21. The Family Chronicles
Reflections on The Truth Chronicles and Album 58.
By David Hilder | December 13, 2014
Reflections on The Truth Chronicles and Album 58.
By David Hilder | December 13, 2014
If you’ve heard Album 58: The Ties That Bind, you know it is not a normal album. It does something different, exploring the theme of God’s design for family across a lengthy fourteen-part story, the longest in the history of the show. In this editorial I talk about the similarities to be found between this latest album and a special eleven-episode collection called The Truth Chronicles.
Mr. Whittaker is the king of analogies. He frequently uses illustrations and object lessons to help teach the kids of Odyssey important truths. Who could forget when Whit used farm produce to explain friendship to Craig Moorhead in Album 1? There are plenty of other examples, such as the time Whit got Connie to carry around a sack of bricks to make her realize the grudge she’s been carrying around, the elaborate story he told to explain nobility to Isaac Morton, or his creation of the prayer vending machine. Whit’s strategy is to demonstrate God’s truth through both direct teaching and symbolism, almost like parables. One collection that features a high concentration of lessons from Mr. Whittaker is The Truth Chronicles, which came out in 2008, just after Album 50. The series, unlike regular Adventures in Odyssey shows, was designed to focus heavily on the teaching of specific themes. It was never aired on the radio, so if you haven’t heard it I would recommend you do listen to it on CD or digital download. It’s a very interesting album. And its emphasis on using stories and analogies to explain a biblical worldview is continued in the show’s latest collection, Album 58: The Ties That Bind.
Except for the Kidsboro shows, every single episode in The Truth Chronicles is written and directed by Paul McCusker, just like Album 58. And there are plenty of ideas which crossover. I’d like to direct your attention to the third episode in the collection called The Science Club, which deals with the conflict between a teacher and a student. In this show Mr. Whittaker gives the kids an analogy. He takes them to the KYDS Radio studio and plays some audio clips he calls a “radio mystery.” He first plays a short clip out of context but then fills in the gaps with a longer clip. The story sounds completely different when placed into a little more context. But even then there are many questions left to be answered. When Nelson Swanson, president of the Science Club, begins to question some of the accepted teaching as a result of Whit’s analogy, his teacher, Mrs. Galbreath, pushes back. She shuts down debate and encourages him to quit his position as president. Mr. Whittaker then gives Nelson the idea of showing the validity of his argument through an analogy using marbles. The similarities between Mrs. Galbreath and Ms. Adelaide are obvious. In Album 58 the teacher Ms. Adelaide is very hostile to Biblical ideals for marriage and family and tries to teach her own ideas in the classroom. Matthew and Emily question her ideas, and are met with opposition. Their essays are given a bad grade as a result. But Ms. Adelaide later admits that she was wrong to turn her teaching position into a pulpit to preach her views. Similarly, Mrs. Galbreath is unable to force Nelson to quit his position as president because the other students stand up for him.
Both albums also use comic book characters to explain their message. In Album 58 Wooton announces the Sleuth Family Robinson, a family of detectives who follow God’s design. In The Truth Chronicles the episode called Three in One starts off with Wooton telling a story about Captain Absolutely. He encounters a villain called the Unifier who is trying to push together all the city’s buildings into one central place. The Unifier says, “I’m bringing them all together…to relieve the oppression.” He then says, “If everyone will follow my plan, we can bring unity to Metropolitanville. Imagine everyone working together in tolerance and love, hand in hand, to build a better society.” When Captain Absolutely objects, the Unifier accuses him of being “an intolerant hatemonger!” Captain Absolutely then emphasizes that “God’s design is the best.”
The Unifier’s plan sounds a lot like what Ms. Adelaide is trying to do with the Let’s Get Together Festival in Album 58. She has her own vision of what society should look like and wants everyone to be unified under that vision. Trying to push buildings around and force them together into a new design also sounds a bit like Mr. Whittaker’s analogy about the fountain pen. If you try really hard to force your will onto something, ignoring the purpose intended by the designer, it may do what you want it to, but in the process you will cause destruction. Later, the Unifier singles out Captain Absolutely as the only one left in the city who is resisting the changes he wants to implement. In a similar way, Mr. Whittaker is singled out as the only business owner who is willing to stand up for his Christian beliefs.
In that same episode, Three in One, Connie applies for a job at Odyssey Cable. In her presentation she pitches a show called “The Little Train That Couldn’t.” It’s a story about a freight train engine who grows envious of his fellow trains who get to do different jobs and travel faster than he does. He decides to break the rules and travel fast along the tracks, faster than he was ever designed to go. He then becomes envious of an airplane and longs to be free of the constraints of the railroad tracks. So he speeds off a cliff, hoping to fly. He of course crashes and is heavily damaged. Unable to pull heavy loads any more or go very fast, the train engine is forced to work at the county fair where he travels very slowly, pulling children in a circles, around and around. It’s a very humbling experience.
And this story about the train is remarkably similar to the analogy Whit talks about in the Train Room in Album 58. He uses a train which he and Matthew Parker have designed. And in this lesson the intentions of the designer are incredibly important. One train goes too fast and when it comes to a turn it derails. Then two trains are heading straight for each other and the tracks are only switched just in time, avoiding a terrible collision. Then one train is loaded with too much cargo and struggles to move forward under the weight, straining the engine. Whit then proposes that the train be freed from the track so it can go wherever it wants. Just like the little train that couldn’t, Whit’s trains are damaged when their drivers ignore the intentions of the designer.
And both albums teach specifically on family as well. Later on, still during the episode Three in One, Eugene talks to Nelson about God’s design for families. He says, “Note Mr. Whittaker’s display about families over here. As intended by God, it should have a father, a mother, and the children.” He relates this to the unity that exists in the Trinity, a connection Mr. Whittaker also makes in The Ties That Bind. Eugene says, “If you work against God’s design, things tend to go terribly wrong.” Album 58 takes this scene about the importance of family and expands it into a fourteen-part series.
In the episode In My Image, my favorite show in The Truth Chronicles, Whit tells the story of a boy named William who rebels against his parents and God’s restrictive rules and instead goes his own way. He first purchases an idol or god for himself called “Affirmus,” who tells him what he wants to hear. It encourages William in everything his heart desires, even when it goes against what God wants. This gets him in trouble, so he replaces Affirmus with a new god, a doll called “Otto,” which the seller Randolph Fox says means “fuel.” Otto not only helps William play piano, but like fuel he fires him up and pushes him towards achieving his personal goals and desires. This path is even more dangerous than the first, and heads towards a tragic ending. Otto ends up being the master over the servant, William.
Letting people pursue their own desires, whatever they may be, is the kind of tolerance Ms. Adelaide preaches. Like the false god Affirmus, she affirms what some people want, no matter if it violates God’s law. They are free individuals, unaccountable for how their choices affect themselves and others. But, like Otto, she is also a controlling figure, trying to silence all opposition and force a certain viewpoint on those she has authority over. People are only tolerated as long as they stay within Ms. Adelaide’s personal definition of acceptability.
While The Truth Chronicles is a hard-hitting teaching series, it ends on a note of compassion. In the episode The Final Call, the story of Jonah is told. It displays God’s love for those who are far away from him, a love that reaches out to those who live in wickedness. Jonah is unwilling to let go of his anger for his enemies, the people of Nineveh. But God welcomes them with open arms when they repent. Loving your enemies is what Jesus teaches, and it’s also what Mr. Whittaker displays in Album 58. He does not hate Ms. Adelaide. He shows compassion for her and her hospitalized brother, Randall. Even while she thinks the worst of him, he thinks the best of her. But loving your neighbors also means telling them the truth. Whit doesn’t hold back in that area either. He holds true to God’s Word.
Viewing Album 58 in its context is important. Even though it features the return of Buck Oliver, it is not a sequel to Album 53 as much as it is a companion to The Truth Chronicles. It is not another Green Ring Conspiracy, but a “conspiracy of ideas” as Mr. Whittaker says. Two worldviews clash and must battle it out. Just as The Truth Chronicles is based on The Truth Project, Album 58: The Ties That Bind is inspired by The Family Project. They both teach a biblical perspective and deal with controversial issues, going against the current culture. They are compact and dense, their analogies and stories holding deep layers of meaning.
It’s become normal for Adventures in Odyssey fans to associate multi-parters with the action and adventure genre. And although Album 58 does have some action, it has very little compared to past sagas. Instead, Album 58 is focused on the actual teaching. Entertainment is secondary. Like Jesus’ parables, Album 58 uses stories, analogies and symbols to explain God’s truth. But here’s the thing with analogies. They’re incomplete and often simplistic. Even Whit acknowledges that his train analogy is a “flawed example” and can’t do the subject justice. But it’s a start—a springboard for discussion that should happen between parents and their kids. That seems to be the purpose of the album. Both The Truth Chronicles and Album 58 do very well in that respect and continue to yield new and deeper levels of meaning when you relisten to them. These albums take the show in a different direction than we’re used to and remind us how countercultural the Christian life should be.
Mr. Whittaker is the king of analogies. He frequently uses illustrations and object lessons to help teach the kids of Odyssey important truths. Who could forget when Whit used farm produce to explain friendship to Craig Moorhead in Album 1? There are plenty of other examples, such as the time Whit got Connie to carry around a sack of bricks to make her realize the grudge she’s been carrying around, the elaborate story he told to explain nobility to Isaac Morton, or his creation of the prayer vending machine. Whit’s strategy is to demonstrate God’s truth through both direct teaching and symbolism, almost like parables. One collection that features a high concentration of lessons from Mr. Whittaker is The Truth Chronicles, which came out in 2008, just after Album 50. The series, unlike regular Adventures in Odyssey shows, was designed to focus heavily on the teaching of specific themes. It was never aired on the radio, so if you haven’t heard it I would recommend you do listen to it on CD or digital download. It’s a very interesting album. And its emphasis on using stories and analogies to explain a biblical worldview is continued in the show’s latest collection, Album 58: The Ties That Bind.
Except for the Kidsboro shows, every single episode in The Truth Chronicles is written and directed by Paul McCusker, just like Album 58. And there are plenty of ideas which crossover. I’d like to direct your attention to the third episode in the collection called The Science Club, which deals with the conflict between a teacher and a student. In this show Mr. Whittaker gives the kids an analogy. He takes them to the KYDS Radio studio and plays some audio clips he calls a “radio mystery.” He first plays a short clip out of context but then fills in the gaps with a longer clip. The story sounds completely different when placed into a little more context. But even then there are many questions left to be answered. When Nelson Swanson, president of the Science Club, begins to question some of the accepted teaching as a result of Whit’s analogy, his teacher, Mrs. Galbreath, pushes back. She shuts down debate and encourages him to quit his position as president. Mr. Whittaker then gives Nelson the idea of showing the validity of his argument through an analogy using marbles. The similarities between Mrs. Galbreath and Ms. Adelaide are obvious. In Album 58 the teacher Ms. Adelaide is very hostile to Biblical ideals for marriage and family and tries to teach her own ideas in the classroom. Matthew and Emily question her ideas, and are met with opposition. Their essays are given a bad grade as a result. But Ms. Adelaide later admits that she was wrong to turn her teaching position into a pulpit to preach her views. Similarly, Mrs. Galbreath is unable to force Nelson to quit his position as president because the other students stand up for him.
Both albums also use comic book characters to explain their message. In Album 58 Wooton announces the Sleuth Family Robinson, a family of detectives who follow God’s design. In The Truth Chronicles the episode called Three in One starts off with Wooton telling a story about Captain Absolutely. He encounters a villain called the Unifier who is trying to push together all the city’s buildings into one central place. The Unifier says, “I’m bringing them all together…to relieve the oppression.” He then says, “If everyone will follow my plan, we can bring unity to Metropolitanville. Imagine everyone working together in tolerance and love, hand in hand, to build a better society.” When Captain Absolutely objects, the Unifier accuses him of being “an intolerant hatemonger!” Captain Absolutely then emphasizes that “God’s design is the best.”
The Unifier’s plan sounds a lot like what Ms. Adelaide is trying to do with the Let’s Get Together Festival in Album 58. She has her own vision of what society should look like and wants everyone to be unified under that vision. Trying to push buildings around and force them together into a new design also sounds a bit like Mr. Whittaker’s analogy about the fountain pen. If you try really hard to force your will onto something, ignoring the purpose intended by the designer, it may do what you want it to, but in the process you will cause destruction. Later, the Unifier singles out Captain Absolutely as the only one left in the city who is resisting the changes he wants to implement. In a similar way, Mr. Whittaker is singled out as the only business owner who is willing to stand up for his Christian beliefs.
In that same episode, Three in One, Connie applies for a job at Odyssey Cable. In her presentation she pitches a show called “The Little Train That Couldn’t.” It’s a story about a freight train engine who grows envious of his fellow trains who get to do different jobs and travel faster than he does. He decides to break the rules and travel fast along the tracks, faster than he was ever designed to go. He then becomes envious of an airplane and longs to be free of the constraints of the railroad tracks. So he speeds off a cliff, hoping to fly. He of course crashes and is heavily damaged. Unable to pull heavy loads any more or go very fast, the train engine is forced to work at the county fair where he travels very slowly, pulling children in a circles, around and around. It’s a very humbling experience.
And this story about the train is remarkably similar to the analogy Whit talks about in the Train Room in Album 58. He uses a train which he and Matthew Parker have designed. And in this lesson the intentions of the designer are incredibly important. One train goes too fast and when it comes to a turn it derails. Then two trains are heading straight for each other and the tracks are only switched just in time, avoiding a terrible collision. Then one train is loaded with too much cargo and struggles to move forward under the weight, straining the engine. Whit then proposes that the train be freed from the track so it can go wherever it wants. Just like the little train that couldn’t, Whit’s trains are damaged when their drivers ignore the intentions of the designer.
And both albums teach specifically on family as well. Later on, still during the episode Three in One, Eugene talks to Nelson about God’s design for families. He says, “Note Mr. Whittaker’s display about families over here. As intended by God, it should have a father, a mother, and the children.” He relates this to the unity that exists in the Trinity, a connection Mr. Whittaker also makes in The Ties That Bind. Eugene says, “If you work against God’s design, things tend to go terribly wrong.” Album 58 takes this scene about the importance of family and expands it into a fourteen-part series.
In the episode In My Image, my favorite show in The Truth Chronicles, Whit tells the story of a boy named William who rebels against his parents and God’s restrictive rules and instead goes his own way. He first purchases an idol or god for himself called “Affirmus,” who tells him what he wants to hear. It encourages William in everything his heart desires, even when it goes against what God wants. This gets him in trouble, so he replaces Affirmus with a new god, a doll called “Otto,” which the seller Randolph Fox says means “fuel.” Otto not only helps William play piano, but like fuel he fires him up and pushes him towards achieving his personal goals and desires. This path is even more dangerous than the first, and heads towards a tragic ending. Otto ends up being the master over the servant, William.
Letting people pursue their own desires, whatever they may be, is the kind of tolerance Ms. Adelaide preaches. Like the false god Affirmus, she affirms what some people want, no matter if it violates God’s law. They are free individuals, unaccountable for how their choices affect themselves and others. But, like Otto, she is also a controlling figure, trying to silence all opposition and force a certain viewpoint on those she has authority over. People are only tolerated as long as they stay within Ms. Adelaide’s personal definition of acceptability.
While The Truth Chronicles is a hard-hitting teaching series, it ends on a note of compassion. In the episode The Final Call, the story of Jonah is told. It displays God’s love for those who are far away from him, a love that reaches out to those who live in wickedness. Jonah is unwilling to let go of his anger for his enemies, the people of Nineveh. But God welcomes them with open arms when they repent. Loving your enemies is what Jesus teaches, and it’s also what Mr. Whittaker displays in Album 58. He does not hate Ms. Adelaide. He shows compassion for her and her hospitalized brother, Randall. Even while she thinks the worst of him, he thinks the best of her. But loving your neighbors also means telling them the truth. Whit doesn’t hold back in that area either. He holds true to God’s Word.
Viewing Album 58 in its context is important. Even though it features the return of Buck Oliver, it is not a sequel to Album 53 as much as it is a companion to The Truth Chronicles. It is not another Green Ring Conspiracy, but a “conspiracy of ideas” as Mr. Whittaker says. Two worldviews clash and must battle it out. Just as The Truth Chronicles is based on The Truth Project, Album 58: The Ties That Bind is inspired by The Family Project. They both teach a biblical perspective and deal with controversial issues, going against the current culture. They are compact and dense, their analogies and stories holding deep layers of meaning.
It’s become normal for Adventures in Odyssey fans to associate multi-parters with the action and adventure genre. And although Album 58 does have some action, it has very little compared to past sagas. Instead, Album 58 is focused on the actual teaching. Entertainment is secondary. Like Jesus’ parables, Album 58 uses stories, analogies and symbols to explain God’s truth. But here’s the thing with analogies. They’re incomplete and often simplistic. Even Whit acknowledges that his train analogy is a “flawed example” and can’t do the subject justice. But it’s a start—a springboard for discussion that should happen between parents and their kids. That seems to be the purpose of the album. Both The Truth Chronicles and Album 58 do very well in that respect and continue to yield new and deeper levels of meaning when you relisten to them. These albums take the show in a different direction than we’re used to and remind us how countercultural the Christian life should be.
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