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Normally anything associated with the 80's grabs my attention. I've watched the first two episodes and I don't think it is great nor do I think it is bad. Right now I am unsure of the hype.
Posts: 115 | From: Northeastern PA | Registered: Jun 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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JCU, it starts to pick up. I thought the first two episodes were slow moving. I was on the fence at first, but I am actually hoping for a season 2 now.
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I finally got around to watching the first episode. Pretty good. Not as good as it was hyped to be though. I will watch the next couple episodes and see if it gets better.
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Amazing series. It made a few music mistakes, but awesome nonetheless. We are DEVO
Posts: 4231 | From: Home of the big landfill | Registered: Jul 2003 | Site Updates: 8
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I just watched the first two episodes over my in-laws and I quite enjoyed it,i thought it had a fairly decent 80s vibe to it and I heard Toto's Africa in the first episode and the Clash in episode 2 plus there's loads of movie posters on the kids walls Jaws,John Carpenter's The Thing,The Evil Dead etc which was cool!
When I said to my wife that's Winona Ryder she was like no way and I had to remind her that Heathers was like 28 years ago and she was like oh yeah!
[ 04. September 2016, 15:59: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posts: 3243 | From: canterbury united kingdom | Registered: Mar 2011 | Site Updates: 0
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This has to be one of the best Netflix series in some time. I can't wait for season 2 to show up all at once.
Posts: 224 | From: AZ | Registered: Dec 2002 | Site Updates: 1
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Watched Stranger Things about a month ago - superb series, and one of the best TV shows I've ever seen - period. It obviously helps that I'm an '80's kid, and have fond memories of that era. I actually liked the show so much that I want to watch it again in the next couple of weeks.
I was amazed at how well The Duffer Bros. made this not only look like an '80's show, but also made it have the vibe/tone of an '80's series as well. If I hadn't known better, I would honestly have thought I was watching a recently-unearthed & long-lost series from that period:
The picture quality was similar to what you would have seen in an '80's TV series.
No elaborate editing cuts, etc. like you saw in the '90's - on films/TV shows.
Amazing '80's new wave soundtrack - just off the top of my head, I remember hearing: Modern English, Joy Division, Duran Duran, and many other great artists/songs from that era.
The synthesizer music - only in '80's TV series/movies would you have heard a soundtrack like this (maybe early '90's as well).
The effects were not obvious in your face CGI, but more subtle - i.e., similar to effects you would have seen in an '80's series/movie back in the day.
Cool details like The Dark Crystal, Evil Dead, and Jaws posters; the Star Wars toys (Millenium Falcon), the kids playing Dungeons & Dragons, etc.
Re: the story, very compelling as well. It seemed like a combination of The Goonies, E.T., Labyrinth, and Alien/Aliens to some extent; it also brought to mind the '80's Twilight Zone & Amazing Stories TV series.
The main "monster" (that wasn't seen that much until the finale) was great, as was the "alternate universe" with the snow, etc.
Eleven was an amazing character! Very impressive acting here; the actress never said much, but conveyed a lot of emotion/feeling through her expressions/body language, etc.
It was refreshing that that the show's writers didn't go with the obvious cliché & have the outcast kid (with the camera) end up with the girl; I was slightly surprised that they had the jerk bully kid have a change of heart & get the girl at the end - but, again, it was nice to see a non-predictable ending here.
It was also a nice touch to have Winona Ryder & Matthew Modine as stars in the series, since they were well known '80's teen icons back in the day.
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
My bro teased me with the first 15 minutes last weekend and boy did it look fantastic. Bro said that, he got chills when they played Tangerine Dream´s Exit (classic album also 1983) during episode 6. Can´t wait!
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Hi Nostalgic for the 80's. I hope you make it back here again soon! I am thinking a rewatch would be nice this weekend.
Posts: 2311 | From: Pittsburgh | Registered: Nov 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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quote:Originally posted by Pittsburghgirl: Hi Nostalgic for the 80's. I hope you make it back here again soon! I am thinking a rewatch would be nice this weekend.
Thanks very much. I just joined this site last week, and plan on visiting here regularly.
Re: Stranger Things, I definitely want to re-watch this again this Fall. However, there are so many new shows on that I'm watching that I will have to make it a point to fit this in somewhere...
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Helen_S
Hiding behind the shower curtain.....
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My 80s obsession just keeps getting deeper, if that was even possible. This show is not helping. LOL Posts: 294 | From: Arizona | Registered: Mar 2007 | Site Updates: 0
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I watched episode's 5 & 6 last night at the in-laws along with the pilot for the really fun Jean Claude Van Johnson and so far I'm liking what I've seen.
Certainly I feel gets better as it goes along!
Posts: 3243 | From: canterbury united kingdom | Registered: Mar 2011 | Site Updates: 0
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quote:Amazing '80's new wave soundtrack - just off the top of my head, I remember hearing: Modern English, Joy Division, Duran Duran, and many other great artists/songs from that era.
Cool details like The Dark Crystal, Evil Dead, and Jaws posters; the Star Wars toys (Millenium Falcon), the kids playing Dungeons & Dragons, etc.
I'm looking forward to seeing it, but those things have my alarm bells ringing. I'm a massive stickler for things not being anachronistic, and one of the cardinal sins of most things 'set in the past' (to me) are when the people making it 'compress' history into convenient chunks. For example, when I watched '13 Going on 30' with Jennifer Garner, I got very irritated that a supposed 13 year old girl in 1987 had a poster of Rick Springfield on her wall. Was he a pin-up - yes. And 5 years earlier that poster would have been completely accurate, but by 1987 definitely not. So when I hear 'Jaws, Dark Crystal, Evil Dead posters', I wonder what year it's set, and whether this was really realistic. Jaws poster on a bedroom wall in the 80's? Not so sure. I remember very well that by the time the early 80's were underway, Jaws was very much seen as a 70's movie. Maybe a video poster for the video release, but that would be pushing it. Evil Dead was b-movie horror that took some time to build its reputation, and arguably got more famous as the decade wore on, so again - what year are we looking at?
I know that sounds nit-picky, but this series has some major props from different people for authenticity, and that's going to make me set my 'contextual anachronism' meter on high!
Still looking forward to it.
Posts: 3383 | From: England | Registered: May 2003 | Site Updates: 21
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I see what you mean, but everything in the show "fits", as far as I can tell:
Evil Dead (the original) came out in very early 1983; Dark Crystal came out in Fall 1982; the original Jaws came out in 1975.
The show is set in 1983, so I can see some kids growing up in the early '80's having all of these posters in their rooms.
The soundtrack also seems accurate: Joy Division (a late '70's UK band), early '80's New Order & Duran Duran, Modern English, etc.
I do know what you mean about contradictions, however - the superb UK series "Life on Mars" was about a guy time-travelling back from the 200X's to 1974-ish; and, IIRC, some of the '70's music featured in the show hadn't yet been produced by that year...
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When it comes to the use of songs, i don't think it necessarily has to be accurate whether or not they fit the time period in which the story takes place. For example, Baby It's You (1983) is set in 1966, but manages to throw in a couple of Bruce Springsteen songs that weren't released until 1973.. and in my opinion, it worked ! Posts: 2203 | From: The Netherlands | Registered: Jun 2011 | Site Updates: 0
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Thought it must have been set about 1983 because All The Right Moves was showing at there downtown movie theatre!
Watched it over my in laws every other Sunday so it took a few weeks to get through the 8 episode's but i did enjoy it,i think they've got Ash vs Evil Dead lined up next has anyone seen that?
Posts: 3243 | From: canterbury united kingdom | Registered: Mar 2011 | Site Updates: 0
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quote:When it comes to the use of songs, i don't think it necessarily has to be accurate whether or not they fit the time period in which the story takes place. For example, Baby It's You (1983) is set in 1966, but manages to throw in a couple of Bruce Springsteen songs that weren't released until 1973.. and in my opinion, it worked !
That's a taste thing. I don't remember that in 'Baby it's You' - I need to rewatch that one!
quote:Watched it over my in laws every other Sunday so it took a few weeks to get through the 8 episode's but i did enjoy it,i think they've got Ash vs Evil Dead lined up next has anyone seen that?
I've been watching season 2 - not bad. Campbell is always worth watching.
Posts: 3383 | From: England | Registered: May 2003 | Site Updates: 21
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I am not sure if I mentioned it before, but Stranger Things did get signed to a second season! I don't know when it is due out on Netflix though.
Posts: 2311 | From: Pittsburgh | Registered: Nov 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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quote:Originally posted by Pittsburghgirl: I am not sure if I mentioned it before, but Stranger Things did get signed to a second season! I don't know when it is due out on Netflix though.
It'll be out in October. The writers have stated that they have a storyline written out that should last no more than 5-6 seasons and that they are keen not to drag it out beyond that.
Best use of music for me was Moby's "When it's cold, I'd like to die" Really fit in well with the scene it was used for.
Stranger Noms Posts: 2517 | From: Living in oblivion. Third floor up. Nice views from the window.... | Registered: May 2004 | Site Updates: 4
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I have to say, I was very disappointed in Stranger Things. It was ok, but generally speaking it felt a little 'meh' to me. As to the whole 80's thing - it never once felt even slightly 80's to me. It was shot on digital - it looks like all modern programmes do. You can jam it with 80's references and music , etc, but it still looks and feels like a modern programme. As to those references, I read a review that summed up my feelings on it quite well: "The show feels less like a love-letter to the 80's, and more like a drunken late-night Tweet."
I've seen a picture from series 2 with the cast dressed as Ghostbusters, and again... why? It was an ok show, and I might like it better as it goes on, but at this point I don't feel particularly excited about it. Set in the 80's, not set in the 80's - it didn't really make a difference. The show was just ok to me.
Posts: 3383 | From: England | Registered: May 2003 | Site Updates: 21
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Loved loved loved it. Watched it with my older sisters who remember the '80s better than I do (I was born in 83) and they were all in agreement that it reminded them very much of being kids in the '80s. I forget where I heard/read but the way the concept of the show was pitched was by setting the trailer for E.T. to music from John Carpenter's the thing. Looking forward to Season 2 this Halloween!
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Glad so many of us on here have enjoyed this superb '80's-based series. I will definitely have to check this out again before S2 airs this Fall.
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