Enjoy Stuff: A TechnoRetro Podcast

Learn the origin of Gargoyles.  Discover the amazing cartoon from 1994.  Taste the hardened taffy goodness (?) of peanut-butter “chews” from the Hallowe’en pillowcase.  Try to determine why Stretch Armstrong may actually be a gargoyle.  It’s all here in this Hallowe’en Eve edition of TechnoRetro Dads.

 

In the NEWS…

Who is the best movie character ever according to fans?  Here’s a hint, his alter-ego is Han Solo.  Ready Player One gets a LEGO treatment.  Australia gets recognized for something other than strange and venomous creatures — big and scary animatronic creatures!  Stretch Armstrong gets the Saturday morning treatment.  Magnum P.I. will be rebooted with some interesting alterations.

 

Hallowe’en Candy 

Every decade has its own flavor of candies, especially when Trick-or-Treaters come to your door.  JediShua and shazbazzar recall some of the best and worst candy memories from around 1977.  Which ones would you keep and which ones did you always trade away?   

 

Gargoyles (1972)

Swamp Angel’s suggestion for a Hallowe’en movie earns an Emmy as well as the appreciation of the ‘Dads as shazbazzar and JediShua watch the really weird but cool made-for-TV movie, Gargoyles.  The effects are certainly pre-Star Wars, but the story, music, and other aspects make this a retrotastic movie worth checking out — and it’s on YouTube!

 

Gargoyles (1994)

Although uncredited as creator for Gargoyles in its first few episodes, Greg Weisman created and wrote this inventive serial style cartoon while working for Disney in the mid-nineties.  Although this series all but escaped the ‘Dads’ notice back then, a rewatch of the first season reminds shazbazzar and JediShua that this series earns its position in the modernization of cartoons during the ‘90s.  

 

Aftershocks of 1977

We know him as Wesley Crusher, but did you know that Will Wheaton was a Star Wars fan before he ever knew about Star Trek?  At age five, he donned a Ben Cooper Darth Vader costume for Hallowe’en and his geekiness began in earnest.

 

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 (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com

 

Share and enjoy.

 

Direct download: TRDads_05.28.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

They’re creepy.  They’re kooky.  They’re mysterious.  They’re spooky.  But their Halloween special from 1977 is altogether ookey.  What is “ookey”, anyway?  And how do you spell it?  We don’t know, but we do know how we feel about Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Grandmama Addams, Wednesday, Pugsley, and their junior counterparts.  Junior counterparts?  Yep.  Just you wait for our discussion on Halloween with the New Addams Family.

 

In the NEWS…

If you recognize the names Tag and Bink, and you see Ron Howard tweeting them, you might think there will be some tongue-in-cheek humor in the next movie under the subtitle “A Star Wars Story”.  And the movie gets a name.  No surprises there.  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will celebrate its fortieth anniversary by returning to its roots with an all new chapter in the saga as a radio drama.

 

We Love Our Cereal…

…and the prizes inside, or on the box, or as part of mail-away premiums.  How long have cereals contained prizes for kids?  While it won’t surprise you that it precedes 1977, it’s been a lot longer than you may expect.   

 

TechnoRetro Arcade

This week we bring another “analog” game into the Hallowe’en room of the TechnoRetro Arcade.  Haunted House is a shooting gallery styled arcade game from 1972 that uses levers, belts, and 8-Track tapes to entertain gamers in the early ‘70s.  Whether it’s a scary cat, a wailing witch, or a grave-digging monster from the underworld, you get to shoot them with the electronically wired rifle attached to the upright machine.  So bring your reading glasses and prepare to fight the fiends of the Haunted House.

 

Halloween with the New Addams Family

What could possibly reduce the confident, charming Gomez Addams to a shadow of his former self?  His little brother Poncho.  This is just the beginning of the two-hour special that aired on NBC on Hallowe’en Eve 1977.  Halloween with the New Addams Family is a heist with a poltergeist as the family reunites to celebrate the arrival of the spirit of Cousin Shy in a very, very merry oddity of ‘70s comedy with a familiar family from ‘60s television.  Is it funny or sad?  You decide.

 

TechnoRetro Feedback

We finally get to more feedback this week with a Goonies poster from New York Comic Con, thanks to Jovial Jay.  Chris in Arvada finds monster cereals and it sends him into a rageless rant.  Artist Wes puts Puff N Stuff on a Huffy and it looks great!  Swamp Angel thinks the show is good…so far.  Chris Hamilton spotted Teen Wolf at a convention.  Hasan expresses his adoration for Altered Beasts on Sega.  And Darth Hound and @skymauler tweet about the Grinch’s Halloween special.

 

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 (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Be sure to tune in to Geek Out Loud at GOLiverse on Mixlr for live rewatches of Stranger Things as we get ready for Stranger Things 2.  PLUS: Steve is blogging about the #TeamSteve experience at geekoutonline.com.

 

Share and enjoy.

Direct download: TRDads_05.27.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:30am EDT

From a Watcher in the Woods, to a spooky cemetery, to a creepy, creaky haunted house, shazbazzar and JediShua crank up the frights to 6.7 as the ‘Dads continue to celebrate the fun of Hallowe’en all month long.  Then, Steve Glosson of Disney Vault Talk, Geek Out Loud! and The Big Honkin’ Show comes along and amps up the zaniness with memories of Disney’s freak-fare of 1980, The Watcher in the Woods.

 

In the NEWS…

John Rhys-Davies wants another crack at Sallah in the fifth feature of the Indiana Jones film saga.  Zak Penn says his upcoming Matrix movie is neither a reboot nor a continuation.  Well, then, what is it?  Last I checked, it was just a red pill and a blue pill.  I’m starting to think Zak Penn may be a little yellow (not really, it just fit).  Back to the Future gets the kids’ book treatment by Quirk Books, in the same stylings as the E.T. book we talked about earlier this year.

 

We Love Our Cereal…

Europe imports American-style cereal in a Spanish cereal cafe.  Once the crazy colors and high sugar content hits the 40something crowd in Spain, everyone will be after that little leprechaun’s Lucky Charms!   

 

TechnoRetro Arcade

The spring is stretched.  The knob is released.  The ball bearing is launched into an inclined plane filled with bells, buzzers, lights, and magnets while a demon announces, “Me Gorgar. Me hurt you!”  Williams Electronics released the first talking pinball game in 1979 to both thrill and terrify arcade-goers in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.  The ‘Dads needed to have this classic contraption in the Hallowe’en room of the TechnoRetro Arcade simply because of shazbazzar’s memories of his first real pinball game, Gorgar.

 

Disney’s Halloween Hall O’ Fame

While this 1977 Hallowe’en special isn’t completely animated, the frame story featuring Jonathan Winters as a night watchman at Walt Disney Studios is sufficiently outrageous to be called “cartoony”.  Like other seasonal specials of this time, Disney’s Halloween Hall O’ Fame features excerpts from three classic Disney cartoons: Trick or Treat (1952) pits Donald Duck against his nephews who are aided by Witch Hazel in a “trick or trick” war.  Pluto finds himself in the claws of demon cats in Pluto’s Judgment Day (1935).  Finally, the Headless Horseman chases Mr. Nose-in-Book, himself, in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” portion of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). 

 

The Watcher in the Woods

SuperFriend Steve Glosson joins shazbazzar and JediShua to have his childhood fears drawn out like a being from another dimension being pulled from his world during an eclipse as he exchanges positions with a teenage girl in perhaps the freakiest live-action Disney movie ever, The Watcher in the Woods.  This cult classic is cultish in every sense of the word.  From ghost story to science fiction with seances and (in some versions) trans-dimensional worlds tiled in hexagons, The Watcher in the Woods scared (and scarred) many children of the ‘80s.  And now, The Lifetime Channel is remaking the movie as directed by Melissa Joan Hart.  But the 1980 film with connections to Ice Castles, James Bond, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Stranger Things is one of the two things Steve fears above all else. It will premiere this weekend.  So whether you couldn’t look away or couldn’t bear to watch, The Watcher in the Woods would mesmerize, hypnotize, or paralyze with its Bette Davis Eyes!

 

TechnoRetro Feedback

Michael Heicken sends in a vintage pic of three boys in Ben Cooper Star Wars costumes from 1977 with him, his brother, and his friend as Chewbacca, a stormtrooper, and Darth Vader.  Bernadette Marie suggests playing phantasmagoria in a cold, dark basement for enhanced experiences.  Joseph Fuller is interested in collecting Star Wars trading cards and asks for some advice.  

 

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 (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Be sure to tune in to Geek Out Loud at GOLiverse on Mixlr for live rewatches of Stranger Things as we get ready for Stranger Things 2.  PLUS: Steve is blogging about the #TeamSteve experience at geekoutonline.com.

 

Direct download: TRDads_05.26.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:30am EDT

Before the Grinch stole Christmas, he was averted from completing his plans to scare Whovillians on Halloween in a prequel from 1977 that neither of the ‘Dads remember seeing.  With ghoulish jokes, great feedback, and Din’s first appearance on TechnoRetro Dads with F-105’s single “Rebel Girl”, this episode will make your Monday morning more than bearable, it’s gonna put a smile on your face and a spring in your step this fall.

 

In the NEWS…

Oxford (University, not the Kindergarten in Oxford, Mississippi pretending to be a University) physicists discover that we, according to their scientific acumen, are not living on the GRID.  However, since the science on the GRID would necessarily be limited to the scope of the computer, their findings are above suspicion.  Thanks to T-Bird for this bit of science news that doesn’t prove we aren’t living in the world of TRON.  The X-Files take the jump into children’s books with The X-Files: Earth Children Are Weird.  Epcot turns 35.

 

We Love Our Cereal…

Star Wars premiums return to General Mills cereals with color changing spoons as a promotional for The Last Jedi.  Thanks to Justin LaSalata and JediNews for the heads-up! Post is suing General Mills over bagged cereal displays.  Michael Nipp reminds us of green milk as Halloween Crunch returns to shelves this month.   

 

Aftershocks of 1977

Who did you want to be forty years ago this Hallowe’en?  Luke Skywalker?  Darth Vader?  If you were one of the lucky ones, you found one of the first Ben Cooper costumes back in October 1977.  This initial run was short on supply and big on demand, which led to some great fan creations.

 

TechnoRetro Arcade

Continuing the ongoing theme of October, JediShua suggests a Hallowe’en Room for the TechnoRetro Arcade with Sega’s Altered Beast.  Become a lycanthropic hero in ancient Greece to rescue Athena, the daughter of Zeus, by fighting zombies and monsters.  Just the thing for a game this time of year.

 

Halloween Is Grinch Night

Back in October 1977, the green-furred Grinch returned for a prequel as he sought to torment the Whos of Whoville when the sweet-sour wind started howling in Halloween is Grinch Night.  A slow-burn for a thirty-minute cartoon special, this very, very seventies animated Seussational trip through wacky weirdness goes on a psychedelic trip the likes of which only a honey-drunken Pooh Bear can relate to.  (Yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition.)

 

TechnoRetro Feedback

JediMasterJBell tweets a picture of a Fruity Pebbles treat bar from Buccees (and we’re baffled).  Shane in Grand Rapids shares the newest cereal spice with a pic of Life Gingerbread Spice.  Steve shares his military school memories of cereal breakfasts that we will never forget.  “Shrapnel grenade!”  

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 (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com

Share and enjoy.

 

Direct download: TRDads_05.25.1.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:30am EDT

Bugs Bunny, unlike most of us, can never enjoy the excitement and gratification of a well-executed high five.  However, that rascally rabbit (wascally wabbit) may be a bit too old for the practice, since the high five has only been around for forty years and Bugs Bunny is nearly forty years older than that.  But that’s not important right now.  October has arrived, and that means we’ll be talking about Halloween for weeks.  Scary, spooky, hairy, and kooky characters have begun populating stores and homes already and we’re continuing this great tradition on TechnoRetro Dads.

 

In the NEWS…

The superhero all decked in blue will return to Blu-Ray with a never-before-released and only once-aired (enough hyphens?) version of Superman as seen on TV in a two-night (another hyphen, but who’s counting?) special broadcast on ABC that captivated kids (and maybe adults) in 1982.  With more scenes, more John Williams music, and more super-stuff, this Blu-Ray can be yours this Christmas.  But, since it’s not Christmas, yet, and dark environments and glow-in-the-dark items are all the rage during the Halloween season, the upcoming release of two TRON Funko Pops gets our attention.  Who are we kidding, TRON always gets our attention.  They look really cool, too!  Don’t forget that E.T. was centered around Halloween, too, which brings us to Spielberg: Direct from the Heart, the upcoming Steven Spielberg documentary coming soon on HBO.  PLUS: more reboots from the “Greatie Eighties” are in the works with Battlestar Galactica and True Lies.  Wait, they’re not from the ‘80s — but close enough.

 

We Love Our Cereal…

They say that you can’t teach an old dogs new tricks, but evidently an old rabbit can bring back old TRIX.  Artificial colors will soon return to your cereal bowls as General Mills reveals that it will release the more-colorful version (complete with fun chemicals) alongside the newly-released all-natural colored TRIX that have become commonplace on grocery store shelves.  While shazbazzar looks forward to this return to artificiality, JediShua will simply look through his rose-colored glasses (and yellow-colored glasses) at his all-natural bowl of cereal as he enjoys the healthier fare. Cheerios earns its place in cereal news this week with its newest flavor: peanut butter and chocolate.  Unique?  No.  Better than “Sour Cream & Onion” Cheerios?  Definitely!

 

Aftershocks of 1977

It’s the end of the regular season in 1977,  Dusty Baker of the L.A. Dodgers cracks a home run to give him 30 in the season, and the iconic and decidedly American tradition of the “high five” is invented.  Was it intentional, accidental, or an inevitable consequence of excited exuberance?  Whatever your opinion, one thing is without question: this invention of Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke is obviously an aftershock of 1977 as the celebratory gesture continues as a common expression in our culture.  And best of all, people can “high five” each other without paying any residuals to these two Dodgers from 1977.

 

TechnoRetro Arcade

Continuing the ongoing theme of October, JediShua suggests a Halloween Room for the TechnoRetro Arcade with Capcom’s Ghosts ’n Goblins.  This 1985 side-scrolling adventure game follows Sir Rusty Arthur on his quest to rescue Princess Prin-Prin.

 

Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special

Premiering on October 26, 1977, Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special blended several Looney Tunes cartoons together into a humorously Halloweenish half-hour special that continues to thrill audiences who are lucky enough to see it in its entirety…even though the original cartoons have been edited to remove large portions of the individual plot lines in order to reorient them to fit into a continual story.

 

TechnoRetro Feedback

Matt Marks, Eric Warren, Swamp Angel, Rob Dehlinger, Steve Fugatt, Jeremy Hunt, and Wes all lend their thoughts on various TechnoRetro goodness in feedback with collective memories and artistic creativity.

 

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 (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.

Direct download: TRDads_05.24.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:30am EDT

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