Mega Podcast Archive Action!

Episode 64 - Late 90s TV: Buffy the Story Arc Advancer

And then 'Buffy' happened and somehow TV was just so much more interesting. But why? This week the 80s Trio tackle this and other questions as we delve into what was on the goggle box in the late 90's. Turns out Buffy and 'Angel' aren't in fact all that ground breaking when you take it apart and look at the pieces but the whole hung very well together and it is the show that finally convinced the world that Story arcs could work.

Not that everyone was convinced, with shows like 'Mutant X', 'Voyager' and 'Sliders' still very much clinging to Roddenberry's great end credits reset button, but these are it's dying days. Like a building storyline ending in a climax a wave of new shows came thundering in ready to embrace story progress like 'Charmed' or the sleazy and surreal 'Lexx' ... or for that matter the decade stomping 'Stargate'.

The UK also shone brightly as vampire lethal sunlight for the briefest of moments with the dearly missed and almost forgotten 'Ultraviolet', and the same channel that gave us that also gifted as the nerd joy that was Simon Pegg's 'Spaced.' Oh for sure, the late 90's had it's awful piles of crap like 'Andromeda' and the truly turgid 'Millennium' but over all the decade rounds off in interesting shape.



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/064Late90sTV/064%20-%20Late%2090s%20TV.mp3

Episode 65 - The Lost Poorly Distributed Universe Conspiracy

And on goes the tin foil hat and out comes the large cork board with lots of coloured string connecting the tangled web of dots. Yes, it's conspiracy time on the 80s Kids. This week Leo kicks off with a jolly good moan about the unattainable chunks of culture that currently exists. Films and series for which there was no Video or DVD to track down on ebay and upon which much hand wringing can be done at their absence.

It's not that these thing won't make money it's just they won't make as much money as pumping out new or current releases of popular films or television. Then it's on to whine and gnash our teeth about the state of pricey downloads and fickle streaming services which further compound things with their uneven distribution. If one wanted to feel conspiratorial about these things you might conclude the powers that be have no interest in building an audience by allowing them to become au fait with long running cultural media, instead opting for the immediacy of what's hot now and tossing it away like an old toy it when it's no longer fresh.

This seems strangely at odds with Ian's choice of worry topic, that being the impending rush of 'Cinematic Universes' eager to copy Marvel's success. These pretenders being DC comics, Star Wars and Universal Monsters ... and these are just the ones we know are coming. Others are sure to follow. Then again aren't these properties just mining the past to recreate it in a wave of big, brightly colored but ultimately disposable media? It's time to wake up sheeple! The 80's Kids see the truth!!



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/065TheLostPoorlyDistributedUniverseConspiracy/065%20-%20The%20Lost%20Poorly%20Distributed%20Universe%20Conspiracy.mp3

Episode 66 - 1997: A Year To Remember

As with all 90s years this one had it'd share of awful films which for some reason we had to endure. Topping most worst films ever lists is the unloved Batman and Robin, is it REALLY as terrible as people remember? The answer is YES!

But lets not waste time here moaning about bad films again. Face Off, Fifth Element, Contact, Starship Troopers, Austin Powers and the Game were on hand to cheer us up. Also this year was a romantic historical set on a doomed boat. Unfortunately as this films falls beyond our remit of Action, Horror, Sci Fi and Fantasy we don't belabor our coverage of it. Oh no. Definitely not.



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/0661997-a-year-to-remember/066%20-%201997.mp3

Episode 67 - 100% Luc Besson

"In a show shockingly, not to say "schlockingly", ripped straight from the headlines the 80s kids draw back the veil on a world of explosive action, magnificent martial artistry and death defying parkour when they open up the CV of euro-trash producer par excellence Luc Besson.

The kids are Transported into the murky world of District 13 where the Kiss of the Dragon could be Unleashed. Will they send back a coded message through the Lockdown barrier From Paris With Love regarding The Fifth Element or will they be Taken too soon?

But if you thought that guns, car chases and ridiculous plot twists was all Mssr Besson had to offer then you might be in for a surprise. Gasp along with the Kids when they discover exactly how busy the head of Europa Corp was in 2005, and marvel as he takes the directorial reins whenever he suspects that another director might just stuff up another one of his trademark strong and empowered female characters.

Indeed the 80s kids have a particular set of skills, those being to poke around in the career higlights of one of the hardest working figures of modern cinema. You'll need 100% of your brain capacity to contend with the broad ranging versatility and artistic agenda placed front and center. So grab hold of your multipass and let's hail an insane Taxi ride into a cinematic universe of glorious continental B-Movie madness."



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/067LucBesson/067%20-%20Luc%20Besson.mp3

Archived Podcasts - Various

Episode Extra - Day of the Doctor Who Overload

The 80's Kids sit down for a quick post 'Day of the Doctor' chat. Topics are rambling and many, from the shopping list requirements Moffat needed for the “Event”, John Hurts sympathetic Non Doctor, the through line of the Doctor's character all the way from 1963 to the present, to regeneration limits, the vast unexplored future the series has laid out before us and much more.



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/ExtraDayOfTheDoctorWhoOverload/Extra-Day-of-the-Doctor-Who-Overload.mp3

Episode 29 - 80s Kids Supreme Force Attack Base Available Now $129.99

This week the 80's kids(tm) gleefully tackle their childhood cartoon memories and the many, many toys that came with them. From the MEGA sized toy financed American imports to the Epic sprawling French serials and also the wit and charm of the UK based Cosgrove Hall. Our decade themed trio finally have a subject they can all speak about with authority.

Justin (Batteries not Included) born an Artist, fondly remembers the visually stunning 'Thundercats' intro sequence and lovingly building his own 'Danger Mouse' Flying Car. Leo (Sold Separately) born a Story Teller, has a special place in his heart for the friendships forged over shared viewings of 'Dungeons and Dragons' or the imaginative hours lost playing with 'MASK' or 'GI Joe' toys with his pals. Ian (Choking Hazard) born Yesterday, recalls his never ending demands for more and more toys to fill his empty consumer heart and the various childhood traumas that came from seeing Optimus Prime slowly dying from internal injuries.

But only by combining together to form the gestalt “Eighties Kids-a-Tron” (Product may vary from Box Picture) can they hope to tackle 'He-Man' the most Fabulous man in the Universe and his indomitable toy range of lame associates. This is the 'Revenge of the 80's Kids: Eighties Cartoon Episode' and all the cool kids have one!

Hero Down Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/02980sKidsSupremeForceAttackBaseAvailableNow12999/029-80s-Kids-Supreme-Force-Attack-Base-Available-Now-129-99.mp3

Episode 30 - 1986 Howard The Duck And Other Resignation Issues

In an effort to save Ian from resigning in protest over the imminent discussion about the movie hence forth known only as “The George Lucas Duck Thing”. The whole team (Sue included) rally round to nurse him through the delights and joys of 1986's other film offerings. Like a quartet of greedy pigeons they take it in turns to peck away at 86's selection box and reminisce about such delights as Labyrinth, Flight of the Navigator, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Aliens, Big Trouble in Little China, The Golden Child and the many other worthy experiences this year has to offer.

Then they pick over the bones as they get down to the dregs with Solarbabies and Wraith. Anything really than talk about that “The George Lucas Duck Thing”. But in the end, with support from Leo, Justin and Sue, Ian agrees with them that Sylvester Stallone's 'Cobra' is probably a worse offence to common decency than anything Lucas did that year.



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/0301986HowardTheDuckAndOtherResignationIssues/030-1986-Howard-the-Duck-and-other-Resignation-Issues.mp3

Archived Podcasts

You Get What You Deserve

Only Leo and Ian this week but they have BIG problems with BIG Cinema. Discussions drift from the unloved Ender's Game Adaptation to the lack of thought provoking films these days. But aren't we getting the Cinema we deserve?

Between the Internet's never ending desire to see the world burn and the current Golden age of TV the Big Screen is being squeezed. Too big to fail they're playing to the lowest common denominator for as many humans on seats as possible. Spectacle and lots of explosions is something TV can't do, so it isn't surprising Films lean that way.

High budget thought provoking films have been made and died unseen, worse, they died with hails of vitriol from the Internet. But how is any of that the Film makers fault? With our Dollars and Pounds we've shaped the market we have now and show little sign of changing our habits. Leo has allot to say, Ian just wants chicken.



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/026YouGetWhatYouDeserve/026-You-Get-What-You-Deserve.mp3

Dr Who Or What?

This week Ian traps his fellow 80's kids in the labyrinthine maze of a Dr Who Quiz. There he assails Leo and Justin with teasing multiple choice questions. Their only respite in this humiliation are Dr Who related discussions ranging from childhood memories, the series' death in the 80's and it's barn storming rebirth in 2005 with Paul McGann's American TV movie falling somewhere in-between.

Despite the lucid and often insightful nature of Leo and Justin's reflections on all things Who, Ian totally undercuts their punditry by stumping them with questions the majority of 'real fans' would find trivially easy. But aren't the opinions of laymen viewers more insightful and balanced than the hard core obsessives? What qualities must New Who strive to retain if it hopes to keep broadening it's audience for another 50 years?

Who cares! It's the one and only Dr Who edition of the 80's Kids!!! So get your sonics ready, adjust your scarves and bow ties and prepare to have your nostalgia regenerated as we wander through the space and times of Dr Who. Leo deduces his answers, Justin takes a wild stab while Ian writes a wall of text rebuttal on a forum somewhere deep in the internet.


Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/027DrWhoOrWhat/027-Dr-Who-or-What.mp3

Podcast - Pre-Christmas Indulgences

It's the week before Christmas and the 80s Kids turn their minds to a most vexing topic. Films that they like that they are fully aware are hated by most of the rest of the world. Some choices have even caused divides within the group.

This leaves the discussion to proceed along two paths. One, what redeeming quality does someone find in something most people agree to be drivel, and why do people hate movie/tv series x quite so much?

Topics as diverse as Star Trek Voyager, Lady In The Water, Aliens vs Predator, Resident Evil and the Underworld franchise are on the table for discussion. Nobody mention guilty pleasures!


Direct Link: http://eightieskids.podomatic.com/entry/2013-12-20T10_00_25-08_00

Podcast - A Very Special Episode: Raiders of the Lost Arc

In the synth-scored montage of the tale of the 80s kids, and how they got their revenge, this is a key plot moment indeed. This is our idea of A Very Special Episode, we're not going to be talking about issues, or facing up to the serious side of the world in some maudlin after school special, oh no.

This week we're a man down, work done has been lost due to technical error and even Sue was out. So Leo and Ian do what they do best, sit down and have a thoroughly beardy discussion about whether the current trend of story arc based television is such a good thing as everyone thinks.

After all, we're in a Golden Age of television, supposedly. If this is the case then why do so many series's lose their way, jump the shark and lose everyone's interest. Well, we don't know for certain, but we've got a few ideas...


Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/023AVSERaidersOfTheLostArc/023-AVSE-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Arc.mp3

Podcast - Pity The Fool Who Messes With Our Imports

Fire up your robot car, get out your welding irons and affix some sheet metal to a 4x4, turn into whatever animal you want as long as it's an eagle or a tiger, it's time to look at some of the 80s viewing aimed at younger audiences from across the Atlantic.

Of course, there were anomalous programmes such as the A-Team which didn't start out for kids, things that straddled the gap like Knight Rider and stuff aimed squarely at the younger viewer such as Benji, Zaxx and the Alien Prince.

Basically, if it had a real person in it and it came from the USA in the 80s the 80s kids are getting into it this week. (The cartoons, well, they merit a whole show to themselves He-Man and Transformers fans!)

SPECIAL BONUS CONTENT: Response to feedback, listen on after the end theme to enjoy this response to a detailed fan comment from our Pod-O-Matic page.



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/018PityTheFoolWhoMessesWithOurImports/018-Pity-The-Fool-Who-Messes-With-Our-Imports.mp3

Podcast - Never Forget The Gunge!

Nowadays genre television is of such a high quality that it's a tough game to get into. Faint hearts abound as TV Channels would rather put out tosh like 'Sharknado' than produce a low-production value genre show.

In the 80s this shame was no issue as channels worldwide embraced monsters made of rubber and gaffer tape, sets made of cardboard and endless scenes shot in quarries. Not only that but we went right along with them embracing shows that begged the indulgence of our imaginations to make up for the lack of an effects budget.

The 80s kids examine with affection the role that the UK played in our genre landscape from our attempts at robot based sitcoms to the special schedule for good telly dictated by only having a handful of broadcast channels. It's a good, solid UK-based nostalgiafest this week and all the better for it.

Last one to the sofa has to wear the Helmet of Justice!



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/016NeverForgetTheGunge/016-Never-Forget-The-Gunge.mp3

Rage Still Trumping Robojoe

So the plot thickens in the RATM vs. Robojoe Christmas Number One Face off. It seems the Machine won't just roll over and Robojoe is having to do some work to land the number one spot. At which point I ask... who cares?

As the feature article points out, Christmas number one has a history of being dull or being duffers. Bob the Builder was a yuletide chart topper, as was Mr. Blobby. This whole RATM vs. Robojoe thing has been about X Factor dominating the christmas charts. Why not? It's not like RATM will be number one for New Year, it's not like Marilyn Manson, or Metallica, or Airbourne are probably even going to see the singles charts next year.

I've decided to stay out of the whole thing. I don't mind X Factor, I think it can be fun. On the other hand I think giving a million pounds of record deal to Robojoe is a monumental waste of money. So meh. Not only that but when you look at the number of download sales you need to get to land a number one it starts to put things in a whole new perspective.

As does Trendsmap one of these composite applications (I refuse to say mash up about anything that doesn't layer pop and rock tracks together to form new tracks) that are apparently all the rage. It basically ties tweets to places. Nottingham is talking about cowell, glee, bits and rage. I quite like it but it does tell me that I'm possibly not the right audience for Twitter. There's barely anyone in Notts tweeting, so the network has failed to capture the imagination.

Maybe I should just admit defeat and get a f*c*b**k but I have a strong resistance to the idea for a variety of reasons.

Anyway. The wiki beckons. Until tomorrow then enjoy the snow where it's doing so...

Yikes!

So RoboJoe stole the show... *sigh* worst X Factor winner Evar! (relatively speaking, Leon Jackson was a massive anti-climax but he wasn't up against talent like Olly, Danyl and Stacey, he also wasn't following talent like Alexandra and JLS).

I've been creating a wiki for No Dice. This will replace the soon to be extinct No Dice Forums. Have a look around. There's already a bunch of stuff in System Hacks.

Also Random Encounters is out! The ideal Chrimbo gift! Buy one now! ;)

Have a good Monday!

Tweeting The Second Time Around

I have to ask myself the question: Am I just not getting it or is Twitter, in fact, rubbish?

The first time round I didn't give the world of Tweeting a chance; so I'm back on with a Twitter feed that is on the public timeline and trying to get my head round all this "Trending Topics" nonsense. I even looked on here for a widget to put in the sidebar which would allow people to see my Tweets but there doesn't appear to be an "official" one so that quest came to a hasty end, in the first instance.

Still, I am determined not to be one of these people who showers scorn on something just because he doesn't really get it. I want to get it before I shower scorn on it because for the life of me I don't know why all these celebrities and whatnot think it's so amazing. I had a quick look at Charlie Brooker's feed and the massively tiled background photo, preponderance of profanity and surreal disconnection of an unnetworked feed sent me away underwhelemed.

Perhaps I will warm to it...

I think I'm "searchable" so why not look for me. After all that's the idea of this stuff, surely.

In other news: they're making a film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies cue mind-boggling at the intertextuality.

An underwhelming set of duets is planned for the X Factor Final. In the office the prevailing attitude is that nobody should win because they're all rubbish. As long as Robojoe fails to win I really don't mind. I think it may well be Olly, if it's not Robojoe. If it is Robojoe I predict a christmas number one and then almost certain obscurity as people fail to care. An unfortunate wastage of the X Factor prize fund. Who knows if he wins I may try to push "Killing In The Name Of" to number one for Christmas as the Facebook group wishes.

The only thing that's news-y about the revelation that most people won't pay extra for TV in HD is that the BBC thinks this is news. I remember watching  the clarity and beauty of the clear digital image slack jawed when DVD was released. But HD only improves on DVD a tiny little bit, and is monstrously more pricey. Whoever thought people would pay premium for that is stupid and greedy. Like I said, big news, not.

It appears that now people can see how whichever government is in power at the time is apparently squandering taxpayer money at Where Does My Money Go dot org. 53bn on General Public Services, eh? That'll buy a lot of second homes and duck houses... Pardon my cynicism. How long before someone registers wheredoesmymoneyreallygo.org? I can picture a wonderful parody with coloured circles representing "Down the back of the sofa", "Government 'Sharp Exit In Case Of Coup' Fund" and so on and so forth. It's all very well being able to see how the government our wasting the sweat of our collective brows but if we don't like the size or number of coloured circles in a particular category what, exactly, are we supposed to do? Ask for a refund?

Meanwhile, the taxman is complaining that his old computers are stopping him pwning us for all the money we might possibly owe. So let's get this straight, shall we? The government wants to plunge us back into misery and gloom in 2010 by charging us more tax for everything and the taxman is moaning because he can't screw us for an even greater amount... It seems as if we never needed a website to answer the question about where our money went. The answer is quite obvious.

Well, as always it's up to the personal world to rescue me from such gloomy thoughts. There's bacon, sausage, Dreamtime Stories and a generally sociable weekend in my immediate future. It seems all my money goes on buying cuts of dead pig... yum.

Who's Dreamland

Just a quick one today... well, it'll be quick to read but might take up almost an hour of your time. Apparently the BBC have been hiding episodes of Doctor Who away on CBBC and BBC Two.

This probably comes as no surprise to many particularly if you're a huge Who fan or young enough to keep up with these things but to my mind an episode of Doctor Who is an episode of Doctor Who whether live action or animated. This episode is a computer animated adventure in which the Doctor gets into trouble in 1950s America.

I've only watched part one so far but intend to whack on the omnibus when I get home. British viewers can catch up with it here.