It's the Retronauts Holiday 2013 Extravaganza!
Hey folks -- Bob here with a little disclaimer before we get to the good stuff. As with the past two years, I hauled all of our recording gear to my remote cabin in the woods to record another Retronauts holiday special. Unfortunately, a few of the several thousand wolves in the surrounding wilderness managed to gnaw on the miles of cable I have to lay down so our audio can reach the civilized world. The result is a little distortion that pops up here and there; I edited out as much of it as I could, but had to leave it in a few spots when chunks of conversation couldn't be tossed away. Anyhow, this only happens a handful of times, so it shouldn't be too distracting!
In case you couldn't tell from Retronauts history, I'm kind of a gigantic goober when it comes to Christmas stuff. So this year's special focuses on two miserable Christmas cartoons I've probably seen more times than I'd like to admit: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show's "Koopa Klaus," and Super Mario World's "The Night Before Cave Christmas." Both come from shows that, in the tradition of Captain N: The Game Master, serve as cheap, shallow attempts by the monsters at DIC Entertainment to cash in on Nintendomania. And, as expected, Super Show and World each deliver the most low-impact take on a Christmas special, where a character inexplicably forgets the True Meaning of Christmas until they learn it once again through contrived circumstances. Bah, humkoop!
Joining us for this one is Chris Antista, emperor of the Laser Time Network, and the creator of A Cartoon Christmas, a site that slavish chronicles every animated holiday special under the sun. And as a special holiday treat, I've given this episode a bit of Laser Time flair by filling it with wintry video game music from start to finish. If you don't like it, don't worry (or complain); it's only going to be a one-time thing. Oh, and if you actually need to watch these specials, I've embedded them below for the sake of convenience.
Libsyn (1:01:27 | MP3 | 56.3 MB) | SoundCloud
"It doesn't matter whether you've been naughty or nice -- the Retronauts are back with another holiday spectacular to fill your sinful ears with delight. Join Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish, Ray Barnholt, and special guest Chris Antista as the crew discusses Christmas specials from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and Super Mario World, and curses the uncaring god who would let such things happen. (NOTE: This episode has a few audio issues due to unexpected interference from territorial wolves. Sorry!)"
This episode's musical breakdown:
- 3:30 | Kirby's Epic Yarn "Cozy Cabin" (Tomoya Tomita, Jun Ishikawa, Hirokazu Ando)
- 28:05 | Xenoblade Chronicles "Snowy Mt. Valac" (Yoko Shimomura)
- 58:41 | Donkey Kong Country 3 "Frosty Frolics" (Eveline Fischer Novakovic, David Wise)
Aaaaand if you'd like to get us something this Christmas, why not make it a review of our show in the iTunes Music Store? It's the perfect gift!
