With the help of our pal Scott Clevenger (from The Slumgullion podcast) we dish all about four stylish 90's action/adventure films that were looking to the pulps of the 30s for inspiration! These movies featured heroic characters from a bygone era of pulp magazines, comic strips and serials!
We'll each present one of the four films while diving into their pulpy origins. By the time these films were made, these characters weren't as well known as in their heyday, but there would never have been a Batman without The Shadow, The Phantom or Dick Tracy!
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile
This week, down in that rusted out hull we call the BRIG… we are honored to have New York Times bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-winning author, Christopher Golden! Chris is the author of such novels as Snowblind, Road of Bones, Ararat, The House of Last Resort, 13 Buffy The Vampire Slayer novels and more comics than you can shake a RIGHT HAND OF DOOM at!
Since his debut in 1994 (with "Of Saints and Shadows"), Chris has written stories featuring such beloved characters as Hellboy, Buffy, Daredevil, Alien, The X-Men and so many more! We'll try to get him to talk about all that, his newest novel "The Night Birds" and how even after 30 years, he can still suffer from imposter syndrome!
WARNING!! WARNING!! This episode contains a surprise appearance of one of Chris' closest friends/collaborators! Chris had no idea!
Follow Christopher Golden on Facebook , Instagram and BlueSky and check out his official website!
And if battling shapeshifting Icelandic witches sounds like your idea of a good time, order your copy of THE NIGHT BIRDS wherever books are sold!
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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Coopster Gold takes us back to our Amazing Animal Facts theme from last season, but with a twist! This time we only picked those creatures who have sadly joined the ranks of the EXTINCT.
We decided to leave the dinosaurs out of it, focusing on such fantastic beasts as Mighty Moas, Tasmanian Tigers, Woolly Rhinos and, of course, the poster animal for extinction, the Dodo.
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile
This time in the BRIG, we have an enormously talented artist, graphic designer and author of the novels Blood For The Sun, All The Dead Men, Lightning Wears a Red Cape and his brand new one: The Queen of Saturn and the Prince in Exile! All that and he’s a former Marine, a black belt in Krav Maga..
It’s Boston’s own… Errick Nunnally!
The Queen of Saturn and the Prince in Exile is a Black nerd coming-of-age novel set in 1970s Boston about a boy who struggles to learn the truth behind his mother’s claims of otherworldly origins in the smoldering aftermath of the Civil Rights era and COINTELPRO's dying breaths.
Purchase this awesome novel from our friends at Copper Dog Books or anywhere books are sold!
And check out the official website of artist, author, Errick Nunnally!
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile
Retroids, start your engines! This episode is all about driving and racing games! We're talking arcades, Atari, Super Nintendo, the N64, and into the era of Playstation and X-Box! As long as the game puts you behind the wheel, it counts!
Along for the ride is our old pal and former host of the Retro Ridoctopus cephalopodcast, Synopsis Grim AKA BOSS RUSH MODE!! So buckle up and floor that gas pedal. It's the finish line or BUST!
Later on, we'll brake for an Octoponder This, then gun it for another installment of Parasite Steve's BOOKSHELF OF THE DAMNED, featuring the fantastic "EIGHT CYLINDERS" by Jason Parent, which has been described as "a wild mix of Fury Road, Dante’s Inferno, and Lovecraftian horror". Get your copy here!
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile
Val Kilmer was an actor's actor. The rare sort of movie star whose focus was always on creating the best performance possible. Even when not the leading man, he through himself into every role, always elevating what had been written on the page into something special.
Over the course of an impressive 30 year career, Val was shaped by the Hollywood machine into a bonafied movie star. From lighter fair like Top Secret and Real Genius to performances in Tombstone, The Doors, Willow, Heat and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang... Val proved there was no genre he couldn't master. No character he couldn't make memorable and, perhaps most impressive, wholly his own. His contributions to the film industry are as vast as they are undeniable.
Val Kilmer passed away from pneumonia on April 1, 2025 at the age of just 65.
For this tribute episode, we discuss 12 of what we consider to be his most important films.
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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This week, down in the eldritch unknown of the BRIG… we have returning guest, Cat Scully!
A talented artist, video game developer, writer and novelist … Cat is the author of Jennifer Strange and comes back to chat all about her hotly anticipated novel BELOW THE GRAND HOTEL! We’ve got the roaring 20s, flapper dresses, Ziegfeld Girls... Faustian bargains, mouths where there shouldn’t be mouths...you know, all the ingredients of a good time!
Pre-Order your copy of BELOW THE GRAND HOTEL from Copper Dog Books to lock in your enamel hotel key pin and drink recipe cards!
And then... keep up with all things Cat Scully on her website, browse her etsy shop Haints and Hollows and follow her on Instagram!
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile
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 personal favorite SNL films, including the really obvious one! Party on, Wayne! And party on Garth!
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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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 Adventures (NES) • Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland (NES) • Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (Game Boy) • Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Montana's Movie Madness (Game Boy) • Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure (SEGA Genesis) • Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! (Super Nintendo)
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile
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 for our entire lives!
For this first part of 2 SNL themed episodes, we are concentrating on the sketches. Each of us picking out 3 of our all time favorites to spotlight and to (ahem) to to reproduce parts of. We had an awesome time with this episode and laughed more than usual!
Side note: There was a glitch with Parasite Steve's audio and it does get pretty distracting. We apologize and hope that it doesn't completely ruin the fun.
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Retro Ridoctopus is:
• Parasite Steve (read)
• 8-Bit Alchemy (listen)
• Coopster Gold (join)
• Nintenjoe (subscribe)
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All original heavy metal music by Enchanted Exile