Stranger Things General Discussion Thread

Eleven will sacrifice herself and it will end with here friends morning.

Do not think this is what the series is about.

This series has been around this group of young friend and Eleven, so ii think that will be the core of Season 5, not a massive war.

I’ve only just started watching this show. They’ve got the tone of the 1980s down extremely well, the fantastical content is great, the actors play their roles well and the music has a great period feel. Now I just need to get through Seasons 1-4.

The opening scene channeled that of ET very well, but they got the D&D mechanics wrong in at least two areas - clerics can’t cast Fireball and there is not need for an attack roll for it to hit. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, though, as they used it to build character well. Perhaps my 1980s/90s RPG nerd/geek sense is to finely toned.

I’m only halfway through Episode 3 of Season 1 and am deliberately not trying to spoil myself, so I’ll just speak to what I think so far:

- By including bits and pieces, little hints of the Cold War overarching theme, the writers get a very good sense of setting, time, place and tone
- To pan out from that, though, and show changes to history at the much bigger level would be to change what the show is about. On one level, it has the younger kids and the psychic girl, then there is the teenage layer, then the adults (the copper and the mum). All of those are the little people, though. The stranger things in the background are matched by their own dynamics
- As a general rule in writing, if you have one big change, then you need it to be compensated for elsewhere. If it is a fantastical theme, then have the characters be familiar archetypes. Too much unfamiliarity - too many stranger things, as it were, will lose an audience. If someone has a boring writing style, then they should not have a boring, telegraphed plot
- I call this The Jim Hacker Party Political Broadcast Rule; Steve may get the reference there
- I think they are out to make a drama series that tells a quirky story of characters who don’t quite fit their archetypes. To marry that with alternate history AND a big picture view would start to lose their market

Again, I’ll be better placed to give a rounded view once I finish Season 1, then 2-4.

My predictions so far:
- Mike and Eleven become an item
- Will is rescued; I picked up on a bit of ‘more than friendship’ in his view of Mike
- Will’s older brother and that Nancy girl become an item; American TV shows, even good ones like this, are far from subtle with their signposting
- The black kid ‘graduates’ from the nerdy group, upsetting the cozy circle

If I’m right or wrong, don’t tell me specifically; I want to find out

Well i will rename it to the Stranger Things General Discussion Thread then.

One of the perks i have on this forum.

Think humans colonizing the UpsideDown World is like humans colonized the Hell.