A thread for Stranger Things, the "Goonies meets X-Files" new Netflix series (with SPOILERS!)

It came through a hole between the dimensions in the ceiling.

Yeah, it was a bit dodgy that the creature dragged both Barb and Will to the upside down dimension, but somehow Will managed to slip away from it while Barb didn't. But I guess Will is smaller and it was easier for him to hide? The creature didn't seem to have good eyesight, or possibly it was even blind? And Barb was bleeding while Will wasn't, so it couldn't track him by smell.

Since there were so many homages to the movie, I'm wondering whether season 2 will be the Aliens to season 1's Alien? The creature couldn't really have taken over a whole planet all by itself, and it was breeding anyway, so we should get multiple monsters next season... Though I'd be more happy if it was more about the mysteries of the upside down dimension in general, I'm not sure if the monster was successfully enough done that it could carry another season.

Yeah, the creature would have to have some amazing backstory for me to be happy with them focusing an entire second season on it.

One more interesting thing that wasn't really discussed in the finale: the sheriff pretty much sold out Eleven to save Will, didn't he? He told the bad guys where El and the other kids were hiding, so what happened next was kinda his fault. At first I thought they'd reveal he was faking, that he told the bad guys some false location, but that didn't seem to be the case... Maybe that's why he's bringing food to El at the end (and possibly helping her hide from the men in black?), because he feels guilty about it?

feel like we were robbed of epic modine death. but maybe he didn't die...it was too quick. they should have had him talking up against a wall in the school and the monster comes out of the wall and chomps his head off. that's always a good way to do it.

Yeah, I didn't really understand that sudden shift in his character. I guess his primary concern was making Joyce's family whole again, all else be damned. I don't know if El is still alive, or if she is, that's she's even in "our" world, but him leaving the Eggo waffles out there makes me think he feels pretty guilty.

I've only seen like 2 and some change episodes of this but my early reaction: fuck this show. Have a lot of affection for the things it references, but (or because of that) this feels so pandering, witless, and soulless. Does it do anything interesting in the back half or does it continue emptily jerking off ppl who were kids in the 80s?

i'm an 80's kid who has shrugged and ignored over 5 million 80's revivals and i loved this!

Yeah, the same here. It doesn't really go above and beyond it's inspirations, but IMO it's a solid, intriguing mystery story with mostly good actors and some neat visuals, not just an empty pastiche. The 80s tropes are really just the cake dressing, I would've liked this story even with a present day setting. But if the first 2 episodes haven't convinced you, I can't imagine the rest of it will.

one break with 80s form-- the girl who has sex lives and the virgin dies

I was thinking that mustve been deliberate hey?

How do you know she was virgin? Just because she looked geeky?

like i said on the netflix thread, it reminded me of the faux-spielberg Super 8 and i loved that movie to death. it's not like you can't do the 80's right its just that so many people get it wrong or just go for surface visuals. this had the surface visuals but it also just had a good t.v. movie story.

gotta say the first scene with her friend at the lockers, man, they nailed the brainy redhead hairdo and outfit so perfectly. stunning really.

this was better than M&M too. i eagerly awaited this t.v. movie in 1982 after i read the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awTKqydci_c

plus, as far as nostalgia goes, i'll take Poltergeist and Stephen King short stories over stupid Ghostbusters any day.

one break with 80s form-- the girl who has sex lives and the virgin dies

― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Thursday, July 21, 2016 12:44 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This occurred to me too. I thought at least Steve was a goner.

I was convinced steve was related to Jean ralphio till I looked him up on IMDb

steve not dying was a total shocker! there were multiple instances inside and outside the house where you really thought he was done for. man, that hair of his...

Even though "child with special powers on the run from the authorities" is one of my least favorite genre tropes ever, this was good

I read somewhere that Steve didn't die because they liked the actor a lot and decided to give him more to do.

Similar thing happened with Aaron Paul on Breaking Bad IIRC

I thought Steve was pretty awesome.

btw, here's the band of the guys who did the show's instrumental score.

https://survive.bandcamp.com/

Good lord tuomas you asked some stupid questions itt

I thought this was great btw. For something so heavily referential it was surprisingly unpredictable ... Like they played with these tropes and cliches in a way that made them feel new and unexpected.

Also I don't think will choked out a "baby" creature, it was just goop that suggests he's become infected himself

My nitpicks were when you watch the pool scene he stops taking photos well before the monster shows up and when the phone gets electrified it obviously doesn't look blackened and burned at first until they do a close up later lol

i liked how the two friends who weren't Mike conveniently didn't have parents. even at the end after almost dying at the school they are just sitting by themselves in the hospital waiting room.

also trying to figure out the Barb timeline. she doesn't go to school for two whole days and then Nancy calls the police about her? it was kinda unclear. and Nancy kind of a bad friend in general. telling her mom that Barb is at the library? when there is already one kid missing? that's mean!

also i don't think he stopped taking pictures well before the monster showed up. he took one last picture and then looked down and when he looked up she was gone.

I thought the token black friend was a really good actor!

still weighing up whether to dive into E02

my 80s sensibilities were a little rattled by terms like 'shit' and 'douchebag'

douchebag a thing in the early 80's! "chill" was the one that got me. "let's go chill in my car". don't think that was a thing back then. the word chill existed but i don't remember people using it like that at all.

"chill out" existed back then. maybe not in Indiana though.

they could have gotten away with chill pill. if they needed a chill thing to say. that was a thing in 1983.

they could have even had The Big Chill playing at the movie house.

i'm not saying it didn't exist. pretty sure "shit" existed then too. just that you wouldn't hear it in spielberg film!

just "penis breath"

actually they said "shit" E.T. too

i've become such a fainting fanny!

How many episodes before this passes the Bechdel test? My missus is getting impatient.

Bechdel test is post-80s. It would be anachronistic.

the mom and daughter kinda talk to each other. and winona talks to a catatonic woman...

winona talks to L

Nobody's asked any stupid questions itt, you dick xps

also i don't think he stopped taking pictures well before the monster showed up. he took one last picture and then looked down and when he looked up she was gone.

― scott seward, Friday, July 22, 2016 10:17 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nah I rewatched it the time between was ridic, her blood drops in the water after he stops shooting. If that's what drew the monster then there's no way he got it in the photo

Nobody's asked any stupid questions itt, you dick xps

― just1n3, Friday, July 22, 2016 5:51 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Disagree, ilx's "suspension of disbelief is a lie" cru asks dumb things like "how come Will didn't get eaten but her friend did?" As if we need literally every step spelled out for this. These kids are torture on the game of thrones thread

That was me, not tuomas. Fuck off.

Well I'm going to ask some stupid questions

When 11 first made contact with the monster, what was it eating?
How did the upsides own go from black nothingness to a parallel universe?
Where was the portal?
What deal did hopper make with Modine? When they took him away at the hospital I assumed he was with them but there he was at the local cop shop Xmas party.
If the monster appeared every time there was blood, why didn't it show up whenever 11 got a nose bleed?

this was a chore.

Good take

Everything else I was going to say was expressed above.

I highly recommend the Season 5 making-of that's up on Netflix. It's fascinating. They put so much work and money and effort into the show, and the cast and crew seem to have genuine affection for each other and the story (lotta crying), but at the same time you can sort of witness the Duffers recognizing they've maybe bitten off more than they can chew. It's subtle, for sure, because no way this kind of BTS hagiography is going to be critical or totally transparent, but even though I came away giving the Duffers more credit than I had before, you can see the struggle to untangle all the threads they left dangling right up to the end, and they've got no one to blame but themselves. It's kind of a small wonder that the show ended on a relatively "fine" note and not as a disaster, given the probably impossible task they set up for themselves.

BRING BACK BARB

bring back billy

There are so many holes and there is so much hand waving in this show that I think it could safely bring back *anyone*.

They’re doing an animated show set between seasons 2 and 3. Safe to say Billy will show up.

they are no consistent rules, so no rules to be broken. it'll be like LCD Soundsystem, give it 5 years and Netflix will cut a desperate enough cheque to get them all back

Undoubtedly already posted here somewhere, but I heard this for the first time on CBC today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aQPVevcqHc

Total Matthew Sweet, but if you're predisposed to like that kind of thing--and based on a single listen in the car--I thought it was surprisingly good.

(A year old.)

he's somehow involved in a Replacements biopic?
That's something I'll be avoiding

If that is being made, I hope they have the good sense to pay whatever is necessary to use actual Replacements music--sorely missing from the documentary a decade ago.