Back In The Day Show

Rob, Josh, and Chris rev up to 88 miles per hour to bring you the 1.21 gigawatts edition of the podcast. First, the guys talk about the films that the show’s logo is based on, the Back to the Future Trilogy. Next up is a discussion of the best and worst video games based on movies. Some of the bad: Friday the 13th, Total Recall, Jaws, and more. Some of the good: Batman, Willow, and Goonies II among others. Finally in honor of Doc Brown, the scientist, the guys reminisce about some of their favorite 80s educational TV shows. This show is great, but you don’t have to take my word for it.

Download the mp3 (1:21:00 / 37.0MB)

Notes: Covering the full Back to the Future Trilogy easily makes this the longest Back in the Day show so far. As a result, this week’s G. I. Joe Hall of Fame segment will be released separately at a later date. Also, Chris was right about I Missed the Bus, the song that Josh refers to in the podcast as a Will Smith song. It’s actually a Kris Kross tune.

In honor of Halloween last week, here are a few photos of us in our Halloween costumes from years past, which were described in detail in episode #7. These are some of the most awesome homemade costumes you’ll ever see! Hit the link below to see larger versions of the same photos.

First up, we have Chris dressed up as Skeletor from Halloween 2006. Skeletor was the main villain in the 80s cartoon, He-man. Here, it looks like someone is trying to steal his drink. You’d think an evil guy like Skeletor would be able to chill out on Halloween of all days. Tough break. Although constructing this costume mostly just invovled a lot of time in the garage with spray paint, it was no easy task. The mask was just a run-of-the-mill, store-bought thing; the challenge was finding a muscle suit that didn’t have a superhero logo attached. The solution? South Park’s Satan. And for those of you who think turning a red, foam bodysuit bluish-purple is an easy process, you’ve obviously never tried. It’s also kind of hard to go barhopping when your costume doesn’t have pockets, but any true supervillain knows how to get around that.

Next, there’s me (Rob) as a kid, clearly influenced by one of the most iconic heroes in video game history, Link from The Legend of Zelda. The precise time frame of the photo is unknown, but since the game came out in August of 1987 and I didn’t play it until later, we’re going to put this one at Halloween ‘88 or ‘89. Notice all of the elements of the perfect Link costume are in place: the magic word, the shield, the green tunic and cap, and the homemade cloth boots pulled over the sneakers. The accessories completing the outfit are the belt and sheath, elf ears, and you can’t see it, but I’m wearing the magic blue ring. As it turns out, the magic boomerang (referenced in episode #7) was discovered later at a toy store, and it actually worked… sometimes.

We move now to Josh’s Dracula costume also from Halloween ‘88 or ‘89. Whether Josh was representing the arch villain of Castlevania or he was just attracted by the traditional Dracula character hardly matters. Thanks to mom’s handiwork, Josh is the epitome of the evil, blood-sucking Count. While the typical dress shirt, pants, and shoes form the foundation of the costume, the cape, vest, and tie are all homemade. The teeth with enlarged canines are there, although you can’t see them. Add white makeup for a gaunt look, mom’s red lipstick, some generic, artificial blood, and don’t forget the slicked-back hair. Now you’ve got a pretty intimidating Dracula… or at least as intimidating as you can be at seven years old.

Finally, we have me and Josh from the Halloween of… I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure we were a bit younger in this one. I’m dressed up as Rambo, and Josh is Dracula. Apparently, Josh had a taste for blood as well as candy. As you can see, mom’s creativity shines once again. The makeshift, canvass shirt (homemade), beat-up jeans, and work boots are clear indicators that my costume is the Rambo from First Blood. Then of course there’s the signature headband (homemade) and combat knife. The camo facepaint was thrown in for effect as well as some weird pistol that shot penny-sized, plastic discs instead of suction-cup darts. Josh is pretty much wearing the same kind of Dracula costume as before except with a black vest instead of gray and no dripping, fake blood. Here it looks like Dracula is a bit more vulnerable up against the deadly Green Beret Vietnam vet.

Hope you enjoyed this small collection of Halloween photos. Go ahead, tell us about some of your costumes from years past in the comments. Again, to see larger versions of our photos, click the link below.
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Well, guys, you’ve probably figured out by now that we won’t be posting a podcast this week. Sorry, I completely forgot to make the announcement. My bad. But if everything goes as planned, you can expect a new podcast next week. Also, we’ve decided it would be in our best interests to limit our podcasting to one show per month for November and December only. This plan is designed to help us retain any sanity we might lose during an otherwise enjoyable holiday season. I’m sure you guys know how busy things can get. So we’ll be posting up a new show next week and then our Christmas Edition sometime next month. In the meantime, I’ll be posting up some photos of us in our past Halloween costumes either today or tomorrow. So be sure to check back later.

Break out your holy water and wooden steaks, because Rob, Josh, and Chris have awoken from their coffins to bring you a chilling Halloween edition of the Back in the Day Show. First they recall some of their favorite 80s horror movie moments: the old guy from Poltergeist II, the persistent, undead hitchhiker from Creepshow 2, and of course Chucky from Child’s Play. Then the guys whip it with an in-depth discussion of Castlevania and how it’s so much better than a puppy. The next segment includes fond memories of costumes, candy, and Chris’ plan to legitimize his trick-or-treating as a grown man. Finally, the guys talk about the Cobra master of disguise, Zartan. What better G. I. Joe to discuss on the Halloween show than the man who dresses up in costumes for a living? So sit back and relax, grab a “fun” size Snickers, and enjoy the show. Muahahahaha…

Download the mp3 (1:13:04 / 33.4MB)

Special thanks to Overclocked Remix and Sixto Sounds and Danneman & Silverknekt for some great Castlevania remixes.

Just something to help bear the wait for the next podcast, I think the above artwork speaks for itself. But if it doesn’t speak to you right away, give it a minute. Once you get it, the laughter will be impossible to suppress.

After a slight delay, Rob, Josh, and Chris are back with the latest episode of the Back in the Day Show. It’s the Part Man, Part Machine edition of the show this week, and kicking it off is a thorough discourse about the 1984 movie, The Terminator, as well as subsequent Terminator flicks. Following that, the guys reminisce about the little, blue guy from one of their favorite NES series, Mega Man. The B.A.T. would have been the most appropriate Joe for this show, but since it’s already been covered, the guys round out the show with a hilarious discussion about one of the coolest and probably least celebrated G. I. Joes ever. Seriously, you need to stick around to hear the segment on Barbecue; it’s probably the most entertaining part of the show. Heck, if you don’t have time for anything else, we’ll allow you to skip ahead to the 37:09 mark… just this once, though Enjoy.

Download the mp3 (52:39 / 24.1MB)

Special thanks to 8bitpeoples.com and Anamanaguchi for some great 8-bit chip tunes.

What’s your favorite Terminator movie? You know what to do. To cast your vote, hit the link below or view the poll on the sidebar on the right side of the page.

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Well, guys, it looks like this week’s podcast is going to be a little late. We’ve already recorded the show; it’s just that I won’t have a chance to edit the raw audio until later tomorrow night. That’s because I’m going to be helping out Ashley today with her class. It’s field trip day for the kiddies. W00t! I could’ve stayed up super late last night to get it done, but that would’ve required way too much effort. Anyway, I’ll be posting the next podcast on Sunday, October 12. Too bad the flux capacitor is busted on my DeLoreon.

So Mega Man 9 has recently been released for all the current-generation consoles’ respective online services: WiiWare, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade. The little, blue guy has been in so many video games for over 20 years that he’s transcended from video game character to icon. He’s not as ubiquitous as Mario, but he’s definitely popular enough to warrant a fitting tribute. So join me as we look back over the years at one of the most beloved characters in video gaming history. I give you the ultimate Mega Man retrospective. And be sure to tune in next week as we’ll be talking about all our favorite Mega Man moments on our next podcast.

Change can be good. And that’s the attitude we have towards the latest change we’re implementing this week. We’re going to change our weekly podcast schedule to a biweekly schedule. No that doesn’t mean twice a week–that’s semiweekly, foo. It means we’ll be posting a show up every two weeks. So there will be no podcast tomorrow, but we’ll pick it back up next week on October 10. Why the deviation? With all of our busy schedules, this was probably inevitable. Job changes, other commitments, that fact that we’re slackers, blah blah blah. But ultimately it means a better quality podcast for you, our listeners. It will allow us a little flexibility in our schedules and enable us to better meet our deadline every other week. It will also give us more time in post-production to keep the quality of the recordings as high as possible. So we’re going to try the new schedule and see how things work. Thanks, as always, for listening. More interesting stuff is on the way.