Episode 588: Videopac Insiders (Patreon)

Kevin: You may recall that I recently hosted an episode about the Magnavox Odyssey2, the silver superstar sold and supported by Magnavox in the late 1970s and early '80s. While that far-ranging conversation touched on many aspects about the platform's history and what makes it interesting, it was centered on the American Odyssey2 experience. Given the console's success in other parts of the world—particularly in Europe under the Videopac name—I wanted to give space for that story as well.

Fortunately, in this episode I'm joined by two men with a unique and fascinating perspective on the Videopac. Oscar Groosman and Ton Kemmere both worked at Philips in the Netherlands on the Videopac project in the early ’80s as the product manager and the head of advertising and promotions, respectively, and agreed to jointly sit down and talk about their memories and experiences getting the console into homes across European countries. The stories they tell in this podcast are rarely told in the English-language history of the Odyssey2, and there's a lot of fascinating details about how Philips structured selling and distributing its products across the continent (and beyond!), the Europe-exclusive hardware variations, and what ultimately brought an end to the Videopac line despite its success.

Edits by Greg Leahy; art by Nick Wanserski.

• 01:37 - Kraftwerk: "Computer World"
• 15:02 - Kraftwerk: "Calculator"
• 23:59 - Kraftwerk: "Numbers"
• 34:26 - Kraftwerk: "It's More Fun to Compute" | Theme from Thunderbirds (1965)
• 44:10 - Theme from Terrahawks (1983)
• 52:11 - Kraftwerk: "Computer Love"
• 59:21 - Golden Earring: "Twilight Zone"
• 1:10:29 - The Dam Busters March
• 1:21:15 - Kraftwerk: "Computer Love" (cont. & closing)