Geekville Radio's Nostalgia Trip Geekville Radio

Today marks the 45th Anniversary of The Dukes Of Hazzard first airing on CBS. Many Gen-Xers have fond memories of gathering around the TV on Friday nights. To celebrate, we have this encore presentation of the first-ever episode of Nostalgia Trip which talks all things Dukes. All of the show notes can be found here, including a map of Georgia that would show where Hazzard County would be if it existed.

Today’s edition of Nostalgia Trip is an encore presentation of a 2020 segment from our horror-themed podcast Examining The Dead. Dan “The Dragon” Wilson of Seeking Human Victims podcast joins Seth and Crazy Train to talk Christmas-themed horror films. The genre might be bigger than you think.















Here are the list of movies mentioned throughout the episode







Silent Night, Deadly Night 1984







Multiple adaptations of A Christmas Carol









* Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost – A silent film from1901







* Mickey’s Christmas Carol – 1983 Disney animated TV version







* A Christmas Carol – Live action TV movie starring George C Scott







* A Muppet Christmas Carol







* An America Christmas Carol – 1979 TV version starring Henry Winkler







* Scrooged – A modernized comedic version starring Bill Murray







* Scrooge – 1970 movie musical









Christmas Holiday 1944







Curse of the Cat People – 1944







Whoever Slew Andy Roo 1972







Tales From the Crypt – 1972 anthology film by Amicus Productions

ROLL OUT for National Podcast Post Month Day 16! We travel back to the classic year 1984 when Seth, Uncle Greg, and special guest Jarret “Prime” Aubry discuss the Transformers phenomenon.















0:15 – 1984







Transformers hit the American market in the fall of 1984 in an unprecedented trifecta of toys, comics, and cartoons. While GoBots may have appeared first, Transformers quickly established themselves as the superior brand.







3:30 – Early Memories







Seth grew up in the Chicago suburbs, while Greg lived in Pittsburgh, and Jarret dwelled in Canada. However, all their memories are much the same when it comes to first toys and watching the cartoon after school.







7:30 – First Transformers







Seth: Windcharger







Jarret: Ratchet







Greg: Bombshell and Astrotrain







13:00 – Favorite Autobot and Decepticon







Seth: Jazz and Soundwave







Greg: Grimlock and Shockwave







Jarret: Optimus Prime/Omega Supreme/Metroplex and Starscream







23:30 – Generation 2







Other than Megatron being a tank, most of the toys were the same







27:30 – Beast Wars







The first major rebirth was in the 1990s with Beast Wars. This was also different in that it had a COMPETENT Megatron who had plans that actually worked from time to time.







30:00 – The Movie Soundtrack







Vince DiCola did the music for Transformers: The Movie as well as Rocky IV. Lion, who did the movie theme, also did a song for Friday The 13th Part IV.







33:30 – Later Comics and Animated Series







Transformers: Animated, Energon, Prime, and The Unicron Trilogy, all have their ups and downs.







40:25 – Bayformers







At this time, the Michael Bay Transformers movies were ruling the box office and trampling of canon.

Day 2 of National Podcast Post Month (NaPodPoMo for short) brings the inaugural inductee into our Lesser Known Geek Hall Of Fame, THE SHADOW!







“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?”







That famous line opened many episodes of the famed radio series. You may have heard of The Shadow, but do you know how influential the character really is? Seth and Crazy Train dive into the character who is arguably the first-ever superhero!















Radio Show Origins







The earliest incarnation of The Shadow was on the radio airwaves in 1930, where he would introduce radio dramas based on issues of Street & Smith’s Detective Story Magazine. This was of course before television, where radio was the norm for advertising and entertainment. Thus, The Detective Story Hour would be used as a vehicle to promote issues of  The Shadow himself was not a character, but a host. Similar in vein to Rod Serling or The Crypt Keeper.







The character became so popular that local newsstands would get requests for Shadow magazines. Street & Smith, realizing they had a hit on their hands, soon began publishing issues with The Shadow as the protagonist. This makes The Shadow unique, as most characters start in print before moving to media. Whereas The Shadow began in media before debuting in print.







The First Powered Hero







Another historical significance is The Shadow’s hypnosis ability, making him the first hero character with powers. Also, given the characters background, he helped forge the template by which many “street level” heroes were created with.







Not surprisingly, The Detective Story Hour became adventure episodes for The Shadow.  The first two years, The Shadow was voiced by none other than up and coming actor Orson Welles. Over the next two decades, the character was voiced by other actors.







Throughout the years, The Shadow had multiple comic book publications, varying from Archie to DC Comics. The latter even had a team up between Shadow and Batman.







1994 Feature Film







In 1994, Universal Pictures attempted to revive The Shadow into a film franchise. While the movie failed at the box office, it did gain a measure of following in home release.







Currently, The Shadow is published by Dynamite Comics. And in the movie world, Sam Raimi has expressed interest in his own Shadow film over the years.







Fortunately for the old school fan, many of the classic radio dramas have been preserved on the internet. Also, several fansites exist, ensuring future generations will have the opportunity to enjoy The Shadow.







As discussed in the show, Crazy Train has his a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/crazytrain_jb/playlist/2i1ULzetsSi4mRlHV2qgBt?

Halloween month is here so it is once again time for our annual Halloween sampler. Last year we spotlighted The Munsters. This year, we look at the other mid-60s monster family sitcom, The Addams Family, which ran on ABC for two seasons from 1964-1966.















2:30 – Charles Addams comic strips







The characters that became The Addams Family as drawn by Charles Addams







The basis for the TV show was a series of comic strip panels created and drawn by Charles Addams. Contrary to popular belief, the strip was not called The Addams Family, nor were any of the characters even named. Not only that, the vast majority of Addam’s cartoons didn’t even have the characters in them.







5:30 – TV Show







While there have been many versions in various media over the years, the classic TV show is probably still the most identifiable one. It ran on ABC from 1964 to 1966, the same years as CBS’s sitcom The Munsters. In fact, The Munsters was created in response to The Addams Family.







One thing the two families have in common is they are both loving families who always try to be friendly with others. likewise, they seem oblivious as to why people react with fear or confusion around them. However, unlike the Munster family, the Addams aren’t monsters. They are a family that happens to have bizarre tastes and an appreciation for dark macabre things.







Television producer David Levy approached Addams about adapting some of his creations into a TV show. Addams was given the freedom of naming the characters and fleshing out their personalities. While he was not credited with writing particular episodes, he was very involved with the creative process. Including many of the gags and quirky scenes that the show became famous for.







13:30 – The Characters







Morticia Addams (Carolyn Jones) – The mother in the family and arguably the most recognizable character of the show. Much like the similar but unrelated character Vampira, Morticia has jet black hair and wears a black dress. Her maiden name is Frump







Gomez Addams (John Astin) – Gomez is Morticia’s husband and the father of their children. He often wears pin-striped suits and smokes cigars. One of Gomez’s favorite hobbies is building model train sets simply so he can blow them up with dynamite.







Pugsley Addams (Ken Weatherwax) – The elder of the two children who occasionally engage in secular activities. These activities would seem normal to the average person, so naturally, the family gets concerned whenever this happens.







Wednesday Addams (Lisa Loring) – The younger of the two children. Wednesday is good-hearted, despite her interest in things like spiders and reptiles. She often plays a much bigger role in future incarnations.







Lurch (Ted Cassidy) – Lurch is the giant but faithful butler. He usually speaks in phrases or short sentences. Cassidy’s 6’9″ frame made it easy ...

The latest Godzilla movie, Godzilla vs. Kong, is getting released this week. Here is a 2013 recording where Seth and Uncle Greg talk about the history of Godzilla films from the original 1954 Gojira to 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars.