Like the split between fans of the third Star Wars trilogy and The Mandalorian, fans of Star Trek probably see themselves aligned to prefer either Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard. Or maybe there’s even a better contrast between Star Trek: Discovery’s first season worldbuilding vs. that series’ second season’s throwback concepts. Was your favorite character the badass Mirror Universe Emperor Philippa Georgiou (formerly Federation Captain), played by the sly and fabulous Michelle Yeoh (the only actor onscreen who could actually immobilize someone in real life with her martial arts skill and the highest paid actress in Asia)? Maybe it was the very Original Series-inspired engineer Jett Reno, who got the best dialogue and had the best style of any character in this decade of Trekdom, played by the brilliantly funny Tig Notaro? Maybe it is the series lead, the very straight-laced Ant-Man and The Wasp-inspired sci-fi-meets-superheroine, Captain Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green? Or maybe it is Anson Mount giving his own superhero performance as an early (and later?) famous Captain Christopher Pike of the familiar good ship Enterprise? Turns out, if any one of the above fits the bill for you, Star Trek has something for you heading your way.
It’s not every location for a TV series that becomes the best part of the that series. For the third season of Stranger Things, which arrived on Netflix this Fourth of July weekend, the big win was Starcourt Mall. Maybe it’s the fact so many of us have vivid memories of their own mall for their first jobs, for birthday parties, or where they bought their favorite shoes, rendezvoused with friends, and watched their favorite movies–or just as likely, the fact that so many younger viewers weren’t around to witness malls of the 1980s and can only guess what they were like–whatever the reason, Stranger Things showrunners the Duffer Brothers (Ross and Matt) made a wise move setting a major part of this year’s eight episodes there. Initially Netflix kept its Starcourt Mall intact for a possible tourist attraction (actually a rebuilt section of Duluth, Georgia’s Gwinnett Place Mall, far away from Indiana), but early crowds and the inability to make a deal resulted in trashing the sets entirely (except Scoops Away, which went into storage). Now nothing remains of the rented space in the mall used for the series, but what a great idea gone to waste!
So what other than the mall makes for the good and bad this season on Stranger Things?
Six writers concocted interwoven storylines that matched the prior two seasons–the series is consistent, neither better nor worse than past seasons, but just as good and even great in places. That fandom phrase “I’d rather watch bad [insert: Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. here] than anything else” rings true for Stranger Things, although you’ll rarely find much that qualifies as completely “bad.” Each season has those early season episodes that make the story seem like the greatest thing since the 1980s, and yet other episodes stumble. That was true this season. The best thread tracked older teen Joe Keery′s Steve Harrington and one of the series’ main four kids, Gaten Matarazzo′s Dustin Henderson. Dustin has just returned from a science camp, to find the two series kid leads Finn Wolfhard′s Mike Wheeler and Millie Bobby Brown′s Eleven/El inseparable in their young romance. The best recurring question of the season is whether Dustin’s girlfriend Suzie is real or imaginary. Steve works at the mall now with a grumbly gal named Robin, played by Maya Hawke, who becomes another high point of the season, and integral to moving the story forward. What better way to launch the career of the daughter of popular and acclaimed actors Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke than a fun season of Stranger Things? (Her work and quick development of a likeable character promises a huge career is in store for her). Growing out of the events of last season, Dustin and Steve, with co-worker Robin, embark on a mission to save their friends, Hawkins, and the world from a beast connected to El, Noah Schnapp′s Will Byers, and the Demogorgon of past seasons, and a new, perfectly timed 1980s nemesis: the Russians, led by Andrey Ivchenko as a thug mash-up of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick in their Terminator series roles.
The other series cast members are divided into three teams, each slowly piecing together clues to solve the season’s riddles, with older teens Natalie Dyer′s Nancy Wheeler and Charlie Heaton′s Jonathan Byers still a couple, but now struggling against 1980s office politics, including a vile co-worker played in typical Busey fashion by Jake Busey. The other kids–El, Mike, Will, Caleb McLaughlin′s Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink′s Max Mayfield, also still a couple, reflect most of the “coming of age” story that dominated past seasons. The best of this is the visual nostalgia accompanying an El and Max outing to the aforementioned Starcourt Mall. The adults are back, with top-billed star Winona Ryder getting some better development this season as Joyce Byers, the first to realize something is again wrong in Hawkins. David Harbour is back as police chief Jim Hopper, but unfortunately his character is the low point of the season–he gets tossed around and becomes the butt of jokes as with last season, instead of carrying forward that decisive, strong, cool personality we met in Stranger Things′ first season.
First of all, let’s be clear: For goodness sake don’t read anything anywhere about this new season of Stranger Things if you haven’t seen it yet. Pin this and come back when you have.
There are many problems with shows that drop at once as with the Netflix original series (other channels have done this as well). For simple discussion purposes, whether you’re on social media, whether you’re a critic or commentator, or whatever, you don’t quite know when it’s time to delve into a discussion of a show. The other thing is that from a cultural standpoint, how many times have you defined a period of your life with reference to a season of a television series? I grew up as a kid with the networks and a black and white television, followed by the introduction of cable channels and color TV sets. Much of my memory can be tied to the Magnum, p.i. and Simon & Simon years, the Buffy years, the Voyager years, the Chuck years, etc. With one-drop seasons that you gobble up in one bite versus savoring over a few months, that kind of life reference may drift away. Is it important? Not really, but it’s mildly interesting that we may be in some kind of transitional phase, from a pop culture standpoint.
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Still here? Let’s chat about Stranger Things, Season Two.
As a lover of all things retro, and an uber fan of John Carpenter movies, I thought the first season of Stranger Things was a great first season. But I wasn’t convinced it was the real deal–that the Duffer Brothers were going to be able to pull it off again in a second season. After the anticipation and wait, I couldn’t have been happier with the result–except for one factor, but more on that later. In fact I think Season Two was better than Season One. Probably not lots better, but enough that I had more fun with the show this round.
We saved the best for last: Netflix’s full trailer for Stranger Things, Season 2. If you thought the trailer previewed earlier here at borg.com for Ready Player One didn’t provide an adequate 1980s retro fix, then you’re in store for something awesome. Dragon’s Lair! Vincent Price and Thriller? A nicely creepy vibe from The Sixth Sense, only here, “I see Demogorgons.”
The cast from season one is all here, plus some new. At Hall H today at San Diego Comic-Con creators The Duffer Brothers, and returning cast Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), David Harbour (Chief Hopper), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), and Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), were joined by new cast members Sean Astin as Bob, Paul Reiser as Dr. Owens, and Dacre Montgomery and Sadie Sink, as two siblings.
Wait no longer, check out all the great 1980s vibes, John Carpenter and Stephen King style, with the next Stranger Things trailer, straight from Comic-Con today:
Stranger Things took the world by storm last year, bringing its mix of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and nostalgia to the small screen. Stranger Things is not only Netflix’s best show, its second season is the most eagerly awaited series this year. Now a household name, star Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) signed on for the second season along with Winona Ryder, and fan favorite Sean Astin will star as a new character aptly named Bob Newby. The other kid stars are back: Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), sporting Ghostbusters outfits at their grade school on Halloween Day 1984–a great choice for the season opener since we’ll be watching the episode premiere on Halloween day.
And like the many throwback movies the series pulls from, Stranger Things is getting its own line of action figures. Funko has produced the first line of figures rapidly considering so many shows don’t get tie-in toys at all. Six figures have been finalized for the first wave from the series. Fan demand for everyone’s favorite ill-fated friend Barb will no doubt necessitate at least a second wave.
Best of all, there’s something doubly nostalgic about these figures. They are from Funko’s ReAction line, which itself bridges the classic 1970s and 1980s Kenner style action figures with modern TV series and movies. It’s easy to imagine the kids in the world of Stranger Things would appreciate seeing themselves as action figures that look like their own Star Wars figures.
We now have a Season 2 teaser trailer for Stranger Things featuring the key cast of kids minus Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven. Check out the trailer below, which aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl game. We now know we won’t get to binge watch Season 2 on Netflix until Halloween. So what do we know so far about Stranger Things Season 2?
Although she’s not in this week’s first teaser, we know Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) signed on for the season, and fan favorite Sean Astin will star as a new character aptly named Bob Newby. The other kid stars are back: Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), sporting Ghostbusters outfits at their grade school on Halloween Day 1984–a great choice for the season opener since we’ll be watching the episode premiere on Halloween day.
In the teaser we see Hawkins, Indiana police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) is back and encounters some kind of explosion. In last season’s finale, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) returned from the Upside Down and now may be like Eleven, coughing up that Upside Down world goo. Is he going to have powers like Eleven? He’s shown in the same lab with similar equipment hooked up to him as we saw with Eleven and Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), who was killed at the end of Season 1. If you don’t recognize the people in the fuzzy lab video, that’s Paul Reiser as a new character named Dr. Owens and Winona Ryder returning as Will’s mom Joyce.
We get to see a quick homage to the kid opening the door to the alien abductors in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and a great look at the new nemesis alien for Season 2. The same great title banner is back, and the music. For those not around in 1980, the Eggo Waffles advertisement at the beginning of the teaser is real, and it features young actor Jason Hervey who would later play the brother on The Wonder Years.
Check out the teaser for Stranger Things Season 2, the original Eggo Waffles ad, and the Close Encounters scene referred to above, after the break: Continue reading →
One of the best in-universe, sci-fi, tie-in books that we have come across is part of this year’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of James Cameron’s Aliens. Insight Editions’ Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report is not only a great idea–a book that could have been a movie prop used by the likes of Paul Reiser’s junior executive Carter Burke–its execution is superb. Remove the title wrap and you have a mock leather-bound, heavy duty field guide that you might see passed around by the corporate types in the next Alien movie.
Written by Aliens, Star Trek, and Resident Evil tie-in novelist S.D. Perry with lavish artwork and designs by Markus Pansegrau and John R. Mullaney, The Weyland-Yutani Report pulls out all the stops to deliver a comprehensive Board of Directors summary guide to the findings and technology uncovered with the Alien movies beginning with Ridley Scott’s prequel Prometheus in 2012 to 1979’s Alien, to Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1986), and through to Alien: Resurrection (1997). (The Predator crossovers are not covered in The Report).
The most eye-opening data ties together–in a manner more clearly than portrayed in the films–Weyland-Yutani corporation and its founder Sir Peter Weyland, from details available in the films and information that was only character background that didn’t make it into the films. The goals of the corporation that were the fabric that connected all the films is investigated with some top secret findings (and some redacted), including the hierarchy and gross (as in chestburster) anatomy of the Xenomorphs, groundbreaking (future) scientific achievements of “The Company,” as well as weapons, ships, tools, and theories of alien beings and their connections to early Earthlings. (Learn even more about “The Company” at the corporate website here).
Stranger Things is a rare thing among plenty of series bombarding viewers of streaming services. It would never get accused of trying too hard. It’s good but not great. It features no major actors. It has developed a cult following yet it is not produced by J.J. Abrams (think Lost, Fringe, Almost Human, Believe, Westworld). And for all these things, it’s just what we want. We’ve had enough of CGI and big budget explosions and special effects. Low budget is just fine–for now. It’s that movie you are looking for late on a Saturday night, but stretched to eight episodes long.
More series like this will make Netflix survive despite all the competition from other services. Stranger Things is good enough–good at sci-fi and horror and coming of age retro fun–to get you to sign up with Netflix for your next binge watch session. More important than its storytelling is how the story is told, and the efforts taken to make the series, the characters, the setting, the dialogue, all look like it was filmed in the early 1980s. Several artists have even mocked up the series marketing material into VHS tape packaging. Were it a movie-length feature it would probably fool many. It’s in the same vein as Disney’s Watcher in the Woods. Like Stephen King’s Firestarter,Stand By Me and Silver Bullet it features kids in a coming-of-age setting. Its monster/alien horror and soundtrack (available here) reflects the look and vibe of John Carpenter movies. The marketing screams Stephen King, especially that red-on-black title font. And it will no doubt gin up nostalgia to spur cassette tapes of its soundtrack like Guardians of the Galaxy.
It’s Steven Spielberg’s E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial, if the story had taken a darker turn, and very similar to Spielberg and Abrams’ Super 8 (Super 8 poster artist Kyle Lambert even created the poster for this series to further lock in the look). Critics have picked apart odds and ends found in the background of scenes–this item didn’t exist then, etc. But ultimately the overall feel is very right. You’ll point to a pitcher on the table, a rug on the floor, a poster on the wall, all that you had back then. And the season one wrap-up is as satisfying as you’re going to find in a TV series.
