Stranger Things (Netflix)

While I did enjoy having something to binge on the holiday weekend, I'll have to say I felt really let down by this season. I realize part of this show's appeal is nostalgia, it's like they just decided to cram every piece of 80s crap into it that they could find. I do appreciate that they had the guts to let the guys wear those godawful gym shorts and blue jean cut offs we used to wear back then, but most of the rest of it felt pushed. I feel the hairstyles were off also. I didn't see a single girl with "puffy bangs" in the whole season.

Really bad were the conversations these people go into during these horrible life threatening situations. "We're getting chased by Russians with guns, let's just stop everything and discuss our personal lives!" But the worst was that stupid Neverending Story song. I can maybe understand Suzi's part in that because she didn't know what was going on, but Dustin knows his friends are in immediate mortal danger, but he stops to sing a dopey song? Ridiculous! I can't remember when I have cringed more than with that one.

I hate to tell the writers this, but we did have alarm systems back in those days. You couldn't just break into a store or a mall and hang out there for an hour or so without the cops coming. And where is the population of this town? Every time something bad happens, they all conveniently disappear.

Season 1 and 2 I absolutely adored, but this season was really dumb IMHO.
 
Mr Webber said:
Stranger Things really became Darker Things in this series, absolutely loved it. Casting is the most important thing next to the writing and they really nailed it with the entire series. As someone else said, it really had a cinematic feel to this latest series and was a real emotional roller coaster for me.

Does anyone else think that Hopper is the "American" spoken of in the end credits scene? It was strange to me that after the cavalry arrived, there were no Russians seen being held or even walked out afterwards. Seems like they had a way of getting out and maybe took Hopper with them.
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I assume Hopper jumped into the crack before the explosion, ended up in the Upsidedown, and came out another crack in Russia and was taken prisoner.
 
Has anyone noticed the speech patterns and phraseology is very contemporary 2019? People - especially those under 18 - simply didn't speak that way back then nor did they have the self awareness the script seems to suggest. It certainly is the 80s as seen by those who didn't live through them. Other than that did like a lot of the references and hope to try a can of New Coke even though the original still is the best. Please just shoot me if any of this has been done to death already...
 
I’m not challenging the opinion, being that I wasn’t born until the 80s was over, I am curious about specific examples of the contemporary speech.
 
I just finished watching the season and to be honest, I was left a bit underwhelmed. There were a number of unanswered questions at the end and it made it a bit unsatisfactory. A lot of times it felt like there were a lot of unnecessary scenes just so they can stretch it to 8 episodes, when actually, they could have just made the script tighter and ended it at episode 6. A lot of those unnecessary scenes involved awkward humor that felt out of place during moments of suspense. The characters also had a number of dumb moments throughout the season that made me facepalm, and that really zapped my overall enjoyment of the show.
 
When you are watching all this take place on 4th July '85,.....remember just over a week later this happened:

MAIN-Live-Aid-30th-Anniversary.jpg


J
 
My only real complaints about this season were how the hell did Russians build an underground network without anyone noticing. And in a YEAR? Come on, now.

I guess they could have disguised the construction with the Mall being built (which I assume was Russians as well).

Also, they built the tunnel all the way to under Hawkins Lab, correct? Where El closed the gate?

Also-also, was that Russian supposed to be a super soldier of some kind? Or just some hardass like the Rocky Russian? I get that people are strong, but they started off with him lifting a guy off the ground one handed.
 
Sandman0077 said:
My only real complaints about this season were how the hell did Russians build an underground network without anyone noticing. And in a YEAR? Come on, now.

I guess they could have disguised the construction with the Mall being built (which I assume was Russians as well).

Also, they built the tunnel all the way to under Hawkins Lab, correct? Where El closed the gate?

Also-also, was that Russian supposed to be a super soldier of some kind? Or just some hardass like the Rocky Russian? I get that people are strong, but they started off with him lifting a guy off the ground one handed.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I too felt the same way.. also if there were Russians here in America at this time I don’t think they would be walking around in Russian military clothing..

The way this and the under ground bunker was address really killed it for me..

I legit got the feeling I was watching dr evil’s lair..when it came to the Russian bunker..

I also felt the mindlfare wasn’t scary at all.. yes it made people turn to mush.. but it just didn’t feel scary?

Idk...

As for the Russian I hope he’s not a super solider and was just suppose to be a wink at the terminator

We were teased a very 80s cult classic wasn’t going to be the theme of this movie,
I was figuring back to the future and possible time travel being involved in season 3..

Never really thought of the terminator (even seeing him in the trailer with the gun in the mirror room) so that was a surprise

The only time I laughed was when the Russian scientist won woody the wood pecker and Murray laughed in the wood peckers laugh..

I don’t want to come off as a jerk, or a hater of change.. but I really love this show and I felt ripped off.. it felt wasted to me. Now I have to wait a whole year before what happens next lol
 
Halliwax said:
Thank you. I too felt the same way.. also if there were Russians here in America at this time I don’t think they would be walking around in Russian military clothing..

The way this and the under ground bunker was address really killed it for me..

I legit got the feeling I was watching dr evil’s lair..when it came to the Russian bunker..

I also felt the mindlfare wasn’t scary at all.. yes it made people turn to mush.. but it just didn’t feel scary?

Idk...

As for the Russian I hope he’s not a super solider and was just suppose to be a wink at the terminator

We were teased a very 80s cult classic wasn’t going to be the theme of this movie,
I was figuring back to the future and possible time travel being involved in season 3..

Never really thought of the terminator (even seeing him in the trailer with the gun in the mirror room) so that was a surprise

The only time I laughed was when the Russian scientist won woody the wood pecker and Murray laughed in the wood peckers laugh..

I don’t want to come off as a jerk, or a hater of change.. but I really love this show and I felt ripped off.. it felt wasted to me. Now I have to wait a whole year before what happens next lol
Click to expand...
Exactly!

Also, thinking back, Terminator vibe sounds pretty accurate.
 
Yes to the previous statements about the Russian T-800!

I really enjoyed this season. Maybe it was all the nostalgia, I’m not sure. It had its low points but made up for them.

I really wanted to slap Mike in the early episodes. He was getting annoying.
 
The wife and I finished yesterday, and as usual she turned to me and said something along the lines of ‘what did you think?’
I said I liked it, still has it’s 80’s humor and feel, decent suspense and some good characters. But it’s not original anymore. It’s season three, and there is only so much they can do. And now that they are paying the cast a ton more per episode than at first, it also affects the results.
She nodded, my having preempted her issues with the season, and asked if there is an ending planned.
Now, I heard four seasons, but I’ve also heard five.
To be honest, I want it to be four. I don’t necessarily want it to go away, I just hate watching shows deteriorate to milk the cash cow a wee bit longer.
So I told her when it hits the nineties, because who the hell remembers anything kitschy about THAT decade.
 
OK, I gotta ask one question. Were teenage kids in SmallTown USA in the mid-80s so well to do that they can spend a day at the mall shopping at The Gap, eating ice-cream, watching movies and fool around at a photo studio? :p

I asked because I find it odd that the girls were able to do all that while Mike, the supposedly well-to-do among them only had $3.50 in his wallet.
 
kalkamel said:
OK, I gotta ask one question. Were teenage kids in SmallTown USA in the mid-80s so well to do that they can spend a day at the mall shopping at The Gap, eating ice-cream, watching movies and fool around at a photo studio? :p

I asked because I find it odd that the girls were able to do all that while Mike, the supposedly well-to-do among them only had $3.50 in his wallet.
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I'm gonna say pretty much yes.
A little money went a lot further back then.
My allowance was chump change, but I always had money for ice cream and video games with my buds.
I'm the same age as the kids, btw - I was 13 in '85.
There's no way that teddy bear necklace was $350, unless it had diamonds for eyes.
Bracelet pendants were all the rage with little girls back then, and I don't think I ever paid more than $10 for one.
Not for myself - for the girl I was sweet on.
I also bought her lots of 50 cent flavored lip gloss.
I don't think she cared how much I was or wasn't spending - she just liked getting presents.

The show definitely does it's job of making me nostalgic, though mostly for the stuff it gets wrong.
Where are the kangaroo jackets and parachute pants? Why isn't Steve wearing checkered Vans?
Did Billy have a denim jacket with an Iron Maiden screenprint sewn to the back? He should have.
Nowhere near enough popped collars. Also, Miami Vice changed fashion overnight - primaries were out, pastels were in.
I could go on for an hour...

Oh yah... I enjoyed this season. It was dopey fun. Much better than last season, but not as good as the first.
That first season was lightning in a bottle.

*edit: Googled kangaroo jackets - they were actually called powder jackets, and were for skiing, so may have only been a thing in the Rockies (I'm a Colorado kid).
 
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Hopper did not die, he went to the upside down and turned into Hellboy :)

I was expecting the Mind Flayer to have El's powers after it infected her, and El had trouble with her powers,
and it would turn it into a fight between mind controlling titans :)
 
I understand everyone nit picking about the show but CMON it's a show about the underground? It's make believe lol. I loved it and I loved how the the writers put this season together. If they introduce a new character it's only one or 2 people and not overkill. You cant have the same monsters and plot lines every season. Everything about 80's sci fi was non believable such as (flight of the navigator,invaders from mars,)what is everyone expecting from this show? Everyone has an opinion and I respect that but for me I absolutely LOVED this season. This season had an incredible amount of action and suspense, way more than the past 2 seasons I feel anyway. It's a kids sci-fi action,drama,thriller,comedy set off in the 80's. WIN WIN WIN WIN !!
 
I didn't really enjoy the second season as much as I did the first season but I quite loved this one. My favorite scene
was when the kids trap Billy in the sauna.
This season was a lot more trope-y, if I can call it that, but as if it's self aware that it is and plays up the trope for fun. And about that scene I mentioned above - it's the good guys doing that to the bad guy. It's the opposite and yet still the same trope! It even had the creepy childish laugh! HAHAHA!

I love Nancy. She is awesome. I've loved her since season 1 for being the only one to say she wanted to kill the Demigorgon, the only one willing to bring justice for Barb. She is very determined. In this season, she
murdered a man! :eek:
and I couldn't believe it.

My only real complaint other than making Russians into the bad guys for seemingly no reason other than because it can't be 80s without some Cold War crap, was the Neverending Story. They sang the entire song and it felt like it was never going to end. Excuse my language but holy sh͏it did it annoy me. It broke the immersion in the tense situation the gang was in. Hopper may have lived if it didn't go on for so long.

And my only nitpick
The Mind Flayer is probably not so strong if Billy can hold it back. I began to wonder how Hopper would've done in a fist fight with it. And if it's damaged by fireworks, imagine what one attack helicopter would have done to it. Imagine if the ARMY had gotten there sooner. The creature didn't seem that grand in the end.
 
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