05- Star Trek - The Spooky Episodes

Trick or Treat for Salt!!

It's finally October, and Melinda and Aaron are ready for Halloween! We hear stories about their Trick or Treating escapades, and some favorite candy.

(08:45) Melinda and Aaron get into the Halloween spirit and talk about their favorite (spooky) Star Trek television episodes, including entries from everything through Enterprise. Grab some candy corn and Swedish Fish and reminisce along with them!

(1:04:20) How Did We Survive? Scott Bakula (not really) writes in about a shocking survival experience. Don't forget to send YOUR story of how you survived to thedreamlandpodcast@gmail.com!

04 - Robot Love (70s and 80s Robots)

CBS Fox branded Tomy Omnibot menioned by Michael

CBS Fox branded Tomy Omnibot menioned by Michael

Tonight we welcome special guests Michael French from RetroBlasting and Tom Berges from www.igrewupstarwars.com. We start out by talking about fish sticks and beards, and Melinda confuses Mrs. Fields with Mrs. Paul’s. They’re both great cooks, people.

(08:20) Tom talks about how he got into becoming a Droid Builder, and how far he has come with building his R2-D2 from A New Hope.

(13:26) R2-D2 led to the interest in all the robots made in the 70s and 80s. We talk about some of the more interesting robots, including the Tomy robots, Lego robotics, Starroid Radio Robot, HERO 1 and TOPO, and Sico.

(48:46) – How Did We Survive? Jimmy Stewart recounts an episode of taking a dirt access road, an impromptu wrestling match, and losing track of time.

References:

The Old Robots Website

 

03 - Showbiz vs Chuck E. Cheese

Nolan Bushnell and Chuck E. Cheese (left), Aaron Fechter and Billy Bob from The Rockafire Explosion (right)

We recount our experience at DragonCon 2017, including celebrity encounters with a doctor and a Jewel.

(06:37) We go through the sordid and contentious history of Showbiz and Chuck E. Cheese, and the entrepreneurs who fought it out to be 80s Pizza King: Nolan Bushnell and Aaron Fechter.

(56:15) How Did We Survive? Sarah Jessica Parker writes in and tells us about rolling down the hill in a stolen shopping cart.

References:

The History of Chuck E. Cheese's and ShowBiz Pizza

How I Built This: Atari & Chuck E. Cheese's: Nolan Bushnell

RetroGaming RoundUp 24 (Oct 2010)

02 - Spiral Zone Cartoon, Ep.1

From the opening sequence of Spiral Zone

From the opening sequence of Spiral Zone

We settle in for a nice podcast and break the ice with some weird tea references and Melinda describes what it’s like to bake a cake with a vintage Wilton cake pan. Aaron enjoys his new watch.

(11:40) This week we head into the zone – Spiral Zone. Melinda and Aaron each watched an episode (Holographic Zone Battle) of this twisted 80s cartoon and go through it, step by step.

(50:20) – How Did We Survive? Patrick describes playing rodeo and playing with flamethrowers. Richard crashes an ATV in Mexico.

References:

Collection dx Spiral Zone Toys by Bandai, 1985

01 - History of Cabbage Patch Kids

Martha Nelson Thomas' Doll Babies (Left) and early Xavier Roberts design (Right)

We are thrilled to announce the inaugural episode of Dreamland: The RetroBlasting Podcast. Taking our name from the skating rink in Melinda’s childhood hometown, we plan to be the place where Gen Xers can hang out and talk about the things we love, while also learning some of the crazy stories from behind the scenes. It’s like RetroBlasting – now as a podcast!

(02:41) We kick this off with a journey into the world of Cabbage Patch Kids. From their early origins with creator Martha Nelson Thomas and her Doll Babies, to Xavier Roberts and Babyland General, to the Coleco years, and beyond, we give you the low-down on these wildly successful, iconic 80s toys. We honestly had no idea where this was going, and the roots went in crazy directions.

(54:21) – We start a fun tradition of closing the show with a segment called “How Did We Survive?” This week Aaron and Melinda each share their own story to start us off. Aaron had bike trouble and Melinda began her quest to get her superpower.

References:

Watch the Vice mini-documentary here: The Secret History of Cabbage Patch Kids