Nice writeup! I'm looking forward to seeing a deeper dive into this weird and wacky and wonderful show. It kinda reminds me of when I read H. Beam Piper as a kid in the '80s and thought his future society was really cool and alien, not realizing he was just describing white collar culture of the '50s.
The think that I think really makes it perfect is the injection of the fantastical. A straight-up kids-dealing-with-adult-problems would have felt flat and surreal. As soon as you spoon in psychic powers and government conspiracies, it feels right. Maybe it's the ironic distancing this allows, but I think it's because the '80s were a surreal time that just can't be taken at face value and understood. More thoughts in that direction here: https://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2019/05/oh-80s.html
"I’ve tried not to give anything away, contextually, on the off chance that someone on the planet hasn’t seen the show."
It's me. I'm that person.
To be fair, I finally got around to actually seeing /some/ episodes recently, but now that I know there're Easter eggs throughout, I'll have to go back and start at the beginning.
I had a pretty visceral reaction to you calling this the ultimate Gen X show because my definition of Gen X is kids who grew up in the 1990’s, not the 80’s. Until today I thought you were are all boomers, not first-half Gen Xers.
I really don’t have 80’s nostalgia. I’m not really into Star Wars or any of that kind of stuff so Stranger Things also kind of misses me. Shrug.
Mark, I haven't watched the series yet, but as kid who grew up in the 1960s, something like 15 to 20 years before all of the clues, signals, allusions, and what-not in this show...wow, does this seem foreign to me! Which is not a bad thing, just a thing that is. Back in the days of the Mercury astronauts, the Bay of Pigs invasion, Famous Monsters of Filmland and the Aurora monster models, dreams of getting even a peek at a Playboy magazine, the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot image, flying saucers, Marvel comics...really a whole different line-up of childhood allusions, huh? Gawd, I'm old!!! : ) Dave Smith
Not so old, I don't think. I watched Matinee and got just about every little easter egg in that movie. Then again, I'm a monster kid, too, and also a 97 year old man trapped in a fifty-two year old body, so maybe I'm not the best example for that.
I think the minutiae may well zip right by you, but the larger allusions (as a writer, you are better trained to see them anyway) won't be lost on you a bit. If I were elevator-pitching the show to you, here's what I would say:
"What if there was a show that used all of the concepts, set pieces, and allusions to other things that Stephen King novels of the late 70s and early 80s used (like The Stand, Carrie, Firestarter, Cujo, The Shining, and so forth), only instead of adapting those novels badly, we mashed them together with all of the stuff that Stephen Spielberg was obsessed with (idyllic suburban youth, friendship, free-wheeling adventure, overcoming shortcomings, etc.) and made a show with better special effects and direction? Oh, and we'll get some noteworthy actors from that era to lend credibility to the show, as well."
If that sounds pretty good to you, then I'd say you can watch it with confidence and not feel left out. This series pre-dates the more recent attempts at successfully adapting King to movie/tv by taking the high notes and leaving King's shortcomings out completely. So, that's where the initial positive reaction came from, I suspect. As soon as the bullies showed up in the first episode, I thought, "Hey, look, it's 'Stand By Me' meets 'The Goonies.'" They haven't deviated too much from that log line since.
Good pitch! Here's something to make us both smile: my daughter, 16, says that she wants to watch the series, too...not because I want to (God forfend!) but because a lot of her friends are into the show. So there is something, or are some things, perhaps universal about it touching people coming-of-age. Sounds very plausible to me.
Nice writeup! I'm looking forward to seeing a deeper dive into this weird and wacky and wonderful show. It kinda reminds me of when I read H. Beam Piper as a kid in the '80s and thought his future society was really cool and alien, not realizing he was just describing white collar culture of the '50s.
The think that I think really makes it perfect is the injection of the fantastical. A straight-up kids-dealing-with-adult-problems would have felt flat and surreal. As soon as you spoon in psychic powers and government conspiracies, it feels right. Maybe it's the ironic distancing this allows, but I think it's because the '80s were a surreal time that just can't be taken at face value and understood. More thoughts in that direction here: https://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2019/05/oh-80s.html
"I’ve tried not to give anything away, contextually, on the off chance that someone on the planet hasn’t seen the show."
It's me. I'm that person.
To be fair, I finally got around to actually seeing /some/ episodes recently, but now that I know there're Easter eggs throughout, I'll have to go back and start at the beginning.
I had a pretty visceral reaction to you calling this the ultimate Gen X show because my definition of Gen X is kids who grew up in the 1990’s, not the 80’s. Until today I thought you were are all boomers, not first-half Gen Xers.
I really don’t have 80’s nostalgia. I’m not really into Star Wars or any of that kind of stuff so Stranger Things also kind of misses me. Shrug.
(audibly gasps)
Mark, I haven't watched the series yet, but as kid who grew up in the 1960s, something like 15 to 20 years before all of the clues, signals, allusions, and what-not in this show...wow, does this seem foreign to me! Which is not a bad thing, just a thing that is. Back in the days of the Mercury astronauts, the Bay of Pigs invasion, Famous Monsters of Filmland and the Aurora monster models, dreams of getting even a peek at a Playboy magazine, the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot image, flying saucers, Marvel comics...really a whole different line-up of childhood allusions, huh? Gawd, I'm old!!! : ) Dave Smith
Not so old, I don't think. I watched Matinee and got just about every little easter egg in that movie. Then again, I'm a monster kid, too, and also a 97 year old man trapped in a fifty-two year old body, so maybe I'm not the best example for that.
I think the minutiae may well zip right by you, but the larger allusions (as a writer, you are better trained to see them anyway) won't be lost on you a bit. If I were elevator-pitching the show to you, here's what I would say:
"What if there was a show that used all of the concepts, set pieces, and allusions to other things that Stephen King novels of the late 70s and early 80s used (like The Stand, Carrie, Firestarter, Cujo, The Shining, and so forth), only instead of adapting those novels badly, we mashed them together with all of the stuff that Stephen Spielberg was obsessed with (idyllic suburban youth, friendship, free-wheeling adventure, overcoming shortcomings, etc.) and made a show with better special effects and direction? Oh, and we'll get some noteworthy actors from that era to lend credibility to the show, as well."
If that sounds pretty good to you, then I'd say you can watch it with confidence and not feel left out. This series pre-dates the more recent attempts at successfully adapting King to movie/tv by taking the high notes and leaving King's shortcomings out completely. So, that's where the initial positive reaction came from, I suspect. As soon as the bullies showed up in the first episode, I thought, "Hey, look, it's 'Stand By Me' meets 'The Goonies.'" They haven't deviated too much from that log line since.
Good pitch! Here's something to make us both smile: my daughter, 16, says that she wants to watch the series, too...not because I want to (God forfend!) but because a lot of her friends are into the show. So there is something, or are some things, perhaps universal about it touching people coming-of-age. Sounds very plausible to me.