“How many children are you friends with?”

March 27, 2019 5:37 PM

Stranger Things 3 [YouTube][Official Trailer] One summer can change everything. Premiering July 4.
posted by Fizz (76 comments total)

Can you 'ship a friendship? Because I ship Steve and Dustin so much!
posted by acidnova at 5:39 PM on March 27, 2019 [18 favorites]

Please more Crafting With Joyce pretty please.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 5:42 PM on March 27, 2019 [5 favorites]

Steve's wordless response to that title quote is my life.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:45 PM on March 27, 2019 [11 favorites]

I am only here for Steve and Dustin. ❤️
posted by Fizz at 5:51 PM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

Christ, this trailer just pushes so many buttons. And, yes, that wordless response is priceless. I'm dying to know if any approximation of that was in the script or if Joe Keery just came up with it.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:55 PM on March 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Steve and Dustin are great, but the possibility of an El and Max friendship duo is literally the most I’ve ever been excited for a buddy pairing in TV/film ever in my life.
posted by invitapriore at 6:00 PM on March 27, 2019 [15 favorites]

And, you know, along those lines, I’ve wrestled the whole time with how much Stranger Things spams the nostalgia dopamine button, but fuck that, it’s a straightforward riff on a period and an aesthetic that also cares deeply about its characters and does so well at making you do the same, and that’s what will always matter the most to me.
posted by invitapriore at 6:04 PM on March 27, 2019 [19 favorites]

I didn't want to like this, but they are so good at this that I can't help but liking this.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:08 PM on March 27, 2019

Was that Erica crawling through a vent? OMG YES
posted by axiom at 6:09 PM on March 27, 2019 [6 favorites]

It’s true re the friends along the way, but especially at this point in my life and in the world I am all for media that sets up fantastical scenarios that are ultimately an excuse for depicting people coming to love and support each other in circumstances of shared adversity.
posted by invitapriore at 6:09 PM on March 27, 2019 [26 favorites]

Yeah, like if "the friends along the way" stopped being something we were ironically reviving with period-piece quotation marks around it and just came the fuck back already, I would watch television year-round instead of once or twice a year.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:14 PM on March 27, 2019 [8 favorites]

I am only here for Steve and Dustin. ❤️

It's a promo from last season, but you really should see this Wired autocomplete interview.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:22 PM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

Anybody got any Stranger Things gen fic recs focusing on friendship please?
posted by Mizu at 6:32 PM on March 27, 2019

I love how Stranger Things captures that moment when the early 80's (which were still basically the 70's) flipped over into the big hair and bright colors of the mid-80's.
posted by selfmedicating at 6:35 PM on March 27, 2019 [16 favorites]

Aw hell yeah.

That is all.
posted by gauche at 6:36 PM on March 27, 2019

My favorite thing about Steve and Dustin is how mutual it is.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:39 PM on March 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Hilariously, one of my first thoughts was, "why is it always Lucas?" - my brain completely overlooking all the stuff that has happened to Will because Lucas is getting nailed in his eyes by hairspray.

#justiceformews
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 6:39 PM on March 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

There is unreasonable excitement in my house about this trailer.

#justiceforbenny
posted by nubs at 6:46 PM on March 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

There's so, so, so, so much that I love here:

The Fast Times nostalgia trips with the mall and the food court uniforms.

The Neon signaling the transition from the seventies-hangover of the 80s into what I personally remember of the 80s.

The "kid group" now clearly teenagers, and age I remember far more clearly and have much greater relation to than I did with them as pre-teens, as great as they were then.

El and Max just hanging out as friends together and without any of the boys around even.

The implication that Will gets to be part of the gang and maybe that Dustin is the kid targeted this time.

And the fact that Jonathan looks like a Bill Hader character in that shot of him and Nancy.

Please let there be Nancy badassery, though. Nancy badassery is always the best part of Stranger Things.

(I'm on #TeamNancy and I approve this message.)
posted by Navelgazer at 7:04 PM on March 27, 2019 [11 favorites]

Before watching trailer: ok
After watching trailer: 🎶OUT HERE IN THE FIELDS🎶
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:04 PM on March 27, 2019 [29 favorites]

Eleven walking into the mall, her face full of wonder is a perfect encapsulation of the mid-80s.

You can smell the Polo cologne and the Sbarro's in the food court.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:05 PM on March 27, 2019 [17 favorites]

I totally had the revelation recently that the actor who plays Jonathan very much looks like a young Bill Hader, on whom I have a strong and enduring crush.
posted by invitapriore at 7:06 PM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

Here I am trying to stop myself from ordering the official Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. Because I really need more D&D stuff.
posted by exogenous at 7:13 PM on March 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Realizing now that this is also giving me strong feels of:

1. Black Mirror's "San Junipero", and

2. The Harvest Festival episode of Parks & Rec, where "American Girl" took the place of "Baba O'Riley" in the pan over the Indiana fairgrounds.

That these are possibly my two favorite episodes of TV in the past ten years is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:22 PM on March 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Please more Crafting With Joyce pretty please.

That huge antenna had to come from somewhere.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:38 PM on March 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

Also, "Robin" at the food court asking how many children Steve is friends with is Uma Thurman's daughter. For whatever that's worth.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:53 PM on March 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Hmmm.

So shifting it from Halloween to July 4th is a big tonal change. I always thought the show was missing a step cause the central metaphor with Dustin is so clearly a queer one, esp with the idea of invasion and infection the Reagan 80s and how THIS is when it flipped over into the actual mid-80s, all neon and hair and much more obviously queer issues into the mainstream. I ..I don't know - the monster of each series of far is fear of or warped sexuality and the alienation that creates. Like they;re mining the same stuff the IT remake is mining and the IT remake is being more overt about it

It;s like the now 80s set X-Men movies, I don;t trust them to deal with that I think is potentially cracker jack material about being queer and in Reagan's 80s and at the mall. It's leaving a a lot of money on the table.
posted by The Whelk at 8:43 PM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

that being said that shot of the gun bring drawn in the mirror maze hits peak THE GUEST feelings which is , as I've said before, the straightest passing queer action revenge horror movie set in the Not!80s.
posted by The Whelk at 8:47 PM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

Whatever, y'all can pry this love child of Phantasm and The Goonies from my grumpy, cynical fingers.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:58 PM on March 27, 2019 [11 favorites]

This is going to be so much fun. I'm excited and glad that this basically tiny show exploded on Netflix and has a continuing life. I don't know if they should drag it out forever, but it looks like they thought through this third season well enough that it won't feel hokey.

*kid who rode his bike all over a wide section of his city in the 80s when he was a teenager before he had a car*
posted by hippybear at 8:58 PM on March 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

The lead robot in Dustin's robot parade: I had that. Its legs didn't articulate, so instead they just stuck some wheels in the base and the thing would roll forward bodily in a way I found unsatisfying, but the button on top to trigger its lights and sound effects made up for it. And then at some point mine broke in a way we couldn't repair and we either sold it in a garage sale or threw it away, and then I completely forgot that it existed until I saw this video, and now I'm finally starting to understand the mindset that spends an irresponsible amount of money on collectors' items of sentimental value.
posted by jsnlxndrlv at 9:26 PM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

Or just watch 3 seasons of Stranger Things and save yourself the nostalgia wallet while you simultaneously engage with a good story well-told.
posted by hippybear at 9:35 PM on March 27, 2019

That being said this does seem way closer to what I'd want from an 80s teen supernatural adventure then the current X-Men movies cause it seems to have an evil mayor and having fun at the mall scene
posted by The Whelk at 9:55 PM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

> "Yeah, like if 'the friends along the way' stopped being something we were ironically reviving with period-piece quotation marks around it and just came the fuck back already, I would watch television year-round instead of once or twice a year."

This is pretty much the She-Ra reboot and it's awesome. I would also recommend Steven Universe and possibly The Good Place for these needs.
posted by kyrademon at 2:14 AM on March 28, 2019 [10 favorites]

I've not watched any of the billion or so 'thing you missed/easter eggs in the Stranger Things 3 trailer' vidz but I think I noticed a few specific shots cribbed from 80s films - Terminator, Footloose
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:45 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh yay, they do the Dawn of the Dead slide down the mall escalator. I'm in just for that.
posted by octothorpe at 4:51 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

this love child of Phantasm and The Goonies

Indeed, I was remarking to my partner about this specifically last night. How Hooper makes me think of a grown up Brand (Josh Brolin), only if he had stayed in town and joined the police department. This is not a complaint, it just has that feeling.

I'm also super excited about the conflict that will likely develop between the group as young girls become young women and young boys become young men. I like the idea of Max and Eleven becoming friends.

Also, I'm rewatching Stranger Things again because duh!
posted by Fizz at 5:19 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

I’m constantly amazed at how right the Duffer Brothers get the Eighties, considering they never experienced them. I’m pretty much the same age as the younger kids and they basically have my life, plus monsters. The costumes and props are so immersively perfect that it really stands out when they goof, like calling Kentucky Fried Chicken “KFC.” The show apes ET and the Gonnies and every 80s movie ever but gets emotionally deeper.

I hear they plan to wrap with season four. As much as I want to keep spending time with these characters, it’s wise to have an endgame in mind. Season 2 was not the perfect jewel box that the first season was, but it was a decent trade off to get more Eleven and the gang.

Looks like Jonathan has been renting Harold & Maude from the video store.
posted by rikschell at 5:21 AM on March 28, 2019 [5 favorites]

an evil mayor and having fun at the mall scene

Mallrats by way of Jaws.
posted by Fizz at 5:31 AM on March 28, 2019 [3 favorites]

Also, "Robin" at the food court asking how many children Steve is friends with is Uma Thurman's daughter.

She was painfully bad in Masterpiece Theatre's Little Women miniseries from last year. Playing Jo March as a limp noodle is a choice, and she either really leaned into that choice or flat-out can't act. Disappointing that the Duffers cast the daughter of one of Winona's friends.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:42 AM on March 28, 2019

Gravitron at 1:43, y'all. I am here. For. This.
posted by Bob Regular at 6:11 AM on March 28, 2019 [3 favorites]

Loved the Gravitron, turning over and attempting pushups, flipping vertically and getting yelled at by the DJ/Operator Jockey dude, that slamming sound when it hits the roof after the forces build high enough... good times.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:32 AM on March 28, 2019

Ok guys, but they put Ultra Magnus' missile launchers on TOP of his shoulders and stuck him on a motorized base and it's just WRONG.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:51 AM on March 28, 2019 [4 favorites]

You can smell the Polo cologne and the Sbarro's in the food court.

I can hear the sounds from the arcade : a video game cacophony mixed with a bit of Van Halen.
posted by jquinby at 7:46 AM on March 28, 2019 [4 favorites]

Apparently, the gas mask guy is specifically wearing a GP-5, which is a Russian gas mask. Creepy Vodka Uncle was right!
posted by tobascodagama at 7:53 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Why are they using Teenage Wasteland in the trailer? It's the 80s!
(Plus that song has been in about 50 movies over the past 15 years.)
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:35 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Steve and Dustin are great, but the possibility of an El and Max friendship duo is literally the most I’ve ever been excited for a buddy pairing in TV/film ever in my life.

I really disliked the love triangle jealousy shenanigans they set up between El and Max, it was my least favorite part of season 2 by a long shot. I'll be delighted if they just decide to forget that ever happened.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:47 AM on March 28, 2019 [5 favorites]

Liquidwolf: "Why are they using Teenage Wasteland in the trailer? It's the 80s!
(Plus that song has been in about 50 movies over the past 15 years.)"

'Cause kids in the sticks were still listening to classic rock stations in the '80s. I moved from the NY/NJ area to rural Pennsylvania in 1982 and suddenly the music that people I knew were listening to jumped back a decade.
posted by octothorpe at 8:54 AM on March 28, 2019 [15 favorites]

The Who were all over classic rock radio in the 80s. They played Live Aid. Also, relevant lyrics.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 8:56 AM on March 28, 2019 [5 favorites]

'Cause kids in the sticks were still listening to classic rock stations in the '80s. I moved from the NY/NJ area to rural Pennsylvania in 1982 and suddenly the music that people I knew were listening to jumped back a decade.

Yeah I know, I was one of those kids. I was the age of the kids in ST in the 80s and grew up on classic rock ( and MTV ).

The Who were all over classic rock radio in the 80s. They played Live Aid. Also, relevant lyrics.

Of course, It just seems more logical to go with the 80s music vibe. ( Don't get me wrong I'm much more of a classic rock fan over most radio 80s music )
posted by Liquidwolf at 9:03 AM on March 28, 2019

Not gonna lie. Sort of hoping to see Billy redeemed somehow.
posted by jquinby at 9:06 AM on March 28, 2019

They can redeem Billy as long as that gash on his arm ends up in his horrible, gooey death.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 9:20 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Yeah, for us 80s kids, the soundtrack of summer was 70s classic rock. I particularly remember it playing at the community pool all the time. These aren't the kids who were secretly listening to The Cure and The Smiths (ok maybe Max is).

Also, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the clear Close Encounters of the Third Kind reference from the beginning.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:20 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

I also stand by my conclusion that they should have killed Will in Season 2 when they had the chance.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:23 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Yeah, for us 80s kids, the soundtrack of summer was 70s classic rock. I particularly remember it playing at the community pool all the time.

Co-signed; also co-signed to the "the early 80s were basically the late 70s in some quarters". I definitely can point to hearing Kansas and Led Zepplin alongside Motley Crue coming out of speakers.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:25 AM on March 28, 2019 [3 favorites]

These aren't the kids who were secretly listening to The Cure and The Smiths (ok maybe Max is).

Will and Jonathan are (maybe not secretly.)
posted by Navelgazer at 9:25 AM on March 28, 2019 [5 favorites]

Oh yeah Jonathan is definitely listening to that stuff, having started with The Clash in Season 1.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:30 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

I have vivid memories of rollerskating in my driveway in '84 while the classic rock station blared from the stereo in the garage. (Central Indiana.)
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 9:34 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Maybe Billy is the B character who does this season. (See also: Benny, Barb, Bob.)
posted by tobascodagama at 9:46 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Didn't The Who do like, three farewell tours between 1984 and 1987?

And then a reunion tour in 1989?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:57 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Didn't The Who do like, three farewell tours between 1984 and 1987?



Yeah probably. My only only point was that The Who don't represent that era even if we were all still hearing it on the radio, whereas all the other parts of Stranger Things scream "This is the awesome 1980s!"
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:32 AM on March 28, 2019

I’m constantly amazed at how right the Duffer Brothers get the Eighties

Had a suburban 80s childhood and, while I generally enjoy ST, it's often much more an idealized 80s tribute than something that rings true as a careful recreation, at least for me. I recall it being a much less complete environment in terms of fashion, popular culture, etc., with a greater presence of artifacts, holdovers, and general detritus from earlier decades, particularly the 60s and 70s. They do have a good sense for evoking the feeling of the time via selective prop use though, for sure.

And then a reunion tour in 1989?

I experienced this at DC's RFK Stadium - Roger Daltry looked, from my distant vantage point, like a glistening pink ant. I believe they did play "Baba O'Riley".^*

*Until looking that up, just now, I had no idea that the tidal-sounding keyboard riff that opens the song, and the title, are reference to Terry Riley.
posted by ryanshepard at 10:37 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh man, I was obsessed with this 1989 live concert, which we video-taped off of the TV when it aired.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:37 AM on March 28, 2019

The song could just be used in this trailer. Or maybe Hopper has himself another dance party.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:04 AM on March 28, 2019

I grew up in the 80s malls of NJ, listening to The Who. I am looking forward to continued nostalgia-fest with these awesome kids (and awesome monsters!!)
posted by supermedusa at 11:48 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

ryanshepard, your 80s were not my 80s. My wife grew up in Southern California, and her 80s were much more advanced than mine in Dayton, Ohio. But I had relatives in small-town Indiana, and I played D&D in the basement with my fellow middle-class and lower friends. I was wowed by visiting homes of richer families. I did my Christmas shopping in the Sears catalog. In every episode I feel like I can point to something: I had that exact blanket, I would have killed for that Millenium Falcon, etc. There are a few anachronisms, things that are off by a year or two, and lingo that's not quite right. But overall, it feels not just like the 80s, but like MY SPECIFIC 80s so much that it adds a lot to the eeriness of the show.

So much loving care has been put into setting the scene it blows me away. The Americans did mostly fine, though they didn't put nearly as much effort in. There was a scene in a health food store in Kansas that was really obviously not the eighties, and a trend toward a more generic look rather than a true period look. Although I'll give big props to the Americans for whoever dressed the scenes in the Soviet Union. Damn those were picture perfect.
posted by rikschell at 11:51 AM on March 28, 2019 [6 favorites]

Stranger Things is one of those things in my life (along with Wes Anderson, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and BioWare RPGs) where each installment feels like Peak Thing, and while I liked it, I figure I'm probably about done after this. It has made its point and I am satisfied. Off the hook. Free to explore other things. Then there'll be a trailer on Metafilter or whatever and I think, "OK, this one looks pretty good too but AFTER THIS I'M DONE. For real this time."

This does look pretty great, though. The paranormal adventures are fun for what they are, but they keep finding new depth in these characters and their relationships, which is what makes it really compelling. There's a lot more love and effort in it than you usually see in genre pastiche.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:29 PM on March 28, 2019 [5 favorites]

Regarding The Who, I'm an 85 high school grad and I can attest that in my part of Fairfield County Connecticut, I-95 was the main rock station and The Who were on heavy rotation, particularly on the bus to school. I know intellectually that "Baba O'Reilly" was a 70's song, but it's forever connected with high school in the 80's for me.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:44 PM on March 28, 2019 [8 favorites]

(Ah I meant Will not Dustin in my above comment)
posted by The Whelk at 1:39 PM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Oh dang, Steve and Dustin looks fun as hell, and I'm glad to see El and Max hanging out. Got a very The Thing vibe there at the end, which would be a fun new twist on the monster side of things. They did a pretty nice job of not spoiling the arc of the season, but I would have liked a little more of the monster stuff.
posted by Existential Dread at 3:17 PM on March 28, 2019

Whelk, I would really love to hear you expand on what you mean about there being an underlying metaphor about being queer in Reagan's 80s. I don't see it yet, but I intuitively belive it.
posted by selfmedicating at 5:33 PM on March 28, 2019

It’s based on yes, a general feeling and some of Anthony Oliveria’s observations of the first season, the Upside Down as closet and prison, tThe hideaway fort becoming sinister, the frail boy with the protective mother as queer trope, the other victim being a butchish teen girl, the idea of found family from friendship with outsiders, and later my observations on season three being about infection and infiltration , Will throwing up the slug inside him. It all feels very like it was supposed to be underlined as a theme but ...then ..wasn’t? Which is odd cause the new IT adaptation is deciding the underline the nascent queer metaphors and this owes a lot of to IT - But yeah it feels very gay kid metaphor with Will.
posted by The Whelk at 5:55 PM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Re the show's queer subtext, here's a lovely article exploring the issue:

What I Want For Will Byers, The Niche
posted by mykescipark at 6:28 PM on March 28, 2019 [5 favorites]

That Niche piece is wonderful, mykescipark. And what I was seeing from the trailer was that when we see Will crying, it's about his friends pairing off and him feeling left behind*, so I have faith that they'll be exploring themes of Reagan-era queerness with Will this season.

*It reminded me of one of my favorite moments in Buffy, where Willow is sobbing in the girls' room after hearing about Xander getting with Faith, not so much because Xander was lost to her as because everyone else was moving through these rites that felt unattainable to her. Though Willow wasn't be written or performed as queer quite yet in that episode.
posted by Navelgazer at 6:46 PM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

The costumes and props are so immersively perfect that it really stands out when they goof, like calling Kentucky Fried Chicken “KFC.”

That's not a goof. We called it KFC all the time in the 80s. It took corporate a decade or two to realize that if KFC was what everyone called it, they should probably call it that too.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:27 PM on April 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

Granted I'm older than the kids in the show, but I don't think I ever heard KFC referred to as anything else in casual conversation.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:38 PM on April 1, 2019