GCRN Retro – Discovering 1987

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Optimus Solo,

and I will be your Chief Flight Attendant. On

behalf of the crew at the Geekcast Radio Network,

welcome aboard GCRN Airlines Flight 19870. Not

a stop service from the present day and into

the past. Our flight time will be 25 years. We'll

be flying at an altitude of 2 ,900 meters at

a feet and a ground speed of 88 miles per hour.

In a few moments, the in -flight entertainment

will begin. Alcohol and drinks are available

at a nominal charge. Now sit back, relax, and

enjoy the flight. Thank you. This is GCRN Retro.

And this is 1987. Hello everybody, this is Optimus

Solo, and things may look funny, but don't you

worry, you're in the right place and time. And

what time is that exactly? Well, the year 1987,

of course. That's right. We've traveled back

25 years to discover what great things 1987 had

to offer. We call this GCRN Retro. And with me

on our maiden voyage is Steve Megatron Phillips.

Hello. Hello. And TFG1 Mike. Hello. Hello. And

you're going to basically see... A bunch of different

topics, but before we get there, since this is

the first GCRN retro episode, just give you a

quick information on where this idea came from.

We do our year -end GCRN urine review episodes

every year, or at least we have in the last couple

years. And when we did this last one for 2011,

it got me thinking about all the years we unfortunately

weren't able to do these in. Well, to be honest

and fair, 1987, I was seven years old. Right.

And so we weren't able to do a year in review

back in 1987 because we didn't even know each

other existed. So I had the idea of giving us

a chance to give some of these years that have

slipped by us a chance to be pimped out. And

such was born GCRN retro. So everything you hear

about today is going to be about 1987. We have

about seven different topics. We're totally winging

this and going on. off the cuff. So although

there is some format, this is could go any type

of different directions. And we're going to start

by opening up with kind of what Mike just talked

about, which is when we'll start with you, Mike,

where were you in 1987? I was in Kingston, Massachusetts.

I was living at 286 Main Street in a duplex.

Very, very awesome apartment. I love that place.

um at the time my grandfather and three uncles

were building us a house which i was vehemently

against they started building that late 87 went

through 88 and most of 89 um as far as being

a kid i was still watching transformers i was

still watching mask uh in reruns how uh Just,

I know you kind of already mentioned it, how

old are you at this point and now are you in

school, et cetera? Seven years old, so I was,

oh man. God, now I gotta think. I think it was

second grade, I think. I don't remember. It's

a long time ago. Preschool was 84 kindergarten

was 85. Yeah, I think I was in second grade and

Second grade was a hell of a lot better than

first grade But I'll save that for the 1986 year.

Oh my god. Do I have a first grade story for

you guys? So it was a first slash second grade

this must have been like the I'm guessing the

spring of 1987 would have been Your end of your

first grade year in the fall of 87 would have

been the beginning of your second grade year

Yeah, so so what was second grade like for for

TFG one Mike second grade was so much better

than first grade Normally for me there can be

one thing go wrong and mine especially as a kid

one thing in my life go wrong and it just it's

all bad and that's what happened in first grade

one thing went wrong and But by the time second

grade came around my teacher was so much better

You know, it was mainly the teachers between

first and second grade. The first grade teacher,

she was a complete and utter bitch. You've hated

people since you were... I'm just kidding. No,

I've hated people since before then. Since birth.

Yes, exactly. So yeah, second grade was pretty

great. As far as like TV and cartoons and stuff

like that, like I said, I was still watching

Transformers and Mask and Thundercats and all

that stuff and reruns and Silverhawks. But 87

for me as far as cartoons, and we'll get to this

a little bit later, but as far as like what I

was really paying attention to was those green

teens, those heroes in a half shell. So that

was pretty much my highlight for 87 for me was

doing that. I'm a huge sports fan. A lot of people

may not know that because I don't talk about

it a lot. I mean, unless I'm rooting for the

Patriots or the Red Sox on Twitter. But I was

a huge Red Sox fan, huge, huge Boston Celtics

fan. Huge Boston Bruins fan even though some

people on this show don't acknowledge the sport

of hockey which there's something wrong with

them for that But yeah, that's that's pretty

much where I was as far as that goes all right

I think we'll go in chronological order if you

don't mind Steve, so I'll go next so we can kind

of have a sense of Sequential order here because

I am next in line as far as the elders here I

was a little bit younger than Mike. A year younger

than me. 1987 would have been the year I finished

kindergarten and then in the fall of the year

I began first grade. So this is kind of a to

me now that I'm thinking about it's almost like

a landmark year because as a kid this is when

stuff shifts when you go from not being in school

all day every day to being in school all day

every day for the rest of your life. what it

seems like. Um, so, you know, as a kid, this

was the last year that I was able to be home,

you know, at least in the spring, be able to

be home all day during the day and be watching

cartoons and playing with toys. I mean, I think

the kindergarten I went to was like a half day.

And I want to say, I can't remember if I was

in the morning or if I was in the afternoon.

So I had a good chunk of my day that I could

still, you know, play with toys and watch cartoons

and do all that stuff. But this was like, man,

this was probably my prime year ever as far as

watching stuff on TV and being in tune with all

the different cartoons and the toys and whatnot

and I'm sure as we go through and we talk about

some of the individual topics we'll have some

similarities as far as some of the stuff you

already mentioned but uh yeah I mean it's almost

the last year of freedom before school takes

over your life for uh What was for me? I don't

know 23 years or something But yeah, I was living

in Illinois same place I grew up and lived in

basically my whole life right by the border of

Illinois, Wisconsin Living at home. I was the

youngest of all my brothers and you know, I had

one older brother one older sister so I was the

runt and I just remember I don't remember much

about kindergarten or first grade necessarily,

but I do remember going home Every day or before

it was either before I went to kindergarten or

when I came back and sitting down and watching

Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers and The like and

sitting in front of the TV and having my peanut

butter and jelly sandwich So yeah, I was a little

tight in 1987. What about you Steve? You're an

ass, but anyways I was in diapers. I was one

years old. One year old. No, I caught everything

that we're going to be talking about on the rebound

in the early 90s. Right. Where were you living

in 1987? Flint, Michigan, in a trailer. So we

have three different, completely different areas

of the country being represented here. as far

as states go anything else on your one -year

-old year uh no there's there's not much i would

remember from being you know that i don't think

so i think mike remembers hating people back

then though i i don't remember hating people

you and i you and i were much nicer children

we didn't hate people yet no i'll say this when

kevin and kevin first approached us well when

he first told me about the idea because he told

steve first asshole That's because of that reaction

right there But when Kevin first approached us

with this idea and I looked at the schedule that

he wanted to do and I'm like Some of these years

we haven't even been born yet, right? And it

was like the first year I'm looking I'm like,

oh my god like I know Steve can talk about it

in retrospect because he got you know as he just

said he got caught up in the 90s, but I'm like

How is that going to go? And wow, is this a train

wreck? Some of it will be, you know, what was

it like when we were that age? And some of it

would have been like, what would it have been

like if we were alive back then? Right. Yeah,

exactly. It should be an interesting... Because

I was so confused when you sent me this stuff,

because I was like, wait, how is this going to

work on years that none of us have been born

yet? An interesting journey. We will literally

be going back in time and experiencing things

for the first time as we were kids. Yes, we will.

Alright, I think it's time for our first dose

of 1987, so enjoy the clip here and we'll be

coming back talking about our first topic. That's

not even a real channel. It's that other channel.

I remember when Fox first started. The Tracy

Allman Show, Married with Children, and 21 Jump

Street. No one else was putting on these kind

of shows. I mean, it really did change the face

of television. Married with Children was cutting

edge out there. Crazy, took a chance, and it

worked. First time it came out, everybody was

like, can you believe this new show? You see

what they're getting away with? Let go of my

hair, you little psychopath! Die! Call me bimbo.

They had, you know, the trampy little girl, the

dumbass son. Even Mrs. Roach has a bigger bra

size than you. The mom who wanted nothing but

a better life. Anything else I can do to make

your life a little easier? You could shave your

back. The father who works in a shoe store who

could care less about anything but drinking and

getting off work. There was something cute and

endearing about Al Bundy in a really foul kind

of way. Are you implying that it's my fault you

have no friends? Oh, no. It's me who sits in

front of the TV set burping with my hand thrust

down my pants. Give me a beer. Ugh. Tomorrow.

Come on down. Three guys give motherhood a try.

Ta -da! Hello, Tinky Winky. It's the premiere

of Full House. Then. Star Trek. The next generation

is beaming aboard the airwaves. All for one year.

The excitement. The drama. Of Gene Roddenberry's

original space odyssey. Welcome to the Enterprise.

With all new adventures from the 24th century.

With an all new enterprise. This is nothing like

any vessel I've seen before. And an all new crew.

Starfleet veteran Captain Picard. Commander Ryker.

Executive Officer. Chief Medical Officer Crusher.

And her brilliant son, Wesley. Lieutenant Commander

Data and Android. The telepathic Troy. Security

Officer Yar. Geordi. A man with unique vision

and Klingon officer worth. Shields and deflectors

up, sir. Go to Yellow Alert. Their continuing

mission to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Let's see what's out there. Don't miss the all

-new television adventures of Star Trek The Next

Generation. Alright, if you couldn't tell from

that clip our first topic for 1987 is TV shows

of 1987. Good place to start talking about TV

because it's something we all like to do. I have

a few little highlights and notes that we're

going to talk about and then we're just going

to kind of transition into a general discussion

of what our favorite shows are that aired in

1987. So a few notes just to begin with. I thought

this one was kind of interesting. 1987 marked

the year that The Price is Right surpassed Concentration

as the longest running daytime game show in history.

I miss concentration I loved that game if you

would have asked me like what's the longest game

daytime game show you know in history I probably

would have been able to come up with the price

is right but if you had to ask me what it what

was holding that thing before price is right

I would have never been able to tell you concentration

yeah for me conflict everybody knows the price

is right everybody knows Bob Barker everybody

knows long bitch exactly everybody knows that

sadly When Bob retired, Drew Carey took over.

But for me, as a kid, especially in those, you

know, 85 to 88, I was watching Wheel of Fortune

and Jeopardy with my grandparents almost every

night. And, you know, around this time in 1987

is when I first found concentration because it

was the first thing I'd seen Alex Trebek on outside

of Jeopardy. I'm like, whoa, he does other stuff.

And it was just, it was such an interesting game.

I had the PC version of the game, like the home

version of the game. That was awesome. Yeah,

it was so friggin' cool. Is that the one where

you could win the different cars? Yep. Like the

Le Mans or like the Le Baron or stuff that you

don't even know what it is. Yeah, so I used to

love playing that game at my friend's house.

Yeah, Concentration was awesome. I love that

one. That was a good, that was one of the better

game show computer games. Oh yes. Because a lot

of game show video type games are bad. Yep. And

that was a good one. Um, yeah, the price is right.

It's still going. So it obviously still holds

that record. Right. I mean, nothing else could

have passed it since it's continuously going.

Um, the next one baffles my mind only it doesn't

baffle my mind, but how many people out there

right now, how many people listening to us, how

many kids these days don't even remember or realize

a time before this, a time when the Fox TV network

didn't exist. I remember because 1987 is when

the Fox TV Network made its primetime debut which

This is interesting the first time since 1955

that there were four networks in the US primetime

television because otherwise for the first Five

or six years of our lives at least me and Mike,

you know, it was just ABC NBC and CBS Yeah, that

was it And then Fox came along and I actually

remember as a child, even though I was somewhat

young, I remember the kind of the flutter around,

you know, around people that there's this new

network and the chatter about it and the weirdness

about it because it wasn't a network like the

other three. It was a new network. that was like

nothing we've ever seen before. Fox was a game

changer. Yeah, just think of the impact Fox had.

It's almost like the impact that like MTV may

you may be able to say MTV had on the on like

the reality and like that type of television.

Like I don't think any channels since Fox had

a big impact until MTV. But getting back to Fox,

I mean, just to give you a feeling, go ahead.

MMTV came before Fox. No, I mean, but the whole,

I guess what I meant is those two channels. The

transition from music television to music television

reality, yeah. Right, that change. And the edginess

of Fox, I mean, that's the best word I can think

of is edgy. Like, compared to the other networks,

it was doing stuff that the other networks just

couldn't do. Yep, or wouldn't do and we've talked

about this before and I'll let you guys talk

in a second because I'm already talking like

I'm on a soapbox here, but we've talked about

this before and When a station is beginning and

when it's trying to get its foothold it has to

do crazy stuff It has to do something to get

people to turn their head and say wait a second

what's going on over here and turn their head

away from the established channels and Fox is

just a prime example of Going kind of nutty to

try to get its shoe in the door or his foot in

the door Oh, yes, especially with one of those

first premiere shows. Yeah, you can go ahead

and Well since you don't like the show The network

debuts two shows the Tracy Allman show which

airs three times each during the night so that

viewers watching other networks can switch over

and sample the shows. That's kind of an interesting

way to do things. The other one was one of my

favorite shows. Haven't watched it in a lot of

years. I catch a rerun every now and then, but

Married with Children. Yeah, that is, if you

ask any, if you ask people our age or, you know,

people that were around in 1987, like what was

the first show on Fox, I think most of them will

say Married with Children instantly. Married

with Children. And it was... Married With Children

was kind of like what family reality shows are

now. People are going to either laugh at this

or they're going to rip their iPod earbuds out

of their ears. This is more like the family guy

of the day. No, no, no. Hold on. This is worse

than this. Married With Children is the 1987

equivalent to The Kardashians. You're an idiot

just for having watched that. Your mind works

in weird ways. No, seriously, Married with Children

is somehow the more crass version of Roseanne.

Like, how do you even get more like, I don't

know, like, Roseanne was its own little like,

but this took that and like kicked it up a notch

somehow. Like, you have the wife that is just

like all cleavage. Yeah. You have the guy, the

dad who has his hands down his pants and is burping

and drinking all the time. And you just have

a couple smart ass kids. One dumb ass, one smart

ass. Yeah. That's always seems to be the case.

Like right now, I'm being the smart ass and Mike

would be the dumb ass. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Shut up. No, Steve's being the dumb ass. But

think about how many kids today, think about

how many people don't realize that Fox was not

always around. Oh, I know. I know, and it's a

shame that kids today don't realize that Fox,

even though now it's a staple in most homes,

it wasn't pre -1987. It wasn't like 1987 that

came on with Married with Children and the Tracy

Allman Show and stuff like that and it was instantly

successful. get us wrong people, this was a laughing

stock of a network for a while. Just like a lot

of the networks that seem to like try to be up

and coming, you know, in the last 10 or so years

that we've seen, you know, a lot of people don't

take them serious. To me, it wasn't until the

mid early 90s with Fox when Beverly Hills 90210

and Party of Five and Melrose Place. That is

what to me really kind of put Fox into its own.

Right like up until you know for those first

five or so years This was not received very well

Well, 90210 came in 90 so I mean there wasn't

that much of a yeah, so the source three that

much of a gap the thing about Mary Mitchell and

the one thing that I want to kind of touch on

is what the cast did afterwards because you got

Christina Afflegate, who has gone on to have

a film career and a new television career. Katie

Seagal, she was the mom on Eight Simple Rules.

Is it Leela? I couldn't remember. I know who

the character is. I just wasn't sure about her

name. She's the voice of Leela in Futurama. Ed

O 'Neill did a Dragnet remake. He was in Wayne's

World. You know, he's, I think, is he in Modern

Family now? Yeah, he's in Modern Family now.

So I mean, these actors and actresses have everything

owed to them for Married with Children for the

most part, at least putting them on the map.

They might have been a little bit famous before

then, but I had never heard of them up until

Married with Children. David Faustino, I know

he's done a few guest spots on CBS action shows

and stuff like that, so. Mean married children

just like Fox even though Fox in its initial

years Wasn't that popular and neither was I mean

everyone a lot of people boycotted married with

children I was they don't the air for nine years

I was one of them because I mean at the time

I didn't like it because it was just too it was

too crude for me yeah, but I can't ignore the

fact or the impact that it had in the the way

it may have laid the groundwork for some shows

I'm not going to say you know for all shows because

some stuff would have happened anyways but that

type of show and that kind of edginess definitely

kind of broke a little bit of the mold. And we

obviously it kind of transitions very nicely

because the other show that we talked about that

it debuted with was the Tracy Allman show and

not many people probably know the Tracy Allman

show these days unless you're big -time Simpsons

fans because the Simpsons debuted as a series

of short animated segments on the Tracy Allman

show. So 1987 is the official beginning of the

Simpsons. Well, it's it's the unofficial beginning

December 8th or 9th of 1989 is when the series

actually got picked up on its own. Right, but

this is the birth of The Simpsons, 1987. Right,

yeah. Although they did look a little bit different.

They looked basically the same, but just slightly

different on the Tracy Allman Show, but I'm 99

% sure, unless the information I looked at was

incorrect, that it was all the same voice cast,

though. Even on the Tracey Ullman show. Yes it

was. So you know they sounded the same it was

a little bit I mean it would have a different

feel than the Simpsons would if you're familiar

with the Simpsons nowadays But yeah the I guess

the birth of a phenomenon here even though I'm

not a huge Simpsons fan Still 1987 I guess can

be its birthday What about you Steve for the

Simpsons? Well pretty much as soon as I got old

enough to watch TV I watched a lot of The Simpsons

up until recent years when it got bad, but I

never saw the Tracy Ullman show specifically,

but I've seen the the clips after the fact yeah,

so I mean It's very interesting to see how far

that show has come Since that time and granted

it probably still could have come in and nowadays

survived being being that but it was it was paving

the way for like South Park Family Guy Futurama

yeah I mean the Simpsons I mean we hadn't had

a successful really primetime cartoon seems like

since freaking Flintstones or something you know

Simpsons is the modern godfather of modern -day

you know primetime animation regardless of if

you like it or if you don't like it Right whenever

we get to 1989. I will state this fact again,

but as of right now Longest running primetime

cartoon series ever in America Well It's all

the other place it counts. That's right And although

we've talked about a couple shows that I don't

watch or didn't watch and married with children

and the Simpsons I do have to bring up two shows

that I did watch on TV back in 1987 and I think

these are Two better debuts here, but 1987 was

the premiere of Full House So the birth of another

phenomenon being the Olsen twins Well, come on

everybody today would probably know the Olsen

twins before they'd know full house it seems

like But yeah, what a cast there, you know, you

get Dave Coulier and Bob Saget and Stamos together

with all the girls, you know the Olsen twins

It was quite the cast. It was, to me, something

that we didn't really have any of at the time

in sitcoms. It was like, to me, honestly, you

have all the 80s sitcoms, right? You have like

the, and we'll get to these probably in future

episodes, but you have like the Who's the Boss,

and the Family Ties, and the Facts of Life, and

Charles in Charge, and Wonder Years, and you

have, those are like... Just like 80s like you

think of those and you think of 80s and even

though full house started in 87 like to me this

was the birth of a new group of sitcoms It was

yes, like you get full house and it kind of just

like transitions into all of these 90 sitcoms

I'm thinking about like and some of them started

in the late 80s, too but you know, I'm thinking

about like Fresh Prince and I'm thinking of like

Boy Meets World even later on and like it just

seemed like home improvement. I mean this was

a whole different group of sitcoms. It was a

different way to do things and Full House to

me in 1987 was something we hadn't seen yet.

Yeah it wasn't and Full House is something that

a lot of people probably didn't know this beforehand

but Full House is a PG rated Bob Saget, because

in his stand -up, he is way more rated R. And

I don't say that this is something we hadn't

seen before, meaning the whole premise of a family

that's not necessarily your traditional nuclear

family. It has three guys raising kids. We had

different stuff kind of like that in the 80s.

But I'm talking about the feel and the way they

did things. It's like a different atmosphere.

That's the thing. Throughout the 80s, and again,

as you said, we'll get to this in different...

episodes here in GCN Retro but throughout the

ages you had stuff like my two dads or you had

stuff like Who's the boss or you know stuff like

that where it has a single parent and someone

else coming in or whatever else whereas this

you had You know the widowed father in Danny

Tanner and his two best buds Jesse and and Joey

as the uncles And then you had the kids, and

then as the series progressed through the 90s,

they added Lori Loughlin's character as... It

was hot. Oh, yeah. Still is. Yeah, but she was...

I remember her being hot on the show. Oh, yeah.

She still is. You know, and the other great thing

for me about this one was Mike Cameron's little...

I think it's his little sister... Candice Cameron.

Candice Cameron. Well, to me... DJ the one I

connected with on this show because I was closer

to her in age was Stephanie Tanner Who I think

we were just about the same age at this time

because she was playing about You know a first

second grader right around there, you know, I

was maybe a year younger than her or something

I don't know what the exact math was as far as

her character's age, but I could connect with

her and you know be Living her Storylines as

far as what she was dealing with and that's the

person I kind of connected to but yeah You had

you had Candice Cameron for the little bit of

older group You had you know, obviously Jesse's

woman for the really older group and you know

all the girls like Jesse Stamos So yeah, I know

it's John Stamos, but I call him Jesse. Yeah

might as well Steve do you remember watching

full house much at all and reruns or anything?

I mean until 95 so it was on when you were yeah,

I used to watch it a lot In fact, I actually

had the entire series on DVD Nice. I always loved

Dave Coulier. Oh yeah, he was definitely my favorite

of that show. Mostly because of the voices and

just the goofy antics he did. He was probably

one of the first people that got me on to people

that do different voices and stuff like that.

I just thought it was super cool about just the

way he could perfectly do things as far as like

the mimicking goes. he's just a great imitator

and he's from michigan there you go another voice

actor from michigan yes do we know any others

of those rob paulson um and although i guess

we'll let mike go first with this one but uh

this this is going to be the big one for me and

steve because there was another premiere in 1987

that blows every other thing that started in

1987 out of the water So say what you want to

say Mike because I think Steve and I are gonna

dominate this one Well, you guys are but you

know a lot of people you know I'm more of a Star

Wars fan than a Star Trek fan But however, I

do like bits and pieces of Star Trek and I do

remember watching Star Trek the next generation

for At least five years My favorite character

was Worf. I did like some of the other characters,

but I always liked Worf the best, I think. And

it was a great, great show. I never, like, I

know everyone loves classic Star Trek with Kirk

and Spock and everything else. My dad forced

me to watch those reruns with him on Sundays,

and I just, because I was forced to do it, I

absolutely hated classic Trek as a kid. I could

not stand it. because I was so used to TNG and

TNG is just awesome. So you guys can have the

floor. Just real quick, I mean, I want to get

this quick fact out of the way because this is

another thing that people don't realize. And

I don't think I realized it until just now thinking

about it. But the original Star Trek, which was

on in the 1960s, you know, it had its run. And

then we basically go almost three decades without

Star Trek on the air. And that's almost like

kids trying to fathom fox not being a network

is television without Star Trek because to me

it just seems like that's something that's always

been on and the main reason is because when Star

Trek Next Generation starts in 1987 there is

continuously new Star Trek episodes on air for

18 years it's not until 2005 that we are again

with a Star Trek void as far as television goes

because unlike the original Star Trek which we

had and then we had this you know three decade

break as soon as Star Trek Next Generation got

over we had Deep Space Nine and we had Voyager

and we had Enterprise and I'm probably missing

one but I didn't watch any of them except for

Star Trek Next Generation and a little bit of

Deep Space Nine but this really Star Trek Next

Generation can be given credit for starting even

though the original was in 1960 it was Next Generation

that started a two -decade phenomenon, basically,

of Star Trek being on the airwaves. Well, it

definitely gave a rebirth to the franchise. Right.

And they did a good job transitioning between

TNG over to Deep Space Nine began about season

five or six, I want to say, of TNG. And then

Voyager began about season two or three of DS9.

So they kind of piggybacked off each other. And

then Enterprise was just garbage. But anyways,

TNG, I definitely loved that show from the very

first episode of Encounter at Firepoint. Right.

I love the character of Q. I love the concept

of the saucer separation, the newer modern enterprise

and the fact that there's an Android, a Klingon

on the ship. There was a lot more diversity than

what they did back in the 60s. And this may be

a whole huge debate that people would be wanting

to have at some point, but to me and to almost

every other Star Trek fan I've ever talked to,

even ones that are fans of the original series,

a lot of people will say that they prefer the

original series over Next Generation. I think

that's crazy, but people will say that, but hardly

anybody will say that they prefer anybody over

Captain Jean -Luc Picard. I still prefer Kirk

over Picard. Okay, only because he was a badass

but that's I like the cast of the original series

but not the storylines See, I love the cast of

next generation outside of the doctors. I don't

love the doctors Yeah, but as far as like I mean,

I'm a huge Spock fan and whatnot But I would

take bones over the next generation doctors,

but I love Data. I love wharf I love number one

and I love Picard like That's to me who made

the series. You know, I could deal without the

crushers and Troy was all right. I like Geordi.

I mean, he was bad. But yeah, I definitely have

to agree with you on that. I wouldn't discount

TNG's cast at all. I like TOS for what it was,

but TNG was definitely at its I think at its

best. Well, it got to do what the 60s version

couldn't do and that is put realistic effects

in there As far as I mean in the regular Star

Trek the original star did a dude a great job

with what they had but next generation like had

an unfair advantage of more modern technology

and they could just make things look a lot more

believable to me and Star Trek to me is always

especially the next generation is probably represents

some of the best sci -fi writing we've ever seen

Oh, yeah, okay creepy ass character Alien races

as well, right and of course the introduction

of the board Yeah, but uh, I can't say enough

about Star Trek next generation, but The fact

that it started in 1987 To me is the best Television

debut of 1987 some people might you know go with

married with children or full house or something,

but it's next generation for me All the way.

Any other thoughts on Next Generation Mike or

Steve before we talk about a couple of things

that ended in 1987? I liked. Oh go ahead Steve.

I was going to say definitely the best show introduction

of the year. It's weird, I don't mean to interrupt

you Mike, but it's weird because we talk about

You know in the year -end reviews and stuff like

that we these days we talk about like oh What

was our favorite show from 2011 or what was our

favorite show from 2010 etc? And it's not like

I feel like nothing That we ever say like nothing

that's airing these days has the impact That's

something like Star Trek the next generation

did or something that we'll talk about maybe

in some of our other retro episodes And I know

it's because we just haven't gone, you know,

maybe 10 or 15 years in the future, we'll be

like, Oh, I remember when that started and it

had such a big impact. But to me today, like

the last couple of years, at least have had nothing

that could be as impactful as something like

the Star Trek Next Generation series did. I will

say that I loved Andromeda. I thought that was

a nice, it didn't have the same impact as TNG,

but it was still a nice little space opera type

thing. Same thing with the Stargate series between,

you know, SG -1, Atlantis and Universe. You know,

I think those, you can't put them as high on

a pedestal, like you can't put them up at the

same level as TNG, but they're damn close. Right,

I'm just glad you didn't say Ballastar Galactica.

I've never seen that show, so. For me, and this

will come later, I really love DS9. I thought

that was a great show. I liked it when I started

watching it for some reason I something took

me away from it or I didn't end up yeah Continuing

with it, but I didn't think it was a bad, you

know at the time I was like, oh this I was very

anti any series But next generation, you know,

I wasn't giving it a good chance But it was better

than I thought it was gonna be and I just for

some reason didn't stick with it and then I Did

the same thing? I I have since gone back and

watched all of them on all five series on Netflix

and by far the worst one continuity -wise and

just all together the worst one was Enterprise.

A couple things also I mean not everything began

in 1987 so there's a few TV endings in 1987 which

for me aren't that impactful because it wasn't

obviously shows that I've been watching very

much since I'm only like five or six at the time.

But we should bring up a couple endings here.

This is the last year of the A -Team. Sad. Which

had been on for a while. The last year of Silver

Spoons, Remington Steel, Hill Street Blues, and

the live action of Fraggle Rock. So a couple

things ending that obviously I didn't grow up

watching but some people out there might be familiar

with. And yeah, 1987 was the last year for those

things. Here's some trivia for you on Remington

Steel. If plans had gone correctly and I believe

there was I believe something happened with Pierce

Brosnan's wife in 86 in in 86 for the living

daylights and and later in 89 for License to

kill Pierce Brosnan was supposed to be bond back

then. I think his wife got into some medical

Mishap or either either she was pregnant. She

died. I forget what it was. I don't have the

information in front of me Whatever you're the

one that did most of the yelling anyway But originally

Pierce Brosnan was the next in line in the 80s

to be the next James Bond and that wouldn't happen

again until Goldeneye in 95 So Remington Steel

was was his fallback plan and that was a fairly

It was an okay show. It wasn't a show that I

absolutely loved and watched Two on this list

were ones that I watched constantly. The A -Team

and Airwolf. Oh my god, I love Airwolf. I'm not

sad to see any of those shows go, actually, that

we listed. I think Fraggle Rock was probably

my favorite out of them. Let's get into what

our favorite stuff on the tubes were in 1987.

I'm going to start with Mike, but what were your

favorite shows airing in 1987? We can't talk

about 1987 without talking about the birth. I

believe it was the birth of Robert stack and

unsolved mysteries Unsolved mysteries, I didn't

even think of that one. Oh, yeah on so you want

to talk about Some of the best voiceover ever

as far as getting people to watch a show Robert

stacks voice on unsolved mysteries it just pulled

you in. And the music for Unsolved Mysteries

as well is what pulled you in. Unsolved Mysteries,

even to this day, even with now Dennis Farina

doing the voiceovers for it and running the show

nowadays, because it's still airing, even now,

I still can't watch that show late at night in

the dark alone, because it just... Because you

think Ultra Magnus is going to beat you up? No.

Open. Damn it, open! But yeah, Unsolved Mysteries

as a kid, I loved watching certain aspects of

it, but other aspects, obviously seeing as how

I was still a kid, obviously freaked me out as

a kid. You know, we already kind of discussed

Full House. I absolutely loved, I loved how Full

House over its run had continuity. It's not just,

I mean, yes, it is individual episodes here and

there, but you saw DJ Stephanie and Michelle

grow up. You saw. You saw Uncle Jesse technically

grow up since he was really immature in the beginning

of the series, and obviously after he met Rebecca

and everything else, you saw that continuity

of them aging out of the series, and by the time

it ended, they were all semi -adults. Unfortunately,

you saw Kimmy Gibbler grow up too. God. Worst

character of 1987, Kimmy Gibbler. What were a

couple other things you were watching or that

you liked back from 1987? Punky Brewster and

Webster. Webster. That's right. And of course,

as I mentioned, you know, I just love it when

a plan comes together. I love the A -Team. Yeah.

The A -Team was just amazing, amazing television.

That was a pretty good movie, too. Oh, yeah.

Yes. Airwolf, the same thing. It was just amazing,

amazing television. For me, Airwolf was basically

a black helicopter. that didn't talk but could

do everything Kit could do. I mean, you know,

it was just so freaking cool and I think that's

what ignited my love of helicopters as a kid

because it was so awesome. I never remember watching

Airwolf for some reason. I must've missed. It's

on Netflix so you'll have to go back and at least

try. This show is just gonna make me wanna watch

a bunch of crap now. That's right, that's right.

And by crap I mean great stuff. There's a couple

ones we haven't mentioned that I got to bring

up as far as like the more Stuff that would be

more appealing to me as a kid Alf was on 1987.

I remember seeing some of that Mr. Belvedere

I remember watching that My family watched a

lot of and this was when they were running back

-to -back, but the Cosby show and a different

world We're obviously on the tubes in 1987 and

doing quite well So I remember watching that

as far as the ones that maybe I was too young

to watch but Instantly liked that my parents

were watching They watched a little bit of Jake

and the Fat Man Highway to heaven and the two

that we probably watched more of than any other

show is Murder she wrote which I'm not afraid

to Talk about I'd love to murder show Angela

Lansbury was the pimp As far as detectives go

she was stood So we watched a lot of that and

of course my favorite show in 1987 was MacGyver

Of course No, none of those necessarily started

or ended in 87, you know We already talked about

those but those were all shows that I would have

been watching in 1987 Steve any any TV picks

from 87 for you? I did watch the Cosby show as

well, but Obviously, much later. Some of my favorites

from that year, despite them ending, are the

A -Team and Fraggle Rock. I loved Fraggle Rock

just for what it was. Obviously, we talked about

that in Telecast. I just liked that whole concept

of that show. And then the A -Team, I used to

sit down with my dad because he would watch it.

That's what I would watch. And that's where I

got my love for explosions and these comedic

bits and action shows. So yes, not only was it

a great movie in recent years, but it was a great

show back then that I could still sit and watch.

I ain't getting on no plane fool 1987 literally

I mean that must have been in heaven because

two of my favorite I have never done this but

I've always wanted to put together a list of

my my favorite television series of all time

just like regular live -action but I know MacGyver

and Star Trek Next Generation would both be in

my top five and I got them both in 1987 so it

was a good year for TV for me but anybody else

have any last television thoughts before we move

on that's it Alright, then it's time for another

dose of 1987 and we'll be back with a new topic

after the clip. He's gonna wish he had. Gun!

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you can tell from that clip that it's time to

talk about the movies of 1987, so taking a trip

to the theater 25 years ago. We don't have a

lot of, I don't have a lot of notes to talk about.

We're gonna basically just talk about our favorite

movies from 1987, but one thing I did find a

little bit interesting was some actors or actresses

who made their film debuts. in 1987 and wow,

just like we talked about in the television section

with Fox and Star Trek and stuff like that, it's

hard to imagine Hollywood without some of these

people. Sandra Bullock made her debut in the

movie Hangman, which I have no idea what that

is. Ben Stiller, Alec Baldwin, we had Courtney

Cox. Here's a big one. George Clooney making

his debut in a movie called Return to Horror

High. And the biggest one for me and I'll let

you guys talk about some of the other ones if

you want to but the The big one besides George

Clooney to me is Brad Pitt. Oh, yeah making his

debut in no man's land I mean, it's hard to picture

Hollywood and a single year without a movie from

George Clooney or Brad Pitt. Yeah for me when

you when you sent the script over and I looked

at it, I'm like Chris Rock Beverly Hills Scott.

No, he wasn't and then i remembered oh yeah he

was the valet that's right well and who who would

remember who would remember david spade showing

up in police academy four i didn't i was just

gonna say i love those films i remember that

i was like david spade i know who that is that's

my favorite police academy film nice this is

on patrol yes yeah i think that's my favorite

too another series i gotta watch them all again

I love the first police academy, but I love any

of them with Gutenberg and them after that they

can't get kind of right, right I think my two

favorites are are one and four I Wouldn't be

able to tell you what my favorites are But I

just got to add another thing from today show

out to mine to my need to watch list I guess

we can get kind of like right into what some

of our favorite movies are that aired in 1987.

We can start with Mike again. Mike, what did

you really like in 1987 as far as films go? Well,

I'm gonna take two at once here on this one because

one I actually have a school story about and

the other one I didn't find out till later. But

the first one, the school story was we actually,

you know how in history class they'll teach you

about the prohibition era? Mm -hmm. We actually

got to watch the untouchables for the prohibition

era stuff in history class That was a teacher

that didn't really know what they were doing

today Starts with murder And the other one that

I didn't find out until much, much later, like

in the early to mid -90s, was Full Metal Jacket.

One of the reasons why I love this movie, and

I know this is probably going to be sacrilege,

I'm just not into this director's work, but this

is probably the only Stanley Kubrick movie I

can watch. It's not that I think that his stuff

is bad, I don't. I'm not interested in any of

his other films. They're just not my type of

thing. But there's one scene out of this movie.

where they're going through getting their assignments.

And Joker gets 4212 basic military journalism.

You gotta be shitting me, Joker. So hilarious.

I laugh every time. Adventures in Babysitting

was awesome. Kevin and I did a whole podcast

episode on MWIRE for planes, trains, and automobiles.

I mean, you know, we already did a whole episode

on that, so that movie is just amazing. That's

John Candy at his best right there. Oh yes, John

Candy and Steve Martin at their best. I love

Throw Mama from the Train, Danny DeVito and Billy

Crystal, oh my god. So hilarious. Good Morning

Vietnam, Steve and I did an episode on that,

I love that. Robin Williams, again a hilarious,

hilarious actor. Innerspace. I didn't find out

about this movie until years later, but Dennis

Quaid Martin, probably one of the only Martin

Short movies I can actually watch and enjoy.

Everybody loves RoboCop. The first one, people.

The first RoboCop in 1987. Right, and Beverly

Hills Cop 2, I love that one. I love the first

two movies, the third one was alright, but the

second one for me is my favorite out of that

franchise. And of course, again, I think it was

episode 59 where Kevin and I spent two and a

half, two hours and 45 minutes on the Lethal

Weapon franchise. Lethal Weapon 1, oh my god,

was that movie so awesome. Good stuff. Yeah.

What about you, Kev? I have Lethal Weapon towards

the top of my list, so you just mentioned that

one. I had Planes, Trains, and Automobiles build,

and Automobiles written down. I had Untouchables,

RoboCop, Good Morning Vietnam, a couple other

ones I wanted to mention. Wall Street, the original

one. But the nerd in me, Spaceballs. 1997 yes

Not only did we have the lethal weapon franchise

start and the robo cop trilogy I guess is what

you can call it start It was the first year that

we ever had a predator movie. Yep And I know

Mike won't appreciate this lovely but the princess

bride motherfucker You know what? It's something

I need to go back and watch. I tried watching

it on TV one time when it came on AMC. I fell

asleep within the first five minutes. Come on.

You got Colombo. You watch it in celebration

of Colombo's life. I know. I know. I don't hate

the movie. I'm just indifferent to it. I just

don't get why. And I think it's because I haven't

watched it yet. you know all the way through

and actually paid attention to it so i you know

i i'll give it a shot i'm not i'm not saying

it's the worst movie ever harry potter i have

princess bride and lethal weapon as my top two

movies of 1987 i do have two more movie notes

but i'm gonna let steve go first so steve what

what were some of your favorites from this year

so do animated movies count of course they do

yes then gi joe the movie Yes, I thought that

was gonna go into cartoons. That's why I said

no, they don't count. Yeah. Sure. They're movies.

Why not? I have one that's Somewhat similar that

we'll get to in a second. Yes, but I I love GI

Joe the movie that's I had the the VHS tape and

I used it so much that It had massive issues

being played So yeah, it's really hard to find

sometimes as a list of animated movies and what

years they came out Oh, yes, sometimes there's

not real good list for that because they don't

they either have just the theatrical ones or

just the DVD ones Well in this case VHS, but

but yeah GI Joe. I freaking forgot. Dang it Yes,

I Couldn't forget that movie. Good job. Um, thank

you another one dragon it with Dan Aykroyd and

Tom Hanks another Wait, which film was that?

Dragonet. Dragonet, oh yeah. I love that film.

I gotta go watch that. Dang it, another thing

to add to my list. Yes, keep writing. Yes, and

of course, you know, like you guys mentioned,

Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop 2, Police

Academy 4, coming out that year, so. Without

without looking can anybody tell me what the

number one grossing movie of 1987 was because

we haven't mentioned it without looking like

We haven't mentioned the top two number one was

three men and a baby Yeah, and and the second

one was fatal attraction and then we had Beverly

Hills cop two and then good morning Vietnam Those

were the only four that made over a hundred million

But there is a movie that we have also haven't

mentioned that I have to mention for 1987 and

we have talked about it before in another podcast

Masters of the universe. Oh, yes. I know it's

not animated. So it's not exactly like Steve's

Joe mentioned but We couldn't not mention Masters

the universe being a geek podcast and I freaking

loved that movie Dolph Lundgren as he man. I

Loved the movie, but I think it fails on residual

watch But it was great back then. Do you know

how awesome it was as a six year old to see He

-Man come into the big screen and then to go

to the theater and then see all these characters

that you've never seen before? It was so, yeah.

Who are these people? Exactly see that was my

biggest problem back then and that was my and

that's my biggest problem with that movie today

because when we did that episode we learned that

what's his name oh god Gary something I forget

god I forget what his last name is the director

of that movie was a huge Jack Kirby fourth -world

fan yeah Jack Kirby who is a infamous comic book

writer and an artist designed fourth -world characters.

And Masters of the Universe... Gary Goddard.

Huh? Gary Goddard. Gary Goddard, there you go.

So Jack Kirby designed all those characters and

come to find out later on that Gary Goddard kind

of mirrored... the Masters of the Universe movie

after the fourth world characters outside of

He -Man, Skeletor, and the Sorceress. I mean,

they were badass characters. I mean, Blade was

a badass character and stuff like that, but you're

just like, why are all the good guys from He

-Man and why are all the bad guys from some universe

we've never seen before? Exactly. Except for

Skeletor and Evelyn. But how about the Courtney

Cox appearance? You know, ah, geez, there's Frank.

Whatchamacallit as Skeletor? Franklin Jela. Franklin

Jela as Skeletor brought the Alan Oppenheimer

version to life. Yeah, that was perfect. I mean,

there was just something cool, even though these

characters were bizarre as far as stuff you hadn't

seen. It was the first ever, I think in my time,

in my lifetime, cartoon that became live action

on the big screen for me. Yeah. The other thing

about that movie is the Lubbock. You got Dean

Strickland in a Masters of the Universe movie.

Oh yeah. He was in Back to the Future and now

he's in Masters of the Universe. Yeah, that's

right. I forgot about that. There was just a

lot of cool things about that movie. I know a

lot of people don't necessarily like the fact

that there's no Trapjaw or Triclops or Merman

or any of those people. And I know it doesn't

really hold up great today, but I still enjoy

watching it, so I don't care. That's a film that

needs to be rebooted, honestly. It sure does.

Okay, now let's get into that just for a second

here. Well, he brought it up. That's fair. There

have been several scripts over the years, but

there's been nothing concrete. There was a script

called, I think it was, it was a Power of Grey,

it was something Grey Skull, the story of Masters

of the Universe or something like that. There's

been tons and tons of rumors. And there's been

tons of activity, but nothing has ever actually

happened. Apparently the last rumor that was

out there was that at 2010, Sony hired a couple

of people to draft a new script. Right. Because

Sony took over the rights from Warner Brothers

in 2009. And there just seems to always be something

that's holding it up. But with the Transformers

and the G .I. Joe and all this other stuff that's

happening... it only makes sense this is the

one that could ease most easily be done i mean

it's it's already been i mean it basically would

have the look and the feel of say like the lord

of the rings type movies as far as the you know

the the design of the style as far as the settings

yeah and that type of stuff i mean it's something

that can easily be done um there's all kinds

of people that could probably play he -man um

It just seems like, have you guys seen any of

the fake like YouTube trailers? Yes, I have.

I have. Some of them are so bad. What's funny

to me is that it hasn't like it's not already

in production or it's not already in post -production

because this year is the 30th anniversary of

the brand. You know, you would think that 2012

would be a perfect movie year. The only problem

is 2012 is already stacked. With movies that

are gonna knock stuff out of the park specifically

the dark night and all that's gonna be awesome

Yeah, so I mean that that that would really be

the only detractor for a Masters Universe movie

this year But it does need to happen Out of all

these properties. This is the one that definitely

needs one I mean they've done some that aren't

necessary. This is one that could easily be done

and done well Exactly. I mean as long as they

don't do what? has been done in some of these

other ones that we won't get into. But that was

my only other movie note was Masters of the Universe

because that's just a geek landmark right there.

Anybody else thoughts on films of 1987? Bueller.

Oh yeah, that's right. What was I going to say?

The winner of the best picture was The Last Emperor,

but I don't have a dang clue what that is. my

movie knowledge fails me as far as The Last Emperor.

Sean Connery didn't win an award for Any Untouchables

though. So alright, it's time for another fun

dose of 1987 and we'll be back after the clip

with our next topic. And the wait is over. No!

Let's really party! Nonstop adventures headed

your way. I like it! Get ready for the ride of

your life. Alright! With Disney's DuckTales.

DuckTales, weekdays at 4 .30, only on Fox Channel

5. That's right, it's time to talk some more

cartoons. Imagine that, us talking about cartoons.

Cartoons of 1987. I have a couple notes before

we get into our favorites and what not. There

was a Jetsons revival in 1987. Oh yes. I don't

remember this, watching this as a kid, because

I just always assumed when I was watching Jetsons

it was always old. But they did come back and

they have some new episodes in 1987. Yep And

if you didn't if you didn't look real carefully,

you know, if you blink you might have missed

the two episodes of mad balls Yeah, they were

better toys commercials than they were an animated

series. This is the year that happened This is

the year that the catastrophe of mad balls happened

and apparently got two episodes out before people

Understood what it was and yanked it very quickly

Yeah, um, but yeah mad balls toys I remember

them better than I do the the two episodes Although

I have seen both episodes in recent years Some

one -hit wonders of 1987. I wanted to talk about

real quick Cartoons that you could only see in

1987 as far as new ones. That's one thing that

Your memory kind of gets clouded when you're

a kid You don't know which shows were on which

year which shows were in rerun or syndication

or which ones were running new But as far as

like new episodes 1987 was the only year that

you could see Beverly Hills teens. It only was

on 1987 Never saw it the adventures of Teddy

Ruxpin Maxie's world which I never saw but here's

a couple I did see bionic six sky commanders

which had some cool toys I believe Spiral zone

and my favorite one hit wonder of 1987 visionaries

Knights of the magical light Which I still have

two of their action figures You don't do you

remember any of those Mike? No, I Like I remember

hearing of them, but I don't think there were

anything I actually watched visionaries is pretty

decent the Bionic 6 has a kick -ass theme song

But uh, you should check out some visionaries

episodes. So those are some of the one -hit wonders

of 1987 It was kind of an odd year as far as

there was no new episodes of GI Joe this year

Well, that's because it was a movie year, right?

I'm just saying like In our childhood, it seemed

like there was always new episodes of GI Joe,

but this was like this is the hiatus period between

Sunbow and the Deeks series Yeah, you know this

in 1988 were kind of that like little void where

we were only getting CGI Joe and reruns So that

was kind of a weird phenomenon in 1987 But in

that void Came something else that Mike already

mentioned. Oh, yes Heroes in a half shell. Oh,

yes. This is the birth of the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. And I don't even know where we

begin with that. The theme song was awesome.

Yes. This just took over. I mean, this is this

is this is to me. I mean, kind of like what we

were talking about with Full House kind of changing

sitcoms like turtles change cartoons. To me like

you had, you know Transformers and G .I. Joe

and He -Man and Thundercats and all that stuff

but like Turtles comes around in 1887 and it

does stuff that Just hadn't been done before

as far as like popularity goes. Oh now Turtles

was Had the same level of fame and popularity

and merchandising as the Simpsons got in 1991

1992 mean Turtles were everywhere in 1987 just

Everywhere there was no kid in 1987 that didn't

that wasn't a Turtles fan. I don't think no I

mean you had the lunchboxes you had t -shirts

you had the rulers and the pens and I mean everything

had a Turtles logo on it and You didn't just

have the cartoon and we get like the music you

get the live -action movies you get the toys

the next year I mean this was just the the craze

I mean Don't know if any other cartoon in our

lifetime kids cartoon. I mean, this is like Pokemon

of Like the last gener of the more recent generation

to me. Oh, yeah, like I hate saying anything

about Pokemon, but as crazy as kids go about

that That's what turtles was 1987. Oh, yeah,

it was Or he man in the early 80s Like this was

just a phenomenon And I know people make fun

of the original Turtles as being more comedic

and, you know, silly and all that stuff, but

to me, that's what made it great. Yeah, it was

great. But the reason why it was so great is

because what it came from was extremely, extremely

dark comics. And I don't think in the 80s, like,

OK, you had G .I. Joe, you had Transformers,

you had Mask, you had, you know, all that stuff.

Those are all very violent cartoons. And yes,

well, this. turtles can be a violent cartoon.

I'm not saying that it isn't. It made it very

comical. I don't think kids would have watched

at that time. I don't think we would have watched

something like the 2003 reboot. I don't think

it was something back in the 80s that they could

handle, that deep, dark storytelling and all

that. I like it for what it is. And, you know,

we'll talk about it probably in future years,

but the live action movies are freaking incredible.

And that really solidified my love of Turtles

as a kid. I mean, the cartoon was one thing,

but those live action movies hooked me even more.

But that's a discussion for another day. Don't

mention only one quick, I have a trivia fact

for this. I mentioned earlier how awesome the

theme song is. The theme song was co -written

It was composed by Dennis Challen Brown, credited

as DC Brown and later as Dennis C. Brown, and

Chuck Lorre. For those of you who don't know

who Chuck Lorre is, he's behind Two and a Half

Men, Dharma and Greg, The Big Bang Theory. Lorre

penned the famous theme song and did the spoken

parts in the theme song because a successful

television producer uh... and and and and want

to be a successful television producer at that's

chuck lorrie's voice doing uh... calabonga interesting

yeah i know that for once you actually said something

interesting so that was kidding uh... not to

be overshadowed but completely overshadowed by

in the turtles there was a few other debuts obviously

all those one hit wonders made their debut in

nineteen eighty seven but also brave star uh...

which was a cartoon i liked in nineteen eighty

seven and the other one that made its debut uh...

ducktales Yep, and this is the first year of

DuckTales and talk about something that completely

changed another Sub -genre of cartoons and animation.

I mean DuckTales Led to a lot of stuff from Disney.

Well DuckTales wouldn't be what it is without

gummy bears. Oh, yeah, but I I do agree, DuckTales

is really what kicked off the Disney cartoons.

Right. So DuckTales and Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles to me are easily the two best -day views

in 1987, but what were some of your guys' other

favorite cartoons that were airing in 1987, Mike?

I was still watching the real Ghostbusters. I

was still watching reruns of Jim. Danger Mouse

is awesome. Episode 72 of Tooncast, go listen

to that. Kevin and I just oozed on Danger Mouse

because that show was so awesome. Transformers,

I think at that point they were doing the reruns.

I know it ended in 87, but I remember that they

started doing the Power Master Optimus Prime

interstitials. Well, and that's because Transformers

Headmasters debuts this year. Right, in Japan.

In Japan, yes. TMNT, as we said. For me, the...

The animated movie for me of 87, one that I really

just broke the VHS of, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones.

I love that movie. Love that movie. I completely

forgot that that was 1987. Gummy Bears, as I

said, that is one of the best 80s, it's not the

best, but it's one of the best 80s theme songs.

I'm going to have to go back and find this or

re -watch it, but I remember watching Dino Saucers

and loving it. Dino Saucers, that's awesome.

Well there was two of them that were kind of

battling each other at the same time. There was

Dino Riders and there was Dino Saucers. Dino

Saucers was better for me. I liked it a lot man.

Well one of them is the entire voice cast of

Transformers and one of them is not. Which I

think Dino Saucers is the voice cast of Transformers.

Yup. You know, just looking at the list, DuckTales,

Alvin and the Chipmunks, Heathcliff, Garfield.

I think I watched maybe one episode of Ewoks

and then wanted to kill myself. That's not too

nice. Flintstones Kids. That was all 86. Well,

still. I mean, it's still airing. Yeah. So yeah,

that's pretty much what I was watching. What

about you, Kev? My favorite cartoons from this

year were, like we already mentioned, Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles and DuckTales, Brave Star,

Thundercats, Transformers, even though it was

kind of at the end. I watched a lot of Muppet

Babies and Heathcliff, Alvin and the Chipmunks,

Gummy Bears, and this was probably the last...

Well, I mean, it was kind of the beginning of

it. as far as when these shows aired, but Care

Bears and My Little Pony were going on here.

I wouldn't be in these that much longer because

I was about five or six at the time and I kind

of grew out of them real quick, but I was definitely

into them the year before and still a little

bit in 1987. I also wanted to mention this was

the last year that there was new episodes of

The Centurions. It wasn't on very long, it was

just 85 -87, but this was the last year we saw

that. But yeah, definitely probably my favorites

of the year were Duck Tales and Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. What about you, Steve? What are

some of your favorite 1987 cartoons? I'd have

to say as far as carryover shows, I'd have to

say that I also think Alvin and the Chipmunks,

Heathcliff, another good show that I love, The

Transformers, obviously, G .I. Joe, but as far

as Uh, 87's concern, I just loved Teenage Mutant

Turtles. I had every freaking toy growing up.

That was like, I just like within the last year

or two got rid of the Technodrone. Oh, geez.

Which I still had. I mean, granted, I destroyed

the hell out of the outside of it, but I had

every piece still, so I guess that counts for

something. So yeah, that would be my number one

favorite show for the year. I loved DuckTales

as well. I saw a couple episodes of Fraggle Rock,

never really got into the animated version. I

more so liked the actual version of it. But yeah,

I'd have to say those are pretty much my mainstays

for 87 was those two cartoons. And I think, you

know, the one thing I did mention, just to go

back to Turtles for a second, to me, I mean,

you had had He -Man and G .I. Jones Transformers,

which were all had been really popular and all

kind of had run their course. There was a lot

of shows trying to fill that void before Turtles

came along. And I would almost say that the success

of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles almost killed

probably a lot of those other shows. that were

trying to fill that void or that maybe ideas

that people had for four shows. I mean, Turtles

was the one that finally regained that popularity

and took over kind of the torch from, you know,

Transformers and G .I. Joe and Thundercats because,

I don't know, I just felt like there was a lot

of stuff we were getting right in that 85, 86

area that was trying to fill that void and Turtles

just got there and did it. And it was the it

was like everyone was trying and trying and trying

and finally they succeeded with Turtles. But

it was also kind of the last one of its kind.

I mean we didn't get any more classic 80s action

shows after Turtles I mean it transitioned so

far into like 1996 that by the time Turtles is

over the 80s action Toy cartoon craze is over

So it was kind of like the end of an era too

if you want to think about it that way. Oh Yes,

it was So it's it kind of Let's put a stamp on

80s cartoons. I don't have any other thoughts

on cartoons because we talk about a whole lot

of them in another show called Tooncast. Mike,

you have any other thoughts? 100 episodes, a

lot of awesome. And some of them will be still

covered in Tooncast Beyond. Yes, tons of stuff.

You know, 1987 for me was more so the blend,

like Transformers was coming to an end. You know

thundercats was coming to an end mask had already

ended silverhawks only lasted one year Which

is a may what like the last four months? I know

we'll get to this but the last four months of

one year is when that entire show ran Which is

amazing to me But it was the transition for me

from cartoon like mostly watching cartoons to

watching live -action stuff like TGIF and all

that stuff Yes, Saved by the Bell and stuff like

that. Yeah, Saved by the Bell, stuff like that,

and all the TGIF shows. So yeah, that's pretty

much all I got for cartoons. All right, are you

steving anything else? Nope, that's it. All right,

then it's time for another 1987 clip, and we'll

be right back to talk about our fourth topic

right after that. Did you see the latest Nintendo

newsletter? Whoa, nice graphics! I'd like to

get my hands on that game. You mean you haven't

played it yet? We can play it on my Nintendo

Entertainment System. It's the Legend of Zelda,

and it's really rad! Those creatures from Geonath

are pretty bad. Octorok's tech -types leave us

too! But with your help, our hero pulls through!

Yeah! Go Link! Yeah! Get Zelda! Awesome! Intense!

The Nintendo Entertainment System. Your parents

help you hook it up. The Legend of Zelda sold

separately. You are playing with power! Punch

out by Nintendo. 11 world -class contenders.

Take them down with your controller, beat them

all, and you've got a shot at Tyson's title.

Power! But by that, you've got to beat Mike Tyson.

Mike Tyson's punch out from Nintendo. Now you're

playing with power. You are ready. Okay, boy.

I hadn't started the recorder yet, dumbass. The

name's Dumas. Dumbass. That's right, the next

topic for 1987 is video games. 25 years ago today,

this year, was a humongous milestone year for

video games. This is the 25th anniversary of

a whole lot of stuff. So talking about some franchises

that basically emerged or began in the U .S.

in 1987. So we're celebrating the 25th anniversary

of a bunch of these. The one I want to bring

up, namely, The Legend of Zelda. Oh, yes. One

of the longest running most popular series of

games, The Legend of Zelda started 25 years ago.

The Legend of Zelda was at that time the most

unique game. Because of how it was played and

how it was done and it's basically a topographical

story It was revolutionary and it led to one

of them the best games of all time and a link

to the past But that's for another story. Oh,

yes The other one that I want to mention and

I'll let you guys mention the other ones because

you're probably more into them than I am but

the other one that really hits home for me is

the 25th anniversary of the Release of the first

Mega Man game. Oh, yeah Mega Man December 17th

1987 the first Mega Man game came out and I Mega

Man means one thing in my game history like,

you know I was a big gamer when I was a kid and

you know, we had you know the Intellivision we

had pong we had the Commodore 64, you know IBM

when they hit we're just going on it wasn't till

recently that I stopped being a gamer but to

me the Mega Man games were the number one game

to rent when you had a sleepover that you would

both try to beat in that night before you had

to return the game the next day. Exactly. That's

what Mega Man was for me. It's never a game I

owned I never owned any of the Mega Man games

I owned all kinds of other games Mega Man was

the rent game the rent for a sleepover game No

matter if it was Mega Man 1 2 3 4 5 whatever

number it was and you know you had to know which

order to go to and otherwise you couldn't do

it in one night it seemed like and 25 years ago

Mega Man started and that was a huge one for

me. Yeah Mega Man for me was also huge, but like

you I never actually owned any of the games,

but I had friends that owned all of them and

it was just like each game from like I know a

lot of people kind of hate on some of the later

games but one through six really are my NES Mega

Man love because they were just each as for me

each game that they released got so much better

than the previous game like Mega Man itself is

you know whole other tier but I don't think I

don't think today's kids could necessarily handle

Mega Man. It is a simple side -scroller, but

the bosses are hard as hell. Yeah. I bought the

one that came out for, I think it was the GameCube

or whatever, put out like the Mega Man anniversary

collection that had all of them. And I was like,

oh, this is cool. This is the game I used to

play when I was a kid or whatever. And I sat

down to play that as like a college kid. And

I freaking wanted to throw my controller through

the TV. I was like, this was not this hard when

I was a kid. Exactly. It's so frustrating. uh...

yeah they don't they don't make games like that

because it's all about the graphics and everything

else nowadays but that was just about a game

that you actually had some pride and some sense

of accomplishment when you finally freaking beat

that game uh... but i'll let you guys talk about

there's four other big anniversaries twenty five

years ago i want to bring up two of them uh...

actually three uh... contra contra was huge contra

was awesome konami released that in february

twentieth of nineteen eighty seven And on July

7th, 1987, Konami Corporation releases Metal

Gear. I did not know that franchise was as old

as Metal Gear. Oh yes, Metal Gear is very old.

I would have never been able to tell you that

Metal Gear was first released in 1987. Now, as

a kid playing Contra and Metal Gear, I always

got the two mixed up and I always thought Contra

was Metal Gear. know that what I know I know

that you know now I know that it's not the case

but like you know as a kid sometimes you get

that shit you know mixed up. What's your TFG

on Mike? Shut up. But really where I didn't come

into the Metal Gear franchise wasn't until much

later when they released Metal Gear Solid for

the PlayStation and we'll get to that in a later

year but Metal Gear for the NES those games were

just awesome and really I got a I had a you know

tip my hat to mike lademan from this week in

yeet because mike lademan is a huge metal gear

fan and yeah that game was awesome the other

one uh was castlevania simon belmont you're a

konami fan yeah all right you all right i don't

know if this was 87 i think it might have been

but i'm gonna go tiger electronics on your ass

konami release tiger electronics Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles 2, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

the handheld game. And I played the hell out

of those Tiger Electronics games. That probably

wasn't until the next year or something, I'm

guessing. Something like that. I don't remember.

But yeah, no. What about you, Steve? As far as

gaming for 87, I didn't really have that many

favorites of the year. Yeah. Did you, I mean,

as far as these franchise goes, though, as far

as like the beginnings of Contra, Castlevania,

Metal Gear, Mega Man, Zelda, and the one we didn't

mention, which was Street Fighter, I mean, can

any of you guys think, I mean, how could any

other year compete with that many franchises

beginning? Like, those are just storied franchises.

Did you play, do you play any of those, or did

you play any of those games when you were a kid?

As far as those games are concerned like yeah,

those those did start out some some hits that

are still going today With the exception of Mega

Man, which is kind of dead now, but Mega Man's

gotten a huge shaft from Capcom so Capcom can

shove it up their ass, but um Because I I mean

granted Mega Man games were great. I I loved

when they evolved to Mega Man X series better

but it wouldn't have been X without the first

one so therefore I like the original. I like

Street Fighter 2 or Street Fighter as well I

should say because that pretty much got all the

later fighting games off the ground for the most

part so I really like that series and I remember

playing those in arcades so I just can't believe

that that many big -time franchises all got their

start in 87, but maybe we'll find, you know,

as we go through and talk about some of these

other years that there are some that can compete

with it, but I still can't get over the fact

that Metal Gear is that old. I knew that Castlevania

and Street Fighter and Zelda and all those and

Contra were back then. I don't know if I would

have put Mega Man quite in 87, but I would have

never put Metal Gear there. An interesting hardware

development in 1987 to give everybody a good

laugh. The VGA standard developed for IBM's new

PC gave us the finally the potential for 256

color graphics. It's amazing. It's stupendous.

The 256 days. Yes. Now, as far as everyone's

favorite games for 87 for me, I only got five.

I know I'm not even going to talk about a couple

of them, but just going down my list, Castlevania,

Zelda, Mega Man, Punch -Out and Spy Hunter, the

ones I'm going to talk about is Punch -out and

spy under because we just had a huge discussion

on Mega Man punch -out I Never could get past

like the third guy It was so like even back then

it was so freaking hard Mike Tyson's punch -out

I was like, oh my god, and this was before the

years. He bit Holyfield's ear off And Spy Hunter.

Spy Hunter was so awesome. It's basically you

in a car going up the road and shooting and blowing

up other cars. It was like Nintendo's Need for

Speed before Need for Speed franchise was ever

envisioned. It was so awesome. I love Spy Hunter.

I miss Spy Hunter. Any games for you, Steve,

from 1987 that we haven't talked about yet? Uh,

no. I just have... uh two i mean the biggest

ones i was probably playing was legend of zelda

mega man and the one that mike just said mike

tyson's punch out i i just remember it being

pretty hard i i sandman i think was the one that

got me um that could never get passed and and

tyson was virtually impossible but it was just

a game that was like unlike any others and good

lord the the the nintendo wii version of punch

out is phenomenal although it makes you like

hurt yourself because You're using the same muscles

over and over again as you're getting frustrated

and getting beat by these people and then all

sudden you're tired and sore But yeah, the punch

-out franchise is good. I also played a little

bit of gauntlet This is the first year that it

was released on Nintendo It had been obviously

an arcade game beforehand, but I love gauntlet

and I remember playing a little bit of double

dribble Yeah, I remember playing double dribble

I think we can't talk about 87 without talking

about Metroid. I remember playing Metroid here

and there, but it wasn't one of my... I know

it's a huge franchise now, but it was never really

one of my favorites. No, I never really played

it that much. I was looking through the list

of stuff, and I had the same feeling with a lot

of them. I didn't really play much Castlevania.

I didn't play much Metroid. I thought there was

one other one that was on there that I thought,

well, other people probably played that, but

I didn't. Well, maybe those are the only ones.

But 1987 to me was all about some of those big

franchises like Mega Man and Zelda. Oh, yeah.

Agreed. So I think it's time for another dose

of 1987. And after the clip, we'll come back

with a slightly different topic. But it takes

a strong man, baby But I have to show him to

build the door Cause I gotta have faith We're

shifting gears a little bit now to talk about

the music of 1987. I'm not a huge 80s music fan,

so Mike will probably talk more than I will.

But 1987 in music, it's getting towards the end

of a decade of crappy music and on to some other

better stuff. I'm just being mean. There's something

really fucking wrong with you. But a few notes

that I wanted to bring up before we get into

what our favorite things are of music in 1987.

Aretha Franklin was the first woman inducted

in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. How

about the first single to be commercially released

on cassette? Brian Adams, Heat of the Night.

I didn't know that they had to call this though.

Please tell me that nobody actually uses this

language anymore. Cassette singles were known

as ca -singles. No, I never used it back then

and I don't use it now. Guns N' Roses had the

record for the best -selling debut album ever.

Michael Jackson set a record which with the release

of bad because I had five number one singles

and the reunite Reuniting of Sonny and Cher on

David Letterman show So those are some of the

1987 I did want to say to some interesting groups

that were formed in 1987 Allison Chains formed

in 1987, Green Day, Nirvana, and this is my 90s

music love coming out here, Jin Blossoms formed

in 1987, but what do you want to say about your

music in 1987, Mike? Everybody remembers La Bamba,

Los Lobos, everybody remembers that song. I wish

I could forget it, though. Everybody remembers

the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and Bill Medley

and Jennifer Warren's I've Had the Time of My

Life. You too in the Joshua tree with with or

without you and all the awesome songs that are

on that album You too was awesome. They still

are today for the most part. You too was big

in 1987. That's for sure Bon Jovi and living

on a prayer amazing amazing song George Michael

in the faith album regardless of what came out

later when we found out, you know his Choice

in sexuality, which that's this choice. That's

fine but everybody loved that album except for

me what except for me okay well everybody who

loved 80s music that album some notable albums

as you said the bad album from michael jackson

appetite for destruction amazing amazing stuff

there deaf leopards hysteria which gave us pour

some sugar on me yeah i do like that song prince's

sign of the times Let's see what else. Bruce

Springsteen, Tunnel of Love. I mean, it was just

a really great time for 80s music. A little Here

I Go Again by Whitesnake. Oh, yes, Here I Go

Again by Whitesnake. To me, Bon Jovi was the

highlight, I guess, of 1987, Living on a Prayer

and Wanted, Dead or Alive were both on the album

there in 1987. I love those two songs. Beastie

Boys, Fight for Your Right. One of my favorite

groups of all time, R .E .M., this one goes out

to the one I love, was a good song there. But

yeah, I'm not a huge 80s buff as far as music

goes, but there was some good stuff that came

out in 1987. Club Nuvo and Lean On Me. Yeah.

Everybody remembers that. I remember playing

Got My Mind Set on you in band, in pep band,

so this is your George Harrison, put that song

out there. And then, of course, all the... This

was used later on, I believe, but somewhere out

there by Linda Ronstadt. Wasn't that used in

the 5 -O movie or something like that? Yeah.

Pseudo -Echo, Funky Town. Everybody remembers

Funky Town. Atlantic Stars, Always, Hearts, Alone.

Heart in general were really huge in the 80s.

87 was some great, great music. it just was you

know you get there you go one of my favorite

songs in 1987 coincides with Beverly Hills Cop

2 Bob Seeger Shakedown all right what about you

Steve um you guys pretty much mentioned all the

music the only one that kind of intrigued me

of why Is Bruce Willis had a CD? We forgot too,

this was a year before Bruce Willis was known

for movies because this was the year Bruce Willis

won the outstanding lead actor in a drama series

for TV, for Moonlighting. So Bruce Willis was

all over the place in 1987 trying to make a name

for himself. But yeah, why did he make him a

CD or a cassette? I don't know. Yes, it is. But

yeah, to me, the highlight of 1987 would be Bon

Jovi. I don't know if I had to pick my favorite

songs coming out of 1987. I know most people

would put like Michael Jackson or Madonna or,

you know, U2, which I don't know about the cult

there, but this is more your year than mine,

Mike. Yeah, pretty much. But any other thoughts

on music at all or the kind of the the few years

the few of last years before we get to CDs and

One of the first years where I think like music

videos were starting to become big and No music

videos were big already. I mean by 87 music videos

were huge. Yeah, I remember there was an MTV

music video award that started in like 84 so

this is just still in its first few years I mean

compared to now where we've had music videos

seems like for our whole lifetime yeah but uh

it was still kind of in its infancy at that time

only about four years old this music videos but

yeah if you want a more in -depth listen to about

the 80s music go over to GCR and listen to the

80 episode 31 where we go over slightly over

an hour talking about 80s music there. But 87

on its own by itself had a lot of good songs

and a lot of good albums come out of it. Alrighty

then I think it's time for a new dose of an interesting

dose this time of some 1987 stuff and we'll be

back with a new topic after the clip. The U .S.

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-G. All right, it's time for one of our two slightly

different topics. We kind of... gone past the

actual topical sections of the recording here

and we're entering some more miscellaneous stuff.

We call this one beginnings and endings. Things

that began or ended in 1987. Obviously we've

already talked about some of the more specific

as far as TV shows, movies, cartoons and stuff

that began or ended in 1987. So this is some

more general stuff. Some things that began. How

about the life of Hilary Duff, Zac Efron and

Kesha. Some of those things didn't need to begin,

but they did begin in 1987. Right. And I'm sure

once we get to later years, I can talk more about

how I enjoyed Lizzie McGuire. We'll get all into

the homosexual television tendency viewings.

Shut up! Just kidding. And just like some lives

began, some lives ended, not trying to gloss

over this, but Jackie Gleason died in 1987, Fred

Astaire, Lee Marvin, and Rita Hayworth were some

of the bigger names that passed on in 1987. So

some classic era people. Jackie Gleason, the

live action, first ever live action Fred Flintstone

because the Flintstones cartoon was based off

The Honeymooners. true true that um some more

beginnings in 1987 how about hooked on phonics

beginning in 1987 god i so hated those commercials

supplied us with jokes for years to come hooked

on phonics worked for you did not realize this

but 1987 the beginning of the lcd projector that's

kind of interesting where would we be without

it like what was the I'm not, I'm going to sound

retarded so I'm going to stop talking. Like what

was the type of technology they used in like

movie theaters before the LCD projector? Real

to real probably. Yeah, somebody make a comment

on this post and inform me. Yes, exactly. I did

not know this was his old. This kind of goes

back with Metal Gear. I did not know Red Bull

was his old. I didn't know that either. Red Bull

in 1987. It was probably, was that like Coca

-Cola? It was actually a drug back then. I don't

I honestly don't even I don't remember anything

to do with Red Bull in the 80s. I honestly don't

know even in the 90s It was probably just barely

barely a product just trying to scrape by it.

Yeah. Yeah Anybody find it ironic that it was

also the same year that Prozac began being I

have a story about this Oh God You know This

actually doesn't happen until later in my life

first patient of on Prozac in 1980. Oh no, shut

up This doesn't actually happen until New Year's

Eve 92 into 93. My family and I were going through

some emotional times. My mom had a nervous breakdown.

The boyfriend that had been living with us since

1984 come to find out He was actually married

and had two stepdaughters the entire time. I

don't know how the hell he led two lives at that

time whatsoever. I saw a TV show about that once.

Shut up. And I was constantly acting out. I mean,

I wasn't a bad kid, but you know, I was just

constantly acting out and this, that and the

other thing. My mom at one point said okay, we're

taking to the doctors and they're going to prescribe

you medications So you can you know kind of calm

down and I'm like no I just need someone to talk

to me and work things out with you know, you

know talk stuff out I don't need Medicaid. I

don't need to be a medicated kid. I don't need

Prozac or any of this stuff But yeah, I almost

was was prescribed Prozac when I was 12 13 years

old So yeah So we do have a story there. Also,

in 1987, life before disposable contact lenses.

Now, I don't wear contact lenses and stuff like

that, but I know a lot of people do, and I don't

know if they could imagine before there was disposable

ones of those. Again, going back to my mom and

her boyfriend of the time, yeah, he wore glasses

up to 87, and by that time... The disposable

contacts came out and that's what they started

using. Yeah Here's an interesting one because

again something that we've just always had to

deal with but uh Before 1987 there were no such

thing as condom commercials on TV Even after

87, I don't remember like, like, okay, nowadays,

you like I can turn on like at three, four in

the morning, they run infomercials like trivarics

for pills. Now, you know, trivarics, but you

know, Viagra, all that crap. But I don't remember

condom commercials as a kid. So who knew that

1987 was the very first condom commercial to

begin airing on TV. And it also another beginning

from 1987. The first time the Koosh ball. was

ever um brought to the public as far as toys

go the koosh ball my god that's where hacky sack

started really and i get this it was developed

in order to teach small children how to catch

a ball without hurting themselves yay i'm special

i can't grab a toy to me koosh ball is almost

Would create more injuries because you'll just

grab them by the little small elastic band and

then flicking at somebody really hard Oh, man,

we used to do it all the time Well, I think more

I think it failed because I think probably more

people got hurt because people like oh this won't

hurt. Bam But uh, yeah, couch ball 1987 the first

time It just seems like they've always been around

doesn't it? You know to me it does Anything else

you guys got that you can think of that began

or ended in 1987? Those are all the ones I have

Nope. I don't think so. Alrighty, well, then

it's time for one last dose of 1987 and we'll

be back with our last topic. I don't think that

the Giants ever been knocked off his feet like

that. Look at the look on the face of the champion.

He's hunking up, Des. I don't know if he's got

enough left in him. That adrenaline can do wonders.

We're seeing what this guy is really made of.

What he is. The greatest professional athlete

in the world today. Look at this. He's got him!

Wrestling superstars can go on a whole new twist

with the new WWF stretch wrestlers! Stretch them

in a hose even these guys can't do! Fight the

double stretcher! Hey, you stretched me into

a skinny whip! The reverse stretch pretzel lock!

You better get the stretcher! The step over triple

trouble twist and twister! Don't stretch your

luck! Stretch the WWF stretch wrestlers! You

have helped us! The San Antonio Spurs select

David Robinson from Navy It's an alien no kidding

where it's living in America I like what they've

done with the place it loves cats can't get enough

of them It's health and now it's everywhere My

parents just don't understand our relationship.

I mean, the whole cast seems to have been blown

all out of proportion. Alf. The hidden rockets

blast the evil robot. We'll meet again, Questar!

Diplodocus with motorized walking action. Dinonychus

and Pteranodon. With figures in battle gear,

each sold separately. Dino Riders. It's Fortress

Maximus. Fortress Maximus! The colossal headmaster,

Autobot City. The Terracons are attacking! Transform

Fortress Maximus! Headmaster Transformers! From

city to battle station! Form a form and use the

eye! Terracons, pull the bomb! Alright, it's

our time for our last section here in the first

episode of GCR in Retro. We call this one Notables.

It's basically our generic miscellaneous category

for anything that hasn't fallen in anywhere else.

I don't know how many times I'm going to want

to say potent potables, but notables, notables.

Starting with just a few general ones, 1987 was

the first time that we ever had a criminal convicted

using DNA evidence. Wow. Another thing that is

hardly fathomable, like life before people were

able to, like you could use DNA in court. Just

to give people an idea of what was happening

in 1987, our president was Ronald Reagan, in

case you didn't know that. How about this interesting

dying his hair brown and this is the first time

that he appeared on stage with white hair I did

not know there was ever a time. He didn't have

white hair He was given like a standing ovation

by showing up in his natural hair color for the

first time Wow Yeah, that's kind of crazy The

rest of them we'll get into, those are just the

general ones. The rest of the things we'll get

into, we're gonna talk about toys, we're gonna

talk about comics a little bit, and sports and

or sports entertainment. Just to give you a rundown

of the sports real quick, 1987 saw the New York

Giants beat the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl,

39 to 20. 1987 saw the Minnesota Twins beat the

St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series four

games to three, and the series MVP was Frank

Viola. It was also the first World Series game

ever played indoors, which was game one in Minnesota

at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. In the NBA,

1987 saw the Lakers beat the Celtics, 4 -2. Imagine

that, the Lakers and the Celtics. Fucking Lakers!

Lakers and Celtics, I can't believe it. They

showed up in the finals against each other. I

thought that never happened. And in the NHL,

the Edmonton Oilers beat out the Philadelphia

Flyers 4 -2 -3 in NHL hockey. Did anybody hear

something right there? NCAA men's basketball

championship went to Indiana who beat Syracuse

by one point. So that must have been a good game.

So those are your sports headlines. Anybody have

any comments on sports in 1987 or what teams

or sports you were watching or liking or anything?

I. Obviously, being from Boston originally, I've

always loved the Celtics. But at the time, I

did like, like, I liked individual sports stars

from other teams like Michael Jordan, like Magic

Johnson. But yeah, the 87 NBA Finals. God, that

was torture. This was the first year I ever went

to a professional sporting event. It was my first

first Cubs game. I my dad and a group of family

friends. We went to Cubs games I got to see one

in 87 one in 88 and one in 89 I don't remember

which one 87 was I think they played the Padres

And they won they won all three of those years.

So it was my first Cubs game ever 1987 awesome.

So what you Steve? I don't have too many comments

on this particular year as far as sports, because

I didn't really start following sports until

the late 90s. OK. Fair enough. Can we call this

sports? Because the next thing I have written

down here is wrestling. Sports entertainment.

I did not know, but 1987, I used to know this,

but I had forgotten. 1987 was the first ever

Survivor Series. Yep. First ever Survivor Series.

To me, that was just like growing up, it was

always you had WrestleMania. You had Survivor

Series and Royal Rumble were like the three big

ones for me. And Survivor Series was just fun.

It was a fun idea to have these teams of people

and you've got eliminated one at a time until

the last man standing basically. So many great

Survivor Series moments that I can remember.

I used to be huge into wrestling. The champion

for the entire year of 1987 of the WWF, yes,

WWF people was Hulk Hogan. Surprise surprise

Intercontinental titles people like Randy Savage

Ricky steamboat honky tonk man and the tag teams

in WWF were British Bulldogs Heart Foundation

and Strike Force The king of the ring that year

went to Randy Savage and the biggest event in

professional wrestling not only that year, but

possibly ever Was at WrestleMania 3 when Hogan

body slammed quote unquote Andre the giant Oh

yes, that was an amazing, amazing moment. No

wrestling fan does not know what I'm talking

about there. Like, even though it wasn't the

prettiest body slam in the world. Well, let's

face it, Andre the Giant was a giant, so I mean,

you know. But just the number of people that

were at this WrestleMania, I think I remember

Bob, Bob Uecker or whatever was like the guest.

commentator referee announcer person or whatever

but just so much hype about this and Hogan picking

up under the Giants slamming him was big and

then on the side note this was before WCW existed

this was back in the days of the NWA and the

NWA champ in 1987 was none other than Ric Flair

so a lot of cool wrestling stuff in 1987 this

was when I was first first first starting to

get into professional wrestling Yeah, it didn't

last forever, but this is when it all began With

me in professional wrestling specifically WWF

WWE it's been a off again on again relationship

Where as a kid I would watch it all the time

Up until I was probably about 13 or 14, and then

I stepped away for a number of years I came back

in like 2001 2002 I watched it From then till

about 2004 and then I came back again in 2007

and I've been watching since then But back then

wrestling was like just going to a WWF live event

that especially a live event that was televised

was Amazing. I remember going to It might have

been a different year. I don't know if was 87,

but I remember going to a WWF event in Boston

Garden or Hulk Hogan was facing against Roddy

Piper Junkyard dog was there Andre the giant

was I mean it was like everybody of that time

was was there at this match and it Not match

but at this event and it was just so so awesome

Yeah, I mean to me this is where it all began,

you know kind of 1987, you know WrestleMania

3 that type of period and I just started getting

into it my heyday or my golden era of wrestling

would have been like early 90s You know late

from 87 to probably about 93 94 until it got

kind of stupid for a little while before the

NWO came back and revived it but yeah 1987 was

huge for me in wrestling as far as just exposing

me to the phenomenon that was Hulkamania, even

though I wasn't a huge Hulk Hogan fan, but it

was very cool. I was more of a Randy Savage fan,

but I'm going to let you guys cover this next

bullet because otherwise I'm going to sound like

someone who doesn't know what the heck they're

talking about. Any TV's Mr. Neil over here or

something like that? There was a few comic notes

about 1987 that maybe you guys will be interested

in sharing. I don't know. We need Mike Blademan

or somebody on the show for this segment, because

yeah, I have no clue. Where do you want to start

with this, Steve? Oh, I see how it is. Oh, I'm

just, I'm just asking. Okay, well, let's just

go bullet by bullet here. DC Comics reboots three

of its core characters and titles with the introduction

of The Flash volume two, Superman volume two

and Wonder Woman volume two. Peter Parker marries

Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider -Man annual

number 21 written by Jim Shooter and David. Michelini?

I don't know. With art by Paul Ryan and Vince

Coletta. Batman Year One begins the DC Comics

Batman number 404 continuing through Batman number

407 written by Frank Miller with art by David

Mazzuccelli. Again, this is why we need someone

else on this for this segment because, yeah,

I don't know these names. Batman Year One recounts

the beginning of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman

and Jim Gordon's with the Gotham City Police

Department. It is one of the first examples of

the limited series with any series format that

is now prevalent in American comic books. This

particular year had the formation of the Independent

Comic Publishers Association, which they started

printing on comics in this particular year. I

was gonna ask you guys to there was a link there

that's in the in the script with comics and there

was a list of a list of what they called initial

appearances by characters I don't know if this

is saying that they this is the first like 1987

was the first time that they appeared or if it

was the first time they appeared in in certain

comics or whatever but I was just going through

the names here and I'm obviously I'm not a big

DC or Marvel person but some of the names that

came out but I'm like I said I'm not sure if

these are actually their first overall appearances

or if they're just like some type of special

first appearance in 1987 but there was names

like Captain Adam this says that there was a

Captain Adam number one issued in March I don't

know if any of the other names would ring bells

with you guys or not, but let me see. The other

DC ones here. For future episodes, we need JT

from Saskaspoon on these episodes. Saskapoon.

Saskaspoon. Saskapoonie. It says it was Sam and

Max, the freelance police, their first maybe

appearance in 1987. But I remember that as an

animated series, not as a comic. Well, it was

a comic. We need to get started. Excuse me. There

was a first issues by title Captain Adam Doom

Patrol The Flash Justice League it says Spectre

Superman volume 2 Wonder Woman volume 2 Silver

Hawks I Don't know some other interesting comic

news go ahead There were some awards the Eagle

Awards in 87 where I'm just going to mention

a few from these different categories. For the

American section, the favorite character of the

year was Batman. Nice. Following such, the favorite

villain was the Joker. How about this being a

year of you know, obviously we had the movie

a couple years ago But the Watchmen there was

a few awards there for the stuff like that Favorite

comic book was the Watchmen and a character most

worthy of own title was Rorschach from Watchmen

for these are also these same type of Eagle Awards

here Favorite comic cover Wonder Woman number

ten Favorite graphic novel daredevil, but not

favorite eventual movie But yeah, there's definitely

some interesting Kirby Awards to best single

-issue Batman the Dark Knight returns number

one Happened in this year So yeah, there's some

interesting comic book stuff. Just unfortunately.

I don't know enough about them to do them justice

Justice League there we go the Transformers Headmasters

comics come out. Yes There was comics for both

Silverhawks and visionaries this year as well

and Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

comes out. Ooh, there we go. Good stuff. The

original Astro Boy, Betty and Veronica. Yeah,

there's a lot of comic stuff in 1987. I also

want to talk a little bit about some toys. Give

me a rundown. Now, this has to be one of the

most frustrating subjects to try to research

in the world. You would think out of all the

toy nuts out there and all the different fandoms

that there would be better information on the

internet as far as toys and best -selling toys

and toys by year and stuff like that but it's

really hard to find stuff. I did find one site

that seems believable and it gave a top 10 selling

toys of 1987. Number one would be the Nintendo

Entertainment System. It had just recently come

out. So Nintendo was a big seller in 1987 as

far as people getting it for Christmas and whatnot

Hasbro's pogo ball. I Don't know if you guys

remember that No, the ball was like the the disc

and then the ball was in the middle of it And

so you'd stand on the disc part the flat part

and the ball would be in the middle of it It

would kind of poke out the beginning or the top

and the bottom of this disc and you could bounce

around on it Pictionary as a board game Fisher

Price toys were big in 1987 the Colecos elf plush

doll Jajo action figures were big in 87 Barbie

action figures were big Remote -control cars

were big and then the cabbage patch babies Also

by Coleco were big in 1987, but I have a few

of my own favorite toys of 1987 so forget the

top 10 selling toys my ones on my list even though

i never got this how about the year that fortress

maximus was released oh yeah i never had it never

owned it i had metroplex which was fine because

i love metroplex but fortress maximus was like

the end all be all for transformer fans out there

nowadays Probably mint in box on eBay to go from

anywhere from one thousand or two thousand dollars

For a used one that has parts here and there

probably five hundred to a thousand dollars Yeah,

my favorite transformers though that came out

in 1987 were the terracons and the technobots.

I Loved those combiners, especially the technobots

Those are my favorite Transformers in 1987. I

also wanted to mention that 1987 was the first

year we ever got a Sorceress figure in He -Man

Yep It was the year that I got my I Had a Cobra

commander before but this was the year that the

Cobra commander in like the the silver Outfit

kind of yeah see in the in the deep series later

The Silver Cobra Commander came out in 1987 and

I got that for either my birthday or Christmas

or something and I always loved that figure.

And of course, 1987 would be the year, toys wise,

the first line of Silver Hawks came out that

year. So those were my favorite toys of 1987.

Do you guys got any comments at all about toys

in 1987 or which ones you were playing with or

collecting or anything? I do, I don't know if

Steve does. No, I do not. Just looking at the

Transformers catalog image here for 87. Rekgar,

Rodimus Prime, which I know some of these came

out in 86, but these were the toys that I was

playing with in 87. Ultra Magnus was awesome.

For me, the Turtles, I mean you can't go wrong

with the Turtles toys. Except that you couldn't

get them in 1987. You couldn't? Nope, they came

out in 88. That's why I had nothing. That's why

Steve said nothing. No, you could watch the cartoon

in 87, the toys didn't come out like that. It's

kind of like Transformers Prime, you get to watch

the show and then a few years later you collect

the toys. You know, Scorponok from Transformers.

Yeah, Scorponok and Fortress Maximus were the

two that you could go at it with each other.

What was the other one? It was also the first

year that you had, I think, the Target Masters

became available. Yeah, Target Masters, Predaking.

Everybody loved Predaking. Yeah, there was also

some cool, for the G .I. Joe fans out there,

this was a cool year for some of the movie. Inspired

character like globulous Nemesis enforcer as

far as those action figures and and a few of

those characters came out this year as far as

the toy line goes I just wish there was something

that was more some websites out there if anybody

knows good like references for toy websites let

us know because I was trying to search by like

87 I was trying to search by like action figures

that were first released in 1987 the most popular

the top sellers and it's really hard to find

Because you have to go by almost by fandom in

order to find that like you have to search like

Transformers of 1987 and I don't want to have

to click in every different freaking franchise

to try to find out what came out in each year,

but there was that Wasn't the elf thing from

colico wasn't that the talking one? Yeah, I had

that I love that toy Yes elf was huge yeah, you

could the talking elf I remember the commercials

for it too and I didn't have one but did you

like destroy it did it work well it worked well

for about six months gotcha same thing with I

know it's not in this year but same thing with

Teddy Rocks been at work for about three months

yeah and then it doesn't work anymore and then

there's a couple last little interesting tidbits

of trivia and facts for you for 1987 to kind

of give you a feeling for how far a dollar went

in 1987 how about one gallon of gas for 89 cents

yeah 89 cents i would die for that right now

um postage stamps only costed 24 cents back then

and a dozen eggs you could get for 65 cents so

man you could get a lot for a dollar back in

the day oh yes not much not much anymore Any

other general stuff or any other notable events,

things, or details that we've left out that you

want to bring up, Mike, in 1987? I don't think

so. If you don't have any notables, give us your

final thoughts on 1987 as far as the highlights

or whatever you take away from back when you

were getting into second grade. The Turtles cartoon

obviously All the great movies and it just I've

said this before on several of our other shows

Going back and realizing what came out in what

years as a child and realizing that Die, you

know die hard lethal weapon all that stuff Rated

R or what? Yeah, it just surprises me what I

got away with watching as a seven -year -old

Huh? And it forever damaged you. Nah, I'm alright.

Overall, 1987 was a good year. Alright, Steve,

anything you want to bring up lastly, or your

final thoughts of the year of 1987 in general?

Overall, it was a pretty good year. Again, it's...

I wouldn't go as far as saying it was the greatest

year, but... I would say that there was a lot

of monumental stuff that went on this year. Yeah,

definitely. I mean, from The Simpsons to Star

Trek, you know, some of the cartoons we talked

about that started like DuckTales, Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles, just a lot of like even some of

those game franchises that started in 87. There

was a lot of stuff that like we just take for

granted that was not available before this year,

which is weird to think of a world without some

of the stuff from 1987. That's right. Alright,

I think we will leave you here with some GeekCast

Radio ads and we will sprinkle in, I know you've

gotten some 1987 clips and doses of different

1987 stuff along the way, but we're going to

sprinkle a few more in with some of our ads so

you can kind of get both information from GeekCast

Radio and then some fun 1987 doses as well. And

I think that does it for now. We're going to...

the show actually with those ads and with the

clips at the end so we'll say our goodbyes now

until our next episode of GCRN Retro and if you

haven't noticed there will be trends here so

for the whole calendar year of 2012 it's all

about anniversaries this was a 25th year anniversary

and we'll have to wait and see how far back we

go or if we go quite as far back as 25 years

before we give you our episode in February so

for now I'm Optimus Solo. I'm DFG on mic. Later!

and Steve Megatron Phillips. So hopefully you

can find your way back to the present before

we take you back in the past next month. You've

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evil. And there is only one man who dares challenge

him. They are locked in a battle to the death.

A battle that will take them across the heavens.

A battle that will finally be fought. Across

the face. Of Earth. I think I'm gonna need some

backup. Can you show us the way? No Dolph Lundgren

as He -Man. Frank Langella as Skeletor. Only

they have the powers to be. Masters of the universe.

Live the adventure.