# Stranger things , new Netflix series



## ruffneck23 (Jul 17, 2016)

Anyone else watching this ? It's got a kind of super 8 , goonies feeling to it, but more scary . It's set in the 80's a young boy goes missing and all sorts of weird shit is going on.

It's like an homage to Spielberg and its pretty good although it does start quite slowly


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## Reno (Jul 17, 2016)

Will start watching it later this week once I'm finished with Orange is the New Black S04. Got a Netflix trial for a month.


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## ruffneck23 (Jul 17, 2016)

Well , did the whole season ( 8 episodes ) in one day, really enjoyed it, had a real feel of nostalgia without being cheesy IMO , loads of little throwbacks to the 80's , and really well acted.

Definitely worth a go


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## Thora (Jul 17, 2016)

I watched the first 6 episodes last night, really enjoyed it.


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## ruffneck23 (Jul 17, 2016)

Its like a marriage of Stephen King, John Carpenter and Spielberg , ET meets IT via Halloween ( admittedly I nicked that explanation from a review Ive just read but its pretty apt )


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## Reno (Jul 17, 2016)

There has been a lot of Spielberg/Carpenter nostalgia around lately (Super 8, Midnight Special, the The Thing prequel, The Guest) I hope this goes beyond being a mere pastiche. 

Carpenter forgot how to make decent films around the late 80s and when Spielberg attempts to make an old-school Spielberg film he seems to have lost his touch. The BFG was supposed to be a return to ET territory but it got mixed reviews and it flopped at the box office.


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## such and such (Jul 18, 2016)

I'm a huge fan of the soundtrack cos synths.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 25, 2016)

yeah, the synths are well class - carpenter meets tangerine dream

i loved it - loads of nods to 80s sci fi but a totally original plot


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## Reno (Jul 25, 2016)

Watched the first three episodes tonight and really liking it so far.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 25, 2016)

ruffneck23 said:


> Its like a marriage of Stephen King, John Carpenter and Spielberg , ET meets IT via Halloween ( admittedly I nicked that explanation from a review Ive just read but its pretty apt )


And Alien, and Stand By Me, and Silent Hill.


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## ruffneck23 (Jul 25, 2016)

nightmare on elm street and poltergeist too, and yes I agree, there is a very alien bit..


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## moomoo (Jul 25, 2016)

We've been watching this. It's very exciting! And scary!


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## wayward bob (Jul 26, 2016)

on the last episode atm. there's a load of references i don't get but i'm enjoying it immensely. some fantastic acting from the leads (winona aside, obvs ). _loving_ the old tech and how they're squeezing it in at every possible opportunity


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## wayward bob (Jul 26, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> i loved it - loads of nods to 80s sci fi but a totally original plot


can't watch it without thinking matt would fucking love it :/


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## Reno (Jul 26, 2016)

Hoping to get through the last three episodes tonight, though I've been getting up early and getting tired early.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 26, 2016)

Watching it now, enjoying it.

So far, Winona Ryder is doing 'crazy', really well.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 26, 2016)

watched the first episode. So many good beats. This appears to be pretty great from the opening ep. Will no doubt end up watching loads more tonight now


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## DotCommunist (Jul 26, 2016)

such and such said:


> I'm a huge fan of the soundtrack cos synths.


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## DexterTCN (Jul 26, 2016)

Just finished episode 2.  

Loving this.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 26, 2016)

DexterTCN said:


> Just finished episode 2.
> 
> Loving this.


I'm going to hit ep 2 after this sandwich. Very pleasantly suprised at the quality here, writing and acting. The kids are ace as well, not annoying like some kids in things can be but actually fully formed characters


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## mauvais (Jul 26, 2016)

This is probably just me but one of the kids reminds me of Christoph Waltz.


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## Reno (Jul 26, 2016)

^ I'm not getting this one to the degree that I have no idea which kid you mean.

However the girl who plays Nancy looks a lot like Mia Sara who is most famous for playing Ferris Beuler's girlfriend. Probably just a lucky coincidence rather than a deliberate 80s reference.


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## mauvais (Jul 26, 2016)

Reno said:


> ^ I'm not getting this one to the degree that I have no idea which kid you mean.
> 
> However the girl who plays Nancy looks a lot like Mia Sara who is most famous for playing Ferris Beuler's girlfriend. Probably just a lucky coincidence rather than a deliberate 80s reference.


Yes she does.

I'm on about 11. Just something about the expressions and mannerisms maybe.


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## Reno (Jul 26, 2016)

Ok, one more episode to go, I'm going to make them all tonight 

Among all the 70s and 80s references there is one very recent one. The black room with a black oil floor 11 keeps finding herself in comes straight from Under the Skin.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2016)

But also.....


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

All done and totally loved it. Had a shitty time recently and this took my mind off real-life crap for a few hours and took me to a happy-horror-retro-slime-place. It's like one of these Stephen King mini-series but how they should have been: not crap. The trailers for these things always held out so much promise only to disappoint. While Stranger Things started as a Spielberg homage ala Super 8, it became far more Stephen King as it went along. The plot was a mixture of It, The Mist and Firestarter and it caught the spirit of King's books far more than those TV and film adaptations. Just as his books always were notalgic for the 50s, this series and King homage is nostalgic for the era they were written in.

Another more recent steal was that the parallel universe looked a lot like Silent Hill, which is fine as that's the best horror parallel universe there ever will be. The monster was quite cool too with its petal head and again very Silent Hill. The scary bits actually were scary, which is rare for TV, even now.

The 80s art direction and costuming was perfect. Especially Barb !!! I remember so many girls looking just like that.  



Spoiler



We lost you too soon! I enjoyed this tribute to her:  In Praise of Barb, the Best Character on Stranger Things



Though low key, the title sequence was lovely with its Tangerine Dream style score and its 80s glow horror font. The score of course was one of the best things about it, absolutely spot on.

Most importantly the series worked because unlike with so many genre shows, the characters worked and they were worth investing in. That sells any supernatural stuff they throw at you. The end paid off because it gave you the confrontation and the catharsis you want, plus it threw in a few surprises.

In any case, from what I read this appears to be a massive success. It's got the Internet aflutter and it just got renewed a second season. Can't wait !


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## D'wards (Jul 27, 2016)

How long is each ep, on average?


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

D'wards said:


> How long is each ep, on average?


They range from 40 minutes to close to an hour.


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## krtek a houby (Jul 27, 2016)

I can't get over just how much I enjoyed this. And 8 eps was perfect; no padding at all.


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## Nanker Phelge (Jul 27, 2016)

Watched first two eps last night. Great fun spotting all the references and generally wallowing in a retro world of sci-fi/horror and kids own adventure.


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## rutabowa (Jul 27, 2016)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> Watching it now, enjoying it.
> 
> So far, Winona Ryder is doing 'crazy', really well.


i like how she is going through the phones and getting new ones on tick and a packet of camels thrown in.


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## moomoo (Jul 27, 2016)

I'm surprised how much I loved it tbh. I normally hate stuff like this!

Now the kids want me to start watching Jessica Jones as apparently it's similar.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

moomoo said:


> I'm surprised how much I loved it tbh. I normally hate stuff like this!
> 
> Now the kids want me to start watching Jessica Jones as apparently it's similar.


~JJ is great but its not remotely like it in the et/goonies/80s kids film vibe. Its comic book stuff. Adult theme comic book, but comic book all the same. David Tennant is the baddie in i and really makes it worth the time. Not as good as his hamlet tho


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## BigMoaner (Jul 27, 2016)

good fun, enjoying it. 

i love the look of that small town american life, too. seductive. i'd like to grow up in a place like that, in another life time.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> good fun, enjoying it.
> 
> i love the look of that small town american life, too. seductive. i'd like to grow up in a place like that, in another life time.


theres something very Wonder Years about that nostalgia for a small town americana you never knew. And by the by, there is a script where he finally got his end away with winnie. Not explicitly so, but implied. A coming of age etc


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## BigMoaner (Jul 27, 2016)

STand by me (similar to this) was really a wonderful film, wasn't it. 

"We walked on through the night. When we arrived back, the town seemed smaller".

"I never did have friendships like I did when I was twelve. Jesus, who does?"

I love stephen king too.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> STand by me (similar to this) was really a wonderful film, wasn't it.
> 
> "We walked on through the night. When we arrived back, the town seemed smaller".
> 
> ...


IT remains one of his finest works with kids as the protagonists. For grown ups, its The Stand. The sense of visceral childs terror you get from IT is something else. Never looked at drains in the same way


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

One episode was called The Body, which is the title of the Stephen King story Stand By Me was based on.


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## BigMoaner (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> theres something very Wonder Years about that nostalgia for a small town americana you never knew. And by the by, there is a script where he finally got his end away with winnie. Not explicitly so, but implied. A coming of age etc



I can't help but fall for it, though I have never lived it. Or the idea of it. What is that? the result of the great yank capitalist propaganda machine, or just something lovely in it truly, and just represented normally in films. It's there in stephen king's books as well.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

...and yet I always hated actual suburbia and I'm glad I grew up in a town centre.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> I can't help but fall for it, though I have never lived it. Or the idea of it. What is that? the result of the great yank capitalist propaganda machine, or just something lovely in it truly, and just represented normally in films. It's there in stephen king's books as well.



its the idyll. See Capra's 'Its a Wonderful Life' for similar. The small town fantasy of a time that never was, or flickered briefly. Here is a song:


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## BigMoaner (Jul 27, 2016)

nice, if you can afford it suppoise. 

re the films and books, I think it's a mix of the massive roomy houses, set in countryside that is huge and vast and varied. So it's the mixture of comfortable homes and wildnerness, lakes, woods. combine that with horror and you have a winning blend.


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## Sea Star (Jul 27, 2016)

Boyfriend told me to stop spotting the references but I didn't - I just started doing it in me head.

Am loving it and the soundtrack by complete coincidence is exactly the sort of stuff I'm currently re-exploring in real life and trying to emulate on my iPad.


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## BigMoaner (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> its the idyll. See Capra's 'Its a Wonderful Life' for similar. The small town fantasy of a time that never was, or flickered briefly. Here is a song:



i think i mean mainly as childhood. from the say ages of 8-18. it doesn't have much appeal for me now, as adult. but if someone asked "from what film would you have liked your childhood to have been like?", i'd have said Stand By Me. Or the town (not the shark) in Jaws. Small town. Freedom, safety. Beautiful natural surrounds without being rural. It's seductive. I guess it is as you say an idyll, a childhood one. t's just bullshit, in the main. Purposefully portrayed that way to give the contrast for the horror.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

shangri-la


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

closest I can think of to King in an english village green context would be midwitch cuckoos


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## BigMoaner (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> closest I can think of to King in an english village green context would be midwitch cuckoos


king is a very american writer. You get the whole town when you read him, in a way. You soon have a very vivid picture of the setting and it's always clearly American.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> king is a very american writer. You get the whole town when you read him, in a way. You soon have a very vivid picture of the setting and it's always clearly American.


Boulder, colorado. Maine. New England. White picket fences, revivalist churches, dark undercurrents, strange fruit and cotton. Yep he gives you that. I wish he wouldn't try to write science fiction though. People love his Dark Tower stuff but for me he is well off his beaten track there and it shows


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

The town and surroundings in Stranger Things looked a bit more bleak, run down and poor than your Stephen King Maine or Spielberg's and Carpenter's suburbia.

-just checked, it was shot in Georgia.


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## wayward bob (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Here is a song:


well if we're doing john grant songs


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## Crispy (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> IT remains one of his finest works with kids as the protagonists


They're filming a new adaptation of IT as we speak you know? Two movies - one with the kids and one when they're grown-up. I think they're altering the setting so it's 80s-10s instead of 50s-80s.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

I could never get through IT, I think it was the first Stephen King novel I gave up on. I found it far too long. And then the same again with Tommyknockers. I think that's when he did loads of coke and his novels became endless and self-indulgent.

I like the early horror novels and I read all of them from Carrie to Pet Sematary and then I think I grew out of them. The two books I read after that were were Misery and The Green Mile and I enjoyed them, but that as it.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

Needful Things is brilliant for the small town horror and kids horror


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## moomoo (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Needful Things is brilliant for the small town horror and kids horror



Is that a Netflix thing? I'm looking for stuff I can watch with the teen boy.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

moomoo said:


> Is that a Netflix thing? I'm looking for stuff I can watch with the teen boy.


it should be but no, it is a novel. A riff on the 'mysterious shop appears selling cursed goods then vanishes' story


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## oneflewover (Jul 27, 2016)

Just in to Ep3. keep spotting bits of Sci Fi movie soundtracks, am I wrong? Sure Star Trek in first and just caught Close.. EOTTK in 3rd.

Enjoying it


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> it should be but no, it is a novel. A riff on the 'mysterious shop appears selling cursed goods then vanishes' story


There was a really bad film adaptation of it.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

oneflewover said:


> Just in to Ep3. keep spotting bits of Sci Fi movie soundtracks, am I wrong? Sure Star Trek in first and just caught Close.. EOTTK in 3rd.
> 
> Enjoying it


Not that I've noticed. There is an original score in the style of an 80s synth score and there are pop songs of the era. But no blasts of various scifi theme tunes. That would just be a bit too on the nose.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

Reno said:


> There was a really bad film adaptation of it.


heh, SK adapts really are hit and miss. I have some affection for the Firestarter on starring a child drew barrymore but I imagine a re watch would disabuse me of that affection


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## moomoo (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> heh, SK adapts really are hit and miss. I have some affection for the Firestarter on starring a child drew barrymore but I imagine a re watch would disabuse me of that affection



Can you recommend any?


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## oneflewover (Jul 27, 2016)

Reno said:


> Not that I've noticed. There is an original score in the style of an 80s synth score and there are pop songs of the era. But no blasts of various scifi theme tunes. That would just be a bit too on the nose.



12:58 in to eo3  & 10:00 eo1 

Don't read this http://www.vulture.com/2016/07/stranger-things-film-reference-glossary.html (doesn't mention music)


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2016)

moomoo said:


> Can you recommend any?


Langoliers I recall with affection. Also Tommyknockers, IT and as mentioned, Firestarter.

Imagine a girl who can start fires with her mind. Pyrokinesis. Now imagine whats going to happen when she hists puberty, she'll crack the world.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

Firestarter was crap.

De Palma's Carrie and Kubrick's The Shining and Cronenberg's The Dead Zone are classics. Cujo, Misery, Stand by Me and Dolores Cairborne are all pretty good.

The Mist, Christine,The Shawshank Redemption, the mini-series of Salem's Lot and The Green Mile of course have their fans, though I'm not a huge fan. The rest can be skipped.

All these mini-series always start out promisingly and end up as utter rubbish. The Stand is actually pretty good till the hand of God appears or somesuch.


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## Saffy (Jul 27, 2016)

Am really looking forward to watching this. Would it be suitable to watch with young teenagers? Have just finished watching Into the Badlands with him.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Imagine a girl who can start fires with her mind. Pyrokinesis. Now imagine whats going to happen when she hists puberty, she'll crack the world.



Are you trying to write a poster tag line for the porn version ?

False advertising too as Drew Barrymore never reaches puberty in that film. You must have gotten this muddled up with the far superior Carrie.


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## DexterTCN (Jul 27, 2016)

Reno said:


> Are you trying to write a poster tag line for the porn version ?....


It's a quote from the film.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2016)

DexterTCN said:


> It's a quote from the film.



He really must like that film.


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## pesh (Jul 28, 2016)

just finished it. loved it.

enjoyed all the references, halfway through the second scene with the Chief i was thinking he was going to be a fucked up Chief Brody and sure enough his secretary comes in and makes a reference to kids stealing garden gnomes as opposed to Karate chopping the picket fences.

loved the soundtrack and score, massively, and the opening credits. they just nailed it.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 28, 2016)

Reno said:


> He really must like that film.


it occupies the same mental space as Scanners for some reason


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## ruffneck23 (Jul 28, 2016)

‘Stranger Things’: Watch a Video of Netflix’s Throwback Series Side by Side With Its Retro Influences

Only watch if you have seen it all


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## Mr Moose (Jul 28, 2016)

Saffy said:


> Am really looking forward to watching this. Would it be suitable to watch with young teenagers? Have just finished watching Into the Badlands with him.



Yes, watched it with mine and he really enjoyed it.

The suspense is good and whilst it's ultimately a right lot of daftness the characters and production make it v enjoyable.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 28, 2016)

Has anyone who saw this also seen It Follows?


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## Thora (Jul 28, 2016)

Yes.  They didn't strike me as similar though tbh.


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## Nanker Phelge (Jul 28, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Has anyone who saw this also seen It Follows?



Yes.

It follows is great, and very Carpenter(esque)...


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## Orang Utan (Jul 28, 2016)

Thora said:


> Yes.  They didn't strike me as similar though tbh.


I thought the score, art and sound direction were very similar


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## Reno (Jul 29, 2016)

Super 8 is closer to Stranger Things than It Follows though, hitting the same note of nostalgic Spielberg-style retro scifi/horror, focusingbon younger kids.

It Follows was a bit more arty, taking place in a nowhere period between the late 70s and now. It's part of a recent wave of retro 70s/80s horror films which also includes House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, We Are Still Here, Home, The Guest, The Neon Demon, Father's Day, The Editor, Amer, Grindhouse, Turbo Kid, Hobo with a Shotgun, Beyond the Black Rainbow and pretty much every film by Rob Zombie and Eli Roth.


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## Nanker Phelge (Jul 30, 2016)

Just finished watching. Loved it. Really sad to see it it end. Roll on Season 2.


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## Nanker Phelge (Jul 30, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> I thought the score, art and sound direction were very similar



There was certainly similarities in the scores. I have the IT Follows score on vinyl. It's great, but not to be played before bed because it can spook me a bit.


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## DexterTCN (Jul 30, 2016)

Just finished it.   Well wasn't that just a wonderful surprise.

I had tears.  I laughed.  I went OMG!

The best thing Stephen King didn't write


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## DexterTCN (Jul 30, 2016)

*Stephen King* ‏@StephenKing  Jul 17
Watching STRANGER THINGS is looking watching Steve King's Greatest Hits. I mean that in a good way.

6,030 retweets12,981 likes


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## Lord Camomile (Jul 30, 2016)

Just chomped my way through the whole series today; rollicking good adventure, with a darker side than many like it.



Spoiler: Last episode



I was a little disappointed at the (implied) death of Dr Evil von Assange - thought there was potential for more there.


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## Lord Camomile (Jul 30, 2016)

Eleven is British!

We're taking over...


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## Doctor Carrot (Jul 30, 2016)

Just popped in after watching the 4th one in a row to say that this is fucking brilliant! . See ya in a few hours.


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## DexterTCN (Jul 31, 2016)

Doctor Carrot said:


> Just popped in after watching the 4th one in a row to say that this is fucking brilliant! . See ya in a few hours.


Yes...but feel free t post observations on the episodes you watch.


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## Saffy (Jul 31, 2016)

Have watched up to chapter 5 and I love it.
I can't think where I know Hopper from, he looks so familiar buy after googling him I'm still none the wiser.


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## Lord Camomile (Jul 31, 2016)

Stranger Things gets a mention in this post about hand drawn posters. Have to say the 'poster' (I've only actually seen it online) is possibly one of my favourite things about ST.


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## oneflewover (Jul 31, 2016)

Spoiler: Only if you've finished it



Left nicely for a second season. Hopper taken by the suits. Will coughing slugs to the drain. Who/how does the tree open and close.



Was reading up on Winona Ryder, was involved in a real life lost child / kidnap case offering to pay the ransom


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## Nanker Phelge (Jul 31, 2016)

I'm guessing most people missed the Peyton Place reference that ran throughout?


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## Fez909 (Jul 31, 2016)

Saffy said:


> Have watched up to chapter 5 and I love it.
> I can't think where I know Hopper from, he looks so familiar buy after googling him I'm still none the wiser.


He reminds me of Jack Nicholson a bit. I too have been trying to think where I know him from, and decided it was just the Nicholson familiarity.


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## 8den (Jul 31, 2016)

Saffy said:


> Have watched up to chapter 5 and I love it.
> I can't think where I know Hopper from, he looks so familiar buy after googling him I'm still none the wiser.



The Newsroom? Quantum of Solace?


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## Doctor Carrot (Jul 31, 2016)

DexterTCN said:


> Yes...but feel free t post observations on the episodes you watch.



Just finished. Oh how I loved it. I can'treally add much to what's already been said. There's so many references, some I may even be over thinking and thinking it's there but it's not.  The whole thing made me feel like a child again. I first saw The Goonies on VHS taped off the telly when I was about 8, this made me feel like that again but also as an adult involved in a really fun and engaging mystery story.



Spoiler



Barb... Poor Barb  I loved Barb.

Dustin is an absolutely brilliant tribute to Chunk without trying to be Chunk.  The bit where the bullies made him do that thing with his arm I even heard the line 'Come on Chunk do the truffle shuffle' in my head 

That bit with the deer. I knew it was coming but at the same time wasn't completely sure it was coming but I still jumped out of my skin when the inevitble happened.



Is there definitely a second season now? A part of me was hoping there wasn't going ot be as something this good is difficult to follow but I do really want more if they can keep  the quality up.


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## Reno (Jul 31, 2016)

Doctor Carrot said:


> Is there definitely a second season now? A part of me was hoping there wasn't going ot be as something this good is difficult to follow but I do really want more if they can keep  the quality up.



it hasn't officially been confirmed yet, but the show has alrady reached "cultural phenomena" levels of popularity on the Internet and there is bound to be a second season. The end sets up a few things. The Upside Down is still open and I'm sure it lends itself to plenty more exploration. I don't see why if the same creative team stays involved it can't stay great.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2016)

Was it broadcast all at once?


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## Reno (Jul 31, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Was it broadcast all at once?


Netflix released the whole series at once. It was never broadcast in the traditional sense.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2016)

Reno said:


> Netflix released the whole series at once. It was never broadcast in the traditional sense.


ah right, i don't watch netflix (even though i pay for it ), i just torrent everything. do netflix do this a lot? Better Call Saul was broadcast weekly


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## ruffneck23 (Jul 31, 2016)

Yeah most stuff made for Netflix ( ie daredevil , Jessica Jones etc ) gets released in one go , I think it's a much better way of doing things tbh


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## Reno (Jul 31, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> ah right, i don't watch netflix (even though i pay for it ), i just torrent everything. do netflix do this a lot? Better Call Saul was broadcast weekly



They do that with the series they produce themselves. Better Call Saul is an AMC cable series which gets broadcast weekly on a regular TV channel, but Netflix has the right to stream it.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2016)

ruffneck23 said:


> Yeah most stuff made for Netflix ( ie daredevil , Jessica Jones etc ) gets released in one go , I think it's a much better way of doing things tbh


i'm not sure. i quite like waiting. makes it more fun


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## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2016)

I remember waiting for Monday to crawl around for Twin Peaks at 9 on BBC2.
you take the episode in better and process it properly. binge watching kind of spoils it.
i've been watching The Killing 3 with my dad and i'm making him watch only a episode a time.


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## Lord Camomile (Jul 31, 2016)

ruffneck23 said:


> Yeah most stuff made for Netflix ( ie daredevil , Jessica Jones etc ) gets released in one go , I think it's a much better way of doing things tbh


In some ways it is, but I also think there are problems with it.

It's hard to watch along on threads like these because everyone's watching at a different pace, plus when you binge you can lose the space staggered releases give you to ruminate and consider what you're watching. When you binge series you can kind of get lost in it and rush through too quickly.


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## Reno (Jul 31, 2016)

I have become addicted to binge watching TV shows. Since they have become so heavily serialised, TV shows have become like long films. Even those which I record weekly I hoard and then watch when a season is done. In my twilight years my memory also has become poor and with something like Game of Thrones I can never remember what happened last week.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2016)

Reno said:


> I have become addicted to binge watching TV shows. Since they have become so heavily serialised, TV shows have become like long films. Even those which I record weekly I hoard and then watch when a season is done. In my twilight years my memory also has become poor and with something like Game of Thrones I can never remember what happened last week.


but don't also you find that after a ten-hour stint watching it all in one go?


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## ruffneck23 (Jul 31, 2016)

I like having the choice to be honest , it's nice to be able to watch it at whatever pace you want rather than being forced to wait a week , think it's after watching season one of lost and game of thrones at once then catching up with tv broadcasts and having to wait, mind you it can be nice to have something to look forward to


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## Reno (Jul 31, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> but don't also you find that after a ten-hour stint watching it all in one go?


I don't have the time or stamina for ten hour stints, I normally watch between two and four episodes an evening depending on the length of episodes and my alertness. I get through a season in a few days or a week. I just prefer watching searialised shows that way now, not that bothered about binging series which aren't continuous.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 31, 2016)

Reno said:


> I don't have the time or stamina for ten hour stints, I normally watch between two and four episodes an evening depending on the length of episodes and my alertness. I get through a season in a few days or a week. I just prefer watching searialised shows that way now, not that bothered about binging series which aren't continuous.


i binge watch too, i just find i get more out of it when i don't, which is fine if i don't have control over the issue.
know what you mean about memory. i'm 43 and my dad is 73, so on watching The Killing 3, we're constantly going 'who's that then? is that the justice minister or the treasurer? Berg? Brech? Him anyway. What's the name of her son again? Wait a minute, can we go back a bit? i didn't get any of that'


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## Fez909 (Jul 31, 2016)

Just finished it. Can agree with pretty much everything said about it already - great stuff.

Roll on season two. I'm thinking it might be good if they did it in the style of American Horror Story with a completely new plot each time, but there's plenty to explore with the current plot too.


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## ruffneck23 (Jul 31, 2016)

It's been stated that series 2 will be a sequel


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## Nanker Phelge (Aug 1, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> I remember waiting for Monday to crawl around for Twin Peaks at 9 on BBC2.
> you take the episode in better and process it properly. binge watching kind of spoils it.
> i've been watching The Killing 3 with my dad and i'm making him watch only a episode a time.



I was doing night classes at college when twin peaks aired and I finished at 9 then walked almost an hour home. I would record it and watch it when I got in...it was a good ritual.

My walk home took me through a really rough estate, which was a rival to my estate, and it was a really weird place too. The people were not just tough and dangerous, they were fucking weird. I recall a man wandering about with a sickle (is that how you spell it?) one night. I witnessed fires...gang fights...armed robberies...mad stuff on those streets...

Twin Peaks was my feel safe moment after those walks.....

Sadly I was doing 3 nights a week...so for two I would just sit thankful that I got back alive...but on twin peaks nights I could relax into something less sinister than my real world.


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## imposs1904 (Aug 1, 2016)

Just finished it. Loved it. The kids actors made it for me . . . especially Eleven.


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## DexterTCN (Aug 1, 2016)

ruffneck23 said:


> It's been stated that series 2 will be a sequel


Well...of course there's a sequel!

Hopper's leaving eggos out for Eleven and Will is throwing up slugs.*

*When we saw Barb dead...a slug came out her mouth...Will is rescued with a yucky tube in his mouth then later coughs up a slug and sees the upside-down place.

Maybe the planty-faced eating thing was Ten or Eight or something


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## DexterTCN (Aug 1, 2016)

*Stranger Things* ‏@Stranger_Things  Jul 31
.@Daredevil can you hear Will calling from the upside down? http://StrangerGif.com 

822 retweets2,065 likes


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## DexterTCN (Aug 1, 2016)




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## oneflewover (Aug 1, 2016)

DexterTCN said:


> *Stranger Things* ‏@Stranger_Things  Jul 31
> .@Daredevil can you hear Will calling from the upside down? http://StrangerGif.com
> 
> 822 retweets2,065 likes



Some great GIFs on their timeline


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## Reno (Aug 1, 2016)

Lord Camomile said:


> In some ways it is, but I also think there are problems with it.
> 
> It's hard to watch along on threads like these because everyone's watching at a different pace, plus when you binge you can lose the space staggered releases give you to ruminate and consider what you're watching. When you binge series you can kind of get lost in it and rush through too quickly.


Unless you fast forward, I don't get how you can rush through a TV series too quickly. As most people still watch a series in blocks rather than in one lot when they binge, there still are breaks for ruminating if you are so inclined. I like getting lost in a series while I watch it. Same as with watching films.


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## badseed (Aug 2, 2016)

The chief uses the "Do I stutter" line from Breakfast club in a perfect John Bender style.


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## Jon-of-arc (Aug 2, 2016)

binged it over the weekend.  Lovely TV


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## Lord Camomile (Aug 4, 2016)

DJ Yoda Stranger Things mixtape (disclaimer: haven't listened to it myself yet)

The Stranger Things Mixtape


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## Saffy (Aug 4, 2016)

Well I've finished the series and think this is one of the best things I've watched for ages.


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## Crispy (Aug 7, 2016)

Saffy said:


> Well I've finished the series and think this is one of the best things I've watched for ages.


Exactly that.

I'm finding it hard to pick any large holes in it. Just superb.


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 7, 2016)

It was brilliant, loved it all, the setting, the amazing little actors (my wife was cracking up at the curly headed mixed race kid saying he was exactly like she imagined me being like as a kid), the geek culture, the soundtrack and score, Winona, Mathew Modine being a bastard, the creepiness and the horror and the sheer amalgamation of it all. Loved it!


.


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## Orang Utan (Aug 7, 2016)

Kid_Eternity said:


> .


Switch it off now, or I will find out where you live and release a plague of maggots


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## albionism (Aug 8, 2016)

Millie Brown, who played Eleven, could teach Winona Ryder a thing or
two about acting to camera. She was outstanding.


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## DotCommunist (Aug 8, 2016)

albionism said:


> Millie Brown, who played Eleven, could teach Winona Ryder a thing or
> two about acting to camera. She was outstanding.



you know fragile yet afraid of your own power? that, muchly that. done very well indeed


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## Shippou-Sensei (Aug 10, 2016)

I really enjoyed this series.  my one critisism was i felt the last episode  wasn't as  good an ending  as i'd have thought  but this is ok if there is a second season.

It's a good season ending  but  would be  a mediocre  ending to a entire show.


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## quimcunx (Aug 10, 2016)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> I really enjoyed this series.  my one critisism was i felt the last episode  wasn't as  good an ending  as i'd have thought  but this is ok if there is a second season.
> 
> It's a good season ending  but  would be  a mediocre  ending to a entire show.



I'm going to stick my neck out and say (extinction level asteroid collision aside) there will definitely be a second series.


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## Nanker Phelge (Aug 10, 2016)

They've a great cast so if they produce a great script to follow up the first season then it could go from strength to strength.

Be nice if they could keep modine's character. Not sure they got much out of him really.....


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## SpookyFrank (Aug 10, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> IT remains one of his finest works with kids as the protagonists. For grown ups, its The Stand. The sense of visceral childs terror you get from IT is something else. Never looked at drains in the same way



Here's a rather wonderful photo of Tim Curry having a crafty fag on the set of IT:


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## mwgdrwg (Aug 10, 2016)

Binged this in 2 days, such fun and nostalgic without being cheesy.


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## BigMoaner (Aug 10, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> Langoliers I recall with affection. Also Tommyknockers, IT and as mentioned, Firestarter.
> 
> Imagine a girl who can start fires with her mind. Pyrokinesis. Now imagine whats going to happen when she hists puberty, she'll crack the world.


Just reading dreamcatchers now. Id forgotten how good he can be. Like a bloke with a really detailed way with words telling you an amazing story down the pub, he writes with an everyman tone.  I can't put my finger on his genius. He avoids clichéd characters, but everything teeters on cliche but never gets there, so it's original without being taxing or convoluted.  Love his books. He is a major part of western culture really.


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## BigMoaner (Aug 10, 2016)

He said his works are the big Mack of the literature world. But there's more going on their than just easy to consume pulp


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## Shippou-Sensei (Aug 10, 2016)

I find him a bit mixed.  While i can't deny his central role in modern american gothic i'm often left somewhat meh when reading his work.

Reminds me of  when i tried to tackle  the dark tower series.  it was interesting to mstart off with  but  it  just   wore me down untill i couldn't be arsed anymore.  (i made it to the end of the fifth book before giving up)


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## SpookyFrank (Aug 11, 2016)

I'm not a massive King fan but there are passages in The Shining and Misery which have stuck in my head word for word in a way not much else ever has.


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## Reno (Aug 12, 2016)

Kings early horror novels like The Shining and Salems Lot are among the best ever written. Maybe his prose isn't the most lyrical, but he's a fantastic story teller and his writing style works for what he has to convey.


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 12, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Switch it off now, or I will find out where you live and release a plague of maggots



No.

..


.


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## Kid_Eternity (Aug 12, 2016)

Sound track is out!



Sent from an amazing iPhone full of win using my fingers.


.


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## BigMoaner (Aug 12, 2016)

SpookyFrank said:


> Here's a rather wonderful photo of Tim Curry having a crafty fag on the set of IT:


fantastic pic


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## TheHoodedClaw (Aug 13, 2016)

Just finished this, and basically loved it. The best of the Steves King and Spielberg smooshed together with an wonderful score and a soundtrack right from my era. The young actress who played Eleven did immense work with so little dialogue. And I've always had a bit of a thing for Wynona, so yes, excellent stuff.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Aug 14, 2016)

For what was a rather weird sci fi show, that was a really boring and unsatisfying ending. How they could turn something so fantastical and enthralling into a flat line at the last minute is quite something.


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## Reno (Aug 14, 2016)

I don't get the complaints about the end, I thought it was fine.


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## imposs1904 (Aug 14, 2016)




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## Saffy (Aug 14, 2016)

Someone I know, who considers himself a bit of a film critic, has just posted a scathing review of Stranger Things on FB. Don't think he got it but I can't grasp how he didn't like it.


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## Orang Utan (Aug 14, 2016)

Saffy said:


> Someone I know, who considers himself a bit of a film critic, has just posted a scathing review of Stranger Things on FB. Don't think he got it but I can't grasp how he didn't like it.


Go on, show us it!


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## Saffy (Aug 14, 2016)

.


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## 8den (Aug 17, 2016)

Very nerdy article about the stranger things title sequence. Interesting if you're passionate about fonts, and optical effects.  Apparently, the used the same Font as from the "Choose your own adventure" series in the 80s.


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## Crispy (Aug 17, 2016)

Make your own: Stranger Things Type Generator - Nelson Cash


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## Orang Utan (Aug 17, 2016)




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## SpookyFrank (Aug 17, 2016)

.


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## Orang Utan (Aug 17, 2016)

SpookyFrank said:


> Ooh, do you have one of them but with the words 'disconsolate yorkshireman' instead?


that one wasn't mine, but here's one for you:


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## Buddy Bradley (Aug 23, 2016)

Just finished it last night. Wife loved it, after being initially unsure - I said, "Does that mean we can watch some John Carpenter films now then?" Apparently it does not. 

Be interesting to see what they do with a second season, if they stick with the same basic cast or if they go a bit True Detective with it. Apparently Dustin hit puberty during filming and they had to dub some of his croaky voice by the end.


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## Reno (Aug 23, 2016)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Be interesting to see what they do with a second season, if they stick with the same basic cast or if they go a bit True Detective with it. Apparently Dustin hit puberty during filming and they had to dub some of his croaky voice by the end.


A second season will continue with the same characters:

Everything there is to know about Netflix's Stranger Things Season Two


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## Buddy Bradley (Aug 23, 2016)

Since Season 1 was a tribute to all things 80s, they should make Season 2 be a 90s tribute. Get Will Smith in to perform a rap as the theme.


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## Reno (Aug 23, 2016)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Since Season 1 was a tribute to all things 80s, they should make Season 2 be a 90s tribute. Get Will Smith in to perform a rap as the theme.


The X-Men prequels are doing that already, having dealt with the he 60s, 70s and the 80s.

As Stranger Things takes place in the early 80s they would have the recast all the kids to do that.


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## DrRingDing (Aug 23, 2016)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Since Season 1 was a tribute to all things 80s, they should make Season 2 be a 90s tribute. Get Will Smith in to perform a rap as the theme.



Jesus Christ, no.


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## DotCommunist (Aug 23, 2016)

DrRingDing said:


> Jesus Christ, no.


I'm sure we all fondly remember his rap for wild wld west


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## The Boy (Aug 23, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> wicky wicky wild wild West



Ftfy


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## Artaxerxes (Aug 25, 2016)

Wife caved in and got a Netflix account last night and we started watching this. Its really good so far. 

Episode 3 tonight.


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## krtek a houby (Aug 26, 2016)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Since Season 1 was a tribute to all things 80s, they should make Season 2 be a 90s tribute. Get Will Smith in to perform a rap as the theme.



Was Will Smith big in the 80s, though? I seem to remember his rap career being around the early 90s...


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## Pickman's model (Aug 26, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Was Will Smith big in the 80s, though? I seem to remember his rap career being around the early 90s...


won a grammy in 1988, the first one awarded for rap.


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## Lord Camomile (Aug 26, 2016)

krtek a houby said:


> Was Will Smith big in the 80s, though? I seem to remember his rap career being around the early 90s...





Pickman's model said:


> won a grammy in 1988, the first one awarded for rap.


The suggestion was that Will Smith rap the theme to a 90s-themed Season 2, referencing Smith's rapping of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme which originally aired 1990-96.

Whether Smith was big in the 80s or not is irrelevant.

Oh, yes.


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## Pickman's model (Aug 26, 2016)

Lord Camomile said:


> Whether Smith was big in the 80s or not is irrelevant.


yes, let's never pause a moment and ask things not strictly relevant to the topic at hand 

not sure urban for you with that attitude.


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## krtek a houby (Aug 26, 2016)

Lord Camomile said:


> The suggestion was that Will Smith rap the theme to a 90s-themed Season 2, referencing Smith's rapping of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme which originally aired 1990-96.
> 
> Whether Smith was big in the 80s or not is irrelevant.
> 
> Oh, yes.



Ah, I stand corrected. Cheers. For 90s it would have to be Jamiroquai


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## Lord Camomile (Aug 26, 2016)

Pickman's model said:


> so what? the question's asked and answered and it's only you who seems to want to stay put and consider the issue further.


The question asked was predicated on a misunderstanding, and therefore so was the answer. Although the answer was relevant to the question, it wasn't relevant to the point originally made and risked us going down an irrelevant cul de sac, potentially derailing the thread beyond rescue.

Thank god I was here to put us back on the right path, frankly.


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## Vintage Paw (Aug 26, 2016)

This was mine:


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## Artaxerxes (Aug 30, 2016)

Finished it last night, cracking series.


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## Reno (Aug 31, 2016)

Not that there was much doubt, but it's now been officially renewed for a season 2 by Netflix.

'Stranger Things' Exclusive: Season 2 Details Revealed, Including New Characters


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## Nylock (Aug 31, 2016)

Watched this with the family -we managed to stretch it to two episodes per night and not binge watch it -it was a struggle not to though! Great series, great soundtrack (the composers used vintage 80's synths in the score  ) and we're all looking forward to season 2 -roll on 2017!*



*well, at least we can all say now that 2016 wasn't _entirely_ shit


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 3, 2016)




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## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 3, 2016)

it took me until  "gonn"


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## Kaka Tim (Sep 4, 2016)

just finshed it. Twas ace.
So many dramas these days stretch the story out for dozens of episodes in an orgy of self indulgance - but this was lean, mean and brilliant. Excellent performances all round as well.
Loved how they married the homage to the 80s but kept it vital and sinster rather than it being a nostaligia fest.


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## imposs1904 (Sep 6, 2016)

Stranger Things cosplay


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## imposs1904 (Sep 6, 2016)




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## Virtual Blue (Sep 11, 2016)

Just finished Season 1.
Best shit for a long while.


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## Orang Utan (Sep 20, 2016)

The composers of the Tangerinedreamesque soundtrack, Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon are in a band called S U R V I V E and they've done a mix for Factmag's mix series:
FACT mix 569: S U R V I V E
Haven't listened to it yet, but the tracklist is intriguing:
Dallas Acid – ‘Dreams’
Sam De La Rosa – ‘Sorry Flower’
Schaltkreis Wassermann – ‘Schwerkraft’
David Rubato – ‘Circuit’ (Steve Moore Remix)
Terminal Twilight – ‘The Lovers’ (Way Screwed)
Pink Fink – ‘Fear the Night’ (Ever So Screwed)
Legowelt – ‘Los Alamos Motel’
Yellow Magic Orchestra – ‘Mass’
Electric Light Orchestra – ‘Another Heart Breaks’
Camel – ‘Air Born’
Boban Petrovic – ‘Zajedno Srecni’
Syclops – ‘Where’s Jason’s K’ (3rd Coast Tempo)
Phantastes – ‘Flight of Stares’
Robert Valera – ‘Turnt Circuit’
Ovuca – ‘Leiba’
Exillon – ‘103’
Beau Wanzer – ‘Beefhearts’
Mecanica Popular – ‘Daquerrotipo’ / ‘Ambrotipo’
Automelodi – ‘Antitheme’
Boy Harsher – ‘A Realness’
The Beatniks – ‘No Way Out’
Teach Your Bird To Talk – ‘Who Are You?’ (Swerved)
Curved Light – ‘End’ / ‘Beginning’


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## Spod (Sep 30, 2016)

Just finished it. Its ok and I watched all way to last episode but not as amazing as all my mates said

"you have GOT to watch Stranger Things!!!!" etc till I caved.


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## Reno (Sep 30, 2016)

Spod said:


> Just finished it. Its ok and I watched all way to last episode but not as amazing as all my mates said
> 
> "you have GOT to watch Stranger Things!!!!" etc till I caved.


The backlash starts here !


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## JimW (Oct 1, 2016)




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## gawkrodger (Nov 14, 2016)

Just watched this over the last 3-4 days and hugely enjoyed it


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jan 3, 2017)

started it tonight, quite like


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## Cheesypoof (Jan 8, 2017)

Finished it tonight, loved it!


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## Lurdan (Jan 30, 2017)

Very entertaining acceptance speech at the Screen Actors Guild awards



I'll have some of what Winona's on


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## SpookyFrank (Jan 30, 2017)

Lurdan said:


> Very entertaining acceptance speech at the Screen Actors Guild awards
> 
> 
> 
> I'll have some of what Winona's on




Did she do a black power fist there?


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## Lurdan (Jan 30, 2017)

SpookyFrank said:


> Did she do a black power fist there? Matthew Modine ful


The clenched fist salute was long established before it was adopted by black power militants. 

(And to be clear I wasn't drawing attention to her in anything other than a 'good for her' way)


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## Reno (Feb 1, 2017)




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## Crispy (Feb 6, 2017)




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## Thimble Queen (Feb 6, 2017)

Crispy said:


>




I can't wait


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## TheHoodedClaw (Jul 11, 2017)

Soooonnnnn


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## Crispy (Jul 11, 2017)

>3 months is not soon


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## DotCommunist (Jul 11, 2017)

GoT on sunday though, it'll keep me going


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## cybershot (Jul 11, 2017)

A little Fright Night influenced poster me thinks


----------

