For last few years there’s been a podcast out on the airways celebrating all forms of retro from cartoons, movies, toys, models, computer games and cereal. Yes, you heard me right, cereal! These guys love their cereal, and wait to you hear the great cereal song intro, “I love my cereal, my cereal, morning, noon and night!” It’s catchy and will grow on you.
I’m a listener and fan myself of this great show, so I’m honoured to have the hosts of the show to chat with us.
Fantha Tracks: Welcome to the show.
JediShua: Thanks so much for the invitation. We love sharing all the great stuff we grew up with in the 70’s and 80’s! It was such a great time to be a kid!
shazbazzar: The best time to be a kid. Of course, I’m biased. Talking about the things we loved on TV, at the movies, the toys, games, and of course cereal really takes me back to those bright and sunny days of our youth. Thanks for taking time to talk to us!
FT: Let’s start with how did you two meet?
JediShua: Back in 2007, we were looking for an outlet for our Star Wars fandom and happened to come across a podcast called the ForceCast. They had a forum on the Rebelscum website. In between shows the listeners would get together in these forums for discussions about Star Wars, share jokes, conduct our own trivia games, and tons of other stuff! It was like getting together with close friends that shared a common interest. Except that these friends were a variety of people, from all over the world! Being social on the internet was very different back then. It was more personal and more positive.
shazbazzar: There were a lot of people on the forums, but a few were on every day. I started connecting some voices I had heard with the people I was interacting with on a daily basis and we just clicked. But we actually met in Dallas, Texas for FanDays 3 in 2009. Shua and I met face-to-face for the first time at Star Wars in Concert. Everyone I had met through the forums was exactly who they had portrayed themselves to be. Friendly geeks who were the same in real life as they portrayed themselves online. These friendships have continued for more than a decade. JediShua and I just happen to take it a step further and record some of our conversations (with sound effects and music, of course) for public consumption.
FT: The title Techno Retro Dads, says everything you are passionate about. Tell us the the podcast began.
JediShua: On a cold January day in 2013, I got a call from a friend that told me the hosts of the ForceCast were ending the show. I was really surprised and my brain started to contemplate what this meant for the group of friends that I had become a part of for all those years. I called shaz and we just talked about the future.
shazbazzar: I remember that day. Though it wasn’t cold where I was. I was working on the “shazbazzar spaceport” (reworking my storage shed to make it a toy room). That was also the day we discovered the RebelForce Radio page on Facebook. While I was relieved that Jason and Jimmy would continue Star Wars podcasting, I started thinking about the possibility of entering the realm of podcasting. I knew I couldn’t do it by myself.
JediShua: After a while, one of us made the suggestion that we should just start our own podcast so we had that outlet. But there are so many Star Wars podcasts out there that we felt maybe we shouldn’t just regulate it to one thing. Both of us have so many common interests, that it’s never hard to find something fun to talk about.
shazbazzar: We recorded a “test” podcast to check settings and discuss some possible topics. We realized then that we had no shortage of material to draw from for conversation. With no preparation, we rambled on for forty minutes or so and even entertained Mrs. Shua in the process (or maybe she was just being nice).
FT: So I have to ask, where does the love of cereal come from?
JediShua: One of the things that came up in our discussions on the show was Saturday Morning Cartoons. It didn’t take long to realize that one of the many things we both did as we grew up was eat a lot of cereal. That was part of the whole cartoon experience; sitting in the living room or kitchen, watching cartoons, and eating some kind of sugary cereal that we had begged our mom for.
shazbazzar: Lucky Charms was a staple of mine. I liked Count Chocula a lot, too. I ate lots of different cereals as a kid, but the sugary ones were my favorites. C-3POs and Batman cereal proved to be successful marketing tools for me, too. I ate it up! But a big part of the fun of cereal back then was the toys (prizes) inside the packages and the mail-aways that were sometimes part of the promotional efforts of cereal companies. I wonder if part of the reason that the generation that followed us doesn’t have the same love for cereal is the demise of the Saturday Morning Cartoons “event’ that gave way to cable networks playing cartoons all the time.
FT: Cartoons, especially Saturday morning ones are your favourites. Tell us some of the best.
JediShua: I think the best are the ones that made you feel happy when you watched them. The experience you had while you watched, determined how you feel when you revisit them today. So whenever I turn on the tv now and one of my retro cartoons pops up, it takes me back to that time as a kid. I loved a lot of the goofy Hanna Barbera ones like Wacky Racers, Grape Ape, Scooby Doo, The Jetsons…But I liked action ones too like Voltron, Transformers, Godzilla…
shazbazzar: Grape Ape! I loved that when I was little. He was one of my imaginary friends who would “protect” me from feeling small (being almost the youngest and by far the smallest kid in my neighborhood). But I liked The Smurfs, too, having been introduced to them first through the little rubber toys. When Space Ghost re-appeared in the early ‘80s on Space Stars with The Herculoids and new cartoons, Teen Force and Space Ace, I made that a regular part of my Saturday morning viewing.
FT: What do you miss about the old Saturday morning entertainment?
JediShua: In know this may seem weird, but I really like waiting for them throughout the week. That anticipation made them seem so special. You knew that you wouldn’t have to get up for school, you could take your time eating your cereal, and then you finally find out what bizarre super villain the Super Friends were going to be battling that week. It’s different now that any entertainment you want is served up to you anytime you want. There’s no surprise.
shazbazzar: Saturday mornings were an event — a reason to get up and get going on the one day each week when you didn’t have to get up and get ready to go to church or school. Plus it got me thinking about what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. I’d watch Smurfs and pull out my toys or after watching Space Stars, I would start setting up my Star Wars toys and get ready for friends to come over to play.
FT: Obviously eighties films are huge part of your love for retro. What films have you covered in the podcast?
JediShua: We’ve talked about so many over the years and we’ve barely scratched the surface! I really enjoyed last year when we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Star Wars by looking at movies that came out in 1977. It was such an epic year that has influenced an entire generation of creators. We looked at Smokey and the Bandit, Wizards, King Kong, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And of course we talk about our staples. Things like Back to the Future, The Last Starfighter, Flash Gordon… Ahhhh! There’s so many! I love it!
shazbazzar: Every week, we’ll get feedback about some movie from the ‘80s, and I think, “Have we talked about that?” I’m actually working on a list of movies we’ve covered over the years so I can know for sure. After nearly five years of TechnoRetro Dads, I’ve forgotten a lot of what we’ve covered. We started with Willow and followed that up with The Dark Crystal. We talked about The Princess Bride with Spencer Brinkerhoff in that first year, too, I think. There are so many movies from our childhood that still hold up today that I watch them more often than I watch more recent movies. It’s strange, thinking back on it, that we’ve never really given full shows to the Star Wars movies.
FT: Star Wars is a passion for both of you, tell us about when you first saw it.
JediShua: I was 6. It had been out for a while, but I don’t think I was even aware of that. My parents had gone to see it with some friends of theirs. I still remember playing in the front yard when they got home. My dad stepped out of the driver seat of the car with this great big smile on his face. He came over to see me and told me that he was going to take me to see this thing because he knew I’d love it. Little did he know that was the beginning of any gift budget he may have been planning for me, for the rest of my life.
shazbazzar: This is a point of controversy for me. I thought I had seen Star Wars in 1977 when I was four, but my older brother insists that I didn’t see it until spring of 1978 when I was five. Whichever it was, I saw Star Wars at the local drive-in with my family before I had seen any of the action figures (I was given my first Kenner figure, Chewbacca, in April of 1978). My brother, sister, and I sat on the hood of Dad’s car, taking it all in. I remember the gist of the movie, certainly, but some specific parts (the Cantina, the dejarik game, and the swing over the Death Star cavern) affixed themselves permanently in my mind.
FT: What characters do you love from George Lucas’ saga?
JediShua: I’ve always related to Luke. I think because of the great backstory they gave him in the Radio Drama. I could always picture myself as Luke. And I’ve always loved the droids! There’s so many great possibilities for droids! That probably comes from my love of the Droid Factory toy that I got for Christmas. I want to see more droids in the new movies. K-2SO was so wicked! They can always stroll around the galaxy with attitude. Recently, I’ve come to realize that Princess Leia has been an incredibly powerful influence in my life on the kind of women that I associate with. I have such a deep respect for women with a strong, independent personality, and I try to raise my daughters to be that strong as well.
shazbazzar: Han Solo was my favorite character from that first viewing, and undoubtedly affected my own character development throughout my lifetime. Everyone loved Yoda once The Empire Strikes Back came out, and I was no exception. Boba Fett became my favorite action figure. As I got older, in my thirties, I started associating with Obi-Wan. His devotion to upholding the principles of the Jedi tradition really connected with me, though I never saw myself as a lightsaber-wielding Jedi Knight. The Clone Wars really fleshed-out Anakin Skywalker as a hero, and I loved that expansion of the Star Wars universe. But it also gave us Ahsoka, who ranks up there with Han Solo for me. Then there’s Hondo Ohnaka, a fun-loving scoundrel who is very similar, in my mind, to Han Solo. Hondo gave me the inspiration I needed to finally get into cosplay. I don’t look like Han, I’m certainly not tall enough, but I could “hide” behind the face of Hondo and “become” a Star Wars character for the first time.
FT: What’s your most prized Star Wars collectible?
JediShua: Wow! How do I choose? I think right now it’s my drawing of Princess Leia that I illustrated and got signed by Carrie Fisher. I gave her a copy and she was just so kind and friendly towards me. I named my daughter after a Jedi. Does that count as a collectible? If so, then it’s my kids. Yeah, I probably should have said my kids…
shazbazzar: I’ll always have a special place in my heart for my classic Kenner figures (thanks to having a paper route for nine years of my childhood, I have nearly the whole 3 ¾” collection). But a lot of my favorite “collectibles” either aren’t mine or aren’t physically tangible. The memories of playing with those Kenner toys from five to fifteen (no, I didn’t quit playing with toys in fifth grade) are my Star Wars. Playing with my old toys and my kids’ toys with them are also prized “possessions” of mine. I really like my son’s “big” Millennium Falcon that came out in 2008. That thing is a masterpiece! But perhaps my favorite collectible belongs to my kids — and I don’t know how they’re going to “split” this thing up between them. It’s a sketch by Dave Filoni. He saw them at the Fan Days 3 Fan Breakfast in October 2009 and pulled them aside to his table to talk to them and sketch Rex and Ahsoka for them on the back of his “reserved” card from his table. The whole experience was great! We didn’t approach him, the creator of The Clone Wars approached shAbbeyzzar and shazzyLuke. It’s prominently featured on my Star Wars / TechnoRetro shelves in my office.
FT: Ready Player One has been a focus for quite a few of your shows. What do you think of the Star Wars references in it?
JediShua: The Star Wars references were cool. You can really see Ernest Cline’s passion for George’s movies. But what I really love is that the OASIS (the virtual reality world where most of the book took place) is pretty much just the inside of my head. It’s filled with memories of all the great stuff that I grew up with and that I share with my kids today. I’m pretty sure that if I was in the OASIS, I’d fly the Millenium Falcon though.
shazbazzar: Yep. I’d fly the Millennium Falcon, too. My all-time favorite vehicle. But in Ready Player One, you can see how much Ernie Cline is like the rest of us who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s. From brief bits of Star Wars lore present in Parzival’s thoughts to Art3mis’s contact card that looks like a Kenner Star Wars action figure in the bubble on its card (vehicle sold separately), it’s clear that Star Wars is always at the forefront of the author’s mind. I love the idea of Artoo spinning discs at Og’s birthday party! Sadly, I suspect that many, if not all, of the Star Wars references will be absent from the movie coming out at the end of the month.
FT: What Star Wars coverage can the readers find upcoming on your podcast?
JediShua: We really like talking about the origins of every aspect of Star Wars, whether it’s movies, cartoons, toys, music, Dixie Cups. (Oh, shaz, write that down! We need to talk Star Wars Dixie Cups!)
shazbazzar: How many times have we said that?
JediShua: And we have a segment called Star Wars Aftershocks. We discussed how Star Wars has influenced so much of the pop culture we love today.
shazbazzar: We really need to get back to the Star Wars Aftershocks. We want to keep Paul Bateman included in these shows, like the Battlestar Galactica episode from September 2017, but scheduling around time zones and hectic family lives has gotten in the way for the past few months.
However, with Solo coming out on the 41st anniversary of Star Wars and the amazing final episodes of Star Wars Rebels, we’ll certainly be talking Star Wars over the next few weeks.
FT: Where can folks find you online, and catch the show?
JediShua: You can find TechnoRetro Dads shows on iTunes and at RetroZap.com. Plus, we have tons of ‘Earbuds’ hanging out, joking, and discussing all kinds of stuff on Facebook and Twitter. It’s so much fun when everybody is interacting. Share and Enjoy!!