Growing Up '80s

Way back in the 1980s, before the internet was a "thing", Darren and Robin dreamed of connecting their Commodore 64s to other computers. Could we change our grades on the school computers? Could we play games against super intelligent military computers? And then we actually got our first modems! From our first online moments with 300 and 1200 baud modems to running a BBS on Darren's Amiga 500, from writing our own little terminal programs to aspiring to code online games, from chatting with the sysop to city-wide games of Steve Jackson's Killer, those early online years on the Bulletin Board Systems were full of excitement. Those days waned as "The Internet" became accessible in the early '90s at their university, but Robin and Darren still manage to fill nearly 2 hours with '80s BBS memories.

This time, Darren and Robin talk about our memories of Construction Set games and programs from Electronic Arts and other similar software that allowed us to create in addition to playing.

Join your friends, Robin and Darren as they talk about all the things that they love about Steve Lisberger and Disney's 1982 classic, TRON! If you don't know what we're talking about, you're listening to the wrong podcast.

Board games! Back when we were little kids, "let's play a board game" might be suggested when we claimed to be bored. But, as we grew up, we found a number of board games that really entertained us. And this was all pre-Catan. We also talk about a bunch of board game adjacent games that we played in the 1980s.

That big fat orange cat was a great source of entertainment and influence upon us as young kids at the beginning of the '80s. After a bit of a history lesson, listen to how Darren and Robin first discovered Garfield and collected the comics. They also had a few stuffed toys from the Garfield comics and Darren rediscovers a rare and strange alternate Garfield comic/story compilation from his childhood.

Collecting Comic Books! How we were introduced to comics and realized that we were collectors. We talk about buying the comics that everyone bought, and how we discovered the comics that we liked. How about the comic book stores in the neighbourhood? We go through it all!

Robin and Darren go on a full ramble about things that fascinated us as kids in the '80s. Naturally we're talking about home computers, but also, Space Shuttles, how-to-draw books, the paranormal, and awesome vehicles, like the A-Team Van, and Winnebegos!

Tears for Fears awesome Songs from the Big Chair gets the spotlight this episode! Darren and Robin talk about their memories of the album, listen to all the songs, talk about how they liked it as kids in the '80s and what makes this album stand up so many decades later.

No Olympic Games for you this summer? No problem! Robin and Darren talk about the classic Epyx title: Summer Games for the Commodore 64 and host a min-Summer Games for you. Are you Team Australia or Team Canada? Check out the bonus VIDEO podcast and watch us play Summer Games: https://youtu.be/SviLqATFquo

Robin and Darren talk about their favourite breakfast cereal memories, and also discuss important cereal history facts, some of those "foreign" cereals, and especially talk too much about that Canadian classic, Shreddies.

Darren and Robin talk about some of the micro computers used in schools around the world, from Robin's experiences with the MicroBee in Australia in 1987, to the excellent BBC Micro series by Retro Man Cave in the UK. Then we focus on our own schooling in Ontario, Canada where we had Commodore computers, and in high school, the ICON computer system.

Do you remember going to the corner store when you were younger? Robin and Darren talk about their collections obtained from their local corner store in the 80s: candies, magazines, Wacky Packages, trading cards and more!

Robin and Darren take a stroll down 80s lane, talking about all the various game systems and computers they had growing up.

When Darren was a kid, The Last Starfighter movie scared him to the movie theatre floor. But he's ok now! Today, Robin and Darren go deep into the 1984 Sci-Fi / Monster movie classic: The Last Starfighter. They talk all about the movie, special effects, computer graphics, the video game, Star Wars connections and all those scary monsters! Yeah, somewhere along the way, our numbers got mixed up... let's call this episode 10.

It's time to go back to Computer Camp with Robin and Darren. Bullies, mainframes, Colossal Cave Adventure, Disk Copy Parties, Speed Racer, the first Amiga 1000 in Thunder Bay, maybe even Canada?! Listen in as Darren and Robin recall their many years of Computer Camp adventures.

Strap yourself into your Edgley Optica ultralight for 90 minutes of one of Robin's favourite movies ever! Slipstream is an oft-forgotten sci-fi movie from 1989 staring Star Wars' Mark Hamill, Aliens' Bill Paxton and Jurassic Park's Bob Peck. And if that doesn't get you wanting to watch it, Slipstream was produced by Gary Kurtz (who also produced Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back) and was directed by Steven Lisberger who also directed Tron! With all the big names involved in its production it's gotta be great, right? Well... it's not great. But it does have a lot of great elements in it and even Darren agrees it gets better with subsequent viewings.

Robin and Darren talk about cartoons as they return to the Growing Up 80's couches after a year's absence! Do they stand the test of time? Perhaps nostalgia is better than YouTube? How about those rockin' theme songs!

Get Spaced-Out with Robin and Darren as they talk about Classic Space LEGO and some of their most favourite "space" video games from the '80s. Join the boys as they hurtle their memories back through the vast void of nothing as the celestial worlds fly past with incredible physics simulation, gadgets and craziness. Maybe they're all part of a modular building system in the heavens... or maybe they're just having too much fun.

Dive deep with Robin and Darren as they explore the 1981 classic video game from Konami, Frogger! Sure, there are nibbles, lilly-pads, lady frogs and all you'd expect. But there are also a few retro '80s home ports and the first ever Growing Up '80s best-of-three tournament!

We're talking about the video games that amazed us when they first saw them. Not the best video games ever, maybe they didn’t end up being our favourite games even. But there was something about them, when we first saw them, that still stays with us.

It’s the summer of 1984 and Ghostbusters is not only the hit movie in the theatres, but the soundtrack featuring Ray Parker Jr’s Ghostbusters Theme is racing up the charts! Join Robin and Darren as they go on a musical journey back to the basement, listening to the Ghostbusters cassette on the old boombox.

The Commodore 64 User’s Guide guides Darren and Robin as they podcast about their favourite 8-bit computer. First steps in learning to program, game development, computer art and music, and lots of other related stories from the ’80s.

It's all about UFO abductions as Robin and Darren talk about the classic Choose Your Own Adventure book "Inside UFO 54-40" and the Atari 2600 game Cosmic Ark.

On the first episode of the new podcast (Growing Up 80s) Robin and Darren get it on like Donkey Kong and then phone-it-home just like E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.

What boy growing up in the 1980s wasn't fascinated by Detectives? Certainly not our two hosts! Join Robin and Darren as they talk about all the Detective books, video games, TV shows and board games they enjoyed as kids growing up in the 1980s!

Darren and Robin share their memories of learning music at school and in private piano lessons, and eventually buying guitars and drums, recording equipment, and forming bands. Includes some terrible/awesome home recordings from the 1980s and early 1990s.