Stranger Things

[blankall]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Those of you loving Stranger Things need to check out Dark on Netflix. It’s of similar style and much better, in my opinion. It’s super good.

Similar content but entirely different tones. I like Dark too, but it's a totally different experience. Dark is very difficult to follow and requires a lot of concentration. It's also much slower and deals with a lot of more adult themes.

Stranger Things is more like the Goonies.

[KTrain]

Thanks, I was going to say the same thing. I watched the first episode last night to see if I could watch it with my kids. It's a much more adult show.

[Regular_John]

This was easily the best season they’ve ever made. The expanded cast/sets really paid dividends to the final product, and having the established themes to play with has yielded some great results.

I think I even said after the first season that if it had been a few episodes longer I might not have finished, but ST3 has left me craving more.

In particular the banter between Steve & Robin was the highlight, I want a 6 episode mini-series of those two having their own high jinx at the video store. I want a spin on the common sit-com troupe of having two dates in the same night in which Steve/Robin have a date with a girl who’s trying to hide them from each other. The date runs off to switch outfits at the gap, meanwhile Steve/Robin cross paths to discuss their ‘weird date who keeps changing clothes...”.

I mean hell they put Steve in a damn sailors uniform for the whole season, as it went on I found myself thinking “wow, they’re really owning that sailors uniform this year”. He didn’t even get a costume change until the “3 months later” epilogue.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Thanks, I was going to say the same thing. I watched the first episode last night to see if I could watch it with my kids. It's a much more adult show.

Dark has topless sex scenes, incest talk, somewhat graphic violence, etc... Not a kids show. I doubt most kids would be able to follow it either. I can barely follow it. It's very slow at points. It's also full of German nihilist philosophies.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by KTrain

The worrying thing I read this morning is that they're hurrying to write the next season because the kids are growing so quickly and they're concerned the 80s nostalgia craze will fall off soon.

I think the reason this season worked so well is because they took their time. They have a smaller creative team than most shows so they're pretty meticulous about everything.

I assume as long as they want to continue with the Cold War story-line they may have to do that. I would like to see what the creators could do with the early 90's. You have the nostalgia of Windows 3.0 PC, CD music, grunge, MTV channel, Beverley Hills 90210 side burns, etc.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I finally caught up today.

Solid overall.

Billy's redemption was too out of the blue for me.

Alexei's death was super sad.

Dread Pirate Roberts' finger nearly getting cut off by the cigar cutter had me convulsing alway in disgust.

Thought the two part villian was a great addition.

Robin was a fantastic character addition. Was sad, but loved that she didn't get with Steve.

Erica also added to the cast in a positive way.

I've been humming Neverending Store EEEEEEEE ahhhhhh ahhh ahhh ah ah ah ah ah ah all day.

I also think Suzie is getting unfairly chastised as she clearly thought that Dustin was playing D&D or something. Like he was ACTUALLY saving the world from Russians and monsters? C'mon

[Yamer]

Stranger Things has always been a fun, nostalgic ride. This season was no exception, but I'm surprised people are gushing over it. I would say it was my least favorite of the 3, and actually pretty average as far as TV/Web series go.

[zamler]

The Joyce Byers/Jim Hopper arc was annoying otherwise I thought season3 was great. But nothing will top season1 because of the newness of it all. Props to the visual effects people I am sure there were 100's if not 1000's of effects shots that never draw attention to themselves.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Those of you loving Stranger Things need to check out Dark on Netflix. It’s of similar style and much better, in my opinion. It’s super good.

Dark is one of my favorite shows, but i think that there would only be a relatively small audience overlap with those that like Stranger Things.

[Traditional_Ale]

So I wasn't on the bandwagon at all, then in the last week binged all three seasons of the show. I thought season two was the best of all of them, but that being said I found the show boring, predictable, full of terrible cliches, and the writing had plot holes so big you could sail a battleship right through them. The only reason I watched the third season was more out of some kind of OCD where I felt the need to finish it rather than it was holding my interest. I really do not understand the love for this show in the slightest.

[GGG]

Because we are in the middle of the Nostalgia era.

Comic books from our childhoods are the highest grossing movies
Disney movies from our childhoods are the next highest
Star Wars is shortly after.

Simple, Cliched, Predicable is what I think people want from their entertainment in the post peak TV era. I think the current angst of people not being better off than their parents leads to this kind of simple escapism.

[PepsiFree]

Some people just like fun things.

[Rando]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Some people just like fun things.

GGG just loves to argue/play Devil's Advocate

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Rando

GGG just loves to argue/play Devil's Advocate

How am I being a Devils advocate here?

I liked the show, it was fun. People like escapist fun things. This doesn’t seem controversial at all????

[Rando]

Originally Posted by GGG

How am I being a Devils advocate here?

I liked the show, it was fun. People like escapist fun things. This doesn’t seem controversial at all????

This mostly.

Simple, Cliched, Predicable is what I think people want from their entertainment in the post peak TV era. I think the current angst of people not being better off than their parents leads to this kind of simple escapism.

As someone not of the current generation it made me groan

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Rando

This mostly.

As someone not of the current generation it made me groan

I see, you are interpreting those things as negatives. It wasn’t intended to be negative. In fact those are the reasons that Stranger Things works.

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

So I wasn't on the bandwagon at all, then in the last week binged all three seasons of the show. I thought season two was the best of all of them, but that being said I found the show boring, predictable, full of terrible cliches, and the writing had plot holes so big you could sail a battleship right through them. The only reason I watched the third season was more out of some kind of OCD where I felt the need to finish it rather than it was holding my interest. I really do not understand the love for this show in the slightest.

Really? It's a highly enjoyable series that both kids and adults can enjoy, and it successfully combines sci-fi, horror, comedy, and Spielberg-style adventure with likeable characters and a fun, engaging story. Not to mention it hits all the right nostalgia buttons for people who grew up in the 80s. Seriously, what's not to like?

Not every show has to be Breaking Bad or True Detective. Sometimes people just want to escape all the horrible s**t going on in the world, and this is the kind of show that helps fill that need.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Stranger Things has always been a fun, nostalgic ride. This season was no exception, but I'm surprised people are gushing over it. I would say it was my least favorite of the 3, and actually pretty average as far as TV/Web series go.

Yep, agree. Still well worth the watch and it is fun to see some of the kids have really developed as actors. Season 1 was so great because we didn't know WTF was going on for so long. Much less suspense and more of just a fun ride in the last two seasons. Not saying I didn't enjoy it because I definitely did.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GGG

I see, you are interpreting those things as negatives. It wasn’t intended to be negative. In fact those are the reasons that Stranger Things works.

I don’t know if it was the “negatives” that were groan-worthy, but the need to drop some broad social commentary on the state of a generation to figure out why people like a tv show.

I mean... the answer is probably just that it’s fun entertainment.

Though I have heard that people like Avengers because it takes their mind off this generations breakdown of the nuclear family, and emotional ripples this change will have on generations to come.

Or.. y’know... it’s neat.

(All in good fun)

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

So I wasn't on the bandwagon at all, then in the last week binged all three seasons of the show. I thought season two was the best of all of them, but that being said I found the show boring, predictable, full of terrible cliches, and the writing had plot holes so big you could sail a battleship right through them. The only reason I watched the third season was more out of some kind of OCD where I felt the need to finish it rather than it was holding my interest. I really do not understand the love for this show in the slightest.

That is one colossal waste of time.