STRANGER THINGS SEASON 1 EPISODE 1 ONLINE SERIES
Like the ambient sound mixers that synthesize most of the Stranger Things score, the Duffer Brothers have elevated the two-tier combination of reverse-engineering nostalgia and genre-mixing for a Netflix series of summer blockbuster proportions, in this or any era.įollowing the scientist’s likely demise, the camera cuts to a basement game of Dungeons & Dragons. The loud alarm and physical slams into walls and doors are juxtaposed with the sleepy crickets and ambient noise of night outside, indicating things are getting eerie in Indiana. An underground compound is sent into chaos when an alarm goes off and a scientist rushes down the hall in a panicked sweat. Inside, things are too quiet for comfort. This is all we need to proceed: date and location. The celestial shot pans down to an ominous facility, with large, protruding satellites protruding and a sign reading “Hawkins National Laboratory, US Department of Energy”. Info credits provide enough information for context: the date is “November 6th, 1983” and the location “Hawkins, Indiana”. Already, there’s a nostalgic effect at work, since the city lights of so many urban and suburban spaces no longer allow for the kind of articulate detail of space at night. The first shot rests still on the night sky, where perfect contrast is visible between the pitch-black sky and the luminous stars that dot the heavens. The benefits of creative freedom and shortened seasons allow a colorful synthesis between cinematic influence and serialized narrative.Ĭhapter One opens to a quiet night’s sky.
But this isn’t TV, of course, it’s Netflix. While the pace zips along, attentiveness to character development remains intact.
STRANGER THINGS SEASON 1 EPISODE 1 ONLINE TV
This is a fluid approach to storytelling more akin to the shorthand of film, as opposed to the industrious mechanism of TV production. Each new scene provides information about characters through their actions in the moment.
The Duffer Brothers do an admirable job keeping such prerequisites painless. Like any series opener, there’s a lot of expository setup and character introductions necessary for viewers. Now, there’s no such all-encompassing formula per se (or at least, not one formula), but if there was such an imaginary and fantastical potion serum, the Duffer Brothers have sampled this sacred elixer and made a pact with the dark spirit of the ’80s (would that be Stephen King? Spielberg? Beetlejuice? Nevermind.). Developed by twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, Stranger Things is an amalgamation of ’80s pop cinema experiences, which has been taken down into the bowels of the Netflix laboratory and injected with the super secret formula for binge-worthiness. In the best of coincidences, Stranger Things may be an ideal candidate for experimental review writing.