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

Joyce and Hopper probably have some kind of ties back to high school, because he seemed to have some weird relationship with Lonnie (competition, disdain, something).

This was like the perfect blend of Spielberg and Stephen king

Was that a hatched egg hopper stopped to look at when they were in the upside-down?

I thought so. Nice Alien reference.

I wasn't sure, not after will choked out that baby slug

I imagine the snakey thing that Hopper pulled out of Will's throat hatched from the egg, then left a little creature thingy inside him to do...what? Who knows.

Eleven is the monster, guys

i.e. she created it

why was will still alive but barb was dead?

Will found hiding places

And was incubating the thing

i.e. she created it

Did she, though? Whenever she was in that black space with the wet floor, she could hone in on already living creatures (people to eavesdrop on), but there's no indication she could ever manifest something into being. She just brought it back out with her.

Xps yeah but the monster snatched him, right? So how did he get away?

And how did the monster get the scientist dude in the elevator at the beginning?

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

'Member Labyrinth?

"cracks in dams create pressure, the pressure builds..." no, the pressure is constant, the cracks reduce the ability of the dam to withstand it.

ah but what if this water is CLEVER, sensing the dam's weakness and exerting extra pressure there!

Disappointed none of the bullies ended up in a dumpster, try harder next time guys.
― kinder, Saturday, 20 August 2016 13:14 (five years ago)

If every single one of the bullies doesn't end up in a dumpster at the end I'm quitting Netflix.

― kinder, Saturday, 4 June 2022 09:25 (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

This might be starting to look a little obsessive but come on, those rollerskate jerks needed some comeuppance or it's not a true 80s story.

Tbf, she did get a broken nose, one jock got a kick in the balls and main jock was literally cut in half by an earthquake.

pfft, they needed to get gunged or something

S4 really gives [insert your preferred worst season of True Blood] a run for its money. absolute chore to get through.

I never thought to compare ST to True Blood but wow, yes

Where did that fucking sword come from?

It was still sitting there from back when the prisoners were sent out to fight with melee weapons, when he originally escaped.

Oh fer fucksake

we finished it tonight & i’m just gonna say i enjoyed this season

i don’t have a lot of deep things to say yet but i think that all the dark teenager shit was so good. so many moments this season that really felt like stephen king done right, honoring the best most crushing moments in his best novels, just such a tonally ~right~ mix of teenage dark shit with supernatural gross weirdness

not a ripoff. not an imitation.
there were moments that were just like being huddled under my blanket with a flashlight still reading way after lights-out, or trying to sleep but hoping nothing bad happened to anyone while i was away. there were times this season, and esp the finale where, in the moment, those stakes still felt kinda real, in the best stephen king way possible. I was all-in. And i didn’t expect that.

i didnt love the russia storyline: it dragged a lot - but i could watch tons more of the rest of the gang having adventures together, because that shit was great

anyway maybe that makes me an old cornball … or maybe ~you all~ are a bunch of complainy complainersons! geez lol jk jk

but i will say: the actual ending? fuuuuuck that was on some lotr return of the king five-ending bullshit omg END jeez

the real mystery of season 5 better be what did erica find under lucas's bed? it was a hundred on the disgusting scale! the disgusting scale only even goes to ten!! my money is on demogorgon hentai, but that's no surprise, my money is on demogorgon hentai most of the time

VG otm with pretty much all of that. I enjoyed watching this season the most since s1, could have lived with less Russia and a better ending.

I still haven't seen the final episode, but I did have my daughter and her friend watch the original "Nightmare on Elm Street," and her take was that the creators of "Stranger Things" owe that movie "5 billion dollars."

Josh’s daughter OTM

(Well, maybe it’s a little more Nightmare on Elm Street 3)

That's the one in the asylum right? Dream Warriors? The hundreds of hours of the season I have seen to date remind me a lot of the first one. whenever I get around to watching the 30-hour final episode maybe I'll see the dream warriors comparison.

Dokken shows up

Would awesome if the Spotify top 10 was, like, Kate Bush, Metallica ... and Dokken.

Netflix sub ends tomorrow so I binged ST from start to finish this past week. Hmm

Season 1 was okay but didn't really have me geared up for any more. I persisted. S2 was meh but saved my interest with the "Billy" character - haha what a card. S3 kinda better. S4, didn't live up to the hype, but the final episode I thought was pretty amazing and now I want more.

love Gelman in this, and I actually liked all the Russian prison camp stuff.
The pizza hippy guy was annoying as shit tho.

so now I'm trying to cram in Lady Dynamite before my sub ends

Lot of bad wigs this season. I was also disappointed by the much hyped Kate Bush scene because... you could barely hear it? I thought it'd be a swelling mass of song powering over everything but it was just sort of tootling along?

I just finished binging this whole series. I loved it, although Eleven falling apart at the 11th hour (heh) seemed not to fit, especially when she came in as such a badass.

I gotta say, the metal scene with Eddie and Dustin was probably my favorite moment of the whole season, if not the entire show.