Oddity Archive: Episode 257 - Laserdisc Video Magazines (or, Video Magazines, Vol. 2)

[@carlklitzke9455]

In sixth grade we watched a (different) video about movie special effects and our teacher had a brief moment of professional concern when condoms were shown on the screen detailing the construction of squibs. A memory I had totally filed away. Thanks, Benny!

[@1Soniccool]

Your teacher was thinking that condoms are going to be used for something that could be adult

[@jamesslick4790]

Tom Savini (From my hometown of Pittsburgh,PA) shows the Plaza Theatre. (Liberty Avenue in the Bloomfield neighborhood.) I actually went with a girl who worked there. I had earlier worked at a gas station next door (This was DECADES ago). It was a single screen theater and later was chopped in to a two screen. The building is still there. No longer a theater, it became a friggin' Starbucks.

[@frankv7774]

Was an Army recruiter in the late 80s early 90s and we had laser discs of almost every Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) to show potential recruits on something very similar to laser active. Can't seem to find any (MOS) discs on resale sites.

[@stevew8513]

I loved my LaserActive back in the day. Of course, I only paid $210 for mine because it was a display model that they sold cheap because the Incredible Universe store I bought it at had just discontinued the LaserActive. Instead of marking all the games down, they just transferred them away somewhere. When Tandy Corporation closed down all Incredible Universe stores I stopped in and bought a Sega Mega LD pak they had discovered in their back room, for only $5. I passed on the Laser Karaoke pak, which I kind of regret now. But that got me into the Sega CD right at the end of the system's run, which meant games were dirt cheap. I picked up a ton of Sega CD games, but I only ever had two LaserActive Sega games, bought for way too much by mail order. I really wish I'd picked up some of the 3D titles and the shutter glasses, that would have been nice.

[@ProgrammerInProgress]

That Tom Savini part was a fun watch.

[@krzbrew]

Thank you for being consistent through all these years!

[@davidcurry332]

Happy Friday Benny boy and good morning ☕️☕️🤘🤘

[@EpicTyphlosionTV]

Speaking of magazines, you should make a video about "diskmags" for computers. They're a pretty interesting relic of computer history, and lots of them contain demos of games and programs as well.

[@JL-sm6cg]

You mean like A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing? I recall getting one of the back issues on disk. I also remember when a subscription with all the programs in the issue on a disk was, like, $28.99 a year, which to an 11-year-old in 1986, was a King's ransom.

[@OddityArchive]

@Epic Typhlosion What OS(es)?

[@EpicTyphlosionTV]

@@OddityArchive Depends on the diskmag. I know Big Blue Disk works on MS-DOS.

[@JL-sm6cg]

@@OddityArchive for what I was talking about, it would be Atari DOS.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

There was one from Scholastic for kids called Wizware, wish I had gotten that when it was out. I think there were only 1 or 2 issues. Somewhere I have an Apple II magazine called Demo Disk that shows just demos of then-current programs. Of course there were the numerous PlayStation and XBox demo discs later.

[@hayleywaalen2612]

Zoom is also the name of the PBS show and also an app.

[@Acidonia150reborn]

and a Video Game that says Come on Boy alot.

[@basshorseman998]

Thanks Ben

[@50shadesofbeige88]

Those synth stings are sooo 1994

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

Thank you for inviting us to explore your Netherworld!

[@ntsecrets]

definitely the most jacked up opening I've seen for this channel, and thats saying something!

[@OddityArchive]

I'd still rate the first Video Magazines episode higher on that scale. Public Access Volume 2 as well.

[@elineman4523]

Funny thing, about Video Zone the Found Footage Festival guys showed the intro of the Video Zone on an episode of VCR Party Live as part of their flying windows segment. Also, I didn't know that Full Moon Studios had big names (Danny Elfman, the Keyboard player from Bon Jovi, Edgar Winters,etc.) connected to their films, as well as having merch like soundtracks, comics, and more. If Red Letter Media does a Full Moon episode dealing with three Full Moon movies, they should talk about all that.

[@TheMoogleMaster]

6:02 I always wanted those Sylvanian Families figures, my cousin had some of them, surprised to see them show up on Oddity Archive!

[@TheMediaHoarder]

That’s from a Japanese demo laserdisc, I think it was shot in early hi-def and downconverted to NTSC.

[@happycube]

@@TheMediaHoarder It's very Japanese, but a US issue ("Light Years Ahead", HE-010) - I've got a cap of it on my channel.

[@FinnleysAudioAdventures]

Rich Quatrone(?) from Zoom looks like the guy from “Time Chasers”

[@Musicradio77Network]

The Pioneer CLD-A100 was a laserdisc player and a video game console where you can watch movies and play games, and it’s the one that AVGN hasn’t covered yet. I would love the AVGN to a do a Pioneer CLD-A100 in future episodes.

[@morrisonAV]

I still have a copy of "Zoom" Vol. 5 but I need to dig it out and see if it has laser rotted. Also have my "How Ray Charles Sees Laserdisc"!

[@happycube]

Pioneer US disks from the 90's very rarely rot.

[@brianhebert6152]

I remember that YOU ARE WATCHING A LASER DISC screen from an upload of the full Circuit City jingle

[@branwenshoop]

I've watched a decent number of your videos in the past week and have only now noticed the Warren Zevon discography near the upper right corner of the box. 👍

[@luisreyes1963]

Video magazines never really caught on, regardless of format. 💿 And Thanks for the Rifftrax reference, Benny-boy! 😁

[@brianhebert6152]

Never knew there were eight-inch laser discs

[@OddityArchive]

Yup. Lots of music videos came out on 8" discs.

[@deathstrike]

In some dark region of hell, I could have seen them inflicting the greatest torture the human soul could ever endure. A Philips CDi "Video Magazine"

[@Tempora158]

17:16 Not sure if you're joking, but the JA-RF3L is a RF adapter like those that came with video game consoles at the time, except the conversion to an NTSC signal an NTSC TV tuner can tune into is happening in the external box instead of by the players' internal DAC (hence the third connector for DC output because the converter needs power).

[@suedenim]

It looks like Charles Band aged 15 years in three years. Probably that bird voodoo stuff in action.

[@TheMoogleMaster]

The only Charles Band movie I ever saw is that Pet Shop movie, and a bit of Haunted Town or what ever that movie is called.

[@hicknopunk]

Pyramid Patrol is great on Laseractive

[@chipbush0111]

Jeanette O'Grady's shoulder pads had me mesmerized.

[@matthewbaduria]

This is a great video,thank you Oddity Archive.

[@doktormabuse4794]

That Matt Nelson guy could dye his hair black and become Jerry Seinfeld impersonator.

[@Brillemeister]

Fun fact (or not so fun, depending on your taste in music): Charles Band's son Alex was the lead singer of The Calling.

[@Aeduo]

When the video first started I thought it was another ad haha. Also I hated rear projection TVs . They were impressively big but the picture was always miserable and dim and you needed to be perfectly front and center and so far away that it didn't matter that it was bigger anyway.

[@kandigloss6438]

Something that you didn't really touch on here that made the LaserActive even more of a very expensive pain is that the modules weren't just ways to play games from said systems on the Laser Active. They were actually required for the LaserActive discs themselves, so one disc might require the sega module, and another might require the tg-16 module. Have to wonder why this never caught on.

[@JL-sm6cg]

@35:31; so that's where the Chuck E Cheese band members are today.

[@1Soniccool]

Don't confuse with the WGBH produced show Zoom or the internet calling program on your PC or smartphone

[@GabrielleCenter2000]

Happy Oddity Thursday!

[@edbateyjr.517]

Would laserdisc make a comeback like LPs? Only time will tell...

[@stvlu733]

Only if the video quality changes to 24K 3D hologram vision and the capacity is at least 1,000 terabytes and we need a massive physical format to hold that capacity kinda like like a huge Blu-ray disc.

[@ghagefuoco8373]

Muse hi vision needs a hipster comeback, particularly with new players that actually work

[@RickyHenry]

OMG the 2 O's in ZOOM make an 8 for 8 incher

[@jmulvey371]

At first I thought that Pioneer sales guy was Bill Boggs! I thought "well, at least he's getting some work."

[@bree9272]

Seeing all this 90s goodness (or badness depending on your opinion) in the first two segments, it feels like that decade is even more dated than the 80s. You can watch any 90s infomercial or presentation and the saxophone heavy music with Seinfeld beats in them, along with the migraine inducing graphics, automatically let you know when it was made.

[@Mutato-]

You are making me want to dig out my Laseractive.

[@tex1138]

5:09 Tell me that guy doesn’t look like Santogold.

[@TheRocketLombax]

David Bryan took some fashion advice from Greg sage from the wipers in netherworld

[@DanZero77]

Today I learned Paul Bearer sold stuff by Pioneer

[@JohnnyTong215]

Undertaker not included!! 😅😅

[@50shadesofbeige88]

35:11Ah the old two-tone look. He's not going grey or anything...

[@djhrecordhound4391]

Full Moon came a long way after 80s records by Chicago and Dan Fogelberg. Then again, some consider those horrors too...

[@OddityArchive]

(quietly hides copy of The Innocent Age)

[@imrustyokay]

"Welcome to Zoom!" would make a great subtitle to 2020, now that I think about it.

[@MrJohndoakes]

16:18 This guy is giving me real "Baptist youth pastor" vibes mixed with a "desperate used car salesman" look.

[@TeeVeeGames]

Oh the good ole Laseractive: the machine that can do everything, slightly worse than stand-alone devices, at double the cost. (Slight mathematical exaggeration, but still...) Somehow, the pitch for it on the Zoom disc made it seem even worse. He gets way too excited about an interactive disc about Egypt.

[@Musicradio77Network]

The Pioneer CLD-A100 does contains add-ons to play Sega Genesis and Sega CD games as well as the TurboGrafx-16 games. Can’t wait for the AVGN to do the episode on the Pioneer CLD-A100 LaserActive video game console and a series of games like “Pyramid Patrol”, the game that he hasn’t done it yet.

[@plawson8577]

The pitch itself seems incredibly half assed.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Funny to hear how few were sold. I remember when it came out and it was just too expensive for what it did. With the console addons it cost more than just buying those consoles, and the laserdisc player didn’t have auto flip which was a step down from what I already had then.

[@plawson8577]

@@TheMediaHoarder I remember too. I saw LaserActive as a Glorified overpriced Karaoke Machine.

[@Kurzov]

Yesterday was actually Civil Defense Day. Maybe something for next year.

[@OddityArchive]

Didn't know there was such a thing. Guess this would about the time of year the Operation Alert drills used to happen though.

[@plawson8577]

@@OddityArchive Hey Benny, have you ever listened to the Chicago area Tornado Siren? It uses the CONRAD system so it has a really weird sound.

[@hayleywaalen2612]

You are watching a Laserdisc Magazine.

[@OddityArchive]

In retrospect, I should've added that onto the box shot.

[@hayleywaalen2612]

@@OddityArchive I agree.

[@maltoNitho]

Whoa! The Archive Zone? Tell me more!! 😂

[@andjkh]

That music "BAMP!!!" Owner Of A Lonely Heart on steroids.

[@mightyfilm]

The insufferable 90's 'tude they're forcing through those Zoom videos somehow clashes with the lack of personality and just unenthusiastic, lethargic delivery from the presenters. And could they pick a guy with a less dynamic voice? Sounds like the dullest high school teacher you had trying to be relatable because he's the youngest teacher in the school's employ. Also, I just love that fuzzed out exclamation in the opening theme of "It's time for ZOOM!!!" So much to unpack there. What's the age of the audience they're trying to reach? Who's going to be excited it's time for Zoom? And considering it's on a Laserdisk that can be played at any convenience, isn't anytime time for Zoom? Why am I thinking so much about that?

[@ichigokarasu]

John Buechler looks like if Dwight Schrute had to go on the run quickly and threw on the first fake beard and hairpiece he could find.

[@RickinBaltimore]

2:30 - Ta-ra-da-boom-bee-yay!

[@iainlaurence]

That intro slaps

[@thancrus]

i never got my full moon tshirt.... i did get the membership card..... never got anything else really ....maybe one sales guide but thats it

[@rrsaga]

I was wondering when Sinfeld would come out with George

[@Cherry-r4o]

The only not cool about LD is when your collection get massive it's really heavy

[@JEEPSTR78]

I have a Laser Disc Mystery Disc interactive murder mystery game.

[@larrylaffer3246]

Ah Ben's Junk heads toward the future.

[@Inspiration_Date]

14:51 - Hey, I remember this game! Retsupurae riffed it years ago! kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5u6YqykgdysjZY

[@michaelcarpenter2498]

I am suring Pioneer for whiplash off that first vid. My neck is stillsore. Edgar winters i think of Frankenstein, Free Ride, and his albums in the seventies. Then there is that very strange album he made with L Ron Hubbard Mission Earth (thanks Ben). All in all, Good work Ben. Now I am going to the chiropractor.

[@OddityArchive]

Must’ve seen Todd’s video on “Mission Earth”. Compared to some of the turds that have been on Trainwreckords, I thought it came off relatively decent (long as I don’t pay too much attention to Hubbard’s loopy lyrics).

[@michaelcarpenter2498]

@@OddityArchive the music is good but the lyrics are....(The rest of this message censored by the Church of Scientology.)

[@michaelcarpenter2498]

Ahem, yes I did notice it from Trainwrecords. What Edgar did to make a coherent album from what Hubbard was scribling out is extraordinary.

[@OddityArchive]

I'd be willing to bet very heavily that Hubbard died before any significant work got done and Winter just quietly tossed and rewrote whatever musical scraps he was given.

[@cpnscarlet]

Wait! WAIT! Where do I send my $200!?!?!?!

[@michaelturner4457]

That ZOOM is just a horrible disjointed mess.

[@stvlu733]

@6:21 Garbage truck

[@js4032yt]

Guess you finally upgraded to 16 bit, Oddity Archive, because it didn't reset to 0.

[@sklba632]

I feel like this is the sort of video they leave you alone in a room with for all eternity in hell.

[@ntsecrets]

Who knew Jason from Friday the 13th was based on a real person lol

[@EvaFull]

The Oddities of Oddity Archive, What more could you want? (Dry humor intended, even if it doesn’t register 😉 😂)

[@yanikkunitsin1466]

Can you please hold titles longer?

[@canalpretocl]

8:16 Things that destroy my faith in mankind: politics, religion… and karaoke

[@richardthefox3412]

I’ll be completely honest I wasn’t even aware that pioneer fell off so hard to begin with, at least for not why.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

I only recently learned about it. Tried to get my Japanese model laserdisc player fixed and was told Pioneer no longer has many parts. They used to keep them and supported laserdisc for years after it became obsolete, but their new owners tossed most of the laserdisc parts they had.

[@danthemainman1]

Pioneer Pro-Vision projection displays, Laserdiscs, and Zoom, oh and LaserKaraoke, this is a wonderful throwback of past oddities! And that woman in the LaserActive segment, you can tell that she doesn’t buy the lines she’s selling. “It’ll definitely affect international relations.” And it’s hilarious the hype for multimedia at the time, considering that Mosaic/Netscape already existed at the time and we were just a year or two from the big home internet boom. And $380 a night starting rate? Place must have gone downhill since the 90s, I’ve seen BnBs and boutique hotels cost that much per night, four star hotels in downtown areas, too. I can’t imagine “the most beautiful resort hotel in the world” having rooms that (comparatively) cheap.

[@intergalacticmeow]

You do realize that was back in the day dollars today's dollars. It's like a thousand a night in today's market

[@OddityArchive]

$380/night is the current rate. Funnily enough, when I did the AM Stereo stuff last Summer, I absolutely choked at the $150-175 a night I was paying-$380 would truly freak me out.

[@intergalacticmeow]

@@OddityArchive some rooms go even higher. Hotel Coronado is considered one of the most palatial hotels in America

[@plawson8577]

1993, we were TWO years away from the Internet Boom of ‘95.

[@plawson8577]

@@OddityArchive $380 a Night in 1993 Dollars, wouldn’t that be $675 today? I mean $380 a night is Still a ridiculous rate. I should know, I’ve worked in the Hotel Business for 10 years.

[@georgeprice4212]

Fade To Black….that was a great Metallica song, wasn’t it? 😂

[@OddityArchive]

…or a so-bad-it’s-good early 80’s horror flick.

[@plawson8577]

@@OddityArchive Ride The Lighting!

[@ColeHomeVideo]

I love you Ben, but calling Shrunken Heads a "Tim Burton pastiche" and "ripoff" is incredibly blind-sided when Richard Elfman did it first with his first film 'Forbidden Zone' came out in 1980 two years before Burton made his breakout short Vincent. In fact Forbidden Zone was the film that influenced both Tim Burton and Paul Reubens to hire Danny Elfman to score Pee-Wee's Big Adventure as they were fans of the film and Oingo Boingo. Shrunken Heads is not ripping off Burton but is continuing Richard's zaniness from Forbidden Zone.

[@OddityArchive]

Guess I'll have to revisit that one (haven't seen it in ages). My feeling on "Shrunken Heads" was that it was an awkward mashup of "Frankenweenie" and "Beetlejuice".

[@ColeHomeVideo]

@@OddityArchive Of course your feelings on the film are valid, it's all subjective at the end of the day. It was just those remarks that I found questionable. (I'm also incredibly biased with FZ being one of my all time favourite films and I don't think Burton's work would probably be the same if he hadn't watched it and discovered Danny's music in that film).

[@Moneytane1976]

This stuff is so hilariously dated its not true, even by early 90s standards, it has a very mid to late 80s vibe and those video games, what the hell?

[@intergalacticmeow]

Meow

[@djhrecordhound4391]

WOOOOOF

[@OddityArchive]

Moo

[@intergalacticmeow]

@@OddityArchive moo to you

[@Parakinese]

Fuck fuck fuck Intro awesome 🤯🤩

[@-divinetragedy]

Watch the picture, listen to the tube XD

[@-divinetragedy]

i would've watched earlier but i just moved >.