He was a massive star in the world of wrestling in the 80's, who also went on to star in a number of cult movie classics, so we bend the A to Z rules a little this episode to talk about the "Hot Rod" himself, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. From his incredible Wrestlemania moments, to his long list of B-Movie credits, he truly was an icon, and a huge reason Mitch and Joe became wrestling fans as kids.
Based on the album by The Who of the same name, this month we look at the 1979 film "Quadrophenia". Set in late 60's England, It's the story of an unlikable young Mod named Jimmy, who seeming has it all. However it's not all tricked out scooters, high fashion and a party lifestyle, as it all come crashing down around him thanks to drugs, failed attempts at love and the ongoing war between the Mods and The Rockers.
We've cover some pretty obscure stuff on this podcast, but possibly nothing more obscure than the Norwegian Stop-Motion film "The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix" that we watched this month for the letter P of our 2021 A to Z list. Originally released in 1975, it boasts as being the highest grossing film from Norway, and held the record for highest grossing stop-motion film of all time for many years too, and in our opinions is not half bad either.
We always enjoy when we get to do a music themed episode, so seemed like an easy choice to pick One Hit Wonders for our O episode. We discuss what defines an artist as a One Hit Wonder and go on a little tangent about Australian TV's iconic "Countdown" with Molly Meldrum, but then came the hard part... choosing just one song per decade from the 60's until 2010's to be our picks as stand out examples.
The 2021 A to Z rolls into the second half of the alphabet with the letter N, and this episode we look at the 2001 parody (or is that spoof) film, "Not Another Teen Movie". A homage to those teenage high school flicks we grew up loving in the 80's, we look at the movies and characters is parodying, the awesome soundtrack of late 90's bands doing 80s covers, and whether it still holds up today.
We've officially made it to the halfway point of the alphabet, so this episode we look at another iconic TV show from our youth, "The Muppet Show". Seeing as this could have been a huge topic, we just looked at the original series that ran from the late 70's to early 80's, and not any of the multitude of spin-offs. We discuss the format of the show, the characters and of course the guest stars. ** We had some feedback that Mitch's audio was a little low, so have re-uploaded it with a bit of twea...
We go back to the 70's this month for our A to Z, and everyone's favourite TV show about a cruise liner (maybe the only one, we're not sure, we didn't research that)... The Love Boat! We discuss the show, our memories, and spend a bit of time going over the plethora of guest stars that graced the show over it's 250 episode plus run.
As the A to Z continues, this episode we look at the activity that makes every person who can't hold a note think they are a singing superstar, Karaoke! We discuss the history, our experiences doing it ourselves, some favourite songs to belt out and the dangerous side including Karaoke Rage and the "My Way Killings".
We've reached the letter J, which as Mitch correctly points out is not in fact the half way point of the alphabet, and this month we look at the movie that is often referred to as the one that started the idea of the summer blockbuster, 1975's "Jaws". We discuss the film, it's difficulties in the actual filming, the sequels, the copycat "deadly animal" genre that it spawned, and Mitch even goes off on Steven Spielberg and "Ready Player One".
For our I episode we go back to the 1980's again, and another of one of the cartoons that had a run in the prestigious ABC TV early evening timeslot, "Inspector Gadget". We discuss our memories of the cartoon, including it's iconic theme song, as well as the two live action movies that tried to re-spark interest in the character, and the 2015 CGI re-boot.
It's the letter H this month, and after dismissing the idea of covering He-Man, we choose the iconic toy brand, Hot Wheels. In what started as a discussion of their origins and our own history of having them as kids, turned into an epic confession session with Mitch going in-depth about his current buying obsession. Be warned, they may seem like innocent little toy cars, but they are so much more.
It's back to the 80s toy-cartoon crossovers this episode as we look at the craze of robots changing into vehicles, but it's not the one you instantly though of. No, not Transformers, but the bastard step-child of the transforming robot genre, The Go-Bots, or as it was known here in Australia, Machine Men. We talk toys, the "Challenge of the Go-Bots" TV series, the absurdity of the Rock Lords, and Mitch gets a little off topic to discuss why Mekaneck is his favourite He-man charactor....
For our F episode of the A to Z we go back to a time when a brave, young adventurer could enter a dungeon or a misty forest, armed only with his trusty sword, and slay dragons and monsters in his quest for treasure... That's right, 1982. However, that adventurer was actually a spotty-faced teen, and the slaying was with the aid of a pencil, two six-sided dice and a Fighting Fantasy gamebook.
Back when we were young in the 80's, its an understatement to say Star Wars was huge. So, in 1984 when they released an Ewok movie it meant more quality Star Wars content, right? Maybe not so much. As the a to Z continues, for our episode this time around we're reached the letter E, so we go back and watch the two Ewok spin-off films, "Caravan of Courage" and "A Battle For Endor", plus a little bit of the 1985 Ewok Cartoon series. We must be gluttons for punishment!
For the letter D we go back to the swinging 60's, with the Dino De Laurentiis produced "Danger: Diabolik" from 1968. Based on the Italian comic series "Diabolik" it revolves around a spy and his girlfriend pulling off three spectacular heists, and features some very funky tunes, great cinematography and some very familiar scenes if your a fan of 90's Beastie Boys video clips.
As the A to Z continues, this episode we've reached the letter C, so that means its time to look at an example of one of our favourite genres, 80's cartoon/toy tie-ins, and the 1986 series "Centurions: Power Xtreme". The show itself didn't really hold up, but man do we want to get our hands on some of those sweet figures!
As we continue the A to Z, this episode we look at the 1968 sci-fi classic "Barbarella" staring the very attractive Jane Fonda. We discuss our connections to the film, how it works when viewed through 2021 eyes, and some of the crazy costumes and design featured in the film. * B is also for Bad Internet, as we had some skype issues for part of this recording, so apologies for the sound quality at some stages. *
For the podcast in 2021 we have decided to go back to the A to Z formula we tried a few years ago, so for the letter A we went back to the icon 80's and a show that we both have fond memories of, "The A-Team". We discuss the history of the show, what worked and what didn't, the awesome van, the equally awesome toy tie-in, and the not so awesome re-boot movie. Mitch also discusses a doco he found on Youtube called "Bringing back...The A-Team" that is worth checking out too!
We've made it to the end of our 12 Days of a Cartoon Christmas, so why not go back to the idea that started it all, Inappropriate Source Material, although "A Very Troma Christmas - A Whole Toxic Affair" from 2015 is very much aimed at adults, and very much NSFW. Think South Park, but not as clever, this is the story of how Toxie and his religious friends save Christmas from the evil corporations.
It's a little bit ironic that today is Festivus, yet we are watching the most religious of our Christmas specials, the 1977 Rankin/Bass claymation "Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey". It's your classic underdog story of how a ridiculed misfit becomes an unlikely hero, but was it any good? And does it still have a place in 2020?
We jump forward to 1995 today to watch this strange story of Wolverine, Jubilee and Storm breaking from their Christmas shopping trip in New York City to help a sick Morlock, as we watched Season 4 Episode 12 of X-Men: The Animated Series, titled "Have Yourself A Morlock Little X-Mas." Not only does it have Gambit cooking Christmas dinner and Beast working out the chemical formula for the best cranberry glaze, it scores much higher than yesterday's effort purely by not featuring any crappy songs...
We thought we were scraping the bottom of the cartoon Christmas barrel yesterday with The Chipmunks, but that was until today when we hit a new low. Back in the early 80's Smurfs were a cool thing to collect when your parents filled up with petrol, unfortunately watching the 1982 "The Smurfs Christmas Special" in 2020 was in no way cool, and pretty much not enjoyable either. We're really sorry, but think of it as us watching it so you don't have to.
Casper the Friendly Ghost is one of those cartoon characters that both Mitch and Joe know, but can't recall if they ever watched the cartoon before. Today we fix that by watching the 1979 special "Casper's First Christmas", which not only features Casper and his ghost pal, Hairy Scary, but a slew of popular Hanna-Barbera favourites too, but is that enough to make it good?
Sometimes in our search for Christmas Gold during our 12 Days countdowns we find it, like "The Junky's Christmas" way back in our 2014 countdown, other times not so much. Unfortunately today was one of those duds, as we look at the 1981 special "A Chipmunk Christmas". This O Henry-esque tale of woe is made just that more annoying by adding a bizarre fever dream, and of course the actual voices of the Chipmunks themselves. And don't get us started on the songs!
On day 1 we looked at Rambo, which was a bit of a GI Joe rip-off, but today we go with the original. Going back to 1985 for Season 1 Episode 39 "Cobra Claws are Coming To Town", this has everything you'd expect from a kids cartoon...bad guys shrinking themselves to hide in a Trojan rocking horse, dogs eating turkey legs, and a sailor humping a side of beef!
Back in the late 80's Garfield was a phenomenon, there was a stuff cat suction cupped to the window of every second car, and his books were everywhere. Then in 1987 "A Garfield Christmas Special" even aired on prime time TV. Joe and Mitch have very different opinions on this one, with one of us loving it, and the other really not. Can you guess which one of is is which?
On our first every 12 Days countdown we looked at the original Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978, so seems fitting that when Disney Plus dropped the new Lego version of the Star Wars Holiday Special we would choose to watch that too. Although it doesn't have the charm that was strange Wookiee porn or alien cooking shows that the original does, it still got some laughs and pushed the right Star Wars buttons.
It wouldn't be a 12 Days countdown within Joe somehow managing to shoehorn an episode of "The Simpsons" into our list, and this year is no exception. Today we look at Season 23 Episode 9 "Holidays of Future Passed", which just so happened to be the 495th episode of "The Simpsons" and a pretty good one too!
For Day 2 we go back to the 80's with the special "Christmas Comes To Pacland". A lot of people love this special from 1982... A lot of people are wrong!
It's Christmas time, and as we like to do every year at this time, we count down the 12 Days of Christmas in our own special Massive Attack way. This year, it's 12 Days of A Cartoon Christmas, looking at a dozen Christmas themed animated shows, starting today with every kids favourite war vet, John Rambo, as he, a runaway orphan and the Force for Freedom help save "Santa" from evil terrorists. Just what every kid dreams of!
