The Train to Borgslayer has Arrived! Season 1 Finale Approaches!
We have finally done it! We survived season one of Saban’s Big Bad Beetleborgs and hot damn was it a helluva journey. While we wait for the final two episodes to be edited we decided to take a brief break and talk about our adventures during this first season. 53 Beetleborgs episodes, 10 bonus episodes, 2 interviews, and 1 network joined has made the past nearly two years more than we ever expected.
Our first episode aired on June 17th of 2019 with no grandiosity or expectations. Cam, Nik, Ryan, and Aaron sat down earlier that June and, after working their way through a few six packs of a local brew, started throwing out ideas for a podcast. Cam being the ever present toku nerd pushed for a Beetleborgs rewatch pod. A show just ridiculous enough to enjoy after a few drinks but just nostalgic enough to dive into and keep interesting for nearly 100 episodes? Sign us up! Fun Fact: The first episode we actually sat down and recorded was the “bonus” episode of episode one of the VR Troopers, a show that has more plot than Beetleborgs but is somehow harder to get through (shoutout to Take Me Back to My Virtual Reality, a VR Troopers pod by friends Rob and Mark!).
After only a couple months of the podcast we started to dive into behind-the-scenes videos, trivia, and lost media surrounding the show. This all started with the YouTube video Rare Beetleborgs Behind the Scenes! posted by notorious super fan SleepyHillhurst and the video Hillhurst Mansion 15 Years Later! posted by Herbie Baez, Roland himself. These two video led us down the rabbit hole of trivia and fan theories surrounding the show that we are still pursuing to this day. Our next big step was the incredibly fun and absolutely anxiety inducing interview with Beetleborgs director Gabe Torres himself! Gabe, still an active director and producer of independent and commercial films, regularly posts behind-the-scenes photos from his time on the set of the show to his Instagram (@gabecreates). Interviewing Gabe was an absolute honor and a major milestone for the Beetle Bros. We managed to disprove the rumor propagated by fans and even IMDB pages that Flabber and the Hillhurst Monsters were planned to have a spinoff series after Beetleborgs Metallix ended in 1998. This theory likely began with the toyset of Flabber and the Hillhurst House Monsters released during Metallix but was dismissed by Gabe as he and other Beetleborgs crew members immediately began production on either Power Rangers Turbo/In Space or Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog in Ireland.
Interviewing Gabe Torres may have been the shift in our goals for the podcast, but the real shift in our content quality began with the Curse of the Shadowborg miniseries. It was during this series that our now editor but then listener, Griffin, first joined us to guest host an episode. Griffin had put together a hilarious “abridged” video of our podcast including clips from the show as well as other references and SFX that absolutely blew us away. We quickly hired Griffin on as our editor and video producer for our YouTube channel, adding yet another Bro to our ranks starting with Yo Ho Borgs (episode 32)
The next big adventure for the bros came when we were contacted by VFX artist/compositor Rick Shick. Rick had worked on a number of Saban properties but has a particular fondness for his time on Beetleborgs. We sat down for our interview with Rick in the heat of the 2020 quarantine. Rick made our year by sharing stories of working on the Flabber Dragon, modeling Putties for Power Rangers, compositing Magnavore Jet Fighters backwards by accident, and even later working on major films like Captain America: Winter Soldier! If you haven’t gone back and listened to this episode we highly suggest catching it!
Beetle Bros had slowly been building a sort of cult following as the longest lasting Beetleborgs podcast and one of the only sources of consistent Beetleborgs content after our interview with Rick Shick in mid 2020. This was increased significantly when Cam was invited to appear on Shout Factory’s Pluto TV channel Tokushoutsu for the talk show Let’s Talk Toku with fellow Kansas Citian Squall! Sitting down to talk about this often forgotten show was a pleasure and an honor. Cam even got to show Squall Beetleborgs for the first time as an episode of the Squall Charleson YouTube channel!
Directly following the Tokushoutsu interview, The Beetle Bros were contacted by the illustrious TJ Bowser and asked to join The Project Louder Network. This would prove to be one of the biggest and best decisions we ever made for the podcast! Starting with TJ joining us for our first holiday special as we watched Day of the Dead. One RSS feed transfer and a PodSwap later and here we are! Happily in our new home with our Louder family! We are still churning out fun trivia heavy episodes like when Ryan and Cam sat down with Squall to discuss Saban shows leaving Netflix and we are always looking for new cast and crew to interview for our listeners’ enjoyment.
The last year and a half have been a series of ups and downs, but this podcast has kept us Bros going strong through it all and we can only hope that it has helped some listeners (or viewers) get through the various trials of 2020 and beyond. We want to thank you all for joining us on this journey and for sticking with us into Metallix. We have new merch in the TeePublic store, new abridged episodes hitting YouTube, and new giveaways soon to be announced with the finale of season one next week! Stay tuned, stay loud, and get ready for another 35 Flabberific episodes!