Stranger Things

[Savage Henry]

On 9 August 2016 at 20:44, pub car king said:

Watched it in 3 days. Fuckin brilliant one of the best things for ages.

Very very twin peaks towards the end of it.

Really can't decide if I want more or if another series would tarnish it.

 

A friend sold it to me as "Twin Peaks meets Stand By Me" - two of my favourite things in the world.  I'm just about to start watching it now.

[Boostin' Kev]

Pretty fair comparison imo if you include The Goonies as well.

[MONKMAN]

Absolutely brilliant, watched all 8 episodes in 2 days.

The soundtrack is unreal.

[Savage Henry]

Pretty fair comparison imo if you include The Goonies as well.

Quite a lot of ET in that first episode. Thought it was great.

[P.C]

Just finished it now. Bit of a slow burn in first few episodes but really ramped up towards the end. I actually likes that ending.

Season 2 is confirmed.

[Kilbowie's Finest]

Really enjoyed it and looking forward to Series 2 - the kid actors were fantastic

[killienick]

Really enjoyed this. It's one of the best TV shows of recent times and the characters were tremendous, particularly Eleven. (Winona Ryder still can't act but was ok as well).

The buzz around season 2 is interesting, it could be an entirely different set of characters and story apparently which would probably be best.

As well as Goonies, Twin Peaks, John Carpenter, E.T., Super 8 and Steven King, I'd like to throw the Outer Limits and X-Files into the mix. There was so much nostalgia in the mix, which if you grew up in the 80s, was just tremendous. The clothes, games, bikes, movie references, language, and tech were just spot on.

I loved the Atari reference in episode 8 because that was me.

 

 

 

Edit: Spelling

Edited August 31, 2016 by killienick

[killie_lad]

On 8/1/2016 at 10:10, GrahamJags said:

Finished watching this yesterday. Thought it was a decent enough watch, but can't help feeling like its ridiculously overrated. An enjoyable series? Yes. One of the best TV shows of recent times? No chance.

This is exactly how I feel about it. I was expecting this to hit breaking bad territories of justified hype but while it's good, it's not even close. I just struggle to enjoy supernatural stuff too much. Like the twist always seems to restort to 'because...aliens' which kind of cheapens it for me.

[Boostin' Kev]

I'm not big on fantasy myself I couldn't watch more than half a season of GoT but enjoyed this. 

[NotThePars]

This is exactly how I feel about it. I was expecting this to hit breaking bad territories of justified hype but while it's good, it's not even close. I just struggle to enjoy supernatural stuff too much. Like the twist always seems to restort to 'because...aliens' which kind of cheapens it for me.

Hardly a twist when you know what it is in the first episode.

[killie_lad]

22 hours ago, NotThePars said:

 

Hardly a twist when you know what it is in the first episode.

 

 

i'm talking about the kid being recovered from the lake, but he's not really dead because an alien put him in a wall (i realise he didn't literally put him in a wall, just in case someone tries to use that against me)

for me that's just  a cheap get out clause, to me it just feels like the writers can make anything happen and then just say "yeah well it happened because aliens". Honestly I would have preferred if 11 was the only supernatural part of the story. 

The problem for me is the story follows the cliche of an entirely unbelievable thing happens to someone and everyone thinks they're crazy because it, conviently, only happens when they're alone

Edited September 2, 2016 by killie_lad

[killienick]

16 hours ago, killie_lad said:

  Reveal hidden contents

i'm talking about the kid being recovered from the lake, but he's not really dead because an alien put him in a wall (i realise he didn't literally put him in a wall, just in case someone tries to use that against me)

for me that's just  a cheap get out clause, to me it just feels like the writers can make anything happen and then just say "yeah well it happened because aliens". Honestly I would have preferred if 11 was the only supernatural part of the story. 

The problem for me is the story follows the cliche of an entirely unbelievable thing happens to someone and everyone thinks they're crazy because it, conviently, only happens when they're alone

That is true of any form of fiction though. I don't understand why people are bothered by "because aliens". The most popular BBC or ITV dramas, watched and adored by millions, are generally "because drugs" or "because abuse" or "because crazy person"......... Christ, if you watch any soap then it's generally, "because picked up the phone or stood at doorway and heard secret conversation". That's just how writing for television works, the difference with sci-fi/fantasy is that it requires the suspension of disbelief.

I believe that the component parts of sci-fi/fantasy programmes have to be much stronger simply because of that suspension of disbelief. The acting, music and cinematography were superb in Stranger Things which all helps hold the viewer's attention.

In terms of 11 being the only Supernatural part of the story, something tells me there are/were at least 10 others before her . Hopefully season 2 will expand on this - is she unique or did the previous experiments reveal different powers? 

[NotThePars]

Yup. The monster is literally introduced in the opening scenes. It's well established early on what has happened to Will Byers.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

I'm not big these super natural/sci-fi type shows, but I gave this a go and I loved it.

Eleven was a great character.

 

[killie_lad]

12 hours ago, killienick said:

That is true of any form of fiction though. I don't understand why people are bothered by "because aliens". The most popular BBC or ITV dramas, watched and adored by millions, are generally "because drugs" or "because abuse" or "because crazy person"......... Christ, if you watch any soap then it's generally, "because picked up the phone or stood at doorway and heard secret conversation". That's just how writing for television works, the difference with sci-fi/fantasy is that it requires the suspension of disbelief.

I believe that the component parts of sci-fi/fantasy programmes have to be much stronger simply because of that suspension of disbelief. The acting, music and cinematography were superb in Stranger Things which all helps hold the viewer's attention.

In terms of 11 being the only Supernatural part of the story, something tells me there are/were at least 10 others before her . Hopefully season 2 will expand on this - is she unique or did the previous experiments reveal different powers? 

I'm glad you brought up the thing about suspension of disbelief, I don't have a problem with that where the whole world is in on it (like GoT, Star Wars or TWD) I just feel alien things always seem to rely on a realistic world where something totally unbelievable happens and then turns in to crazy person vs the world. I enjoyed it and will probably watch S2 but was there really anything we haven't seen before? Let's be honest we all knew he wasn't really dead, we all knew mike was going to be saved from 11 when he jumped, even the ending, oh look they're all happy, but wait... dun dun dun, he's not actually ok  *cuts to black* seen it, seen it, seen it. Good watch but it's not the best thing since sliced bread some people would have you believe.

 

edit I get that it's taking inspiration from classic syfy but give it a twist that makes it stand on it's own rather than following them beat for beat

Edited September 2, 2016 by killie_lad

[Homer Thompson]

On 02/09/2016 at 22:32, killie_lad said:

I'm glad you brought up the thing about suspension of disbelief, I don't have a problem with that where the whole world is in on it (like GoT, Star Wars or TWD) I just feel alien things always seem to rely on a realistic world where something totally unbelievable happens and then turns in to crazy person vs the world. I enjoyed it and will probably watch S2 but was there really anything we haven't seen before? Let's be honest we all knew he wasn't really dead, we all knew mike was going to be saved from 11 when he jumped, even the ending, oh look they're all happy, but wait... dun dun dun, he's not actually ok  *cuts to black* seen it, seen it, seen it. Good watch but it's not the best thing since sliced bread some people would have you believe.

 

edit I get that it's taking inspiration from classic syfy but give it a twist that makes it stand on it's own rather than following them beat for beat

You sound like someone desperate to find fault just because everyone else likes it

Personally, I loved it. No individual component was outstanding but the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Maybe it helped that I would have been only a couple of years younger than the boys in 1983 and played D&D 

The kids stole the show, in terms of performances. The boys, obviously, were 12 year old boys playing 12 year old boys but they still did it so well. The girl who played 11, though, was amazing. The mix of fear, vulnerability, innocence and strength right through the series was fantastic to watch. 

Theres a teaser trailer out with the chapter titles for season 2. The second episode is "The boy who came back to life", so Im guessing its the same main characters. Hopefully, they go off looking for 11

Edited September 6, 2016 by Mr X

[Christophe]

Watched this through the last few days. A really good 7 on 10. Started BRILLIANTLY, but maybe once the fun and novelty of the 80's Spielbergy nostalgia had worn off, you're left with a decent enough thriller

Edited September 6, 2016 by Christophe

[killie_lad]

10 hours ago, Mr X said:

You sound like someone desperate to find fault just because everyone else likes it

Personally, I loved it. No individual component was outstanding but the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Maybe it helped that I would have been only a couple of years younger than the boys in 1983 and played D&D 

The kids stole the show, in terms of performances. The boys, obviously, were 12 year old boys playing 12 year old boys but they still did it so well. The girl who played 11, though, was amazing. The mix of fear, vulnerability, innocence and strength right through the series was fantastic to watch. 

Theres a teaser trailer out with the chapter titles for season 2. The second episode is "The boy who came back to life", so Im guessing its the same main characters. Hopefully, they go off looking for 11

What? I adored Breaking Bad,so work that one out. This is just nowhere near what people are making it out to be, still an enjoyable watch. Don't enjoy the alien aspect though, would have enjoyed it more if it had just been the people hunting down 11, like when the diner owner got killed I thought it was going to be more like that but then we just got a load of alien BS. You can't say we haven't seen the plot before though, it was literally a load of horror movie cliches made in to a tv programme.

 

Also, why the f**k did almost nobody care about barb?

Edited September 6, 2016 by killie_lad

[Mr. Brightside]

Episodes 6, 7 and 8 were utterly superb. I thought the acting on the whole was great but Winona Ryder stole the show IMO.

[NotThePars]

It was just really fun. Lots of cool nostalgia, really good soundtrack and likeable lead characters. It was fairly predictable but complexity and twists aren't always to be celebrated.