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

i like it too Tuomas

It's not actually paying homage to '80s television though. All its influences are cinematic

A couple of non-80s things the show reminded me of:

Like the (crappy) tv version of Under the Dome there were interconnected stories centering on a group of kids, a group of teens, and various adults (including cops)

Freaks and Geeks-- this is pretty obvious. 80s setting. 3 D&D playing boys. An older sister trying to change. Lots of gruesome deaths.

Lots of gruesome deaths.

Did I miss an episode of F&G?

the school shooting one. Or was that my fan-fic?

I feel like there is a bit of a Twin Peaks feel too (down to some of the cinematography).

twin peaks was way more colorful imo. this whole things is very, very taupe.

i do really like how genuinely crappy a lot of it feels, the high school, the rich asshole's clothes. their hair is probably a LITTLE too nice but only just. the 80s was still the 70s in many ways and this show gets that.

Agree this is very muted overall, but a lot of taupe in TP small town bits.

yeah you're right. i've still only finished three eps! am loving the evolution of the crazy mom's lightbulb technique. very E.T., the trail of colored lights like the trail of M&Ms.

however i thought the way the kids turned on 11 once their buddy turned up dead in the reservoir felt a little like a waypoint required by the script rather than how these kids would actually react. if they'd seen a kid actually use telekinesis in real life they would treat him/her like a god for the rest of their lives tbh.

am waiting for jonathan's carrie moment now, obv.

"Film it in crappy-looking and/or stiff '80s television techniques?"

watching it with that weird smoothing/soap-opera-effect function on the big t.v. we got made it look exactly like this. it kinda freaked me out. but was kinda cool. it looked exactly like an episode of my old favorite friday the 13th t.v. show starring canadian songbird robey. it made it look strangely 3D as well. it was like the upsidedown version of the show. if you have a big t.v. with that feature you should try it. it made it look more canadian in general.

Only works on a 120hz tv and above. Fortunately, I don't have that option.

Yeah that shit is only good for sports.

it looks so fucked up.

god i loved this damn show

lol "how on earth can this girl pass undetected in school with that crewcut??" uh cause she totally looks like and dresses like a boy??

was sorta hoping 11 would, instead of halting troy and making him wet himself at the school assembly, snap his head clean off his body and then be like "what? was that wrong?"

ask for the negatives nance, jesus

ah good, they're developing new prints

multidimensional meat wall so disturbing

i hope 11 doesn't stay in this dumb drag for too long

Not reading this thread yet because am only on episode 3 but wanted to pop my head in and say I really like this, will be joining you soon kthxbye

One of us!

<3 barbs

https://i.redd.it/qqvl7j5zonax.jpg

amen

feel like if she'd had even fewer than 10 minutes the adulation might be even greater

We really enjoyed this; Em was a bit dubious after the first episode ("this is SO targeted for us to enjoy it that I'm not sure I can") but the characterisation and plot and design are so well done that she soon got over that, whereas I was suckered in within about five seconds.

Dustin as best character, with the best lines. "Don't keep this curiosity door locked" or whatever he said to the science teacher on the phone was just amazing. Liked all the cast, though - I think the only characters we didn't like were Steve's 'friends' and even he didn't like them by the end.

Appreciated the way it loomed towards and then pulled away from all the tropes you'd expect - the virgin dies, the 'fat' kid is actually the smartest one, the girl doesn't ditch the jock and take-up with the outcast, etc etc - just enough to make it feel fresh.

Really hope they get to make a second season, and that it doesn't just revolve around a monster.

Doug Wheeler era Swamp Thing logo
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/e/ea/Swamp_Thing_Vol_2_88.jpg

just wanted to get that font out there

Glad y'all saw Akira here - and was baffled when it was missing from "influence lists" like the Vulture one.

Add to the bangles and moby quibbles, the New Order track used "Elegia" was on Low Life in 1985 - but that would be being really precious about the times. On that, would a US "alternative" kid have heard of the Smiths in 1983?

Now That's What I Call Music 2 has a Smiths song on it, and that came out in the second half of 1983, so a clued-in teenager who listens to college radio could very well have, I think.

would've maybe appreciated it more if the weird poor kid in nowhere Indiana listened to something that someone in that situation would likely listen to. eyes nearly rolled outta my skull when they had him talking about Joy Division and Television.

More likely a Devo fan

Did US college radio play UK Now series stuff?

but that's kind of indicative of the audience-stroking bs in this show that annoys me

xp to self

i definitely heard "this charming man" on the radio in 1983, but 1984 was ground zero for smiths love between me and my friends. first album. hatful. would be very doubtful that someone in indiana would be putting them on mixtapes based on one or two singles. that didn't even come out in the u.s. i don't think.

Yeah "On the radio in the US" was definitely not the same thing as "On the radio in Indiana."

we had this too in 1984: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Debut-LP-Magazine-Issue-06/release/847817

How far is fictional Hawkins, IN from Indiana U.? They have a pretty good radio station.

you could get the this charming man u.k. 12-inch in 1984 too here. hand in glove 7-inch and this charming man single the only 1983 releases. and definitely never put out here. 1984 was an avalanche of stuff. all those singles.

they were just one year off, basically. by 1984 a savvy indiana kid could definitely get into the smiths.

Season 2 will have to deal with this time traveling Smiths fan

1983 definitely the year that younger people started in with new order here via PC&L and blue monday. tons of college airplay. the earlier stuff was harder to find and probably only bought by older hepcats who knew joy division or who knew what factory records was. i remember having a hard time finding the first album and ceremony 12-inch in new york city in 1983/1984. they had come and gone already.

(i mention new order cuz in 1983 new order love would lead to joy division love. who were still definitely a mysterious cult band in 1983 in the states. not some quincy jones ewok on the beach joint.)

"your son michael is in danger. i can help him. but only if you trust me. do you trust me?"

BASED ON WHAT YOU OLEAGINOUS SILVER FUCK

i mean let's see, you've just turned my house upside down and told me nothing. yep that's enough for me!

i like how winona's dressing like she's in the matrix now

They modeled her hair on Meryl Streep in Silkwood

i'm not saying anything new i realise but the girl who plays 11 should win emmy for best actress. performance of the goddamn year

lol at dustin's pre-google research methods when he wants to know how ro build a sensory deprivation tank

ready to watch this again. i can't get the themesong out of my head