At My Whit’s End: Lights Out On My Sinful Psyche
(Photo: Early 1988 image of AIO, Focus on the Family. Image courtesy of the AIO Wiki.)
Every week I take part in a writing group where, after chatting for awhile, we all go around and say what we’ll be working on. As I started writing this entry I declared, “I’m finally gonna get to start writing about the ACTUAL Adventures in Odyssey series.”
Then I stopped myself. Closed my eyes. Sighed.
A friend in that group (everyone in it now knows more about AIO than one should for their health) chuckled. “You knew that was wrong the second you said it.”
I did. Because even after a YEAR of working on this research project? We still aren’t talking about Adventures in Odyssey proper. Not yet. We’re just about there. So close.
But first?
We have to talk about the specter looming over this blog. One that’s been with us from the start.
“That’s why I want to revisit this show. What about it has stayed with me? Is it all bad? Is it really one of the few “good” pieces of Christian media out there? Is there a way to sum this franchise up that won’t make people judgmentally stare at me?! What do you mean you don’t all know the “Communicate!” rap from Lights Out at Whit’s End?!?!?!?!”
We’re finally going to talk about-
Episode 3: Lights Out at Whit’s End
When a power outage stops the kids’ movie shoot, Whit and the other adults put on a live stage show to prove real communication doesn’t need electricity.
Why aren’t I starting with episode 1 of Odyssey USA, especially after I went into such extreme detail with Family Portraits? Shouldn’t I be doing EVERY SINGLE EPISODE? There’s a part of me that wants to and honestly could… But I need to be real. Odyssey’s a franchise with over 1000 episodes (and still going.) If I covered every single episode? This project would never get done. Family Portraits got so much attention because it was an important foundation for what’s to come, but going forward? I’ll be focusing on key episodes that highlight larger trends in the series, “lore” heavy entries, or ones that are too bizarre to ignore. Like this one!
If the above plot description gave you major condescending Boomer vibes, you’d be 100% correct. What starts as Whit providing all the tools needed for the kids of Odyssey to shoot a documentary, a really cute idea for a story, quickly morphs into the adults taking center stage. Literally. When, after the power goes out, the kids complain there’s nothing to do, we get the first example of how Whit has changed for the worse in Odyssey USA. He doesn’t just beat children, he gets his kicks from dragging them too!
Amanda: “Well, there's nothing to do.”
Whit: “Nothing to do? You mean the only thing that makes this place exciting is electricity? You think life was that boring before Edison invented the light bulb? Used to be that fun was something you created. Didn't come delivered to you. You had to go find it for yourself. And you know what? That was the most fun part of all.”
Amanda: “Can you give us some ideas, Mr. Whitaker?”
Bobby: “Yeah. What did you used to do before electric lights?”
Tom: “We had electric lights, Bobby.”
Marianne: “And we even had radio too.”
Whit: “But we also had imagination.”¹
My brothers in Christ, this aired in the goddamn ‘80s. Sure, TV and video games were a THING, but this was still an era where kids used their IMAGINATIONS to play with toys, make believe outside, and a hell of a lot more. MAYBE this argument would have a bit more sway in 2025 but not much. Kids aren’t stupid and if the power went out, they’d find ways to have fun. They wouldn’t just sit there, slack jawed, unable to accomplish ANYTHING. It’s beyond condescending.
This exchange isn’t for the kids listening though. It’s for their parents. They’ll hear this and go, “Ah, yes, this will get my kids away from that stupid TV that lets them escape to a world where I don’t beat them! HOW DARE.”
With the kids trapped at Whit’s End until the power comes back, Whit forces them to use their imagination by putting on a live theater show with Tom Riley, Officer Harley, and some random lady. Um, isn’t almost all theater live? And, like, yeah you need to use some imagination when you watch a production on stage but wouldn’t it have been more on theme (and format) for them to put on a mock radio show instead? Oh well! What was supposed to be a chance for the kids to express themselves is snatched away by the adults. The kids don’t get to participate and they’re pissed.
Whit: “Ah, good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for coming to tonight's show.”
Kids: “You won't let us go home!”
Whit: “And it's a lucky thing too ‘cause we have a really big show for you tonight. It's a truly marvelous look at the history of communication.”
-tepid claps -
Whit: “Thank you. Thank you.”²
Same, kids. Same.
Whit’s DELIGHTED to spew his talking points, low-key dissing TV/film while bigging up theater and radio. Odyssey USA can’t just be an alternative to Saturday morning cartoons. It has to be MORALLY SUPERIOR to them. Interesting, then, that the first skit Whit and company put on, an interview with the “3000 Year Old Man,” is a whole-sale ripoff of a Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner comedy routine regularly performed on TV.
Compare, if you will. First, the Brooks and Reiner original, from a 1975 animated special.
Interviewer: “I'm asking you, sir, how song came-”
2000 Year Old Man: “So song came about when you really had to communicate when you were in trouble. You couldn't say, “help.””
Interviewer: “Yes.”
2000 Year Old Man: “What the heck is saying, “help.””
Interviewer: “Yes.”
2000 Year Old Man: “You say “help, Davis.” He says “Hello.” They don’t even hear ya!”
Interviewer: “I see.”
2000 Year Old Man: “You see Mort, you say “help!” He says “good morning.””
Interviewer: “Yes.”
2000 Year Old Man: “It all started when you really had to- You were in trouble! You had- You had to get somebody, you said, “HEEEEEELLLLPPPPP!!!!””
Interviewer: “That was the first song?”
2000 Year Old Man: “That’s a note!”
Interviewer: “I see. So in other words fear caused-”
2000 Year Old Man: “Right, fear caused singing.”
Interviewer: “We thought happiness did.”
2000 Year Old Man: “Oh, and the songs came out of it. A lion is eating my foot off!”³
To the Odyssey USA version.
Whit: “How did your family communicate? What kinds of communication did you have?”
The 3000 Year Old Man (Played by Tom): “Well, son, you see, we invented all kinds of forms of communication. Let's see, now, you had your jungle drums, you had your drawings on cave walls, you had smoke in a blanket, and of course, you had your Grunts.”
Whit: “Uh huh. You mean you talk in grunts like, “UH UH.””
The 3000 Year Old Man: “No no no no! No, I mean you talk TO the Grunts. Herman and Nanante Grunt. Biggest blabbermouths in town, but talk about communication! You want to spread the news in a hurry? You just tell the Grunts.”
Whit: “So what you're saying is that back in your day, one of the best ways that information got from one person to the next was by talking.”⁴
I don’t have a problem with media doing a legendary comedy bit homage. Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” has been referenced, parodied, and remixed hundreds of times. But Odyssey USA, in an episode low-key dissing television, has the gall to so heavily draw on a well known TV comedy skit? That’s just some table flipping hypocrisy. Focus on the Family wants this show to be a godly alternative to secular TV yet relies on it for jokes. (It’s a shame because the voice actors are clearly having a ball with this and the other skits, the only redeeming aspect of the episode.)
The people behind Odyssey acknowledge this contradiction with the baffling explanation, “we reference many movies, books, and TV shows that have inspired Odyssey stories. Just because we mention of these media doesn’t mean that we recommend them… Of course, we hope that God is truly the inspiration for our work.”*⁵
*Translator’s Note: In Evangelical Christian this really means: “Because we deprive our audience of genuine entertainment we can give them reheated, toned-down versions of actual pop culture and they’ll think it’s a five-star meal. God said we could.”
Warmed-over “alternatives” to secular media became more and more common in Evangelical culture from this period onward. Or, as author Talia Lavin refers to them, “a parasitic subculture.”
“(It has) it own novels (Die Hard but with angels!); bands (DC Talk, the Christian version of Nirvana, Ark of the Covenant, a Christian metalcore alternative to Metallica); cartoons (Veggie Tales, the Spandex-clad, Truth-bearing Bibleman from Pure Flix); schools, universities, TV shows, and radio programs.”⁶
It’s all part of Dobson and company’s plan to create an insular world where they have full control, the only traces of the real world corrupted into fun house mirror distortions. All in the service of, as Lavin sums up, “preserving zealotry.”⁷ Bad-mouthing TV’s a calculated indoctrination tool, meant to remove listeners from their secular peers. If you feel morally superior, why would you spend your time with those godless heathens who watch BRAIN-ROTTING TELEVISION?!
Is there a direct pipeline from “Lights Out at Whit’s End” to Republican senators justifying their smug striking down of rights meant to aid “sinners” aka diverse populations? Considering AIO fans work for some of the most powerful people in our government, I’m gonna say yes.
Current Focus president Jim Daly’s stand-out memory of visiting the noted anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, and Donald Trump-coup supporter Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was meeting one of his assistants, an enthusiastic AIO fan. They told Daly, “there’s about half a dozen people here at the State Department We gather together at lunch and listen to an episode. Then we go back to work.”⁸
Which means there’s a non-zero chance this has been heard in the halls of the State Department.
Amanda: When you talk and it's funny it can be a blast, but you really get in trouble if you talk in class.
Officer Harley: “All right, Bobby, your turn.”
Bobby: You can talk by a locker or anywhere you go. You can talk underwater just like Jacques Cousteau.
The Adults: Communicate. Communicate. Just open up your heart and communicate.
Officer Harley: We gotta learn to laugh, ‘cause joy is great.
The Adults: And the best way to do it is communicate!⁹
Hilarious as it is chilling.
After Whit and friends put on another sketch where they erroneously claim the Bible was the first book ever printed (it was not, evidence exists that this occurred nearly a century earlier in Korea) we finally come to… The rap.
Bobby voice actor Dave Griffin sums it up best.
“No amount of therapy can ever erase that from my memory. The walls remember, too. And microphones never forget the abuse they’ve suffered. Those poor, poor microphones… they didn’t deserve that.”¹⁰
To listen to “Communicate!” is to hear the encroaching maw of time itself. Hear it once and it’ll stalk you all your life. Nothing can block it out. It will haunt you. Maybe that’s why the I can’t go more than a few minutes without listening to music, podcasts, or videos. If I let silence settle in? I̫̖͔̱̳t͏̣̳̹̼̘͠ ̢̺͕͈c̸͍o̵̪̪̤̝͙͍̬͝m̢͎̼̤̱e̛̪̣̩͟͠s̴̭̰̬.̥͔̼̞͍̲̹̙͡͡͡
Its horrors only grow over time. It was only on listening to it for this blog, after hearing it dozens of time over my cursed life, that I realized Harley’s rapping the whole thing while dressed as a TELEPHONE. Full Psalty the Singing Songbook style. What new horrors will crawl out from the depths as I wither and grow old? As I breathe my last will its final horrors be revealed unto me? Or will death be only the beginning of my true madness?
Much like ripping off the 2000 Year Old Man comedy skit, Odyssey USA takes rap music from the secular world and runs it through an Evangelical meat grinder. Scraped of any and all defining characteristics, Evangelical youth can be “safe” from such things as, you know, the Black culture rap originated from. Perish the thought!
Those outside Christian/Evangelical culture probably consider the mere concept of “Christian rap” ludicrous no matter who’s doing it. I get it, but there’s great examples of it out there and even at the time Odyssey USA had some to pull from. The most notable I found was Michael Peace’s “RRRock It Right” album that includes this achingly earnest jam.
Now the things that I rap about will make you laugh
But on judgment day we’re gonna see your past
God’s gonna judge all the people alive and dead
The cursing, the drugs, the sex in bed
He’s been watching your life every single day
So get on your knees ‘cause you need to pray
Get saved!
It’s old school rap corny, a mix of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and Salt-N-Pepa, but at least it’s got a decent flow and beat. Christian rap as a concept doesn’t have to be terrible, it’s just that Odyssey USA’s watered-down attempt that comes off pathetic.
When the power comes back on at Whit’s End, the kids no longer want to shoot their documentary. Instead they want to keep rapping “Communicate!” Whit pretends to be flabbergasted but his condescension’s on full display.
Whit: “You want to do something that doesn't need any electricity?”
Amanda: “Yeah.”
Whit: “No props, no gadgets, just your imagination? I don't get it.”
Bobby: “Remember you said fun was something you have to go find for yourself?”
Whit: “Yeah.”
Bobby: “Well, we found it.”
Amanda: “Besides, I think we learned something about communication.”
Whit: “Well, what's that?”
Amanda: “It's not what we do that makes it fun to be together. It's just being together.”
Whit: “That's what the Bible calls fellowship.”¹¹
…
Odyssey USA’s trying to target 8-12 year old’s?
“I think we learned something about communication!” Really, my dudes in Christ? That’s dialogue for 3 year old’s. Not for an audience that goes up to preteens. “Lights Out at Whit’s End” is massive misfire, the sort of episode that should be the death knell for any other franchise. This is what they think kids 8-12 want to hear? How the hell has this franchise continued to run for 30 years if they think is what the youths want?
Well, banning the episode and burying it in the archives helped.
“Lights Out at Whit’s End” only aired on the radio once and received two releases on cassette that quickly went out of print. It only got a re-release 27 years later on the Adventures in Odyssey Club app as part of a collection of rarely heard episodes. The mere mention of “Lights Out at Whit’s End” makes the writers cringe, and, when asked in 2008 why they never air the episode, producer Dave Arnold responded, “if you heard (it) you wouldn’t be asking that question.” After playing a snippet of “Communicate” the producers all groan and call it, “painful.”¹²
The rap, more than the episode as a whole, is a collective sore spot for the creative team. In the 1997 AIO Guide, Phil Lollar writes, “Light's Out at Whit's End also contained our first-and, thankfully, our last-attempt at rap music.”¹³ The 2012 guide adds, “Whit and Tom rapping the song called "Communicate!" in "Lights Out at Whit's End" will have us cringing for years to come.”¹⁴ Even the show itself has referenced how bad it was. Episode #781, “Out of the Woods,” released in 2015, has later main character Eugene unearth an old cassette of the rap. He quickly shuts it off.
Yes, “Lights Out at Whit’s End” is terrible and “Communicate!” is a sin against God, but at least it proves the writers are capable of recognizing and owning up to their mistakes. They tried something new and quickly realized it was a flop, so bad they wouldn’t even try to make money off it until it “lost” status made it a curiosity for newer fans nearly 30 years later. There is SOME accounting for taste here. Some. To AIO fans the song has become an a meme, with one group even remaking the song in 2011.
(Yes, AIO has the kinds of fans who make ironic yet loving music videos. More proof AIO is a legit franchise.)
Hang on though, earlier I said I’ve listened to this episode dozens of times. But I was born in 1991, four years after the episode aired. I didn’t listen to my first AIO cassette until 1995. I didn’t know “Lights Out at Whit’s End” was part of the Adventures in Odyssey Club app until I started researching for this project. So how was the episode seared into my ear holes since I was a little kid?
(Photo: One of the first cassette albums for AIO, which included “Lights Out at Whit’s End,” Focus on the Family. Image courtesy of the AIO Wiki.)
My Church library had one of those early Odyssey cassette albums, that, in the years since, have become extremely rare and sought after collectors items. I checked that album out on the regular, listening to the 12 episodes contained within over and over for years. It call back to me as I relistened to “Lights Out” for this entry.
The industrial grade yellowed tape holding the album together. Pressing down on the side of it to pop the cassette out. Sliding the tape into the walkman. Securing the walkman onto the waistband of my shorts. The cheap padding of the discount headphones over my ears. The tape hiss just before the episode began. I could TASTE the memories and feelings. From what I’ve learned, I’m one of the few (former) AIO fans who can say that.
Against all odds, “Lights Out at Whit’s End” is embedded in my very soul. Jesus wept.
But did it work? Did I turn my back on TV and electronics in favor of IMAGINATION? No, I needed electronics to listen to Adventures in Odyssey! I needed a TV to watch my other major obsession as a kid, Power Rangers. The pull of those sinful spandex heroes were too just powerful for Jesus. Did I gain an appreciation for (awful) rap music? Not really, that was already cemented by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. (Thankfully I had the full soundtrack of that film and Ya Kid K’s “Awesome (You Are My Hero)” had a much bigger impact on my music tastes.)
“Lights Out at Whit’s End” is just another episode of Odyssey. Not everything you take in as a kid, no matter how many times you engage with it or how well you remember it as an adult, leaves a massive impact on your values. (Besides the moments where I close my eyes at night and pray I fall asleep before “Communicate!” slithers up from the depths.)
That won’t hold true NEXT TIME, where Odyssey USA tackles the topic of SIN.
At least they don’t rap about it.
Also, I’ve started a Patreon for the research project! It’s an easy way for you to sign up FOR FREE and be sure you’ll get updates in your inbox instead of constantly checking the website or hoping you don’t miss a post in your social media feed. Also you can toss me a dollar if you want! (UPDATE: Patreon decided to suspend my account for no stated reason. I’m trying to figure out what happened so sit tight until then!) (FURTHUR UPDATE: Patreon un-suspended my account. Huzzah!)
Sources:
Lights Out at Whit’s End: Written and Directed by Steve Harris and Phil Lollar, Production Engineer Bob Luttrell, Focus on the Family, 1987.
(1)
(2)
(4)
(9)
(11)
The 2000 Year Old Man: Created and Written by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, Crossbow Productions, 1975.
(3)
“Adventures in Odyssey: The Official Guide 25th Birthday Edition” by Nathan Hoobler, Tyndale House Publishers Inc., 2012.
(5)
(14)
“Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America” by Talia Lavin, Legacy Lit, 2024.
(6) Pages 241-242
(7) Page 242
“Focus president Jim Daly on 1000 episodes,” The Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast, Focus on the Family, 2024.
(8)
The Prodigal: Again?!?, Written by Dave Griffin, 2022.
(10)
“Why don’t you play Lights Out…?” The Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast, Focus on the Family, 2008.
(12)
"The Complete Guide to Adventures in Odyssey” by Phil Lollar, Focus on the Family Publishing, 1997.
(13)