Stranger Things (Netflix)

The nostalgic "80s kids adventure" feel was always going to be temporary. When you cast actual children, you're working against time and they grow up. Stranger Things faced the same reality as Harry Potter, either age with your cast or recast them and recasting would've destroyed the audience connection built over years.

What matters is whether the show evolved intentionally. The shift from kids on bikes mystery to darker storytelling follows the natural progression of the characters. Season 1's charm came from innocence and discovery. You can't recapture that because the audience knows this world now.

The real question isn't whether it kept that initial vibe, it couldn't, but whether it replaced it with something worthwhile. The show's foundation was always its characters and emotional stakes, not just the aesthetic. If those elements still work, then losing the "kids adventure" feel isn't a problem. It's just what happens when you tell a story across nearly a decade of real time.

Expecting Season 5 to feel like Season 1 doesn't make sense. The characters have grown, the actors have grown and the story has moved forward.
 
Ayahuasca said:
The nostalgic "80s kids adventure" feel was always going to be temporary. When you cast actual children, you're working against time and they grow up. Stranger Things faced the same reality as Harry Potter, either age with your cast or recast them and recasting would've destroyed the audience connection built over years.
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They managed to make 8 Harry potter films in 9 years (first started filming in late 2000, last two started filming in 2009)

They've made 5 stranger things season's in 9 years.
 
VincentHanna said:
They managed to make 8 Harry potter films in 9 years (first started filming in late 2000, last two started filming in 2009)

They've made 5 stranger things season's in 9 years.
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Now, add together the run times of both and consider what has happened in the world and the industry over the past five years that might have had an impact.
 
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Binged all 4 episodes, after doing a rewatch of the last four seasons.

Overall really enjoyable, not sure how a feel about

Kinda of annoyed have to wait a whole month!
 
Saw the first two episodes. Thought it was ok - found it difficult to get into though the kids are so old now and still going to school. Haven't taken it all in just yet.
 
Kainz said:
Saw the first two episodes. Thought it was ok - found it difficult to get into though the kids are so old now and still going to school. Haven't taken it all in just yet.
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Lol, for those of us who are old enough to remember, its now got that Please Sir (from the 1960s) vibe, where the kids are 30 year olds who are supposed to be teenagers :D
 
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