Enjoy Stuff: A TechnoRetro Podcast

Whether you love the Academy Awards or the Oscars make you grouchy, the morning after Hollywood’s most celebrated celebration of La La Land will most assuredly bring joy to your Monday morning and get your work week off to a better than Rocky start.  So get off the Fences and find those long lost toys and Hidden Figures from your Star Wars collection and join shazbazzar and JediShua as the Moonlight gives way to daybreak with the Arrival of the latest episode of TechnoRetro Dads.  So stop Lion there in bed and Hacksaw the dream chains before you miss out on the bright day ahead! 

 

In the NEWS…

Weird Al fills an accordion with loads of vinyl including previously unreleased tracks alongside a complete collection of his works.  Rogue One comes to your home in just over a month on DVD and Blu-ray.  The Last Jedi title discussion reaches a conclusion with French and Spanish titles’ explanation of this questionable phrase in English.

 

Aftershocks of 1977

Find out how the 49th Academy Awards launched the career of an iconic actor when the Best Picture of 1976 featured a nearly penniless man, his dog, and a heart that enabled him to go the distance.  Rocky continues to hit viewers where it counts four decades after its initial release.  JediShua and shazbazzar relate their thoughts about this classic film that put Sylvester Stallone on the Hollywood best list.  

 

Toys in the Attic

With Toy Fair in the rear-view mirror, the ‘Dads react to some of the toys that scored with them.  From retrotastic space helmets to booming balloon sabers, and miniaturized arcade cabinets to upgraded talking teddy bears, these toys will be a hit with the X Generation when they go shopping for their kids (or grandkids) this year.

 

TechnoRetro Speculations

With the announcement of Rogue One on Blu-ray comes speculations and hopes for what could be included in the various packages and exclusives next month.  Although shazbazzar and JediShua don’t have any voice in what should be included, they share some of their hopes about the unlikely possibilities as the latest addition to the Star Wars movies gets its first release (of course there will be many, many more releases over the next four decades).

 

History Lesson

Sam Beckett battles the “Curse of the Ptah Hotep” as an archaeologist sixty years ago.  John Connor celebrates his thirty-second birthday just before the most well-known Weasley turns thirty-six.  A dumb kid realizes that we’re not alone in the universe on a back road while Adam Sandler gets smarter.  This week’s fictional history is finally truly historical. 

 

TechnoRetro Dads is the perfect cure for your morning after blues after the Oscar after parties.  We would love to hear from our EarBuds via Twitter @TechnoRetroDads or on Facebook, so let us know what you’re thinking on social media, or you can give us your feedback and let us know what you think by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us an mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes!

 

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Direct download: TRDads_04.47.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

With perhaps the most disjointed and cram-packed episode of TechnoRetro Dads ever, shazbazzar and JediShua apologize if you feel blindsided, upside-down, or threatened by enormous lizards with atomic breath as you start this work week.  Corny jokes, news-ish stories, aftershocks, cartoons, video games, and fictional history are all stuffed into your audio toy box of nostalgia.  Give us 77 minutes, and we’ll take of the “wait”.

 

In the NEWS…

Valentine’s Day in Colorado came with original V-Day “cards” (including spoons), stranger boxes, and lots of love.  Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown is cast to take down an even bigger monster in 2019.  The radio drama version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy gets animated.

 

We Love our Cereal!

After talking about Girl Scout cereal for weeks, we dive into a bowl of Caramel Crunch with yummy, crunchy results.  Samoas (Caramel deLites) get a tasty treatment that ranks rather high with each Oneida spoonful.

 

Aftershocks of 1977

“A shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a sensible dinner” has been the recipe for weight loss for millions for the past forty years.  Slim Fast hit store shelves in 1977 and has continued to endure even while fad diets come and go.  Catapulting baseball manager Tommy Lasorda into TechnoRetro fame, the commercials alone are permanently etched into GenX’s collective memory.  Get ready to put away your fat pants and tighten your belt because this diet product really works!

 

Saturday Mornings

EarBud Rory O’Toole suggests another theme song for the segment as the ‘Dads remember the voice of Jim Backus as Quincy Magoo, the doddering, legally blind cartoon who epitomizes the physical comedy that was popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  So turn on the television of your minds and sit down for What’s New Mr. Magoo?.   

 

Toys in the Attic

Shogun Warriors were popular in the mid-seventies (and have made a big comeback with kids of that era today), and one of their biggest hits was the towering, twenty-inch version of Godzilla by Mattel.  JediShua and shazbazzar remember hours of destructive fun as they brought the gigantic lizard into their playtime with Star Wars figures and army men.

 

TechnoRetro Arcade

JediShua’s most recent trip to the Hyperspace Arcade brought him joyful memories of vector graphics and clever game play with Space Duel, an Atari release from 1982 that resembled asteroids with colorful, three-dimensional objects attacking a dual-ship controlled by one or two players.  The only multi-player vector game by Atari was the company’s response to less-than-stellar sales of their Asteroids Deluxe video game.  Space Duel earns its place in the TechnoRetro Arcade.

 

History Lesson

Since it’s Presidents’ Day, it’s only right to include some patriotic history from Independence Day: Resurgence as the ESD Moonbase opens in 2009.  Plus, Scott Bakula leaps back to 1958 to sort out Marty Elroy’s family problems in Quantum Leap.

 

How can we bring you all this sweet TechnoRetro goodness in 77 minutes with no calories?  The magic of nostalgia, that’s how.  Of course, input from our EarBuds via Twitter @TechnoRetroDads or on Facebook help, too.  So let us know what you’re thinking on social media, or you can give us your feedback and let us know what you think by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us an mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes!

 

Share and enjoy!

Direct download: TRDads_04.46.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 8:14am EDT

Questions abound on this week’s episode of TechnoRetro Dads: What is an 8-Track tape?  What is JediShua saying in French?  Can Olive Oyl’s love make Popeye stronger than a can of spinach?  Who is the biggest fan of Battlestar Galactica? Should I stay or should I go?  And, most importantly, are you ready for Valentine’s Day tomorrow?  You still have time if you’re listening to TechoRetro Dads this Monday morning.  Just another reason to start your work week right every Monday. 

 

In the NEWS…

Even though the Falcons squandered their three quarter lead to fall to the Patriots in overtime, the most exciting moments came at halftime with great commercials as well as trailers for upcoming movies, complete with Johnny Cash music.  We’re especially excited about the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but Stranger Things 2 really got our #TechnoRetro hearts pumping with Ghostbusters costumes and promises of a return to the Upside Down.  Not all news is good news, though, as we bid farewell to the heroic Viper pilot who started his search for the thirteenth colony on the mythical world of Earth nearly forty years ago.  Battlestar Galactica’s original Captain Apollo (and anti-captain Tom Zerek), Richard Hatch, departed this life, leaving us memories of his time on screen and off screen as the good guy who really was a good guy.

 

Aftershocks of 1977

Beginning in 1977 with the publication of its first original novel, Del Rey Books has brought us forty years of fantasy and science fiction novels including Terry Brooks’ Shannara series, shelves full of Star Wars novels, and many more.  Featuring well known authors like Brian Daley and Alan Dean Foster, we re-experienced movies through novelizations as well as continued the stories from far away galaxies to imaginative stories from long ago from childhood to today.   

 

History Lesson

A sweet replicant named PRIS booted up on Valentine’s Day last year in Blade Runner, the same day the world was supposed to end according to Ghostbusters 2, while a futuristic AT-TE gets a patent for Weyland Industries thirty-five years into the future.  Also this week, Geordi La Forge will be born, not in France, but in the African Confederation.  And a robbery is foiled by a darker version of Qui-Gon Jinn in Darkman.

 

Flashback Games TechnoRetro Flashback

After his recent trip to a local video arcade, JediShua recalls playing the Popeye video game and provides some insight as he instructs shazbazzar during last summer’s trip to Loganville, Georgia’s Flashback Games Grill and Retro Arcade.  Complete with audio footage from July, you’ll hear the mastery of JediShua as he tells shazbazzar score more than 1,000 points.

 

Feedback

Thanks to our EarBuds for making this episode fantastic with their feedback from previous episodes on social media, in electronic-Ms, and even in person.  We respond to Derek Spier, Jeffrey Fischbach, Chris Hamilton, Michael Goldtrap, Joey Letson, and T-Bird Thomas Thompson in our Feedback segment.  Thanks for the comments and corrections you send our way week after week. 

 

So put your finger on the Twitter and tweet @TechnoRetroDads with your answers to our questions as shazbazzar and JediShua continue their trek through the decades in the fog of confusion.  Whether you have some tips to help us make it through the Popeye video game or you want to share your memories of Richard Hatch (from Battlestar Galactica, not Survivor), give us your feedback and let us know what you think by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us an electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes!

 

Share and enjoy!

Direct download: TRDads_04.45.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 6:30am EDT

Can you eat frozen yogurt with chopsticks?  Honestly, we’ve never tried, but this might just be the day to give it your best shot.  After the Patriots rallied in the second half to put the Super Bowl in overtime and defeat the Falcons, it seems like anything could happen on a Monday morning.  So grab a bowl of Girl Scout cookies cereal, EarBuds, and sit down for a BONUS LENGTH episode as controversial animator Ralph Bakshi sends shockwaves through time with his 1977 fantasy film, Wizards.

 

In the NEWS…

Nicole Kidman is Aquaman’s mother and the Black Manta will be challenging the superhero of the seas in the upcoming DC movie.  Director Chad Staheleski focuses on improved continuity for his reboot of Highlander, hoping to make a trilogy of movies.  Pac-Man’s father dies at 91 — the video arcade generation mourns. 

 

Aftershocks of 1977

In the wake of cultural upheaval brought about by the civil rights movement, Kennedy assassinations, and the unpopular war in Vietnam emerged a jarring animated vision of a post-apocalyptic world millions of years in the future where elves and fairies battle mutants and demons in a war between two brothers.  In Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards, twins Avatar and Blackwolf engage in a showdown between freedom and fascism in a truly unique amalgamation of various artistic styles, live action sequences, and cheaply produced “rotoscoping” that burned itself into the collective consciousness of a generation.  With similar themes and plot devices to Star Wars, it seems as if both Bakshi and Lucas had tapped into the cultural zeitgeist with their fantasy films in 1977.  Pitting magic against technology and juxtaposing modern war machines against swordplay, Wizards and Star Wars both successfully captured the imaginations of viewers.  JediShua and shazbazzar go in-depth in their appreciation for this weird “fairy tale”.  

 

History Lesson

Everyone has to be born sometime, whether they’re wizards obsessed with muggle culture or sidekicks who like to cheat at cards.  This week’s History Lesson reveals the ages of the likes of Arthur Weasley, Short Round, and the big, green bulk with orange hair from Street Fighter.

 

So set up the projector with your favorite fascist’s propaganda films and start terrorizing fairies and elves in your quest to dominate the planet. Or, even better, plug in your ear buds this morning with the TechnoRetro Dads. Give us your feedback and let us know what you think about Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us an electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes!

 

Direct download: TRDads_04.44.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 7:11am EDT

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