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March 28, 2024, 10:10:12 AM

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Stranger Things S4

Started by Bad Ambassador, May 26, 2022, 02:23:37 PM

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Elderly Sumo Prophecy

I hope everyone dies at the end.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

It doesn't make it less enjoyable, but things seem to be rather thematically confused so far. There's an obvious theme of conformist society persecuting the harmless "freaks", but...
Spoiler alert
the boy that grew up to be Vectra was every bit as dangerous as the normies would automatically believe.
[close]

Quote from: badaids on June 28, 2022, 08:50:04 PMtotally lost touch with the charm and warmth that it had in that first season, they've cheapened that with all the 80s nostalgia callbacks
I certainly felt like the third series tipped over from skillful pastiche to lazy parody. They set it in the mall, for heaven's sake. That's about the most generically '80s seeing there is.

Mister Six

Quote from: badaids on June 28, 2022, 08:50:04 PMAnd I don't get why hasn't Stephen King sued them for ripping off It?  You know, the whole town is cursed and its linked to a group of kids that live there thing.

If that's a serious question, "a cursed town with kids in it" is nowhere near enough to warrant a lawsuit. And even if it was, why would he sue? It's a popular show and it'd be terrible press. And he's already rich as Croesus. Better business to let fans of the show pick up his books than alienate them.

badaids

Quote from: Mister Six on June 29, 2022, 04:49:08 AMIf that's a serious question, "a cursed town with kids in it" is nowhere near enough to warrant a lawsuit. And even if it was, why would he sue? It's a popular show and it'd be terrible press. And he's already rich as Croesus. Better business to let fans of the show pick up his books than alienate them.

It was a serious question, there's a lot more similarity in the show than than just that. Just wondering likes.

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on June 28, 2022, 10:53:36 PMIt doesn't make it less enjoyable, but things seem to be rather thematically confused so far. There's an obvious theme of conformist society persecuting the harmless "freaks", but...
Spoiler alert
the boy that grew up to be Vectra was every bit as dangerous as the normies would automatically believe.
[close]
I certainly felt like the third series tipped over from skillful pastiche to lazy parody. They set it in the mall, for heaven's sake. That's about the most generically '80s seeing there is.

Feel like the theme of s4 is either WOOOOHOO NETFLIX HAVE US A MILLION POUND REMEMBER THESE OLD FILMS?!?

or it's 'dear Hollywood, here's a 9 hour showreel of all the genres of film's we can make ok cheers bye'

badaids


As nice as it is that Running Up That Hill is in it, and Kate Bush has got a number one and some extra Judas coins out of it, they really kick the arse out of that song in the show and the 'enhanced' version is a clumsy boorish mess.

She's also been really effusive over what has become a very mediocre programme which is hard to take given her high standards. Plus hard to imagine Kate Bush sitting on the sofa binge watching this crap and eating Frazzles.

Mister Six

Quote from: PlanktonSideburns on June 29, 2022, 07:13:26 AMFeel like the theme of s4 is either WOOOOHOO NETFLIX HAVE US A MILLION POUND REMEMBER THESE OLD FILMS?!?

or it's 'dear Hollywood, here's a 9 hour showreel of all the genres of film's we can make ok cheers bye'

So basically it's the same as it was in the first episode, which is when I stopped watching? Phew!

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: Mister Six on June 29, 2022, 02:32:23 PMSo basically it's the same as it was in the first episode, which is when I stopped watching? Phew!

But more so

Goldentony

Quote from: badaids on June 29, 2022, 06:05:42 AMIt was a serious question, there's a lot more similarity in the show than than just that. Just wondering likes.

He's a nice guy who lets people adapt certain stories of his for a dollar if you ask nicely enough, probably just happy walking his dog and living in a quiet bit of Maine sitting on Twitter. Probably be one for the publishers wanting a few quid if it ever happened.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

The last two episodes/feature films are out. I was vaguely out of by the running time, but I just watched the penultimate one and the 90 minutes zipped by.

I'm not sure why people think Schapp is crap. His veiled coming out speech had me welling up. I remember thinking during season 2 that it was either lucky or forward thinking that they got a decent actor for Will, since he barely appears in the first season

Is it a deliberate choice to make 11 sound like Winona Ryder? Because she really does.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Also, is it a deliberate choice that Mike is morphing into Penelope Cruz?

AsparagusTrevor

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on July 01, 2022, 04:26:42 PMAlso, is it a deliberate choice that Mike is morphing into Penelope Cruz?
I believe The Duffer Brothers have confirmed this in interviews.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

New episodes are up, to very little fanfare. Last one is two and a half hours long, which is pretty stupid.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I watched both this afternoon and it didn't feel like four hours. That said, I'm not convinced the format was necessary. I'm pretty sure they could have been split into shorter episodes without massively altering things.

Spoiler alert
Rather a downer that Max ends the series in a coma. I was sure they'd rescue her in time, so I was genuinely horrified when her like started snapping. I even made a noise.

Also a downer that Eddie was still vilified by the town's bastards in death. I hadn't really clicked that cowardice was supposed to be a major trait of his. Maybe I'm a coward too, but I thought he was perfectly justified in running throughout the series and it's not like he was leaving anyone in the lurch. Also, that final flashback montage didn't make sense in context - yes, he was literally running from the bats, but only because he'd bravely chosen not to escape from the Upside Down.
[close]

Fairly minor complaints aside, I really enjoyed this series. Maybe it was lowered expectations, but it seemed better than the previous two.

Poobum

Felt like 4 hours to me. The confrontation was the dampest of squids (sic). Just don't like Eleven as a character, she just stands there with a nose bleed over and over and sometimes screams. It's telekinesis with very little kinesis. Outside of that she's just stiff and lacking charisma. The jock story was so tacked on though the guy whose name I can't remember died an admittedly interesting but pointless death. Then we had the army storyline and the long drawn out Russian stuff. Then there's papa, where the relationship kept resetting again and again it got like deja vu. That final betrayal removed any growth and catharsis. The non-Eleven upside down stuff was fun and I wonder what they'll pastiche now 1 has crossed over into our world. I'm hoping it's The Mist, but that's not 80s.

BritishHobo

Yeah, that was too long, and paced all to fuck. It completely lost me from the moment they
Spoiler alert
undid Max's death. I can't stand that in shows or films. If you don't want the character to die, fine: don't kill her off in the first place then. Cheap, manipulative writing.
[close]

It should have ended when the event in that spoiler first happened. A real gutpunch cliffhanger. Instead it went on to do a Lord of the Rings with thirteen endings, and then repeated the earlier cliffhanger-worthy moment, now to less effect.

I think it's bad when the two-and-a-half-hour finale opens with a scene which immediately feels like it should have been cut, as the bollocks with the quirky Russian bloke did. Ooh, my helicopter's got tits! Fuck off mate. Self-indulgent.

SORT IT OUT

Peabo Bryson Is Not Dead

The last 4 hours of this could have been one 50 minute episode but they kept on churning it out, like an adolescent attempt to have as many wanks in a day to just be jizzing/jilling gusts of air by the final arthritic strokes.

If it wasn't from some great performances by select actors, it'd have been utterly pointless. ST4 is a stopgap to a now unwanted finale. The plot was a hazy mish mash of 80s cliches, rather than homages, and contrivances to allow for COVID filming of certain defined groups. It was all so lazy and snippets of bad CGI had also got through quality control.

Paul Reiser is the only one who comes out of this well, and after his fantastic role in The Boys too, he has won the "Summer Stream Fest 22 People's Choice Award".

Mark Steels Stockbroker

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on June 28, 2022, 10:53:36 PMI certainly felt like the third series tipped over from skillful pastiche to lazy parody. They set it in the mall, for heaven's sake. That's about the most generically '80s seeing there is.

No, that was a good thing. The 3rd series was the best for mixing comedy with the doom. The rise of the Mall was precisely the sort of 80s thing they should comment on and include.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

Seeing a lot of incorrect opinions on this thread. Series 4 was in fact good not bad like you thought.

First of all, it's not all 80s references. There have been some sly 90s references in as well, for example all the slacker humour about mall kids and workers in S3, carried over with the pizza dude in S4. And of course we all realise that the laboratory scenes in Siberia are an homage to Alien Resurrection, which starred W.Ryder. This continues the theme of Alien franchise referencing that started in S2, which also had scenes based on Aliens and Alien Resurrection, and of course we all know Paul Reiser played the Company Guy in Aliens. If you didn't spot all this then you'll have to hand your badge in and retire from CaB immediately.

Of course we also noticed all the little clues that the ST universe isn't the same as ours (Gremlins doesn't exist there, and a different actor is the star of Back To The Future. Also Jonathan seems to have heard The Smiths before the group even existed - see episode 1). This is obviously building to some sort of payoff when it finally crosses over with our real world. we can also expect some sort of flash forward to the kids-as-adults since the whole story of IT was about adults returning to the place where they triumphed as children.

My prediction is we have a St Elsewhere conclusion that it was all the imagining of a damaged child (Eleven presumably) who is being cared by the entirely non-evil medic Dr Brenner. Or a Ubik/Maze Of Death conclusion that all these kids are in comas and being sustained in some sort of collective group-fantasy. Or it's a VR world for adults in the 21st century.

badaids


I've just remembered the cringey bollocks Never Ending Story bit. UGH.

phantom_power

I haven't read this thread for a few days as I haven't seen the last two episodes but I am really pissed off how many spoilers are floating around Twitter. They are mainly from accounts I don't follow but Twitter are pushing at me because they think I want to hear everyone's opinions on "Sci Fi" or "Stranger Things" or whatever topic. It is really fucking annoying because often you don't know what you are reading until it is too late. Are people less careful about spoilers now or is Twitter being a cunt? Or both I suppose?

C_Larence

Quote from: phantom_power on July 02, 2022, 12:27:26 PMI haven't read this thread for a few days as I haven't seen the last two episodes but I am really pissed off how many spoilers are floating around Twitter. They are mainly from accounts I don't follow but Twitter are pushing at me because they think I want to hear everyone's opinions on "Sci Fi" or "Stranger Things" or whatever topic. It is really fucking annoying because often you don't know what you are reading until it is too late. Are people less careful about spoilers now or is Twitter being a cunt? Or both I suppose?

I'd say a bit of both. Try muting these phrases, it helps clean up the timeline a lot.
https://gist.github.com/IanColdwater/88b3341a7c4c0cf71c73ac56f9bd36ec

phantom_power

Quote from: C_Larence on July 02, 2022, 12:37:36 PMI'd say a bit of both. Try muting these phrases, it helps clean up the timeline a lot.
https://gist.github.com/IanColdwater/88b3341a7c4c0cf71c73ac56f9bd36ec

That's awesome, cheers. It really has ruined Twitter (I know) and Stranger Things for me the last couple of days when loose-lipped twats pop up uninvited in my feed with innocuous-looking posts that then massively spoiler things from the last episode. I am sure there used to be a moratorium on this sort of shit of at least a week but these were popping up early yesterday morning

Sonny_Jim

Finishes well but fuck me does it take it's time turning up and going away again.  Quite glad season 5 is to be the last.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I was surprised to learn there was another series in the pipeline. I assumed the mega extended episodes meant this was the grand finale. Plus, Vector seemed like an appropriate final baddie...
Spoiler alert
being as he was the initial cause of the breach between worlds and also an actual character, with a personal link to 11, which is more compelling than that amorphous giant spider thing.
[close]

While we're talking references, Vectrex seemed to have a bit of Hellraiser influence about him. The way he was held aloft by those tentacle things was very reminiscent of Doctor Channard in the second film.

Armed Traffic Warden

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on July 02, 2022, 04:23:55 PMI was surprised to learn there was another series in the pipeline. I assumed the mega extended episodes meant this was the grand finale. Plus, Vector seemed like an appropriate final baddie...

I'm scared of giving anything away so

Spoiler alert
I hope Vecna winds up being played by the mindflayer. Unless there's some big twist is S5 we know pretty much everything about 1 as a character and there's nowhere to go with him. It will just be waiting however many episodes it will be for 1 and 11 to wave their hands at each other in the finale. Surely they'd have held back some of his history and justification if we've got a whole season more of him?
[close]

C_Larence

Thought it was a pretty interesting idea to make it look like all the good guys are backed into a corner and have no hope of winning before
Spoiler alert
they win.
[close]
Wonder why nobody else has done that before.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I believe that was a reference to
Spoiler alert
everything.
[close]

thr0b

Quote from: phantom_power on July 02, 2022, 12:27:26 PMI haven't read this thread for a few days as I haven't seen the last two episodes but I am really pissed off how many spoilers are floating around Twitter. They are mainly from accounts I don't follow but Twitter are pushing at me because they think I want to hear everyone's opinions on "Sci Fi" or "Stranger Things" or whatever topic. It is really fucking annoying because often you don't know what you are reading until it is too late. Are people less careful about spoilers now or is Twitter being a cunt? Or both I suppose?

Twitter is designed to make you see things.

Use a third party app - you get a chronological timeline, no suggestions, no promoted crap. Much better.

AsparagusTrevor

Quote from: C_Larence on July 03, 2022, 12:13:09 PMThought it was a pretty interesting idea to make it look like all the good guys are backed into a corner and have no hope of winning before
Spoiler alert
they win.
[close]
Wonder why nobody else has done that before.

So your interpretation of the finale was that
Spoiler alert
they won?
[close]
Interesting take.