Flash Gordon Plays Football

It's all over! The month of January, the lunar eclipse with a blue and blood super moon, Groundhog Day, and the Super Bowl are all behind us, but shazbazzar and JediShua keep the action going with New York Jets Quarterback Flash Gordon, digital Xs and Os on a black-and-white screen on a cocktail table version of football from Atari, paper triangles on lunchroom tables, and an explanation of the first week of the TechnoRetro EggHunt by Matt Marks. This episode of TechnoRetro Dads will transform your winter blues with warm feelings of nostalgia, humor, and perhaps some deceptive humor for the next 77 minutes of your life.

 

In the NEWS

Scientists admit their error (sort of) by reclassifying Pluto as the ninth planet of the Solar System because...popular opinion? We discover that Mr. Rogers will be represented on screens, not only in documentary format, but in a full movie starring Tom Hanks as everyone's favorite neighbor in You Are My Friend. Indiana Jones 5 is slated as Steven Spielberg's next project and should hit screens sometime in 2020. Crocodile Dundee gets lost in the Outback in a new trailer for the fourth movie in the franchise. And thousands of baby names from 2017 may sound as if they've arrived from a galaxy far, far away.

 

TechnoRetro Arcade

Ratchet up your rollerball arm for some seriously cool game play from 1978 with the cocktail table head-to-head arcade hit Atari Football when a quarter could buy you 90 seconds of play time to get your Os past your opponent’s Xs to score a touchdown on the black and white scrolling screen. By choosing your formation from an onscreen menu and then controlling your players by spinning the rollerball with some hot rod moves. Run, pass, tackle, and intercept as you see the “players” move smoothly across the digital football field. The game keeps players going from huddle to huddle as gamers take brief breaks for their right arms. Although a few four-player versions were produced, the two-player tables were the most popular machines in arcades in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.  Some of these are still around and would be great for next year’s Super Bowl party at your house!

 

Toys in the Attic

Sometimes the toys we remember best were those we made ourselves. Back in school, we all learned to fold paper into various shapes for passing notes, but we also learned how to transform leaves of wide-ruled paper into hefty triangles to compete with our friends in the school cafeteria or at home on the kitchen table. Tabletop football was popular among kids in the ‘70s and ‘80s because with a single piece of paper, an entire game of football was possible. If you could “flick” your football to the opposite edge of the table without falling off the side, you could score a touchdown.  Then set up for the extra point by “kicking” the paper triangle through your opponent’s goal posts and you were on your way to winning the game. It was fun then, and its fun still.  Just the thing to keep football season alive in the off season.

 

Flash Gordon

Ming the Merciless is set on destroying Earth — for fun! But Dr. Zarkov is prepared for this attack with his homemade rocket — if only he could find someone to help him blast off.  When Flash Gordon and Dale Arden arrive at his front door (well, through his front door, on their crashed airplane), he got more than he bargained for.  The three heroes find themselves in the weird and wild world of Mongo on a psychedelic trip into a 1980 version of Flash Gordon with an unforgettable soundtrack by Queen.  This cult-classic continues to thrill audiences today as parents introduce their kids to this crazy, campy sci-fi, comic-book movie that seems more than a little disjointed. With loads of actors from a galaxy far, far away, this space opera owes a lot to the popularity of Star Wars, just like Star Wars owes its existence to Flash Gordon.

 

Feedback

JediHolmes chimes in with his memories of The Last Starfighter and Beastmaster 3.  Andy Lindemann asks about Atari comics, remembers Dungeons & Dragons, and totally relates to the Cylonic appearance of K.I.T.T. in Knight Rider. Adam O’Brien is back with some memories of Dungeons & Dragons, as well, as he recalls a show from his childhood called Boris’s Breakfast Club.

 

Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes, share us and with us on social media, or lend your voice to our discussion about toys, cereal, games, or movies and shows from the ‘70s and ‘80s by giving the ‘Dads your feedback on voice mail at [phone] or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to [e-mail]. And be sure to listen for hints and watch for clues for the TechnoRetro Dads’ Easter Egg with the ongoing TechnoRetro Egg Hunt.

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