History Podcast / EightiesAllOver

* LeftHanging: Because the show was CutShort the films of the decade from May 1985 onward went without being reviewed, meaning big movies and discussions teased in earlier episodes never came to pass. Films that were going to be "event" reviews included ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', ''Film/TheGoonies'', ''Film/TopGun'', ''Film/FatalAttraction'', etc. On the other hand, in a sort of SpiritualSuccessor Drew would participate in the ''Screen Drafts'' podcast episode covering the Creator/DavidCronenberg filmography in May 2020 and discussed the two '80s films of his the show hadn't been able to cover -- ''Film/TheFly1986'' and ''Film/DeadRingers'' -- at length in a similar manner to this show.

* ParodiesOfFire: Discussed in September 1981, with Drew feeling that this trope ultimately worked against the reputation of ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'' because all the spoofs accidentally undercut the effectiveness of the film's innovative score.

* HypeBacklash: [[invoked]] Discussed in several episodes, particularly regarding certain Best Picture Oscar winners. While ''Film/OrdinaryPeople'' isn't Drew or Scott's favorite film of September 1980 or even of that month (that would be the teen comedy ''My Bodyguard''), they both think it's excellent and feel bad that it beat out ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/TheElephantMan'' because this trope has applied to it ever since. Drew himself resented it for ''fifteen years'' just because it beat ''Raging Bull''. They both harbored similar resentment as teens towards ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'' for beating ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', but as they grew older came to realize that they weren't being fair (finding ''Chariots'' a worthwhile film, if not a great one, upon deigning to see it) and were taking the Oscars ''and'' their own preferences way too seriously.

* HypeBacklash: [[invoked]] Discussed at the end of the September 1980 episode regarding the year's Best Picture Oscar winner ''Film/OrdinaryPeople''. While it isn't Drew or Scott's favorite film of 1980 or even of that month (that would be the teen comedy ''My Bodyguard''), they both think it's excellent and feel bad that it beat out ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/TheElephantMan'' because this trope has applied to it ever since. (Drew himself resented it for ''fifteen years'' just because it beat ''Raging Bull''.)

* UnfortunateImplications: [[invoked]] Discussing the horror film ''The Unseen'' in September 1981, Drew and Scott (especially the latter), were both genuinely upset by TheReveal that the titular menace is [[spoiler: merely an imprisoned mentally-handicapped man (played by Stephen Furst, aka Flounder in ''Animal House'')]] because of the implications of such a character being treated just like a traditional horror monster.

* DoubleFeature: Drew and Scott review some double feature reissues Disney released early in the decade, and in the July 1984 episode briefly discuss the old "studio sneak preview" practice: an upcoming film getting a one-or-two night showing a week or two in advance of the general release to build word of mouth. Sometimes, this was done as a DoubleFeature with a film already in release. ''Revenge of the Nerds'' and ''Cloak and Dagger'' both got sneak preview treatment that month (in fact ''Revenge'' got two weekends' worth of previews), but did not officially open as standalone films until August, so the hosts don't review them until the next episode. ''Cloak and Dagger'' was paired up with ''The Last Starfighter''. (This practice was phased out in the early 1990s.)=

* EvilLaugh: Drew has one he occasionally uses...

* {{Corpsing}}: Drew and Scott's casual, generally upbeat discussions sometimes have them breaking into fits of laughter -- often when they're discussing particularly ridiculous horror movies (as in September 1981, when they discuss four in a row).

* PoorMansSubstitute: Discussing ''Film/QTheWingedSerpent'' at the end of the October 1982 episode, Drew sees writer-director Creator/LarryCohen as this to Creator/StevenSpielberg in a complimentary way, namely that he's able to bring similar HighConcept genre premises to effective life on far smaller budgets.

** October 1982: A character runs off a LongList of narcotics on offer in ''Fast-Walking'' (an obscure Creator/JamesWoods vehicle)

* JustHereForGodzilla: [[invoked]] Scott didn't get ''Film/IntoTheNight'' as it were, but did enjoy Creator/JeffGoldblum's performance, going on to say that over the years he's endured some awful movies just because Goldblum was in the cast.

** Drew on February 1983's ''Threshold'', although he sincerely means this as a compliment: "If you're looking for a decently entertaining movie about somebody trying to build an artificial heart, you can't go too wrong with ''Threshold''."
* OvershadowedByControversy: [[invoked]] Drew regards ''Film/TheCottonClub'' as this and, unusually for this show, decides not to go into depth about its various travails (most infamously the murder of a potential financier) because, unlike with ''Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie'', they didn't have much to do with how the actual film turned out.

* PreMortemOneLiner / BondOneLiner: In the discussion of ''Film/BlueThunder'' Drew notes that these two tropes were all over 1980s action movies, taking off from how memorably ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' used the former trope back in 1975. ''Blue Thunder'' has a memorable example of the latter trope. (Both examples are spoken by the same actor, Creator/RoyScheider.)

* LoopholeAbuse: The show specifically focuses on feature-length films that received a legit U.S. theatrical release. With this in mind, Scott sees their occasionally having to watch and discuss (usually foreign) {{Made For TV Movie}}s and {{Miniseries}} that were released to theaters in the U.S. (sometimes cut to feature-length in the case of the latter), such as ''Film/FannyAndAlexander'', as this in action as they weren't meant for theatrical release. By the time they have to discuss ''Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (which is 14 hours long) in 1983, Scott's openly complaining about having to handle these productions even if they're good. As a result he's ''really'' peeved in August 1984 by ''Sam's Son'', a film that almost was a TV movie and plays like a bad one in practice. (As for ''Film/TheDayAfter'', it's discussed in November 1983 because, as THE TV movie of the decade, it was just too big to ignore as far as the podcast's producer was concerned.)

* HypeBacklash: [[invoked]] Discussed at the end of the September 1980 episode regarding the year's Best Picture Oscar winner ''Film/OrdinaryPeople''. While it isn't Drew or Scott's favorite film of 1980 or even of that month (that would be ''Film/MyBodyguard''), they both think it's excellent and feel bad that it beat out ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/TheElephantMan'' because this trope has applied to it ever since. (Drew himself resented it for ''fifteen years'' just because it beat ''Raging Bull''.)

* HypotheticalCasting: In the first Viewer Mailbag episode, Drew and Scott find themselves wondering who would have played Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse characters had it launched in the 1980s. With the help of Twitter followers, their answers are:

** Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk: Creator/JeffGoldblum / Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger (the Hulk would be TheSpeechless to get around Schwarzenegger's accent)

** Black Widow: Ellen Barkin (Runner-up: Creator/SigourneyWeaver)

** Ant-Man: Creator/MichaelDouglas

** [[AndStarring And Dabney Coleman as Agent Phil Coulson]]

** Black Widow: Ellen Barken (Runner-up: Creator/SigourneyWeaver)

* HypotheticalCasting: In one Viewer Mailbag episode, Drew and Scott find themselves wondering who ''would'' have played the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse characters had those films launched in the 1980s. Those answers include Creator/BurtReynolds as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Dolph Lundgren as Thor, and -- since effects technology wasn't what it is now -- splitting Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk between Creator/JeffGoldblum and Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, respectively, ''and'' having the latter be TheSpeechless (following the lead of [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk the television show]]). This would also get around the issue of finding a role for Schwarzenegger that wouldn't be undercut by his Austrian accent (the reason they didn't "cast" him as Thor).

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: While the format barely changed from its launch, up through August 1980 "boners" regarding release dates and missed movies that have to be caught up on were much more frequent than they were later, as Drew and Scott had trouble finding the relevant, correct information on such. This is partially because many of these films had gradual rollouts across the country (especially {{B Movie}}s) and thus multiple dates exist for when they opened in certain territories. Drew and Scott tried to stick to the earliest U.S. general release date possible. (This is why they don't cover 1981's ''Porky's'' until March 1982, when 20th Century Fox released it in the U.S. after its huge success in Canada. It was one of several Canadian or U.S. independent hits they snapped up for a wide U.S. release.) Also, the January 1980 episode has a slightly different OpeningNarration. There's a little more of this in the December 1979 test episode in that only a few of the movies covered are really ''discussed''; ''Film/ScavengerHunt'' and ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' each get more time than ''Film/AllThatJazz'', for instance.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: While the format barely changed from its launch, up through August 1980 "boners" regarding release dates and missed movies that have to be caught up on were much more frequent than they were later, as Drew and Scott had trouble finding the relevant, correct information on such. This is partially because many of these films had gradual rollouts across the country (especially {{B Movie}}s) and thus multiple dates exist for when they opened in certain territories. Drew and Scott tried to stick to the earliest U.S. general release date possible. (This is why they don't cover 1981's ''Porky's'' until March 1982, when 20th Century Fox released it in the U.S. after its huge success in Canada. It was one of several Canadian or U.S. independent hits they snapped up for a wide U.S. release.) Also, the January 1980 episode has a slightly different OpeningNarration.

* ExploitationFilm: In the May 1980 episode, they discuss how this style of film was co-opted by major Hollywood studios as part of the horror boom of the decade and rendered LighterAndSofter in terms of content. Because of this Drew and Scott both huge horror fans even as kids, saw ''Humanoids from the Deep'' -- a genuine exploitation film that takes MarsNeedsWomen to nasty extremes -- at too young an age.

* LimitedAnimation: Drew has little patience for theatrically-released animated features that fall into this trope, and is especially frustrated by the poorer-quality animation used to piece together the Looney Tunes ClipShow films. Unfortunately, for much of the decade (in particular, after the early wave of adults-only films through 1983 and before Creator/DonBluth's breakthrough to audiences with ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' and the Disney animation studio finally finding its footing again) this was about all that was produced for theatrically-released animated features, namely a wave of MerchandiseDriven films.

* ExploitationFilm: In the May 1980 episode, they discuss how this style of film was co-opted by major Hollywood studios as part of the horror boom of the decade and rendered LighterAndSofter in terms of content. Because of this Drew and Scott both huge horror fans even as kids, saw ''Humanoids from the Deep'' -- a genuine exploitation film -- at too young an age and were deeply disturbed by the '''very''' hard-R content.

* ExploitationFilm: In the May 1980 episode, they discuss how this style of film was co-opted by major Hollywood studios as part of the horror boom of the decade and rendered LighterAndSofter in terms of content. Because of this Drew and Scott both huge horror fans even as kids, saw ''Film/Humanoids from the Deep'' -- a genuine exploitation film -- at too young an age and were deeply disturbed by its '''very''' hard-R content.

* ExploitationFilm: In the May 1980 episode, they discuss how this style of film was co-opted by major Hollywood studios as part of the horror boom of the decade and rendered LighterAndSofter in terms of content. Because of this Drew and Scott both huge horror fans even as kids, saw ''Film/HumanoidsFromTheDeep'' -- a genuine exploitation film -- at too young an age and were deeply disturbed by its hard-R content.

** With regards to childhood favorites, they feel that ''Film/SupermanIII'' defenders are very, ''very'' affected by this trope, with Scott even saying "Your childhood is '''''[[DramaticEcho wrong!]]'''''" In fact, when they get to films that are deeply, deeply loved by kids of the 1980s, Drew and Scott will warn the listener if they're about to tear them down, with ''Film/TheNeverEndingStory'' (July 1984) a case in point. They do believe, firmly, that people should like what they like (as discussed in a bonus feedback episode, regarding how their stinging ''Film/{{Condorman}}'' review garnered a surprising amount of response from fans of the film) -- but warn them to beware of revisiting childhood favorites all the same, arguing in the ''[=NeverEnding Story=]'' review that people who love that movie probably haven't watched it lately. The following month, the film is brought up again in their discussion of ''Film/CloakAndDagger''. Drew and Scott don't think ''Cloak'' completely works but unlike ''[=NeverEnding Story=]'', they point out it's ''earned'' its devoted fans via the genuinely moving depiction of a realistically troubled father-son relationship.

** Minority characters being portrayed by majority actors: ''Film/Scarface1983'' has only one principal Cuban character who's played by an actual Cuban, Caucasian actress Linda Hunt plays a ''male'' Chinese-Australian in ''Film/TheYearOfLivingDangerously'', etc. Drew and Scott are more forgiving of this practice than the others, especially if they don't use {{Brownface}}, etc., but feel it must be left in the past.