2010 Season
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The 2010 Season is the 24th regular season of Adventures in Odyssey. It started on March 6, 2010 with the airing of #655: “The Inspiration Station, Part 1”, and concluded with the airing of #678: “Grandma's Christmas Visit” on December 18, 2010.
The spring season was highly anticipated as the last episode to be aired and released in the regular series was #642: “The Imagination Station, Revisited, Part 2”, broadcast on May 17, 2008. Although The Truth Chronicles was released in 2008 and the Passages: Darien's Rise dramatization aired in the fall of 2009, it didn't pick up the "cliff-hanger ending" from the 2008 Season.
Spring Season
- The 2010 Season contains 25 episodes that have an average rating of {{#w4grb_cat_rating:2010 Season Episodes}}%.
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Fall Season
- The 2010 Season contains 25 episodes that have an average rating of {{#w4grb_cat_rating:2010 Season Episodes}}%.
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Three different albums encompass all of the episodes in the 2010 Season.
The sampler album Welcome to Whit’s End, includes the 11-minute minute episode called “Welcome to Whit’s End”.
Album 51, Take it From the Top, was released in March 2010. Much excitement was built up in the two years before its release.
Album 52, Cause and Effect, was released in October 2010. According to the Official Podcast, album 52 was the longest album ever produced, until Album 58, The Ties that Bind in 2014.
The Relaunch
In 2008 and 2009, the AIO team took a long hiatus to reevaluate the direction that the show was taking, as they had done nearly 12 years earlier after the end of the 1996 Season (Album 28: Welcome Home!). During this time they wrote new episodes, created new characters, and decided to make changes on things such as the show's logo and the release of albums.
Since Album 50: The Best Small Town had wrapped up many previous storylines, the team considered “Welcome to Whit's End” and, subsequently, Album 51 to be a fresh starting point for the show, a place where new listeners could start without needing to know existing storylines from previous albums. As such, Album 51 was internally dubbed "The Relaunch" before its official title was chosen.
Whit's Voice
Probably the most notable and noticeable change in the season is that the acting role of John Whittaker, who was voiced by Paul Herlinger from 1996 to 2008, was taken over by the actor Andre Stojka. When the switch was officially announced, it was stated that Herlinger retired because of health reasons. Sadly, one month before the premiere of the 2010 season, he passed away.
Album Release
In the past, albums were made available some time after all of the episodes in them were aired on the radio. Starting with the release of Passages: Darien's Rise, albums have been available before their episodes air, or shortly after the first few episodes air.
Logo
Around this time the AIO logo was redesigned, making its debut on the official site and then on the covers of the sampler album Welcome to Whit's End and Album 51.
Opening Theme
This season also marked the use of a new musical theme composed by John Campbell. An early version of the theme was released shortly before the season premiere on Official Podcast 88.
Character Art
Character art for Whit, Connie, and Eugene were updated with a new look. The first image of Wooton without his face covered was also released.
As was done after the first hiatus, many new families and characters were introduced in this season, primarily in spring.
New Characters
- Two new bully characters: Vance King, played by Jason Earles; and Jay Smouse, played by Whit Hertford.
- Wooton's Captain Absolutely comics, which replaced PowerBoy.
- Red Hollard, a handyman from Tennessee.
- The Parker family, whose members include Eva (mother), David (father), Camilla (age 8), Matthew (age 10), Olivia (age 11), and their grandmother, Lucia.
- The Jones family, which consists of Simon (father), Dorothy (mother), Emily, and Barrett.
Character Changes
- With the exception of Whit, Connie, Eugene, Harlow and Wooton, every character left Odyssey after the hiatus. Katrina, Jason and Monty returned in 2011, Jack and Joanne Allen, Dale and Ann Jacobs and Mitch returned in 2012, Jeff Lewis returned in 2013, Edwin Blackgaard and Bernard Walton returned briefly in #772: “Pinocchio: The Tale of a Foolish Puppet, Part 2” in 2015, Wellington Bassett returned in 2016, Marvin Washington returned in 2017, and Officer Stew Burke returned in 2022.
- Ryan Cummings and Nelson Swanson, characters from Kidsboro, were integrated into normal Odyssey episodes in 2010, with Valerie Swanson, also from Kidsboro, being integrated into Odyssey episodes in 2011.
- Walker Edmiston, the voice actor who played Tom Riley, Bart Rathbone and others, died in 2007, so his characters left the show after 2008.
This is a teaser for the cover of Album 52, released in a promo video for the FOTF Mother's Day contest.
A full quality screen-shot of the first teaser
Clearer than the previous Album 52 teaser, this artwork seems to have been modified a bit.
The printed second teaser was given to a fan at Focus on the Family and then eventually was scanned and uploaded here.
Including the second teaser for Album 52, this image may have had other clues about future episodes.
The back cover of Album 52, as seen in a picture on the 100th Official Podcast
Albums
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