For most of us one of the best parts of Christmas is watching our favorite holiday movies over and over (and over) again. As ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’ turns 30 this year on December 1st, CONTINUE READING…
If you were a kid in 1985 and lived near Spartanburg, SC, the excitement of the holiday season had to be intense! While flipping through Google’s Newspaper Archive recently, I happened to notice that “The CONTINUE READING…
One of the staple toy lines of the ’80s was Coleco’s Cabbage Patch Kids line. Every girl I knew as a kid had at least one Cabbage Patch Kid. I had a few, including an CONTINUE READING…
The Lead: Christmas Parades Welcome back to another Retro Ramblings Weekly. I had to take last week off as I was knee-deep in chores getting ready for the Thanksgiving feast. But I’m back this week CONTINUE READING…
The Marvel Holiday Special kicks of the final month of our 30th Anniversary year for comic book ads. The Marvel Holiday Special is an anthology of sorts. Eight different stories each with a different hero CONTINUE READING…
When I interviewed the late Deon Estus (former Wham! bassist), I asked him about 1984’s holiday single “Last Christmas.” His response was, “Every artist has to do a Christmas song. It is one of my favorites to this CONTINUE READING…
Title role notwithstanding, Santa was primarily a supporting character in 1985’s holiday family feature Santa Claus. Dudley Moore got top billing as an elf named Patch, with John Lithgow taking the role of antagonist B.Z. Saint CONTINUE READING…
I want to share a story from my childhood about a Christmas unlike any other I had known before it. It was a Christmas that changed my outlook on the holiday, and as you’ll read, CONTINUE READING…
You have to wonder whether the programmers at Williams Electronics didn’t have a bit of a sadistic streak in them. It’s one thing to pit best friends against one another—Gun Fight, Warlords, and others had already taken CONTINUE READING…
Gaming has come an extremely long way since its humble beginnings. When thinking of the early days, arcade games were what helped shape the industry and made the activity vastly popular with players worldwide. The CONTINUE READING…
Picture James Bond, slightly geekier and with a winged condor suit. Got it? Then you’re ready for Condorman, a goofy action/comedy from Disney, starring the world’s most unlikely superheroic secret agent. Comic book writer/artist Woody Wilkins CONTINUE READING…
White-collar crime is one of the most polarising trends in pop culture in recent years, with films like The Wolf of Wall Street drawing popularity and controversy in equal measures for the way they depict fraudulent criminals. CONTINUE READING…
Perhaps one of the darkest days in soft drink history occurred on April 23, 1985, when a true American icon was altered beyond all recognition. Yes, this is the day that Coca-cola announced to the CONTINUE READING…
There were so many great things that made the ’90s memorable and fun to grow up in. But since there were so many memorable things, we took them for granted, and rarely “stopped to smell CONTINUE READING…
Believe it or not, Memorial Day has already come and gone. So, what better way to celebrate The Retro Network’s Summer Camp 2022 than with a story about ice cream? After all, who doesn’t love CONTINUE READING…
Through the many years of television, there have been thousands of TV shows created. Usually, only the cream of the crop last for multiple seasons and go on to live vividly in the memories of CONTINUE READING…
I am a certified child of the ’80s. I’m in that sweet spot just between Gen X and Millennial, so I mainly observed the more fun parts of the decade from the sidelines. I CONTINUE READING…
Like everyone else in the late ’90s, I was hooked on professional wrestling. I had been a fan going back to 1989 or ’90 when I was 5 years old and had found WCW on CONTINUE READING…
Take a trip back to 1990 when Dick Tracy ruled the movie theaters, and the Dick Tracy toy line tried to rule the store shelves. CONTINUE READING…
Way back in 1984, the World Wrestling Federation put on a three-hour show in their home arena, Madison Square Garden. The live event featured a battle royal plus all three men’s titles were defended. The CONTINUE READING…
Oh the calamities…Disasters from the exhilarating highs of airborne disaster movies to the dramatic sea depths and everything in between. In those halcyon years of the 1970s, those masters – and mistresses – of disaster CONTINUE READING…
Count Duckula was a centuries-old vampire who also happened to be a duck. While trying to revive him, the Count’s assistant Igor accidentally injected him with ketchup instead of blood. This mishap resulted in the CONTINUE READING…
Woe to the unlucky Sorry! player, and the torrent of conflicting advice he hears from the little animated angel and devil that perch on either shoulder. Angel: “Show some sportsmanship! Prove you know the fine CONTINUE READING…
Few phrases strike more fear in the hearts of parents than, “Can I have a puppy/kitty/bunny/parakeet/lizard?” (for the record, those are separate pet options, not one horrible, genetically-engineered super pet). And with good reason. Mom CONTINUE READING…
It wasn’t easy patrolling the rocky terrain of Moon Patrol, but if it was any consolation, they gave you a really cool car. The purple, six-wheeled, high-jumping, laser-blasting vehicle at the center of Moon Patrol was a dream CONTINUE READING…
While yuppies raced up Wall Street in designer sneakers and powersuits, the surfing subculture glorified the relaxed nature of fun in the sun. Panama Jack had been making sun-care products for their native Florida since CONTINUE READING…
Astronaut John Blackstar was sucked through a black hole and awakened to find himself stranded on the planet Sagar. Since he had never heard of this planet, John figured he would never see earth again CONTINUE READING…
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