Retro Ridoctopus

Starting the spooky season right, we slammed the BRIG door on an awesome dude with some KILLER horror cred! Not only is Bob Mendell the vocalist for the metal bands On Your Deathbed & Drained, he's also an actor, a SFX makeup artist and the actor manager at Fear Town Haunted House! Ever wonder what it takes to run a major haunted attraction? Bob has the receipts! Later on, we'll swing things a...

On another toy-centric episode of the Retro Ridoctopus cephalopodcast, Nintenjoe takes the reins as we present some of our favorite Retro Toy Lines. Here we aren't just spotlighting one or two toys, but the entire lines as a whole. Along for the ride is "Mrs. Alchemy", Steph, AKA "Green Witch Of The North", AKA "GREENIE", in her first appearance on the show! She adds...

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 (1979) and going all the way through ALIEN: COVENANT...

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 Simpson). So, up and atom, gentle listener, becaus...

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 experience of what a home video game could be, and g...

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 the Children of the Atom and end with a...

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! Much to Stephen's chagrin, Killarney Traynor, Ch...

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 home consoles like the Super Nintendo and Genesis, a...

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 before and we hope you all dig it! ---------...

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 frequent collaborator (not to mention two time BRIG in...

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-Bit Alchemy ( listen ) • Nintenjoe ( subscribe ) -...

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 about the craft of writing and why she loves myst...

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 block of Retroid picks and 8-Bit Alchemy delivers a R...

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 copy of Rob's books, Laundrylegs and Wicked Sick...

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 topic, she sent us two voice mails! ---------------...

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 ) ---------------------------------------- All original heavy met...

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 today! All that plus an OCTOPONDER before Parasite...

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 hosts love about them! Also, for anyone who has ever...

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) cartoons. It was the birth of a new form of ente...

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 Carnival or Midway! Keep pumping in those coins, because...

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 beloved guest and get him to chat about his career. F...

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 first Star Trek themed metal band! Buckle up, Tre...

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 episode for our podcast listeners! For just around t...

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 Lost E...

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 about it and even a rea...