The following review reveals details which may spoil your enjoyment of "Stage Fright" if you have not yet heard it.
After last season's embarrassing "Game for a Mystery," I was a little concerned about the introduction of the Jones and Parker mysteries. For a kids-slice-of-life mystery, "Game for a Mystery" was a step toward the unimaginative fare that's common on many children's television shows and a step away from the intelligent stories and snappy dialog that we're used to hearing on AIO (compare "Game for a Mystery" and some of the other kids-slice-of-life shows in album 51 with ones from the past like "The Spy Who Bugged Me" and "Broken Window," and I think you'll get my point). Honestly, even bad kids-of-slice shows from before the hiatus ("A Case of Revenge," "Teacher's Pest," possibly even the terrible "Slumber Party") were better than "Game for a Mystery." IMO, it didn't offer enough for listeners outside of AIO's target age range...
But, I am happy to say that "Stage Fright" is an improvement on their first case. For one thing, the mystery surrounds a fun play--a musical, even. The atmosphere of the episode is rich with music, a location that sounds good, and a bunch of kids that are fun to listen to. Even Barrett, who spent most of "Game for a Mystery" whining and being self-absorbed, is a more enjoyable character here (who ever thought his grumbling would be replaced with singing?). Emily seemed to take on the role as the main detective this time (although I guess Matthew was more of a sidekick in "Game for a Mystery," too), and I found her narration to be helpful and generally entertaining--it wasn't as groan-inducing as in album 51.
Perhaps the concept of a ghost haunting a theater is tired or cheesy, but this show generally stayed away from becoming too corny or boring. I was amused that my prediction that a parrot was behind the "haunting" turned out to be true, but the important difference between this episode's culprit and "Game for a Mystery"'s was that the bird had been trained to scare the kids--there was an actual purpose behind the stage fright (was there any reason for the bird to take Barrett's video game? No, it just liked the look of it. That works in an Encyclopedia Brown mystery, but not in an audio drama as multi-layered as AIO is.). Yes, I guessed that Charlie Storfitz had something to do with the mystery (he was even more obvious than Andrew was a few weeks ago), but since I wanted to know the "how" and "why" and it was a fun ride to get to the answers, knowing who the culprit was didn't matter. Charlie's reason for scaring the kids and teacher away didn't really work for me: similar to how I felt after listening to "Mystery at Tin Flat," I didn't really like that the whole mystery was carefully planned for a reality TV show. Another problem with the stage director was that he sounded too much like Wooton, especially when he changed his voice at the end. Although he was still a funny character, that distracted me a little.
I thought the message of this show was rather weak--even "Nothing to Fear," for all of its faults, taught this lesson better. But despite that, "Stage Fright" was a really enjoyable show--definitely Kirby Atkins's best work on AIO so far. The characters were enjoyable, the plot moved along nicely, and there were some great comedic moments. But please, Matthew and Emily, try to solve a mystery not involving an animal next time. :-)
Rating: 7/10
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Squirrels Attack Connie's Car!
Wow, that was weird...
I don't think there's ever been an AIO episode quite like "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show." First of all, the whole thing is a radio broadcast of a talk show. It's true that we've heard many programs on Kids' Radio before, but never 25-minutes of spontaneity. Usually what we hear from Kids' Radio is limited to one story or a bunch of skits ("Fairy Tal-e-vision" or "The Power of One," for example), but here we have a live call-in show and a bunch of characters talking together. Secondly, there is actually little plot to speak of. I suppose that really depends on how you define "plot," but you don't have one adventure or two similarly-themed stories going throughout the whole episode. Unless you consider the conflict being if Wooton can make it through Connie's show okay (which any AIO listener should know, wouldn't be a problem for Wooton). So, when you've stripped your episode of a captivating story running throughout, are the characters and messages enough to sustain it?
In this case, my answer is "maybe." I don't think this episode will appeal to everyone--it depends on how you feel about Wooton and Connie, really. Wooton's presence hovers over the whole episode (just in case it wasn't obvious that this episode is a love-letter to Wooton, he even takes over the closing wrap for Chris), so if you don't like him you're out of luck. My opinion is that Wooton is okay when he's written well, and in this episode that was mostly the case. Yes, there were some times when he got annoying (his preoccupation with the sound effects, for example), but other times he was just laugh-out-loud funny. Taking over for Chris at the end, some of his comments in the Captain Absolutely story, and anything regarding squirrels elicited some sort of a smile or snicker from me. Was he over the top? Yeah, but he was on a radio show, so why wouldn't he be a little crazy in that situation?
Harlow Doyle was also funny. There wasn't too much of him, so hopefully no Odyssey fan will get all upset about his presence in this episode. The characters of Wooton and Harlow play off each other well, I think. And on the subject of characters who sound good together, we also have Eugene and Connie. It was slightly weird for them to apologize to one another on the air, with explanations from Whit and Wooton, but they sounded natural together in the show.
Not only do we have the return of Candid Conversations with Connie/ Wooton in this show, we also have the return of Captain Absolutely. Well, maybe it's not really the return, as he's never actually been heard on the AIO broadcast before, but for those of us who heard The Truth Chronicles this was his return. I think I preferred his adventures in The Truth Chronicles, but this one felt similar. I liked that Whit and Eugene, who were already in the studio, took on the voice roles for the other two characters in the Captain Absolutely story--that makes it feel more believable (and they did a great job sounding like cartoon characters!). Despite the cartoonish nature of Captain Absolutely, I was still a bit concerned over the part when Absolutely was beat up and twisted--it felt too much for AIO. Apart from that, it was lots of fun with a clear message to it.
It was obvious that this episode was written with its message in mind--no slap-on-a-moral mentality this week! Eugene expressed his thoughts on intelligent design and meaning in life very clearly, and the Captain Absolutely story served to illustrate his big concepts in a more simple, understandable way. I can see this episode as a great discussion-starter with families about all sorts of things--entertainment, salvation, creation. However, because all these messages were presented in such a comical and almost disjointed manner some of the serious implications of the lesson may be lost on the listener--the themes may have been difficult to take seriously.
"Not enough story." "Too much all over the place." "Overly silly." "They couldn't have all fit in that closet." Admittedly all those negatives thoughts about this episode have some truth in them, but for anything negative you might say about this show, there's no denying the originality of the plot and message. It's unique for AIO, and after 669 episodes of the show that's something that you can't say very often.
Oh, and I thought it was quite comical when the space station was affected by the mind-numbing gas: "Houston, we have a problem, but...who cares! It doesn't mean anything anyway!" :-D
Rating: 7/10.
I don't think there's ever been an AIO episode quite like "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show." First of all, the whole thing is a radio broadcast of a talk show. It's true that we've heard many programs on Kids' Radio before, but never 25-minutes of spontaneity. Usually what we hear from Kids' Radio is limited to one story or a bunch of skits ("Fairy Tal-e-vision" or "The Power of One," for example), but here we have a live call-in show and a bunch of characters talking together. Secondly, there is actually little plot to speak of. I suppose that really depends on how you define "plot," but you don't have one adventure or two similarly-themed stories going throughout the whole episode. Unless you consider the conflict being if Wooton can make it through Connie's show okay (which any AIO listener should know, wouldn't be a problem for Wooton). So, when you've stripped your episode of a captivating story running throughout, are the characters and messages enough to sustain it?
In this case, my answer is "maybe." I don't think this episode will appeal to everyone--it depends on how you feel about Wooton and Connie, really. Wooton's presence hovers over the whole episode (just in case it wasn't obvious that this episode is a love-letter to Wooton, he even takes over the closing wrap for Chris), so if you don't like him you're out of luck. My opinion is that Wooton is okay when he's written well, and in this episode that was mostly the case. Yes, there were some times when he got annoying (his preoccupation with the sound effects, for example), but other times he was just laugh-out-loud funny. Taking over for Chris at the end, some of his comments in the Captain Absolutely story, and anything regarding squirrels elicited some sort of a smile or snicker from me. Was he over the top? Yeah, but he was on a radio show, so why wouldn't he be a little crazy in that situation?
Harlow Doyle was also funny. There wasn't too much of him, so hopefully no Odyssey fan will get all upset about his presence in this episode. The characters of Wooton and Harlow play off each other well, I think. And on the subject of characters who sound good together, we also have Eugene and Connie. It was slightly weird for them to apologize to one another on the air, with explanations from Whit and Wooton, but they sounded natural together in the show.
Not only do we have the return of Candid Conversations with Connie/ Wooton in this show, we also have the return of Captain Absolutely. Well, maybe it's not really the return, as he's never actually been heard on the AIO broadcast before, but for those of us who heard The Truth Chronicles this was his return. I think I preferred his adventures in The Truth Chronicles, but this one felt similar. I liked that Whit and Eugene, who were already in the studio, took on the voice roles for the other two characters in the Captain Absolutely story--that makes it feel more believable (and they did a great job sounding like cartoon characters!). Despite the cartoonish nature of Captain Absolutely, I was still a bit concerned over the part when Absolutely was beat up and twisted--it felt too much for AIO. Apart from that, it was lots of fun with a clear message to it.
It was obvious that this episode was written with its message in mind--no slap-on-a-moral mentality this week! Eugene expressed his thoughts on intelligent design and meaning in life very clearly, and the Captain Absolutely story served to illustrate his big concepts in a more simple, understandable way. I can see this episode as a great discussion-starter with families about all sorts of things--entertainment, salvation, creation. However, because all these messages were presented in such a comical and almost disjointed manner some of the serious implications of the lesson may be lost on the listener--the themes may have been difficult to take seriously.
"Not enough story." "Too much all over the place." "Overly silly." "They couldn't have all fit in that closet." Admittedly all those negatives thoughts about this episode have some truth in them, but for anything negative you might say about this show, there's no denying the originality of the plot and message. It's unique for AIO, and after 669 episodes of the show that's something that you can't say very often.
Oh, and I thought it was quite comical when the space station was affected by the mind-numbing gas: "Houston, we have a problem, but...who cares! It doesn't mean anything anyway!" :-D
Rating: 7/10.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Mystery of the Stalker Bank Robber, Part Two
When we last left Whit, Connie, Eugene, and Matthew they were on the trail of the person responsible for the city's clock's complications and for leaving flowers and a wedding veil near that clock. But we were all fooled, because it turned out that it was all an elaborate ruse to get the town of Odyssey focused on the clock tower while the bad guys did bad things in another part of town. Yep, there we have "Clock Tower," part two.
This episode went in a different direction from last week--what started off as more of a personal, "romantic" mystery turned into a story about stalking and robbery. You know, I don't think we've ever had a bank robbery on AIO. Sure, there was that Amos guy on that gold mine video, but we all know the Odyssey cartoons don't count for anything. It wasn't particularly exciting to hear a computer/ cleaning nerd and his father casually break into the bank--not as great of a climax as could've been presented to us.
Of all the characters in this episode, I think Eugene was used the best. He really should work with comptuers more, since that's what he's best at. He moved the show along well. Whit and Connie were okay, but I didn't like the part with the two talking on their separate phone at the exact same time--it sounded very scripted and uncomfortable.
Andrew may have been somewhat obvious as the villain of the two-parter, but the bank manager wasn't as obvious. In my opinion, both of them were boring characters. Andrew was only memorable because he was an obsessive stalker who belongs on CSI, not AIO. I guess stalking is more unique than robbery or murder for an AIO mystery, but it still was definitely on the creepy side.
The message of this show was really weak. That might have been okay if the story or characters were strong, but they weren't so much. Okay, so "sin will find you out" and "every moment has consequences"--those are nice little messages, but they seem more like an afterthought than anything. They weren't really reinforced or obvious in the story itself. It was a pity that we didn't get to hear the reconciliation between Alicia, Wendy, and Michael, but that love story was treated as something unnecessary to the show after such a big deal was made out of it last week.
So, my prediction was right: I didn't actually enjoy this show so much. Part One was good, but part two just couldn't deliver. The storyline wasn't bad, but the way the story was scripted (and perhaps acted out) was flawed. I almost ended up not caring by the time the second break came around. It's not one of AIO's finest mysteries (although in comparison with other recent ones, it isn't bad)--it just could've been better.
Part 1: 8/10
Part 2: 5/10
Both Parts: 6/10
This episode went in a different direction from last week--what started off as more of a personal, "romantic" mystery turned into a story about stalking and robbery. You know, I don't think we've ever had a bank robbery on AIO. Sure, there was that Amos guy on that gold mine video, but we all know the Odyssey cartoons don't count for anything. It wasn't particularly exciting to hear a computer/ cleaning nerd and his father casually break into the bank--not as great of a climax as could've been presented to us.
Of all the characters in this episode, I think Eugene was used the best. He really should work with comptuers more, since that's what he's best at. He moved the show along well. Whit and Connie were okay, but I didn't like the part with the two talking on their separate phone at the exact same time--it sounded very scripted and uncomfortable.
Andrew may have been somewhat obvious as the villain of the two-parter, but the bank manager wasn't as obvious. In my opinion, both of them were boring characters. Andrew was only memorable because he was an obsessive stalker who belongs on CSI, not AIO. I guess stalking is more unique than robbery or murder for an AIO mystery, but it still was definitely on the creepy side.
The message of this show was really weak. That might have been okay if the story or characters were strong, but they weren't so much. Okay, so "sin will find you out" and "every moment has consequences"--those are nice little messages, but they seem more like an afterthought than anything. They weren't really reinforced or obvious in the story itself. It was a pity that we didn't get to hear the reconciliation between Alicia, Wendy, and Michael, but that love story was treated as something unnecessary to the show after such a big deal was made out of it last week.
So, my prediction was right: I didn't actually enjoy this show so much. Part One was good, but part two just couldn't deliver. The storyline wasn't bad, but the way the story was scripted (and perhaps acted out) was flawed. I almost ended up not caring by the time the second break came around. It's not one of AIO's finest mysteries (although in comparison with other recent ones, it isn't bad)--it just could've been better.
Part 1: 8/10
Part 2: 5/10
Both Parts: 6/10
Saturday, October 02, 2010
The Clock Strikes 11:45...Again and Again and Again
AIO returns for a new season of small-town fun with "The Mystery of the Clock Tower." Or small-town mystery, as it turns out.
This show almost felt like a Father Gilbert mystery, except it was set in America and there were no British accents. It felt awkward at first--I found it hard to get in to--, but as the pace picked up a bit and the mystery grew deeper I started to get interested. Probably the best part of the episode was the two scenes which went back and forth: Alicia Jennings telling Eugene and Matthew about her role as a courier twenty years earlier, while Michael gave his side of the story. That was written very well and made the presentation of the back story stay interesting without resorting to flashbacks. We also get different perspectives on the same event, although we miss out on hearing the voice of Wendy, the third character in the twenty-year old tale.
We meet a new mayor in this show, whom we can assume has replaced Mayor Faye. How this has transpired is left up to our imaginations, as it mustn't have been exciting enough to make it in to an AIO episode. I'm not sad to see Margaret go--thirteen years as a liberal mayor of a conservative town was a good run for her, although I'm not sure who voted for her all those elections--, but Mayor Spencer Hicks doesn't have much of a character in part one of "Clock Tower." Nothing connected me to him as a person, and unlike with Tom Riley and Margaret Faye we haven't gotten to know him before he became mayor. I'm sure he could become more interesting with future appearances, but right now he's one of those stock characters (but he did only get one scene in part one...).
Whit, Connie, and Eugene are our main investigators here, which makes the story move smoothly. When you have old and beloved characters in every scene, it's just got to make the episode better. And Matthew's occasional comments let us know that he's still there, but not trying to take the spotlight away from AIO characters that we like better. It turns out Dreams by Constance has made it past the hiatus and actually gets events to cater for! Why a 16-year old who's never had a good boyfriend or healthy romantic relationship is running a wedding planning service is anybody's guess, but at least the writers have let Connie keep helping those who do manage to find true love in Odyssey. It's a reassurance that the main AIO characters haven't changed much since before the hiatus. On the topic of Connie, I thought her moment of inquiry at the flower store was a nice scene--some gentle humor with Connie getting out and about.
The music was notably different from what we usually hear on AIO. Sounded more like what you would hear on Left Behind, but it worked for this episode. And they actually used the new 30-second theme to start off the episode--I appreciated that.
Not being able to listen to part two of this show right away was not a problem for me--I felt the denouement could easily wait. Somebody's trying to re-create the events from 20 years ago--my guess is the mysterious Wendy--, but it wasn't a show which really left my head spinning with questions. Yes, questions were left unanswered, but the answers can wait. I'll have to wait to reserve my verdict on this episode until part two has aired, but so far it's been well done and easy to listen to. Connie hasn't gotten addicted to anything and Whit hasn't invented an incomprehensible new invention, nor has Mortimer made an appearance (or was that Finnian? ;-) ). So far so good!
Those "Jilted" flowers sound seriously sick, by the way. :-D
This show almost felt like a Father Gilbert mystery, except it was set in America and there were no British accents. It felt awkward at first--I found it hard to get in to--, but as the pace picked up a bit and the mystery grew deeper I started to get interested. Probably the best part of the episode was the two scenes which went back and forth: Alicia Jennings telling Eugene and Matthew about her role as a courier twenty years earlier, while Michael gave his side of the story. That was written very well and made the presentation of the back story stay interesting without resorting to flashbacks. We also get different perspectives on the same event, although we miss out on hearing the voice of Wendy, the third character in the twenty-year old tale.
We meet a new mayor in this show, whom we can assume has replaced Mayor Faye. How this has transpired is left up to our imaginations, as it mustn't have been exciting enough to make it in to an AIO episode. I'm not sad to see Margaret go--thirteen years as a liberal mayor of a conservative town was a good run for her, although I'm not sure who voted for her all those elections--, but Mayor Spencer Hicks doesn't have much of a character in part one of "Clock Tower." Nothing connected me to him as a person, and unlike with Tom Riley and Margaret Faye we haven't gotten to know him before he became mayor. I'm sure he could become more interesting with future appearances, but right now he's one of those stock characters (but he did only get one scene in part one...).
Whit, Connie, and Eugene are our main investigators here, which makes the story move smoothly. When you have old and beloved characters in every scene, it's just got to make the episode better. And Matthew's occasional comments let us know that he's still there, but not trying to take the spotlight away from AIO characters that we like better. It turns out Dreams by Constance has made it past the hiatus and actually gets events to cater for! Why a 16-year old who's never had a good boyfriend or healthy romantic relationship is running a wedding planning service is anybody's guess, but at least the writers have let Connie keep helping those who do manage to find true love in Odyssey. It's a reassurance that the main AIO characters haven't changed much since before the hiatus. On the topic of Connie, I thought her moment of inquiry at the flower store was a nice scene--some gentle humor with Connie getting out and about.
The music was notably different from what we usually hear on AIO. Sounded more like what you would hear on Left Behind, but it worked for this episode. And they actually used the new 30-second theme to start off the episode--I appreciated that.
Not being able to listen to part two of this show right away was not a problem for me--I felt the denouement could easily wait. Somebody's trying to re-create the events from 20 years ago--my guess is the mysterious Wendy--, but it wasn't a show which really left my head spinning with questions. Yes, questions were left unanswered, but the answers can wait. I'll have to wait to reserve my verdict on this episode until part two has aired, but so far it's been well done and easy to listen to. Connie hasn't gotten addicted to anything and Whit hasn't invented an incomprehensible new invention, nor has Mortimer made an appearance (or was that Finnian? ;-) ). So far so good!
Those "Jilted" flowers sound seriously sick, by the way. :-D
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