WAR GAMES

RETRO SHOCK: "Whopper Player One" (1983) Shall we play a game? Looks like there's "Mall Madness", "Pizza Party", "Fireball Island." Or we can listen to Bob and Tim unbox the frighteningly relevant Matthew Broderick thriller "War Games." Its a thermo-nuclear holocaust for the whole family.

00:00:00 PRE-SHOW PRATTLE - a longer than normal pause

00:01:13 A DAB OF COLEMAN - a semi accurate resume

00:04:50 JUNE 3rd 1983 - The mystique of computers in the 1980s

00:09:34 SKYNET’S THE LIMIT - Bob’s fantasy life and Tim’s fear of nuclear war

00:20:23 GOOD MEMORY/BAD MEMORY - or vague memory

00:22:13 MODERN DAY - eat a doomsday burger

00:23:52 BUNKER OF THAT GUYS - a summary of tension

00:27:17 FERRIS BOREDOM - Matthew Broderick hacks a Whopper

00:36:31 NOT THE GOONIES - and that’s not Neil Gaiman

00:38:29 SO NOW WE’RE AT NORAD? - where the pace picks up

00:43:03 SIMULATION OR SIMULACRUM - a programed conscience

00:53:47 PUTTING THE HUMAN IN INHUMANITY - and tweeting a stance against technology

01:01:39 CLOSINGS - contacts, plugs and no catch phrase

Fall in love as you duck and cover into the original 1983 trailer that posits a teen romcom for the thermo-nuclear age HERE.

Hear the film's unused theme song uncharacteristically composed and performed by Crosby, Stills and Nash HERE.

See who Tim would have preferred as the leads in an alternate universe take on the film's protagonists HERE.

Tune in to a 1983 news segment about the real world fear of a "War Games" scenario HERE.

Go a little behind the scenes with this making-of short that aired around the film's release HERE.

Learn about the real-life adolescent hackers who were inspired by an original viewing of "War Games" with the documentary short "THE 414s" available to rent HERE.

Have Dabney Coleman do it like you do it when he does it like they do it at Burger King HERE.

And finally let Burger King to tell you just a little bit more about the Whopper HERE HERE and HERE.

The use of audio and video clips linked from YOUTUBE are for educational purposes and without the expressed permission of their legal holding companies. All rights remain with with their original distributor.

This episode of 20TH CENTURY POPCAST was recorded by ZENCASTR, a high fidelity podcast recording platform that records multiple guests from multiple zip-codes all as if they were in the same room. It was then mastered by AUPHONIC, a web-based post-production service that makes it sound like Bob and Tim are worth listening to. Log in to each for studio quality recordings NOW! (exclamation point provided by ZENCASTR).

MUSIC FEATURED IN TODAY’S EPISODE:

“Super Poupi ” (opening theme) and "Poupi Great Adventures: The Arcade Game" (closing theme) performed by Komiku from the 2018 album POUPI'S INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES available at Freemusicarchives.org.

"Across The Mountainous Range" (Retro Shock segue-way) performed by TRG Banks from the 2018 album RETURN TO DREAMLAND also available at the Freemusicarchives.org

All music featured on this episode is cleared for public domain use through Creative Commons under a CCO 1.0 Universal License.

Subscribe to 20TH CENTURY POPCAST! on APPLE PODCASTS, STITCHER and ANDROID or stream it at www.20popcast.com.

Like, share and reminisce with 20TH CENTURY POPCAST! on FACEBOOK.

Contact the show with any questions, suggestions or possible topics at [email protected], #20popcast on Twitter and the POP TALK section of www.20popcast.com.

Follow ROBERT CANNING @rhcanning on TWITTER. Read his web-comic at EXAGGERATEDLIFE.wordpress.com and his music blog at superultramegamix.wordpress.com.

Follow TIM BLEVINS @subcultist on TWITTER and as SUBCULTISTon INSTAGRAM.

20TH CENTURY POPCAST will return next week with whatever it was we thought we'd be returning with this week when we typed this sentence last week.