Episode 108: And Now, The End Is Near

SPOILER WARNING! This show is about the ends of shows. So the topic of conversation is necessarily spoiler-heavy. Listen with caution!

You had to know it was on its way. There's only one year left in the Noughties, those final Top 5s and we're a mere 7 letters from the end of the alphabet.

All that remains is for the kids to sweep up, arrange the barstools neatly and turn out the lights. Cue the emotional piano music, like all great shows the 80s Kids is winding up to the big finish.

So, before we take that last step into the arena of finality, why not take the opportunity to get all beardy that one last time?

In a conclusion to the "navel-gazing" strand of the cast Leo and Ian talk about show finales. They go hunting for the common threads in that most elusive of beasts: the satisfying conclusion.

"Lost" is bound to come up again, as it does, but there's also a look at "Star Trek: TNG", "Buffy", new "BSG" "Fringe", "Blakes 7", "Babylon 5", "Twin Peaks" and "The Shield" among others.

So as the roundabout slows try not to get anything in your eye. You can rest assured that the kids aren't going to go out in an "everybody dies" toys from pram kind of a finale.

Incidental Music by incompetech.com



Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/Episode108AndNowTheEndIsNear/108-And-now-the-end-is-near.mp3

Episode 49: 1992 - Reservoir Kids

There can be no clearer symptom of 90s rot that to examine the sad turn the Alien franchise took this year with its bleak, nihilistic descent into death. A further example of a beloved 80s film series going off the boil would be "Batman Returns" although a more appropriate title might have been "Penguin Arrives".

Fortunately the 80s kids are here and more than ready to mete out some well deserved revenge. Lurching out blinking into the moon light comes "Bram Stoker's Dracula", presumably named such to avoid confusion with all the other Dracula films based on the same book. Despite fleeting moments of brilliance the Prince of Darkness staggers disappointingly back to its crypt once again, allowing younger, fresher vampires a stab at the jugular.

They sadly ran headlong into "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and much like how Buffy deals with Vampires this film is badly executed. All the same, this is the year of "Reservoir Dogs", the film that put Quentin Tarantino on our map. Sadly the passing years have not been kind to his once loyal 80s kids fanboys who do little but stand and watch while Sue and Leo give our once loved writer director a real ear full. And not in the Mr Blonde way.

The dark connection between Steven Seagal and Wesley Snipes its mused on but really everyone was far too distracted by Sharon Stone crossing her legs in "Basic Instinct". Then things go a little surreal as David Lynch proves beyond any doubt that Twin Peaks fans have in fact been wasting their time all along. And thus the "Candy Man" was summoned to dispense his usual hook/bee based justice upon the transgressing films of 1992!

Incidental Music "Cool Vibes" by Kevin Macleod of incompetech.com

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/0491992ReservoirKids/049-1992-reservoir-kids.mp3

Episode 37: When Leo Met Ian And The Cultural Soup They Swam In Together

No Justin this week, so Leo must face the brave task of rebuilding Ian's shattered psyche alone. The formally Dr Who obsessed 80s kid has been brainwashed and has gone full 'Bronie'. If he cannot be brought back from his confused amnesiac state he will be lost to a magical world of small flying pastel shaded horses forever.

And so a trip down memory lane begins as Leo regresses Ian back to the time they first met in the early 90s while on a Media course. There he further provokes Ian's identity to reassert it self by reminding him what a deeply sad Dr Who fan he was, even back then. But Leo's smugness soon fades when he realises he himself is just a character from Twin Peaks.

Together they swim further in the cultural soup of their lad-hood and the films, TV, books and other media that were so current at the time: X-Files, Terry Pratchett, Quentin Tarantino, Independence Day and Cypress Hill. It's all in the mixer today as our 80s kids remember that time they were 90s bros.

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/037WhenLeoMetIanAndTheCulturalSoupTheySwamInTogether/037-When-Leo-Met-Ian-and-the-cultural-soup-they-swam-in-together.mp3