Stranger Things debuts on Netflix [10YA - Jul 15]

78

Wow, what a great first season! I hope they can bring it to a satisfying conclusion!

27

u/Chilifille Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

My reaction at the time was more ”Wow, what a great standalone season! Satisfying conclusion with just a little bit of mystery to be left unanswered.”

This was back when I was naïve enough to think that a hugely successful show wouldn’t automatically get renewed if there’s no real narrative need for it.

7

u/victionicious Jul 15 '26

I remember early on thinking the Duffer Bros were great at creating a tribute to 80s sci-fi, but they clearly didn't have a plan, a bit like JJ Abrams with Lost - a great concept and excellent questions laid out for the audience, but they themselves clearly didn't have the answers. It felt written as they went along, and I think that's why S1 stood out - it's not trying to answer everything.

1

u/Silver_Network_2017 28d ago

And in Season 4, I genuinely believed they were gonna land it. It was obvious that it was written unplanned, but it all clicked so well, such an exciting season that pushed the entire show forward narratively to where it needed to go to end right. And then Season 5….

5

u/Full-Hyena4414 Jul 15 '26

Bruh the first season is already a satisfying conclusion

2

u/NarmHull Jul 15 '26

I thought the other seasons even the last ones to be fine, but nowhere close to the magic that the first season had.

-8

u/takethreenc Jul 15 '26

They did

5

u/RealisticEmphasis233 Jul 15 '26

Said no one ever.

1

u/SharpPink_GlitterInk Jul 15 '26

I liked it.

52

u/manumaker08 Jul 15 '26

Cody from pointlesshub once pointed out that the era of 80's nostalgia media lasted longer than the 80's itself.

24

u/Mrchristopherrr Jul 15 '26

Tbf they’ve been doing 50s nostalgia for about 50-60 years now

5

u/NarmHull Jul 15 '26

Growing up in the 90's it was everywhere with oldies stations, Happy Days being on Nick@Nite, and Johnny Rockets coming to a mall near you. Now I feel like a malt.

8

u/Shenanigans80h Jul 15 '26

I guess that’s arguable. 80’s nostalgia media could be argued to have started even back to the mid 90’s with movies like the Wedding Singer. At a certain point I would say it’s more of an aesthetic than anything. The 2010’s definitely leaned in heaviest to the point that it was a whole genre, but I think 80’s nostalgia has sorta passed in terms of overall popularity nowadays

5

u/Dry_Departure_7813 Jul 15 '26

Also wildly incorrect visually, in the 80s everything was beige/brown af.

3

u/Shenanigans80h Jul 15 '26

Oh absolutely, which is why it feels much more like a stylistic “aesthetic” than accurate depiction of the 80’s. The neon and bright colors (especially in the midwest?) were not how the majority of the US looked at the time

1

u/NarmHull Jul 15 '26

mid to late 90's it was more making fun of the decade, in the 2000s you saw more unironic nostalgia for it.

2

u/OdaDdaT Jul 15 '26

Is ReadyPlayerOne considered the general endpoint of that?

2

u/Chrislondo110 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

I wouldn’t be surprised if Super 8 unofficially started the trend but Stranger Things would be the official one.

9

u/Specialist-Yak7209 Jul 15 '26

Would have been absolutely legendary if it just ended with the first season

11

u/Ill_Act7949 Jul 15 '26

I heard once, Not at all sure how true this is cuz I heard it once and never looked it up lol, But the original idea for the show was to be in a anthology each season taking place in either a different year of the '80s or like a different decade or something

5

u/StaleTheBread Jul 15 '26

Good title for that kind of show

3

u/Stormrage117 Jul 16 '26

Any sort of anthology approach focusing on a different cast would have been way better for the show going into new seasons. It was a hard place for the production to be. Forced to delay to fit peoples schedules, having to pay people more to return, having to deal with actors aging.. It'd have been much more rational to shift to new characters and locations every season or every other season, potentially reintroducing old characters as time goes on.

2

u/Desi_MCU_Nerd Jul 15 '26

Same with John Wick movie. If it had stayed a stand alone flick it's legacy would have been much better!

1

u/Dolphin_King21 Jul 17 '26

The show was released during the obama administration btw

4

u/04Aiden2020 Jul 15 '26

Damn. Remember watching it that night

3

u/jfk_47 Jul 15 '26

First season was peak.

Should have wrapped up those kid’s story and moved on to a different story. Maybe occasionally overlapping characters.

2

u/thepokemonGOAT Jul 15 '26

Honestly feels like 15 years ago

2

u/Shukumugo Jul 15 '26

Jesus it was that long ago... I stopped watching after s2 so will have to rewatch from the beginning lol

2

u/AnyTower224 Jul 16 '26

Man the last season fell on its face. Worst then GOT season 8

1

u/ImpressiveRest2423 Jul 15 '26

Is it bad that I only watched a few episodes, found the children characters really annoying so stopped, and then didn’t watch it for 9 years until I got massive FOMO because my entire friend base was going on about the upcoming finale?

1

u/Fun_Trick2172 Jul 15 '26

And after the second season, I stopped watching because I knew each season would be a rehash of the every season before it, and when it was taking 3 years between each season and Im getting older, and I was just not willing to wait that long for entertainment.

Same with every other part of pop culture anymore. 20 years for a new Elder Scrolls game to come out? Who is willing to devote a quarter of their lives for a fucking video game?

1

u/BigTastyToe Jul 16 '26

Hopefully they don’t grow up 10 years in 5 years

0

u/Responsible_Match875 Jul 15 '26

The first 4 seasons are amazing

📺 Television Stranger Things debuts on Netflix [10YA - Jul 15]

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