KnockBack: The Retro and Nostalgia Podcast

In the late 1970s, something amazing happened: People didn't have to go to the movie theater anymore to watch films. Crazier yet, they didn't have to be home at specific times to watch TV. The same device made both revolutions possible: The VCR. But the VCR didn't reach its full potential until the advent of the video store in the early '80s, and it's here that we begin our tale, reminiscing over stories about our shops...

Between GI Joe and Star Wars -- not to mention all of the other competing toy lines of the time -- the early '80s were a busy era for little boys across the west. But then, 1984 rolled around and brought with it a revolutionary new toy line: Transformers. Transformers' three-pronged approach -- action figures, cartoons, and comics -- saturated the landscape for several years, years Dagan remembers fondly...

In 1987, upstart Japanese publisher-slash-developer Capcom changed the game when it released Mega Man (known as Rockman in Japan), a silky smooth, beautiful, and dynamic non-linear side scrolling shooter. By 1990, Capcom had followed up the original Mega Man with two fantastic sequels, cementing the franchise in old-school Nintendo lore. Today, on the longest episode of KnockBack to date, we dissect our love of the Blue Bomber, and discuss at length the special bond we developed over the series...

Skateboarding as we know it today became a true phenomenon on the west coast in the late '70s and into the '80s, and it just so happens that skating has been one of Dagan's biggest passions for more than 30 consecutive years. So we dedicated today's episode of KnockBack to those neon days, when skating was niche, looked down upon, and truly rough around the edges. It's always a pleasure when Dagan goes into storytelling mode, so.....

While there are a number of amazing '80s teen movies we could easily swoon over, John Hughes' 1985 classic The Breakfast Club is the most quintessentially '80s of 'em all. It's strange that a straight-forward movie about five students serving Saturday detention together could become such a powerful and beloved calling card of a place and time, and yet, The Breakfast Club remains a beacon to Gen X-ers (and their kids) to this day...

Few (if any) television shows in history tickled our funny bones like Seinfeld. From 1989 until 1998, the demented stories of Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine captivated audiences with their absurdity, told with the assistance of incredible humor and world class writing. Today's KnockBack is dedicated to the amazing, spectacular, GOAT 180 episode run of Seinfeld, and focuses on the characters themselves...

Throughout the '80s, the Indiana Jones trilogy riveted moviegoers around the world with its tale of a cunning, adventurous archaeologist traveling the planet in search of priceless relics. Today's episode of KnockBack jumps into what makes Indiana Jones so beloved and so well-remembered, with specific sections of the show dedicated to each of the core Indy movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade. So grab your whip, and maybe your pistol, too...

In 1991, Final Fantasy IV came to SNES (we initially knew it as Final Fantasy II in the west), and it changed entirely our expectations of what a role-playing game could be. With a dire, multi-dimensional story, a diverse cast of interesting characters, a stunning soundtrack, and a serious gameplay hook, Final Fantasy IV burrowed its way into gamers' hearts and minds the world over, and 27 years later, it's as beloved as ever...

In 1978, a year after Star Wars: A New Hope came to theaters, a book quietly found its way onto store shelves. It was called Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and it took place in between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. And thus, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was born, storytelling from A Galaxy Far, Far Away done outside of the films themselves...

From 1999 through 2007, The Sopranos aired on HBO. Indeed, it was only HBO's second scripted series ever (kinda crazy when you think about that through today's lens, huh?). The story of Tony Soprano and his two families -- his actual family and his crime family -- is considered some of the finest storytelling to ever grace television, and is more than worthy of a meaty episode of KnockBack...