Retro Ridoctopus

Our Wild Wild Westerns theme continues! But before we ride off into the sunset, there's still some rip-roaring fun to be had! Join your saddle-sore hosts Rattlesnake Steve, Doc Cooperday and The 8-Bit Kid as they rustle up some westerns in basically every media besides movies! We've got a wagon full of cartoons, video games, a short story collection and even (what some might call) a Power To The M...

On another episode of the BRIG… we’ve got a talented Brooklyn based filmmaker, actor, podcaster and award winning author. Marc Abbott! Marc's short stories have been featured in numerous anthologies including the Bram Stoker Nominated horror anthologies New York State of Fright & Under Twin Suns, not to mention the two-time African American Literary Award-winning horror anthology, Hell at the...

Hope you've packed plenty beans, bacon, whiskey and lard because we are headed WEST! Hitch your wagon train to three nefarious-looking desperadoes by the names of Rattlesnake Steve, Doc Cooperday and The 8-Bit Kid because for this first episode of our Wild Wild Westerns theme, we cover some of our favorite Western MOVIES! From Wayne to Eastwood, Russell & Kilmer to...SCOTT GLENN?? We cover a w...

This Crow's Nest shines the torchlight on a sequel that was 35 years in the making! At Retro Ridoctopus, we love point and click adventure games and for Parasite Steve and 8-Bit Alchemy, that journey started with a game called Shadowgate on the NES. Fast forward to 2024, whena small indie game developer, (started by the the original creators of the Macventure Series which included not only Shadowg...

For the season 7 premiere of THE BRIG… Retro Ridoctopus is proud and honored to present two incredible guests who are absolutely tearing up the indie comics scene! First, we have a thirty five plus year veteran of the comics industry, and frequent collaborator of Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola and other total industry legends...New York Times Best Selling Author, Tom Sniegoski! With him is Tom's...

Sometimes supporting and background characters shine brighter than the heroes do! Continuing our new Season 7 format, we are splitting this theme into two episodes. Part 2 concentrates on memorable background characters from Video Games. And later, 8-Bit Alchemy will drop the first B-Segment of the season in the form of a DIE MONSTER! If you missed it, check out Not Enough Screen Time Part 1 which...

Our first bonus episode of season 7 is a spirited but level-headed discussion about NOSFERATU (2024) with author & film maker, Jeff Caroll. Both Jeff and Parasite Steve feel strongly about the film, but one liked it and the other? Well, not so much. This is a new type of episode for Retro Ridoctopus, but s always, we keep things friendly and respectful. No matter which side of the Nosferatu fe...

Sometimes supporting and background characters shine brighter than the heroes do! For our new Season 7 format, we are splitting this theme into two episodes. Part 1 concentrates on memorable background characters from TV shows and cartoons. And later, we'll ask you to OCTOPONDER what your favorite TV spin-off is! In two weeks, look out for Not Enough Screen Time Part 2 which will cover our favorit...

Another insane season of Retro Ridoctopus comes to a close. We had a new co-host, more interviews than ever and a triceratops-sized barrel of nostalgic fun! After copious amounts of reminiscing over another amazing year, we dive into our annual final topic. Like every year, we asked you for voice mails, giving your quick reviews of a classic movie you watched for the first time this year. Every si...

Hey gang! It's time to pay tribute to one of the greatest cartoons of all time, so pack some Scooby Snacks, check your flashlight batteries and hop in the Mystery Machine, because this is our tribute to Scooby Doo! For our penultimate episode of Season 6, Justin Cooper leads us through abandoned amusement parks, haunted mansions and old defunct coal mines, in search of ghouls, ghosts and other pho...

With two decades’ experience in video games, Richard Dansky has contributed to over 40 AAA titles in iconic franchises like Ghost Recon, Assassins Creed, Might & Magic, Splinter Cell, Far Cry, Hunt: Showdown and Rainbow Six. For this final BRIG of season 6, we'll hear all about his incredible career—how he started writing for Vampire: The Masquerade for White Wolf Entertainment and eventually...

Many of us played with plastic "guys" when we were kids. Specifically action figures from our favorite cartoons and movies. This episode is all about the phenomenon of modern day companies like NECA, Super7, Storm Collectibles, Boss Fight Studios and others who are putting out insanely high quality figures of these same properties we loved as kids! Each host picked 2 lines of these TOYS...

Back for his second stint in the brig, we've got Keith Lansdale! Keith is a gifted writer, editor and director of horror and humor... including comics, short stories, novels, screenplays and his new Weird Western novella Elijah’s Elixer! We chat about all the cool stuff he's been up to in the last two years and later on, he delivers a reading from his fantastic new novella! It's a rip-roarin' good...

Rounding out our trio of monster-riffic episodes for October 2024, we are spotlighting yet another classic monster... THE MUMMY! And to do it, we have two of our favorite returning guest hosts, Greenie (The Green Witch of the Shire) and our Icelandic buddy Birkir AKA Leikjarinn! Whether mention of a shambling, bandage-wrapped, curse-inflicting baddy makes you think of Boris Karloff, Brendan Fraser...

We met Jonny Ruckus at Granite State Comic Con and were totally blown away by his amazing work for the BIG DUMB ROBOT CON! This is a collective of like-minded 3-D printer hobbyists and robot builders dedicated to fabricating screen perfect robot characters from your favorite movies and cartoons! We chat with Jonny about the building process and what kind of stuff they've got in the pipeline. And l...

Awooooooo!! The moon is full and things are about to get HAIRY! For our second monster-riffic epsiode in a row, we are going werewolf hunting! Along for the ride is Hollywood special effects artist, Michael Broom! Mike is the writer/artist of the insanely original graphic novel Membrane and with credits like The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Predators, X-Men First Class, Wolves, Creepshow (...

The first of three consecutive Retro Ridoctopus monster-riffic episodes for season 6's month of October! This episode is broken up into two distinct parts. The first covers those made for TV specials that would have us marking our calendars and TV Guides. Sometimes it would be a 25 minutes cartoon, sometimes a made for TV movie, either way, Halloween specials were part and parcel with the holiday...

8-Bit Alchemy leads a walk down memory PAIN, as we dredge up all the video games we loved but could never beat. Sometimes this was do to us just never getting good enough, but other times, we have to consider the quality of the games themselves. Were they hard but fair? Or, in the end, were they complete F*@2ing bull$!#?!?!? This is an episode of frustration that ends up being pretty cathartic......

Is this episode a dissertation, an audio essay, or just a chat between friends? L. Marie Wood becomes the second person in Ridoctopus history to get locked in the BRIG three times! On this occasion, she chats about new new non-fiction book, "The Horror Aesthetic: Essays from the Dark Corners of the Genre"! It's a book that shares perspectives of the horror genre; providing study and nuan...

We've all got that one best friend. Your bestest buddy, your #1 pal, your BFF! The one person who's seen you at your worst and ALWAYS had your back. Well, this episode is dedicated to characters we feel set the standard for what it means to be best buddies! Your Octo-hosts will share 6 pairs of some of the all time greatest friendships in cartoons and animated film, as well as some personal storie...

We welcome our buddy Nintenjoe back again to talk about one of the most memorable aspects of any video game, the BOSSES!! Whether they're in charge of a single stage or are the final challenge waiting at the end, these characters are sure to make an impact. We'll tackle the more iconic "last guys" first, spotlighting iconic final bosses who come back again and again over multiple entries...

This week we have a talented author whom NY Times Best Seller Christopher Golden called “one of the most talented under-the-radar writers the horror genre has to offer”. Kristin Dearborn has written numerous published short stories, novels and novellas including Woman in White, Stolen Away, The Amazing Alligator Girl and her newest novel Faith of Dawn, which is just crawling with skunk apes! If it...

Back for his second stint in the BRIG… it’s writer/comedian/producer Chris Gersbeck! With his company Dumb Industries, Chris produces and hosts a metric ton of hilarious weekly programs (including but not limited to) The Mads Are Back, The Mary-Jo Pehl Show, The Dave Hill Goodtime Hour and the retro gaming centric, Super Dumb Bros! Chris talks about how it feels to be finally on a break after prod...

It's music time again, folks! And holy crap, Nintenjoe has returned to the helm for his first episode of season 6 as the main host! Appropriately, it's his popular recurring Themes From a Memory series!! This time, the mission was to choose intro theme songs from Nickelodeon cartoons and live action shows! As we've done so many times before, each host has chosen 3 songs which we play for you in se...

The work of K. H. (Ken) Vaughan has appeared in numerous volumes of the New England Horror Writers’ WICKED series, as well as a myriad of other anthologies such as both volumes of Once Upon an Apocalypse, New Moon Quarterly, the award winning Nox Pareidolia, and more! For this episode, we'll chat about Ken's short fiction and his involvement with the popular biennial celebration of weird fiction N...