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STRANGER THINGS


Jay

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I wouldn't call it excellent by any strain of the imagination, but it's certainly very entertaining :)

 

8 minutes ago, Thor said:

Oh yeah, THE STRAIN is excellent, although it faltered a BIT in the last couple of seasons when the Del Toro influence was not as present anymore. But at least they got to finish it; that's a rare thing in the TV series world these days.

 

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I'm just at the beginning of season 2. The Strigoi are very cool creatures, I love how frighteningly gross they are. And Lord Walder Frey from Game of Thrones is a surprisingly badass vampire hunter, he's a grizzled and grumpy old fart isn't he but the mission is everything.

 

I think it's just you, Joey and myself who watch The Strain here.

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Just now, Quintus said:

I'm just at the beginning of season 2. The Strigoi are very cool creatures, I love how frighteningly gross they are. And Lord Walder Frey from Game of Thrones is a surprisingly badass vampire hunter, he's a grizzled and grumpy old fart isn't he but the mission is everything.

 

Yes, David Bradley is good at that type of role. Another good example is playing the original, grouchy doctor on DOCTOR WHO.

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I say this series is pretentious because there are so many unjustifiable scenes of nothing happening. Compare the last couple of episodes to the rest of the season. It's like crunch time and suddenly things are happening, all the characters are being developed, Evil Zac Efron is hitting on Nancy's mother after she gets out of the tub and the scenes of people walking around in the dark and arts fartsy Eleven (the latest generation of the Winona women) in a black room with some broad yelling things out are minimized or removed entirely, thank God. There was one episode with the black sister and her weirdo friends that can be skipped entirely and you're not missing anything. Episodes 1-6 could be compressed into 1 or 2 episodes at most if you removed all the pointless scenes of nothing happening. You can walk away from nearly every episode and come back not having missed anything. Season 2 is seriously lacking in fun. Ultimately, all it's about is shooting some dogs and Eleven being reunited with everyone.

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I think a problem I have with the show is that eight/nine episodes aren't enough for a show that's trying to do so much. It might also be a mishandling of that time too. I think it got to episode six or seven and I was thinking 'How much time do they think they have?'

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5 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

It’s called character-centric storytelling. 

 

That's not very interesting when they're just sitting in rooms or walking through tunnels doing nothing.

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We saw the first episode of Season 2. 

 

- The classic 'Spielberg language' influence is still pretty blatant (see the Spielberg from Jaws/Close Encounters/E.T.), but because it's copying, it's less 'impactful', IMO. 

- To be honest, Winona's acting is not so bad, that is, as long we're dealing with everyday situations.

- MadMax is a promising character. I like that our gang didn't make contact with her yet.

⁻ The best aspect is the music. As the creator and founder of 'The Amazing Electronic Music' thread I must say that I'm quite impressed with this synthman.

 

 

Alex

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2 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

⁻ The best aspect is the music. As the creator and founder of 'The Amazing Electronic Music' thread I must say that I'm quite impressed with this synthman.

 

There are two, actually. And yes, I agree this season's music is better than the first.

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On 6-11-2017 at 7:04 PM, Thor said:

 

There are two, actually. And yes, I agree this season's music is better than the first.

 

I see ... And they even received an Emmy Award. Who knew! This must be a serious boost for synth scores.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...

Speaking of the characters getting older, I wonder if Eleven will eventually kit off in this like Arya did in the last Game of Thrones. Gotta love those awkward semis.

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3 minutes ago, The Original said:

Unbelievably the kids are starting to bore me. 

 

Impossible! You are not a JWFaner!

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Watched the whole thing like it was a two-night, eight-hour miniseries, just like the olden days.

 

I'm a bit stunned by it all. Season 3 is certainly gripping with its unfolding plot and the usual Lovecraftian portals and body horror. But it's tonally uneven, and features bizarre moments that break the tension and drive the mood deep into kitsch territory. These moments usually include almost rapid fire references to existing flicks like Terminator, Die Hard, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Carrie, The Blob, Aliens, Twin Peaks, etc etc etc! And The Neverending Story, that just has to be seen and heard to be believed. Of course those sorts of easter eggs were present in Seasons 1 and 2, but usually more restrained and less on-the-nose. Here it was like "ya get it? GET IT?!"

 

Does Netflix usually drop an entire season in one day or is this some experiment in examining the general public's binge habits? Guilty as charged this time round.

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They usually drop an entire season in one day, although lately with some of their sitcoms, they've divided the drops into two "parts" (i.e. Arrested Development Season 5 had two halves released months apart, and so did Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt).  For the dramas of theirs that I have watched (Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, Haunting of Hill House), those have all dropped at once.

 

It might be a while until I get around to Stranger Things 3, but the thought of Twin Peaksish stuff going on is certainly intriguing.

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Stranger Things 3x01 Suzie, Do You Copy?

 

I like this show a lot and this episode felt like a welcome visit from an old friend as we caught up with all our characters and defined their current status and goals, etc. Hopper asking Joy for advice on how to handle Mike and Eleven and his ultimate discarding of it and doing his own thing was pretty funny, as was the scenes at the public pool.  A lot of this episode was predictable though, like as soon as Dustin mentioned a girlfriend from science camp I said "she's made up", as soon as we saw Hopper practising his speech I knew he'd never actually say it, as soon as they were setting up Dustin's antennae I said they'd pick up a Russian transmission, etc.  But that's fine, it's not exactly a show you watch to be surprised.  Overall, good to be back!

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Stranger Things 3x02 The Mall Rats

 

I like Nancy and Jonathan teaming up to investigate the rats, and that they leave just before we see it turn into goo like all those rats were last week. Billy getting abducted by a creature from the Upside Down who presents as his doppleganger there and has him abduct a coworker to present to some new giant monster thing was pretty cool; That character is already so unlikeable so turning him into the badguy for the season is a good call. The separate montages of the boys at the malls and the girls at the mall was pretty great.  Hopper getting Drunk when Joyce jilts him was pretty funny, though I don't really get why she's the only one that notices any kind of electromagnetic problem.  The science teacher listening to Weird Al was great!  It's interesting they've separated Dustin off from the rest of the gang for most of the season so far; It was kinda cool though that him and Steve are the ones that figure out what's going on.

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It's primary goal is just to entertain, it's not really trying to say anything

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9 minutes ago, Jay said:

It's primary goal is just to entertain, it's not really trying to say anything

Well that’s what I’m saying. Since it keeps repeating the same tropes, it’s not very entertaining anymore. How many times can the same shit happen in the same town?

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Well, this was awesome!

 

I remember loving the first season but doubting that the story could be reasonably extended for further seasons. I thought season two did well enough. But this new one gets virtually everything right.

 

No, Stranger Things has never been about surprises, at least not in the sense of offering original story twists. On the contrary, it revels in its tropes; the surprises rather come in the form of even more tropes, like in the new season's intro sequence: Having the Russians involved isn't all that far fetched in a US 80s throwback series. It's fun though, and revealing only at the end of the intro sequence that we've in fact been watching Russians already (and at the same time thinking that the idea really isn't surprising at all) is the fun twist.

 

But what makes it all work is the balance. The series already had a sizeable cast before, but it introduces even more characters and manages - and this is the bit that most other series and films fail to get right, especially in third installments where the story naturally pivots around two or three main characters - to give them all a fair share of the plot. The casting is still spot on. Millie Bobby Brown is a standout, but nearly all of them are great. Noah Schnapp continues to surprise, as he did in season two, considering he was mainly a scream queen/plot device in the first season. Suddenly he has to act, and does so really well (he also puts on his robe and wizard hat).

 

It also strikes the right balance between tension and humour, which is the other thing most shows these days struggle with. They actually succeed in cutting back and forth between thriller plot strains and scenes that make you laugh out loud, without ever breaking the overall tension or killing the story (they even make the Neverending Story bit work, which really shouldn't be possible at all). And through it all they manage to keep all the players involved and even get a fair share of character development, so that you grow fond of each and every one of them. In the end, it leaves me hungry for a fourth season, much more so than the earlier ones.

 

One observation about the score: Back in the first season I found the synth approach charming but insufficient; too much of the show reminded me of big 70s & 80s Spielberg & Co fare with big orchestral Williams and Horner scores, and the climactic moments seemed a bit flat with the rather subdued synth score. I liked the synth stuff more this time, perhaps because I've gotten used to it - but by far the most dramatic "epic" moment of the whole season is underscored not by original music but by Philip Glass' Akhnaten, which works perfectly in the momen but is a really strong stylistic clash with the rest of the score (including the numerous songs). And more than that, it strongly suggests that the show has considerably more musical potential than it's score manages to realise.

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