Podcast Retro Ridoctopus

In space, no one can hear you scream......but this is only a podcast, so you don't have to worry about that. With the help of Xenomorph-superfan and movie-dissecting guru, El Goro (from the Talk Without Rhythm Podcast), we're going to spill the ovomorphs on the entire Alien franchise! Starting with Ridley Scott's horror sci-fi masterpiece ALIEN (19…

In every medium where superheroes exist, there are characters that spoof the genre. Some, (like the Tick), carry their own parody comics & shows. But others exist within the world of their property (as a show within a show) where these meta heroes are enjoyed by the already fictional characters of that property (like Radioactive Man is to Bart Simp…

If you already feel old, how does it feel to know that the Super Nintendo came out 32 years ago? For many of us, the 90s were defined by the 16-bit generation of video games. The successor to the enormously successful Nintendo Entertainment System was of course the good old SNES. A system that would push the envelopes the look, sound and overall ex…

This is a supplemental Crow's Nest to "Ep 107: Gaming the Marvel Way (with Ian Wallace)". In that episode we went through enough Marvel video games to fill a Danger Room, but there were some glaring omissions... Righting the chief of those wrongs, we decided to celebrate the first 6 (all the sprite based ones) Capcom Marvel fighters! We start with …

Stephen Lomer is many things. Aside from being a pal, he's an Amazon Best Selling author, as well as a talented actor, producer and screenwriter! For his first appearance in the BRIG, we decided to do something a little different, by getting 4 cast members of his YouTube show The Parody News Network to appear throughout and kind of gum up the works…

Greetings, Mad Marvelites! We've got a whole action packed episode all about video games that feature your favorite fearless super heroes like Spider-Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and of course, those marauding mutants, the Uncanny X-Men! We'll start at the very beginning and bring you through the glory days of the arcades, to 16 bit ho…

We hope you enjoy this supplemental mini-episode! This was taken from the unpublished pre-interview from our recent BRIG with veteran actor Andrew Parks! Not only do you get about 20 minutes of more Andy, you'll be "treated" to some unedited behind the scenes stuff for the podcast itself. Retro Ridoctopus has never published anything like this befo…

We've been huge fans of Andrew Parks, ever since seeing his unforgettable turn as the alien Kro-Bar in Larry Blamire's THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA (2001). It was an incredible privilege to be able to hang out and chat about his extensive career in movies and television! You'll hear stories about Jimmy Stewart, Angela Landsbury, Jim Beaver and freq…

We bring a friend on to discuss some seriously fantastic animated films that deserve more love. The thing is, not a one was made by Disney! Cartoon movies by Dreamworks, Don Bluth, Rankin Bass and more are covered in this sprawling discussion, so buckle up! ---------------------------------------- Retro Ridoctopus is: • Parasite Steve (read) • 8-Bi…

This week, in the damp, dark BRIG, we've tossed the multi-talented Killarney Traynor! Aside from having a crazy cool name, Killarney is a New England-born actress, novelist, stunt-woman, singer, director and martial artist, who has has written 8 novels and is a regular actress on the PNN web series as the chronically unimpressed Lenore! We chat all…

It's music time again, folks! Nintenjoe's popular recurring Themes From a Memory is BACK. This time, the mission was to choose title screen music from our favorite video games! And to do so, we welcome back our old pal (and 4th host of the first 2 seasons of this very show) Synopsis Grim AKA Boss Rush Mode! Later, we play an 11 minute long MEGA blo…

Our good friend Rob Smales finds himself (and his pooch) locked in the BRIG! We have a sprawling discussion about his writing process, his two newest books, bad movies and horror books we loved as kids. And smashed in at about the halfway point, you'll find a reading from his new novella "Laundrylegs" which is absolutely not to be missed! Snag your…

We've all experienced the phenomenon of it feeling like a toy came out of nowhere to become the must have holy grail of kid property that absolutely every single person your age already had! In this episode, we'll be talking all about Toy Fads and to do so, we have some help from a first time contributor, Haley, who not only suggested the episode t…

Subscribe and experience BENEATH THE RED UMBRELLA on all major podcast platforms! And check out James Lamond's film work on the official It Came From The 508 website and follow them on Facebook! ---------------------------------------- Retro Ridoctopus is: • Parasite Steve (read) • 8-Bit Alchemy (listen) • Nintenjoe (subscribe) --------------------…

The fact is, not all gamers are looking for ACTION and MAXIMUM KILL COUNTS. For many, the Point and Click genre offered an alternative, relaxed experience with simple controls and puzzles that really made you think. In this episode, we'll sweep the mouse over the genre's initial heyday in the early 90s and follow it's trajectory all the way up to t…

Our Icelandic, Twitch streaming, artistic pal Leikjarinn joins us for a third time! And with the help of Parasite Steve The Grey... the two abandon the comfort of the Shire and delve straight into vast expanse of Middle Earth! For around 90 minutes, you'll hear about all things Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit--books, movies, games and what your ho…

Long ago, in the early 2,000's... in a time before YouTube... The internet had these wacky things called FLASH PORTALS. Sites like like Newgrounds, CampChaos, Ebaumsworld, Albino Blacksheep and Homestar Runner became platforms where animators and other creatives could deliver their own unique brand of comedy in the form of short (sometimes musical)…

Let's put video games on pause for a minute and throw some quarters into those types of games that spit out tickets! Skee-Ball, Whack-A-Mole, Coin Pushers and so many more! In this episode you'll learn the difference between a Redemption Game and a Merchandiser, as well as get some history on various mainstays of Chuck-E-Cheese and most any Carniva…

This time, we have a true geek LEGEND, in the BRIG! Frank Connif is a writer and comedian best known as TV’s Frank from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and is the author of nine books! Currently he performs with Trace Beaulieu in the monthly live streaming movie-riffing show, The Mads Are Back! In true Ridoctopus style, we forcibly incarcerate our bel…

Heather Michele & Jason Ashcraft from the new Start Trek metal band OF ROMULUS transport directly into The Brig! In the Captain's chair is Nintenjoe, who gets ready to engage in an hour long gab session with his two musically inclined prisoners. Debriefing them on their time in Helion Prime and what led them to forming what may very well be the fir…

In celebration of hitting 100 mainline episodes, we welcome former octo-host Boss Rush Mode (aka SynopsisGrim) as well as our very good friends, Ashes Von Nightmare, Taryn Barber, Ian Wallace, Linda The Gamer Gal, and Justin Cooper! Originally broadcast as a live stream on Apr 27, 2023, we did our best to turn this off-format monstrosity into an ep…

Frank Dietz appeared in such 80s horror cult classics as "Zombie Nightmare" and "Black Roses" but tonight he comes on to talk about his new film "Rock and Doris (try to) Make a Movie"! PLUS, you'll also get to hear all about his extensive career in Tinseltown, from acting to becoming an animator on such Disney films as "Tarzan" and "Atlantis: The L…

Caitlin is the award-winning author of three novels and a memoir. She worked as a SAG actress for 10 years while penning her memoir, "Lightning in My Wires". After the birth of her son, her family moved back to Boston, where she wrote her award-winning adventure-thriller, "The Last Cruz"! Her new one is called "Life of Cyn" and you can hear all abo…

Captain Nintenjoe leads us on a three hour journey through space, as we ZOOM around, geeking out about various Science Fiction movies and TV shows! First things first, we get the two elephants out of the way, by devoting the first half of the episode to Star Trek, Star Wars as well as their famous creators. But after that, all Sabaq bets are off! L…

Comedian, producer Chris Gersbeck joins us for a hilarious interview about his show THE MADS ARE BACK. Starring Mystery Science Theater 3,000 legends, Trace Beaulieu & Frank Conniff, the show celebrates the duo's MST3K roots by live riffing a different terrible movie each month! Since launching The Mads Are Back as a ticketed livestream in July 202…

This week, we are joined by our pals, Colleen the Conqueror and Santino "The San Man" Mancebo to geek out about the Japanese phenomenon called TOKUSATSU! Listen if you're a fan of Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, Beetle Borgs or anything of the kind! As well as delivering some heartfelt presentations, we manage to play a bunch of theme songs a…

Larry Blamire returns again (for the first time) to talk all about his newest books "Still At Large" and "Flapjack Alley". One is out now, the other is on the way, but both as chock full of delightful absurdist humor that is sure to either split your side, or possible leave it in stitches. Later on, we get Larry to do the reminiscing thing about th…

Blocks, bricks and other toys you build are the topic of the week on this episode of the Retro Ridoctopus cephalopodcast! We spend the first half of the episode on this history of LEGO, shining our headlamps on some of our favorite sets and more. Then, after constructing our Octoponder, we'll switch gears to present some lesser known building toys …

Richard Thomas is the award-winning author of seven books: three novels—"Disintegration", "Breaker", and "Transubstantiate" as well as three anthologies and over 150 published short stories! We locked him up in THE BRIG to talk about his newest release "Spontaneous Human Combustion" which has made the final ballot for the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards! T…

Are all video game movies really that bad? Absolutely not! For this episode, we breakdown 6 films based on video games that we feel are worth talking about! Some are good, some are not so good, but our opinions on which ones are which might just surprise you! Later on, we read a metric ton of Retroid answers for this week's OCTOPONDER THIS and 8-bi…

Author, screenwriter, poet, professor and winner of all the awards, L. Marie Wood enjoyed her first stay in THE BRIG so much, she's back for a second round! We get to talking about her new books and how it feels to be nominated twice (same category, same year) for the Bram Stoker Awards! And later on, she reads her story "Upperville" from "The Tale…

I think we can all agree that biodegradable recreational foam has never been more fun than when its being fired at your best pal's face! That's why that in this episode of the Retro Ridoctopus cephalopodcast, we aim to lay down NERF history and pull the trigger on some cherished childhood memories all revolving around this classic toy line! After t…

Hey kid. Do you wanna know about this thing called INERTIA? How about some of that cool WATER PRESSURE or maybe how to pick up an ICE CUBE with a piece of STRING?? Well you're in luck because this week on the Retro Ridoctopus cephalopodcast, we're talking all about SCIENCE SHOWS! The ole nostalgia ray is being aimed at Mr. Wizard, Beakman's World a…

For many of us, rushing home to plop our butts in front of the Disney Afternoon was a seminal part of childhood! From Gummi Bears, Ducktales and Rescue Rangers to Goof Troop, Tail Spin, Gargoyles and beyond, these were some of the best produced children's cartoons on television and a whole bunch of 'em of them spawned some terrific video games! In …

Peter N. Dudar & L. L. Soares are two talented best buds who definitely know their way around horror! The Bram Stoker Award-Nominated, Dudar, having written such memorable titles as "A Reqiuem For Dead Flies", "Blood Cult of the Booby Farmers" and "Goat Parade" unleashed his newest grimy Grindhouse nightmare in late 2022, "The Mississippi Glory Hol…

Season 5 begins with a barrage of stars and swipes as we spotlight everyone's favorite men in black (pajamas)... NINJAS! Over the decades, appearing on just about every console since the Atari 2600, ninjas have been a true staple of video games. For this episode, we spotlight some of out favorite appearances from the 8bit and 16bit eras and beyond!…

It's that time again, Retroids! Time to stick the proverbial fork in another season of the Retro Ridoctopus cephalo-podast. For this episode, we reminisce about the episodes that challenged us, the topics we were nervous to tackle and the guests we still can't believe agreed to come on. Later, we do our annual thing of talking about a classic film …

Jason David Frank joined Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in the 17th episode of its first season. Green with Evil was the title, but fans latched onto the character of Tommy almost immediately. and while he was introduced as the "evil" Power Ranger, Tommy wouldn't stay that way for long, going on to become the show's longest running cast member and by…

For 30 years, Kevin Conroy has been the voice of one of the most beloved comic book characters of all time and to say his loss was one that hit us hard is an understatement. Without that dulcet baritone, it feels like the world has gotten a little darker. For this episode of The Crow's Nest, we spend about an hour celebrating Kevin's historic perfo…

We may be smarter than the average bear, but for our second episode devoted to the animation powerhouse Hanna Barbera, we needed a little help. Enter the Velvet Joker himself, Mr. Rich Davis from Splash Pages The Comic Book Club podcast! Together, we'll celebrate 8 classic cartoon shows from the 60s to the 90s while playing you blocks of theme song…

Let us take you on a musical journey through a landscape forged mostly of rock and metal. Each Octo-host will present 4 albums that are not just favorites of ours but important. We'll wax about how each one helped make us into the people we are today and why they will always hold a special place in our hearts. Later on we'll ask you to name an impo…

For everything Chris Philbrook, you gotta go straight to the source: https://www.thechrisphilbrook.com/ ---------------------------------------- Retro Ridoctopus is: • Parasite Steve (read) • 8-Bit Alchemy (listen) • Nintenjoe (subscribe) ---------------------------------------- All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile Retro Ridoctopus is …

Jammed in between the incredibly popular N64 and Wii consoles, Nintendo released a really great system with a tons of exclusive games that unfortunately made a much smaller splash. We are here to celebrate the GameCube just before it's 21st birthday! Nintenjoe will lead the discussion and cover the technical stuff before we start presenting some of…

Lots of toys came in GLOW IN THE DARK varieties, but do you know how they worked? For this episode, we drop a little history and pinch of science of your butts all to answer the question... how do glow in the dark things work? And before you can say SCARE GLOW, we swing things around to our normal format and each present a handful of phosphorescent…

Learn more about the fabulous new book we dished on in the episode by visiting the publisher's page for HEART, WINGS and FIRE! Check out Trisha's website at https://anovelfriend.com and be sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter! ---------------------------------------- Retro Ridoctopus is: • Parasite Steve (read) • 8-Bit Alchemy (listen) • Nint…

Mysterious fires! Untimely deaths!! Bolts of lighting hitting Italian churches!!! Can a movie production truly be cursed? We present the evidence for 6 famously maligned films and leave it up to you (The Retroids) to decide! And later on, after a particularly creepy Octoponder This, the one called Parasite will bellyache about a random video game b…

For this episode, Nintenjoe leads us on a journey to dust off some classic video game cheats! We split the discussion in to imputable codes (button sequences you have to press at a certain time) and typable cheats (secrets accessible only by password or by inputting a certain name for your quest). We cover some great ones! Later on, we'll tackle th…

Check out James Lamond's film work on the official It Came From The 508 website and follow them on Facebook! ---------------------------------------- Retro Ridoctopus is: • Parasite Steve (read) • 8-Bit Alchemy (listen) • Nintenjoe (subscribe) ---------------------------------------- All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile Retro Ridoctopu…

This episode is definitely part of a balanced breakfast. Ignoring the dirty looks from mom, this week, we jam our grubby mitts into some cereal boxes to pull out the free toy packed inside! Remember those Wacky Wall Walkers? How about the Nabisco Spoonmen? Listen as we chronicle some of the weirdest and most memorable free prizes from the 50s to th…

When we decided to do an episode on card games, we immediately thought of our good friend Dani! She was a professional casino dealer for over 12 years and possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of not just Magic The Gathering but just about any card game you could mention. So roll up your sleeves and prep those poker faces, because we cover everything…