24. Meanwhile, in Another Part of Marus
The future of Passages audio adaptations.
By David Hilder | May 30, 2015
The future of Passages audio adaptations.
By David Hilder | May 30, 2015
Right now the focus of the Adventures in Odyssey community seems to be on the release of Album 59: Taking the Plunge on the Odyssey Adventure Club, in addition to the exclusive club episodes released on a monthly basis. If you’ve been listening to the Official Podcast lately, you may have noticed that almost every single show these days is dedicated to an interview which ties into a new OAC episode. And if you’re a member of the club, you know it has a lot more to offer than just these new releases. There is a whole archive of nearly thirty years’ worth of past shows just waiting there, ready for anyone brave enough to embark on an Odyssey marathon. For those of you who have explored this archive at some point, you’ve probably noticed a strange album sitting near the bottom of the list. Next to The Lost Episodes, The Truth Chronicles, Family Portraits, The Officer Harley Collection, The Last Chance Detectives and the Spanish-language show Aventuras en Odisea, an album called Passages: Darien’s Rise is the odd one out.
The Passages album is the only collection at the bottom of the list to feature the new AIO logo instead of the old. Its artwork is in a different style and it depicts a medieval castle in the light of not one but two moons hanging in the sky. One look at the description and you’ll quickly notice this isn’t your typical Odyssey album. The summary says that this “legendary audio series” takes place in “the mysterious land of Marus” and follows two children who discover their “newfound powers.” That sounds unusual. Other series have pushed the boundaries of the Odyssey universe, such the Novacom Saga or the Last Chance Detectives, but travelling to other words is far more ambitious. Passages leans towards the fantasy genre, going far beyond what you’ve come to expect from the most bizarre Imagination Station adventure, and it also looks beyond AIO’s normal target age range, choosing to cater to slightly older listeners. Passages is a special series like no other. It expands the universe of AIO in an unexpected direction—to a possible parallel dimension called Marus. But unlike C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, the fantastical world of Marus may or may not exist. That’s what makes Passages such an intriguing a mystery.
How did this all come about? It began with the book series. Writer Paul McCusker came up with the idea to retell Bible stories set in an alternate world to give those who were already very familiar with the Bible a new perspective on it. The first three novels in the Passages series, entitled Darien’s Rise, Arin’s Judgment, and Annison’s Risk, were originally released in 1999. Then in 2000 the next three were released, entitled Glennall’s Betrayal, Draven’s Defiance, and Fendar’s Legacy. As a tie-in to these book releases, Paul also wrote an original two-part Adventures in Odyssey episode now entitled Passages: Fletcher’s Rebellion, which aired in 1999. You can listen to that story on Album 34: In Your Wildest Dreams. The Passages books were rereleased for a second edition, the first three in 2005 and the next three in 2006. Then in the fall of 2009 the first audio adaptation of a Passages book was released. Passages: Darien’s Rise debuted as a nine-part episode, a record for the longest multi-part episode at the time. Following that, the whole book series was rereleased for a third edition from 2010 to 2011 with new cover artwork to match the audio release.
Passages: Darien’s Rise is the beginning of a great adventure. And yet nearly six years after its release this album still sits all by itself with no sequels to be found. Members of the AIO team have repeatedly stated that there are currently no plans to dramatize the next novel in the series, Arin’s Judgment. One of the difficulties I could see arising has to do with the character of Jack Allen. Not only is the actor Alan Young retired, but as of Album 56 both Jack and Joanne have left Odyssey to travel the world. Although Jack is fundamental to the whole Passages book series, in the audio world at least his character seems to have lost interest in the pursuit. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to bring him back to town now just to join Whit in the hunt for the mysterious land of Marus. If more Passages books are to be dramatized, Jack may have to be replaced. A natural fit would be Jason, who took over J and J Antiques. This will of course require some rewriting, but all adaptations do that to some extent. Ever since Jason quit the NSA he’s been hanging around Odyssey with nothing much to do. He’s just waiting for a mystery to solve. And in the course of running the antique shop he’s bound to discover a manuscript about Marus. This is Odyssey, after all. Passages would give Jason something to do and his appearance could breathe new life into the series, which might eventually lead to all the books being dramatized. But if Jason isn’t quite the right fit, the reporter Dale Jacobs would also be a good candidate to carry on the investigation with Whit. After all the series ends with Mr. Whittaker meeting a reporter to discuss his findings. The audio version could make some changes to cast the reporter as Dale and then have him come on the scene sooner rather than later.
I should also mention that the Passages books were rereleased yet again in 2013 for a fourth edition. But this time the publishers did something dramatically different. Not only did they combine the six books into two omni-books, but they removed the original prologues and epilogues which had featured Whit and Jack and their search for Marus. The books have been rebranded The Marus Manuscripts, and yet the discovery of these very manuscripts has been taken out. If you pick up a new Passages book today expecting to read about some of your favorite characters from AIO, you’ll be disappointed. What was once a single story with an overarching mystery has been split into standalone stories with little connection to each other, which is ironic considering they have been merged together into omni-books.
Is distancing Passages from Odyssey perhaps an attempt to appeal to a broader audience? It seems that way. The audio dramatization includes a warning which recommends that kids under the age of 10 listen with their parents because of the intensity. It turns out retelling a Bible story in all its details in a nine-part series of episodes can get pretty intense, even when it’s transported to a parallel dimension. The intended audience of Passages certainly overlaps with the audience of AIO, but it isn’t exactly the same. There are definitely AIO fans who aren’t big fans of Passages. Could there also be fans of Passages who aren’t as interested in AIO? Probably, but I wonder how large that number could be. Paul McCusker mentioned on page 598 of the 2012 Official Guide that both Passages and Radio Theatre were part of an effort to “create stories that would communicate a Christian point of view in a way that would influence people who may not be Christians.” Obviously the AIO team hopes that the absence of the beloved characters Whit and Jack will appeal to those readers who are not necessarily AIO fans and might have little to no idea who Whit and Jack are.
Focus on the Family Radio Theatre began around the same time the Passages books were first released, and yet has achieved far greater success. Radio Theatre has enjoyed recognition beyond the audience of AIO, winning a Peabody Award and featuring countless top actors such as Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, June Whitfield, James Fox, Jeremy Northam, Juliet Stevenson, Geoffrey Palmer, Jenny Agutter, Brian Blessed, Henry Goodman, and David Suchet. Radio Theatre has created over forty audio productions, while the production of Passages seems to have been forgotten. I don’t agree with the recent change to Passages but I still hope the book series becomes more popular, even without the prologues and epilogues. That’s how new audio dramatizations will be made. Is changing the Passages books necessary to make them successful? The AIO team didn’t always think so. If you read page 598 of the 2012 Official Guide, Paul McCusker says, “I worked out the prologues and epilogues with Whit and Jack, writing them in such a way so that those who didn’t know Odyssey could still appreciate the stories.” But times have changed and this is now the situation we’re in. My hope now is that if the rest of the Passages books are ever dramatized they will retain the bookends which have now been erased from the books themselves.
If you look at the new Passages omni-books you’ll notice that the Adventures in Odyssey logo has been removed from the cover. And yet the audio version of Passages: Darien’s Rise still bares the AIO logo. How could it not? It starts off in Whit’s End and features Whit and Jack at the beginning and end. Parts 1 to 9 of Darien’s Rise are officially numbered as AIO episodes. In my mind the change to the books series does not have to affect future audio adaptations. They’ll still need Whit to narrate them, so it would be nice to keep the context there which explains why he’s reading the stories in the first place. If the prologues and epilogues will no longer be preserved in the books, at least they can live on in audio form. Not only do they connect the series to the world of AIO, but they retain one of the most important elements of Passages, which is the mystery of it.
Passages is all about the search to discover whether Marus is real or not. You take that away, and all you have are some nice disconnected stories which all happen to feature the same setting. The mystery began for listeners of Adventures in Odyssey in Passages: Fletcher’s Rebellion on Album 34. In that episode we heard Tom Riley struggling with the possibility of Marus’ existence. Then Whit and Jack did the same thing in Passages: Darien’s Rise and in their research they found out a lot more information about the kids who went to Marus. The story of Marus has become deeply connected with some of AIO’s most important characters. To cut off the mystery now without doing it justice in the audio adaptations would be a huge loss. If we ever get to hear the audio version of Passages: Arin’s Judgment, I look forward to hearing the return of Mr. Whittaker’s investigation. As Jack Allen puts it in the prologue, “If nothing else, it’s a nice diversion on a cold, wintry day.”
The Passages album is the only collection at the bottom of the list to feature the new AIO logo instead of the old. Its artwork is in a different style and it depicts a medieval castle in the light of not one but two moons hanging in the sky. One look at the description and you’ll quickly notice this isn’t your typical Odyssey album. The summary says that this “legendary audio series” takes place in “the mysterious land of Marus” and follows two children who discover their “newfound powers.” That sounds unusual. Other series have pushed the boundaries of the Odyssey universe, such the Novacom Saga or the Last Chance Detectives, but travelling to other words is far more ambitious. Passages leans towards the fantasy genre, going far beyond what you’ve come to expect from the most bizarre Imagination Station adventure, and it also looks beyond AIO’s normal target age range, choosing to cater to slightly older listeners. Passages is a special series like no other. It expands the universe of AIO in an unexpected direction—to a possible parallel dimension called Marus. But unlike C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, the fantastical world of Marus may or may not exist. That’s what makes Passages such an intriguing a mystery.
How did this all come about? It began with the book series. Writer Paul McCusker came up with the idea to retell Bible stories set in an alternate world to give those who were already very familiar with the Bible a new perspective on it. The first three novels in the Passages series, entitled Darien’s Rise, Arin’s Judgment, and Annison’s Risk, were originally released in 1999. Then in 2000 the next three were released, entitled Glennall’s Betrayal, Draven’s Defiance, and Fendar’s Legacy. As a tie-in to these book releases, Paul also wrote an original two-part Adventures in Odyssey episode now entitled Passages: Fletcher’s Rebellion, which aired in 1999. You can listen to that story on Album 34: In Your Wildest Dreams. The Passages books were rereleased for a second edition, the first three in 2005 and the next three in 2006. Then in the fall of 2009 the first audio adaptation of a Passages book was released. Passages: Darien’s Rise debuted as a nine-part episode, a record for the longest multi-part episode at the time. Following that, the whole book series was rereleased for a third edition from 2010 to 2011 with new cover artwork to match the audio release.
Passages: Darien’s Rise is the beginning of a great adventure. And yet nearly six years after its release this album still sits all by itself with no sequels to be found. Members of the AIO team have repeatedly stated that there are currently no plans to dramatize the next novel in the series, Arin’s Judgment. One of the difficulties I could see arising has to do with the character of Jack Allen. Not only is the actor Alan Young retired, but as of Album 56 both Jack and Joanne have left Odyssey to travel the world. Although Jack is fundamental to the whole Passages book series, in the audio world at least his character seems to have lost interest in the pursuit. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to bring him back to town now just to join Whit in the hunt for the mysterious land of Marus. If more Passages books are to be dramatized, Jack may have to be replaced. A natural fit would be Jason, who took over J and J Antiques. This will of course require some rewriting, but all adaptations do that to some extent. Ever since Jason quit the NSA he’s been hanging around Odyssey with nothing much to do. He’s just waiting for a mystery to solve. And in the course of running the antique shop he’s bound to discover a manuscript about Marus. This is Odyssey, after all. Passages would give Jason something to do and his appearance could breathe new life into the series, which might eventually lead to all the books being dramatized. But if Jason isn’t quite the right fit, the reporter Dale Jacobs would also be a good candidate to carry on the investigation with Whit. After all the series ends with Mr. Whittaker meeting a reporter to discuss his findings. The audio version could make some changes to cast the reporter as Dale and then have him come on the scene sooner rather than later.
I should also mention that the Passages books were rereleased yet again in 2013 for a fourth edition. But this time the publishers did something dramatically different. Not only did they combine the six books into two omni-books, but they removed the original prologues and epilogues which had featured Whit and Jack and their search for Marus. The books have been rebranded The Marus Manuscripts, and yet the discovery of these very manuscripts has been taken out. If you pick up a new Passages book today expecting to read about some of your favorite characters from AIO, you’ll be disappointed. What was once a single story with an overarching mystery has been split into standalone stories with little connection to each other, which is ironic considering they have been merged together into omni-books.
Is distancing Passages from Odyssey perhaps an attempt to appeal to a broader audience? It seems that way. The audio dramatization includes a warning which recommends that kids under the age of 10 listen with their parents because of the intensity. It turns out retelling a Bible story in all its details in a nine-part series of episodes can get pretty intense, even when it’s transported to a parallel dimension. The intended audience of Passages certainly overlaps with the audience of AIO, but it isn’t exactly the same. There are definitely AIO fans who aren’t big fans of Passages. Could there also be fans of Passages who aren’t as interested in AIO? Probably, but I wonder how large that number could be. Paul McCusker mentioned on page 598 of the 2012 Official Guide that both Passages and Radio Theatre were part of an effort to “create stories that would communicate a Christian point of view in a way that would influence people who may not be Christians.” Obviously the AIO team hopes that the absence of the beloved characters Whit and Jack will appeal to those readers who are not necessarily AIO fans and might have little to no idea who Whit and Jack are.
Focus on the Family Radio Theatre began around the same time the Passages books were first released, and yet has achieved far greater success. Radio Theatre has enjoyed recognition beyond the audience of AIO, winning a Peabody Award and featuring countless top actors such as Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, June Whitfield, James Fox, Jeremy Northam, Juliet Stevenson, Geoffrey Palmer, Jenny Agutter, Brian Blessed, Henry Goodman, and David Suchet. Radio Theatre has created over forty audio productions, while the production of Passages seems to have been forgotten. I don’t agree with the recent change to Passages but I still hope the book series becomes more popular, even without the prologues and epilogues. That’s how new audio dramatizations will be made. Is changing the Passages books necessary to make them successful? The AIO team didn’t always think so. If you read page 598 of the 2012 Official Guide, Paul McCusker says, “I worked out the prologues and epilogues with Whit and Jack, writing them in such a way so that those who didn’t know Odyssey could still appreciate the stories.” But times have changed and this is now the situation we’re in. My hope now is that if the rest of the Passages books are ever dramatized they will retain the bookends which have now been erased from the books themselves.
If you look at the new Passages omni-books you’ll notice that the Adventures in Odyssey logo has been removed from the cover. And yet the audio version of Passages: Darien’s Rise still bares the AIO logo. How could it not? It starts off in Whit’s End and features Whit and Jack at the beginning and end. Parts 1 to 9 of Darien’s Rise are officially numbered as AIO episodes. In my mind the change to the books series does not have to affect future audio adaptations. They’ll still need Whit to narrate them, so it would be nice to keep the context there which explains why he’s reading the stories in the first place. If the prologues and epilogues will no longer be preserved in the books, at least they can live on in audio form. Not only do they connect the series to the world of AIO, but they retain one of the most important elements of Passages, which is the mystery of it.
Passages is all about the search to discover whether Marus is real or not. You take that away, and all you have are some nice disconnected stories which all happen to feature the same setting. The mystery began for listeners of Adventures in Odyssey in Passages: Fletcher’s Rebellion on Album 34. In that episode we heard Tom Riley struggling with the possibility of Marus’ existence. Then Whit and Jack did the same thing in Passages: Darien’s Rise and in their research they found out a lot more information about the kids who went to Marus. The story of Marus has become deeply connected with some of AIO’s most important characters. To cut off the mystery now without doing it justice in the audio adaptations would be a huge loss. If we ever get to hear the audio version of Passages: Arin’s Judgment, I look forward to hearing the return of Mr. Whittaker’s investigation. As Jack Allen puts it in the prologue, “If nothing else, it’s a nice diversion on a cold, wintry day.”
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