Browsed by
Tag: nostalgia

Mech Media

Mech Media

D&D BEYOND LOW EXPECTATIONS: D. Bethel quickly relates (spoiler free) his enjoyable viewing last week of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew talks about the recently wrapped first season of NBC’s “requel” series, Quantum Leap, while D. dips his toes into a remake of a rerelease of a game he played an import of in the mid ’90s: Square Enix’s Front Mission 1st: Remake.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Part Racehorse; All Workhorse” (17 April 2020): Where our hosts discuss the hotness of remaking games.
  • An Optimistic Dystopia” (12 August 2022): Where Andrew plays through Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 3.
  • A Week for Days” (23 September 2022): Where Andrew discusses the first few episodes of the new Quantum Leap show.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Madmacguffin

Madmacguffin

OUT OF THE WAY, PECK: After 34 years, Disney decided to create a sequel series to the Lucasfilm cult classic fantasy film, Willow, exclusively for Disney+. D. Bethel is a devout fan of that original film; Andrew couldn’t care less. So, they’re going into this series from two very different contexts, but come to very similar conclusions: it’s okay.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • A Week for Days” (23 September 2022): Where our hosts discuss the first trailer for the Disney+ Willow series.
  • Tweets to Toots” (9 December 2022): Where our hosts discuss the first two episodes of the Disney+ Willow series.
  • Open Awesome License” (13 January 2023): Where Andrew broke down the controversy around the possible new Open Game License that Wizards of the Coast is working on.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

  • “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits excerpted
A Week for Days

A Week for Days

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew gets lost in the 2022 reboot––and continuation?!––of the classic science-fiction adventure series, Quantum Leap. Meanwhile, D. Bethel finds a lot to love and ponder in the newest volume of the beautiful European noir comic series, Blacksad: They All Fall Down, Part 1.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • U3DS” (02 October 2020): Where D. Bethel talks about the adventure video game, Blacksad: Under the Skin, and how it was a frustrating experience.
  • An Accident of Flavor” (12 November 2021): Where our hosts mourn the passing of Dean Stockwell, an actor in the original Quantum Leap.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Full Frasier

Full Frasier

WEEK IN GEEK: After avoiding the microphones for a week due to disaster-level weather, our hosts return with their Weeks in Geek. Andrew watched Cobra Kai, season 5, and finds it makes a bad movie good. D. Bethel watched people play videogames over on the Nextlander YouTube channel, where they work their way through the incredibly dated, but also incredibly daring point-and-click adventure game, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (aka Gabriel Knight 2).

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Premature Clapulation” (19 June 2014): Where our hosts talk about the history, legacy, and current state (as of 2014) of point-and-click adventure games.
  • The Tainted Lens” (28 April 2017): Where D. Bethel discusses his favorite point-and-click adventure game, LucasArts’ Full Throttle, after it was remastered as Full Throttle Remastered.
  • Chekhov’s Honk” (22 January 2021): Where our hosts talk about the first three Karate Kid movies.
  • Too Many Johnnies” (05 February 2021): Where our hosts have a big talk about the Cobra Kai series.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Editorial Changes

Editorial Changes

RESCUED RANGERS: Our hosts take this week to relax and talk about one of the most surprising movies of the year, Disney+’s Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • We’re On a Track” (05 May 2017): Where D. Bethel discusses playing the Disney Afternoon Collection, a collection of the Capcom-developed NES games based on the Disney Afternoon television shows.
  • Is This Art?” (06 November 2020): Where our hosts briefly discuss tv show themes and how they are often longer than we realize (the show notes include the full Rescue Rangers theme song).
  • Flabbercast” (18 February 2022): Where our hosts are perplexed by the very bizarre teaser trailer for Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Hobbit Seasons

Hobbit Seasons

WEEK IN GEEK: A lot of video games were played this week, some new, some old. Andrew plays the new hotness that is Cellar Door Games’ Rogue Legacy 2 and finds it engrossing. D. Bethel plays two video games, first working his way through the Metroidvania classic, Ori and the Blind Forest, and the new arcade beat ’em up, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Super Sleep Mode” (28 November 2014): Where Andrew first discusses his time with the first Rogue Legacy.
  • With Space Hands” (12 June 2015): Where D. Bethel talks about his time with Rogue Legacy.
  • The Game of Life” (23 February 2018): Where Andrew talks about the ins and outs of Cellar Door Game’s follow-up to Rogue Legacy, Full Metal Furies.
  • Baguettevania” (24 August 2018): Where D. Bethel talks about a recent popular rogue-like, Motion Twin’s Dead Cells.
  • Scumbag Removal” (16 April 2021): Where Andrew talks about the unique rogue-like, Four Quarters’ Loop Hero.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Sword Club

Sword Club

A BAD BLIZZARD: Our hosts take a quick look at the controversy (and lawsuits!) that came out of an investigation led by the state of California into the toxic and dangerous company culture of Activision Blizzard.

I HAVE THE POWER: Having watched the first five episodes released for Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Andrew and D. Bethel look at this playful and creative reimagining of the classic ’80s toy commercial, er I mean, cartoon series.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • All-New, All-Same” (29 June 2018): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the angry internet’s attempt to “destroy” Lucasfilm following the release of The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
  • Empty Justice” (01 March 2019): Where our hosts talk about internet trolls trying to review bomb Captain Marvel ahead of its release.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Drive Your Gorilla

Drive Your Gorilla

CONFIRMATION BIAS: Abandoned is an upcoming Playstation 5-exclusive game made by the small Netherlands-based team, Blue Box Game Studios. After the game’s director made an enigmatic tweet, the internet exploded with conspiracy theories, asserting that the game and its trailers were nothing more than clues that this was not a stand-alone survival horror game but was actually a Silent Hill sequel. More than that, people have asserted that it’s a Silent Hill sequel directed by Hideo Kojima, despite the fact that the studio has gone to great lengths to assure fans that it is not. Andrew and Dan discuss the conspiracy and how it got wrapped up in the darker parts of nerd culture, internet culture, and the complicated edges of fandom.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Shortcast 57 – Fair Point, Dude” (01 June 2018): Where D. Bethel talks about the Super Nt, a Super NES clone made by Analogue.
  • For Great Justice” (19 February 2021): Where Andrew & D. Bethel discuss the video game, Six Days in Fallujah, and the discourse around tweets made by developer Rami Ismail.
  • I Am the State” (26 February 2021): Where our hosts discuss Nintendo’s continued neglect of the Metroid franchise.
  • Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where D. Bethel gets excited at the announcement of Metroid: Dread.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

I Am The State

I Am The State

LOST IN ZEBES: With a lot of internet chatter focusing on the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda‘s 1986 release, it made D. Bethel upset because another major Nintendo franchise was also released that year that nobody––much less Nintendo itself––seems that interested in celebrating, the weird, wonderful Metroid. D. Bethel talks with Andrew to see why this game and the series it spawned never gained the legs and legacy of Nintendo’s bigger franchises.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Too Many Johnnies

Too Many Johnnies

BETTER THAN IT SHOULD BE: After a lot of build up and expectation, Andrew and D. Bethel finally get together to record an episode about former YouTube/current Netflix show, Cobra Kai.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Shortcast 54 – Cameo Train” (11 May 2018): Included for no reason except for the fact that the phrase “cameo train” was used in this episode.
  • Dad Talk” (18 September 2020): Where Andrew first talked about watching Cobra Kai and watching the first The Karate Kid film.
  • Chekhov’s Honk” (22 January 2021): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the original The Karate Kid trilogy of films and how they influence Cobra Kai, briefly.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

  • “Nerd Law” by D. Bethel