Between 1980 and 2010, a total of eleven SNL movies were produced. Some are great, others are far from it and there are plenty in between. But love em or pan em, these comedies were foundational viewing for many of us who grew up in the 90s and beyond! In this episode, Coop continues his Saturday Night Live theme and we spotlight a total of of our …

Hiya, Toonsters! Parasite Steve and 8-Bit Alchemy had a totally toontastic time re-playing some classic Tiny Toon Adventures video games, and you're gonna hear about it! This is a property that produced more games than you realize and some of them are absolutely worth any retro gamer's time! Covered meticulously in this episode are:• Tiny Toon Adve…

LIVE FROM (somewhere on the internet) IT'S (a podcast about) SATURDAY NIGHT!!! Saturday Night Live is more than a TV show, it's an American institution. As much a part of our lives as apple pie and cutting people off at intersections. Now in it's 50th season, the show is older than any of the Octo-hosts, but that just means that it's been a staple …

Morgan Sylvia is an author from Maine with numerous published works including novels, short stories, poetry collections and everything in between. Whether she's writing long or short form, one thing is clear, the quality of the prose itself is always top of mind. This lends a musical quality to the language of her work. A poetic fingerprint that mo…

Building on our Real Ghostbusters episode, we decided to not only focus on the sequel to that legendary cartoon, but spotlight three major animated series the helped shaped the 90s! Drew Mollo (from Splash Pages) is back for the second week in a row, as we tackle The Extreme Ghostbusters, Men In Black The Series and Godzilla The Series! Aside from …

Who you gonna call? Why, Drew Mollo (from the Splash Pages podcast) that's who! As a lifelong Ghostbusters super-fan, Drew has spent years memorizing Tobin's Spirit Guide and definitely knows how to read a P.K.E. Meter. A good thing too, because for this episode, we're be spotlighting 8 episodes from this seminal animated series! Expect plenty of P…

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 collectio…

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 Literar…

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, Ru…

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…

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 Bes…

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…

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 respec…

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 Enou…

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 …

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 coa…

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 Masquerad…

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!…

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 …

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 badd…

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 wha…

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,…

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, Hallowe…

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 f…

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 th…

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 …

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 ba…

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 D…

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 abou…

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 h…

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 t…

The legendary Ellen Datlow has been called “the venerable queen of horror anthologies” per the New York Times, and with over 40 years in the business, it's not hard to see why! In celebration of her new horror anthology, "Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror" from Tachyon Publications... Retro Ridoctopus proudly presents "The Fears of Ellen Datlow"…

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 and beyond, these were some of the best produced children's cartoons on television and we ate 'em up! In this episode, Coopster Gold leads us through a discussion of…

Returning guest, Bobby Canipe Jr. started his film making career with the killer 2022 documentary "Mom n' Pop: The Indie Video Store Boom of the 80s/90s" but has been making horror flicks ever since! For this episode, we'll touch upon what it was like starting from nothing to doing a documentary on video stores to making numerous scary movies a yea…

In a rare non-celebratory episode, we welcome the co-writer/star/director of the hilarious flick, BAD CGI SHARKS, Jason Ellsworth to join us in a critical discussion on some of the LESS impressive FX we've seen in movies. These are the sequences that are so jarringly inadequate, they hit like a Mac truck, smashing any semblance of immersion to smit…

A 'beat 'em up' or 'brawler' is a style of video game where the player character walks from left to right, beating up a seemingly endless number of enemies, until reaching the inevitable boss encounter at the end of the level. Simple, repetitive and addictive as heck, this genre of games were very popular in the late 80s and early 90s with beloved …

Rotting in the BRIG this week, we have another returning guest, Paul R. McNamee! Paul is a talented author and lover of all things pulp… who’s short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies and magazines including STORYHACK, WEIRDBOOK, and BLOOD ON THE BLADE. And in 2021, he released the superhero novel Hour of the Robot!. His brand new collec…

The X-men theme that was just too big for one episode continues! In this second action-packed installment of our X-Men Cartoon Apocalypse, we celebrate 2 more of the 4 major X-men cartoons! As with last time, each host will present a favorite episode from each. Joining the team just time is new recruit and X-Men über fan, Kevin "Kex" Hayes! For thi…

This idea has been brewing for a while and it was just too big for one episode! This action-packed episode celebrates 2 of the 4 major X-men cartoons! Each host presents a favorite episode from each with the help of our very special guest... our returning pal and constant poster Santino "The San Man" Mancebo! For this first part, we are covering...…

Good friend of the show, Josh Nealis (from Cutthroat Comics) makes Ridoctopus history by becoming the only person to get locked in THE BRIG for a THIRD TIME! He talks candidly with Parasite Steve about his latest books "Gloves Off: Going Toe-to-Toe with Cancer", "Judy and Her Irrational Fears" the final issue of his "Turkey Sharks" comic series and…

Roger Corman did it all and he did it in spades. Whether you call him the King of Cult or the Pope of Pop Cinema, it's no exaggeration to say that Corman had an output unmatched by anyone in the industry. And while he is perhaps known as much for his schlock as his amazing Poe Cycle with Vincent Price, one thing is for sure. The man constantly did …

This week, in THE BRIG… Deader is Better! We welcome the co-creator of the world's longest continually running series of collectible horror themed dolls. The Living Dead Dolls. Make no mistake, folks… this is a guy who makes nightmares come to life, New Jersey’s own… Damien Glonek! Ever wondered how you can turn a quirky little idea into a vast 26 …

The 1980s and 90s saw the release of an unprecedented number of cartoons, movies, toys and games starring DINOSAURS! And unlike the adventure films of the 60s & 70s these projects took everyone's favorite extinct behemoths out of their hidden savage land environments and made them cool again. Mashing them together with genres like science fiction, …

It's 11:00 in Nosgoth. Do you know where your vampires are? This week's motley crew includes Parasite Steve, Synopsis (Boss Rush Mode) Grim and Lady Carianna (in her first appearance)! All three have stocked up on Hearts of Darkness and have a serious blood lust for the classic PS1/PS2 series known as THE LEGACY OF KAIN! These gothic dark fantasy t…

The GODFOE Universe: APOLLYON 20XX is a gritty new indie comic from the team of artist Joshua Adams and writer Dan Evans. For this episode, the book's artist Joshua give the lowdown on this massive media-panning project, which will eventually span comic, novels, films and even video games. Is that ambitious enough for ya?! For more info on this awe…

Our secret nerdom revealed at last! We at the Retro Ridoctopus cephalopodcast are all huge geeks about animals and all sorts of creatures that walk, crawl, swim and fly over this fantastic blue marble we call Earth! For this science-centric episode, the Octo-hosts each pick 4 animals we think are the most fascinating and share a bunch of fun facts …

This week, down in the dank and the dark of that den of madness we call the BRIG… we've got the wicked cool Renee S. DeCamillis! Renee is a talented writer and editor of all types of horror, the author of numerous published short stories and her recently released debut novel, Chisel The Bone. And as if that wasn’t enough, she’s also the rhythm guit…

Is it Duck Season? Wabbit Season?! With over one thousand episodes of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies you never have to choose! Before the pig pops out of the drum... we'll build blocks of episode-picks around 4 of the most legendary characters! We'll talk some history, personal memories and fun facts about these screwball heroes of the Golden Age …

In the 90s was when the anime floodgates opened in America, when programs like FOX KIDS started playing blocks of Japanese cartoons! But did we really need to catch 'em all? Shows like Shaman King, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, Monster Rancher and even (the best left forgotten) Fighting Foodons were trying to cash in on the enormous Pokemon craze. But there w…

When it comes to classic RPG series, Final Fantasy is always in the conversation. This long running series has achieved LEGENDARY status with 16 main titles and a Bahamut-sized hoard of sequels and spin-offs. This week, with the help of our Retroid Bobby MacGibbon, we'll spotlight our favorite games, characters and even summon monsters in the serie…