Gamer Era

Gamer Era Episode 020 - Attack of the Blockheads

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Gaming. It’s our business. With conquest on the mind, our brave hosts each explore the various triumphs and blunders of two titans venturing into the digital realm. First, David chronicles The Lego Group’s tentative steps into the 2000s – from the experimental Island series, to the justly forgotten cross-media flop of Galidor, through to the eventual breakout success of Bionicle. Then, Sam finally investigates a lifelong curiosity – just who exactly is multi-millionaire media mogul Alan Sugar, and what was he doing getting involved in the booming British micro-computer scene of the ‘80s? It’s all to play for in another block-busting instalment!

Follow us on Twitter, Bluesky and Backloggd: @GamerEraPodcast

Topics discussed: The Lego Island series, Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension, Bionicle; Alan Sugar, various Amstrad computers (CPC-464, PCW, PC1512, GX4000, Mega-PC); the Roland “series”, Get Dexter!, Everyone’s A Wally

Also mentioned: Antonball Deluxe / Antonblast, Perfect Dark, Thank Goodness You’re Here, Lego Incredibles, Muppet Monster Adventure; Lego: Fun to Build, the Sega Pico, Pac-Man Ghost Zone, Drawn to Life, Saffire (developer); The Apprentice UK, the ZX Spectrum, Sir Clive Sinclair, the BBC Micro, the Sega Teradrive

Music used:

• Menu Music 3 (“Okay Fellas”) [from “International Superstar Soccer 2000”] – Kazuhiko Uehara
• Brick by Brick [from “Lego Island”] – Lorin Nelson
• Level 1 [from “Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension”] – Mark Ortiz
• Theme of Super Metroid – Kenji Yamamoto
• Tahu Beguiled Rahi [from “Bionicle: The Game”] – Karin Griffin
• Blue Room [from “Island Xtreme Stunts”] – John Hancock, Steven Gow, Stafford Bawler, Mark Hyett
• March of the Knights (Romeo and Juliet) – Sergei Prokofiev 
• Everyone’s a Wally – Mike Berry [restored version from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhfxAm_6Xes]

Further reading:

• “Bits ‘N Bricks – Lego Island: Birth of a Lego Video Game” (The LEGO Group, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_x7MiUcT8s
• “Bits ‘N Bricks – The Surreal History of Lego Galidor” (The LEGO Group, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O13pz3unFrM
• “LEGO Almost Went Bankrupt. These Heroes Saved Our Bricks.” – Popular Mechanics (David Lumb, 2020): https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/gaming/a31152877/lego-bionicle-faber/
• “Brick by brick: how Lego embraced video games” – The Guardian (Alysia Judge, 2018): https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/jul/12/lego-video-games
• “Alan Sugar – The Amstrad Story” (David Thomas, 1991) [ISBN 978-0330319003]: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Alan_Sugar/zj7cNwAACAAJ
• “What You See is What You Get: My Autobiography” (Alan Sugar, 2010) [ISBN 978-0330520478]: https://www.google.com/books/edition/What_You_See_Is_What_You_Get/bVEFCfjadN8C
• “Meet the Amstrad CPC range of British Micros – Show & Tell” (RMC – The Cave, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzugRfoWZkM
• “Ruthless: The Story of Amstrad and Alan Sugar in the 80’s and 90’s” (Kim Justice, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiIXn9Tr5hI
• “The Amazing TRUE Story Of How Amstrad Bought Sinclair” (ChinnyVision, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGzqvyKYVVI
• “Amstrad Addict – Collectors Edition Magazine” (Pixel Addict, 2023): https://www.pixel.addict.media/shop/amstrad-addict