature songs written and sung by Will Ryan, voicing Eugene Meltsner from the series.
Merchandise
Since 1987, Adventures in Odyssey has released hundreds of products related to the show, including those listed above as well as apparel, toys, games, calendars, pens, and other collectibles. Some are sold through retail outlets others are promotional items that are given away to certain people or at special events. There is even a display case in the Welcome Center of Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colorado that showcases some of the rarest memorabilia. Many fans of Adventures in Odyssey have become collectors of these products along with the audio albums, books and videos. There have been fan-sponsored contests[29] to showcase these collections.
Radio Theatre
Radio Theatre is a program run by Focus on the Family that makes both original and adapted radio dramas. Much of the staff involved with Adventures in Odyssey is also involved with Radio Theatre such as Paul McCusker.[30] They have made adaptations of many novels including Les Miserables and Anne of Green Gables, as well as an adaptation of the complete Chronicles of Narnia.[31]
Pamela Hayden is an American actress, known for providing various voices for the animated television show The Simpsons, such as Milhouse Van Houten.
Philip George Proctor is an American actor and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series.
Harold John Smith was an American actor. He is credited in over 300 film and television productions, and was best known for his role as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show and for voicing Owl and Winnie the Pooh in the first four original Winnie the Pooh shorts and later Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore and in the television series, Welcome to Pooh Corner and The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He also did a cameo in The Apartment as a drunken Santa Claus.
Katie Leigh is an American voice actress. She has voice acted in both television, film and occasionally video game roles.
Earl Boen was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for portraying criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).
Phil Lollar, also known as Nathan Carlson, is an American voice actor, director, producer and writer for the Focus on the Family-created radio drama, Adventures in Odyssey. He is credited as being one of the show's creators. He also provided the voice for one of characters from the show, Dale Jacobs. He also worked on the Jungle Jam and Friends: The Radio Show!, the Little Dogs on the Prairie videos and Big Idea's 3-2-1 Penguins! series. He is currently a script supervisor for Paws and Tales and is developing a project called Iliad House.
William Ryan was an American voice actor, musician and singer. He provided the voice of Petrie in the 1988 animated film The Land Before Time. He was also known for his voice work as Eugene Meltsner in the Christian radio drama Adventures in Odyssey and Grubby in The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin. Ryan was also the creator of Elmo Aardvark, a character that served as a pastiche of early animated cartoon stars, in 1993.
Townsend Putnam Coleman III is an American voice actor who has performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s. Among his most notable roles are Michaelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wayne Gretzky on ProStars, Jason Whittaker in Adventures in Odyssey and the title characters in Where's Wally? and The Tick.
Walker Edmiston was an American actor and puppeteer.
The Adventures of Batman is an animated television series produced by Lou Scheimer's Filmation studios. It showcased the 12-minute Batman segments from The Batman/Superman Hour, sometimes broken up by and surrounding another cartoon from Filmation's fast-growing stream of superhero stars. A re-branded 30-minute version premiered on CBS on September 14, 1968, as Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder. This version was repackaged without the Superman and Superboy segments.
Shane R. Baumel is an American former actor. He made his film debut playing Crispin in Daddy Day Care. He also had a role in Wild Hogs, starring Tim Allen, and appeared on TV a few times, in shows such as The Emperor's New School, as the voice of Tipo. He has additionally appeared in the 2004 TV movie "A Boyfriend for Christmas" and in Adventures in Odyssey, a Christian radio drama, as the voice of Everett Meltsner.
Andre Stojka is an American voice actor. He is best known for his role as the voice of Owl in the Winnie-the-Pooh franchises starting with Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin inheriting the role from Hal Smith after his death in 1994.
The Last Chance Detectives is a series of Christian television movies, and later a radio drama series created by Robert Vernon and produced by Focus on the Family in the mid-1990s. The production of each video episode cost approximately one million USD. The series focused on four preteen "sleuths" who solve mysteries in their fictional small town of Ambrosia, Arizona. When the radio shows were airing, Canyon Quest, a prequel book to the show, was released.
Chris Anthony Lansdowne, born Christine D'Antonio, is an American voice actress best known as host of Focus on the Family's Adventures in Odyssey. Along with Katie Leigh, she is the only remaining original cast member of the show.
Paul Herlinger was an American voice actor, best known for his role as John Avery "Whit" Whittaker on the radio drama, Adventures in Odyssey (1996–2008). He began in that role soon after Hal Smith died in 1994, and has also voiced Whit on the Adventures in Odyssey video series and Adventures in Odyssey video games. In 2008, he retired due to health conditions. Herlinger has also done voice work for dozens of PBS documentaries, commercials, and films.
Nathan Hoobler is an American writer, director, and producer for the Focus on the Family-created radio drama, Adventures in Odyssey. Nathan grew up listening to Adventures in Odyssey and even started his own fansite about the show before being hired by Focus on the Family. He has a degree in Media Communication from Asbury College. In addition to his other roles, Nathan produced the bonus features for The Gold Audio Series. and has authored 2 books for the series.
References
↑ "Chick-fil-A giving away 'Adventures in Odyssey'". Herald-Journal. October 23, 2005. pp.E6.
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