User:Reddo/AIO Live Review

I was fortunate enough to have recently received a copy of AIO Live from FOTF. Here are a few of my thoughts of this exciting upcoming collection. (Be warned this review contains some minor spoilers)

The Packaging

I thought that the packaging for this episode is really good. It fits in nicely with the new line of artwork with the blue splash in the background, while being different enough that you know as soon as you look at it that it is a special collection. I haven’t got to hold in my hands the final packaging but from the photos that I’ve seen it looks like the die-cut cover really adds to the cover and can create some interesting effects when in the light.

The Episode

I have mixed feelings about the episode itself. I normally like the format and style of BTV with the different views of classic stories and fairy tales that they tell. This episode takes a bit of a different take on it. The first time that I listened to it I didn’t really like it; however after listening to it several times it’s really grown on me. I don’t think that it was really necessary to bring back all the old characters like Lucy, Jack and Jimmy for this episode as their part was really small. I think that if I had seen the episode in person though my opinion would be vastly different as those were the characters that were on when I started listening to Odyssey and it would have been great to hear and see them in person.

The Episode with Slide Show

I thought that the slideshow really added to the episode. At first it was really weird to hear voices that sounded so familiar coming out of mouths look nothing like what I had imagined but after I got over that it was really enjoyable. It was really amazing to see the wide range of Chuck Bolte really has, things like how he voices George getting vacuumed and going through the decontamination unit still amazes me and I’ve watched that part of the slideshow many times. Another cool thing about the slideshow was the clips of the foley guys making sound effects to go along with the episode. I never would have thought that they could make sounds like they did with what they had. The one thing that I didn’t like about the slideshow was that sometimes the picture changed to quickly, they tried to always have a picture of whoever was talking up. This usually worked out pretty good but sometimes there are times when a character only says like two words and they show a picture of them for only a brief second.

Event Slideshow

This was another interesting part of the dvd, it was good to see pictures of a lot of people that aren’t often seen or heard from on the show or official podcast. Another great part of this section was seeing what some of the building looks like, I’ve never had the opportunity to go down to Colorado Springs, Colorado and I enjoyed seeing what some of it looked like.

Fan on the Street Interviews

I thought that this part of the dvd was the only part that really could have been done better, I’m not sure exactly what it was about this section that could have been done better but it just didn’t seem up to the high level that is seen in the other areas of the dvd. Some of the section was nice to listen to and it’s good to know that I’m not the only one who has listened to Adventures in Odyssey when in the Bathroom but I can’t see myself watching this more than once.

Celebrating 20 years with Dr. Dobson

I had never seen or heard this before, I remember back in 2007 when they were getting ready to record this to celebrate the 20th anniversary. I had thought about phoning in but I didn’t and until now I had forgotten about it. I was really surprised at the huge effect that Connie, Part 1 and 2 has had on the lives of people over the years, there’s a huge number of people who came to Christ from this episode, more than I ever thought possible. I thought that this was kind of interesting to listen to, there was some interesting information and stories that were told but I think that this like the fan on the street interviews is one of those things that you only watch once.

Concluding Thoughts

I think that this album will make a great addition to any fan’s collection and look forward to getting a version of the final copy soon.