It's Schwimmer Time! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole check out the latest season of Goosebumps: The Vanishing, starring David Schwimmer of Run Fatboy Run and Madagascar fame. This modern retelling of the classic 'Stay Out Of The Basement' begins another serialized season of teenagers and adults hopping through other old 'Bump books. How does Season 2 compare to Justin Long's Season 1? What does 'bussin' mean? And who exactly is this show for besides us? (SPOILERS: We cover episodes 1 & 2 "Stay Out of the Basement, Part I & 2" but also have small discussion of episodes 3 and 4 'The Haunted Car' & 'Monster Blood'.
We also have big updates to the future of the podcast. Thank you again for listening and being part of this show!
OFF TOPICS: Ten Candles, Chad vs. The California Wildfires, Richard Ayodae's Crystal Maze, Dee Bradley Baker, Taskmaster, Innit?
Show discussion begins: 18:30
Support the show and get access to bonus episodes, our secret Discord, and more at patreon.com/goosebuds
Prepare for something a bit different, Goosebuddies! While Chad flees the LA fires (don't worry; he's safe), Paul and Kevin gather to talk about two pieces of non-R.L. media they enjoy. The anime OVA classics: 1988's 'Dragon's Heaven' by Makoto Kobayashi and 1985's 'Angel's Egg' by Mamoru Oshii. Both about girls wandering desolate apocalypse landscapes. Hope you enjoy this departure from our usual fare. We're exploring more art to discuss for this podcast and want to hear from you about it on Patreon!
OFF TOPICS: Spyro, Sauna 2000, 2D vs 3D Games, Storylords!, SuperTry Intros
Discussion starts: 12:15
Support the show and get access to bonus episodes, our secret Discord, and more at patreon.com/goosebuds
Oh Come, All Ye Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole revisit two 90s cartoon holiday episodes. First we check out ABC's Recess's politically correct 'Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave' guest starring James Earl Jones and Michael McKean in which Chad's cartoon proxy Mikey challenges 3rd Street to prove Santa is real.
We then shift to the more subversive with Nickelodeon's Rocko's Modern Life's holiday episode 'Can't Squeeze Cheer From a Cheese Log!' otherwise known as Rocko's Modern Christmas. Rocko's hoping friends come by for the holidays, including some mysterious elves next door. Is Santa dead? Are Elves keeping the legend alive like the Bat Family does in Batman's absence? Unsure, but a cloud poops snow and Mr. Bigfoot gets capped in the knee. Pretty good.
We also talk about Sonic the Hedgehog canon and Chad's love for the female southern brawler archetype. Enjoy and happy holidays!
Off-TOPICS: Bunnie Rabbot
Discussion starts at 9:56
Support the show and get access to bonus episodes, our secret Discord, and more at patreon.com/goosebuds
The Goosebuddies Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read R.L. Stine's Horrorland 'finale' The Streets of Panic Park. Sixteen (!!) book protagonist kids are globbed together to face the edgelord villain The Menace who hopes to scare the kids so bad they'll jump realities. And in what should be the hypest moment in all of Goosebumps, Slappy leads a group of villain allies! Can these kids and monsters escape Panic Park and get back to Horrorland- which they are also escaping from? This book was such a mess it caused an emotional crisis in your hosts and we need to lie down. Enjoy the episode!
Book discussion: 13:10
OFF-TOPICS:
Being Shaken (Jostled)
How Many Legs Do Ants Have? We check it out.
Speed Racer's Mach V Pogo Leg
Wacky Racers X Fast & Furious
We're back to Hark as the Goosebuddies Chad, Paul, and Kevin adventure through the second (and last) of R.L. Stine's sci-fi Choose Your Own Adventure series: The Invaders of Hark. We're thrust into the city of Hark where multiple alien factions fight for control and a beautiful princess. These books are brutal with only one correct path. Will we survive?
OFF TOPICS: Paul's adventures in Unreal Engine, Godot
Adventure begins: 15:30
Support the show on patreon.com/goosebuds
UPDATE TO PATREON: Due to changes on Patreon's side we're being forced to shift from our per creation setup (where you'd pledge tiers and pay for each episode released a month) to a monthly subscription (a flat fee tier). Our goal is to make this as least disruptive as possible. Here's the summary of new tiers.
$5/month - Ghoulie
Our exclusive Goosebuds Discord
Early access to episodes before they go live
Voting on episodes we read next!
$10/month - Camper
Camp Goosebuds bonus episodes every month
Forever immortalized in the Book of Names at the end of each episode
All the rewards from the 'Ghoulie' level (Discord, early access, and voting)
As we always put out at least two regular episodes a month this shouldn't change the overall amount you were pledging, just how and when it's charged. But this is not an automatic shift. You'll need to adjust your tiers to the new levels!
We gotta escape from Horrorland! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps: Horrorland: Escape From Horrorland. A hell of a title. The last ten books have been building up to this; the YA equivalent of Avengers as all our survivng kids team up with original survivors Lizzy and Luke to run around in circles in a paranormal park that isn't even Horrorland! This horde of kids' goal is to get BACK to Horrorland to then escape it. This is indeed literature.
Topics Include: Patreon Changes, The California Raisins
Support the show on patreon.com/goosebuds
UPDATE TO OUR CURRENT PATRONS: Due to changes on Patreon's side we're being forced to shift from our per creation setup (where you'd pledge tiers and pay for each episode released a month) to a monthly subscription (a flat fee tier). Our goal is to make this as least disruptive as possible, but Patreon hasn't been great about that as we're waiting for settings to change and working with their support team. We have a more extensive explanation incoming but here's the summary of new tiers.
$5/month - Ghoulie
Our exclusive Goosebuds Discord
Early access to episodes before they go live
Voting on episodes we read next!
$10/month - Camper
Camp Goosebuds bonus episodes every month
Forever immortalized in the Book of Names at the end of each episode
All the rewards from the 'Ghoulie' level (Discord, early access, and voting)
As we always put out at least two regular episodes a month this shouldn't change the overall amount you were pledging, just how and when it's charged. But this is not an automatic shift. You'll need to adjust your tiers to the new levels!
Help! We have a new podcast episode! Your hosts Chad Quandt and Kevin Cole check out R.L. Stine's 2009 Horrorland book Help! We Have Strange Powers. The powers these twin protagonists get are surprisingly easy to categorize: telepathy and telekinesis. Well, technically there's a subset of time power but it's really just a psychic baby ray. Enjoy the episode!
Book discussion begins:
OFF-TOPICS: Revenge Of, Saving Books for the Apocalypse. Little Book Libraries, The Book of Eli. Pseudo Harem, Dandadan, Uzumaki
The Goosebuds Boys check out the 90s sitcom Family Matters' late series episode 'Stevil'. Brought to life by a casual wish and a bolt of lighting, 'Stevil' is here to kill the Winslows and I guess help Urkel's ventriloquism career? They don't really work on their standup set at all. You know, this was once a sitcom about a blue collar family growing up in Chicago. Then Urkelmania took over the world. But how does this haunted doll episode compare to R.L. Stine's own wooden boy?
Discussion begins: 10:30
Off Topics: Chad's Puzzle Box Proposal, Lockpicking
S-s-s-so good to be back, Goosebuddies! We were doing a snake thing there-- was that clear? Your hosts Paul Ritchey and Kevin Cole enroll in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book Welcome to Camp Slither. There are rumors of man-eating snakes at camp, but no reports on if they'll eat the other genders. And when we rejoin the Horrorland arc a terrifying ride called the R.I.P.P.E.R. Dipper threatens to do some sort of ripping. Hopefully not to their butts. We also talk about recent Magic sets and indie games we're digging. Enjoy the episode!
Book discussion begins: 22:45
OFF TOPICS: Duskmourn: House of Horror, UFO 50
Summer's over, Goosebuddies. How did you spend it? Were you hunting for buried cars at the beach? Attacking the pool lifeguard with psychic damage? Or tracking down a beloved but lonely ice cream man? The Goosebuddies check out The Adventures of Pete & Pete's classic episode "How I Spent My Summer Vacation", arguably one of the best in the series. And Michael Stipe is there!
Episode discussion: 17:30
Off-Topics: Secret Level, Crying
Behold the glory of the Helmacrons! Your hosts Chad Quandt and Kevin Cole take a Goosebumps break to read through arguably the weirdest Animorphs book; The Suspicion by K.A. Applegate. The kids' war campaign against the Yeerks is interrupted by the arrival of the Helmacrons, miniature space people with giant egos. Enjoy the episode!
Book discussion starts: 9:15
OFF TOPICS: Nyx the dog, hard hitting Sports insight
The Goosebud Boys Chad, Paul, and Kevin face the Horrorland version of R.L. Stine's infamous haunted camera: Say Cheese -- And Die Screaming! That dash is in a weird place, right? It's the wrong pause? Anyway, somehow the rules of these deadly photo predictions have changed since last book. Are the spirits getting more artistic? Or just lazier? And we also try to answer the question: what happens to waste on an airplane?
Book discussion: 9:40
OFF TOPICS: Where Does Airplane Poop Go?, Christopher Lloyd, Joe Dirt
Tighten your shoes and do some stretching, cuz we got a big track meet today! Your Goosebuds hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole check out the Choose Your Own Adventure book Track Star! by R.A. Montgomery. We're a high school athlete with a lot of pressure to run the fastest and longest to get that college scholarship and make dad proud. And somehow all paths lead to performance enhancing drugs. Will we get busted for juicing? Will we rat out our fellow teammates? Or will our legs blow out in the middle of a 200m? Check it out and enjoy this heart-pounding episode!
Adventure starts at 22:00
Off-Topics: Presidential Fitness Test, GUN TECH, Runner's High, The Pros and Cons of Bloodletting
Holy hells, Goosebuddies. This episode marks our 10th Anniversary of the podcast. We started in 2014 with a mission to cover the works of R. L. Stine and we still have mountains of pulp to go through. But in honor of the celebration we take a look back at the story that started it all: Welcome to Dead House! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole re-review this 1992 book about a sort of terrifying time share. Then we hop around the timeline and inspect 2014 and the modern year to see how this franchise has changed with the world and us. And we celebrate Kevin getting to read this book for the first time! We also talk booby traps and the laws concerning them.
Thank you all for an incredible decade of this show. Your continued love and support keeps us going and it's meant a lot to have this audio cabin void to sneak away to and talk about 90s kids horror. Enjoy the episode!
Book Discussion starts at 26:45
Off-Topics Include: 2014 Paul, Our Ideal Ghost House Features, 1992, Goosebuds: Origins
It's time to morph into a shark! But sadly we're not reading Animophs and fighting an alien resistance, we're a dumb kid trespassing into an ancient temple and cursed by a vague monk! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read through the 80s Choose Your Own Adventure book: You Are A Shark by Edward Packard. Despite the direct title, it's really hard for us to get the animal form we want and really run through the fauna of the world. Will we get to punch out that smug mystic cursing us? Or will we die to humans? This is one of the most brutal CYOA stories, evoking the infamous Back to Pass episode.
Adventure starts at 12:23
Off-Topics: Trouble is a fake idea, the idea of sharks
Do you know what it's like to be considered a beast by your classmates? To be so big but also good at computers? A teenage Hank McCoy? At least one of hosts does and this episode hits hard. Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book My Friends Call Me Monster. This is a weird story about monster closets and egg-based horror. Not recommended for vegans!
Book discussion and banter are as inseparable from each other as the briar and the rose.
Off-Topics Include: Elden Ring, Skyrim
This book tasks questions the reader: who is your mother and what do they do? Are they wrapped up in bandages? And are they being used as a fuel source for eternal life? Your hosts Paul Ritchey and Kevin Cole cover R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book Who's Your Mummy? Protagonists Abby and Peter stay with their uncle who has a dark secret: a real tasty stockpile of mummies to eat up. Weird! And the adventure continues into the ongoing Horrorland saga. Is horror Byron an ally? Or is he tracking them with GPS chips? Enjoy the episode!
Book discussion starts at 12:15
OFF TOPICS: Kaiju No. 8, Smart Guys, TNT Amusements Inc.
Get in formation, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole watch another classic The Adventures of Pete & Pete episode, "Day of the Dot". As Big Pete's marching band competes in the Regional Championship, he struggles with affections for Ellen and a tyrannical teacher. Meanwhile Little Pete is trapped on an endless school bus as Bus Driver Stu wrestles with a broken heart. This is a sweet indie episode and we're inspired by the discussion. Enjoy!
Episode Discussion begins: 18:18
OFF-TOPICS: SpongeBob SuperBowl, Perfect High School, Doctorin', Wolf C.I.A., You Can Desaturate Your Phone Screen, Chad's Take On Sonic 2 (The Movie)
Your Goosebuds Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read through the 1985 CYOA book The Badlands of Hark, written by R.L. Stine! This is written before Goosebumps, Fear Street, or Horrorland; what sort of sci-fi fantasy world does a younger Stine have in his soul? Turns out it's one with an endless maze. A lot of death in this hellworld of R.L.'s. Can Paul and Kevin survive and find The Nonspecific Treasure?
OFF TOPICS: Phone Cord Twirling, Beet Feudalism, Picard's robot body, Robot Hands, RoboCop, Chad's First Cousins Once Removed
Adventure begins: 14:15
Your Goosebuds hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole review R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book Dr. Maniac vs Robby Schwartz where aspiring cartoonist Robby discovers his comic creations come alive to eat squirrels and torture local kids. But also none of this matters as Robby resets the narrative multiple times (it was all a joke, reader!) and it causes an emotional cataclysm for your Goosebuddies . To be honest, this episode really broke us. But don't CTRL+ALT+DEL on us; we'll keep pounding through Young Adult books because tackling R.L.'s legacy is our great purpose in life.
OFF TOPICS: Rocky, Bioshock/Judas, Ben Franklin, Code Lyoko vs Reboot
Book discussion begins: 16:40
Complete mental breakdown begins: 1:23:59
Beware of grues, Goosebuddies! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole check out another Choose Your Own Adventure book based off one of the first adventure games ever: Zork! This 'What-Do-I-Do-Now" Book is Zork #1: The Forces of Krill by S. Eric Meretzky. Is Krill the Ganon of this world? Would we be shaking in our +1 Boots at the mention of his lizard men if we had played the original game? It seems Krill just likes hiding in holes in the ground, which isn't that much different than Tears of the Kingdom. We also discuss how delicious 'dino damage' used to look on toys. Enjoy the episode and stay alive!
Book adventure begins: 12:00
OFF TOPICS: Daylight Savings Time, Bugs, Jurassic Park Battle Damage Toys, J. Kenji López-Alt, Bugs Part II
There's a terrifying affliction of fear going around; so we're enforcing a Haunted Mask mandate! Your Goosebuds hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland book The Scream of the Haunted Mask. It's been a year since the original story and Carly Beth is worried she'll put the mask back on and become evil. She could just get rid of it, maybe try to destroy it, but it stays locked in her basement. Until it doesn't. But also: Ghost horses haunt the local children's center/farm! It's very tragic. This book that's really about spectral steeds should've been called Goosebumps: Horse Death.
Book discussion begins: 17:30
OFF TOPICS: Millenial Internet Faux Pas, Willy's Chocolate Experience, X-Men Movies
This episode is part of a balanced bookfast-! Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole read the third of R.L Stine's Goosebumps Horrorland series: Monster Blood for Breakfast. The iconic green growth slime is back for a fifth time. And somehow this is the least-scary story!Protagonist Matt Daniels deals with the terrifying idea of... being taller and stronger and winning the swim meet? We also get the next chapter of the Horrorland narrative and meet monster revolutionary Byron. We also discuss toy belts with I.P. powers and the mystery of missing Skeeter.
Book discussion begins: 12:50
OFF TOPICS: Chad's beef with the Disney Imagination Belt, Where's Skeeter??
The corn state is in trouble, listeners! Small robotic drones designed like metal wasps are terrorizing the youth. They are not being used for war. Let us make that clear: this is not a metaphor about drone warfare at all. Your hosts Chad Quandt, Paul Ritchey, and Kevin Cole cover Johnathan Rand's American Chillers: Iron Insects Invade Indiana. And we're joined by the wonderful Payton Whaley (WTIU's Flyover Culture). Payton's an Indiana boy like Chad and the two bond about their lives in the 'Crossroads of America', working for public television, and enjoying a time when there weren't metal menaces filling the skies. It was a simpler time. Anyway, this is a good episode! Enjoy.
Book discussion begins: 4:30
Off Topics: MIMAL THE ELF, The Friday Zone
Check out Payton's show Flyover Culture: youtube.com/flyoverculture