That's it then. Season done. 2021 done. I think we were hoping to be going out on slightly more of a high in this episode. Geek Towers is a thing, our new format is great, we've got our heads around the new tech. We have battled and emerged victorious. Surely we should celebrate? 2022 looks like it could hold a real re-surgence for the 80s Kids, and indeed it could, but there will be some shocking twists and turns in the evolution of the 80s Kids to make this happen. For now, Leo and Ian turn their own view in a different direction. They've been around the "new content" blocks enough times to understand that when they do something new for the folks at home then it has to stick within some fairly rigid existing rules. But is it time to bend some of those rules to breaking point? Very probably. It's going to be an interesting new year people. This week's episode features bedding music Continuum Filter by Data Rebel . The track is licensed under a creative commons non-commercial attribution-based licence. Follow the link for more information.…

I mean thie one's a no-brainer, surely? The streaming juggernaut that is Disney+ rumbled onto instant global domination in March 2020 and since then it has wound it's content production up to deliver a series of high-profile body blows to the comperition in the form of desirable franchise goodies dripping with loving care and high production values. The pace doesn't seem to be dropping, no, indeed, it's picking up. Everyone should be worried. Actually the two parties who should be worried in particular are the UK's Now TV who's content delivery potential has been stripped back severely losing primary delivery of Disney and Fox content libraries and, of course, Netflix who are now trying to carve out a brand that offers counter-programming to Disney's slate of super-popular franchise fare and edgy drama (on Hulu in the States and inside the Starz section of D+ elsewhare). We haven't forgotten Prime Instant Video but Amazon delivers content as an after thought, not as a primary goal, so it seems. Of all these, then, Netflix seems like the one that's in most trouble, Now TV is just an offshoot of a satellite TV provider, Amazon couldn'r really care less but Netflix, it has to fight for it's very identity and it can't just be a constant diet of Squid Game, can it? This week's episode features an excerpt of Lo-Moments by Skipless and bedding music Moon Forest (threads version) by 4T Thieves . Both are licensed under a creative commons non-commercial attribution-based licence. Follow links for more information.…

It's way too early for new year's resolutions. That's a fact. But it is in no way too early for home entertainment resolutions, specifically 480p, 576p, 1080p and 4K. This week's show is all about the fact that we find ourselves in a world where home entertainment is available in a number of different flavours, DVD, Blu-Ray and UHD for physical, and then the digital counterparts. Marketing will tell you that you always want the 4K version of everything, after it got done telling you DVD was over and everything had to be in Blu-Ray 1080p This week the Kids from the 80s assert that Just Like Heaven and the Lego Movie are never going to be better than they are at 576p (which is great but more definition does nothing to improve matters), Big Trouble In Little China and 12 Monkeys definitely look better at 1080p and 4K, well that seems to be a gimmick for Denis Villeneuve movies. Let's not even hunker down and consider how the definition of what even is 1080p varies wildly between a lovingly crafted prestige Blu-Ray and a cheeky Netflix stream, actually no, let's for a second. It's techie week on the 80s Kids and things have never been clearer, or sharper. This week's episode features an excerpt of Speak Easy by DarkSunn and bedding music Lost in dam central vs Exist by Planet Boelex vs Data Rebel . Both are licensed under a creative commons non-commercial attribution-based licence. Follow links for more information.…

Sometimes, from the ashes of disaster rises a Phoenix of Wonder... Then, sometimes we lose the recording of an entire show and have to come up with something to re-cover the same ground and then Leo gets over-excited and goes off on a tangent. Welcome to Choose Your Own 2013 Within this show those sunny days of the early teenies have been re-formed into a piece of interactive fiction and Ian picks his way carefully through the tricks and traps, all the while trying to work out what films have been referenced along the way. Welcome to 2013 the Adventure Game. This week's episode features an excerpt of The Andromeda Strain by 2 Bone Giants and bedding music Pherek kyson by MigloJE . Both are licensed under a creative commons non-commercial attribution-based licence. Follow links for more information.…

And Lo, the circle was complete. The Kids from the 80s form an ourobouros this year as they consider the top 10 movies from the year 2013, among other things that drift into our field of view. We are blessed, on the one hand, by the presence of Mr Mike Nudd this week, who is on hand to offer his opinions on that all important 2013 top 10. As we are blessed, however, so are we also cursed upon the other hand for we only had to strong arm a guest appearance because we actually recorded the whole show once and then, like idiots, failed to download the recording in time. Even so, we manage to give the Top 10 of 2013 a thorough kicking in this episode, from Hunger Games to Minion filled animations to Superhero movies galore, we run down the hit parade and marvel that Fast and the Furious 6 was in even as we marvel that Star Trek Into Khanness was out. There's not a lot to surprise here and still fewer giant mechs lamping seven bells out of kaiju and, honestly, that still smarts to this day. This week's episode features an excerpt of Innereyefull - Back Then and bedding music XHD by Aydio . Both are licensed under a creative commons non-commercial attribution-based licence. Follow links for more information.…

Following on from last week's Autopsy on all things 2020 we turn to the obvious question. If all the cinemas were shut what did your average cinephile do for entertainment whilst locked up in their homes for several months waiting for an end to the global pandemic? In Ian's case the answer is "not watch much on telly". In Leo's case the answer is: watch a bunch of stuff that was hurled in our general direction as a way of keeping us distracted as the world collapsed outside the window. So, different approaches, very different. But the underlying question is what did all the streaming services actually do with this literally captive audience? What was strewn before us to while away the long hours? How did the movers and shakers entice the idle and bored into their gardens of content? It may not surprise you to learn that the answer is... virtually nothing. As you shall discover, not one of these companies really had the muscle to throw out something seriously arresting, compelling and noteworthy during this time. I guess you just don't have to work as hard when you've got no competition. Oh, well, sigh... best wait on for the cinemas to opern up again. This week's episode features an excerpt of Ego Trippin' by Lo-Fi Scientists and bedding music Mystical Forces by Citizen Crane . Both are licensed under a creative commons non-commercial attribution-based licence. Follow links for more information.…

AUDIO QUALITY WARNING: We were using a platform, since abandoned for precisely this and other technical niggles, that, unfortunately, made Ian sound like he was addressing us from the body of a large an empty church (I, Leo, am assuming it was a technical error and not something I need to stage an intervention for). So, sorry about that folks. Honestly, if we'd have screwed up like this on a topic show we probably would have re-recorded. But the autopsy relies on a certain amount of live reaction from the Ian, so we have had to issue as is. We have totally fixed this audio issue in all the rest of the shows in this season. Now, on to the show. 2020, that was a bit of a shock, wasn't it. We recorded a prediction show in Fedbruary and by April it was all moot. But that is not the end of the story. All the films we talked about, slated for release, existed. They had been filmed, they were ready to go. Marvel's Black Widow wasn't just going to disappear into the infinite, it was going to see the light of day at some point. Similarly DC's Wonder Woman. Similarly Fast & Furious 9 and so to the autopsy. We examine the fate of those movies which we predicted for in Feb 2020, a different world. Have the films been released? Where were they released? How much money did they pull in when they did get released? And obviously, what does all of that mean for the future of cinema in our mixed up, disease-riddled world of today? We don't have answers but suffice to say we're retiring the predictions format for a bit. This week's episode features an excerpt of Swag Rag by Riff Kitten and bedding music Everybody Has Another Life by Fodor Balazs . Both are licensed under a creative commons non-commercial attribution-based licence. Follow links for more information.…

Emerging once more, blinking into the daylight you'd think these things would get easier for the kids from the 80s, but that isn't the case in reality. Fatigued and battered from the global lockdown Leo and Ian have emerged with vastly different takes on the whole experience. Leo, for example, has decided to put classic Revenge shows in a rotator and fire up a 24/7 internet radio station. Ian, has been playing video games and trying not to think about it all too much. It wouldn't have surprised us if the pandemic had finally killed the cast. After all, it has effectively killed, or at least put on brakes, for our most exciting format the summer review and follow up. This season we're going to have to reflect on this stuff before we can go forward into the future. There will be reflection on the season ahead, a quick precis of what's to come, some technical niggles and the unfortunate technical fall out that one of us or other might end up sounding like the booming voice of good in the first two episodes before we sort it all out. So, just an average day for the kids, then? Yeah, pretty much.…

Way back in the dim and distant days of Summer 2020 the 80s Kids decided to maximise their use of lockdown by recording this one 50 minute metasode and then not editing it until lockdown restrictions were largely lifted. You'd have thought that they could use their time with everyone holed up indoors to work on their community building or whatnot, but no, they just holed up with video games and Netflix and waited for everyone to be too busy to require an excess of free entertainment again. So, what's even in the Hotel for Elephants? Well, let's just say the number of guests it had at the time of recording has only grown. There's a lot of big talk in here about backing away from the cast and using our time more productively. And did we do any of it? Well, not in any way like we say we're planning to in the cast, that's for sure. So, really, this is just a moment captured, of where our heads were at after a couple of months of lockdown, when we dreamed medium-sized and ended up achieving little of what we set out to do for many and various reasons but mostly because remote collaboration is pretty hard. This episode uses an excerpt of the Anchor Hill's immense world beat banger "Shake Off the Shackles". The full track can be downloaded here .…

The title of the show takes a cheap shot at the non-appearance of Bond this April. He's self-isolating from audiences for seven months with a case of Crowdplease Failure Virus (COFAIL-007). The reason for this extensive barrage of text punnage is that when we recorded the show on Feb 15th we thought Bond was a lot of things, tired, over-the-hill, on his last legs but a coward? No, sir, not one of them. Oh, how times have changed. Bond requesting a covert extraction aside the prophecy mill is in full swing as our jaunty adventurers pilot a course from damp aliens, via Jungle Rocks, through the blancmange swamp littered with recently Disney-fied Fox back-catalogue items. Now with added budgetary estimates, will their speculation on how much things cost (or knowledge of where applicable) help or hinder their quest to pick 2020's box office winners and notable losers? It's a tricky year, Marvel are taking a year off, Disney are trying to wrong-foot the oppostion by littering the battlefield with items they found in a lock-up garage formerly owned by Fox. Only one thing's for certain, Fast & Furious 9 is bound to cash in... after that, well, you'd need to be able to predict the future... This episode uses an excerpt of the Anchor Hill's unreasonably groovy "Funk Cabbage". The full track can be downloaded here .…

In the beginning Sony brought forth the first Spider-man, Raimi's Spider-man, and, despite being a little bit creepy, generally, he too was deemed to be good. Sony returned to the Spider-man well twice more, but on the third occasion the well of lucre was poisoned with unnecessary Venom, and the audience did feel that Spider-man 3 was bloated, even the Sandman and Hobgoblin could not save the movie from being underwhelming in the extreme. A very short time following Spider-man 3 Sony attempted to refresh the well. "Lo!" they said unto the audience. "Look thou upon new Spider-man, for he is Amazing!" And the audience did look upon the tall and handsome face of new Spider-man and did say: "Well, maybe not Amazing, but Adequate, definitely." And Sony spake thus: "We cannot call a movie franchise 'The Adequate Spider-man', so we will stick with Amazing." And Sony returned again to the well of lucre, but they did see in the next land that Marvel's well of lucre brought forth the wonders of yon "Cinematic Universe" and they were sore with envy. So when the Adequate... sorry, Amazing Spider-man 2 came forth from Sony's well of lucre it was tainted with envy and mutated by the worn stubs of a failed "Cinematic Universe". Thus did Sony come to Marvel and propose a deal. They offered to return Spider-man (who was just on indefinite loan from Marvel) on a limited basis if they would bless the Spider-man with the water of the "Cinematic Universe". And Marvel did work out the deal with Sony, and they plunged a newly minted Spider-man into a Civil War between the mid-ranking officer of the Americas and the man forged of Iron. The audience did see it and were now Amazed. And Sony and Marvel did turn to the audience and spake thus: "No, this Spider-man is NOT Amazing, he is just Spider-man" and the audience did say: "Well, okay, if you're sure." And Spider-man did have his own movie in Marvel's "Cinematic Universe" which they did call "Homecoming" and Sony gritted their teeth, for the well of lucre did flow. And Spider-man partook in the Infinity War and survived the Endgame of those who Avenge, finally he found himself "Far From Home" and the well of lucre was bountiful for both Marvel and Sony. But Sony, once more overconfident and partaking of the iffy Venom, did snatch back the Spider-man. Marvel offered unto Sony a couple of possible deals but Sony declared them to be not good enough. The fandom saw this sundering of the "Cinematic Universe" and there was wailing, and gnashing of teeth. But Sony did not immediately back down. They spoke to the people and said: "Did we not deliver an averagely good Venom movie? And did we not also deliver unto thee 'Into The Spiderverse' which was much better than anyone expected?" And the people did accept this, but they did not wholly believe Sony could pull this off and they were sore afraid that the next Spider-man movie would be a big pile of poo. Lo! Marvel did offer another bag of money unto Sony, and they also passed secrets amongst themselves. And suddenly Spider-man was back in the "Cinematic Universe" and some people were even a bit disappointed because they had wanted to see what Sony would do. The stout ones, those Kids from the 80s watched upon all of this and shook their ancient heads. "Spider-man should literally be a license to print money," spake Ian. "I know." spake Leo. "People trivialise genre, but it is a lot harder and more complicated than it looks." And Martin Scorsese said nothing further.…

When this episode was just a glint in the eye of the 80s kids we were aware that the "Joker" movie existed and that there was some "buzz" associated with the property. When we recorded the episode Joker was still a couple of months from general release. So, that will explain why we miss the opportunity of discussing how irrelevant Batman has become to Batman related properties. After the Dark Knight rose we, of course, got Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Irrelevance, a guest spot in Suicide Squad, and then, inexorably we went towards "Justice League". Ben Affleck got the filthy end of that particular stick and no mistake whatsoever. Suicide Squad, in fact, represents the last time to date that a movie has actively tried to pull eyeballs by mentioning the presence of one caped crusader. Of course, there's the Lego Batman movie... but does that really help. Add into the mix the presence of a non-verbal Bats in Teen Titans Go To The Movies and the proud absence of bat iconography emblazoned upon the face of popular TV epic Gotham and a pattern begins to emerge. You thought, no doubt, that Batman was waiting in the shadows, ready to strike at any time. Now you're beginning to suspect that those shadows are bat free and you're locked up all alone with the cowled one's gallery of sociopathic opposition. Who will save you? The *0s Kids? Nah, mate, we're just here to discuss matters and confirm that you, like Batman, are probably screwed. This episode uses an excerpt of Chant Of Night Blades by Kai Engel…

The idea of the "Part 2" year shows, in what is still referred to as the "new format" even though we've been rocking it for two years and three seasons, is to look at key movies in that year and say: "Hey, there was some definite 80s influence there". And in 2012 we have a couple of proud examples of how that 80s mood was embraced and reflected upon 22 years after the 80s closed its doors and slung us all into the neon-lit, over-excited street carnival of the 90s. And once we've mopped the rose-tinted tears of joy from our eyes over fascist future cops and ironic cabin zombies we can begin to cry a different way, because we then get to talk about Looper. Don't misunderstand, we know that many people really love Looper and think it's clever and amazing. Leo and Ian are not two of those people. Indeed the glee with which Ian embraces the idea of working over a Rian Johnson movie is, maybe, a little unseemly. As his steel-toe capped commentary heaps in on the mishy-mashy time travel drivel you can hear him repeatedly whispering: "This is for Luke, you barstool." Or something like that. Leo has less skin in that game but still, has to agree, a master storyteller Mr. Johnson ain't, and having now sat through the Levitt-Willis funtime shotgun hour (and a half) twice in order to confirm exactly how much he disliked it he's not letting it go this time. Anyway, the question may occur, why watch Looper and talk about it if you don't like it. Well, it where's it's wannabe Philip K Dick creds like some kind of badge of honour, when really it just reminds you how good Blade Runner etc. really were in comparison. Loops? Where we're going we don't like loops. Let us count the ways. This episode uses an excerpt of Electrodomestico by The Coconut Monkeyrocket…

There are two ways to look at the Top 10 movies of 2012 for franchise fans there was a total buffet of above-par iterations of their absolute faves. The first big-screen MCU crossover event dominated, of course, but then the Anniversary Bond was snapping at its heels with the Dark Knight rising to put in a creditable third helping before the DCCU well... you know. Then there's the rest of the list... The Hobbit, lumpy and grumpy and overstuffed. Ice Age and Madagascar for the kids, isn't that tantamount to neglect? The Twilight franchise delighted millions around the world, by ending. Spider-man was maybe just a touch too Amazing. There were 3 Men In Black, although two of them were the same and there was some timey-wimey stuff and well, then everyone fell asleep, by themselves, not because of some weird flashlight. Although, I have to say I still wonder if MiB3 was just a hallucination brought on by a gas leak. Nestled in amongst this volley of re-boots, crossovers, sequels, warmed-over-bull-doody and completely unnecessary and unwanted disappointments was the upstart Hunger Games franchise opener. It was a time when many people could legitimately say they wanted to rock up to a movie about kids given weapons and told to jolly well murder one another and still say "What the hell's that" when you offer to put on Battle Royale. 2012, with a few notable exceptions, was a bit of a hot mess at the top end, but, at the same time, it was a glorious year for cinema. No wonder people were too confused to make Dredd the box office success it should have been. More on which next week... This episode uses an excerpt of Raindrops by Predator Technique…

We're unsure which of the multiple dismal Netflix Original SF movies pushed this button, but their roster of misfires definitely made the penny drop. The outburst goes something along the lines of: "Oh come on! What are they even doing, this isn't proper Science Fiction like The Matrix, or 2001, what are they trying to achieve?". Then, of course, you think: "Mind you, 2001 is a bit... slow. But The Matrix? Ah, there's the stuff. Good old Matrix. Sequels drifted a bit of course, but, still, The Matrix. And Predestination. That's a good one, although time travel... isn't that technically more a sort of philosophical fantasy?" That's where it starts to unravel, Pi? Mathematical fantasy. Cube? Kafka-esque social commentary. Primer? More time-travel whimsy. What movie is *really* pure science fiction. Of course, in both The Matrix and 2001 we have AI and we don't really know how that would work, but we have more of an idea than time-travel. How does paradox work? No one knows, and no-one in our lifetime is ever likely to know. Eventually, you have to entertain the possibility that SF and film will never have the same happy relationship as, say, spy thrillers and film, or romance and film, or high fantasy and film, or, of course, superheroes and film. The fact is Science Fiction is like an ingredient to a story in some other genre rather than a happy genre by itself. Core SF texts don't really care about character as much as they do ideas, and film needs characters in order to live and breathe. If you can have a spoiler for a discussion then watch out, because we come up with precisely zero answers for this proposition but we do give it a bit of a kicking. Whether we come back to the topic is down to whether anyone cares to opine whether we're "Wrong on the Internet" about this one. Time will tell, but SF is never going to be happy at the movies. Change our minds. This episode uses excerpts of User Friendly by Lee Rosevere…