The "did you know this streams on Netflix?" thread

[Surfah]

Stranger Things is great. I loved it.

[Surfah]

Stranger Things is great. I loved it.

Revisited a few parts. The intro to episode 7 was great. My only regret is watching it without Gidget. IMO, the best Netflix show yet. It brought back a wave of nostalgia. I loved the synth music. I loved the nods to D&D and X-Men. The show reminded me of Amblin era Spielberg, ET, Amazing Stories, Steven King, Cameron Crowe, etc. The kids were great. The girl who played Eleven was outstanding. Really fun story that was tightly written and directed. No filler. Each episode advanced the plot with a satisfying ending. It almost felt like I was watching a summer blockbuster movie instead of a tv show. This show is what I hoped Super 8 would be and I liked Super 8.

I wonder if season 2 will continue the story or not. I'm undecided which way I want it to go. I'm leaning towards each season being it's own thing because I liked the way this season ended.

[Topper]

NSU German History X.

It is a fascinating fictional rendition of the neo-nazi developments in Germany which led to a number of murders in Eastern Germany following the fall of the Wall.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I'm halfway through Stranger Things and it deserves the praise it's been getting here. Surfah's comments above are dead on. Very well done so far; the kids are excellent.

[Lost Student]

Revisited a few parts. The intro to episode 7 was great. My only regret is watching it without Gidget. IMO, the best Netflix show yet. It brought back a wave of nostalgia. I loved the synth music. I loved the nods to D&D and X-Men. The show reminded me of Amblin era Spielberg, ET, Amazing Stories, Steven King, Cameron Crowe, etc. The kids were great. The girl who played Eleven was outstanding. Really fun story that was tightly written and directed. No filler. Each episode advanced the plot with a satisfying ending. It almost felt like I was watching a summer blockbuster movie instead of a tv show. This show is what I hoped Super 8 would be and I liked Super 8.

I wonder if season 2 will continue the story or not. I'm undecided which way I want it to go. I'm leaning towards each season being it's own thing because I liked the way this season ended.

I agree--11/Elle was great and the other kids very good. Loved the soundtrack too.

About next season:

Spoiler for spoiler about the end of the season:

I think they wrapped the story up pretty well so I wouldn't be surprised to see a new story arc but then there were a few unresolved questions, like how the Chief knows about Elle being alive--but is she stuck in the upside down world? (Can she eat the food in the upside down that he leaves in the real world?) Or is she in the normal world but he's helping her hide out from the lab? And is he working for the lab now?

Elle apparently killed the monster but we saw a large egg in the upside down (that appears to have just hatched) and Will coughed up a tentacle or something, so until the rift is closed/all the monsters killed, are they all still in danger?

If I had to guess, I would say that next season will continue the story line. That would be my preference b/c I would like to see the kids' characters (especially Elle) more.

[Non Sequitur]

I binge watched it in two nights, and halfway through was convinced that the Duffer Brothers were beards and that the series was really written by Stephen King. Stephen King loves misfit kids, tormented by bullies who use their wits to slay unconquerable monsters. The last couple of episodes, though, convinced me it wasn't a Stephen King project, because, for all his faults, Stephen King at least makes an effort to throw a couple of shovel fulls into the gaping plot holes. I did like it, but it was pretty ridiculous.

[Topper]

I'm halfway through Stranger Things and it deserves the praise it's been getting here. Surfah's comments above are dead on. Very well done so far; the kids are excellent.

It was a pleasant surprise. The acting is measured, the characters more than cartoonish and the results are good.

[Katy Lied]

My family binge-watched the entire season yesterday. We took 4 bathroom breaks and 1 dinner break. It got really enthralling.


My son took to referring to Jonathan as "Daryl Junior" and I definitely could see it.

Spoiler for Is this show a ripoff?:

I'm not sure who ripped off whom, but the summer NBC TV series "Believe" goes like this: Druggie mom births extraordinary daughter with psychic gifts. Daughter is stolen from mom, raised by a scientist she calls "Father" in a institution funded by the CIA. There are many children then with differing levels of ability, but this girl is the best of all. Girl can levitate objects and read people's thoughts, but when she overtaxes her psychic abilities, she becomes weak and nose starts to bleed. Daughter runs away from "Father."

Steven Spielberg and bicycles:
The Spielbergian world contains lots of kid's bikes. Bikes move his plot along, they transport a roving band of kids around, giving them mobility and freedom to fight the monster, or rescue the alien in a world of distant parents who are too busy with their own lives and miseries (recent divorce, problems at work etc) to really know what is going on. You see this over and over in Spielberg's films, from ET to 8 Milimeter. Distant parents, groups of misfit kids, and bikes to free them from having to depend on mom or dad. I dont see bikes used like this with today's kids. The kids who ride bikes all want to ride competitively, or do it for fun, but don't see a bicycle as liberating. Nowadays, their parents take them everywhere they want to go.

So this movie ticks off a lot of Spielberg's favorite devices, which is why the comparisons to Spielberg: Distant parents, bicycle mobility, otherworldly characters, the Government as an oppressive cold war authoritarian that clamps down on adults, but still leaving kids to navigate under the radar- at least at first.

[Commando]

Weird. I called him Bill Hader.

[PaloAltoCougar]

...
Steven Spielberg and bicycles:
The Spielbergian world contains lots of kid's bikes. Bikes move his plot along, they transport a roving band of kids around, giving them mobility and freedom to fight the monster, or rescue the alien in a world of distant parents who are too busy with their own lives and miseries (recent divorce, problems at work etc) to really know what is going on. You see this over and over in Spielberg's films, from ET to 8 Milimeter. Distant parents, groups of misfit kids, and bikes to free them from having to depend on mom or dad. I dont see bikes used like this with today's kids. The kids who ride bikes all want to ride competitively, or do it for fun, but don't see a bicycle as liberating. Nowadays, their parents take them everywhere they want to go.

So this movie ticks off a lot of Spielberg's favorite devices, which is why the comparisons to Spielberg: Distant parents, bicycle mobility, otherworldly characters, the Government as an oppressive cold war authoritarian that clamps down on adults, but still leaving kids to navigate under the radar- at least at first.

I had the same thoughts on the bicycles, although less eloquently formulated than yours, KL. During the Stranger Things ET-esque fleeing-from-the-evil-government-agents scene I was expecting to see the boys and 11 get airborne, but was happy she opted instead to send the vehicle flying instead.

My wife and I have discussed the liberating effect of riding a bike, and it's not just limited to kids. She and her riding buddies like Susan B. Anthony's thoughts on women cyclists:

Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.

[Katy Lied]

Put a woman on a bike, and suddenly she turns into a hussy, I tell you!

[falafel]

Thanks for the nudity

[creekster]

Thanks for the nudity

you missed the line! It should have been "thanks for the mammaries."

[Northwestcoug]

you missed the line! It should have been "thanks for the mammaries."

Hey, not bad!

Don't let JL ever tell you you're not funny.

[falafel]

you missed the line! It should have been "thanks for the mammaries."

Even though they weren't so great?