SPLAT ATTACK PODCAST

Dedicated to preserving what we call, “The Slime Filled Past.”

Where to find Splat Attack:

Tell us a little bit about yourself

Splat Attack is a podcast dedicated to preserving the “slime filled past.” We want to capture what made the 90s (especially Nickelodeon) such a pivotal time in media for children’s television as a whole.

Tell us a little bit more about your podcast

Our show is broken down into various topics, segments, and guests.

Each episode focuses on different topics. We have:
Retrospectives: A discussion that focuses on an entire series
Episode Review: A deep dive into an episode and give our opinion on it.
Episode Versus Battles: We pit two different series with two episodes that are similar to see which is best
Episode Battle: We pit two different episodes from the same series against one another to see which is best
Character Studies: We examine two characters from two series that are similar
Top 5 Countdowns: We give our top 5 choices on the category dicsussed
and more….

Each episode ends with a segment. Some of them are:
Think Fast to Make the Grade: A trivia based game on the topic of the episode
This or That: A make your choice game
Say What?: A “who said it?” game using quotes from the episode discussed
Retro Replay: A game centered on spotting small details from the episode
and more…

Guests also vary. We do have guests that are other content creators, collectors, podcasters, but we also hear from directors, writes, producers, actors, series creators, animators, and more to discuss the making of these various programs.

Why Nickelodeon for you?

Nickelodeon was THE network for kids at the time. Yes there was Disney but it was a premium channel. We only got that for free on certain weekends. Yes, there was Fox Kids and Saturday morning cartoons. But those only lasted for a while. But the thing about all these other networks was, they were trying to sell toys.

Nickelodeon was trying to CONNECT with kids! We felt like we had ownership over the network. It was “pretty/handsome” kids on our screens. They were REAL kids! They looked like us. They talked like us. They were gross at times, funny, sentimental, sad, angry, happy, sometimes just rude. All characters were relatable in some way, even the antagonists. Nickelodeon helped us find a voice that we didn’t know we had. Through campaigns like “Kids Pick the President,” “Kids’ Choice Awards,” and “U Pick” along with NUMEROUS sweepstakes, we learned that our opinion matters too and we shouldn’t be afraid to speak up. The networks taught us that there is a world outside that we should be a part of. With campaigns like “The Big Help,” interstitials like “Right Here, Right Now” and “The Orange Appeal, with programming like “Nick News” we learned that there was more to our world than what was going on in our living rooms. But it taught us on our level! The network was all about celebrating creativity, weirdness, spontaneity, uniqueness, and just being REAL! And this is only a PORTION of the things the network did to connect with the audience. No other network before or since has been able to accomplish the feats that Nickelodeon did from ’85 – ’98!

What was the first major Nickelodeon memory you had as a kid?

It was always on! I remember sitting down on the living room floor, leaning against the bricks on the fireplace, watching Looney Tunes and Inspector Gadget. My dad would be sitting in the recliner, feet propped up. My brother was in his room playing video games. Mom would be gone at work. But dad and I watched Looney Tunes together. I still hear him laughing at Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn! I remember getting up early the next morning to get ready for school. Dad was already at work and my brother would struggle to wake up. I sat on the floor (I did that a lot…still do) and lean over the coffee table. Mom would bring my bowl of cereal and I would catch the tail end of Mr. Wizard’s World or Count Duckula (depending on what the season was) followed by the beginning of Danger Mouse. I never got to finish it because it was soon time to leave for school. But I loved catching those songs!

Favorite Nickelodeon show as a kid and as an adult? Is it the same?

This is a tough answer because there are so many different types of shows! So, I will answer it like this:
Favorite Nick-Comedy: Pete & Pete
Favorite Nicktoons: Doug/Ren & Stimpy (yes a tie)
Favorite Nick Game Show: Figure It Out
Favorite Nick Drama: Secret World of Alex Mack
Favorite Nick Variety Show: Roundhouse

Has this changed over time?
Mostly no. The one that has a changed is variety show. As a kid I would say All That. As an adult seeing Roundhouse; the writing, the dancing, the singing, the live performance all in one take…the demands for Roundhouse were considerably more.

Favorite Nick character?

Doug, the things he went through, the way he would imagine solutions to his problems or would imagine his problems being worse than they were is definitely what I went through. He was insecure in himself, had a crush on someone but didn’t know how to go about it, had to deal with a bully every single day, and he would realistically combat his fears instead of through some fanciful way were all things/habits/behaviors that I exhibited at the time. Doug and I were very much identical in personality.

What did a night of watching Snick look like for you?

I was there from the beginning! Clarissa Explains It All, Roundhouse, Ren & Stimpy….then I’d put on a movie! Are You Afraid of the Dark? scared me too much.

Your social media is the coolest. I feel like you find really rare unique Nickelodeon photos which always made me drawn to the account. Name a few of your favorite photo finds.

First, thank you! I’m glad you enjoy it! A few of my favorites? Hm…I’m always drawn more to behind the scenes photos than the screen grabs and promo material. The screen grabs and promos are super cool but, something about seeing how these shows are made, seeing the cast posing for a quick smile for the camera, or seeing the transition of how things are being built amaze me. Another set of photos that I especially loved finding was the building of the Slime Geyser at Nickelodeon Studios! That’s so cool to watch how that process took place!

Coolest Nickelodeon thing you own?

Ooooff! That’s tough! The reason that’s tough is because I have been gifted some truly amazing things after having interviews from some of the cast members. So, I can’t pick just one! Here are a few that I’m especially happy to have:
An original Roundhouse script signed by the entire cast and crew
A poster of Secret World of Alex Mack signed by Natanya Ross
A poster, card, and tshirt of Weinerville signed by Marc Weiner.
A sketch of Ren & Stimpy signed by Bob Camp
A pizza face mask signed by Kel Mitchell
A pair of 3D Noggle Goggles

Do you own anything extremely rare?

I do! Very recently actually (at the time of writing this, it is March 2024.) Most of the things I own can be pretty easily obtained on eBay. But there is one book that I’ve been on the hunt for and I’ve been told it’s a rare and expensive item. But I did manage to find a copy, it’s in very good shape, and it didn’t break my bank! (very happy about that.) It’s the book, “Clarissa’s All-In-One Perfect Complete Book of Everything Important” by Mitchell Kriegman and Mollie Fermaglich

Any advice to someone who’s dream was to be slimed but it never happened? Maybe it’s me …

Do it! If you’ve never done it but want to. Do it! But don’t just do it to say, “I’ve always wanted to.” Make it special, especially if you’re a content creator! Choose a charity and raise funds for it. “If we can raise $500 for *charity name* I will get slimed!” then when it happens, make the slime (it was made a number of different ways but you can find what they made it with fairly easily online), shoot a video thanking everyone for their donations then….

“So who will be our next charity?”
“I don’t know….”
*slime*

Did you get to go to Nickelodeon Studios as a kid? If so what did you think?

I absolutely did! I loved it but was also scared. I was a very much a neat freak as a kid. I loved Nickelodeon and all it stood for, but I didn’t want to be slimed or pied in the face. I was afraid that was going to happen to me the entire time I was there (not realizing statically speaking, it was already very unlikely I would.) But I did get to stand by some of the photo op locations (got my pic with the Nicktoons stand up and the Nick Jr. stand up.) I got to check be part of the Game Labs. I was never picked to play any of the games. But they did have a game where they were testing out Sonic 2. The game hadn’t been released yet and Nickelodeon was testing out the beta version before they put it on Nick Arcade. The last thing I remember was taking the tour and seeing the set of Clarissa Explains It All. They weren’t recording at the time but the set was still it for the tour. It was so cool seeing it in person!

Top 3 theme songs?

Adventures of Pete & Pete
Welcome Freshmen
Does the Are You Afraid of the Dark? END theme song count? (more specifically the seasons 6 & 7 end credits)

What are some things we can expect to hear on the podcast?

Passion! That is what you’ll hear! We love the network! We love the programs! We love the morals! We love the guests! We love the audience! We love the stories our guests share! We love the feedback from our audience! We love connecting! It’s a lot of work but it’s very much a labor of love!! Passion! Passion! Passion!

Coolest fan moment you’ve had doing the podcast?

Oh gosh! It’s such a PC thing to say but it is very much the truth, one of the coolest things is ANY opportunity we have to discuss these shows with other fans or with the creators of the shows. We are blessed to be able to share stories, hear stories, learn more about what things were like to make them, remember how things were for us, and relive those memories even if just for a little while.

But the coolest thing for us is after the recording is done or after the episodes are edited. This is when we get feedback from our guests. We want to make the best show possible. We want to make it about the guests and about what made the network special to them and to us. We want to build that connection. We want to build that community. When we get feedback from out guests, no matter if they’re other content creators or people from Nickelodeon, and they say things like how much fun they had, they can see our passion for the network, how much our love has given them a sense of fulfillment, to have an actress from a show tell us that it’s an honor to be on OUR show, to have creators of shows tell us how professional our show looks and sounds…to hear this kind of feedback, and then they come back because they enjoyed it so much, is never something we expected.

We take a swing to secure guests and hope things work out. But when they agree, do the episode, love the experience, tell us how much they enjoyed it, compliment our work, and then come back again (sometimes bringing even more actors/actresses than before)…it’s the coolest thing in the world! We watched and supported them as children. Now, they’re watching our show and supporting us! Never! Never in my life did I expect anything like this to happen!

A phrase you would leave for a nostalchick

Never be afraid of being told no. If you are told no, try again and again and again.
Never be afraid of failure. There is no such thing. You just succeeded in learning what didn’t work and now you know what to do different next time!