Darkness falls across the land / The midnight hour is close at hand
July 22, 2017 7:56 PM Subscribe
I CANNOT WAIT.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 8:10 PM on July 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 8:10 PM on July 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
I hope it doesn't suffer from Blair Witch Syndrome, in which a thing done on a shoestring is hugely successful and the creators have a ballooned budget and it tanks the project.
I'm rooting for it, but I see the minefield it must wade through.
posted by hippybear at 8:13 PM on July 22, 2017 [16 favorites]
I'm rooting for it, but I see the minefield it must wade through.
posted by hippybear at 8:13 PM on July 22, 2017 [16 favorites]
Nobody ever really enjoyed Dragon's Lair, this whole thing is a pack of lies.
posted by Artw at 8:15 PM on July 22, 2017 [34 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:15 PM on July 22, 2017 [34 favorites]
The Duffer Bros. nailed the tone the first time and I think know how to continue that well enough, and the four central boys + Eleven are gonna be hard to screw up. TO me, this is about whether they know how to continue Nancy's arc, which to me is a large part of what made S1 work so well.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:17 PM on July 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 8:17 PM on July 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
I probably poured several hundred dollars into a Dragon's Lair machine when they were new. I loved it.
posted by hippybear at 8:17 PM on July 22, 2017 [15 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:17 PM on July 22, 2017 [15 favorites]
I wish they'd shot this entirely on Betacam for verisimilitude - even in the flesh, the 80s never felt that crisp and clean.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:30 PM on July 22, 2017 [20 favorites]
posted by ryanshepard at 8:30 PM on July 22, 2017 [20 favorites]
I am convinced the controls on Dragon's Lair were a bullshit placebo.
Lots of good trailers coming out of ComicCon! Westworld Season 2 was the one I was really looking forward to. Yay, Dolores.
posted by Justinian at 8:55 PM on July 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
Lots of good trailers coming out of ComicCon! Westworld Season 2 was the one I was really looking forward to. Yay, Dolores.
posted by Justinian at 8:55 PM on July 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
Had a discussion with my sister about this the new season and what we were wanting. It boiled down to the following:
• More Eleven. We feel that she was sidelined too much, and she should have been the POV we most followed last season. It the most engaging to watch.posted by Fizz at 9:01 PM on July 22, 2017 [4 favorites]
• Barb. More Barb. Barb. Has Barb been mentioned yet? Barb. Yup. We like Barb.
• Less E.T. and more X-Files.
Movies with Mikey did a good episode on Stranger Things S1.
This trailer looks awesome, and I hope the show lives up to it. I can honestly say I never thought I'd hear Michael Jackson's Thriller used in a trailer for a TV show.
posted by nubs at 9:04 PM on July 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
This trailer looks awesome, and I hope the show lives up to it. I can honestly say I never thought I'd hear Michael Jackson's Thriller used in a trailer for a TV show.
posted by nubs at 9:04 PM on July 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
I remember begging my parents to let me stay up late to watch the premiere of Thriller on television. At one point, it was basically its own (very short) TV show.
posted by hippybear at 9:06 PM on July 22, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 9:06 PM on July 22, 2017 [11 favorites]
"Barb is dead. Barb remains dead. And we have killed her. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?" - Nietzsche
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:10 PM on July 22, 2017 [15 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:10 PM on July 22, 2017 [15 favorites]
I think the trailer looks fun. Looking forward to season two.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:11 PM on July 22, 2017
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:11 PM on July 22, 2017
I probably poured several hundred dollars into a Dragon's Lair machine when they were new. I loved it.
That must have been a glorious fifteen minutes.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:23 PM on July 22, 2017 [81 favorites]
That must have been a glorious fifteen minutes.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:23 PM on July 22, 2017 [81 favorites]
This trailer deploys its '80s pop culture references more skilfully and naturally than the one for Ready Player One, which is supposed to be a movie about '80s pop culture references.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:32 PM on July 22, 2017 [13 favorites]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:32 PM on July 22, 2017 [13 favorites]
• Less E.T. and more X-Files Repo Man.
One can hope.
posted by philip-random at 9:41 PM on July 22, 2017 [8 favorites]
One can hope.
posted by philip-random at 9:41 PM on July 22, 2017 [8 favorites]
@hippybear - Don't worry, they spent all that extra budget on the licensing for 'Thriller.' That's expensive enough to strip Craft Services down to bologna on Wonder Bread.
posted by chinese_fashion at 9:50 PM on July 22, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by chinese_fashion at 9:50 PM on July 22, 2017 [9 favorites]
That must have been a glorious fifteen minutes.
*literal LOL*
I actually watched a guy beat Dragon's Lair once on one quarter. He obviously had learned the game (I have no idea how much that cost. I think I spent close to $500 learning the pac man patterns). The machine was in the lobby our local movie theater, and it was southern NM and July and HOT AS FUCK and so the free range kids of the era would ride their bikes to the movie theater to hang out in the a/c of the lobby while waiting for their movie to start.
This guy drops in a quarter and starts playing, and I along with 5 or 6 other DL fans/players went to watch. And this guy was a total master. DL on the original machine is all about the rhythm of the joystick move compared to the signal of where to move it. Too fast, too slow, you're ruined. But if you get that exact delay figured out, and you're familiar with the patterns going to be asked of you, it's a breeze to get through.
Anyway, nobody knew that back in whatever this was in the 80s, but this guy... he keeps playing and playing and the crowd around him is getting bigger... it's all mostly kids because it's a summer weekday with 50 cent admission daytime pricing if you were a kid...
Anyway he played and played and played and got to where he killed the dragon and then it was over and everyone went "hrmmmmm" and wandered away.
posted by hippybear at 9:51 PM on July 22, 2017 [40 favorites]
*literal LOL*
I actually watched a guy beat Dragon's Lair once on one quarter. He obviously had learned the game (I have no idea how much that cost. I think I spent close to $500 learning the pac man patterns). The machine was in the lobby our local movie theater, and it was southern NM and July and HOT AS FUCK and so the free range kids of the era would ride their bikes to the movie theater to hang out in the a/c of the lobby while waiting for their movie to start.
This guy drops in a quarter and starts playing, and I along with 5 or 6 other DL fans/players went to watch. And this guy was a total master. DL on the original machine is all about the rhythm of the joystick move compared to the signal of where to move it. Too fast, too slow, you're ruined. But if you get that exact delay figured out, and you're familiar with the patterns going to be asked of you, it's a breeze to get through.
Anyway, nobody knew that back in whatever this was in the 80s, but this guy... he keeps playing and playing and the crowd around him is getting bigger... it's all mostly kids because it's a summer weekday with 50 cent admission daytime pricing if you were a kid...
Anyway he played and played and played and got to where he killed the dragon and then it was over and everyone went "hrmmmmm" and wandered away.
posted by hippybear at 9:51 PM on July 22, 2017 [40 favorites]
"Nothing's going to go back to the way it was. Not really."
Don't want to step on anyone's toes but that seems like a title crying out for a POTUS45 thread.
And Dragon's Lair was a thing more impressive in theory than practice. I recall my first glimpse of it (in use, natch) in the arcade at The Centre Mall being revelatory. In the fullness of time, I played it a dozen or fifteen times (my recollection was it was the first video game that needed fifty cents a play), shrugged, and went back to Defender.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:52 PM on July 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
Don't want to step on anyone's toes but that seems like a title crying out for a POTUS45 thread.
And Dragon's Lair was a thing more impressive in theory than practice. I recall my first glimpse of it (in use, natch) in the arcade at The Centre Mall being revelatory. In the fullness of time, I played it a dozen or fifteen times (my recollection was it was the first video game that needed fifty cents a play), shrugged, and went back to Defender.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:52 PM on July 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
Fuck Ready Player One.
posted by Artw at 10:11 PM on July 22, 2017 [30 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:11 PM on July 22, 2017 [30 favorites]
I want to hang out in that arcade right now, even if it near a horrific portal to a deadly hellzone with toxic air.
Trying to figure out when the best time to start a rewatch is, if the new season starts on 10/27. October? September? Fine line between burnout and preparation, I suspect.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:28 PM on July 22, 2017
Trying to figure out when the best time to start a rewatch is, if the new season starts on 10/27. October? September? Fine line between burnout and preparation, I suspect.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:28 PM on July 22, 2017
No Polybius machine tho.
posted by Artw at 10:33 PM on July 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:33 PM on July 22, 2017 [5 favorites]
This trailer deploys its '80s pop culture references more skilfully and naturally than the one for Ready Player One , which is supposed to be a movie about '80s pop culture references.
It did not skimp on them though. Besides the aforementioned Dragon's Lair & Thriller I saw a large number of Halloween costumes referencing 80s movies: obviously Ghostbusters but also in the party I saw Thriller, Karate Kid & Risky Business. Subtle 80s pop cultural references are one of the show's hallmarks; they may be pushing past the limits of subtlety this time. Also, not much 11 in this season apparently.
posted by scalefree at 10:34 PM on July 22, 2017
It did not skimp on them though. Besides the aforementioned Dragon's Lair & Thriller I saw a large number of Halloween costumes referencing 80s movies: obviously Ghostbusters but also in the party I saw Thriller, Karate Kid & Risky Business. Subtle 80s pop cultural references are one of the show's hallmarks; they may be pushing past the limits of subtlety this time. Also, not much 11 in this season apparently.
posted by scalefree at 10:34 PM on July 22, 2017
Not a lot of Eleven in this trailer, which is a bad sign. Millie Bobby Brown's performance changed the first season from watchable to must-watch. (She did the same thing in an otherwise-meh show called Intruders a few years back, where she played an eighty-year-old sociopath possessing a ten-year-old's body.)
posted by infinitewindow at 10:48 PM on July 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by infinitewindow at 10:48 PM on July 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
I didn't get the impression Eleven wouldn't figure heavily in S2. I got the impression she wasn't featured heavily in this promo.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:04 PM on July 22, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:04 PM on July 22, 2017 [7 favorites]
She's like the big reveal.
posted by Artw at 11:26 PM on July 22, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:26 PM on July 22, 2017 [6 favorites]
ohhhhhh, I'm so down for more Stranger Things! I was super worried about the directions they could go in the second season, but am comforted by the trailer.
One of the many things that I found brilliant in the first season was that - while everyone starts out as doubting parents or big sisters or cops or whatever - in the end EVERYONE gets it, and is on the SAME FUCKING SIDE FIGHTING THE GODDAMN DEMONS*. It's like the Breakfast Club wanders into a horror movie: We've all got our tribes, but ultimately we're people putting up with the same bullshitsociety demon killing spree. The Lost Boys /kinda/ did this, but most other genre films (horror, sf, romcom...) I can think of are full of sharps and squares, with an obvious vantage point of who's in and who's out. It's brilliant storytelling, and exemplifies mashing up source material into something that still feels genuinely new.
So I'm hopeful for the second season that they haven't entirely painted themselves into a corner, but will instead find creative and maybe even thought-provoking ways to deal with the narrative constraints at hand. If they can hit even close to the same stride they got to in season one, I'll be goddamned amazed, and the Duffers will go on my list of people whose work I will always follow forever.
* - well, except maybe sort of the DoE, but whatevs. They're just cannon fodder anyway.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:49 PM on July 22, 2017 [8 favorites]
One of the many things that I found brilliant in the first season was that - while everyone starts out as doubting parents or big sisters or cops or whatever - in the end EVERYONE gets it, and is on the SAME FUCKING SIDE FIGHTING THE GODDAMN DEMONS*. It's like the Breakfast Club wanders into a horror movie: We've all got our tribes, but ultimately we're people putting up with the same bullshit
So I'm hopeful for the second season that they haven't entirely painted themselves into a corner, but will instead find creative and maybe even thought-provoking ways to deal with the narrative constraints at hand. If they can hit even close to the same stride they got to in season one, I'll be goddamned amazed, and the Duffers will go on my list of people whose work I will always follow forever.
* - well, except maybe sort of the DoE, but whatevs. They're just cannon fodder anyway.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:49 PM on July 22, 2017 [8 favorites]
Dragon's Lair was terrible.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 12:00 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 12:00 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Seeing this trailer made me very happy. I lived through the eighties at about the same age as these kids, and it's just so refreshing to see this era & its pop culture revisited with obvious love and respect, without being mocked, or turned into some caricature or parody of itself. It certainly doesn't hurt that they've created good characters and a compelling narrative.
And Dragon's Lair was awesome. So was Space Ace. So there.
As far as Ready Player One is concerned, well... I saw the trailer for that one, and I think it is going to be this generation's Roger Rabbit, in the sense that it will be an amazing feat of gathering so many different corporate IP's into a single revenue stream.
Sigh.
posted by KHAAAN! at 12:04 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
And Dragon's Lair was awesome. So was Space Ace. So there.
As far as Ready Player One is concerned, well... I saw the trailer for that one, and I think it is going to be this generation's Roger Rabbit, in the sense that it will be an amazing feat of gathering so many different corporate IP's into a single revenue stream.
Sigh.
posted by KHAAAN! at 12:04 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
I've re-watched up through S1 ep5 tonight. I haz an EXCITE!
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 1:15 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 1:15 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
even in the flesh, the 80s never felt that crisp and clean.
They needed to dump a bucket of cigarette butts in every scene and on every actor, and have an ashtray in every shot. (I'm not being very sarcastic.) Though maybe the path of nostalgia leads to become like Foyle's War, where even the delivery vans are spotless, glossy, and wonderful.
And Dragon's Lair was awesome. So was Space Ace.
They were no Cliffhanger nurrrrrrr. But yes all the video disc games were garbage. I think the big hotness at that time was the sit-down Star Trek. But even then I don't think any kids were ever jump-up-and-down excited about things like a TV ad for action figures. The games in the background are pretty basic. They're the games you'd see huddled together in a grocery store. Stranger Things should be less Dragon's Lair and more Crystal Castles.
posted by fleacircus at 2:06 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
They needed to dump a bucket of cigarette butts in every scene and on every actor, and have an ashtray in every shot. (I'm not being very sarcastic.) Though maybe the path of nostalgia leads to become like Foyle's War, where even the delivery vans are spotless, glossy, and wonderful.
And Dragon's Lair was awesome. So was Space Ace.
They were no Cliffhanger nurrrrrrr. But yes all the video disc games were garbage. I think the big hotness at that time was the sit-down Star Trek. But even then I don't think any kids were ever jump-up-and-down excited about things like a TV ad for action figures. The games in the background are pretty basic. They're the games you'd see huddled together in a grocery store. Stranger Things should be less Dragon's Lair and more Crystal Castles.
posted by fleacircus at 2:06 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Nobody ever really enjoyed Dragon's Lair, this whole thing is a pack of lies.
Lies? YOU SHUT YOUR LYING MOUTH!
Just marathoned the 7 episodes I needed. Not going to lie, had some REAL issues with both the science AND the D&D, but all things being equal, I did enjoy it, once it started rolling. Muchwise pumped for the second season. More so than earlier.
posted by Samizdata at 2:40 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Lies? YOU SHUT YOUR LYING MOUTH!
Just marathoned the 7 episodes I needed. Not going to lie, had some REAL issues with both the science AND the D&D, but all things being equal, I did enjoy it, once it started rolling. Muchwise pumped for the second season. More so than earlier.
posted by Samizdata at 2:40 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Also, as an aside, I really think the 8 episode season worked well. Helped the makers keep it focused and on track.
posted by Samizdata at 2:41 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Samizdata at 2:41 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
It's like the Breakfast Club wanders into a horror movie
One of the things I liked about it was that the characters start out as extremely cliched characters in their own stories - it's only when they start getting out of their own lanes, crossing and switching storylines that they grow into full-realised characters. The Final Girl of the slasher doesn't normally wander into the supernatural monster movie; the small-town sheriff isn't supposed to be on the side of the woman in the psychological horror movie when he's supposed to stick to his big-government conspiracy.
I would have preferred it had they actually been full characters from the beginning, mind, but I'll take the show getting there.
I think some of the narrative constraints they have can be played off against one another. I mean, they need to address Barb, the minor victim that was far too competently played, and they need to ensure Nancy has a good arc of her own. It seems like they're addressing the gender balance and also bringing in other cliches they can mix up through a new character called, sigh, Mad Max.
posted by Merus at 3:03 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
One of the things I liked about it was that the characters start out as extremely cliched characters in their own stories - it's only when they start getting out of their own lanes, crossing and switching storylines that they grow into full-realised characters. The Final Girl of the slasher doesn't normally wander into the supernatural monster movie; the small-town sheriff isn't supposed to be on the side of the woman in the psychological horror movie when he's supposed to stick to his big-government conspiracy.
I would have preferred it had they actually been full characters from the beginning, mind, but I'll take the show getting there.
I think some of the narrative constraints they have can be played off against one another. I mean, they need to address Barb, the minor victim that was far too competently played, and they need to ensure Nancy has a good arc of her own. It seems like they're addressing the gender balance and also bringing in other cliches they can mix up through a new character called, sigh, Mad Max.
posted by Merus at 3:03 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
Fuck Ready Player One.
I still get angry about how a pretty cool story got ruined by literally every creepy stalker "nice guy" nerd spank-bank trope ever. That book came highly recommended to me, and I can see why, but Jesus.
That trailer is some pretty shitty tell-don't-show work, but once people see Iron Giants and DeLoreans in it, it'll make a billion dollars.
BUT THE STRANGER THINGS TRAILER IS AWESOME AND THE SHITTY VIDEO GAME IS WHAT SELLS IT, THAT IS HOW YOU DO THAT
posted by middleclasstool at 4:55 AM on July 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
I still get angry about how a pretty cool story got ruined by literally every creepy stalker "nice guy" nerd spank-bank trope ever. That book came highly recommended to me, and I can see why, but Jesus.
That trailer is some pretty shitty tell-don't-show work, but once people see Iron Giants and DeLoreans in it, it'll make a billion dollars.
BUT THE STRANGER THINGS TRAILER IS AWESOME AND THE SHITTY VIDEO GAME IS WHAT SELLS IT, THAT IS HOW YOU DO THAT
posted by middleclasstool at 4:55 AM on July 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
I still remember when I was trying to tell a friend of mine how much I hated this book I just read, whose name I couldn't remember because it was so shitty and inconsequential, and he was like, Ready Player One? I loved that book!
It was sort of awkward. And disheartening.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:02 AM on July 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
It was sort of awkward. And disheartening.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:02 AM on July 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
I'm working my way through season 1 right now. Two thoughts:
1. It's so unfair that every time Winona Ryder shows up I know I'm going to be scared or depressed. All her scenes are super-heavy.
2. How did the creators of this show know that the thing that scares me the most is monsters that come through fucking walls?
posted by um at 5:14 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
1. It's so unfair that every time Winona Ryder shows up I know I'm going to be scared or depressed. All her scenes are super-heavy.
2. How did the creators of this show know that the thing that scares me the most is monsters that come through fucking walls?
posted by um at 5:14 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
So remember about 25 years ago this movie came out, and it employed semi-inspired casting, a skillful use of current-art production techniques, and (most importantly) a saturation strategy of nostalgia bombs to plaster over the fact that the quality of the writing put Go Dog Go in a category with Tolstoy? But the people who were in charge of giving out awards back then fell for it so hard that they gave it basically every one available that year? And people are (thankfully) coming to realize that it was, in fact, a pretty shit movie after all, but it took that long for them to get over the part where having the Beach Boys and Byrds on the soundtrack was all the awesome they needed?
Anyway, enough about Forrest Gump, let's talk about Stranger Things.
As fleacircus pointed out, the entire decade reeked of cigarettes. Not to mention unburned leaded gasoline. Not to mention Southern politicians writing the playbook for Republican obstructionism they're playing to this day. People weren't listening to the Cure and Bowie and all the other awesome stuff you want to remember, nonstop, as depicted in the show, they were listening to Whitesnake and Hank Williams Jr.
So, I mean, that's cool, I like the Cure too, and the incidental soundtrack is really good. I'd maybe be down for that sort of suspended-belief nostalgic escapism if the writing were even a little bit of good, but the fact is, it's complete garbage. Eleven is missing from the trailer because she was a dead end the moment they decided a clairvoyant being didn't know what the word "friend" meant. Everyone's big question is "what happened to Barb" when it's pretty obvious they just killed her off because they basically have no idea how to write a TV show. Plot and character exist in this series only as scaffolding for the setting, and holes in the former are accumulating faster than they can throw (probably soon-to-be literal) tetris blocks to fill them in.
Everyone's optimism here is endearing, but, let's be honest, the series peaked probably about four seconds into the opening sequence of episode three. In 25 years, it's likely Forrest Gump will hold up pretty well in comparison.
posted by 7segment at 5:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [11 favorites]
Anyway, enough about Forrest Gump, let's talk about Stranger Things.
As fleacircus pointed out, the entire decade reeked of cigarettes. Not to mention unburned leaded gasoline. Not to mention Southern politicians writing the playbook for Republican obstructionism they're playing to this day. People weren't listening to the Cure and Bowie and all the other awesome stuff you want to remember, nonstop, as depicted in the show, they were listening to Whitesnake and Hank Williams Jr.
So, I mean, that's cool, I like the Cure too, and the incidental soundtrack is really good. I'd maybe be down for that sort of suspended-belief nostalgic escapism if the writing were even a little bit of good, but the fact is, it's complete garbage. Eleven is missing from the trailer because she was a dead end the moment they decided a clairvoyant being didn't know what the word "friend" meant. Everyone's big question is "what happened to Barb" when it's pretty obvious they just killed her off because they basically have no idea how to write a TV show. Plot and character exist in this series only as scaffolding for the setting, and holes in the former are accumulating faster than they can throw (probably soon-to-be literal) tetris blocks to fill them in.
Everyone's optimism here is endearing, but, let's be honest, the series peaked probably about four seconds into the opening sequence of episode three. In 25 years, it's likely Forrest Gump will hold up pretty well in comparison.
posted by 7segment at 5:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [11 favorites]
I really can't remember a piece of music from a TV show or movie that so perfectly yanked me back to the experience of watching the show for the first time and being totally, utterly enthralled.
Damn, I can't wait until October.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:38 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Damn, I can't wait until October.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:38 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I probably poured several hundred dollars into a Dragon's Lair machine when they were new. I loved it.
I doubt that I spent more than 75c on that game but I was in college by that time and that was precious beer money.
posted by octothorpe at 5:40 AM on July 23, 2017
I doubt that I spent more than 75c on that game but I was in college by that time and that was precious beer money.
posted by octothorpe at 5:40 AM on July 23, 2017
seemed like too many windows for a proper 80s arcade in my experience but i'm willing to let it slide
posted by entropicamericana at 5:42 AM on July 23, 2017
posted by entropicamericana at 5:42 AM on July 23, 2017
And Dragon's Lair was a thing more impressive in theory than practice.
Dragon's Lair is the ominous metaphor for the risk of big budgets and a focus on sensation over substance.
posted by acb at 5:43 AM on July 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
Dragon's Lair is the ominous metaphor for the risk of big budgets and a focus on sensation over substance.
posted by acb at 5:43 AM on July 23, 2017 [7 favorites]
Everyone's optimism here is endearing, but, let's be honest, the series peaked probably about four seconds into the opening sequence of episode three. In 25 years, it's likely Forrest Gump will hold up pretty well in comparison.
Sometimes, your total obliviousness just blows my mind.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:03 AM on July 23, 2017 [23 favorites]
Sometimes, your total obliviousness just blows my mind.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:03 AM on July 23, 2017 [23 favorites]
Are we not talking about the use of Thriller in this clip? Because we totally should be talking about the use of Thriller in this clip, absolutely masterful use of music.
posted by jeremias at 6:04 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by jeremias at 6:04 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
Oh and on the topic of Ready Player One this is the real trailer you're looking for.
posted by jeremias at 6:11 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by jeremias at 6:11 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
I love those pesky kids.
posted by gwint at 6:22 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by gwint at 6:22 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
People weren't listening to the Cure and Bowie and all the other awesome stuff you want to remember, nonstop, as depicted in the show, they were listening to Whitesnake and Hank Williams Jr.
So yeah I knew a bunch of people that were, at different points from the early to late 80s, listening to the Cure and the Cult and REM and Bowie and Eurythmics and Devo and Camper Van Beethoven and Violent Femmes and so on all when they were, except Bowie and Devo, new or at least still releasing their first few albums. These people existed, and I even burned a gazillion hours playing D&D and related stuff with them.
I also knew a bunch of people who, instead, were listening to Ozzy and Sabbath and Rush and Yes and Dio and Zep like I was. And a different bunch of people who listened to dance music. And a different bunch of people who listened to rap.
It's almost like there were a bunch of different cliques or something, and some things (like D&D) that connected some of them.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:34 AM on July 23, 2017 [23 favorites]
So yeah I knew a bunch of people that were, at different points from the early to late 80s, listening to the Cure and the Cult and REM and Bowie and Eurythmics and Devo and Camper Van Beethoven and Violent Femmes and so on all when they were, except Bowie and Devo, new or at least still releasing their first few albums. These people existed, and I even burned a gazillion hours playing D&D and related stuff with them.
I also knew a bunch of people who, instead, were listening to Ozzy and Sabbath and Rush and Yes and Dio and Zep like I was. And a different bunch of people who listened to dance music. And a different bunch of people who listened to rap.
It's almost like there were a bunch of different cliques or something, and some things (like D&D) that connected some of them.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:34 AM on July 23, 2017 [23 favorites]
I'm pretty nervous about Stranger Things season 2. The first season was great but mostly because it was so unexpected and nostalgic. Turns out we middle aged people missed The Goonies. Very curious to see if it holds up for more. The Vincent Price audio from The Thriller was my favorite part and had me looking up whether The Lost Boys could possibly be used as inspiration; it's just a bit too late, 1987. OTOH maybe it'd make a good pivot for the inevitable awkward season where half the stars have gone through puberty.
(But truthfully I'm here to complain about the Ready Player One trailer. It does not look good. The trailer is badly edited and the movie does not look good. But the weird callout of CINEMATIC GAME CHANGER STEVEN SPIELBERG is what really stuck in my craw.)
posted by Nelson at 6:55 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
(But truthfully I'm here to complain about the Ready Player One trailer. It does not look good. The trailer is badly edited and the movie does not look good. But the weird callout of CINEMATIC GAME CHANGER STEVEN SPIELBERG is what really stuck in my craw.)
posted by Nelson at 6:55 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
So yeah I knew a bunch of people that were, at different points from the early to late 80s, listening to the Cure and the Cult and REM and Bowie and Eurythmics and Devo and Camper Van Beethoven and Violent Femmes and so on all when they were, except Bowie and Devo, new or at least still releasing their first few albums. These people existed, and I even burned a gazillion hours playing D&D and related stuff with them.
Raises hand. This was the soundtrack of my life mid to late 80s and pretty much everyone around me. The Cure was huge. And we're talking pretty regular middle class kids in the suburbs. Just need to add The Smiths, Erasure, Depeche Mode and The The to be complete. Maybe it was a urban West Coast Canadian thing but the music on the show is exactly what was being listened to all of the time.
posted by Jalliah at 6:57 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
Raises hand. This was the soundtrack of my life mid to late 80s and pretty much everyone around me. The Cure was huge. And we're talking pretty regular middle class kids in the suburbs. Just need to add The Smiths, Erasure, Depeche Mode and The The to be complete. Maybe it was a urban West Coast Canadian thing but the music on the show is exactly what was being listened to all of the time.
posted by Jalliah at 6:57 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
(But truthfully I'm here to complain about the Ready Player One trailer. It does not look good. The trailer is badly edited and the movie does not look good. But the weird callout of CINEMATIC GAME CHANGER STEVEN SPIELBERG is what really stuck in my craw.)
It's probably going to be heartwarming.
posted by acb at 7:06 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's probably going to be heartwarming.
posted by acb at 7:06 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
There is nothing creepier than a Dorothy Hamill bowl cut.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:07 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:07 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
Fuck Ready Player One
I had the same nagging feeling about RPO, perhaps not as strong as Artw, but it was a comment from a Redditor that finally made me figure it out:
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:12 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
I had the same nagging feeling about RPO, perhaps not as strong as Artw, but it was a comment from a Redditor that finally made me figure it out:
"Constant references can lead to a bit of lazy writing too. Instead of having to describe what the character feels and goes through internally, you can just write "I felt exactly like Luke Skywalker when he faces Darth Vader in Cloud City"What's a good term for this? Cultural "short-cutting"?
That's not me writing, I'm just making you remember the writing of someone else and how that person made you feel."
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:12 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
There is nothing creepier than a Dorothy Hamill bowl cut.
Raises hand again. This was my only hairstyle in the early 80s. It was my thing because my specific hair was able to rock that style and elementary school me was so damn proud that I could.
I was the eye-glasses wearing nerdy girl in class with THE DORTHY HAMILL CUT goddammit.
Looking at photographs from that time is such a treat.
posted by Jalliah at 7:15 AM on July 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
Raises hand again. This was my only hairstyle in the early 80s. It was my thing because my specific hair was able to rock that style and elementary school me was so damn proud that I could.
I was the eye-glasses wearing nerdy girl in class with THE DORTHY HAMILL CUT goddammit.
Looking at photographs from that time is such a treat.
posted by Jalliah at 7:15 AM on July 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
What's a good term for this? Cultural "short-cutting"?
On a tangent, there was once an interview with Joe Kricfalusi(sp?), the cartoonist/animator behind Ren and Stimpy, where he said that anyone who writes a cartoon should also draw, because otherwise you get something cut-and-pasted from second- and third-hand clichés and references to earlier material, with props, characters and entire scenes being borrowed. I think he may, incidentally, have been taking aim at Steven Spielberg (who was responsible for a number of cartoons like Animaniacs, which were cobbled together from old tropes).
posted by acb at 7:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
On a tangent, there was once an interview with Joe Kricfalusi(sp?), the cartoonist/animator behind Ren and Stimpy, where he said that anyone who writes a cartoon should also draw, because otherwise you get something cut-and-pasted from second- and third-hand clichés and references to earlier material, with props, characters and entire scenes being borrowed. I think he may, incidentally, have been taking aim at Steven Spielberg (who was responsible for a number of cartoons like Animaniacs, which were cobbled together from old tropes).
posted by acb at 7:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Reference Overdosed (warning: tvtropes)
Close, but I'd argue that Family Guy is more of the flag-bearer in that trope than Ready Player One.
RPO is more like our GenX version of "Shaka, when the walls fell".
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:25 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Close, but I'd argue that Family Guy is more of the flag-bearer in that trope than Ready Player One.
RPO is more like our GenX version of "Shaka, when the walls fell".
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:25 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Animaniacs was "cobbled together from old tropes" in the same way that any Tarantino film is "cobbled together from old tropes". It recontextualized them and made something new and insightful out of them. What's that called, post-modernism? Or something? It's a real thing, and it's a worthwhile exploration of expression.
posted by hippybear at 7:28 AM on July 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:28 AM on July 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
RPO, or as i call it, "Member Berries: The Novel."
posted by entropicamericana at 7:32 AM on July 23, 2017
posted by entropicamericana at 7:32 AM on July 23, 2017
The first thing that I thought of watching that Ready Player One trailer was Sucker Punch which probably isn't a good sign.
posted by octothorpe at 7:41 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:41 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
RPO posits a society in which everything is a reference to the 80s, nothing new can be created and everyone just rolls around in the ruins of culture doing the same shit over and over, and says "isn't it great?".
posted by Artw at 7:47 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 7:47 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Can maybe someone post a RPO thread to the front page so we can discuss Stranger Things in this thread and RPO someplace else?
posted by hippybear at 7:49 AM on July 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:49 AM on July 23, 2017 [8 favorites]
Eh, fair enough, though I've seen a fair bit of compare and contrast of how the two use culture in the last couple of days. ST does hit the nostalgia button hard, but generally comes out better.
posted by Artw at 7:55 AM on July 23, 2017
posted by Artw at 7:55 AM on July 23, 2017
Paper Girls is another one I'd throw in for discussion, partially because of my suspicion that it's just easier to write roaming gangs of kids in that era and partially because I suspect writers have an easier time writing kid centric stuff set in the time they grew up in. Paper Girls isn't a pastiche like ST though.
posted by Artw at 8:00 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:00 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Everyone's optimism here is endearing, but, let's be honest, the series peaked probably about four seconds into the opening sequence of episode three.
The enthusiasm isn't so much endearing as based upon actually having liked the first season, which you did not. "Hey people who like Series X, and are excited for season 2, stop being excited, because I don't like Series X and neither should you" is hardly a great argument.
posted by howfar at 8:05 AM on July 23, 2017 [19 favorites]
The enthusiasm isn't so much endearing as based upon actually having liked the first season, which you did not. "Hey people who like Series X, and are excited for season 2, stop being excited, because I don't like Series X and neither should you" is hardly a great argument.
posted by howfar at 8:05 AM on July 23, 2017 [19 favorites]
Space Ace > Dragon's Lair
posted by memebake at 8:08 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by memebake at 8:08 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I suspect writers have an easier time writing kid centric stuff set in the time they grew up in.
Though, actually, I seem to remover learning the Duffer bros were about 12.
posted by Artw at 8:10 AM on July 23, 2017
Though, actually, I seem to remover learning the Duffer bros were about 12.
posted by Artw at 8:10 AM on July 23, 2017
The popular, nostalgic, roaming kids movie coming out in twenty years will take place entirely in Minecraft.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:12 AM on July 23, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 8:12 AM on July 23, 2017 [12 favorites]
I dunno, howfar, I really liked Stranger Things, but I have no desire for more of it and the trailer did not help. Part of that is personal bias--I like stories to end. I don't need more time with "characters I loved" when the story has been told. I'm pretty happy to--and in fact prefer to--move from one story and story setting to the next. Rather than watch an increasingly weak serial, struggling to find more there there or desperately writing itself into and out of corners.
But also Stranger Things worked not because it hit nostalgia points well but because it conjured a type of story while telling its own story. A lot of people I talked to about Stranger Things said stuff like "You know, I had forgotten how menacing E.T. really was". The story of Stranger Things worked because the storytelling brought us to a new place in our nostalgia for gangs of 80's kids facing down government conspiracies or alien races like we had in movies when we were kids. Continuing the serial is not going to do that. ¯\(°_o)/¯
posted by crush at 8:30 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
But also Stranger Things worked not because it hit nostalgia points well but because it conjured a type of story while telling its own story. A lot of people I talked to about Stranger Things said stuff like "You know, I had forgotten how menacing E.T. really was". The story of Stranger Things worked because the storytelling brought us to a new place in our nostalgia for gangs of 80's kids facing down government conspiracies or alien races like we had in movies when we were kids. Continuing the serial is not going to do that. ¯\(°_o)/¯
posted by crush at 8:30 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I can't even count the number of shows that I've loved the first season of and then have dropped after starting a second season. Stories have beginnings and endings, and they don't need to go on until nobody can stand them anymore.
Unfortunately, "run it until everyone hates it" is the model for US television generally.
posted by hippybear at 9:00 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
Unfortunately, "run it until everyone hates it" is the model for US television generally.
posted by hippybear at 9:00 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
I can't even count the number of shows that I've loved the first season of and then have dropped after starting a second season. Stories have beginnings and endings, and they don't need to go on until nobody can stand them anymore.
Unfortunately, "run it until everyone hates it" is the model for US television generally.
In my experience the model for U.S. television has been "OH! FUCK! SAMI LIKES IT! CANCEL! CANCEL! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CANCEL NOW!"
posted by Samizdata at 9:07 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
Unfortunately, "run it until everyone hates it" is the model for US television generally.
In my experience the model for U.S. television has been "OH! FUCK! SAMI LIKES IT! CANCEL! CANCEL! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CANCEL NOW!"
posted by Samizdata at 9:07 AM on July 23, 2017 [9 favorites]
It's rare that I ever bother to watch the last few seasons of a TV series and when I do, I usually regret it (*cough*Battlestar Galactica*cough*). I'm usually happy just watching the first two or so.
posted by octothorpe at 9:07 AM on July 23, 2017
posted by octothorpe at 9:07 AM on July 23, 2017
So yeah I knew a bunch of people that were, at different points from the early to late 80s, listening to the Cure and the Cult and REM and Bowie and Eurythmics and Devo and Camper Van Beethoven and Violent Femmes and so on all when they were, except Bowie and Devo,
I turned twenty-one in 1980, and was old enough to know better (whatever that means). Part of what it means is that a huge chunk of my life was dedicated to finding music, movies etc that lay outside the narrow margins of the mainstream. So yeah, I was all over "the cool" stuff, but it took work. Because, in terms of music, it certainly wasn't available on commercial radio (maybe four Cure songs, two Cult songs, five REM songs etc). So, where would "normal" kids be finding such stuff? Via non-commercial radio, shared mixtapes, cool older brothers and sisters ...
Before the interwebs, all we had were our networks.
posted by philip-random at 9:11 AM on July 23, 2017
I turned twenty-one in 1980, and was old enough to know better (whatever that means). Part of what it means is that a huge chunk of my life was dedicated to finding music, movies etc that lay outside the narrow margins of the mainstream. So yeah, I was all over "the cool" stuff, but it took work. Because, in terms of music, it certainly wasn't available on commercial radio (maybe four Cure songs, two Cult songs, five REM songs etc). So, where would "normal" kids be finding such stuff? Via non-commercial radio, shared mixtapes, cool older brothers and sisters ...
Before the interwebs, all we had were our networks.
posted by philip-random at 9:11 AM on July 23, 2017
MTV was so influential in music across most of the 80s that I'm sure there are bands that achieved success not because their music was any good but because they created cool music videos.
But yeah, trading mixtapes was a major way to access music that you didn't know about already. I still have most of mine from back then. Someday I'll hook a cassette player up to my stereo and listen to them again.
posted by hippybear at 9:14 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
But yeah, trading mixtapes was a major way to access music that you didn't know about already. I still have most of mine from back then. Someday I'll hook a cassette player up to my stereo and listen to them again.
posted by hippybear at 9:14 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Creatures crawl in search of blood
to terrorize yorze neighborhood"
I believe it's "terrorize y'all's neighborhood", no?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
to terrorize yorze neighborhood"
I believe it's "terrorize y'all's neighborhood", no?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
So yeah I knew a bunch of people that were, at different points from the early to late 80s, listening to the Cure and the Cult and REM and Bowie and Eurythmics and Devo and Camper Van Beethoven and Violent Femmes and so on all when they were, except Bowie and Devo, new or at least still releasing their first few albums. These people existed, and I even burned a gazillion hours playing D&D and related stuff with them.
Me too but I also remember that there was precisely one radio station on the entire dial that played that stuff in Toronto (CFNY 102.1). A lot of the people pretending now that they were into New Wave were listening to Chris DeBurgh, Ted Nugent and Van Halen. It's slightly irksome to me but I am willing to go along with this minor retcon so that I a don't have to listen to the actually popular crap from the eighties in condo lobbies, stores and on TV soundtracks because that would be as awful as it was back then.
posted by srboisvert at 9:23 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Me too but I also remember that there was precisely one radio station on the entire dial that played that stuff in Toronto (CFNY 102.1). A lot of the people pretending now that they were into New Wave were listening to Chris DeBurgh, Ted Nugent and Van Halen. It's slightly irksome to me but I am willing to go along with this minor retcon so that I a don't have to listen to the actually popular crap from the eighties in condo lobbies, stores and on TV soundtracks because that would be as awful as it was back then.
posted by srboisvert at 9:23 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
I saw Chris De Burgh on his Into The Light tour in (then West) Germany in 1986/7. It was a really great show.
I've tried 4 times to make a CDB FPP and I can't stand to listen to his music long enough to put something together.
It's interesting how things change.
posted by hippybear at 9:31 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I've tried 4 times to make a CDB FPP and I can't stand to listen to his music long enough to put something together.
It's interesting how things change.
posted by hippybear at 9:31 AM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
So yeah I knew a bunch of people that were, at different points from the early to late 80s, listening to the Cure and the Cult and REM and Bowie and Eurythmics and Devo and Camper Van Beethoven and Violent Femmes and so on all when they were, except Bowie and Devo, new or at least still releasing their first few albums. These people existed, and I even burned a gazillion hours playing D&D and related stuff with them.
I was listening to punk/new wave and such in high-school in Jersey on the New York stations and then went to school in central PA where the mid-seventies had never actually ended. All of my classmates were into Zep/Rush/Sabbath/Maiden/etc and hated "all that new music on MTV".
posted by octothorpe at 9:46 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
I was listening to punk/new wave and such in high-school in Jersey on the New York stations and then went to school in central PA where the mid-seventies had never actually ended. All of my classmates were into Zep/Rush/Sabbath/Maiden/etc and hated "all that new music on MTV".
posted by octothorpe at 9:46 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
I remember in the early 80s when I was 11, my mom was the cafeteria lady at my elementary school, because she worked for the school district, she'd heard about and gotten us tickets to see Vincent Price at a local high school theater where he was giving his "The Villains Still Pursue Me" talk. (The same one he gave a decade earlier, part one, part two.) He opened the talk by doing a the opening poem from Thriller. I was one of a handful who just had to go backstage and meet him and get his autograph. He was so gracious. So I can't hear the Thriller poem without remembering I've heard him do it live.
posted by Catblack at 9:51 AM on July 23, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 9:51 AM on July 23, 2017 [10 favorites]
VINCENT PRICE.
That is all.
If Stranger Things wanted to be even more evocative of my childhood, it really needs Price intoning, "The castle lights are growing dim; there's no one left but me and him..."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:42 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
That is all.
If Stranger Things wanted to be even more evocative of my childhood, it really needs Price intoning, "The castle lights are growing dim; there's no one left but me and him..."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:42 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Dragon's Lair was really expensive to play when it first came out. Here in New York it was initially $1 to play. I remember the first time I played it, I went through all three of my lives in a matter of seconds. The worst dollar I ever spent. I hate Dragon's Lair with a passion.
posted by cazoo at 10:59 AM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by cazoo at 10:59 AM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
People. People! I think the dislike of Ready Player One is blinding us to the real issue here, one that can unite us: Armada, Ernest Cline's next book, is truly wretched.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:02 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:02 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
I had a friend in high school who ended up working for Disney eventually and was a giant Don Bluth fanboy. He had gotten his hands on a video tape of all the Dragon's Lair cut scenes. Rather than pay to play it, we used to just watch it. As I recall, it showed the scene and then the failure cut, then the successful cut. Then the next scene and so on. We used to just shout along and pretend we were playing.
It was a simpler time.
posted by crush at 11:10 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
It was a simpler time.
posted by crush at 11:10 AM on July 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
(and if any of those guys are on Metafilter, I've just outed myself. Hey, guys! You all were great and I recently found the autographed Oingo Boingo shirt y'all got me. I appreciated it then and now)
posted by crush at 11:14 AM on July 23, 2017
posted by crush at 11:14 AM on July 23, 2017
We all love you no matter how you identify yourself.
posted by hippybear at 11:16 AM on July 23, 2017
posted by hippybear at 11:16 AM on July 23, 2017
(currently listening to the cure's pornography in response to this thread. Indeed, it's still awesome.)
posted by kaibutsu at 11:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 11:20 AM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Also, I just now had the chance to watch the trailer. The way that just that one brief tiny glimpse of the arcade change machine had me reflexively wanting to shove $5 into it and start playing Galaga would have had Ivan Pavlov scribbling notes furiously.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:44 AM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:44 AM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
The way they use Thriller reminds me that the outro was the best bit
posted by memebake at 12:31 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by memebake at 12:31 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
I adored the first season of ST, and while I wouldn't haven't minded the show ending there, I'm excited for the second season. The trailer's good, half the cast is great, and nostalgia is nostalgia.
As for anyone who didn't get what was great about the first season, I'd point them to Winona Ryder's performance -- weird and funny and ragged and honest and what a perfect goddamn payoff! -- and to the scene at the cliffside, which perfectly evokes the terror and hugeness of boyhood; mine anyway. That cliff scene was Spielberg/Bradbury/King-level iconic storytelling. It tore me to pieces. If you don't get it you don't get it, but don't pretend that your failure to connect indicts the art.
I don't know anyone who's asking 'What about Barb?' but the actress did memorable work with thin material, and I hope she's around in some way in S2.
posted by waxbanks at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
As for anyone who didn't get what was great about the first season, I'd point them to Winona Ryder's performance -- weird and funny and ragged and honest and what a perfect goddamn payoff! -- and to the scene at the cliffside, which perfectly evokes the terror and hugeness of boyhood; mine anyway. That cliff scene was Spielberg/Bradbury/King-level iconic storytelling. It tore me to pieces. If you don't get it you don't get it, but don't pretend that your failure to connect indicts the art.
I don't know anyone who's asking 'What about Barb?' but the actress did memorable work with thin material, and I hope she's around in some way in S2.
posted by waxbanks at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
half the cast is great
You can't just throw that out there without specifying which half isn't great !
posted by Pendragon at 12:51 PM on July 23, 2017
You can't just throw that out there without specifying which half isn't great !
posted by Pendragon at 12:51 PM on July 23, 2017
"I was listening to punk/new wave and such in high-school in Jersey on the New York stations and then went to school in central PA where the mid-seventies had never actually ended. All of my classmates were into Zep/Rush/Sabbath/Maiden/etc and hated "all that new music on MTV"."
It feels like culturally much of America (particularly rural America) is about 5-10 years behind the coasts. That being said there is home-made culture in those spots (think rural punk bands) that is/was pretty interesting.
It's weird to hear assertions that no one listened to college radio (the Cure, REM, Violent Femmes, etc); those alternative bands weren't obscure things that were hard to hear on the air-waves, they were the heavy-rotation top-40 of college radio stations everywhere.
I'm hopeful for season 2. I think the creators knew what they were doing as far as preparing for a 2nd season when they wrote the 1st. I've certainly abandoned some shows a couple of episodes into a 2nd season, but shows with some good vision, writing, and creative staff can pull off several seasons and still be strong. It is pretty rare a show is worth watching after the 5th season or so. I wouldn't read too much into the trailer - it's designed to make people excited, ideally without giving away much plot. So it makes sense that it would be heavy on cultural references and some visuals.
posted by el io at 12:52 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
It feels like culturally much of America (particularly rural America) is about 5-10 years behind the coasts. That being said there is home-made culture in those spots (think rural punk bands) that is/was pretty interesting.
It's weird to hear assertions that no one listened to college radio (the Cure, REM, Violent Femmes, etc); those alternative bands weren't obscure things that were hard to hear on the air-waves, they were the heavy-rotation top-40 of college radio stations everywhere.
I'm hopeful for season 2. I think the creators knew what they were doing as far as preparing for a 2nd season when they wrote the 1st. I've certainly abandoned some shows a couple of episodes into a 2nd season, but shows with some good vision, writing, and creative staff can pull off several seasons and still be strong. It is pretty rare a show is worth watching after the 5th season or so. I wouldn't read too much into the trailer - it's designed to make people excited, ideally without giving away much plot. So it makes sense that it would be heavy on cultural references and some visuals.
posted by el io at 12:52 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
I think it's important that the "hip for the time" soundtrack in ST comes courtesy of Will's older brother Jonathan, and that in-universe he's unusual for listening to the music he does (and which he imparts onto Will.)
posted by Navelgazer at 1:16 PM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 1:16 PM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Mach 3 > Space Ace > Dragon's Lair.
posted by loquacious at 1:19 PM on July 23, 2017
posted by loquacious at 1:19 PM on July 23, 2017
ha, I thought a second season would be less wall-to-wall boys because I am a dummy. but it still feels stephen kingier than any stephen king adaptation ever, and I still kind of like that.
posted by queenofbithynia at 1:28 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by queenofbithynia at 1:28 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Plot and character exist in this series only as scaffolding for the setting.
I agree. Once you strip away the novelty of "cool, it's the 80's!" - what's left is a pretty average science fiction story.
posted by davebush at 1:42 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
I agree. Once you strip away the novelty of "cool, it's the 80's!" - what's left is a pretty average science fiction story.
posted by davebush at 1:42 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
"I agree. Once you strip away the novelty of "cool, it's the 80's!" - what's left is a pretty average science fiction story."
Okay, but the dialog (writing), production, and acting make it a good show. You can take a lot of great science fiction stories and fuck them up incredibly (Enemy Mine, Nightfall, for example)... And then you can take so-so stories and turn them into great productions. If this was executed poorly, it would suck (which is of course true with nearly everything).
posted by el io at 2:43 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Okay, but the dialog (writing), production, and acting make it a good show. You can take a lot of great science fiction stories and fuck them up incredibly (Enemy Mine, Nightfall, for example)... And then you can take so-so stories and turn them into great productions. If this was executed poorly, it would suck (which is of course true with nearly everything).
posted by el io at 2:43 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I agree. Once you strip away the novelty of "cool, it's the 80's!" - what's left is a pretty average science fiction story.
I agree completely. The show disappointed me, but I see why so many people like it--it's just not my cup of New Coke.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:07 PM on July 23, 2017
I agree completely. The show disappointed me, but I see why so many people like it--it's just not my cup of New Coke.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:07 PM on July 23, 2017
He had gotten his hands on a video tape of all the Dragon's Lair cut scenes. Rather than pay to play it, we used to just watch it. As I recall, it showed the scene and then the failure cut, then the successful cut.
Here you go.
For everyone else, Dragon's Lair used a LaserDisc player to provide the video for each scene. Making a move with the joystick would make the (disc) player jump to a new scene, or to the death scene for Dirk if the move was wrong. Death scenes and restarts were placed throughout the disc to minimize seek time to the necessary material.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:09 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Here you go.
For everyone else, Dragon's Lair used a LaserDisc player to provide the video for each scene. Making a move with the joystick would make the (disc) player jump to a new scene, or to the death scene for Dirk if the move was wrong. Death scenes and restarts were placed throughout the disc to minimize seek time to the necessary material.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:09 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I didn't expect the princess to be quite so, um, porny but I probably should have.
posted by octothorpe at 3:35 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 3:35 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
No the porny level of the princess is surprising. I remember when a few years post-high school I ran across a Princess Daphne poster--seeing how porny she was and remembering how no-one remarked anything about it other than approval of how hot she was for a Disney-adjacent-animated character--that really helped me understand the background radiation of misogyny in my life.
The 80's were in many ways a terrible place to live.
posted by crush at 3:42 PM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
The 80's were in many ways a terrible place to live.
posted by crush at 3:42 PM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Barb emerging from a demogorgon turd will clinch season two for me.
posted by dr_dank at 6:14 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 6:14 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm basically concerned that the one really good thing from S1, the intense queer subtext that is no doubt 100% accidental, won't be able to manifest itself and the whole thing will be lacking.
posted by The Whelk at 6:19 PM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 6:19 PM on July 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
Well, speaking of retro videogaming with LaserDiscs, anyone remember Thayer's Quest (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thayer%27s_Quest), the conversion kit? The bloody thing had a keyboard (http://imgur.com/E0PVtol).
Liking the Barb reemergence idea. And I didn't see a queer subtext either.
posted by Samizdata at 6:52 PM on July 23, 2017
Liking the Barb reemergence idea. And I didn't see a queer subtext either.
posted by Samizdata at 6:52 PM on July 23, 2017
Per Twitter, Barb is the Boba Fett of Stanger Things.
(Beloved fan favorite despite doing next to nothing on screen and dying early on.)
posted by Artw at 7:41 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
(Beloved fan favorite despite doing next to nothing on screen and dying early on.)
posted by Artw at 7:41 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
someone needs to come up with an acronym that is "Boba Fett" that describes Artw's comment.
posted by hippybear at 7:48 PM on July 23, 2017
posted by hippybear at 7:48 PM on July 23, 2017
I still think that if Nancy was super best buddies with Barb, there ought to have been a scene where Joyce or Nancy says something like "I'm real sorry your daughter blew up, Mrs. Barb." Maybe that happened and I missed it.
posted by bitterkitten at 8:03 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by bitterkitten at 8:03 PM on July 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I remember practically nothing of the first season but I'm pretty sure we enjoyed it? So this should be good probably. Thor trailer is the best trailer however.
Ready Player One looks like the worlds most expensive Reddit thread comment chain of people "catching references" like they are rare birds. Is that how the book reads? Smh.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:50 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ready Player One looks like the worlds most expensive Reddit thread comment chain of people "catching references" like they are rare birds. Is that how the book reads? Smh.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:50 PM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Liking the Barb reemergence idea. And I didn't see a queer subtext either.
The Whelk can correct me if I'm totally off-base, but I seem to recall a few internet commentators picking up on some coded (and perhaps stereotypical) queerness in certain details of how the missing kid was depicted.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:26 PM on July 23, 2017
The Whelk can correct me if I'm totally off-base, but I seem to recall a few internet commentators picking up on some coded (and perhaps stereotypical) queerness in certain details of how the missing kid was depicted.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:26 PM on July 23, 2017
Ready Player One looks like the worlds most expensive Reddit thread comment chain of people "catching references" like they are rare birds. Is that how the book reads? Smh.
It's not just a chain of references, but a chain of references with neatly typed explanations of every single one. It's not the sort of book that just lets its allusions be allusive, it wants you to know that the author is really proud of his VH-1 clip show level of pop culture knowledge.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:31 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's not just a chain of references, but a chain of references with neatly typed explanations of every single one. It's not the sort of book that just lets its allusions be allusive, it wants you to know that the author is really proud of his VH-1 clip show level of pop culture knowledge.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:31 PM on July 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
That's the other thing, yeah. I realize it's first person from Future Kid's perspective, but you could probably trim 20% of the book away by axing all of the 'splaining of pop culture references.
This thread isn't 48 hours old yet and I've shifted from "that was a fun idea ruined by creeper bullshit" to "wow that was a really, really shitty mashup of Ender's Game, The Matrix, and The Big Bang Theory". Which, now that I say it like that, Jesus.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:26 AM on July 24, 2017
This thread isn't 48 hours old yet and I've shifted from "that was a fun idea ruined by creeper bullshit" to "wow that was a really, really shitty mashup of Ender's Game, The Matrix, and The Big Bang Theory". Which, now that I say it like that, Jesus.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:26 AM on July 24, 2017
Maybe it was a urban West Coast Canadian thing but the music on the show is exactly what was being listened to all of the time.
I grew up in a small town in central Indiana. I was listening to Adam Ant, The Cure, The Smiths, all that New Wave stuff, from the time I was maybe 13, 14, so 1983, 1984. We didn't even have really awesome record stores, just the crappy one in the mall where the clerks would follow us weirdos around, but we still found the stuff we wanted. MTV helped, too, but a lot of it was just borrowing your friend's records and swapping mixtapes. Someone got a copy of Maximum Rocknroll at some point and that was definitely a treasured source (I subscribed but I had to have my copies sent to my friend's house because my parents would have FREAKED if it showed up in our mailbox). Teenagers have always been able to find "obscure" stuff if they really want to.
People weren't listening to the Cure and Bowie and all the other awesome stuff you want to remember, nonstop, as depicted in the show, they were listening to Whitesnake and Hank Williams Jr.
Yes, we were listening to the the Cure and Bowie nonstop. It was our lifeline out of the small towns we were living in. Most of our classmates, though, were listening to Whitesnake and Hank Jr. and that is why we left those towns and never looked back. Or, at least, my friends and I left and never looked back.
I am so, so excited for S2. SO EXCITED.
posted by cooker girl at 6:50 AM on July 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
I grew up in a small town in central Indiana. I was listening to Adam Ant, The Cure, The Smiths, all that New Wave stuff, from the time I was maybe 13, 14, so 1983, 1984. We didn't even have really awesome record stores, just the crappy one in the mall where the clerks would follow us weirdos around, but we still found the stuff we wanted. MTV helped, too, but a lot of it was just borrowing your friend's records and swapping mixtapes. Someone got a copy of Maximum Rocknroll at some point and that was definitely a treasured source (I subscribed but I had to have my copies sent to my friend's house because my parents would have FREAKED if it showed up in our mailbox). Teenagers have always been able to find "obscure" stuff if they really want to.
People weren't listening to the Cure and Bowie and all the other awesome stuff you want to remember, nonstop, as depicted in the show, they were listening to Whitesnake and Hank Williams Jr.
Yes, we were listening to the the Cure and Bowie nonstop. It was our lifeline out of the small towns we were living in. Most of our classmates, though, were listening to Whitesnake and Hank Jr. and that is why we left those towns and never looked back. Or, at least, my friends and I left and never looked back.
I am so, so excited for S2. SO EXCITED.
posted by cooker girl at 6:50 AM on July 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
Recycling from my own twitter (no one has responded there):
Does Ready Player One have anything of substance to it, or is the whole appeal in recognizing other properties that people like?...My impression is "Oops All Easter Eggs"...now that it's a movie all I focus on is what a behind the scenes legal headache it must have been.
Obviously I haven't read the book, and most of what I know about it is limited to an enthusiastic recommendation from a friend years ago...The recommendation ended up backfiring because all I got from his description was that there were lots and lots and lots of references in it to movies he knew I liked. Which just made me want to go and re-watch movies I liked, instead of reading fictional characters talk about them.
I feel similarly to Stranger Things, although I did watch S1 and mostly enjoyed it superficially, though the whole time I was wondering what exactly the setting had to do with the story they were telling.
I hate having to go full-cynic on stuff like this, but when hype reaches these heights my guard goes up pretty fast and strong.
posted by doctornecessiter at 6:53 AM on July 24, 2017
Does Ready Player One have anything of substance to it, or is the whole appeal in recognizing other properties that people like?...My impression is "Oops All Easter Eggs"...now that it's a movie all I focus on is what a behind the scenes legal headache it must have been.
Obviously I haven't read the book, and most of what I know about it is limited to an enthusiastic recommendation from a friend years ago...The recommendation ended up backfiring because all I got from his description was that there were lots and lots and lots of references in it to movies he knew I liked. Which just made me want to go and re-watch movies I liked, instead of reading fictional characters talk about them.
I feel similarly to Stranger Things, although I did watch S1 and mostly enjoyed it superficially, though the whole time I was wondering what exactly the setting had to do with the story they were telling.
I hate having to go full-cynic on stuff like this, but when hype reaches these heights my guard goes up pretty fast and strong.
posted by doctornecessiter at 6:53 AM on July 24, 2017
Artw: "20% seems optimistic."
Unless I missed it, there's not single non-white male artist in that entire segment.
Oh wait, there's some Anime in there.
posted by octothorpe at 7:01 AM on July 24, 2017
Unless I missed it, there's not single non-white male artist in that entire segment.
Oh wait, there's some Anime in there.
posted by octothorpe at 7:01 AM on July 24, 2017
I need to finish the first season of Stranger Things. My tv-watching has fallen off a lot despite the fact that I like stuff one I settle down to see it. But somehow I enjoy reading threads and listening to podcasts about tv stuff but actually watching it doesn't seem to matter to me. But the first three episodes were great and I should finish.
As for Ready Player One, it was fine. I read it, it was a quick read, and I don't need to ever reread it, but I'm not mad that I did.
posted by PussKillian at 7:06 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
As for Ready Player One, it was fine. I read it, it was a quick read, and I don't need to ever reread it, but I'm not mad that I did.
posted by PussKillian at 7:06 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Unless I missed it, there's not single non-white male artist in that entire segment.
Oh wait, there's some Anime in there.
This may be a problem in reference heavy nerd culture.
posted by Artw at 7:07 AM on July 24, 2017
Oh wait, there's some Anime in there.
This may be a problem in reference heavy nerd culture.
posted by Artw at 7:07 AM on July 24, 2017
Issuing a second gentle request to dial back the RP-1 discussions in the Stranger Things thread, please?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:07 AM on July 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:07 AM on July 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
My basset hound is terrified of the Vincent Price segment in Thriller; some 1980s streaming station played it about once a day, and when the song came on -- long before the spoken-word stuff -- the dog would come into the living room and stare at the speakers; when the time got close, he'd start wining softly and the hair on his back would stand up; when Vincent Price started talking, the dog would either start whining really loud, or jump in our laps, or both, with the climax at Price's maniacal laugh. Once the song was over, the dog would immediately calm down and go back to what he was doing before the song started (probably sleeping).
When I started playing the Stranger Things trailer, it didn't cross my mind because it started with Vincent Price's voice...but the dog started whining and pacing in the living room, one floor down from me. Vincent Price has a certain power.
I, too, am looking forward to the next season of Stranger Things; the first season wasn't great, but it was pretty darn good. One thing about a second season with all the same characters is that one of the charm of the first season was figuring out what drives each character, and at what point each character begins to understand the story they're in. Since this seems like a continuation, there's going to be a lot less discovery, and more expectations for the characters to act the way they behaved when we, the watchers, first figured it out. When you start filming episodic TV where each episode is a monument to getting every character to do what the viewer's expect from them in every episode, that's how you end up with Big Bang Theory, Two Broke Girls, Two and a Half Men, etc.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:19 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
When I started playing the Stranger Things trailer, it didn't cross my mind because it started with Vincent Price's voice...but the dog started whining and pacing in the living room, one floor down from me. Vincent Price has a certain power.
I, too, am looking forward to the next season of Stranger Things; the first season wasn't great, but it was pretty darn good. One thing about a second season with all the same characters is that one of the charm of the first season was figuring out what drives each character, and at what point each character begins to understand the story they're in. Since this seems like a continuation, there's going to be a lot less discovery, and more expectations for the characters to act the way they behaved when we, the watchers, first figured it out. When you start filming episodic TV where each episode is a monument to getting every character to do what the viewer's expect from them in every episode, that's how you end up with Big Bang Theory, Two Broke Girls, Two and a Half Men, etc.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:19 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
For what it's worth, in re: nostalgia as being the driving force behind Stranger Things, my 16-year-old loved it (as did several of her friends) and the undergrad students I manage were talking about it glowingly back when it first was released.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:52 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Rock Steady at 8:52 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I read Ready Player One when it first came out and kinda liked it, but then put it away and went on to other stuff. I didn't know it was going to be super popular. I guess I'm kinda disappointed that an actual blockbuster Ready Player One movie is actually being made and I heard it being described as that movie "where everyone in society uses VR and it's everywhere" and there's still no Snow Crash film?
And also this year we got a live action Ghost in the Shell movie and going to get Blade Runner 2, yet no word on Snow Crash.
posted by FJT at 8:57 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
And also this year we got a live action Ghost in the Shell movie and going to get Blade Runner 2, yet no word on Snow Crash.
posted by FJT at 8:57 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
My kid adored Stranger Things S1 too, without 80s-ness being a barrier of any kind. It's less "here is a reference to a thing!" and more "here are some elements we find cool that we have used to build something cool", which I think is perfectly acceptable.
(My kid actually loves reference heavy stuff but it's all incomprehensible nonsense from games, YouTube* and anime or those things referencing each other. I'm mildly horrified by it all, TBH, as is right and proper for a parent to be when looking at youth culture. )
(* yes I keep half an eye on that shit to make sure it's not nazis. )
posted by Artw at 9:08 AM on July 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
(My kid actually loves reference heavy stuff but it's all incomprehensible nonsense from games, YouTube* and anime or those things referencing each other. I'm mildly horrified by it all, TBH, as is right and proper for a parent to be when looking at youth culture. )
(* yes I keep half an eye on that shit to make sure it's not nazis. )
posted by Artw at 9:08 AM on July 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
When you start filming episodic TV where each episode is a monument to getting every character to do what the viewer's expect from them in every episode, that's how you end up with Big Bang Theory, Two Broke Girls, Two and a Half Men, etc.
Only if you are doing episodic TV with an expectation that the audience can drop in at any time and know what's going on; I think it's not a coincidence that all your examples are sitcoms and not serials such as Breaking Bad or the Sopranos or Buffy the Vampire Slayer where yeah, the audience can just drop in, but they can't just expect to understand everything without the context of prior episodes. Stranger Things is a serialized form; there were character arcs in S1 for pretty much everyone and by the end, no one was unchanged by what happened.
ST started with a lot of tropes from SF/horror in terms of the characters and then started to mess around with them. The burnout sheriff who doesn't give a fuck becomes the ally of the crazy single mom; the high school douchebag isn't; the high school loser also isn't, but he also isn't a hero; the girl having sex isn't the victim of the slasher movie, but her "virgin" friend is (and yeah, #justiceforbarb!); Karen isn't a disconnected suburban mom, but actually very aware and understanding of what her kids are dealing with emotionally, though she may lack specifics; even the guy running the dinner in episode 1 - who presents as a crusty, tough guy - isn't who we expect (as Movies with Mikey says, #justiceforbenny). The story doesn't end with the bad guys exposed, either, which is the traditional approach to these stories: compare and contrast with Stephen King's Firestarter, where the little girl who has been experimented on not only razes the entire facility to the fucking ground, she takes her story to the media at the end. Here, a quiet deal is struck - a chance to rescue Will in exchange for silence - a far more 21st century ending. So yeah, ST had a lot of tropes and callbacks to 80s stuff and it deliberately invoked nostalgia, but it also played with those things a bit - it's giving them back to us a little bit different then what they were. For example, consider the bike chase scene - it invokes the bike chase sequence from ET, very much and very deliberately. But those chases end in opposite ways: in ET, the alien uses telekinesis to lift the boys over the blockade; in ST, Eleven uses telekinesis to flip the van over the boys. In one, the obstacle was bypassed; in the other, it was destroyed. The child characters are involved in a fight with authority in a very different way than how we told that type of fight back in the 80s; and note also that the parents (at least some of them) are also involved in defying that authority in their own ways, in ways they weren't in stories like this in the 80s.
Anyways, my hope is that S2 continues/changes the character arcs in a lot of ways. My big worry is actually the fact that Will becomes central to the new season in a different way from how he was central in S1; he was mostly on his own in S1, and I don't know how he'll fit with the ensemble that the show has developed at this point. And there's a lot of other ways for this show to fumble away what it did well - but the same is true of any show or any story.
posted by nubs at 9:10 AM on July 24, 2017 [13 favorites]
Only if you are doing episodic TV with an expectation that the audience can drop in at any time and know what's going on; I think it's not a coincidence that all your examples are sitcoms and not serials such as Breaking Bad or the Sopranos or Buffy the Vampire Slayer where yeah, the audience can just drop in, but they can't just expect to understand everything without the context of prior episodes. Stranger Things is a serialized form; there were character arcs in S1 for pretty much everyone and by the end, no one was unchanged by what happened.
ST started with a lot of tropes from SF/horror in terms of the characters and then started to mess around with them. The burnout sheriff who doesn't give a fuck becomes the ally of the crazy single mom; the high school douchebag isn't; the high school loser also isn't, but he also isn't a hero; the girl having sex isn't the victim of the slasher movie, but her "virgin" friend is (and yeah, #justiceforbarb!); Karen isn't a disconnected suburban mom, but actually very aware and understanding of what her kids are dealing with emotionally, though she may lack specifics; even the guy running the dinner in episode 1 - who presents as a crusty, tough guy - isn't who we expect (as Movies with Mikey says, #justiceforbenny). The story doesn't end with the bad guys exposed, either, which is the traditional approach to these stories: compare and contrast with Stephen King's Firestarter, where the little girl who has been experimented on not only razes the entire facility to the fucking ground, she takes her story to the media at the end. Here, a quiet deal is struck - a chance to rescue Will in exchange for silence - a far more 21st century ending. So yeah, ST had a lot of tropes and callbacks to 80s stuff and it deliberately invoked nostalgia, but it also played with those things a bit - it's giving them back to us a little bit different then what they were. For example, consider the bike chase scene - it invokes the bike chase sequence from ET, very much and very deliberately. But those chases end in opposite ways: in ET, the alien uses telekinesis to lift the boys over the blockade; in ST, Eleven uses telekinesis to flip the van over the boys. In one, the obstacle was bypassed; in the other, it was destroyed. The child characters are involved in a fight with authority in a very different way than how we told that type of fight back in the 80s; and note also that the parents (at least some of them) are also involved in defying that authority in their own ways, in ways they weren't in stories like this in the 80s.
Anyways, my hope is that S2 continues/changes the character arcs in a lot of ways. My big worry is actually the fact that Will becomes central to the new season in a different way from how he was central in S1; he was mostly on his own in S1, and I don't know how he'll fit with the ensemble that the show has developed at this point. And there's a lot of other ways for this show to fumble away what it did well - but the same is true of any show or any story.
posted by nubs at 9:10 AM on July 24, 2017 [13 favorites]
I am loving that ST trailer so very much. I say that, aside from its perfect melding with the themes of the show and the timing of its season 2 release, the Vincent Price voiceover is a hint that Barb'll be back, all right...AS A ZOMBIE. Possibly rockin' some "Thriller" dance moves.
posted by the sobsister at 10:05 AM on July 24, 2017
posted by the sobsister at 10:05 AM on July 24, 2017
Rock Steady: "For what it's worth, in re: nostalgia as being the driving force behind Stranger Things, my 16-year-old loved it (as did several of her friends) and the undergrad students I manage were talking about it glowingly back when it first was released."
A lot of my '90s born co-workers were really into it too although I was not too happy to find out that they'd never heard of Winona Ryder before.
posted by octothorpe at 10:29 AM on July 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
A lot of my '90s born co-workers were really into it too although I was not too happy to find out that they'd never heard of Winona Ryder before.
posted by octothorpe at 10:29 AM on July 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
Here is Anthony Oliveria going into the queer subtext (and not so subtext) of Stranger Things s1, the stuff that to me, as a former little gay kid in a shitty town, jumped out and tapped me on the shoulder.
posted by The Whelk at 11:38 AM on July 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:38 AM on July 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Since D&D functioned like a bit of dramaturgical invocation / parallel for Season 1, I wonder:
(1) Could Dragon's Lair do the same? I liked the idea at first glance, but the attraction wears off pretty quick for me. Protagonist takes linear tour through deadly obstacles navigated via agility, strength, and timing in order to achieve reproductive success is compelling to some people for a reason but it's not likely to make a good season of ST. Backing away slowly...
(2) What about Ghostbusters? Seems more promising, they seem to be playing with that a little more in the trailer. Weird paranormal things coming into town through a gate, addressed by four intrepid protagonists. Maybe the shape of the big bad at some point is defined by the thoughts/fears of Will. Or maybe Will is not exactly what he seems anymore and this is why Something wants "everyone else."
(3) Still thinking about the Thesselhydra at the resolution of Season 1...
posted by wildblueyonder at 3:45 PM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
(1) Could Dragon's Lair do the same? I liked the idea at first glance, but the attraction wears off pretty quick for me. Protagonist takes linear tour through deadly obstacles navigated via agility, strength, and timing in order to achieve reproductive success is compelling to some people for a reason but it's not likely to make a good season of ST. Backing away slowly...
(2) What about Ghostbusters? Seems more promising, they seem to be playing with that a little more in the trailer. Weird paranormal things coming into town through a gate, addressed by four intrepid protagonists. Maybe the shape of the big bad at some point is defined by the thoughts/fears of Will. Or maybe Will is not exactly what he seems anymore and this is why Something wants "everyone else."
(3) Still thinking about the Thesselhydra at the resolution of Season 1...
posted by wildblueyonder at 3:45 PM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ready Player One was one of those books that I hated so, so much (full disclosure; I bailed about halfway through) that I forevermore hope the friend who enthusiastically recommended it never follows up and asks what I thought of it.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:50 PM on July 24, 2017
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:50 PM on July 24, 2017
I think I got twenty pages in.
posted by philip-random at 9:34 PM on July 24, 2017
posted by philip-random at 9:34 PM on July 24, 2017
hippybear: “Animaniacs was "cobbled together from old tropes" in the same way that any Tarantino film is "cobbled together from old tropes". It recontextualized them and made something new and insightful out of them. What's that called, post-modernism? Or something? It's a real thing, and it's a worthwhile exploration of expression.”I'd call it what Joshua Glenn called it: Reconstruction.
posted by ob1quixote at 2:49 PM on July 25, 2017
« Older Stellar optimization | Get That Monster Off The Stage Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Samizdata at 8:01 PM on July 22, 2017 [3 favorites]