Topic: Stranger Things - Use Spoiler Tags

[Schmarn]

Spoiler

The Duffers have said from the start that they know the ending, and are just working toward that (I take your point about padding - I expect they originally envisaged doing the entire story over 3 or perhaps 4 seasons, but s1 was such a hit they got pressured to extend it; it's good that they insist s5 will be the last - although there's talk of a spin-off 

WRT Max, Vecna needed 4 kills to create the gates necessary to push through into the real world. He'd likely have had other victims potentially lined up, but Max was already 'prepped' and put herself in that vulnerable position to give him the easy target.

They're my theories at least.

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Spoiler

You're probably right but if that's the case why arse around with the Demagorgon, Mindflayer etc and only then start picking off teenagers sitting on guilt? The first 3 to die are entirely unremarkable and similar kids could have been found years/decades before. I'm on board with the idea the Duffers know the ending and having 001 be the arch villain makes a lot of sense but the pressure to generate additional seasons has meant that the story doesn't hang together.

The point about the Upside Down being a mirror of Hawkins at a particular point in time is a good example of this. At the time Vecna was cast into the Upside Down, Hawkins definitely existed because he grew up in the creepy house. But the Upside Down they show us when Vecna falls into it more closely resembles the slopes of Mount Doom with Gollum crawling up the side of it.

Anyway it's probably a fool's errand picking holes in a fantasy show!

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[rob1966]

Good to see Master of Puppets going into the charts.

[classycarra]

Good to see Master of Puppets going into the charts.

Enjoyed the Siouxsie and the Banshees song choice at the end too.

[west_london_red]

Spoiler

You're probably right but if that's the case why arse around with the Demagorgon, Mindflayer etc and only then start picking off teenagers sitting on guilt? The first 3 to die are entirely unremarkable and similar kids could have been found years/decades before. I'm on board with the idea the Duffers know the ending and having 001 be the arch villain makes a lot of sense but the pressure to generate additional seasons has meant that the story doesn't hang together.

The point about the Upside Down being a mirror of Hawkins at a particular point in time is a good example of this. At the time Vecna was cast into the Upside Down, Hawkins definitely existed because he grew up in the creepy house. But the Upside Down they show us when Vecna falls into it more closely resembles the slopes of Mount Doom with Gollum crawling up the side of it.

Anyway it's probably a fool's errand picking holes in a fantasy show!

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Spoiler

Exactly. If Vecna is behind everything that’s gone on, why don’t the numerous kills in series 1-3 count towards the 4 he needs to open the gate?

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[Drinks Sangria]

I'm assuming because

Spoiler

He was the mastermind and the architect, but he wasn't getting his hands dirty. The other kills were the Demigorgon and the zombified mind flayer thing.

On the other dimension thing - it is another dimension but it's clearly a version of the real world. Vecna wouldn't have shaped the world in the same image, he wouldn't have known everything about the above world to do so. It's a dark refraction in my eyes, a tainted copy but a type of copy nonetheless.

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[El Lobo]

If Buzz Lightyear actually thinks he's a space ranger.....why does he freeze with the other toys when humans are around?

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Spoiler

Exactly. If Vecna is behind everything that’s gone on, why don’t the numerous kills in series 1-3 count towards the 4 he needs to open the gate?

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Spoiler

He's spent decades building shit

It even showed him starting the process

The Doctor also mentioned that the people he'd killed all made him stronger. Perhaps it took him that long to build the aparatus that would allow the four gates to be placed and opened and that he was only strong enough to actually put the power in to open them then.

He also said that Eleven had paved the way for him

We're assuming that those picked were also random. This may be the case, or it may not.

I think there will be an awful lot of explanation in the last series and it's nice to see that they feel the have the time to extend an episode rather than cram it into 45 minutes and ruin the build-up.

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[Macphisto80]

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Sure, it was a bit self-indulgent and you could pick out holes all day, but fuck that. It was a fun watch. Derivative as fuck of other, more iconic things, but that's not a bad thing either. It went a bit mad towards the later episodes, and at one point turned into a cartoon, but the last two episodes were entertaining enough to redeem it.

[Macphisto80]

Spoiler

Exactly. If Vecna is behind everything that’s gone on, why don’t the numerous kills in series 1-3 count towards the 4 he needs to open the gate?

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Because they - the Duffer Bros - were just winging it. They made a decent thing that they probably expected to last one series of, it caught on, and "oh, shit, we gotta come up with something else now". A bit like Star Wars in that regard.

[Grobbelrevell]

sad to have no more Stranger Things to watch for a good couple of years. Going to be interesting how they tackle the ageing of the characters again. It doesn't feel like a story line where they can afford to start with '3 years later'

Indeed. It was kinda funny seeing Will with a 5 o'clock shadow in this series.

[thejbs]

Do have a very sneaky feeling that the only way they can close all these gateways and stuff is.....

Spoiler

Eleven has to die at the end

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Yeah. This is my suspicion too.

[thejbs]

sad to have no more Stranger Things to watch for a good couple of years. Going to be interesting how they tackle the ageing of the characters again. It doesn't feel like a story line where they can afford to start with '3 years later'

Spoiler

with a massive open hole in the middle of the town [spoiler/]

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Some of the Derry Girls are in their 30s but still did believable teenager impressions.

[Sharado]

Do have a very sneaky feeling that the only way they can close all these gateways and stuff is.....

Spoiler

Eleven has to die at the end

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100%.

Was a good series, enjoyed it and Vecna was a sensational baddie. Loved the robert englund cameo, Eddie's appearance and lots more. Thought the run times were a bit self indulgent to be honest. Especially the last ep which was longer than most films and Im not sure justified it at times. I'll be back for S5 though and wasn't sure I would be at the end of S3.

[Macphisto80]

Some of the Derry Girls are in their 30s but still did believable teenager impressions.

The actor that plays Steve is 30. Im also fairly convinced that two or three of those Hellfire members were 30 somethings playing teenagers.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

The actor that plays Steve is 30. Im also fairly convinced that two or three of those Hellfire members were 30 somethings playing teenagers.

The kids;

Finn Wolfhard (Mike) 19
Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) 18
Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) 19
Caleb McLaughlin (lucas) 20
Noah Schnapp (Will) 17
Sadie Sink (Max) 20


The older ones

Natalia Dyer (Nancy) 27
Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) 28
Joe Keery (Steve) 30
Dacre Montgomery (Billy) 27

[Armand9]

Some of the Derry Girls are in their 30s but still did believable teenager impressions.

in that vein, the one that i always thought was mad was the chick who played the 11 year old girl in the railway children was actually 20 years old, two years older than jenny agutter who played the lead role as the older sister

[west_london_red]

The actor that plays Steve is 30. Im also fairly convinced that two or three of those Hellfire members were 30 somethings playing teenagers.

I do have to say some of the CGI they used for the flashback scenes when 011 was younger were quite impressive.

[Barefoot Doctor]

I had no idea until this week that Jonathan is played by a Brit. And him and Nancy have been together in real life for six years.

[Davidbowie]

I had no idea until this week that Jonathan is played by a Brit. And him and Nancy have been together in real life for six years.

And he ain't no oil painting, so he must have a great sense of humour!

[Grobbelrevell]

I had no idea until this week that Jonathan is played by a Brit. And him and Nancy have been together in real life for six years.

Eleven is a big Red as well, by all accounts.

[Nobby Reserve]

I had no idea until this week that Jonathan is played by a Brit. And him and Nancy have been together in real life for six years.

Did you know the actor who played Eddie was also British?

[redk84]

I really enjoyed this season...
Expanded the universe a bit more, Vecna was a great addition (for this kind of show I tend to just go with it and ignore the minor plotholes)

Still a little confused with Vecna's backstory...upide down n all but hopefully the last season will add more context

Eddie was a great new character also.
Not had a weak season yet imo, the nostalgic feel to it all is just great too right down to the sound

Max is a great little character. Had me in tears at one point

[BER]

Did you know the actor who played Eddie was also British?

I'd convinced myself he was Brendan Fraser's son.

It's the eyes. 

[redwillow]

the reason that the kills in S1-S3

Spoiler

didn't count towards the 4 kills needed to open the gates was that Vecna was unable to open gates at this point. He said it was his plan from day 1 to lure Eleven close enough so that he could bite her and absorb her powers - the ability to open gates [spoiler/]

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[bryanod]

Spoiler

My god were those last few episodes bloated. Lot of repeating the same things over and over.

Where did the Doc go? Where was the military second helicopter? They just gave up after taking 20 minutes to get up the elevator and seeing a very conspicuous vehicle they could track in about 5 minutes?

Why go through the whole, Max is saved, oh wait dies anyway, oh wait is alive again, in the space of about 3 minutes after taking 2.5 hours to get there. Once again only the newbie gets killed off after turning into a hero late on.

 

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[AndyMuller]

Spoiler

Fucking hell they fucked about with Max this season didn’t they? Why won’t they kill an OG character off? Hate that it had to be Eddie because he was great. Robin or Will would have been sound.

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[Party Phil]

I'd convinced myself he was Brendan Fraser's son.

It's the eyes. 

He reminds me of Papa Larazou

[classycarra]

He reminds me of Papa Larazou

It felt a bit like the actor had been given 10 things I hate about you (if thats the heath ledger one) to watch for inspiration.

League of Gentleman would have been sound too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnWd0iv8Dq4

[Port_vale_lad]

As enjoyable as it was the whole russian prison storyline was laughably shite.

[Schmarn]

Spoiler

Fucking hell they fucked about with Max this season didn’t they? Why won’t they kill an OG character off? Hate that it had to be Eddie because he was great. Robin or Will would have been sound.

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Spoiler

Because when Vecna was punished by Papa he was forced to listen to Hounds of Love on loop. So now he’s intent on killing any Kate Bush fans and only those kills can open up a gate. Or some other made up reason.

I agree an original character should have gone. No one would miss Will, Mike or Jonathan. Quite like Robin myself

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[RedSince86]

I'd convinced myself he was Brendan Fraser's son.

It's the eyes. 

No way, he looked like a younger version of Robert Downey Jr, so uncanny.

I love the homage to Alien 4 with Winona Ryder's character walking through the Lab.

My favourite season so far, was fantastic viewing.

Vecna and also his back story was fantastic.

[NightDancer]

Spoiler

Because when Vecna was punished by Papa he was forced to listen to Hounds of Love on loop. So now he’s intent on killing any Kate Bush fans and only those kills can open up a gate. Or some other made up reason.

I agree an original character should have gone. No one would miss Will, Mike or Jonathan. Quite like Robin myself

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Spoiler

Would add Eleven to that list too. Her, Mike, Will and Jonathan were just charisma/fun free zones whenever onscreen for me. Find all four characters to be unlikely and really Eleven only exists to be the McGuffin/Deus ex machina at the end of every season after everyone else has done the cool stuff against the big bads.

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[AlphaDelta]

So, the kid that plays Eddie Munson is from South London but is a big red, season ticket holder, still has family in West Derby. Fair play to him.

Just finished the last episode, decent, quite enjoyed it. Matthew Modine, aka Dr Brenner's huge bouffant is outrageous though, quite a change from that clean cut young fella flying the Memphis Belle!

[TepidT2O]

So, the kid that plays Eddie Munson is from South London but is a big red, season ticket holder, still has family in West Derby. Fair play to him.

Just finished the last episode, decent, quite enjoyed it. Matthew Modine, aka Dr Brenner's huge bouffant is outrageous though, quite a change from that clean cut young fella flying the Memphis Belle!

He’s the guest on last week’s Off Menu podcast.  Very funny too.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

He’s the guest on last week’s Off Menu podcast.  Very funny too.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

I'm re-watching the X-files from scratch (Now I don't have to fiddle around with DVDs)

And in the episode "Apocrypha", Scully was asked by a scientist if she'd seen 'anything like this' and she said "I've seen Stranger Things, believe me." so I'm wondering if that's where the name came from?

[jackh]

I'm re-watching the X-files from scratch (Now I don't have to fiddle around with DVDs)

And in the episode "Apocrypha", Scully was asked by a scientist if she'd seen 'anything like this' and she said "I've seen Stranger Things, believe me." so I'm wondering if that's where the name came from?

Stranger things have happened.

[Macphisto80]

Doubt it. It's a common colloquialism.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Doubt it. It's a common colloquialism.

I looked it up and (As we all know with the million and one references) they are massive Stephen King fans. They got Stranger Things from his book title "Needful Things'

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-stranger-things-the-duffer-bros-on-how-they-made-the-tv-hit-of-the-summer

"Matt: When we were selling it, we made a fake Stephen King paperback cover for the show. We actually used the Firestarter paperback and put our title and an image of a fallen bike on top of it, so when we were trying to come up with titles, we would type them out onto this paperback cover and it would help us. And Stranger Things sort of sounds like Needful Things—it sounded like it could have been a Stephen King book from the ‘80s. But there were a lot of heated arguments about it. (Laughs.) Actually, someone sent me the list—I hope this never, ever comes out on the internet—the list of alternate titles for the show. I was like: if you leak this, I will kill you. It is so embarrassing."

[Macphisto80]

It's an easy tell that they are King fans when a lot of the last series felt massively derivative of 'It' in places. Not a bad thing, really.