TechnoRetro Dads

Jovial Jay Shepard fills in for shazbazzar as he and JediShua look back at the 1985 Chevy Chase comedy, Fletch. Plus, Paul Simon’s Graceland and The Secret of Monkey Island on TechnoRetro Dads

American Top 40’s Top Ten from the Week of 21 May 1980

Where would we be without Mom? Continue celebrating Mother's Day with Arcade Moms and Movie Mothers.

May the 4th Be with You. Forty years ago, the world anxiously awaited the sequel to George Lucas’s space-age fairy tale Star Wars. Would this much anticipated sequel live up to the blockbuster standard of the original? Could a sequel ever be as good as the “lightning-in-a-bottle” zeitgeist from 1977? In hindsight, these questions of critics (and even some fans) were no cause for concern, since many fans now consider The Empire Strikes Back their favorite episode in the Skywalker Saga.

Save the future today by listening to TechnoRetro Dads! Since the past has a significant impact on the future, every decision, every action, and every bowl of cereal most certainly affects what will happen tomorrow and the next day. Thankfully, the TechnoRetro Dads have worked tirelessly for seven years to ensure the future is filled with the best of the past, saving our world from all manners of potential dystopias.

Spring has sprung with flowers blooming in the abundant sunshine as temperatures rise with a cool breeze blowing in the wind — and Spring Break is in full force! JediShua and shazbazzar invite you to come down to the basement for some fun in your time off by eating cereal while streaming classic cartoons (some might cost a few bucks), playing online games (many of them are free), and watching some great ‘80s movies (whatever your mood).

In the mid-80s, Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories was a weekly treat for fans of the far-out and freaky with its John Williams’ theme and oddball anthology style. Every Monday night brought another mini-movie as science fiction crossed over with comedy, horror, drama, or fantasy. Now that it’s back on AppleTV+, shazbazzar and JediShua renew their fervor for the series as the “third season” picks up where we left off more than thirty years ago.

Joe Banks is stuck in the rat race and it’s got him feeling blue, no, more like an ashen gray. He needs a reason to live instead of just surviving, and a terminal condition ironically saves him from continuing along the dull and drab course of his life. Check out Joe Versus the Volcano from 1990. You will not be sorry.

The Hunt for Red October begins in March -- when Leprechauns put their gold in cereal boxes for National Cereal Day. So chill your bowl and turn on the first Tom Clancy novel adapted for a feature length episode as we remember the Cold War just in time for a spring thaw.

TechnoRetro Dads plot the takeover of Retro Day this Thursday with classic cartoons, mix tapes for car tunes, arcade games for $5, and Kenner Star Wars figures. It's lengthy, but fun.

JediShua and shazbazzar tune in to the cartoon bands of the '60s, '70s, and '80s for pop culture music on animated television.

JediShua and shazbazzar remember Super Mario Bros. 3 and The Wizard (the movie that "introduced" the game to the United States). PLUS: Romantic Scenes from Movies We Love!

Between commercials on daytime television in the ‘70s and ‘80s, kids on summer vacation were entertained by the antics of common everyday people trying to strike it rich (or at least win some prizes) on the various game shows that were popular in the days of very few channels.

College football season is over.  Winter hasn't really gotten cranked up.  What can we do with all this free time in our lives?  Take a trip to the local arcade or gather some friends to play a rousing game of Risk.

Fill up your fun tank with audio fuel for your drive with shazbazzar and JediShua as they rev their engines with car jokes, tune in to news on the radio, eat their Frosted Flakes from their travel bowls, and stop at the theater for a private screening of Herbie Goes Bananas and a preview of The Empire Strikes Back on TechnoRetro Dads.