The Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast

Bob: Howdy, Odyssey. I'm Bob.

Jesse: And I'm Jesse. Welcome to the Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast.

Bob: Jesse, the release of the feature film gets closer every day.

Jesse: Adventures in Odyssey: The Movie is coming to theaters early next year. But as we wait, we still have plenty of unanswered questions. And who better to answer them than Dave Arnold? Dave has been deeply involved with the shaping of the animated film since the very beginning. Let's chat with Dave.

Jesse: Dave, thanks for joining us in the studio.

Dave Arnold: Oh, my pleasure, as always.

Bob: You know, there have been discussions about a new animated Odyssey project of some sort for decades, Dave, really since the final cartoon featuring Dylan and Sherman released back in 2003. What can you tell us about those conversations and what a few of those projects might have looked like?

Dave Arnold: Well, honestly, throughout the years, we've had so many different companies that have come to us and said, "We want to do an Odyssey movie." A lot of it is either live-action or animation, and the timing just wasn't right before. The finances didn't allow for it, and I think, in some ways, the vision didn't really allow for it.

Odyssey was doing well, but if we're looking globally and looking down on Odyssey's growth over the years, the last decade has been remarkable. If you think about as long as the brand has been going, the fact that it has continued to grow and almost grow on top of itself exponentially is just a sign of God's amazing blessing on the program and His desire to use it in some way.

I think the leadership team looked at the success of the cruise when the cruise was done. Then they looked at the success of One Grand Party, and they saw the fanbase energized even more than they had known that it was. That got them really excited about moving into the future with growing the brand for the next generation.

When the leadership team came to me and said, "Would you please brainstorm a whole bunch of ideas? Think big of things that we could do to grow the brand," I came up with a list of five pages of things. On the last page, in smaller font, was a visual project because I didn't think the leadership team would go for it because it is expensive. I kind of front-weighted it with the things I thought they'd go for, and they read past all of those and went to the last one. That began the process for what would eventually become this feature film.

Jesse: The movie is actually set before the audio series begins. So why go back to the beginning instead of just telling a present-day Odyssey story?

Dave Arnold: We've been telling present-day Odyssey stories for 40 years, so we've mined that really well, and we'll continue to do that. There is no intention or desire to deviate from the current creation of Adventures in Odyssey audio programs.

Why go back in and retool or even tell those same stories visually? They're already really well done in the audio world. For me, the real gem of the idea was to go backwards a little bit and just set up what the world of Odyssey as they know it in audio—how we got there.

Why did the Whittakers move to Odyssey? What was Whit's marriage like? What was Jason like as a teenager? That allowed us more creative fodder for stories and to show how Whit became the Whit that we know. He's not as fully formed yet; he's more of a moldable character in a way.

Bob: You're credited as the screenwriter, but your role has gone far beyond writing the script. Where have your fingerprints ended up on this movie?

Dave Arnold: Where haven't they? I haven't drawn anything; that's pretty much it. Everything else, I have been working in tandem with the director, Jamie Mitchell, approving it creatively.

My chief role in it was to say, "Okay, these characters as you're drawing them are on the model of what they will become as characters in the audio show." Number two, "These characters as we're defining them in the stories, that will fold into the characters in the audio show." These characters' behavior, their dialogue, the way they move, the way they treat one another—all of those things. I looked at every single picture, every animatic, every sequence, and made music notes. I've been involved in the creation of the entire thing.

Bob: You've been back and forth to California quite a bit over the last couple of years, too.

Dave Arnold: Yeah, more times than I can count.

Jesse: You told us the movie is a prequel. For someone who already loves Adventures in Odyssey, how would you describe the actual plot? What's the storyline?

Dave Arnold: I would say, if you know the movie National Treasure, it's an adventure. What I wanted to do with this, because again, we're trying to reach a new audience that we've not tapped before. We want to bring more people in so that more ministry can happen, but we also want to make the established fans happy, too.

To me, we had to come out of the gate with something visually spectacular. To say it's a treasure hunt—they're not really looking for buried treasure, but they are after an artifact that is significant in the establishment of Whit's development moving forward.

It's showing the spiritual base of these characters. It's showing Whit reconnecting with mentors. There's a real brief scene of Whit as a young kid in the era of the Young Whit books. There is danger, there's chasing, and visual spectacle. It's a ride. It's a fun ride, and I think people are really going to like it.

Bob: Was there a point in this project where you really got excited about what it could be?

Dave Arnold: I think the moment for me was when I connected with some pivotal people that wanted to connect and get involved in this project. The first was John Pomeroy. When John engaged—John's a Disney legend. If you go onto IMDb or Google his name, you'll see a long list of Disney credits of things that you probably grew up on and watched when you were a kid or your kids watched. When I found out that he was going to engage, I thought, "Man, this could be really something special," because I just admire his work so much.

The other was when I connected with a fellow by the name of Terry Rossio. Terry was a mentor to me in the establishment and the development of this feature script. Terry has done a number of blockbuster films, both live-action and animation. If you think of Robin Williams' Aladdin, he wrote that. Shrek, Terry. Pirates of the Caribbean, Terry. National Treasure, Terry. Terry worked with me, evaluating everything I wrote. He critiqued everything I wrote. He was brutal but wonderfully brutal, to the point where when he said, "You've got a feature film here," I felt very comfortable with it.

Jesse: Audio listeners will definitely love the movie just because they know the characters and the setting. You purposefully kept in some of those familiar places and classic characters. Who are we going to recognize? What places are we going to go?

Dave Arnold: You will see Trickle Lake, and it will be mentioned about why it's called Trickle Lake. You will see the Fillmore Recreation Center; in fact, it's pivotal for this movie. It is a main featured location in this feature film. You'll see the town of Odyssey, and you'll see Whit's house.

If you've read the Young Whit books, you will know the character of Ben Huck. Ben was a mentor to young Whit when he was ten, eleven, twelve years old in school. Ben and Whit have maintained a relationship through the years. Ben is living in Odyssey, and that's one of the reasons that Whit moves to Odyssey.

We will see Jenny Whittaker. It's lovely to see their relationship and to understand how that impacted their kids and how Jenny was also a real mentor to Whit. We see her influence on him. If our audience knows the show "Recollections" well, they'll understand where ultimately some of this is all leading to. There are some moments in the feature that tease what happens in that.

Then there are two new kids, which we've never met before, but are incredibly endearing. And then some of the baddies that we have in any movie.

Bob: In order to honor the legacy material that we've been doing for the last 40 years, you can't really bring Eugene and Connie and Wooton and those folks in early because that wasn't their time. What did the medium of animation allow you to show about Whit or the world of Odyssey that the audio series couldn't?

Dave Arnold: Again, it goes back to how Whit became Whit. Was he always this wise and thoughtful and intentional in terms of his engagement with people? In some ways, but not quite yet because he's really, at the beginning of this feature, very much intent on starting a new season, a new chapter with his family, but also engaging in the inventor side of his brain. So he's tucked into that quite a bit.

Jenny does help him. I've got an incredible wife. I think we all do, everybody sitting at this table has a wonderful wife, and I'm sure your wives have impacted you the same way my wife, Janna, has impacted me in terms of growing me spiritually. When I was a teenager, I remember praying, "Lord, help me find a wife who will make me be a better Christian," and God answered that prayer.

For me personally, when I'm writing Jenny, I see my wife, Janna, and that's the kind of person that I see her to be—very wise, very helpful, a real helpmate. The kind of person that helps you become the kind of person you need to be to have the greatest impact. I could never have had any impact in my life without her, and I think that's the same for Jenny.

Jesse: You need that person to challenge you, to call you out, and who knows you best. It's great to have that, and I'm excited to see that relationship in the movie that you wrote. You've written so many and edited so many of the audio dramas, but animation is different. A movie is different. I know you had an original script and you talked about hearing some brutal feedback from Terry. I know it changed. What's something you can think of that you had in the original script that was taken out and why change it?

Dave Arnold: As I understand it, in the world of Hollywood and how they craft stories, the writer comes in with his own vision, and then the director takes it over. They have their own vision, too, and their vision is to craft a compelling visual story.

My idea—there were a lot of things that changed about this from my original draft, but I can't say that it's worse than it was. It's just different in many ways. Do I miss some of those things? Yeah, I really miss some of those things. But when I look at what we have now, taking out some of the content that I intentionally planted in there and replacing it with some of the more active visual scenes, without it, I don't know that it would be as engaging to watch.

It's easy when you're an audio writer or even a book writer; you can create pictures in people's minds with the words. But you don't have to use words; you have the picture. So that was a real pivot for me. That's a hard transition. Terry helped with that a lot, and then Jamie helped with that a lot. So yeah, it's a very visual story.

Jesse: There's something all of us in this room know, but it's a question I don't want to ask, but it's happening. By the time our listeners hear this podcast, Dave, you'll be retired from Focus on the Family after 39 years working with Adventures in Odyssey. What does it mean to have the animated project be that final work, that exclamation point of your work here at Focus? And what do you plan to do when you step foot out this building?

Dave Arnold: Well, it's always hard when you come to a transition like this, but I know it's the right time. When you get to a place where you just feel like the Lord has released you—and I do feel like that—the timing seems suspicious in some ways for some people, like "Why now?" I'll tell you why now: because the Lord told me to.

I feel like this is a pivot point in my life where, would I love to continue to do this thing? Oh, of course, I would. This has just been such an amazing opportunity to work on this project. It's been exciting, it's been frustrating, it's been engaging, it's been stressful—all of the things of life. But it has grown me so much, and it has been a real privilege and honor to be part of it. I will miss that, and I will miss a lot of the people that I've worked with through this project. It's just been a real honor.

But if I were to be disobedient and say, "No, I'm just going to stay," then God couldn't bring in the person that He wants to take it to the next level. I do think the Lord has said, "Dave, you've done your part. Now I've got somebody else that I'm going to bring in to carry it into the future." I don't know who that person is; they haven't found that person yet. I don't even know if they started looking for that person yet. But God will bring that person, that right person.

I'm excited about that because I'm excited about Adventures in Odyssey. To have it be such a massive part of my life and my career—what an honor. If you've been involved in this—and you guys both have been involved in Odyssey for a long time now, too—why did God choose us of all the people on the planet? But I'm just really grateful He did. I've always wanted to leave in a way that I felt like my leaving didn't hurt Odyssey; it just allowed it to proceed.

I believe that's what's going to happen now. I think God's got the right people in place, and having this animated feature be the punctuation mark, it's just, "Wow." I pray that God uses it the way He's used the audio show. I pray that His Holy Spirit fills it the way He has the audio show.

Jesse: Your leadership has been appreciated—the wisdom you've brought to the show, the humanity, the faith, the relationships. You'll be missed. You're leaving a legacy, and that door will always be open. We appreciate having you on the podcast, we appreciate having you as our leader for so many years, and just thank you for your time today.

Dave Arnold: Thank you, guys. It means a lot. I appreciate it.

Jesse: Adventures in Odyssey: The Movie is coming to theaters next year. You can find out more at adventuresinodysseythemovie.com.

Bob: That's all for this edition of the Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast, a presentation of Focus on the Family.

Jesse: Visit adventuresinodyssey.com to join the club or for more information about the show. Or you can call us at 1-800-A-FAMILY.

Bob: I'm Bob.

Jesse: And I'm Jesse, reminding you that with God in your life, every day's an adventure.