When it comes to tv we all hate kids. In adult dramas, if there are even any children at all, they serve to simply be a burden. They get into danger, forcing the adults to go wandering into the zombie infested mine shaft. They don’t have anything to say, other than make the occasional, smart-arse, precocious one liner. Hell they all even seem to look the same; white, mop-headed and blandly cute. One of the most striking things about Stranger Things is that despite having troublesome, wise cracking, mopheaded kids, it still somehow manages to write its children well enough to show just how embarrassingly short-sighted and wasteful other writers tend to be when it comes to putting children in stories.
I am reaching to find anything bad to say about
Stranger Things, the all new Stephen King-esque thriller story by way of 80s Spielberg movies. The only one I can land on is the big bad monster of the series. It looks kind of dumb and the CGI isn’t terribly convincing. It’s made even more apparent when characters regularly refer to movies like Poltergeist or The Thing, which have far more convincing special effects despite being 40 odd years older. Fortunately the monster is barely on screen, and the series effectively hides the monster most of the time through flickering lightbulbs, cribbed from the likes of Jaws.
As far as negatives, that’s about it. Otherwise, Stranger Things is an extremely competent drama about a sleepy town that is being preyed upon by a mysterious being, and about how groups of kids, teens and adults each try to combat it at their own level. Its strength lies in treating these characters as full characters, and not just plot devices. The kids are all plausible and sensibly written, each with distinct personalities and views, and that is what makes them feel less like the fleshy, whiny mcguffins as in other stories. It is Winona Rider though who steals the show as a frantic, heartbreakingly desperate mother. No one has ever seen Rider play a woman over 18 (don't believe anyone who says they have, they lie), so it is a complete surprise to see her fit so naturally into a role unlike any other she has done before.
What I like best of all is the show’s tone perfect recreation of 80s movies, with a gorgeous synth soundtrack and a workman like approach to the story telling that means the story never gets too bogged down or compromise on the atmosphere. The show doesn’t even fall into the usual drama trap of dragging on its suspense story over too many episodes, condensing itself down into dense season of eight. If you are looking for a series that is quick and easy to blast through – look no further.
We're Going to Need a Bigger Audience
When it comes to tv we all hate kids. In adult dramas, if there are even any children at all, they serve to simply be a burden. They get into danger, forcing the adults to go wandering into the zombie infested mine shaft. They don’t have anything to say, other than make the occasional, smart-arse, precocious one liner. Hell they all even seem to look the same; white, mop-headed and blandly cute. One of the most striking things about Stranger Things is that despite having troublesome, wise cracking, mopheaded kids, it still somehow manages to write its children well enough to show just how embarrassingly short-sighted and wasteful other writers tend to be when it comes to putting children in stories.
I am reaching to find anything bad to say about Stranger Things, the all new Stephen King-esque thriller story by way of 80s Spielberg movies. The only one I can land on is the big bad monster of the series. It looks kind of dumb and the CGI isn’t terribly convincing. It’s made even more apparent when characters regularly refer to movies like Poltergeist or The Thing, which have far more convincing special effects despite being 40 odd years older. Fortunately the monster is barely on screen, and the series effectively hides the monster most of the time through flickering lightbulbs, cribbed from the likes of Jaws.
As far as negatives, that’s about it. Otherwise, Stranger Things is an extremely competent drama about a sleepy town that is being preyed upon by a mysterious being, and about how groups of kids, teens and adults each try to combat it at their own level. Its strength lies in treating these characters as full characters, and not just plot devices. The kids are all plausible and sensibly written, each with distinct personalities and views, and that is what makes them feel less like the fleshy, whiny mcguffins as in other stories. It is Winona Rider though who steals the show as a frantic, heartbreakingly desperate mother. No one has ever seen Rider play a woman over 18 (don't believe anyone who says they have, they lie), so it is a complete surprise to see her fit so naturally into a role unlike any other she has done before.
What I like best of all is the show’s tone perfect recreation of 80s movies, with a gorgeous synth soundtrack and a workman like approach to the story telling that means the story never gets too bogged down or compromise on the atmosphere. The show doesn’t even fall into the usual drama trap of dragging on its suspense story over too many episodes, condensing itself down into dense season of eight. If you are looking for a series that is quick and easy to blast through – look no further.