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54 - Alien Autopsy

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Melinda and Aaron dive deep into the swirling vortex that is the history of Alien Autopsy, that crazy special from the mid-1990s. Listen at the link below or watch our live recording HERE.

53 - The Craft (1996)

Melinda makes Aaron watch the 1996 movie The Craft, and delves into the good and bad points of the movie… was Nancy really a “bad witch,” or was she the secret hero of the film?

52 - Twilight Zone 1985: Shatterday, A Little Peace and Quiet

You wanna see something really scary? Try being 9 years old and watching the premiere episode of the rebooted Twilight Zone in 1985 - the height of the cold war - with two entries from director Wes Craven. Both Melinda and Aaron saw that bomb hovering overhead as kids, and it haunted their dreams. Episodes: Shatterday starring Bruce Willis and A Little Peace and Quiet starring Melinda Dillon.

A Little Peace and Quiet: The most memorable scene from 80s TV for Melinda.

A Little Peace and Quiet: The most memorable scene from 80s TV for Melinda.

51 - Xanadu (1980)

Join Melinda and Aaron as they descend into the somewhat cringey fever dream that is 1980’s Xanadu. Where roller skating, disco, and big Hollywood musicals crash head-on into Greek mythology and romance, you’ll find… Xanadu.

50 - The 'Burbs (1989)

We delve into the seedy underbelly of American suburbia, look at our neighbors’ house and ask, “What’s he building in there?” And we talk about the cult classic 80s film starring Tom Hanks.

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49 - 50/50: Covers and Space

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Melinda and Aaron have fought through the COVID-19 malaise and are each back with a surprise topic. Melinda delves into what makes a great cover song, with a handful of interesting examples, while Aaron recalls our hopeful visions of space travel from the 80s.

Covers

Space Travel

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48 - Dot and the Kangaroo (1977 film)

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The Bunyip

In another fun foray into Australian pop culture, Melinda gets Aaron to watch one of her all-time favorites, Dot and the Kangaroo. Is it really as sad as she remembers? Does the Bunyip actually exist and is it coming for us? Will there be a special mention of Dead Can Dance? Listen and find out.

References:

Wikipedia

Dot and the Kangaroo rewatched – tear-jerking Australian animation trailblazer

Pedley, Ethel Charlotte (1859–1898) - from Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, (MUP), 1988

45 - TerrorVision

We’re still in 1986, this time with TerrorVision directed by Ted Nicolaou. This B-movie is filled with slimy space monsters, swinger parents, and machine guns. Melinda and Aaron ask the question, is there more to this 80s cult classic, or is everything exactly as it seems?

References

TerrorVision (1986, Ted Nicolaou) - http://cinemachine.blogspot.com/2013/02/terrorvision-1986-ted-nicolaou.html

Ted Nicolaou on the Austin diaspora, Romanian vampires and TV terror visions - https://videofugue.com/2017/09/01/ted-nicolaou-on-the-austin-diaspora-romanian-vampires-and-tv-terror-visions/

TerrorVision Interview ft. Ted Nicolaou - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bASTvWrxpYs

Within the Context of No Context https://rolux.org/tmp/no_context.pdf

The Fibonnacis - Purple Haze - https://youtu.be/cFL1LGMUqu0

Monster / Otyugh - https://www.bogleech.com/dnd/otyugh.html

42 - Stingray (1985 TV Series)

Of all the amazing vehicle TV shows to choose from in the 80s, Stingray was the best one you probably didn’t watch. Featuring a classic ‘65 Corvette, a lone-wolf hero who is smarter and tougher than everyone and who has a heart of gold, and the most memorable music of any 80s show - if you haven’t seen it, you don’t know what you’re missing! Melinda and Aaron walk you through the pilot.

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41 - 50/50: HBO's Chernobyl / Satanic Panic Origins

This week Melinda and Aaron delve into the darkness and talk about two weirdly similar incidents from the 80s: Chernobyl, as seen in the HBO miniseries, and Mike Warnke as an originator of Satanic Panic. In the first half, Aaron walks us through HBO’s Chernobyl and discusses some of the key highlights and strengths, including things he learned, without spoilers. Later, Melinda describes how Mike Warnke convinced an entire generation that Satanists were everywhere and describes how he did it, how he was found to be a fraud, and what the fallout was. Note: while we don’t use profanity, due to content listener discretion is advised.

Chernobyl

While this show doesn't take a clear 'position' politically it seems to be heavily aimed at the American public to at least start the conversation about how we are different than the Soviet Union, and how we seem to be drifting closer than we think we are to becoming the Soviet Union.  It takes some liberties and license with the source material for the sake of narrative, but the broad strokes are essentially the same, and the mood is assuredly Soviet and ominous.

References:

  • Full production scripts are available at HBO.com for anyone interested in how the show was put together 

  • The Russian Woodpecker – 2015 documentary about Ukranian artist Fedor Alexandrovich, who travels to the exclusion zone to pursue his suspicions about the meltdown's link to the Duga, a huge Soviet radio antenna located near the Chernobyl site. 

Mike Warnke

In the 80s, “Satanic Panic” gripped the US - the idea that an organized and ominous group of Satanists were working in concert to come after children and teenagers for all sorts of evil reasons, including stealing their souls and even killing them. One of the first people to begin this now debunked myth was Mike Warnke, author of the book Selling Satan in 1972, in which he CLAIMS to have been a Satanic high priest who converted to Christianity. However, in the early 90s, a Christian magazine called Cornerstone debunked the book by interviewing nearly everyone who knew Mike and documenting that they all tell a very different story. Warnke is not the only Christian pop culture icon who claimed to have been a Satanist during that time, and he’s not the only one whose story was debunked, but he was probably the biggest and was definitely the first.

References:

Selling Satan - The Tragic History of Mike Warnke - By Jon Trott & Mike Hertenstein from Cornerstone magazine 1992

Religious Write – Chicago Tribune 12/28/92

The history of Satanic Panic in the US — and why it's not over yet

CBE International: Jon Trott - Author of the Cornerstone article

Dennis Cooper Blog: Nick Toti presents … Mike Warnke

40 - In Search Of... Bigfoot

Leonard Nimoy, hosting In Search Of…

Leonard Nimoy, hosting In Search Of…

From 1977 to 1982 Leonard Nimoy guided us through a wide variety of strange phenomena on the syndicated, half-hour show “In Search Of.” On this episode of Dreamland, Melinda and Aaron learn a ton about Bigfoot from Spock himself, as well as special guest Tom Berges from I Grew Up Star Wars. In this episode we discuss four episodes spanning “Bigfoot,” "The Swamp Monster," "Monster Hunters," and "The Abominable Snowman." If you’re like us, your belief in Bigfoots will change several times during the discussion.

Image 1 - Still from the Patterson–Gimlin film, 2 - Grover Krantz with a Bigfoot foot impression mold, 3 - Peter Byrne, the man, the myth, the legend, and 4 - The Bay Area Group

39 - The Colbys

In the 80s, "primetime soaps” were definitely a thing, but you may not remember the 1985 Dynasty spinoff, “The Colbys.” An Aaron Spelling project, this show was Dynasty but more expensive, with slightly fewer catfights, but slightly more alien abductions. And let’s not forget that it starred none other than Charlton Heston. Melinda and Aaron marvel at this 80s masterpiece.

36 - 50/50: Echoes and Action Park

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As part of our MixTape format, Aaron and Melinda each pick a cool topic and discuss. This week, Aaron tells us about Echoes, the ambient music show on Public Radio, and Melinda shares the crazy story of New Jersey’s Action Park.

Images and Echoes

Action Park

35 - Street Hawk, TV Series 1985

First there was Knight Rider, then there was Airwolf, but then came STREET HAWK! Airing for 13 episodes on ABC in 1985, the series showed us what it would be like to ride a motorcycle at 300 mph and stop on a dime. Melinda and Aaron give you the backstory of the show’s production, and walk you through the extra-long Pilot episode, so even if you’ve never see it, you can say you have experienced: Street Hawk!