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Upcoming Live Interview with Kevin McCreary

October 2, 2014, 7:59 pm
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We have a blast doing live interviews. It's a chance to interact with our followers and our guest like we can't do any other way. We've had fun doing it for the first time with Phil Lollar and later with Katie Leigh. Now, we're excited to announce that we're doing it again. And our guest? Kevin McCreary!

Kevin is one of the funniest and most creative persons ever. He's the guy that created The Ceiling Fan Podcast, one of the most popular AIO fan podcasts. He also worked at Focus on the Family for a couple years. Recently, he's started a YouTube show called Say Goodnight Kevin and has guest appearances on Blimey Cow.

On Tuesday, September 7th, Kevin will join us on a live video stream where you'll get to watch us ask him questions and hear him answer our questions and yours! You can join the conversation and send questions for Kevin to answer live. It can be about Odyssey, The Ceiling Fan, his soul patch, etc. If you can't make it to see us live, don't worry. You'll be able to see the whole video on YouTube once we've stopped broadcasting. If you have questions and can't send them in during the broadcast, just email us (adventuresinodysseyblog[@]gmail.com) or post them on our event pages on Facebook or Google Plus.

Get excited. It's going to be awesome!
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LIVE Interview with Kevin McCreary

October 7, 2014, 10:51 am
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A Great & Easy Way to Support Focus on the Family

October 15, 2014, 11:42 am
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Just like many other non-profit organizations, Focus on the Family is struggling during these tough economic times. The folks at Focus are the ones producing Adventures in Odyssey. It's easy to forget that AIO, Radio Theatre, and other projects from them are a ministry tool and not simply entertainment. We've seen different cutbacks and layoffs made at FOTF the past couple of years. 

Odyssey has changed in the way it's being released in part because of the rising costs of making it. We here at the Adventures in Odyssey Blog are firm supporters of Focus on the Family and AIO. We encourage you to purchase episodes, albums, and other AIO merchandise from them, not only because we're all fans of it, but also to help Focus get the funds needed to keep making the show. Donating to them directly is also a good way. We also don't condone any kind of piracy or illegal distribution or downloading of AIO episodes on websites, YouTube, etc. This hurts Focus a lot.

Beyond that, there is another way of supporting Focus on the Family. Many of us buy something from Amazon at one time or another. Some people buy stuff from them all the time. How could we turn shopping at Amazon into a way to donate to Focus on the Family?

Amazon Smile is a relatively new initiative from Amazon that makes it super easy to support charities/non-profit organizations. By going to smile.amazon.com, you can choose to have 0.5% of every qualifying purchase you make through Amazon be given to Focus on the Family. You can do it on Odyssey albums, books, and millions of other products available on Amazon. It doesn't cost you anything extra. You could also choose to give to other great organizations like Compassion or World Vision. The more you shop, the more donations they get.

Last but not least, you can also pray for groups like Focus who champion Biblical values and help show Jesus' love to others. They need our prayers just as much. Remember, without Focus on the Family, there would be no Adventures in Odyssey.
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Official Podcast 211

October 29, 2014, 11:24 am
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The latest instalment of the OAIOP brings us two interviews! First off, we hear an interview with Marianne Hering, one of the authors of The Imagination Station book series, about the latest entry in the series. After that, Dan Hagen talks about his career in voice overs and playing Jacques Henri, Archie Hagler, and other roles on AIO. You can hear it all right now!
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What We Know About Album 59

November 12, 2014, 4:34 pm
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Album 58 hasn't even finished airing and we're already getting info on Album 59. Watch out for spoilers if you haven't heard all of Album 58 yet. First, we have a title: Taking the Plunge. We also have the final (or near final) album art


Update!
We now also have the summary for the album.

In the all-new album, Taking the Plunge, your favorite Adventures in Odyssey characters are faced with life decisions and hard lessons. Will Penny “take the plunge” and say yes to Wooton’s marriage proposal? Will Eugene solve a mystery about missing money? Will Buck make the right kind of new friends? Will Olivia discover how to create a perfect family? Take the plunge into adventure and learn valuable life lessons about commitment, conflict, expectations, and secrets in six audio dramas from the award-winning team celebrating 27 years of fun and entertainment for the entire family!

From what we see from the cover and the summary, this album will only contain 6 episodes. This is quite a switch, especially considering Album 58 had 14 episodes and all other canonical albums before that had exactly 12.

Odyssey did something similar back in 2005 and 2006 with Albums 44 and 45 respectively. After the 12 episodes in a season aired, instead of releasing a collection of all of those shows, AIO released half-albums. One album contained the first 6 episodes, then another containing the last 6, and ending with a "complete collection" of all 12. Apparently, this was not well received since after Albums 44 and 45 were released this way, the AIO team went back to the normal format of releases.

It will be interesting to see how this will play out, especially with the new way of releasing an album's worth of episodes over the course of a year exclusively on the Odyssey Adventure Club. Album 59: Taking the Plunge is planned to come out in late summer of 2015. Beyond that, little else is known. We'll keep you informed as more info comes in.

What are your thoughts on this new way of releasing Odyssey albums? Do you think this is a good or bad idea?
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Audio Theatre Central's Interview with Nate Jones + OAC Recording Session

December 2, 2014, 6:09 pm
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The crew from Audio Theatre Central recently visited an Odyssey recording session. Now, they tell us all about their trip, their experiences, and share some audio recorded there, including an interview with sound designer, Nate Jones. He talks about working on creating unique sounds and the crazy ways he's gotten them, for AIO and Radio Theatre. Speaking of Radio Theatre, JD, Roy & Andrew also review RT's dramatization, The Legend of Squanto. You can hear it all on their latest podcast!
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Witnesses - A Shepherd's Encounter

December 21, 2014, 7:53 am
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Back when we interviewed her, Tracy Lyn Holland, star of the Adventures in Editing YouTube channel, talked about another project she was working on called Witnesses. It's a new radio drama series that allows us to hear first-hand accounts from the people that met Jesus and hear the stories from the Bible in a new way. The pilot episode has recently been released called A Shepherd's Encounter.



In this exciting Pilot episode, you will meet Phillip, a lonely shepherd, who suddenly found himself surrounded by Heaven’s glory when angels came to announce the birth of Christ, and later came face to face with the Son of God Himself.

It features AIO's Phil Lollar as Phillip with additional voices by Micah Touchet. Micah has done some acting on Phil's Iliad House series as well. You can buy it directly from the Witnesses website, iTunes, Google Play, CD Baby, and coming soon from Amazon. 

It truly is a insightful and wonderful drama with excellent music and writing. This would be a great way for your family to experience the Christmas story this holiday season!
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The World of Radio Drama Contest

December 26, 2014, 3:10 pm
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We hope you all had a great Christmas this week! It's hard to believe that 2014 is almost over. We've done a lot of fun things this year, but we have one more event for you to enjoy.


Radio drama and radio in general has been a big part of peoples lives for nearly 100 years. Radio drama's popularity waned when television came around, but is now becoming popular again and people are finding new ways of listening to it. As Adventures in Odyssey fans, we, in turn, like radio drama in general. However, not everyone grew up hearing it. We all have different stories on how we were introduced to radio drama and how we experience it. We want to hear your story! That's why we've created The World of Radio Drama contest!

How do I enter?

Write a 150-300 word essay answering 1 of these 5 questions:

1. What was your first exposure to radio drama and what were your first reactions? 
2. What is your favorite radio drama program and why? 
3. Why do you think radio drama has lasted so long? 
4. How do you think radio drama in general has impacted your life? 
5. How have you listened to radio drama over the years? 

After you are done, send it to our email at adventuresinodysseyblog[@]gmail.com. Make sure to include the question you answered from the list above in the email. We'll read all the entries and then choose the best 3 essays based on creativity, grammar, and how effectively each essay answers the question.

Be sure to read all the rules at the bottom of this post!

What will the winners get?

The essay chosen as third place will win an MP3 copy of the pilot episode of the brand new radio drama series, Witnesses. It features Phil Lollar as Phillip, a shepherd giving his first-hand account of his experience with an angelic visitation and being one of the first to see the Messiah.



The second place winner will receive a copy of Volume 9: The Whispering Sphinx from the Creation adventures series, Jonathan Park. It's a thrilling 12 part story that tells the story of a mysterious man who has a sinister plan to control all of Egypt. To stop it, the Creation Response Team must unravel the mystery of Egypt's history, including its Biblical history. A CD copy will be given to residents of the 48 contiguous United States and an MP3 copy will be given to those in Hawaii & Alaska or other countries.



And for the grand prize winner...

Possibly the best example of modern radio drama is Radio Theatre's dramatization of C.S. Lewis'Chronicles of Narnia. Focus on the Family recently repackaged this epic series into a special collectible tin along with a color map of Narnia. Each CD features new, beautiful artwork as well. This special collection will be given to the person whose essay is chosen to be the best of the best! Anyone in and outside of the US will be able to receive the CD set.



What are the rules?

  • Any legal resident of any country may enter!
  • You must be 8 years old or older to enter.
  • Be sure to add you name, age, and state/country in the email with your essay.
  • Only 1 entry allowed per household.
  • Do not put any vulgar or swear words in your work. If Whit wouldn't say it, you shouldn't write it.
  • The essay must contain at least 150 words, but no more than 300 words.
  • The essay must be 100% your work. All the words must be your own unless you are quoting someone. Be sure to give credit to the person you're quoting.
  • Please proofread your essay for spelling and punctuation errors. We will still accept essays with errors, but your chance of your article winning will diminish.

The deadline to get your essay in is January 10th, 2014 at 11:59 pm CST. Shortly after that, we'll announce the 3 winners. Then, we'll email each winner for them to send us information for enable us to send them their prize. If a winner does not respond to the email within 3 days, we will choose another person's essay and give the writer of that essay the prize. The 3 winning essays will be featured on our website for people to read. We hope you all have fun writing. We look forward to reading your entries and hearing your stories!


We value your privacy. We will not give out your email address, physical address, or use the essays sent in in any way outside of this contest. This contest is not endorsed by Focus on the Family, CreationWorks, or Witnesses.
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Winners of the World of Radio Drama Contest

January 19, 2015, 2:40 pm
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We have our winners! Near the end of last year, we announced a new contest for you guys to enter. The World of Radio Drama contest was a chance for people to write about different aspects of radio drama and their experience with it. We received some great entries and it was hard to choose which we (Austin, Tasha, & Ashley) thought was the best and which one deserved 2nd and 3rd place.

Coming in at 3rd place is Ally F., age 11. Her essay answered the question What is your favorite radio drama and why?


My favorite radio drama is Adventures in Odyssey because it helps explain things about God that I’ve always wondered about. Also I like it because there is always an adventure whether it’s in the imagination station or in the room of consequence, if Jason is on a case, or if it’s just a fun adventure in Odyssey. I’ve listened to most episodes twice and always want to know more. If I could be on Adventures in Odyssey that would be amazing. I listen to it every chance I get. I know a lot about the characters and always hope Odyssey will go on. My cousins and sister all listen to it together.  Every time I listen to an episode I like it more and more until I love it. I will definitely listen to Adventures in Odyssey for years to come and I hope everyone else will do the same for generations to come.


Great job Ally! You won the 3rd place prize of an MP3 copy of the pilot episode of Witnesses, A Shepherd's Encounter. Your enthusiasm for AIO shines through and we loved the line Every time I listen to an episode I like it more and more until I love it.

In 2nd place we have Katelyn W., age 16. She, too, answered the question What is your favorite radio drama and why?


Awesome Incredible Outstanding

“Hi, this is Chris! Welcome to Adventures in Odyssey!" For as long as I can remember, some of the best half-hours of my life have started that way. Adventures in Odyssey (AIO) has a special place in my life that no other radio drama will ever occupy.

The first reason AIO is my favorite radio drama is simply because I have listened to it all my life. When I listen to AIO, I am in the world of Odyssey where Connie, Whit, Eugene, Wooton, and the rest are completely real to me. I have spent enough time with them that I know many of their quirks, fears, likes, and dislikes. I have "seen" them mature over the years. Though I know they are not really alive, they are still like friends to me.

The second reason I like AIO so much is its high quality. As I read the interview with Steve Harris in AIO’s The Official Guide, I discovered that AIO has been committed to excellence since its beginning. The creators wanted AIO to be something kids and parents could enjoy together, so they knew the story itself had to appeal to both audiences. They also recognized radio drama’s potential, so they wanted to create an “awesome” show that would “set kids’ imaginations free." AIO’s high writing and production quality helps to pull my family and me into the world of Odyssey.

The third reason that I appreciate AIO is because of what it teaches me. The fact that I am passionate about AIO shows me the power that stories have. AIO demonstrates the potential contained in excellent stories that glorify God. These realizations have in turn influenced the goals of my own life. For these reasons and many more, Adventures in Odyssey is my all-time favorite radio drama!


Outstanding, Katelyn! You win a CD copy of Volume 9: The Whispering Sphinx from the Jonathan Park series. You really brought life to your essay with the quotes you used. Your deep appreciation of Odyssey on so many levels is wonderful.

The grand prize winner of this contest is Ava O., age 14. She answered the question Why do you think radio drama has lasted so long?


The Timeless World of Radio Drama

Radio Drama invites you into a timeless world that gives you the opportunity to imagine the characters or the story line through your own perspective. Though radio drama is simple, it is beautifully complex at the same time. Your imagination comes to life when you sit back and let the audio story unfold.

On a television screen everything is played out in front of you. Though it may have sight and sound it doesn’t engage all of the five senses as radio drama does. You don’t use any brain power in watching television, everything is laid out for you, not leaving much for you to figure out on your own.

There is something in Radio Drama that stimulates all five senses. The crackling fire, description of a first snowfall, and background conversations, are all things that stick through the ever changing times of our culture. You imagine the warmth of the crackling fire, you taste the bitter snow landing on your tongue, and you see all the different people having diverse conversations. This is what helps radio drama to keep from being out of touch and what keeps people wanting for more. It’s simplicity is what holds its beauty. It is assumed that radio drama isn’t dramatic whatsoever. It has a bland voice reciting a book. In reality, radio drama offers you diverse characters with gripping story lines. The engaging of the five senses, the imaginative contemplation, and the exhilarating story plots is what keeps radio drama enjoyable. There’s nothing like sitting down at the radio with your family and listening to your favorite audio. These are the aspects that have preserved radio drama through the years.



Wow. Ava, that was awesome! Your essay won us over as being our favorite with your explanations of what you believe is the heart of radio drama and how it is so beautifully simple and complex at the same time. You win possibly the most well-done radio drama series of all time: a special CD collection of all 7 dramas from Radio Theatre's The Chronicles of Narnia.

Again, congratulations to our 3 winners. We'll be emailing you soon to get you your prizes. We hope you enjoy listening to them! Thanks to everyone who entered this contest. It was a lot of fun reading each and every essay we got. We are so glad to see other people as enthusiastic as we are about radio drama. Also, thanks to the gracious people who supplied the prizes for us to give away. We couldn't have done this without you!

This is just the beginning of another great year for the Adventures in Odyssey Blog. We have several great things planned for 2015 and you won't to miss any of them! Make sure to subscribe to our feed and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus for updates on when we have new stuff happening.
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15 AIO Puns

February 18, 2015, 10:59 am
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We have a brand-new audio short to share with you all! Austin Peachey and Ryan Matlock wrote 15 original puns related to Adventures in Odyssey. Then, Tasha & Ashley Peachey and Kevin McCreary joined them to present them in a fun audio fashion.

We hope you enjoy all 15 of them!

 
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Official Podcast 219: Album 58 Avery Awards

February 24, 2015, 10:41 am
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Album 58 made a lot of waves when it aired. There were so many big surprises, outstanding lessons, and great performances from the actors. On the latest Official Podcast, we hear the Avery Awards for The Ties That Bind and find out what the fans thought were the best aspects of the season. It's another wacky and fun awards show so be sure to hear it right away!
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Adventures in Oddity: A New Book Written By Actors Of Connie & Eugene

April 30, 2015, 8:58 pm
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Connie Kendall and Eugene Meltsner are some of the most loved characters on AIO. The people that play them have been friends for years and have worked on several other projects together. Now, Katie Leigh and Will Ryan (voices of Connie and Eugene, respectively) have written a book together about their many experiences recording on Odyssey. It's entitled Adventures in Oddity.

Adventures in Oddity is a light-hearted, informative peek into the inter-relating minds and personalities of two veteran voice actors and the characters they bring to life. Katie Leigh and Will Ryan, a pair of voice-over professionals with thousands of film and television credits between them, interview each other regarding their work on America’s favorite dramatic radio series “Adventures in Odyssey” (heard on over 2,400 radio stations in North America since 1987). The dialogue also touches upon their work as voice actors on some of the most popular film and television successes of all time. Included are illustrative cartoons by co-author Will Ryan, past-president of the International Animated Film Society.

Front Cover
Back Cover
This special book will be released in early July this year, but you can get an early copy if you preorder now. Plus, the first 100 book will be autographed by the authors. There's also extra bonuses, like a personal phone call from one of the two actors and more! You can buy it now on Katie Leigh's website.
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Album 58 and Character Lineup Wallpapers

May 9, 2015, 2:19 pm
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It's been almost a year since we've released some new wallpapers. That's been far too long. To remedy that, we're giving you guys two new original for your computer desktop.

The first is our semi-annual album artwork background for the latest album release. Long over due, but finally here, is The Ties That Bind. The second, one of my favorite pieces, is a black and white lineup up the five main Odyssey characters.

Instructions: Click on the thumbnail, right-click the image, select Set as Background and there you have it!




                                                          >>See More Wallpapers
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Interview with Townsend Coleman

July 5, 2015, 7:29 pm
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We're back with another interview for you guys! This time, Austin, Tasha, and Ashley team up to ask Townsend Coleman (the voice of Jason Whittaker) questions about his many voice over roles, who he thinks should marry Jason, what it's like recording in the studio, what he'd like his character to do in the future, and much more. You can hear the whole conversation right here.

 

Who do you think we should interview next? Post a comment below and let us know!
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Official Podcast 229

July 8, 2015, 5:14 pm
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Any one who is a lover of radio drama will tell you that music is a vital part of it. Today, the Official Podcast hosts talk to John Campbell, the main composer for AIO. John has done the music for the show since the first episode and whose work can be heard in over 400 episodes! In the podcast, he discusses the different digital instruments he uses, composing character themes, and more. You can hear it all here.

In addition to that, if you're a member of the Odyssey Adventure Club, you can hear the soundtrack containing the scores used in the first season of the OAC episodes.

Finally, if you want to hear from another of Odyssey's music masters, you can listen to Audio Theatre Central's interview with Jared DePasquale who also did a lot of music for Radio Theatre.
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What We Know About Album 60

July 14, 2015, 7:32 pm
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Warning! Spoilers ahead! Do not read unless you have heard Albums 58 and 59!

Not too long ago, Album 59 was released to fans on Amazon and iTunes after first being available on the Odyssey Adventure Club. Now, we already have a lot of info on Album 60 entitled Head Over Heels. You'll find the cover art and summary below.


Love me . . . love me not? In the world of Odyssey, life’s issues rarely come together without a hitch. For Penny and Wooton, the answer to a marriage proposal leads to even more questions. Will Wooton meet with Penny’s family’s approval? And will Penny believe the best about Wooton even after the evidence seems to pile up against him? Meanwhile, others in town are asking questions of their own: The Parker family wonders if Mom will ever learn how to ride a bike, Whit unexpectedly questions whether his daughter should move to town, and Emily wonders how an unknown hero is thwarting the robberies across town. Throw caution to the wind and find the answers as the folks in Odyssey jump head over heels into the path of truth and discernment.

The  current release dates for Album 60:
December 2015: Odyssey Adventure Club
February 2016: Digital download
March 2016: CD set
??? 2016: Radio Broadcast

This album continues the new trend of splitting up the normal 12 episode album into two 6 episode albums. We're still getting 24 new episodes each year, but now all the episodes' releases are being spread out over the entire year.

Are you excited to hear Album 60? How do you feel about how Album 59's release was handled?
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7 Years and Counting!

July 30, 2015, 5:41 pm
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It seems like it's been just a short time, but in fact, the Adventures in Odyssey Blog celebrates it's 7th anniversary today! It's absolutely mind blowing to me to think that I've been running this site that long. Although I've started other blogs and websites, I haven't poured in as much time and effort as I have for this one.

It's really been a labor of love to bring you this site . I love Adventures in Odyssey and I hope it shows through everything here. I've gotten a lot of help from many people who have been a part of all the many things we do.We wouldn't do all we do if we thought that no one would enjoy it.  Of course, this site wouldn't still be active if wasn't for the many comments and support you all have given over the years. We really appreciate it. I don't get to do as much as I did for the blog as I did when it started, but I try to keep putting out fun and exciting content as much as possible. Speaking of, we've got a really fun sketch coming out soon called Odyssey Addicts Anonymous. It's going to be awesome!

I could go on, but that would be really expositional (as Wooton would say). To wrap up, on behalf of myself, Tasha, and the many other contributors for the AIO Blog,

Thank You!
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Odyssey Addicts Anonymous

October 17, 2015, 8:09 pm
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If you're reading this, you're probably a fan of Adventures in Odyssey. Some are casual fans while others are die-hard fans, but have you heard of AIO fanatics? We decided to write a story about people who took their fandom too far. What would it be like if they sought help with their addiction from a support group? This is the product of that idea.

It took a couple of months to put everything together but it's finally finished. We asked several of our friends to play the parts in the sketch like Shona Kennedy, Phil Lollar, Josh Ko, Tracy Lynn Holland, and others. They all did a fantastic job!

So, sit back and enjoy Odyssey Addicts Anonymous.

 

Make sure to follow us on SoundCloud to hear more great AIO sketches and songs!
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AIO Oddcast Interview Will Ryan & Katie Leigh

October 21, 2015, 3:38 pm
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Our friends Devon & Victoria from the Adventures in Odyssey Oddcast have just released possibly the most exciting interview to come out of the AIO fan community in a long time. They did a video interview with Will Ryan, the voice of Eugene Meltsner and Harlow Doyle! Will hasn't done many interviews since he appeared on the Official Podcast in 2007, either official or fan interviews. He's also joined by Katie Leigh, voice of Connie Kendall.

If you enjoy the banter between the characters they play, you'll enjoy seeing and hearing how similar the actors are to their characters. They talk about their new book, the new additions to each of their characters' family, their history on AIO, and much more!

 

Be sure to subscribe to the AIO Oddcast's channel to get super in depth episodes reviews and theories that die-hard fans will love!
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Odyssey Adventure Club: Season 2 Wallpaper

November 4, 2015, 8:41 am
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The second season of the Odyssey Adventure Club is almost done. There's been some really great episodes this year! To showcase some of them, we created a new wallpaper using some of the images from those episodes, such as The Cure and Pinocchio.

Instructions: Click on the thumbnail, right-click the image, select Set as Background and there you have it!
                                                >>See More Wallpapers
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