Whit's Flop

001: Whit's Flop

Preview:

Airdate

November 21, 1987

Last Aired

Date Recorded

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Recorded at

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Album

01: The Adventure Begins
01: The Early Classics
00: Adventures in Odyssey
00: Odyssey USA
Amazing Stories Series 04: Self-Esteem
Silver Celebration

Cassette No.

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Length

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Theme

Failure

Genre

[[Category:{{{genre}}} Episodes]][[:Category:{{{genre}}} Episodes| {{{genre}}}]]

Scripture

Romans 8:28

Written By

Phil Lollar
Steve Harris

Directed By

Phil Lollar
Steve Harris

Produced By

Bob Luttrell
Steve Harris

Executive Producer

Chuck Bolte

Post-Production

Bob Luttrell
Steve Harris

Engineer

Bob Luttrell

Music By

John Campbell

Songs By

Unknown

Inventions Used

Davey's Pizza Oven

Rating

Current user rating: 80% (89 votes)

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Family Store

A Simple Addition

Whit's Flop

The Life of the Party

Summary

Davey Holcomb learns that failure is important when Whit shows him how to turn a failure into a great success.

Plot

Davey's pizza oven starts to explode

Davey Holcomb is a walking disaster. It seems everything he touches or attempts ends up in failure. At a Little League baseball game, Davey strikes out three times, knocks over the portable backstop, cleats his own second baseman, and causes the entire team to trip over him when he bends down to tie his shoe.

After the game, the team goes to Whit's End to commiserate about their loss. At Whit’s End, Davey meets Whit, who shows him around. As they talk, Whit learns that Davey is interested in inventing things. Whit suggests Davey try out the Inventors' Corner, but Davey is afraid he'll fail again. Whit asks Davey to help him bring out a new display called "Whit's Flop," an invention Whit couldn't get to work. Davey tries to fix "Whit's Flop" and nearly succeeds until he accidentally breaks off a lever on the machine.

Davey runs out of the shop, rejected. Whit follows to bring him back inside, telling Davey that he must fix what he has broken. So Davey returns, and he and Whit work on the flop together, creating a new invention. They unveil it later that afternoon but when Davey proudly turns it on, it shorts out and nearly blows up. He leaves again, feeling sorry for himself.

A short time later, Whit finds Davey and offers him a piece of freshly-made pizza. They talk, and Davey learns that the machine fizzled out because of a short in the wiring at Whit's End, not because of anything Davey did. The machine, a pizza oven, works wonderfully and is a big hit with the kids. Davey has succeeded - without even knowing it! Whit explains that this is an example of how "God works all things together for good."

Discussion Questions

1. Why did Whit say failing is important?
2. How long should you keep trying to do something at which you've failed?
3. List some ways God has worked things out for good in your life.

Cast

Characters	Actors
Amanda (a)	Dana Howerton
Davey Holcomb	Christopher Lewis
John Whittaker	Hal Smith
Ralph (a)	Chad Reisser
Tom Riley	Walker Edmiston

Notes

Trivia

• "Whit's Flop" was the first episode of Adventures in Odyssey ever aired. At the time the show was called "Odyssey USA".
• This is the only episode to involve Davey until much later in #551: “Stars in Our Eyes”.
• This episode, as well as #17: “A Member of the Family, Part 1”, are the only episodes where the The Odyssey Coyotes have a combined boys-and-girls team.
• Amanda refers to Whit by his nickname in this episode. This is a rare occurrence. Very few times have we seen a child calling Mr. Whittaker, "Whit".
• This episode introduces Whit to Adventures in Odyssey.
• In the early days of Adventures in Odyssey, the regular cast (aside from Whit and Tom Riley) was constantly shifting. As a result, it wasn't uncommon for characters to appear in only a couple of episodes and actors usually found themselves playing a different character every episode. For example in this episode Chad Reisser (who later played Monty Whittaker) played Ralph (a) in this episode.

Goofs

• When Davey tells Whit about the backstop falling over, Whit says, "That was just a coincidence." However, it is established in all subsequent episodes, such as #47: “A Single Vote”, that Whit doesn't "believe anything is a coincidence."
  • Note: This can be explained in the following way. When Whit says that it's a coincidence that the backstop fell over near Davey Holcomb, he means that the backstop is unrelated to Davey. However, when Whit says that nothing is a coincidence, he means that everything has a purpose and is part of God's plan. The sense is different. It is not a contradiction.
• The Complete Guide lists Phil Lollar as "Sally's father," in this show. There's no Sally that we know of and Phil himself only appears in the background while Davey is talking to Tom Riley.

Reviews

• At Whit's End: Read
• The Odyssey Scoop: Read
• The Town of Odyssey Message Boards: Read
• Adventures in Odyssey Headquarters: Read

Quotes

John Whittaker: Well, that was just a coincidence.

---

Davey Holcomb: I broke your machine, Mr. Whittaker! I broke it!

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