Blondie is still recording and releasing albums, Ladyhawke is still awesome, Yogi races through space, and lots, lots more on this week’s TechnoRetro Dads.
JediShua and shazbazzar fantasize about medieval France with Ladyhawke, listen to Blondie tunes from their record collections, and try to forget the Captain America movie that never should have happened.
Blondie, Birds, Bears, and a Bo’sun Whistle
Call me Blondie. Call me Ishmael. Call me Horatio. I don’t care what you call me, as long as you call me for breakfast. Speaking of which, it’s Monday morning, and that means it’s that time again — so grab a box of cereal, pour it into your favorite bowl, add the milk, pick up a spoon, and enjoy your morning meal with your ear buds, EarBuds, because TechnoRetro Dads is part of a good, balanced breakfast that will get your work week started right!
In the NEWS
Etsy has become a place to find some really cool #TechnoRetro gadgets, like a Blu-Ray/DVD player disguised as an Apple Floppy Disk Drive. Totally awesome! Superman dons the red underwear for Action Comics #1000, and we’re pleased to see the classic design back in action. The New York Times publishes a complete compilation of the publication’s Star Wars coverage over the past 45 years. Yes. 45 years. From 1973 to today. So cool. PLUS: Ready Player One continues to make news with a Virtual Reality peek into Aech’s garage. It might make you run out and buy a PS4.
We Love Our Cereal
…and so do our EarBuds! Although we have no new reviews and no new news about cereal, @Im_Goobs chimes in on the Cinnamon Toast Crunch “puffs” that we’ve been hearing about. According to his research, yep, it’s crunchy. Michael Goldtrap expands the discussion of cereal-flavored milk with three jugs of “Cereal Milk” at Wal*Mart. it looks like a #TechnoRetro trend is on like TRON at the supermarket!
Vinyl Scratchback
“The Tide Is High”, and we’re not talking about another Alabama championship. The Videodrome queen, the Angel that Omar loves, Deborah Harry captured our hearts with her unique voice and Blondie’s disco-punk sound from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. We take a spin on the turntable with some memories of Blondie through the years and discover that the band is still together after all this time. And you thought they had a “Heart of Glass”.
TechnoRetro Arcade
Though not exactly a “home console” game, Zork was a text-based computer game highlighted in Ernest Cline’s best-selling novel, Ready Player One, where Gunters could get the Jade Key by blowing a specific whistle after assembling the full collection of trophies in the case located inside a dilapidated old house on the planet Frobozz. Like other text-based games, Zork relied on brief commands to move to the next section of the game as players tried to solve the game in a computer-simulation of a role-playing adventure game like Dungeons & Dragons.
Saturday Mornings
Combining cartoon characters from different titles to create a new show was not an original idea in 1978, but by setting this Wacky Race-styled cartoon in space with a Star Wars-esque font was. Well, maybe not original or unique, but it was pretty cool. Yogi’s Space Race capitalized on the space-craze of the late ‘70s by pitting Yogi, Scare Bear, Quack Up, Huckleberry Hound, Jabberjaw and more against each other in weekly races between teams on their speedy space ships hurtling through a space race course. In case you never saw it, Yogi’s Space Race was exactly what you’d expect: Cartoon Captains led their crews toward victory against other teams while avoiding the treachery of the rotten villains of the program. Everyone should check this out for 22 minutes of good ole fun every now and then.
Ladyhawke
No, it’s not deja-vu. We have covered Ladyhawke before, but it’s been a while since we talked with Michael Witwer: The Last Gen-Xer (Empire of Imagination) about this romantic tale of fantasy, magic, and shape-shifting soul-mates starring Matthew Broderick, John Wood, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer set in middle-ages France to the tune of synthesized music from Alan Parsons. You can listen to the episode from three years ago here after listening to this week’s show if you want to hear more.
Prime Time: Captain America
Before The First Avenger, before the Winter Soldier, before Civil War, there was a wacky and wild attempt at another superhero show on prime time television with the made-for-television movie event, Captain America. To no one’s surprise, this pilot didn’t get picked up for a season. We said everything good we could think of in a very short Prime Time segment this week.
Feedback
Radio Free Endor is using the 1979 Star Wars calendar this year. Geeky Dad finds the Fall Guy plane from Tonka. Eric from The Neverland Podcast reminisces about The Last Starfighter before Adam O’Brien talks about a possible sequel to the 1984 film, The Lost Starfighter. Chris from Arvada gets in a few words about Queen after hearing last week’s episode of TechnoRetro Dads.
Don’t forget to contribute to Cure Childhood Cancer through the Annual GOLiverse Marathon by making your tax deductible donation to GeekOutOnline.com/cure by January 31st. Then, feel free 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. 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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Join shazbazzar and JediShua each week for a look back at the ’70s and ’80s as they share the fun and also fandom of their youth with their families, friends, and EarBuds. Topics include TV, film, music, toys, and games of the ’70s and ’80s as well as franchises which have continued into the 21st Century, like Star Wars, The Beastmaster, and classic video games. TechnoRetro Dads creates new stories as old legends are passed down from one generation to the next.
If you’re a TechnoRetro Dad, the child of one, or just appreciate the ’70s and ’80s, then this podcast is definitely for you!