3: Hand Up!
Observations regarding the organization, Hand Up.
By David Hilder | December 22, 2011
Observations regarding the organization, Hand Up.
By David Hilder | December 22, 2011
Is Odyssey stuck in the past? Could it be super-glued, cemented, or even fossilized? It depends. In terms of character development, perhaps it is. But they weren’t always stuck there. Odyssey’s characters have come a long way. Eugene, Connie and Katrina in particular. In earlier years, Connie and Eugene always fought and argued. Their constant disputes could go on a little long and sometimes took away from the show. And Katrina became emotionally attached to her students. As we learned in the Album 53, that’s why she steered away from the vocation of tutoring and teaching in the first place. But what’s happened to these characters since then?
Manosarcum, or Hand Up, as it’s called in English, was founded by Eugene and Katrina Meltsner in Album 45 to give people a “hand up.” And the organization, funded by the Armitage Shanks Foundation, was very successful at the time. In the Business of Busyness, they were so busy with Hand Up that they were forced to take on volunteers to lend a hand. They were always involved in their quest to assist people with their various problems and predicaments. Eugene had time for almost nothing else. And through the outlet of Hand Up they were even able to send those Christmas boxes to the Ashantis in Africa. Whether that was a onetime donation or not, we don’t know.
Well I guess they’ve taken on quite a few more volunteers since then because now neither Eugene nor Katrina have recently been seen doing anything remotely to do with Hand Up. At least, the audience hasn’t been told about it. These days the Meltsners have so much free time on their hands again. It’s almost like they’ve gone backwards in time. Eugene has returned to always being at Whit’s End and working on inventions, serving ice cream, and hanging around the college, while Katrina has returned to teaching and lately has become a substitute teacher. Eugene tried to be one of those once as well. And after failing miserably, he soon decided his calling was elsewhere: Hand Up. When he went to look for a job at the college he was turned down. But now for some reason he’s back teaching at the college again. Perhaps the two Meltsners have become extremely good at juggling their schedules and can rush around town solving mysteries, like the Mystery of the Clock Tower and the Green Ring Conspiracy, without neglecting any of their Hand Up duties.
And Connie and Eugene’s arguments, which had been decreasing in frequency after they both became mature Christians, have also returned in full force with Album 51. It was as if to offset all the changes that had been made with the re-launch, Eugene and Connie were brought back to a maturity level closer to that of teenagers because it would be more familiar to the audience and similar to the older AIO shows. The result did not seem to fit in chronological order with how the rest of the show has progressed up to this point. And Whit seems less concerned about stopping their unnecessary quarrels.
Both Eugene and Katrina have expressed that they love their ministry at Hand Up. It’s hard to believe they would abandon it completely. And the truth is they probably haven’t. Just because we’re not hearing about it, doesn’t mean they’re not still running it. But the fact that we haven’t heard about it for years is a bit odd. It’s almost as if it was forgotten and the writers need to be reminded of its existence in the Odyssey world. Maybe there’s a legitimate reason we haven’t heard about it lately. The team could be trying to leave some more space between Hand Up’s creation and the next time it’s mentioned so that they aren’t always focusing on the same storyline. And there is definitely logic to that, if that’s the reason. But because Eugene and Katrina are main characters, you’d think their ministry would come up in conversation at least once in a while.
They haven’t mentioned Hand Up since Album 50. And that was only a one-liner from Eugene about doing the organization’s bookkeeping. It’s evident they’ve since hired an accountant to do that task because Eugene doesn’t even concern himself with doing that himself anymore. Even before the re-launch, Hand Up activity was slowing down. And now it seems to have ceased altogether. I wouldn’t mind if maybe we only heard about it from time to time. But it can’t simply disappear from existence without explanation.
Perhaps Hand Up hasn’t made a recent appearance because there are so many things to cover and only a limited time to do so. But I think the Odyssey team should make a point of at least revisiting the organization occasionally. When you think about it, the return of Hand Up would be a great way to have Katrina appear on the show more often. She wouldn’t always have to be substituting a class for the audience to get the chance to hear from her. A substitute teacher is a temporary job after all, and lately we’ve heard more from substitutes than regular school teachers. In addition to that, with Hand Up back Eugene wouldn’t necessarily be spending every waking moment with Connie, instead of with his wife. It would definitely let us see them interacting more, which, as we saw in Album 53 and 54, is a very positive thing.
Hopefully Hand Up won’t disappear like Mr. Whittaker’s newspaper project, The Whole Truth, which was started in The Truth Chronicles, or even the town of Kidsboro, which also came out in that album. They still haven’t made that Kidsboro episode about “Freedom of Speech” that was originally planned for Album 51. If Hand Up ever comes back, it’ll definitely be welcomed by the fans. Even if it’s mostly in the background, it can only help Odyssey feel like a more authentic and enjoyable place by increasing the complexity and scope of the town. Coming up with great ideas and then phasing them out immediately, never to be heard from again, isn’t the best strategy for a show that has lasted almost 25 years and intends to last even longer. Adventures in Odyssey would be far better off if they continue to explore Hand Up.
Manosarcum, or Hand Up, as it’s called in English, was founded by Eugene and Katrina Meltsner in Album 45 to give people a “hand up.” And the organization, funded by the Armitage Shanks Foundation, was very successful at the time. In the Business of Busyness, they were so busy with Hand Up that they were forced to take on volunteers to lend a hand. They were always involved in their quest to assist people with their various problems and predicaments. Eugene had time for almost nothing else. And through the outlet of Hand Up they were even able to send those Christmas boxes to the Ashantis in Africa. Whether that was a onetime donation or not, we don’t know.
Well I guess they’ve taken on quite a few more volunteers since then because now neither Eugene nor Katrina have recently been seen doing anything remotely to do with Hand Up. At least, the audience hasn’t been told about it. These days the Meltsners have so much free time on their hands again. It’s almost like they’ve gone backwards in time. Eugene has returned to always being at Whit’s End and working on inventions, serving ice cream, and hanging around the college, while Katrina has returned to teaching and lately has become a substitute teacher. Eugene tried to be one of those once as well. And after failing miserably, he soon decided his calling was elsewhere: Hand Up. When he went to look for a job at the college he was turned down. But now for some reason he’s back teaching at the college again. Perhaps the two Meltsners have become extremely good at juggling their schedules and can rush around town solving mysteries, like the Mystery of the Clock Tower and the Green Ring Conspiracy, without neglecting any of their Hand Up duties.
And Connie and Eugene’s arguments, which had been decreasing in frequency after they both became mature Christians, have also returned in full force with Album 51. It was as if to offset all the changes that had been made with the re-launch, Eugene and Connie were brought back to a maturity level closer to that of teenagers because it would be more familiar to the audience and similar to the older AIO shows. The result did not seem to fit in chronological order with how the rest of the show has progressed up to this point. And Whit seems less concerned about stopping their unnecessary quarrels.
Both Eugene and Katrina have expressed that they love their ministry at Hand Up. It’s hard to believe they would abandon it completely. And the truth is they probably haven’t. Just because we’re not hearing about it, doesn’t mean they’re not still running it. But the fact that we haven’t heard about it for years is a bit odd. It’s almost as if it was forgotten and the writers need to be reminded of its existence in the Odyssey world. Maybe there’s a legitimate reason we haven’t heard about it lately. The team could be trying to leave some more space between Hand Up’s creation and the next time it’s mentioned so that they aren’t always focusing on the same storyline. And there is definitely logic to that, if that’s the reason. But because Eugene and Katrina are main characters, you’d think their ministry would come up in conversation at least once in a while.
They haven’t mentioned Hand Up since Album 50. And that was only a one-liner from Eugene about doing the organization’s bookkeeping. It’s evident they’ve since hired an accountant to do that task because Eugene doesn’t even concern himself with doing that himself anymore. Even before the re-launch, Hand Up activity was slowing down. And now it seems to have ceased altogether. I wouldn’t mind if maybe we only heard about it from time to time. But it can’t simply disappear from existence without explanation.
Perhaps Hand Up hasn’t made a recent appearance because there are so many things to cover and only a limited time to do so. But I think the Odyssey team should make a point of at least revisiting the organization occasionally. When you think about it, the return of Hand Up would be a great way to have Katrina appear on the show more often. She wouldn’t always have to be substituting a class for the audience to get the chance to hear from her. A substitute teacher is a temporary job after all, and lately we’ve heard more from substitutes than regular school teachers. In addition to that, with Hand Up back Eugene wouldn’t necessarily be spending every waking moment with Connie, instead of with his wife. It would definitely let us see them interacting more, which, as we saw in Album 53 and 54, is a very positive thing.
Hopefully Hand Up won’t disappear like Mr. Whittaker’s newspaper project, The Whole Truth, which was started in The Truth Chronicles, or even the town of Kidsboro, which also came out in that album. They still haven’t made that Kidsboro episode about “Freedom of Speech” that was originally planned for Album 51. If Hand Up ever comes back, it’ll definitely be welcomed by the fans. Even if it’s mostly in the background, it can only help Odyssey feel like a more authentic and enjoyable place by increasing the complexity and scope of the town. Coming up with great ideas and then phasing them out immediately, never to be heard from again, isn’t the best strategy for a show that has lasted almost 25 years and intends to last even longer. Adventures in Odyssey would be far better off if they continue to explore Hand Up.
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