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STRANGER THINGS


Jay

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I really enjoyed the first season of this and am looking forward to the next, despite some misgivings (one specific to the show, the other a larger-scale wondering). Related to the show itself, I wonder if an anthology approach may have suited it better (and I think I have seen this suggested elsewhere). I don't know how big a story the Duffer Brothers had planned from the start; I get the impression they have always had a general arc in mind, but season 1 still felt self-contained until the coda in the last episode involving Will and his psychological state. Maybe it will all turn right in the end. Who knows.

 

On a wider note, I wonder if this series and its success is a precursor of what we have to look forward to as people who around the Duffer Brothers' age become more prominent in entertainment and beginning doing more work (I feel like I can say this without sounding all "Get off my lawn!" because they are only a year older than me). Will others of their generation just reimagine and remix everything they grew up loving and put a new veneer on it? I get the feeling this may all be complaining over nothing because this sort of thing has happened before, but it just seems like it will be more blatant as this particular demographic gains influence. The advertising campaign for season 2, with all the posters mimicking the 80s touchstones they were influenced by, hasn't helped me get past this concern. It's a whole other conversation, probably.

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I think it's an interesting conversation.

 

Personally, I'd say there's SOO much TV these days, I think there's gonna always be something for everyone.  For every new nostalgia reliant show, there will be plenty of interesting original ones too. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/25/2017 at 2:41 AM, Jay said:

I think it's an interesting conversation.

 

Personally, I'd say there's SOO much TV these days, I think there's gonna always be something for everyone.  For every new nostalgia reliant show, there will be plenty of interesting original ones too. 

 

Yeah. It's not a zero sum game.

 

On one hand, Hollywood studios are putting out less and less films every year, and they're mostly hanging their hat on tent pole blockbusters. This necessarily takes money away from other, smaller projects.  So if your complaint is that superhero movies are taking resources from more original fare....well, it's a valid complaint. 

 

But as you said, there's so much quality TV out there right now, being produced by so many different studios and airing on so many different networks, across every platform imaginable, that if you don't like one show there's plenty of others to choose from. There literally is something for everyone.

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Final trailer for season 2

 

 

 

 

I somehow missed the news that Sean Austin was in this.  Unless it wasn't announced before

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On 9/22/2017 at 9:14 AM, Disco Stu said:

I still haven't watched any of this.  Is it really that good?

No one is going to accuse it of being original, but it is certainly well-written and well-acted. And the more technical aspects are strong as well. I don't put much stock in the complaints that it didn't have an orchestral score, because I think the show is a little too slight to support that approach. The synths work just fine.

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I have no reason to except season 2's score to be any different from season 1's score.

 

It works fine in the show, but its nothing I want to listen to on its own.

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Well, in that link you sent earlier, "“In Season 2 we’re introducing new styles of composition, while still revisiting old themes when appropriate,”

 

Don't recall any notable themes, per se, but "new styles of composition" seems pretty good.

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I thought the score was effective on the screen and boring as sin on album.  Especially because there were two unfocused full-length releases.  Would have maybe fared better for me as a "highlights" album, maybe with some editorial - crossfades, suites, etc.

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I do agree that part of what turned me off was the extreme length of the digital release.  I gave up before it was over

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On 9/2/2016 at 9:10 AM, Thor said:

Actually, I would have wanted them to present it LESS "out of order". I think for this to work on album, they would have needed to pick out the more musical and fullbodied cues, perhaps expanded upon them in the studio, and then presented ONE, fluid 40-50 minute album that worked as its own concept (not two bloody full length albums). They way it is now, it's too much music, the "thin" and directionless cues are allowed too much space, and it seems to follow no musical logic or order whatsoever. The highlights are buried in there, for sure, but they're often few and far between. A missed opportunity!

So the artistic vision fueled production of this OST isn't valid? Is this an admission that you just care about OST length and none of this composer's wishes bullshit?

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Blegh, the Main Title Theme is the only memorable music, everything else is varnish for wallpaper: bland, nondescript and transparent. We could have a Goldsmithian or Williams' veined score, perhaps with the synth noodlings too... Tron Legacy was brilliant at offering that orchestral/synth blend. 

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Mr Robot is the better show for that kind of music for sure

but I did keep some highlights from the score

 

what really would have helped if they made the soundtrack chronological

as is, its like an incomprehensible monster floating in a void without context (how appropriate)

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9 hours ago, Arpy said:

The score is a disappointment however you spin it. This show needed a full-blooded orchestral throwback score, not synth noodlings!

 

It wouldn't have been as good as the scores from that era.

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5 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

It wouldn't have been as good as the scores from that era.

Maybe not, but whoever they hired would've tried their best!

 

*Cough Gia cough*

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4 hours ago, MedigoScan said:

Mr Robot is the better show for that kind of music for sure

 

Yes!  Mr. Robot's score is PERFECT for its show!

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Not every score needs to work on its own outside the source as a great listening experience.  After the great main title music for Stranger Things, I never noticed the score watching the actual show.  Seems appropriate and unobtrusive.

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I'm just underwhelmed by the thought of having to start this back up again at the moment. 

 

Apparently the future of one of the characters is in trouble now as allegedly he was detained at the airport with cocaine on him. 

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I thought the score for this season was better, with some cues that manage to stand out above the usual noodlings. I haven't finished the whole season yet, but so far I think they've managed to keep it fresh but consistent from what we got last season, the characters are developed further and the episodes build the right amount of tension to make you want to keep watching.

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I'm not good at writing reviews. That's why I always write like this. I don't want to binge the entire season in one or 2 days either. It's hard to judge this show off of three episodes when it's designed to be watched all at once.

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I was "binge-watching" Star Trek before "binge-watching" was a thing. Back then, we called it "marathoning". Now that I'm about 45, I guess that an antiquated term.

 

I watched the first three episodes of this show and I don't see what all the fuss is about.

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This track appears a few times over the course of the season and I loved it, I thought well done, one of the more interesting cues from the show. Then I scoured the official soundtrack release for the track and it wasn't there! The cue is actually from a video game score! Gah!

 

 

**************

 

 

On the binge-watching subject, I was disappointed I had binged Breaking Bad over a few weeks as opposed to the five years run it had. That's five years to get acquainted with the characters, to experience them change as the weeks come and go. However I feel very differently on Stranger Things, the entire season works like one long film and one feeling I got with season two in particular is that time progresses continuously, without much time gone unheeded between each episode. That is my one flaw of the season is that it moves incredibly quickly, probably because they knew it would need another season to conclude the story.

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I agree, but I find that a benefit. More of a miniseries in nature, and you get that sense of overarching narrative with the Chapter titles and the fact that it’s just called Stranger Things 2.

 

I’m four episodes in so can’t really comment on the pacing but it seems to be doing everything fine at this point. 

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