33. In a Kingdom Nearby
How to revive the Passages series.
By David Hilder | March 7, 2019
How to revive the Passages series.
By David Hilder | March 7, 2019
Traveling to other places has never been very hard for the kids of Odyssey. Mr. Whittaker’s Imagination Station offers plenty of opportunities to go back into Bible times or experience American history. And although I’m sure Whit does his best to make sure the simulation is historically accurate, no one would make the argument that the machine actually uses time travel. Everything is simply happening inside people’s heads. But is that always the case? Some of Odyssey’s youngsters claim to have stumbled upon another world called Marus, without the aid of a machine. They enter into a realm inhabited by kings and queens, prophets and warriors, and ruled by the Unseen One. These stories are chronicled in the Passages book series.
Sometimes I wonder if there’s room in the Adventures in Odyssey universe for the Passages series to exist. Starting with Darien’s Rise, the six books set in the alternative reality of Marus were released by author Paul McCusker from 1999 to 2000. At the time the AIO team decided to promote the series by producing two tie-in episodes called Passages: Fletcher’s Rebellion (Album 34). We learn that Tom Riley’s late son Timmy may have gone to Marus himself. When you think about it, the Passages series has some explosive implications, perhaps more so than the mind control technology of the Novacom Saga. We’re talking about the possibility of another world. A world like Narnia where kids enter at unexpected times. Science fiction is one thing. But this is fantasy territory, which for many is a lot harder to accept. Maybe that’s why we can never get definitive proof that Marus really exists. On page 599 of the 2012 Official Guide, Paul McCusker notes, “In our series, the mysterious notebooks leave a question about the reality of Marus. Maybe it is real, or maybe it’s just a place that some guy made up.” At the same time, the series strongly hints that Marus is a real place.
More recently, Darien’s Rise became the first and (so far) the only Passages novel to be adapted as an audio drama. Since that time actor Alan Young, the voice of Jack Allen, has died. The search for Marus was always an investigation between Whit and Jack. So does that mean that, as far as the audio series is concerned, Passages is over? Not necessarily. When I learned a few years ago that the new editions of the Passages books no longer included the prologues and epilogues, I thought it was a mistake. They removed every scene with Whit and Jack and present the individual stories without context. But now I see that this move might give the show writers more freedom when it comes to audio adaptations. We don’t really need Jack to be investigating Marus. Now that Jack has moved away, Whit could very well continue his investigation alongside someone else—his son Jason perhaps.
Passages needs a new spin to jumpstart the audio adaptations again. We’ve had tie-in episodes before, and they might just do the trick this time. In thinking about these ideas, I’ve come up with an outline sketching a possible way forward. It was pretty fun writing it and I hope you enjoy. So without further ado, here’s my idea for a six-episode album to set up the next Passages audio adaptation.
Album: Out of This World
1. Trouble in Paradise
This first episode serves as an introduction. It’s early January and it seems like all our favorite characters are away. John Avery Whittaker is busy in meetings at the Universal Press Foundation in Chicago. Eugene and Katrina have taken Buck with them to spend two weeks in Hawaii. And Connie has convinced her half-sister Jules to help her track down their father in California for a visit. That leaves Jason Whittaker to run Whit’s End for a change. He thinks it will be relaxing, but the job isn’t as easy as he remembers. What with kids dropping dishes of ice cream on the floor and complaining about the Imagination Station being out of order, Jason quickly finds himself out of his element. When a ten-year-old girl named Sydney breaks up an argument between two other kids, Jason is impressed by her maturity and enlists her help to get things under control. Later in the day, Renee Carter arrives to work on fixing the Imagination Station. And so, Jason suddenly finds himself with little to do. He opens one of Whit’s books from behind the front counter and some World War II era newspaper clippings fall out. He focuses on one article about the return of U.S. airman Henry Mullins. As Jason skims the article, he comes across the phrase “the Unseen One.” Detective Polehaus interrupts him, stopping by to issue a warning: He’s gotten a few calls about people hanging out in McAlister Park after dark, despite the winter cold. He suspects Whit Ends might be a target. Jason says that he’ll keep an eye out.
2. The Missing Link
Jason and Renee arrive the next morning to find Whit’s End broken into. The criminals apparently came in through the backdoor and made a mess of the library, but don’t appear to have stolen anything. Detective Polehaus determines that they tried to force open the door into Whit’s workshop in the basement, but couldn’t. Perhaps they were scared off before they could. Polehaus leaves to look in McAlister Park for clues. Jason goes over the security footage but has trouble getting it to play back. Renee says she can get it to work, but at that moment the girl Sydney shows up. She says she heard about the break-in from Polehaus and she offers to help with the footage. Sydney finds the place in the video where it appears a masked man forces his way in. Renee and Sydney get along well and start working on the Imagination Station together in the Bible Room. When Polehaus returns Jason shows him the security footage. Polehaus says he found tire tracks in the park but no vehicle. But his men did happen to talk to an elderly fellow who looked like a homeless man. He seemed delusional and kept muttering. One phrase he said multiple times was “the Unseen One.” Polehaus wonders if the name means anything to Jason. Suddenly the phrase comes back to Jason and he goes on a search for the article he skimmed yesterday. He remembers he must have left it behind the front counter. He finds Whit’s book there next to the cash register, but the newspaper articles are missing. Stolen, more like it.
3. Mountains and Molehills
Polehaus leaves. A heavy snowfall begins and most of Whit’s End’s customers head home. Sydney is still helping Renee on fixing the Imagination Station. Jason wonders about the Unseen One. Could it be the name of a villain from his past? And what is he after? And why would his name show up in a newspaper from World War II? Jason tries to call his father but can’t get through. He leaves a message on Whit’s phone. Wooton comes in from the cold while delivering mail. Jason and Wooton share a hot chocolate and then team up to follow a man Jason thought he saw dashing across McAlister Park. They go on a wild chase through the snow but don’t find any trace of the man. Jason wonders if he was imagining things. Then they discover a van parked in the woods. The van has a company logo on the side: Makron Corp. Jason notes down the license plate number. Wooton picks up a pair of binoculars from the ground. Meanwhile, Sydney and Renee are just about done on The Imagination Station. Sydney is interested in the other inventions and Renee gives her a tour. Renee notes that the Inspiration Station isn’t there at the moment because Whit was in the middle of upgrading it. When Jason returns to Whit’s End, he finds his father has left a voicemail message. Whit says there’s a lot to explain. His message directs Jason to look in a drawer in his office desk, to read what he finds there, and then to call him back. Jason goes to Whit’s office and finds a manuscript hidden there. It is titled “The Chronicle of the Chosen” (aka Darien’s Rise). He sits down to read.
4. A Likely Story
Jason spends the night at Whit’s End. After closing up the shop, he finishes up the manuscript and then makes a late phone call to his father. They discuss the story’s similarities to the story of David in the Bible. Whit explains how he found the manuscript and admits he isn’t sure whether the land of Marus is real or not. Meanwhile Jason reacts with extreme skepticism and is surprised that his father entertains the possibility. They also discuss the strange people scouting out Whit’s End and what they could be after. Jason mentions the name Makron Corp and Whit thinks it sounds familiar, but doesn’t remember from where. Whit is stuck in Chicago due to heavy snowfall and Jason decides to look into the manuscript’s credibility tomorrow. Jason has a mostly sleepless night at Whit’s End. He steps outside and meets Detective Polehaus, who is staking out the park to see if their “friend” makes another break-in attempt. The next morning Jason drives to Darien’s Creek on the outskirts of Odyssey and finds the old, abandoned building that Kyle and Anna supposedly entered before they were transported to Marus. He attempts to explore it, but the floors and walls are disintegrating and he doesn’t get very far. As he’s returning to his car, he spots the same Makron Corp van nearby. When he approaches, it speeds away. Jason’s cell phone rings and it’s his father on the line. Whit remembers the company now. It is a military defense contractor that had been trying to contact him about developing a new virtual reality technology—something that can recreate a scene from the smallest fragment of a person’s memory. Jason wonder what this has to do with Marus. Whit explains that he turned down Makron Corp’s job offer, which didn’t make them very happy. Jason says, “But that technology doesn’t exist. The Imagination Station doesn’t come close.” Whit replies, “Actually, it might exist. The Inspiration Station.” Whit explains that he’s been developing an upgraded version of the Inspiration Station. He says that while the Imagination Station mostly relies on the quality of the data you input for the adventure, the Inspiration Station is able to search deeper into the user’s mind and pinpoint memories and sense perceptions. And it constantly re-evaluates and re-adjusts to the user’s changing brain chemistry, which creates a far more personalized and satisfying experience. Some users find it difficult to leave the machine. In the wrong hands, that technology would be quite devastating. Jason rushes back to Whit’s End, worried that the Inspiration Station is in danger of being stolen.
5. Battle Stations, Part 1
Jason returns to Whit’s End and prepares for an invasion. He suspects that whoever tried to break in before will be back, and this time they'll be better prepared. He tells Sydney to go home to her parents, despite her protests. Then he enlists Renee to help him get ready for the bad guys to arrive. Jason updates Detective Polehaus on the phone and requests backup for tonight. Polehaus says that his guys are spread thin enough as it is. He can’t stake out Whit’s End every night. He says, “I have to advise you, Jason, to evacuate the building. If you don’t, whatever happens is on you. You’re on your own on this one.” Jason finds Whit’s new Inspiration Station prototype in the basement workshop and Renee helps him rig up a decoy. (It’s smaller than the Imagination Station—about the size of an old radio or TV). They hide the real one in a vent in Whit’s office. Renee is in Whit’s office watching the security monitors and Jason is finishing some other preparations when the big moment arrives. Jason hears from Renee in his earphone that a man just came through the front door. Jason rushes into position. But it turns out to be Wooton Bassett. Wooton says he happened to be strolling past when he noticed the van again in the park. Jason is about to tell Wooton to leave when Renee tells him that the masked man has entered through the backdoor. He has a gun. And there’s one more thing. He’s kidnapped Sydney and is dragging her with him.
6. Battle Stations, Part 2
Jason tells Wooton to hide and then he has a showdown with the mysterious man. He takes him down into Whit’s workshop but the man isn’t convinced by the Inspiration Station decoy. When Jason tells the man to turn it on, the man tells Sydney to do it. She is about to touch it when Jason stops her. Jason admits it would have given her a powerful electric shock. Jason leads them back upstairs. On the way Wooton turns off the lights and attacks the masked man. The gun flies across the floor. When Jason finds the lights again he sees the man and Wooton lying on the floor, both holding their heads. The mask has fallen from the man’s face. Jason sees that he is elderly, probably the same man Polehaus’s men spoke to in the park. Sydney picks up the gun. Jason expects her to help him, but Sydney reveals that the man is her grandfather and they’re working together. Jason leads them to the library, which is still a mess. Jason wonders if the torn apart library was a red herring to throw him off the trail. The man, who introduces himself as James Curtis, says that it’s not uncommon to hide things in books. He was looking for the key to the workshop. James explains that he works for Makron Corp but he couldn’t care less about the military implications of Whit’s technology. He has a personal reason for wanting it. He claims to have gone to Marus as a child and he believes that Whit’s technology can recreate his memories and send him back for good. He mentions that Marus has two moons, a detail Jason remembers from the manuscript. James says he wrote “The Chronicle of the Chosen.” He claims others visited Marus as well and he recorded their stories. James goes on to say that he has no future here. He’s lost everything in this world—his wife, his children, his savings, his old career in the military. Sydney gives him back the gun and James demands Jason turn over the real Inspiration Station to him. Meanwhile, Detective Polehaus’s officers surround the building and demand that James give himself up. The man says he has nothing to lose, but Jason convinces him to surrender for the sake of his granddaughter, Sydney. He is taken into custody. Sydney apologizes and returns the newspaper clippings she stole. Jason looks at the articles and notes that God is referred to as the Unseen One. He offers up a prayer of thanks for how everything turned out. Later, Whit returns home from Chicago. He says he just spoke to Makron Corp and they claim their man James Curtis went rogue. They had nothing to do with the break-ins at Whit’s End or James’ attempts to steal the Inspiration Station. Jason is still very skeptical about the existence of Marus and believes that James was clearly insane. Whit isn’t sure one way or the other, but thinks they should learn more. He retrieves a second manuscript from his office entitled “The Chronicle of the Destroyed” (aka Arin’s Judgment). Whit says, “Let me read it to you.” And so, the investigation of Marus continues.
From there we could dive right in to the adaptation of Arin’s Judgment and Whit and Jason could continue the hunt for more manuscripts. The main problem I think would be keeping Jason’s interest in the mystery and combatting his intense skepticism. My solution here was to have him encounter someone like James, a person so firm in his belief in Marus that he was willing to risk his life for it. After that I don’t think Jason would be able to put Marus out of his mind so easily.
So, this is just one possible way to bring back Adventures in Odyssey’s adaptations of the Passages novels. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed outlining it. And I look forward to seeing the official, canonical version when the AIO writers eventually do transition back into the world of Marus. One thing I wouldn’t want the AIO team to do is to move forward with dramatizing the individual Passages stories without the prologues and epilogues. It's those bookends which connect the stories to the people of Odyssey we care so much about. And half the fun of Passages is the mystery of whether Marus is real or not. So let’s have Whit keep grappling with the possibility. Let’s have Jason grapple with it too. And let’s have Adventures in Odyssey listeners go back and forth debating the topic along the way as the rest of the Passages books finally get dramatized.
Sometimes I wonder if there’s room in the Adventures in Odyssey universe for the Passages series to exist. Starting with Darien’s Rise, the six books set in the alternative reality of Marus were released by author Paul McCusker from 1999 to 2000. At the time the AIO team decided to promote the series by producing two tie-in episodes called Passages: Fletcher’s Rebellion (Album 34). We learn that Tom Riley’s late son Timmy may have gone to Marus himself. When you think about it, the Passages series has some explosive implications, perhaps more so than the mind control technology of the Novacom Saga. We’re talking about the possibility of another world. A world like Narnia where kids enter at unexpected times. Science fiction is one thing. But this is fantasy territory, which for many is a lot harder to accept. Maybe that’s why we can never get definitive proof that Marus really exists. On page 599 of the 2012 Official Guide, Paul McCusker notes, “In our series, the mysterious notebooks leave a question about the reality of Marus. Maybe it is real, or maybe it’s just a place that some guy made up.” At the same time, the series strongly hints that Marus is a real place.
More recently, Darien’s Rise became the first and (so far) the only Passages novel to be adapted as an audio drama. Since that time actor Alan Young, the voice of Jack Allen, has died. The search for Marus was always an investigation between Whit and Jack. So does that mean that, as far as the audio series is concerned, Passages is over? Not necessarily. When I learned a few years ago that the new editions of the Passages books no longer included the prologues and epilogues, I thought it was a mistake. They removed every scene with Whit and Jack and present the individual stories without context. But now I see that this move might give the show writers more freedom when it comes to audio adaptations. We don’t really need Jack to be investigating Marus. Now that Jack has moved away, Whit could very well continue his investigation alongside someone else—his son Jason perhaps.
Passages needs a new spin to jumpstart the audio adaptations again. We’ve had tie-in episodes before, and they might just do the trick this time. In thinking about these ideas, I’ve come up with an outline sketching a possible way forward. It was pretty fun writing it and I hope you enjoy. So without further ado, here’s my idea for a six-episode album to set up the next Passages audio adaptation.
Album: Out of This World
1. Trouble in Paradise
This first episode serves as an introduction. It’s early January and it seems like all our favorite characters are away. John Avery Whittaker is busy in meetings at the Universal Press Foundation in Chicago. Eugene and Katrina have taken Buck with them to spend two weeks in Hawaii. And Connie has convinced her half-sister Jules to help her track down their father in California for a visit. That leaves Jason Whittaker to run Whit’s End for a change. He thinks it will be relaxing, but the job isn’t as easy as he remembers. What with kids dropping dishes of ice cream on the floor and complaining about the Imagination Station being out of order, Jason quickly finds himself out of his element. When a ten-year-old girl named Sydney breaks up an argument between two other kids, Jason is impressed by her maturity and enlists her help to get things under control. Later in the day, Renee Carter arrives to work on fixing the Imagination Station. And so, Jason suddenly finds himself with little to do. He opens one of Whit’s books from behind the front counter and some World War II era newspaper clippings fall out. He focuses on one article about the return of U.S. airman Henry Mullins. As Jason skims the article, he comes across the phrase “the Unseen One.” Detective Polehaus interrupts him, stopping by to issue a warning: He’s gotten a few calls about people hanging out in McAlister Park after dark, despite the winter cold. He suspects Whit Ends might be a target. Jason says that he’ll keep an eye out.
2. The Missing Link
Jason and Renee arrive the next morning to find Whit’s End broken into. The criminals apparently came in through the backdoor and made a mess of the library, but don’t appear to have stolen anything. Detective Polehaus determines that they tried to force open the door into Whit’s workshop in the basement, but couldn’t. Perhaps they were scared off before they could. Polehaus leaves to look in McAlister Park for clues. Jason goes over the security footage but has trouble getting it to play back. Renee says she can get it to work, but at that moment the girl Sydney shows up. She says she heard about the break-in from Polehaus and she offers to help with the footage. Sydney finds the place in the video where it appears a masked man forces his way in. Renee and Sydney get along well and start working on the Imagination Station together in the Bible Room. When Polehaus returns Jason shows him the security footage. Polehaus says he found tire tracks in the park but no vehicle. But his men did happen to talk to an elderly fellow who looked like a homeless man. He seemed delusional and kept muttering. One phrase he said multiple times was “the Unseen One.” Polehaus wonders if the name means anything to Jason. Suddenly the phrase comes back to Jason and he goes on a search for the article he skimmed yesterday. He remembers he must have left it behind the front counter. He finds Whit’s book there next to the cash register, but the newspaper articles are missing. Stolen, more like it.
3. Mountains and Molehills
Polehaus leaves. A heavy snowfall begins and most of Whit’s End’s customers head home. Sydney is still helping Renee on fixing the Imagination Station. Jason wonders about the Unseen One. Could it be the name of a villain from his past? And what is he after? And why would his name show up in a newspaper from World War II? Jason tries to call his father but can’t get through. He leaves a message on Whit’s phone. Wooton comes in from the cold while delivering mail. Jason and Wooton share a hot chocolate and then team up to follow a man Jason thought he saw dashing across McAlister Park. They go on a wild chase through the snow but don’t find any trace of the man. Jason wonders if he was imagining things. Then they discover a van parked in the woods. The van has a company logo on the side: Makron Corp. Jason notes down the license plate number. Wooton picks up a pair of binoculars from the ground. Meanwhile, Sydney and Renee are just about done on The Imagination Station. Sydney is interested in the other inventions and Renee gives her a tour. Renee notes that the Inspiration Station isn’t there at the moment because Whit was in the middle of upgrading it. When Jason returns to Whit’s End, he finds his father has left a voicemail message. Whit says there’s a lot to explain. His message directs Jason to look in a drawer in his office desk, to read what he finds there, and then to call him back. Jason goes to Whit’s office and finds a manuscript hidden there. It is titled “The Chronicle of the Chosen” (aka Darien’s Rise). He sits down to read.
4. A Likely Story
Jason spends the night at Whit’s End. After closing up the shop, he finishes up the manuscript and then makes a late phone call to his father. They discuss the story’s similarities to the story of David in the Bible. Whit explains how he found the manuscript and admits he isn’t sure whether the land of Marus is real or not. Meanwhile Jason reacts with extreme skepticism and is surprised that his father entertains the possibility. They also discuss the strange people scouting out Whit’s End and what they could be after. Jason mentions the name Makron Corp and Whit thinks it sounds familiar, but doesn’t remember from where. Whit is stuck in Chicago due to heavy snowfall and Jason decides to look into the manuscript’s credibility tomorrow. Jason has a mostly sleepless night at Whit’s End. He steps outside and meets Detective Polehaus, who is staking out the park to see if their “friend” makes another break-in attempt. The next morning Jason drives to Darien’s Creek on the outskirts of Odyssey and finds the old, abandoned building that Kyle and Anna supposedly entered before they were transported to Marus. He attempts to explore it, but the floors and walls are disintegrating and he doesn’t get very far. As he’s returning to his car, he spots the same Makron Corp van nearby. When he approaches, it speeds away. Jason’s cell phone rings and it’s his father on the line. Whit remembers the company now. It is a military defense contractor that had been trying to contact him about developing a new virtual reality technology—something that can recreate a scene from the smallest fragment of a person’s memory. Jason wonder what this has to do with Marus. Whit explains that he turned down Makron Corp’s job offer, which didn’t make them very happy. Jason says, “But that technology doesn’t exist. The Imagination Station doesn’t come close.” Whit replies, “Actually, it might exist. The Inspiration Station.” Whit explains that he’s been developing an upgraded version of the Inspiration Station. He says that while the Imagination Station mostly relies on the quality of the data you input for the adventure, the Inspiration Station is able to search deeper into the user’s mind and pinpoint memories and sense perceptions. And it constantly re-evaluates and re-adjusts to the user’s changing brain chemistry, which creates a far more personalized and satisfying experience. Some users find it difficult to leave the machine. In the wrong hands, that technology would be quite devastating. Jason rushes back to Whit’s End, worried that the Inspiration Station is in danger of being stolen.
5. Battle Stations, Part 1
Jason returns to Whit’s End and prepares for an invasion. He suspects that whoever tried to break in before will be back, and this time they'll be better prepared. He tells Sydney to go home to her parents, despite her protests. Then he enlists Renee to help him get ready for the bad guys to arrive. Jason updates Detective Polehaus on the phone and requests backup for tonight. Polehaus says that his guys are spread thin enough as it is. He can’t stake out Whit’s End every night. He says, “I have to advise you, Jason, to evacuate the building. If you don’t, whatever happens is on you. You’re on your own on this one.” Jason finds Whit’s new Inspiration Station prototype in the basement workshop and Renee helps him rig up a decoy. (It’s smaller than the Imagination Station—about the size of an old radio or TV). They hide the real one in a vent in Whit’s office. Renee is in Whit’s office watching the security monitors and Jason is finishing some other preparations when the big moment arrives. Jason hears from Renee in his earphone that a man just came through the front door. Jason rushes into position. But it turns out to be Wooton Bassett. Wooton says he happened to be strolling past when he noticed the van again in the park. Jason is about to tell Wooton to leave when Renee tells him that the masked man has entered through the backdoor. He has a gun. And there’s one more thing. He’s kidnapped Sydney and is dragging her with him.
6. Battle Stations, Part 2
Jason tells Wooton to hide and then he has a showdown with the mysterious man. He takes him down into Whit’s workshop but the man isn’t convinced by the Inspiration Station decoy. When Jason tells the man to turn it on, the man tells Sydney to do it. She is about to touch it when Jason stops her. Jason admits it would have given her a powerful electric shock. Jason leads them back upstairs. On the way Wooton turns off the lights and attacks the masked man. The gun flies across the floor. When Jason finds the lights again he sees the man and Wooton lying on the floor, both holding their heads. The mask has fallen from the man’s face. Jason sees that he is elderly, probably the same man Polehaus’s men spoke to in the park. Sydney picks up the gun. Jason expects her to help him, but Sydney reveals that the man is her grandfather and they’re working together. Jason leads them to the library, which is still a mess. Jason wonders if the torn apart library was a red herring to throw him off the trail. The man, who introduces himself as James Curtis, says that it’s not uncommon to hide things in books. He was looking for the key to the workshop. James explains that he works for Makron Corp but he couldn’t care less about the military implications of Whit’s technology. He has a personal reason for wanting it. He claims to have gone to Marus as a child and he believes that Whit’s technology can recreate his memories and send him back for good. He mentions that Marus has two moons, a detail Jason remembers from the manuscript. James says he wrote “The Chronicle of the Chosen.” He claims others visited Marus as well and he recorded their stories. James goes on to say that he has no future here. He’s lost everything in this world—his wife, his children, his savings, his old career in the military. Sydney gives him back the gun and James demands Jason turn over the real Inspiration Station to him. Meanwhile, Detective Polehaus’s officers surround the building and demand that James give himself up. The man says he has nothing to lose, but Jason convinces him to surrender for the sake of his granddaughter, Sydney. He is taken into custody. Sydney apologizes and returns the newspaper clippings she stole. Jason looks at the articles and notes that God is referred to as the Unseen One. He offers up a prayer of thanks for how everything turned out. Later, Whit returns home from Chicago. He says he just spoke to Makron Corp and they claim their man James Curtis went rogue. They had nothing to do with the break-ins at Whit’s End or James’ attempts to steal the Inspiration Station. Jason is still very skeptical about the existence of Marus and believes that James was clearly insane. Whit isn’t sure one way or the other, but thinks they should learn more. He retrieves a second manuscript from his office entitled “The Chronicle of the Destroyed” (aka Arin’s Judgment). Whit says, “Let me read it to you.” And so, the investigation of Marus continues.
From there we could dive right in to the adaptation of Arin’s Judgment and Whit and Jason could continue the hunt for more manuscripts. The main problem I think would be keeping Jason’s interest in the mystery and combatting his intense skepticism. My solution here was to have him encounter someone like James, a person so firm in his belief in Marus that he was willing to risk his life for it. After that I don’t think Jason would be able to put Marus out of his mind so easily.
So, this is just one possible way to bring back Adventures in Odyssey’s adaptations of the Passages novels. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed outlining it. And I look forward to seeing the official, canonical version when the AIO writers eventually do transition back into the world of Marus. One thing I wouldn’t want the AIO team to do is to move forward with dramatizing the individual Passages stories without the prologues and epilogues. It's those bookends which connect the stories to the people of Odyssey we care so much about. And half the fun of Passages is the mystery of whether Marus is real or not. So let’s have Whit keep grappling with the possibility. Let’s have Jason grapple with it too. And let’s have Adventures in Odyssey listeners go back and forth debating the topic along the way as the rest of the Passages books finally get dramatized.
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