Stranger Things Netflix series catch-all

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Seth, would you mind spoiler tagging that? I'm not all the way through and I'm sure others aren't. (Though if this is an unmarked spoilers allowed thread, that's cool - I'll just come back later!)

Crap, just saw this - fixed!

Finished it last weekend, watching with my wife. Very enjoy but it fell apart a bit for me. Reason in the spoiler.

Spoiler:

The hinging event was Nancy, upon being startled by the gruesome, hungry removal of the deer carcass, in the dark woods, then finding and entering a creepy goo hole in the trunk of a tree in the same dark woods. I know she's desparate by that point but there was no prodding it with a stick to make sure it wasn't some gory bile, that it wasn't where whatever dragged the carcass away might be living. Not much hesitation at all. "What's this, a hot, stanky, gooey hole in the trunk of this creepy tree? I should probably get in there real quick without investigating it or anything."

After that, the show devolved for a time into a series of events showcasing the boys arguing and then being interrupted by some reason for Eleven to use her powers. Bullies. Eleven makes one of 'em piss. Bullies. Eleven saves Mike after he jumps into the quarry. A bully monster. Eleven saves them all by throwing the monster almost through a wall, then finally apparently destroying the monster and herself.

Among the things I really appreciated, in addition to the fact that no one was movie-picture pretty, was that while there were details that might be clues, we still don't know anything about the upside-down. No origin story for it, nor for the monster. No idea if that's the only monster (though that's all we have evidence for--hopefully not a plot hole). A few apparent hints at things that may or may not play out in season two. They left some of the rough incompleteness of actual real life in, and that's pretty great.ETA: they discuss this creative choice explicitly in the article. ;)

I was almost frustrated at discussion in either this or, I think, the Netflix thread, about whether a second season even made sense. That's my hypersensitivity to spoilers at work. That said, I don't really see anything that precludes a direct sequel/continuation. I might prefer a different story entirely, but I'll still look forward to a sequel.

BF and I watched this. We loved it! We binged it pretty hard. And we had some heavy storms to really make it pop.

On a side note, I loved the police chief. If there were a live action Fables series, I would want him as Bigby.

He was really good in Newsroom as well.

Finished the last two episodes today. I honestly don't know how they managed to pay homage to so many 80s (ish) movies and do it so well.

IMAGE(https://67.media.tumblr.com/29a8677e56bc1a787bc34a84c252e780/tumblr_oaqxved6721r7liu0o1_500.gif)

This popped up for me today...

Some examples of the nostalgic feels in there, shot for shot, side by side with movies from the period...

I'm sure it's missing a bunch and some are stretching it a bit maybe, but get where whoever knocked this together was coming from for sure. Plenty of ET and the goonies unsurprisingly.

Finished watching this last night. Liked it, didn't love it.

I was born in the early 80s, but I don't really remember my time in that decade.
Having that said, some of my favorite movies are The Thing (well, pretty much everything from John Carpenter), Aliens, Predator, you get the drift.

Stranger Things just didn't scratch my nostalgia's itch like, for example, The Guest or It Follows. Can't really pinpoint as to why. Maybe the influences were just too glaring, a copy-paste of scenes I'd already seen, Force Awakens style. No matter. I still enjoyed and I'll definitely watch the 2nd season.

Some visual effects were very bad, especially the monster when he was in full view. If they were really going for the 80S, why not use practical effects?

The kid who portrayed Mike was a really bad actor. He always brought the scene down a notch whenever he had to talk.

One point to add to the Nancy and the trunk (this sounds weird) discussion.

Spoiler:

Why the hell didn't Jonathan respond to her call before she went in? Where was he? Then, after she went in, he's right by the trunk. This just felt too forced.

Edit: Actually, after watching that last video, I remembered I'm not a Goonies fan. This might be another reason why I didn't love the show.

slazev wrote:

One point to add to the Nancy and the trunk (this sounds weird) discussion.

Spoiler:

Why the hell didn't Jonathan respond to her call before she went in? Where was he? Then, after she went in, he's right by the trunk. This just felt too forced.

Spoiler:

I immediately noticed that too when watching that scene, but compared to the entertainment I was getting from the rest of the series, or even that episode, it was easy to let it slide, as it was an exception rather than the norm.

ARTIST BRILLIANTLY IMAGINES STRANGER THINGS AS AN ADVENTURE GAME

Spoiler:

IMAGE(http://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/STAdventure_GIF1.gif)

Clickthrough has more spoilery image

WANT!

muraii wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This gives me a fontgasm:

IMAGE(https://addictedtohorrormovies.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/stranger-things-banner.jpg)

I know! The whole opening credits and episode title sequence is like they ripped it off a book one might have bought circa 1987.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Typography Analysis

Sarah Gless wrote:

The Stranger Things title sequence is pure, unadulterated typographic porn.

I feel validated now given my initial reaction to the show.

We are three episodes in and loving it. The attention to detail is amazing. It is X-Files meets the Goldbergs.

I was just focusing on how the curve of the "G's" straighten out every time. Mesmerizing.

I just want to remind everyone how much I liked this show before it was cool.

I really wished the creators had decided to go in a different direction with the second season.
I fear we're going to get all the explanation and exposition we didn't need in the first season (what is that monster, where does the weird dimension come from, etc).

Anyway, 2017 can't come soon enough!!!

Hobbes2099 wrote:

I really wished the creators had decided to go in a different direction with the second season.

Me too. I wish they did something more like American Horror story where it's completely different each season. They could even reuse some or all of the actors, and it would still be cool.

I'm curious to see what'll happen to Will.

IMAGE(https://s3.amazonaws.com/stranger-things-netflix/269c5216-9a93-47d9-bb4e-c361d7dc4b5c.gif)

I binged it yesterday. I thought it was great.

Spoiler:

Some definite Akira stuff with Ele... Orderlies and the tk throw and neck break, hallway in the school and killing everyone. I half expected lights to flash off and parts be dripping from the ceiling.

80s sitcom intro:

Just finished it, and I loved it. There's a lot of stuff going for 80s nostalgia right now with varying degrees of success. But this thing nailed it. No satire, no pandering (okay, very little), no winking at the camera. It's reverence for the material of the era while also being it's own thing.

Only two things stopped it from being perfect:

Spoiler:

- I found it a little convenient that the same agency that would kill the owner of a diner just for meeting the girl would respond to a police chief breaking into their facility and discovering all their secrets by putting him back in his house with one bug and hoping for the best.

- I can understand why they didn't, but if the monster was a Jim Henson puppet or stop motion, it would have been the cherry on the cake.

kuddles wrote:

Just finished it, and I loved it. There's a lot of stuff going for 80s nostalgia right now with varying degrees of success. But this thing nailed it. No satire, no pandering (okay, very little), no winking at the camera. It's reverence for the material of the era while also being it's own thing.

Only two things stopped it from being perfect:

Spoiler:

- I found it a little convenient that the same agency that would kill the owner of a diner just for meeting the girl would respond to a police chief breaking into their facility and discovering all their secrets by putting him back in his house with one bug and hoping for the best.

- I can understand why they didn't, but if the monster was a Jim Henson puppet or stop motion, it would have been the cherry on the cake.

Spoiler:

I was ok with that part actually...as a police officer they couldn't just risk disappearing him without knowledge he hadn't divulged his intention and theories to other law enforcement. Better to bug him and hope he is a country bumpkin rather than a super cop. If a cop just vanishes or mysteriously dies it tends to not just get glossed over even in the boonies.

And the sheriff seemed to give off a maybe alcoholic, not too serious about his job vibe at the start. He seemed to get into gear when he knew a kid was missing due to his own past. But if they had any knowledge of his reputation as sheriff he wouldn't have seemed like much of a threat. Drop him back at his house and make it look like he had to much to drink and maybe imagined it all.

TheGameguru wrote:
kuddles wrote:

Just finished it, and I loved it. There's a lot of stuff going for 80s nostalgia right now with varying degrees of success. But this thing nailed it. No satire, no pandering (okay, very little), no winking at the camera. It's reverence for the material of the era while also being it's own thing.

Only two things stopped it from being perfect:

Spoiler:

- I found it a little convenient that the same agency that would kill the owner of a diner just for meeting the girl would respond to a police chief breaking into their facility and discovering all their secrets by putting him back in his house with one bug and hoping for the best.

- I can understand why they didn't, but if the monster was a Jim Henson puppet or stop motion, it would have been the cherry on the cake.

Spoiler:

I was ok with that part actually...as a police officer they couldn't just risk disappearing him without knowledge he hadn't divulged his intention and theories to other law enforcement. Better to bug him and hope he is a country bumpkin rather than a super cop. If a cop just vanishes or mysteriously dies it tends to not just get glossed over even in the boonies.

Spoiler:

I think the point is that they would've bugged him more extensively?

Finished it last night. Loved it from start to finish, but as I born in the mid 70s it was a total nostalgia fest for me from the films of my childhood. I have no idea if 80s America was really like that for kids (being from
The U.K. myself) but what the hell, in TV land it doesn't matter.

It speaks volumes of the show that despite every character, place and plot being cliche ridden throughout, it didn't once detract from the story being told. Very much looking forward to season 2.