The Flopcast

It's our goofy Halloween show, but we're also celebrating the year 1986! Oprah Winfrey's talk show debuted (but who cares), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its first class (which totally should have included Air Supply), and Madonna invited you to make her "True Blue" music video. (Did you do it? She's probably still waiting.) Meanwhile this week, one friend of ours is participating in a 25-hour charity gaming event, while another friend is opening a new comic book store! (Our friends are crazy and that's how we like them.) And Kornflake has a 90s music-themed show for her monthly podcast recommendation. But it's Halloween, so we're also talking about lobster costumes, weird dentist pumpkins, the 1978 Halloween movie... and yes, problematic candy from the problematic candy nun. It's a subject that dates back to the very first episode of the Flopcast... but we're finally back with an update, as well as another ridiculous Flopcast Halloween taste test. Special thanks to Power Salad for providing this week's coffee, which we desperately needed to wash down all that weird (but delicious) nun candy.

This week we're celebrating 1985 by looking at the top ten songs from 32 years ago (including Tears For Fears, A-ha, and most importantly, "Oh Sheila" by Ready for the World) as well as a book that would eventually become a Tom Hanks movie (and we don't mean Mazes and Monsters). Then Kornflake reports on the Topsfield Fair, where she found an iconic disco act, a swimming pig, and an old friend of the Flopcast. And we get more information about that amazing autographed Love Boat script we received last week, straight from the source: Ed, from the Sponge Awareness Foundation! Also: Some follow-up on our list of robot animals from several weeks ago. (We missed some very important robot animals. Sorry, Bubo.)

Stay angry, Monkees fans! It's time for our annual review of the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! And despite a complete lack of Air Supply, it's not a bad list this year. Find out which acts we're hoping will get in (come on, Cars) and which acts we're not so excited about (sorry, Kate Bush). But we are so excited about the Pointer Sisters. They're not on the list, but they did have a Top 10 song this week back in 1984 -- and since we're celebrating 1984, we review that list too. We also compare 1984 minivans to 1970s creepy vans. Then we end the show with a 1984-themed "What's in the Bag" segment... which turns into one of the most shocking and wonderful moments in the history of the Flopcast. Is Gopher from The Love Boat somehow involved? (Here's a hint: Yes.)

Kevin and Kornflake celebrate 1983 with a fast car (maybe even faster than KITT) and the top ten songs from 34 years ago this week. (It's a weird mix of new wave, country, rockabilly, hat-free men, and Jim Steinman... so much Jim Steinman...) Also: At Granite State Comicon, we found old friends, artists, costumers, Spice Girls, Beavis, Daria, and drag-hens. (Drag-hens are dragon/chicken hybrids, and they're amazing.) Meanwhile it's almost time for another favorite convention, Super Megafest! It's October 21-22 in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and the guest list includes the Bionic Man AND Bionic Woman, stars from Battlestar Galactica and The Flash, comedians, wrestlers... and Paul Soles, who was HERMEY THE ELF in the 1964 Rudolph cartoon! Be there. Plus: At the beginning of the summer, we tried to pick the winning teams for the new Battle of the Network Stars. Now it's time to check the results. Did our strategy of betting on Greg Brady, Daisy Duke, Potsie, Blair, and Tootie pay off? (Here's a hint: No.)

It's a post-DragonCon catch-up show, with concert reports on the Bacon Brothers (we now have zero degrees of separation from the star of Footloose), They Might Be Giants (we celebrated with a whole day of old friends, shuttle buses, and watermelon), and Micky Dolenz (touring without Tork this year, but still delivering all your Monkees favorites). We also have a quick correction from last week's show, and it involves the Hardy Boys and the Partridge Family, as all corrections should. Plus: For National Whatever Day, we're looking back at 1982, including the opening of EPCOT Center (you know you want to ride through a giant golf ball) and the top ten songs from 35 years ago this week (we keep forgettin' how Michael McDonald sounds exactly like Michael McDonald).

Here we go, kids: The Mayor of Chickentown joins Kevin and Kornflake to review our long weird weekend in Atlanta for DragonCon! Featuring: Panels on Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Westworld, Legion, Riverdale, Fantasy Island (!), Detective Chimp (?), and more; The Star Wars Holiday Special (original and puppet show versions); Doctor Who's Matt Smith; the casts of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and Birds of Prey; Howard the Duck's big day in court; Fake Adam Savage; RetroBlasting; Wicked Geeky; Yoda; pie; Captains Kangaroo and Crunch; Mighty Magiswords; and the debut of the new book Earth Station One: Tales of the Station Volume 2! (Warning: This book contains a goofy story by Kevin which may or may not feature a space chicken.) We also started DragonCon with some very rainy birdwatching, and ended DragonCon with an amazing Greater Atlanta Chicken Tour. We like to keep things strangely bird-themed. Also: We learn Kornflake's September podcast pick, and we celebrate 1981 with soft rock and Brady Brides. Now we'd better start preparing for DragonCon 2018. See you there, eighty thousand crazy people!

We're still in DragonCon recovery mode around here, but this week we have something special from DragonCon to share with you! "Wonder Woman, at Last!" was Kevin's first panel of the weekend, for the American Science Fiction and Fantasy Media Track. Kevin was joined by panelists Jeni Green, Cammien Ray, Jenna Johnson, and Tyra Burton to discuss the Wonder Woman movie, which we all thought was just, you know, wonderful. (Let's throw a quick SPOILER WARNING right about here. If you haven't seen Wonder Woman yet, you may not want to hear this panel yet. Go see the movie first. You deserve it.) Discussion topics include the movie's cast, the World War 1 setting, the costumes (Functional attire for women in a superhero movie? This is madness!), the brilliance of director Patty Jenkins, the reactions on social media (good and bad), our favorite movie moments, and how in the world to pronounce "Gal Gadot." With a great lineup of panelists and an enthusiastic audience (standing room only!), this was a fine kickoff to DragonCon 2017, and we're thrilled to bring it to you. (If you don't believe us, hit us with your lasso of truth.) Meanwhile back in Chickentown: Since this is episode 280, we're starting a series of ten episodes celebrating each year of the 1980s! (Yes, we've done this before. We're quite predictable.) For the year 1980, Kevin has selected a Saturday morning cartoon about monsters. (See? Predictable.) Kornflake's pick, however, is from the world of sports! (Hey! Unpredictable! First time for everything...)

Kornflake is looking forward to Locate An Old Friend Day; Kevin is not. But we certainly agree on the awesomeness of the concert we attended recently, at which Kornflake was touched (literally) by Air Supply. This changes everything. We're also thrilled to announce the release of the ESO Network's new book, Earth Station One: Tales of the Station Volume 2! Kevin may have contributed a story to this book, and that story just might involve a chicken. You know you need this. We also look ahead at the upcoming Granite State Comicon, where we hope to locate a few old friends and not lose any more teeth. Next week: Our DragonCon review begins...

It's a little later than usual (sorry, we've been very busy with very stupid things), but here is our sixth annual Flopcast Summer Robot Top 4 1/2 List! Hey, summertime is robot time around here. (We don't remember why... it just is.) And the subject for this year's list is... robot animals! We're listing our favorite robot dogs, robot cats, robot lobsters, and more. (But alas, no robot capybaras. Would some evil robot genius please get to work on that?) And these robots come from TV, music, cartoons, toys, coloring books, and secret government projects. (We may have said too much already.) So while we're still creeping around DragonCon (just in time for Wonderful Weirdos Day), enjoy this goofy little robot show! And feel free to dance, because our robot penguin is set on AUTO-PARTY.

It's that time again! Time to panic! Join us as we frantically prepare for the craziest convention on the geek calendar... DragonCon. It promises to be another long, weird, wonderful Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, so let's get ready! The DragonCon guest list includes favorites from TV (Doctor Who's Matt Smith! MST3K's Trace, Frank, and Bill! Almost everybody from Star Trek: The Next Generation! Shatner! A Birds of Prey cast reunion! And more!), movies (Karl Urban! Michael Rooker! Chewbacca! JOHN CUSACK! And more!), music (Paul and Storm! Mikey Mason! Shelley Segal! Tom Smith! And yes, more!), and comics (Stan Lee! Plus a bunch more, but come on, STAN LEE!). Plus scientists, skeptics, writers, wrestlers, puppeteers, podcasters, and 6,000 Harley Quinns! We also run through Kevin's (tentative!) DragonCon schedule, which includes the DragonCon Walking Tour, the ESO Network Meet and Greet, Classic Sci-Fi Court, the Challenge of the Super-Nerds, and panels on Wonder Woman, Riverdale, Fantasy Island (really!), and much more. We're already exhausted. Also this week: We celebrate the Chicken Boy statue of Los Angeles, and Kornflake prepares for They Might Be Giants to invade Massachusetts! And in other podcasting news: Earth Station DCU looks at Batman: Year Three, The Pod of Destiny returns, and Luke and Carrie's Bad Rapport invents the Chicken Game. Okay, find us at DragonCon! Get a Flopcast badge ribbon! And then get out of our way!