The Insanely Dangerous Retro Podshow

--- The Insanely Dangerous Retro Podshow is your one-stop nostalgia fix, now hosted solo by the irrepressible Dangerous Dave! From the funky 70s through to the chaotic 00s, Dave dives headfirst into the wild world of retro pop culture—movies, music, TV, games, and everything in between. Expect deep dives, personal takes, outrageous trivia, and unfiltered opinions. Whether you’re reliving your childhood or discovering old-school gems for the first time, this is where retro lives loud, proud, and dangerously. New episodes every week—tune in and turn back time!

The Insanely Dangerous Retro Podshow is a society podcast hosted by Dave Pierce, with 321 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Dave Pierce hosts The Insanely Dangerous Retro Podshow, a society show with 321 episodes published.

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  Episode #11

  Season 9 Episode 11 - Ulysses 31

  Sep 30, 20261h 41mS9

  **“Ulysses, Ulysses... soaring through all the galaxies!”** This week Dangerous Dave is blasting off into the 31st century for one of the strangest, most ambitious and most memorable cartoons of the 1980s... # ULYSSES 31! Greek mythology meets science fiction as we board the Odyssey with **Ulysses, Telemachus, Yumi and Nono** for a huge nostalgic look back at the cult animated series. ⚡ **Dangerous Deep Dive** Dave explores the history behind *Ulysses 31*, its French-Japanese production, its inspiration from Homer's *Odyssey* and the brilliant idea of taking ancient Greek myths and throwing them thousands of years into the future. We revisit Ulysses' battle with the Cyclops, the curse of the gods, the frozen crew of the Odyssey and the desperate journey to find the Kingdom of Hades and return home. **The Episodes** We pick through some of the show's most memorable adventures and characters, including its futuristic interpretations of familiar mythological figures and stories. How well did the mythology translate into science fiction? Which episodes still hold up? And just how terrifying were some of those gods and monsters when we were kids? **Nono!** Of course, we can't talk about *Ulysses 31* without everyone's favourite little red robot. Nono loves eating nuts and bolts, getting himself into trouble and somehow becoming one of the most memorable parts of the entire show. And yes... Dave may spend considerably longer talking about Nono than originally planned. **THAT THEME TUNE!** Then there's the opening theme. One of the great cartoon themes of the 1980s? We certainly think so. It's dramatic, ridiculously catchy and almost impossible to hear without immediately shouting... **“ULYSSES! ULYSSES!”** ️ **What Happened Way Back When?** We fire up the Retropodshow time machine and head back to the early 1980s for another blast of movies, television and music from around the period when *Ulysses 31* first appeared. **Retro Headlines** What else was happening while Ulysses was travelling through the universe? Dave opens the retro newspapers for another collection of stories from the era. **Back in the Ads** It's another trip into the wonderfully strange world of vintage advertising as we revisit a classic advert from the period. ️ **Dangerous Detour** Why were 1980s cartoons so willing to take absolutely bonkers concepts seriously? Greek mythology in space? A transforming robot truck? Mutant turtles learning martial arts? A skeleton-faced villain fighting a man with a magic sword? Nobody cared. And that's exactly why we loved them. **Retro Rumble** Two retro favourites enter. Only one leaves with the completely meaningless but incredibly prestigious Retro Rumble victory! **Dangerously Underrated** We shine the spotlight on something from *Ulysses 31* that deserves a little more love and ask whether the series itself deserves to be remembered alongside the biggest cartoons of the decade. **ONE SEASON WONDER RETURNS!** Yes! We've dragged one of our old segments out of the Retropodshow cupboard. **One Season Wonder is BACK!** Dave revisits another television programme that managed just a single season before disappearing into the great retro television graveyard. Was it cancelled too soon? Or was one season quite enough? **Toybox Time Machine** We're digging through the retro toy box again for another childhood favourite from the era. ️ **Gaz's Rapid Retro Review** Gaz gets his chance to review *Ulysses 31*. The animation. The mythology. The Odyssey. The theme tune. Ulysses. Telemachus. Yumi. And most importantly... **NONO!** Will Gaz embrace the wonderfully weird world of *Ulysses 31*? Or will the gods sentence him to wander the universe forever? **THE DANGER ZONE** Finally, Dave asks the big question: # DOES ULYSSES 31 DESERVE TO BE REMEMBERED AS ONE OF THE GREAT 80s CARTOONS? We weigh up the animation, storytelling, characters, mythology, music, originality and legacy before giving *Ulysses 31* its final Dangerous Rating. And once our journey through the 31st century is complete, we're heading back to Earth for something absolutely enormous. Four men. One extraordinary catalogue. Freddie Mercury. Brian May. Roger Taylor. John Deacon. **NEXT TIME – SEASON 9 EPISODE 12: QUEEN!** Bohemian Rhapsody. Somebody to Love. We Will Rock You. Don't Stop Me Now. Radio Ga Ga. Live Aid. Wembley. And much, much more. The 31st century is behind us... # NEXT STOP: QUEEN! **The Insanely Dangerous Retropodshow** **Where Retro Never Goes Out of Style!**

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  Episode #10

  Season 9 Epsiode 10 - The Wedding Singer

  Sep 23, 20261h 32mS9

  “Somebody kill me please…” Grab your microphone, dig out your finest 80s outfit and make sure you don’t end up becoming Julia Gulia, because Dangerous Dave is heading back to 1985 — via 1998 — for a huge celebration of The Wedding Singer! Dangerous Deep Dive Dave goes behind the scenes of the Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore romantic comedy, looking at how the film came together, its brilliant supporting cast, the decision to set the story in 1985, the incredible 80s soundtrack and why the chemistry between Sandler and Barrymore makes Robbie Hart and Julia Sullivan such a memorable screen couple. Scene-by-Scene Review From Robbie being abandoned by Linda on their wedding day to his spectacular Somebody Kill Me breakdown, Glenn Gulia proving himself to be an enormous bellend, the brilliant Love Stinks performance and Billy Idol turning up at exactly the right moment — Dave revisits the whole movie before reaching that unforgettable aeroplane performance of Grow Old With You. What Happened Way Back When? – 1998 We revisit the music, movies and television of 1998, including Robbie Williams, Fatboy Slim, Aerosmith, Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show, Blade, Dawson’s Creek and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Retro Headlines What else was happening in 1998? From the Good Friday Agreement and France ’98 to the iMac, Titanic dominating the Oscars and the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, Dave takes another trip through the headlines of the year. ️ Dangerous Detour Why did the late 1990s become so fascinated with the 1980s? Dave explores how The Wedding Singer helped turn a decade that had only recently ended into a full-blown nostalgia playground. Back in the Ads We head into Cadbury Land, where Buttons, Curly Wurly, Fudge, Chomp and Freddo joined forces for some wonderfully strange late-90s advertising. Retro Rumble It’s Sandler and Barrymore versus... Sandler and Barrymore! The Wedding Singer vs 50 First Dates! Which romantic comedy takes the Retro Rumble crown? Dangerously Underrated This week we celebrate Rosie — Robbie’s wonderfully lovable elderly singing student, supplier of meatballs and unexpected performer of Rapper’s Delight. One Season Wonder Dave heads into space with Mercy Point, the short-lived 1998 sci-fi medical drama that basically asked the question nobody else was asking: What if ER... but in space? Toybox Time Machine The Tamagotchi returns! Feed it, clean it, look after it... go to school for six hours and discover you’ve accidentally killed it. ️ Gaz’s Rapid Retro Review Gaz delivers his verdict on Robbie, Julia, Glenn, Linda, George, Rosie, Billy Idol and one of Adam Sandler’s most lovable movies. The Danger Zone The big question: IS THE WEDDING SINGER ADAM SANDLER’S BEST MOVIE? Dave weighs it against Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, 50 First Dates and Sandler’s more dramatic work before delivering his verdict. ⭐ FINAL DANGER RATING: 59/60 And with a score that close to perfection... THE WEDDING SINGER ENTERS THE HALL OF DANGER! Then it’s time to leave the weddings behind and travel thousands of years into the future... Because next time we’re boarding the Odyssey for... Season 9 Episode 11 – ULYSSES 31! The Insanely Dangerous Retropodshow Where Retro Never Goes Out of Style!

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  Episode #9

  Season 9 Episode 9 - Mariah Carey in the 90's

  Sep 16, 20261h 37mS9

  THE VOICE OF THE 90s? This week on The Insanely Dangerous Retropodshow, Dangerous Dave turns the volume up, attempts absolutely no whistle notes whatsoever, and takes a huge Dangerous Deep Dive into the incredible 1990s career of... MARIAH CAREY! From arriving seemingly out of nowhere in 1990 with Vision of Love to ending the decade with Heartbreaker, we're following Mariah through one of the most successful runs in 90s music. The albums. The number ones. The ballads. The R&B. The hip-hop collaborations. That extraordinary voice. And yes... Eventually we're going to have to mention that Christmas song. ⏰ WHAT HAPPENED WAY BACK WHEN? – 1990 First, Dangerous Dave fires up the Retropodshow time machine and heads back to 1990, the year Mariah Carey's debut album arrived. In music we're remembering Depeche Mode's “Enjoy the Silence,” Sinéad O'Connor's “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Madonna's “Vogue,” The Charlatans' “The Only One I Know” and MC Hammer's “U Can't Touch This.” At the cinema we're revisiting Goodfellas, Home Alone, Total Recall, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Edward Scissorhands. And on television it's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Twin Peaks, Keeping Up Appearances, Law & Order and Dream On. Then Retro Headlines takes us back to Italia '90, Margaret Thatcher's resignation, the Channel Tunnel breakthrough, the arrival of Mr Bean, Hubble heading into space, Bartmania and more. 1990 was packed... And right in the middle of it, a new singer called Mariah Carey was about to become a superstar. ️ DANGEROUS DEEP DIVE – MARIAH CAREY IN THE 90s Then it's time for the main event. Dave goes back before the fame to explore Mariah's early songwriting, demo recordings and the story of how her tape reached Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola. From there... It's album by album through the 1990s. MARIAH CAREY – 1990 What a way to start. Mariah's debut introduces that extraordinary voice to the world with Vision of Love, before Love Takes Time, Someday and I Don't Wanna Cry help turn her into an almost immediate chart phenomenon. But Dave also looks beyond the vocals to something that sometimes gets forgotten... Mariah Carey wasn't simply singing these songs. She was writing them. ⭐ Dangerous Dave Album Rating: 4.5/5 EMOTIONS – 1991 Album number two pushes further into soul, gospel and R&B. The title track gives Mariah an opportunity to show off that ridiculous vocal range, while Can't Let Go and Make It Happen reveal different sides of her music. ⭐ 4/5 Then MTV Unplugged gives Mariah the opportunity to silence anybody wondering whether she could really reproduce those vocals live. Her performance of I'll Be There provides the answer. Yes. She bloody well could. MUSIC BOX – 1993 Then comes the album that turns Mariah into an even bigger global superstar. Dreamlover. Hero. Without You. Anytime You Need a Friend. Dave asks whether Music Box was perhaps a little too polished and safe... But when the songs are this strong, it's difficult to complain. ⭐ 4.5/5 MERRY CHRISTMAS – 1994 Sleigh bells incoming. Yes... It's time. ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU. Dave looks at why Mariah's Christmas monster has survived for decades, while also remembering Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), O Holy Night and the underrated Miss You Most (At Christmas Time). ⭐ 4.5/5 And Gaz would like to remind everyone that it isn't Christmas yet. DAYDREAM – 1995 Now things start changing. Daydream retains Mariah's enormous pop appeal while pushing further towards the R&B and hip-hop sounds she increasingly wanted to explore. There's Fantasy and its hugely important remix with Ol' Dirty Bastard. One Sweet Day with Boyz II Men. Always Be My Baby. And the beautiful Underneath the Stars. For Dangerous Dave... This is where Mariah reaches another level. ⭐ 5/5 BUTTERFLY – 1997 And then comes Dave's favourite Mariah Carey album of the decade. BUTTERFLY. More personal. More confident. More R&B. More hip-hop. And increasingly reflective of Mariah's own musical identity. Dave dives into Honey, Butterfly, My All, The Roof, Breakdown and Close My Eyes. This is the album where the superstar voice and the songwriter come together with a greater sense of freedom. ⭐ 5/5 And Dangerous Dave ranks... BUTTERFLY AS MARIAH'S BEST ALBUM OF THE 90s! RAINBOW – 1999 Finally we reach the end of the decade with Rainbow. Heartbreaker with Jay-Z leads the way alongside Thank God I Found You, Crybaby with Snoop Dogg and Can't Take That Away. It may not quite reach the heights of Daydream or Butterfly... But it's another reminder of how far Mariah's sound had evolved since 1990. ⭐ 4/5 DANGEROUS DAVE'S TOP 10 MARIAH SONGS OF THE 90s After working through the decade, Dave somehow attempts to narrow the catalogue down to ten favourites. The countdown includes Emotions, Dreamlover, Hero, One Sweet Day, My All, Always Be My Baby, The Roof, Vision of Love and Fantasy... Before Dangerous Dave's number one goes to... HONEY! For Dave, Honey represents everything that made second-half-of-the-90s Mariah so interesting — pop, R&B, hip-hop, songwriting, confidence and reinvention all coming together. And All I Want for Christmas Is You? That receives its own... Christmas Immortality Award! DANGEROUS DETOUR – THE GREAT FEMALE VOICES OF THE 90s Why did the 1990s give us so many powerhouse female artists? Mariah Carey. Whitney Houston. Celine Dion. Janet Jackson. Toni Braxton. Madonna. Alanis Morissette. Shania Twain. And many more. Dave explores the era of enormous ballads, MTV, radio, the mainstream rise of R&B and the growing crossover between pop and hip-hop. It was a decade where a genuinely distinctive voice could become one of the biggest sounds on the planet. BACK IN THE ADS The Retropodshow heads back into the strange world of early-90s advertising as Dave remembers the loud, ridiculous and unforgettable style that made British adverts almost as memorable as the programmes they interrupted. Because sometimes... You can't remember what you watched on television last Tuesday. But you can remember an advert from thirty-five years ago word for word. RETRO RUMBLE – MARIAH CAREY VS WHITNEY HOUSTON Oh dear. This won't cause any arguments. MARIAH CAREY VS WHITNEY HOUSTON! Two extraordinary singers collide over five rounds covering their voices, songs, albums, influence and 90s legacy. Whitney takes the vocal round for Dave thanks to that incredible tone, power and emotional delivery. But Mariah fights back through the depth of her 90s catalogue, album run, influence and sheer decade-long consistency. The final result... MARIAH CAREY WINS 4–1! Although Dave admits the score makes the battle look considerably easier than it actually was. Gaz immediately turns off the podcast's notifications. ⚠️ DANGEROUSLY UNDERRATED – THE ROOF From Butterfly... THE ROOF. Moody. Atmospheric. Personal. Sensual. And beautifully written. Dave argues that anyone who thinks Mariah Carey is simply about enormous notes should listen to The Roof. It's a song built around memory, atmosphere and emotion rather than vocal gymnastics. ⭐ 5/5 ONE SEASON WONDER – NOWHERE MAN The year is 1995 and this week's One Season Wonder is the cult conspiracy thriller... NOWHERE MAN! Bruce Greenwood stars as photographer Thomas Veil, who leaves his wife at a restaurant for a few moments... Then returns to discover she apparently has no idea who he is. His identity disappears. His friends don't recognise him. His life has effectively been erased. And it might all be connected to one mysterious photograph. Paranoia, conspiracy and a cracking 90s premise. ⭐ 4.5/5 A proper forgotten One Season Wonder. TOYBOX TIME MACHINE – TALKBOY Thanks to Home Alone 2, an ordinary-looking cassette recorder suddenly became one of the coolest gadgets a 90s kid could own. Record your voice. Change the playback speed. Pretend you're Kevin McCallister. And spend hours recording complete rubbish before annoying everybody in the house with it. TALKBOY! ⭐ 5/5 Peak 90s gadgetry. GAZ'S RETRO RECORDS – 90s FEMALE SUPERSTARS Gaz is back in the record collection this week with five albums showcasing just how ridiculous the competition was for female artists during Mariah's decade. Whitney Houston – The Bodyguard Soundtrack – 1992 Gaz begins with one of the biggest-selling soundtracks ever. Whitney Houston dominates with I Will Always Love You, alongside I'm Every Woman, I Have Nothing, Run to You and Queen of the Night. For Gaz, The Bodyguard captures Whitney at her most powerful — enormous songs, enormous vocals and one performance in particular that became inseparable from the 1990s. Gaz Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Celine Dion – Falling into You Next comes Celine Dion's blockbuster Falling into You. Because You Loved Me. It's All Coming Back to Me Now. All by Myself. This is peak 90s power-ballad territory. Subtle? Absolutely not. Does Gaz care? Absolutely not. Huge songs require a huge voice... And Celine had one. Gaz Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Janet Jackson – janet. – 1993 Then Gaz turns to Janet Jackson and her hugely successful 1993 alb

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  Episode #8

  Season 9 Episode 8 - Inspector Gadget

  Sep 9, 20261h 37mS9

  Go-Go Gadget Retropodshow! This week, Dangerous Dave heads back to 1983 to investigate one of the most instantly recognisable cartoons of the decade... INSPECTOR GADGET! Grey trench coat? Check. Gadget Copter? Check. Extendable arms? Check. Gadgetmobile? Check. Any idea whatsoever about what Dr. Claw is actually doing? Absolutely not. After last week's perfect 60/60 trip to a galaxy far, far away with The Empire Strikes Back, we're returning to Saturday-morning cartoon territory for the story of the world's most technologically advanced — and possibly least observant — detective. And thankfully, Gaz has finally escaped prehistoric Earth following the Dino-Riders incident! ⏰ WHAT HAPPENED WAY BACK WHEN? – 1983 First, Dave fires up the Retropodshow time machine and heads back to the year Inspector Gadget first appeared. We're remembering music from Culture Club, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, U2 and Madness, alongside movies including Scarface, Superman III, Octopussy, National Lampoon's Vacation and WarGames. On television, we're revisiting The A-Team, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Terrahawks, Dungeons & Dragons and, of course, Inspector Gadget. Then Retro Headlines remembers some of the stories making news in Britain and America as the 1980s really started gathering momentum. DANGEROUS DEEP DIVE – INSPECTOR GADGET Then it's time to investigate the history behind the cartoon. Dave explores the creation of Inspector Gadget, its international production and the wonderfully simple idea behind its hero: Take a detective... Fill him with ridiculous mechanical gadgets... Then make him completely useless at detective work. We celebrate Don Adams, whose unmistakable voice helped make Gadget such a memorable character, and look at the formula that kept the series going. Dr. Claw creates another evil scheme. Chief Quimby delivers Gadget's assignment. The message explodes. Gadget misunderstands everything. Brain gets disguised. Gadget fails to recognise his own dog. Penny discovers what's actually happening. Penny and Brain save the world. Gadget gets the credit. And Dr. Claw promises... “I'll get you next time, Gadget!” Only to fail again next week. PENNY – THE REAL INSPECTOR? Dave also gives some overdue credit to the person actually solving most of Gadget's cases... Penny. With her computer book, intelligence and technological abilities, Penny was often several steps ahead of both Inspector Gadget and M.A.D. Which raises an important question... Why wasn't she getting Gadget's salary? Without Penny, most episodes would have ended with Dr. Claw successfully taking over the world while Gadget congratulated himself on a job well done. BRAIN – THE HARDEST-WORKING DOG IN CARTOONS Then there's Brain. Spy. Detective. Master of disguise. Driver. Bodyguard. And full-time babysitter for Inspector Gadget. Brain spends virtually every episode trying to stop Gadget from getting himself killed... Only for Gadget to mistake him for a M.A.D. agent. The man lives with this dog. Brain puts on a hat... And suddenly Gadget has absolutely no idea who he is. GO-GO GADGET! Naturally, we're also ranking some of Gadget's greatest inventions. The Gadget Arms. Gadget Legs. Gadget Skates. Gadget Umbrella. And the undisputed number one... GO-GO GADGET COPTER! We also remember the brilliant Gadgetmobile and why Gadget's unpredictable technology was such an important part of the comedy. Sometimes the gadget worked. Sometimes the wrong gadget appeared. And sometimes Gadget simply launched himself into another disaster. DR. CLAW Then we turn our attention to one of the great mysterious cartoon villains... Dr. Claw. The chair. The glove. The metal arm. MAD Cat. That voice. But crucially... No face. Dave argues that keeping Dr. Claw hidden made him far more interesting because kids were allowed to imagine what the mysterious leader of M.A.D. actually looked like. Sometimes... What you don't show is more memorable than what you do. DANGEROUS DETOUR – WHY WERE 80s CARTOONS SO GOOD? This week's Dangerous Detour asks why the 1980s produced so many cartoons we still talk about today. Transformers. He-Man. ThunderCats. Danger Mouse. M.A.S.K. Centurions. Dungeons & Dragons. The Real Ghostbusters. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Inspector Gadget. Great characters, unforgettable theme tunes, toys, VHS releases, wild concepts and entire worlds children could continue exploring after the television was switched off. It really was a ridiculous decade for cartoons. BACK IN THE ADS – CADBURY WISPA Because we're visiting 1983, Back in the Ads remembers the national launch of a British chocolate favourite... WISPA! Dave remembers Cadbury's bubbly chocolate bar, the early advertising and why Wispa became such a nostalgic favourite that its eventual disappearance caused fans to campaign for its return. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five out of five. Unlike most of Inspector Gadget's inventions... Wispa actually worked. RETRO RUMBLE – INSPECTOR GADGET VS DANGER MOUSE Two legendary cartoon crime fighters enter the Retro Rumble arena. Inspector Gadget vs Danger Mouse! They battle across hero, sidekicks, villains, comedy and nostalgia. Gadget has Penny, Brain and the mysterious Dr. Claw... But Danger Mouse has competence, brilliant British comedy and one very nervous hamster. After five incredibly close rounds... DANGER MOUSE WINS 3–2! A controversial decision? Probably. That's what Retro Rumble is for. ⚠️ DANGEROUSLY UNDERRATED – BRAIN It's finally time to give Brain the respect he deserves. This dog spends his entire life protecting Gadget, infiltrating M.A.D., wearing ridiculous disguises and repeatedly saving the world... Without receiving any credit. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five stars. Brain deserves a medal. And probably several years of back pay. TOYBOX TIME MACHINE – TOMYTRONIC 3D This week's Toybox Time Machine remembers a wonderfully futuristic piece of early-80s gaming... Tomytronic 3D! Strap the enormous plastic device to your face and suddenly you felt like you'd entered the future. Was it virtual reality? Not really. Did it feel incredibly futuristic when you were a kid? Absolutely. ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ THE 1999 INSPECTOR GADGET MOVIE Unfortunately... We also need to talk about that movie. Dave revisits the 1999 live-action Inspector Gadget, starring Matthew Broderick, and asks why something that seemed like such an obvious adaptation never quite captured the simplicity of the cartoon. And then there's the biggest crime... Showing Dr. Claw! No. The mystery was the whole point! ⭐⭐½ ️ GAZ'S RAPID RETRO REVIEW After finally escaping prehistoric Earth, Gaz is back where he belongs. And surprisingly... He likes this one! Gaz celebrates Gadget's stupidity, Penny's intelligence, Brain's frankly unacceptable working conditions and the brilliance of never properly showing Dr. Claw. His conclusion? Inspector Gadget is repetitive... But that's part of the fun. Quimby explodes. Brain gets disguised. Gadget gets confused. Penny saves everybody. Dr. Claw escapes. Roll credits. ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ – 4.5/5 Although Gaz still thinks Brain should look for another employer. ☢️ THE DANGER ZONE Finally, Dave asks: WAS INSPECTOR GADGET ONE OF THE BEST CARTOONS OF THE 1980s? The answer? YES! Maybe not number one. The competition from Transformers, He-Man, ThunderCats, Danger Mouse, The Real Ghostbusters and others is simply too strong. But among the decade's most recognisable and nostalgic cartoons? Inspector Gadget absolutely deserves a place. The concept remains brilliant. Penny was ahead of her time. Brain is fantastic. Dr. Claw is iconic. The theme tune is unforgettable. And Gadget himself remains one of animation's most lovable idiots. ⭐ FINAL DANGER RATING Concept – 10/10 Characters – 9/10 Animation – 7/10 Comedy – 9/10 Nostalgia – 10/10 Legacy – 9/10 54 OUT OF 60! A massive 4.5 out of 5 for Inspector Gadget. HALL OF DANGER And with a score of 54/60, there's only one decision to make. For Gadget... Penny... Brain... Chief Quimby... Dr. Claw... MAD Cat... The Gadgetmobile... That legendary theme... And decades of nostalgic memories... INSPECTOR GADGET ENTERS THE HALL OF DANGER! Although Gaz points out that Gadget has once again received the credit for everybody else's work. Fair point. NEXT TIME... Season 9 continues as we leave the cartoons of 1983 behind and head into the 1990s for one of the biggest voices in pop history... MARIAH CAREY IN THE 90s! From Vision of Love and Emotions through Hero, Without You, Fantasy, Always Be My Baby, Honey, My All and Heartbreaker... We'll explore the albums, the hits, that extraordinary voice and Mariah's evolution from pop superstar into an artist increasingly embracing R&B and hip-hop influences. And yes... We're going to have to talk about that Christmas song as well. Season 9 Episode 9... Mariah Carey in the 90s! The Insanely Dangerous Retropodshow — because RETRO NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE! GO-GO GADGET RETROPODSHOW!

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  Episode #7

  Season 9 Episode 7 - The Empire Strikes Back

  Sep 2, 20261h 39mS9

  The Empire is coming... This week on The Insanely Dangerous Retropodshow, Dangerous Dave travels back to 1980 and a galaxy far, far away for one of the most celebrated sequels in cinema history... STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK After the extraordinary success of the original Star Wars, George Lucas faced an almost impossible challenge: how do you follow a movie that completely changed popular culture? The answer? Go darker. Go bigger. Separate the heroes. Introduce Yoda. Make Darth Vader even more terrifying. Freeze Han Solo in carbonite. And deliver one of the greatest revelations in movie history. Officially released in 1980 and directed by Irvin Kershner, The Empire Strikes Back took Luke, Han and Leia into a much darker second chapter as the Empire relentlessly hunted the Rebel Alliance. ⏰ WHAT HAPPENED WAY BACK WHEN? – 1980 Before heading to Hoth, Dave fires up the retro time machine and revisits 1980. There's music from Pink Floyd, Blondie, The Police, Barbra Streisand and Motörhead, while the movie section remembers The Shining, Airplane!, Friday the 13th and The Blues Brothers. On television, we're remembering Magnum, P.I., Hi-de-Hi!, Hammer House of Horror, The Adventure Game and a young Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies. Then Retro Headlines revisits some of the major events making news in Britain and America as the new decade got underway. ⭐ DANGEROUS DEEP DIVE – MAKING EMPIRE Then it's time for the main event. Dave explores the enormous challenge of following Star Wars and how George Lucas took a huge financial gamble to maintain creative control over the sequel. Lucasfilm itself describes Lucas as effectively gambling the company's future by investing his own money in the production. We look at Irvin Kershner taking over the director's chair, the development of the screenplay and why Empire feels so different from its predecessor. Then we head into the movie itself... ❄️ THE BATTLE OF HOTH The Rebels have been discovered. The Empire attacks. And suddenly enormous AT-AT walkers are marching towards Echo Base. Dave revisits the Wampa attack, Han rescuing Luke from the freezing wilderness, Snowspeeders wrapping tow cables around AT-AT legs and one of the greatest opening battles in science-fiction history. But there's something important about Hoth... The Rebels don't win. They escape. And that sets the tone for everything that follows. LUKE MEETS YODA Luke heads to Dagobah looking for a legendary Jedi Master... And instead finds a strange little green creature rummaging through his belongings. Dave celebrates the creation of Yoda, Frank Oz's performance and the extraordinary puppetry that made audiences forget they were watching an effect. From Luke entering the mysterious cave to Yoda raising the X-wing from the swamp, we revisit some of the most important moments in Luke's journey towards becoming a Jedi. ❤️ HAN & LEIA Meanwhile, Han Solo and Princess Leia are busy doing what Han and Leia do best... Arguing. The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher takes centre stage as the Millennium Falcon desperately tries to escape the Empire. There's the asteroid field... The space slug... A broken hyperdrive... And eventually a journey to Cloud City. LANDO & BOBA FETT We celebrate two major new additions to the Star Wars universe. Lando Calrissian – charming, stylish and caught in an impossible situation when Darth Vader takes control of Cloud City. And Boba Fett – a character who barely needs to say anything to become one of the coolest people in the entire film. Dave also looks at the collection of bounty hunters who proved that Star Wars could put a strange-looking character on screen for a few seconds and leave generations of fans desperate to know their entire backstory. HAN SOLO – FROZEN IN CARBONITE Then things get dark. Han is prepared for the carbon-freezing chamber. Leia finally admits how she feels. And Han responds in the most Han Solo way imaginable. He's frozen... Boba Fett gets his prize... And audiences in 1980 are left wondering whether one of the movie's most popular characters will ever return. ⚔️ LUKE VS DARTH VADER Luke ignores Yoda and Obi-Wan's warnings and travels to Cloud City. He's convinced he's ready. Vader knows he isn't. What follows is one of cinema's greatest lightsaber battles. Vader toys with Luke... Luke desperately fights back... Until Vader finally stops playing. Luke loses his hand. And then... Everything we thought we knew about Star Wars changes. Dave explores the secrecy surrounding the enormous Vader revelation and why it transformed Star Wars from a simple battle between good and evil into something far more personal. Lucasfilm itself describes Empire as the darker second act that introduced Yoda and left audiences stunned by its cliffhanger. JOHN WILLIAMS We also celebrate another extraordinary John Williams score. Yoda's Theme. Han and Leia's music. The Battle of Hoth. And, of course... THE IMPERIAL MARCH Few pieces of movie music are so instantly connected to a character. Three seconds... And you know Darth Vader is coming. DANGEROUS DETOUR This week's Dangerous Detour asks: Why are the second movies often the darkest? Dave explores how sequels can take established characters and break them apart, using The Empire Strikes Back as one of the greatest examples of the darker middle chapter. The first movie introduces the heroes. The second asks what happens when those heroes lose. And in Empire... They really do lose. BACK IN THE ADS We're also heading back to British television for another edition of Back in the Ads, remembering the famous PG Tips chimpanzee commercials. The characters... The jokes... The memorable advertising... And a campaign that became almost as famous as the tea itself. RETRO RUMBLE – EMPIRE VS STAR WARS This is a big one. Star Wars vs The Empire Strikes Back! Original versus sequel. The movies battle across: Story. Characters. Action. Cultural impact. And ending. The original takes cultural impact... But Empire dominates the remaining categories. The Empire Strikes Back wins 4–1! The original created the galaxy. But Dave believes Empire made that galaxy deeper, darker and even more interesting. ⚠️ DANGEROUSLY UNDERRATED – LANDO CALRISSIAN Was Lando really the traitor people remember him as? Dave argues that Lando deserves far more sympathy. Darth Vader arrives first. Lando is responsible for thousands of people. He makes a deal hoping to protect Cloud City... And Vader simply keeps changing the terms. Once Lando realises cooperation isn't going to save anybody... He fights back. TOYBOX TIME MACHINE – THE AT-AT This week's Toybox Time Machine remembers one of the dream Star Wars toys... The AT-AT! Huge. Impressive. Packed with figures. And inevitably ending up with string wrapped around its legs as every kid attempted to recreate the Battle of Hoth across the living-room carpet. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ THE RETURN OF ONE SEASON WONDER! It's back! One Season Wonder finally returns to the Retropodshow as Dave remembers 1980's... The Martian Chronicles Based on Ray Bradbury's work and starring Rock Hudson, this ambitious television miniseries offered a very different style of science fiction from Star Wars. Slower. More thoughtful. More interested in humanity, colonisation and civilisation than enormous space battles. Technically it's a miniseries... But One Miniseries Wonder sounds rubbish. So we're allowing it! ⭐⭐⭐½ GAZ IS BACK! Last week, Gaz was unavailable because of the slight problem of being... STUCK ON PREHISTORIC EARTH. But after avoiding dinosaurs, hiding from Rulons and somehow figuring out the S.T.E.P. device... GAZ HAS FINALLY RETURNED! And he's arrived just in time for... ️ GAZ'S RAPID RETRO REVIEW Gaz doesn't need long with this one. Hoth. AT-ATs. Yoda. Boba Fett. Cloud City. Han Solo. The Imperial March. Darth Vader. And one of cinema's greatest twists. For Gaz, there's no debate. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 5/5 The Empire Strikes Back is the greatest Star Wars movie. Although after being stuck on prehistoric Earth, he's probably just happy to watch a movie where nobody rides a laser-equipped T-Rex. ☢️ THE DANGER ZONE Finally, Dangerous Dave asks the question we've been building towards all episode: IS THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK THE GREATEST STAR WARS MOVIE EVER MADE? Dave's answer? YES. The original Star Wars might be more historically important. But Empire takes everything established in that movie and improves upon it. Luke becomes more complicated. Han and Leia's relationship develops. Yoda expands our understanding of the Force. Darth Vader becomes one of cinema's greatest villains. The stakes become higher. The story becomes darker. And the ending leaves almost everything unresolved. Lucasfilm notes that the sequel helped set a new standard for follow-ups by bringing greater depth and emotion to the saga. ⭐ FINAL DANGER RATING Story – 10/10 Characters – 10/10 Villain – 10/10 Action – 10/10 Music – 10/10 Legacy – 10/10 60 OUT OF 60! A perfect Danger Rating. One of the greatest sequels ever made. And Dangerous

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