• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Stranger Things |OT| Hey, you guys...it's our time. It's our time in here July 15th

S

Sölf

Member
LeonSPBR said:
Huh didn't know this was good. I'll have to watch now. Btw this is a suspense/thriller series or pure horror??
Click to expand...

Well, it's not really horror. Or let's say, it's not more Horror than X-Files for example. Suspense and creepy feeling yes, but overall I wouldn't classify it as horror.
 
B

brianjones

Member
eh.. This was alright

plot was pretty videogamey and characters were cliches

Razorback PT said:
I understand what they were going for, but it didn't work for me. I'm a big fan of John Carpenter and his music, but the show seems to be aping Spielberg more than anything and those two styles don't really complement each other. If the show wasn't mainly focused on kids perhaps I wouldn't feel like the music was so jarring.
Click to expand...

I agree I found the music to be tonally off
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
brianjones said:
eh.. This was alright

plot was pretty videogamey and characters were cliches



I agree I found the music to be tonally off
Click to expand...

What does videogamey mean? That's like saying the plot was really booky. Also nothing wrong with clichés, especially well acted and naturally written clichés.
 
A

Aurongel

Member
It's very cliched and predictable but it was well directed enough that I didn't mine. True Detective S1 was a similar way but actually stuck the landing compared to this.

Enjoyed it immensely despite that.
 
R

_Ryo_

Member
This show is alright but I do have a problem with a weird tonal direction in episode 2?

Cop shows up at Will's moms house, mother is hysterical wanting to know where her son is, telling the cop to find him, etc. The cop heads towards the shed, and the dog starts acting crazy and asks the dog something like "what is it, boy?" to see if the dog would show him something but Will's mother says in a very calm and peaceful manner "I don't know, he's probably just hungry" and takes the dog inside. I mean, to go from acting like you're going to explode to complete zen in a matter of seconds is super weird. Also, she confirmed the dog's behavior was weird because she said she didn't know why he was acting like that. If you don't know, and it's acting strange, and acting like it's trying to show you something, I dunno, let it show you?
I rolled my eyes so hard at this.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
_Ryo_ said:
This show is alright but I do have a problem with a weird tonal direction in episode 2?

Cop shows up at Will's moms house, mother is hysterical wanting to know where her son is, telling the cop to find him, etc. The cop heads towards the shed, and the dog starts acting crazy and asks the dog something like "what is it, boy?" to see if the dog would show him something but Will's mother says in a very calm and peaceful manner "I don't know, he's probably just hungry" and takes the dog inside. I mean, to go from acting like you're going to explode to complete zen in a matter of seconds is super weird. Also, she confirmed the dog's behavior was weird because she said she didn't know why he was acting like that. If you don't know, and it's acting strange, and acting like it's trying to show you something, I dunno, let it show you?
I rolled my eyes so hard at this.
Click to expand...

I just took it she was stressed as fuck and didn't want to listen to the dog barking on and on.
 
MaKTaiL

MaKTaiL

Member
Stranger Things Season 2 would be 'like Harry Potter'

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/stranger-things-season-2-will-like-harry-potter/

Empire said:
"We’ve been talking about Harry Potter, even though it's weird to compare,” co-creator Matt Duffer tells Empire. "I like that you're revisiting these kids and watching them grow up on a year-to-year basis.”
Click to expand...

Empire said:
"There’s a mythology in terms of the evil that’s happening in the town that we dip our toes into this season,” expands Duffer, "but it isn’t actually explored: it’s only scratching the surface of what this thing is.”
Click to expand...

Empire said:
"Without giving anything away, when you open the door to alternate dimensions, there’s a lot you can do. We’re not really boxed in!"
Click to expand...

I am really looking forward for Season 2. The creators seem to know what they want to do and where they wanna go with the story and after the first Season I have complete faith in them.
 
P

psyfi

Banned
_Ryo_ said:
This show is alright but I do have a problem with a weird tonal direction in episode 2?

Cop shows up at Will's moms house, mother is hysterical wanting to know where her son is, telling the cop to find him, etc. The cop heads towards the shed, and the dog starts acting crazy and asks the dog something like "what is it, boy?" to see if the dog would show him something but Will's mother says in a very calm and peaceful manner "I don't know, he's probably just hungry" and takes the dog inside. I mean, to go from acting like you're going to explode to complete zen in a matter of seconds is super weird. Also, she confirmed the dog's behavior was weird because she said she didn't know why he was acting like that. If you don't know, and it's acting strange, and acting like it's trying to show you something, I dunno, let it show you?
I rolled my eyes so hard at this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was one of the weirder moments in the show for me too. I let out a long "uhhhhhhhh" out loud.
 
B

border

Member
BattleMonkey said:
You're heavily exaggerating the use of 80's pop culture references, they rarely come up in so many eps outside of maybe a poster you see for a second or two at times in a one hour tv show.
Click to expand...

It's not the frequency or number of pop culture references, it's just how hamfisted and shoehorned in they are. Does every character have to have a poster on their wall for some 80's cult movie? We get that the writer/directors loved that particular period, but isn't it enough just to honestly and earnestly emulate that style? Must they shove in such incredibly overt references?

"Hey Sally, let's go see that new movie All the Right Moves. It has that pretty boy Tom Cruise you liked from Risky Business."

Ignoring the fact that nobody talks like that, and that nobody talked like that in 1980's films......do we really need to cram in that many references in such short span of of a dialogue?

Eleven gets a makeover and a silly wig like E.T. did. She falls in love with Eggos just like how E.T. loved Rece's Pieces. Instead of making the kids' bikes fly, she flips a truck and we still get a fun slow-mo shot of it sailing through the air like the bikes in ET.
Those are subtle references that I can appreciate.
 
M

mantidor

Member
_Ryo_ said:
This show is alright but I do have a problem with a weird tonal direction in episode 2?

Cop shows up at Will's moms house, mother is hysterical wanting to know where her son is, telling the cop to find him, etc. The cop heads towards the shed, and the dog starts acting crazy and asks the dog something like "what is it, boy?" to see if the dog would show him something but Will's mother says in a very calm and peaceful manner "I don't know, he's probably just hungry" and takes the dog inside. I mean, to go from acting like you're going to explode to complete zen in a matter of seconds is super weird. Also, she confirmed the dog's behavior was weird because she said she didn't know why he was acting like that. If you don't know, and it's acting strange, and acting like it's trying to show you something, I dunno, let it show you?
I rolled my eyes so hard at this.
Click to expand...

I don't know what show you people are watching, in no moment she calmly did anything, she practically dragged the freaking dog!
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
border said:
It's not the frequency or number of pop culture references, it's just how hamfisted and shoehorned in they are. Does every character have to have a poster on their wall for some 80's cult movie? We get that the writer/directors loved that particular period, but isn't it enough just to honestly and earnestly emulate that style? Must they shove in such incredibly overt references?

"Hey Sally, let's go see that new movie All the Right Moves. It has that pretty boy Tom Cruise you liked from Risky Business."

Ignoring the fact that nobody talks like that, and that nobody talked like that in 1980's films......do we really need to cram in that many references in such short span of of a dialogue?

Eleven gets a makeover and a silly wig like E.T. did. She falls in love with Eggos just like how E.T. loved Rece's Pieces. Instead of making the kids' bikes fly, she flips a truck and we still get a fun slow-mo shot of it sailing through the air like the bikes in ET.
Those are subtle references that I can appreciate.
Click to expand...

I gotta disagree and I'm not sure how you or your nerdy friends were as kids but the dialogue often comes off as incredibly authentic whether its referencing a movie or music of the era. A lot of it came off very natural and Hell I can feel the Science teacher explaining how they did the effects in John Carpenters The Thing, to a lady friend especially.
 
T

Tankard

Member
Finally finished the season, wow, what a ride.

I loved the ambience of this series so much, as an 80's fanactic it spoke to me really deep. It gave me those chessy/good suspense vibes mixed with some Goonies, and the score/soundtrack, unbelievable. Love the way everyone acted, specially the kids, they were absolutely amazing. The end when
they meet Will at the hospital and talk about what happened as kids that just lived a crazy adventure almost brought tears to my eyes.
What an amazing series, i want it to keep going, but i dont know if this is a True Detective kind of situation, if it is, leave it like this.
 
M

mm04

Member
HStallion said:
I gotta disagree and I'm not sure how you or your nerdy friends were as kids but the dialogue often comes off as incredibly authentic whether its referencing a movie or music of the era. A lot of it came off very natural and Hell I can feel the Science teacher explaining how they did the effects in John Carpenters The Thing, to a lady friend especially.
Click to expand...

It's incredibly authentic. I was roughly the same age as Mike and crew were at around 1983, if that's the year it happened. I had a BMX bike which was my pride and joy, and played D&D (wore a damn D&D t-shirt to picture day) with my friends and math teacher. Was nowhere to be found when my parents looked for me. About the only thing I took issue with was that the term douche bag wasn't popular at that time as an insult. At least not in Southern California. But this damn show was spot on. With the music, culture, etc. They even nailed the damn Tupperware which my mom had. It was like re-living my pre-teen childhood except we had no
monsters from other dimensions to deal with.
 
B

BrokenFiction

Member
mm04 said:
It's incredibly authentic. I was roughly the same age as Mike and crew were at around 1983, if that's the year it happened. I had a BMX bike which was my pride and joy, and played D&D (wore a damn D&D t-shirt to picture day) with my friends and math teacher. Was nowhere to be found when my parents looked for me. About the only thing I took issue with was that the term douche bag wasn't popular at that time as an insult. At least not in Southern California. But this damn show was spot on. With the music, culture, etc. They even nailed the damn Tupperware which my mom had. It was like re-living my pre-teen childhood except we had no
monsters from other dimensions to deal with.
Click to expand...

This is me as well. They got everything right. It's really amazing how right they got it.
 
B

border

Member
Solo said:
Harry Potter as a template actually would make a lot of sense.
Click to expand...

Harry Potter is so far removed from reality and centers around a fictional Chosen One who is the frequent subject of assassination attempts from the most evil being in the world. It kind of makes sense that Harry would get wrapped up in adventure and intrigue a few times a year.

It makes less sense that these 3-4 goofy kids from Hawkins should get dragged into some Goonies/E.T. mystery adventure once a year. It barely makes sense that those families are still living in that city, considering what they all know has transpired there.

I hope that any Season 2 is a significant remix of their formula. It can't just be E.T. with monsters again.
 
R

RyanW

Member
I know this is on Netflix and I can rewatch whenever but I hope this series comes out on Bluray. Always nice to have a physical copy
 
E

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Kalentan said:
This show has blown up in popularity, I must inquire, was there a lot of hype for it before it's release? Or did it just sneak up on everyone? I hadn't heard about this until like days before it released and even then it wasn't until I heard all the praise that I had to watch it.
Click to expand...

The only place I had heard about the series was in this thread...
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1230517

and one or two posts on Reddit's tv section, besides that, it didn't seem like there was any hype surrounding it.
 
D

Dabanton

Member
Razorback PT said:
I understand what they were going for, but it didn't work for me. I'm a big fan of John Carpenter and his music, but the show seems to be aping Spielberg more than anything and those two styles don't really complement each other. If the show wasn't mainly focused on kids perhaps I wouldn't feel like the music was so jarring.
Click to expand...

I liked the synths but you're right. I mentioned this to my SO when we watched the first episode. A lot of the things it was referencing wouldn't have had a synthesizer soundtrack it would have been more John Williamsesqe orchestral arrangements.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Einchy said:
The only place I had heard about the series was in this thread...
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1230517

and one or two posts on Reddit's tv section, besides that, it didn't seem like there was any hype surrounding it.
Click to expand...

I wasn't that interested at all from just seeing the trailer and wrote it off as another lame looking horror show with a gimmick. Then I had some free time on the weekend and popped on the Netflix when nothing was on TV and was like,"Fuck it!" and gave it a chance. 5 episodes later and its early in the AM and I'm debating whether to keep going or get some sleep. I was hooked after watching the first DnD match leading into... well you all know.
 
D

Dirca

Member
mm04 said:
It's incredibly authentic. I was roughly the same age as Mike and crew were at around 1983, if that's the year it happened. I had a BMX bike which was my pride and joy, and played D&D (wore a damn D&D t-shirt to picture day) with my friends and math teacher. Was nowhere to be found when my parents looked for me. About the only thing I took issue with was that the term douche bag wasn't popular at that time as an insult. At least not in Southern California. But this damn show was spot on. With the music, culture, etc. They even nailed the damn Tupperware which my mom had. It was like re-living my pre-teen childhood except we had no
monsters from other dimensions to deal with.
Click to expand...
Same here. The whole series my wife and I were saying "hey, i had/did that" and explaining how things were in the early 80's to our 8 year old son.
 
B

BrokenFiction

Member
Brian Kesinger, famous for his Calvin and Hobbes drawings and Star Wars/Calvin parodies, just posted this.

Cvzg5ab.jpg
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/briankesinger/status/758107917664919553
 
M

mrkgoo

Member
border said:
It's not the frequency or number of pop culture references, it's just how hamfisted and shoehorned in they are. Does every character have to have a poster on their wall for some 80's cult movie? We get that the writer/directors loved that particular period, but isn't it enough just to honestly and earnestly emulate that style? Must they shove in such incredibly overt references?

"Hey Sally, let's go see that new movie All the Right Moves. It has that pretty boy Tom Cruise you liked from Risky Business."

Ignoring the fact that nobody talks like that, and that nobody talked like that in 1980's films......do we really need to cram in that many references in such short span of of a dialogue?

Eleven gets a makeover and a silly wig like E.T. did. She falls in love with Eggos just like how E.T. loved Rece's Pieces. Instead of making the kids' bikes fly, she flips a truck and we still get a fun slow-mo shot of it sailing through the air like the bikes in ET.
Those are subtle references that I can appreciate.
Click to expand...

I gotta disagree also.

Kids have posters. It's not Kiel they lingered in a shot of those then panned to what was going on. I felt it was on point and not too in your face.

You should see the posters I had in my room when I was a kid in the 80s. It was definitely stuff like that. (Of course it was helped that my dad was friends with a video store owner so we got lots of movie hand me down posters)
 
S

Salsa

Member
I finished it. It was great.

Even tho it was all great, I gotta give it up to those kids first and foremost.

Jesus christ they were incredible. It's like a new Stand By Me. I bet most of preprod was spent on casting.
 
A

AoM

Member
border said:
Harry Potter is so far removed from reality and centers around a fictional Chosen One who is the frequent subject of assassination attempts from the most evil being in the world. It kind of makes sense that Harry would get wrapped up in adventure and intrigue a few times a year.

It makes less sense that these 3-4 goofy kids from Hawkins should get dragged into some Goonies/E.T. mystery adventure once a year. It barely makes sense that those families are still living in that city, considering what they all know has transpired there.

I hope that any Season 2 is a significant remix of their formula. It can't just be E.T. with monsters again.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I imagine basically the whole town relocating soon after. I'm curious to see how they pull it off with that issue looming.
 
T

Timeaisis

Member
Just finished. I loved it too death. Clichéd? Sure. But they nailed it. Like they synthesized all these elements together and made it work great.

Ending was a little on the long side, but I understand they are trying to set up a season two. I would've preferred if they made these episodes as a standalone plot, which it is for the most part. Execpt for the obvious S2 setup. Only real issue for me, really.

Everything else was legit great. Yes, I expected a lot of things to happen and it totally played into those expectations, but to me that's half the fun of a show like this.
 
M

Mad Season

Banned
border said:
It's not the frequency or number of pop culture references, it's just how hamfisted and shoehorned in they are. Does every character have to have a poster on their wall for some 80's cult movie? We get that the writer/directors loved that particular period, but isn't it enough just to honestly and earnestly emulate that style? Must they shove in such incredibly overt references?

"Hey Sally, let's go see that new movie All the Right Moves. It has that pretty boy Tom Cruise you liked from Risky Business."

Ignoring the fact that nobody talks like that, and that nobody talked like that in 1980's films......do we really need to cram in that many references in such short span of of a dialogue?

Eleven gets a makeover and a silly wig like E.T. did. She falls in love with Eggos just like how E.T. loved Rece's Pieces. Instead of making the kids' bikes fly, she flips a truck and we still get a fun slow-mo shot of it sailing through the air like the bikes in ET.
Those are subtle references that I can appreciate.
Click to expand...
Why even watch TV? Just enjoy it for what it is. Geeze
 
M

Mdk7

Member
I absolutely loved it, yet I somehow hope they won't make a season 2 (at least with the same characters).
It felt complete like this, and I fear they might fuck up.
 
E

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
The actor who plays Dustin actually does have that condition he talked about, I was wondering how they did the teeth stuff, but turns out it was real.
 
M

MotionBlue

Member
That was a really good show. Came out of nowhere it seems. It really nailed the aesthetic and dialogue of the 80s.

ENDING SPOILERS

WHAT WAS THAT ENDING. ELEVEN IS GONE? PARASITES? FUUUUUUUUU
 
D

Dot Matrix

Member
My wife and I watched it over 3 nights and loved it. Made me impatient for the day my girls are old enough so I can sit and watch Eerie Indiana with them.



border said:
It's not the frequency or number of pop culture references, it's just how hamfisted and shoehorned in they are. Does every character have to have a poster on their wall for some 80's cult movie? We get that the writer/directors loved that particular period, but isn't it enough just to honestly and earnestly emulate that style? Must they shove in such incredibly overt references?

"Hey Sally, let's go see that new movie All the Right Moves. It has that pretty boy Tom Cruise you liked from Risky Business."

Ignoring the fact that nobody talks like that, and that nobody talked like that in 1980's films......do we really need to cram in that many references in such short span of of a dialogue?

Eleven gets a makeover and a silly wig like E.T. did. She falls in love with Eggos just like how E.T. loved Rece's Pieces. Instead of making the kids' bikes fly, she flips a truck and we still get a fun slow-mo shot of it sailing through the air like the bikes in ET.
Those are subtle references that I can appreciate.
Click to expand...

Take my advice and never watch an episode of The Goldbergs; I fear your head might explode.
That was a reference to Scanners by the way. Hope it wasn't too shoehorned in.
 
M

Matty77

Member
Mdk7 said:
I absolutely loved it, yet I somehow hope they won't make a season 2 (at least with the same characters).
It felt complete like this, and I fear they might fuck up.
Click to expand...
I don't get this attitude.

No matter how many more they make and of what quality, it does not retroactively ruin the first season.

I mean, are Alien or Aliens bad films now.

Or the first two terminator films.

Just two examples a great work of fiction is a great work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Stranger Things | Season 4 | Part 1
News 2 3 4 5 6
278
18K
Kimahri replied
David Harbour accidentally mentions Stranger Things 3
39
6K
OH-MyCar replied
New "Stranger Things 2" cover story from EW (9/27/17)
2 3
104
13K
ElectricBlanketFire replied
  • Locked
Stranger Things - Trailer 1 (Netflix July 15th)
2
2K
Cornballer replied
  • Locked
First trailer for Netflix supernatural thriller series Stranger Things
2 3 4 5
205
22K
GK86 replied
Top Bottom