Stranger Things

I watched all of Stranger Things this weekend. I think it’s the best show I’ve seen since True Detective and if you grew up in the 1980s like me, you’ll recognize that watching it for our generation must be what watching something like Stand By Me was for kids that grew up in the 50s/60s.

It is steeped with homage- specifically for Steven King, Stephen Spielberg, John Carpenter and various bits of 1980s cultural touchpoints. It comes across like a cross between Stand By Me, E.T., The Goonies, Poltergeist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Akira with a touch of Donnie Darko (itself an 80s homage). Dungeons and Dragons is a major plot point. There’s a little kid that they dressed just like Carol Ann. The kid has a Dark Crystal poster. The music cuts are The Clash, Joy Division, New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen but with some deeper-than-expected choices (“Elegia”? Wow!).

I was shocked to find out that the guys that made this, the Duffer Brothers, are 32 years old and not 40+. They completely captured so much about growing up in the 1980s including some unexpected subtleties, it’s hard to believe that their knowledge of the era comes only from its movies. But that shows in how indebted the series is to them. The references can get a little tiresome because I think that these guys are still in this phase where they don’t trust that their story, characters, dialogue and setting sells the homage without direct reference. So it’s kind of odd that they completely nail it WITHOUT saying ‘hey audience, remember E.T.?” but then put a Jaws poster up in a kid’s room.

As for the storyline, it’s remarkably simple and it’s devoid of most of the post-Lost bullshit where information is withheld from the audience to generate mystery and string the viewer along. When things are revealed in this show, it feels like a natural development of a mystery. And there is thankfully not some big, far-reaching “end of the world” plot. There is no “mythology” that develops. It’s really a simple story about a mom, a group of friends, and some other folks trying to find a missing boy. The big supernatural stuff isn’t even really explained that much, it just kind of is out there. I really appreciated the lighter touch and the greater focus on the characters.

The kids are awesome in it, the child actors they picked are all absolutely top notch. Their camradarie, their little stupid kid dramas, their obsessions with bikes/walkie talkies (Realistic brand!)/Star Wars/junk food is all spot on how I remember hanging out with my friends when I was a kid. The D&D references also feel pretty authentic, by the way. There’s a funny scene where they ask the school science teacher about something and reference D&D and he knows exactly what they mean. Above all, they really let these kids act like kids. The key is that it establishes that the world of kids is something that occurs outside of the world of adults. The teenagers are also really good, ranging from a “ms. Perfect” type, a Tom Cruise-like loverboy, and the school art-punk.

Winona Ryder on the other hand, is terrible. What a disappointment, she is clearly out of practice. Either that or her direction was “act like when you’re old in Edward Scissorhands”. Her role is pretty difficult though, she is essentially Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters for a large part of the show. Matthew Modine just looks old and botoxed.

the downsides are easy to overlook because the rest of it feels completely legit, albeit studied and maybe too fawning of Spielberg and other 80s pop culture. But the Spielbergian stuff comes across as genuine, heartfelt and warm. There’s good natured humor, tenderness, and a couple of heartbreaking moments It all feels earned in a way that most nostalgia pieces do not.

I completely loved it, at first the callbacks were a little eye-rolling, but then I remembered how when I was a kid, we talked about Steve Spielberg movies, He-Man, D&D, Star Wars, all of that stuff all the time. I had the posters, toys, etc. But halfway through I just completely fell for it and wound up watching the last four episodes in one sitting. My wife actually loved it too, she knew pretty much everyone on the crew (it was made in GA) so she had seen/heard about a lot of it already.

One big demerit though is that the show is closer to R-rated than PG-13. Mainly because of language. If the language were toned down, my kids could watch it.

I've finished two episodes and am loving it. Great show so far. Made me put off Mr. Robot season 2.

I'm glad you posted this. I was going to completely write it off because it looked like some child-targeted Goonies ripoff. But if adults can enjoy it on its own merits, maybe I'll give it a shot.

One of my friends kept trying to talk about Stranger Things during the final session of my D&d Campaign yesterday, because the characters were playing D&D. I finally had to redirect the conversation by pointing out that "we are trying to play D&D right now. It's your turn."

Mark, I think it's actually quite a bit more adult than Goonies. There's some pretty interesting drama in it about losing children. I won't spoil this one part, but there's this really pretty awesome subtlety about one element of it. It's the part with the New Order song, actually.

The D&D bit is actually an E.T. reference in itself.

I like how you used spielbergian. I had a distinct sense of E.T. while watching this. A strinking similarity somewhere I can't quite put my finger on. The kids? The subject matter? The cinematography? Dunno. But I agree.

I appreciate the details in this show. The demogorgon model is the actual old demogorgon produced by Ral Partha a millenia ago. Xmen #134 is about right for the date as I started on issue 165 a couple years later. Small things like this immersed me.

Loving the show. Wish I wasn't so busy so that I could binge watch this.

Tried watching shanara right before this. I should have guessed because it was produced by mtv, that it was little more than twilight teen shlock. Sad. So sad. Glad Stranger Things was avilable to get that horrible sense of despair regarding the quality of tv out of my head.

Michael Barnes wrote: Mark, I think it's actually quite a bit more adult than Goonies. There's some pretty interesting drama in it about losing children. I won't spoil this one part, but there's this really pretty awesome subtlety about one element of it. It's the part with the New Order song, actually.

The D&D bit is actually an E.T. reference in itself.

The thing that has been intriguing me and I hope you can clarify is whether kids can watch this. The thing that really bugged me about Super 8 was that it was a throwback to the Goonies/ET but was made for adults who watched these as a kid and not for the kids of today, and I am really dreading that Stranger Things has made the same mistake.

I just watched episode 1. I love the John Carpenter-style music. It's also got a strong J.J. Abrams vibe. There was a bit of swearing from the kids, but I think so far I'd let my kids watch it. They are almost 10.

Forgot to mention the score- it's freaking awesome.

I just finished binge watching the rest. Fairly intense stuff. Some strong resemblence to silent hill in the upside down.
It felt short, but only because I want more. It definitely left before it overstayed its welcome.
I hope they opt to make more. Its gonna be a long wait for it.

I also watched two episodes last night before bed. I really fell in love with the kids, they are doing such an awesome job. So far I'm ok with Winona Ryder but she definitely isn't the reason I'm watching. I can't wait to catch up on the other 6 episodes but it will have to wait at least one more night since tonight is my board game meetup night.

It's funny. I was just talking to a friend the other day about how American T.V. show seasons are way too long with a bunch of useless filler. I find it very hard to get into any standard show. Flash and The Walking Dead are the only two shows I've watched every episode of in quite a while and if I was starting them fresh today, I doubt I could stick with them. I love that Netflix, HBO are ushering in these shorter, more focused seasons without the need to fill a 20 to 24 episode order for a series. It definitely makes me want more, much like the UK shows Sherlock, Luther and The I.T. crowd did, which goes a long way towards making a show resonate with me.

As the father of two teenage girls, the most terrifying thing so far is the thought of creepy boys crawling into windows at night and trying to get nasty with your daughter.

Two episodes in and I like it, if not blown away. There is a great sense of the tone of the era, and the feel of John Carpenter, Spielberg, Stephen King, etc. But I'm not sure it's giving me quite enough that's original. If I hadn't seen Midnight Special earlier this year, with a kid similar to what Eleven seems to be, then this might seem more unique. It is mostly charming, though, and my girls (11 and 13) are digging it, so regardless, it's a good experience. I think Winona Ryder is fine, so far... it's about what I'd expect for the mother of a missing kid, and she's not going too over the top with it. I do really like the younger nerdy boys, but all told, I'm doubtful that it will add up to having more of an impact than something like Stand By Me had in just a single film.

Two episodes in myself.

It's like good synthwave. Sure, it's not really going to move the needle...but damn it's enjoyable.