9 ms·

I watched the show entirely on the strength of the title song; Netflix was playing promos for the show in the weeks leading up to its release, and I loved the m

I watched the show entirely on the strength of the title song; Netflix was playing promos for the show in the weeks leading up to its release, and I loved the music so much. It references classic 80s themes like Terminator, as well as horror scores from the era, but is still modern and interesting. It isn't merely nostalgic, just like the intro video sequence isn't merely nostalgic. They use modern techniques to manipulate classic imagery and sounds to come up with a thing that is both nostalgic and novel. It's awesome. The show isn't bad, either, but the intro really is a perfect thing. It gives me that weird creepy feeling I got from Stephen King movies on VHS when I was a kid. I feel like the composers and the folks behind the intro should be getting higher billing in the credits. It's so integral to the success of the show.

mmastrac 10y ago
The intro sews it up nicely. The word I like to describe the feeling of watching that title sequence is "frission".
epimetheus 10y ago
I also loved the intro, but I think that Netflix spends a lot of time/money on them. Daredevil is a good example of a striking intro theme as well. I feel slightly bad after the first 3-4 episodes, when I skip the intro though.
cmrx64 10y ago
I agree a lot! I was pretty skeptical of the show, but the intro sequence really got me to sit down and give it a chance. It's really polished.
arielweisberg 10y ago
Wow I had a bad reaction to the show. I feel like half of it needed to head to the cutting room floor. Episodes are 48 minutes long, but very little interesting happens. A lot of it is worn out tropes involving child and "teenage" actors that don't make it any more interesting to watch. The photography is pretty uninspired and makes very little interesting use of composition, color, perspective, DOF. Sure you get a bone once in a while but most of it is pretty boring. There is a passable few episodes in there somewhere waiting to be ruthlessly edited out. But really instead of subverting expectations in it's storytelling it hews very closely to the expectations that come with the tropes and genre. That puts a hard ceiling on how good it's ever going to be given that I'm not tuning in for the acting, sets, or photography.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  The show is not as good as the intro. And, the show is, like the intro, an homage to a bunch of 80s stuff. If you didn't grow up loving Stephen King novels and movies, and the like, you may not sync up with the stories they're telling. They really are retreading a bunch of 80s tropes; I enjoy it, but I recognize that the kids are rehashing a Spielberg-ian kidventure flick along the lines of Goonies or ET, the teenagers are stuck in a horror flick ala Friday the 13th, and the grownups are in a paranoid government conspiracy movie. Any of it would also fit comfortably into an X Files episode. I like all those things; even while I recognize they're pandering to my inner child. Then again, my girlfriend really likes it, too, and she's young enough to have not grown up on any of these things. So, I don't know. I like it. It's not high art, but it's definitely fun pop culture, for me.
  - RangerScience 10y ago
    There's this interesting thing with the Netflix originals - they feel fantastically formulaic. Or, maybe a better way to put it - I feel like I can see the genes (memes?) in the story, and it comes out the better for it. In my imagination, it starts with the data scientists identifying a gap or opportunity based on people's viewing habits - House of Cards being the prime example; a show by X staring Y in Z genre. That provides the baseline; queue the writers raised on TV Tropes. I don't think there's an intact trope in the whole show; anything that is primarily subverted has sub-tropes done straight; anything done straight has sub-tropes subverted. The Marvel series do this the least; the pure Netflix originals do this the most. I'd say maybe you could call it "high craft"? Like Michelangelo versus Picasso.
    - SwellJoe 10y ago
      House of Cards had the British version to build on, so it's not entirely a Netflix taste triangulation. But, the CEO or somebody from Netflix has actually spelled out in the past that though they're taking risks in making a bunch of their own content, the risk is smaller than it has historically been. They know the taste of their audience (on a nearly individual level) better than any entertainment company in history ever has. And, they extract the value of their viewers directly and without middlemen, unlike almost every other entertainment company in history. So, for them, a successful show is one that brings in X number of new subscribers and keeps them around through multiple seasons...and that X number is smaller than it's ever needed to be. So, you're right; they are triangulating in on very specific sub-genres and very specific audiences in ways that entertainment companies in the past couldn't afford to do. This is long-tail television production. Stranger Things, while it is a niche market, is actually one of the bigger niche markets they've tapped into, thus far. It's gotten far more buzz than a lot of the other Netflix original programming. So, they're either getting better at the triangulation (likely) or they got lucky with this particular toss at the dart board of niche programming, or maybe it's a little of both. And, maybe the people making this show happened to be particularly passionate about it, and it shows in the attention to detail; they're having fun with it, and it makes it fun for viewers who like this sort of thing (or, are at least nostalgic about it...I don't read/watch Stephen King novels/movies very frequently as an adult, but loved them as a kid). I find the quality of the Netflix originals to vary pretty wildly, and I don't get hooked on most of them. But, I enjoyed Stranger Things. It's a fun escapist bit of entertainment. It's no House of Cards, or even Orange is the New Black, in terms of quality, but it delivers very effectively on what it promises. I wonder how well Stranger Things is doing among viewers who aren't old enough to have grown up surrounded by this stuff? I know many of my friends on facebook are hooked, but mostly the ones really talking about it are around my age. It's an interesting phenomenon, I think; the stuff it is paying homage to and modeled after was mostly targeted at kids and young adults, but the people most excited about it are maybe middle aged. Weird how that happens.
InclinedPlane 10y ago
Perhaps you should become acquainted with the music genre "synthwave", "new retro wave", or "outrun". Some examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1s9SmrQRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1s9SmrQRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpDn4-Na5co https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpDn4-Na5co https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egAB2qtVWFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egAB2qtVWFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vsf3zYppP4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vsf3zYppP4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv1ZN8c4_Gs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv1ZN8c4_Gs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGnNMnvM6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGnNMnvM6M
- poisonarena 10y ago
  this is just 80s synthpop made with ableton live after everyone saw Drive
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  Sturgeon's law applies to musical genres: 90% of everything is crap. But, those are pretty good. I'm aware of the genre, though not super familiar with it, most of it doesn't grab me. SURVIVE doesn't seem to fall into the nostalgia trap; wherein things have to sound exactly like the old thing it is paying homage to. A lot of retro stuff, in many genres (punk, country, rock and roll, metal, etc. it goes on and on), is just annoying and trite retreads of good stuff that happened 20+ years ago. I'm maybe sounding way more grumpy about it than I actually am, and I'm not specifically criticizing the links you've provided; I'm checking them out now, and mostly liking them. Just rambling, in general, about how retro in the arts can be a trap, and it takes a really strong artist to escape that trap. So, umm...after that rant: Thanks for the links! I'm checking them out as we speak.
  - noxToken 10y ago
    I get where you're coming from. The great thing about electronic music is that anyone can get a setup for cheap and start producing tracks. The terrible thing about electronic music is that anyone can get a setup for cheap and start producing tracks. I have some producer friends (none of them renown), and the approaches taken by those with a musical background and those without are wildly different. The ones without the background tend to shovel out tracks, wipe their hands, and say, "Look! Easy!" They fail to realize that while their tracks do constitute as a musical piece, they have no idea about any of the composition. They claim their tracks are bangers just like everyone else's, but they're either making new arrangements or missing subtleties on why some tracks are considered great. All of that was to say that Sturgeon's law is especially prevalent with electronic music. Everyone is just as good as that one world famous producer, and there is nothing difficult about producing electronic music. However, your 100 plays across your 25 tracks on SoundCloud beg to differ.
wyager 10y ago
Plug for the local Austin band, S U R V I V E, which scored the show!
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  Yeah, I didn't know they were an Austin band at first (I'm from Austin, though I've been traveling for the past several months). I learned they were from Austin when friends started congratulating them and tagging them on facebook. Their other work is quite good, and available on bandcamp. I've been listening to their stuff pretty much daily lately.
- ultrasandwich 10y ago
  Yeah these guys are the real deal. Saw them play live a few times around Austin. All-hardware setup, no laptops, just raw knowledge of old synths. Michael Stein (one of the composers) worked at Switched On for a long time as a repair technician.
dclowd9901 10y ago
Seconded. Watched the intro again and again for every ep. But I have to say, the synth score is a prize. I am aching for Netflix to release it.
nickpsecurity 10y ago
The show itself looks to be a mix of key parts of Poltergeist and Silent Hill with better characters. Rewatched Poltergeist a day or so ago to find three people in the family even look close to Stranger Things family. Especially the boy. So, I thought it was a tribute to those or tapping into recognition of them. Without spoiling, the ending was great, too. Lots of producers seem to give middle finger to audience with how a season ends these days. That ending could be a decent finale or allow for another Season. Right way to do it. The opening is great. I marathon watched them but still enjoyed seeing opening each time. I agree with OP that it's refreshingly simple. Agree with you the music is like 70's or 80's style mixed with what I'd describe as common, background music for building suspense or interest in what's coming. Visuals for large letters and coloring were neat, too. I want to see more like it.
roboguy12 10y ago
I've been meaning to watch this show, but haven't yet gotten around to it. But, having just watched the title song video, I absolutely agree with the music aspect. I just recently saw the movie It Follows an 80's-influenced horror/suspense movie from 2014, and it has a lot of the same aspects as what I saw in the trailer, especially with the music. I'd recommend it to anyone based on the music alone, but as far as horror movies go (I'm usually not a fan) it was brilliant.

mmastrac 10y ago

The intro sews it up nicely. The word I like to describe the feeling of watching that title sequence is "frission".

epimetheus 10y ago

I also loved the intro, but I think that Netflix spends a lot of time/money on them. Daredevil is a good example of a striking intro theme as well. I feel slightly bad after the first 3-4 episodes, when I skip the intro though.

cmrx64 10y ago

I agree a lot! I was pretty skeptical of the show, but the intro sequence really got me to sit down and give it a chance. It's really polished.

arielweisberg 10y ago

Wow I had a bad reaction to the show. I feel like half of it needed to head to the cutting room floor. Episodes are 48 minutes long, but very little interesting happens. A lot of it is worn out tropes involving child and "teenage" actors that don't make it any more interesting to watch. The photography is pretty uninspired and makes very little interesting use of composition, color, perspective, DOF. Sure you get a bone once in a while but most of it is pretty boring. There is a passable few episodes in there somewhere waiting to be ruthlessly edited out. But really instead of subverting expectations in it's storytelling it hews very closely to the expectations that come with the tropes and genre. That puts a hard ceiling on how good it's ever going to be given that I'm not tuning in for the acting, sets, or photography.

SwellJoe 10y ago
The show is not as good as the intro. And, the show is, like the intro, an homage to a bunch of 80s stuff. If you didn't grow up loving Stephen King novels and movies, and the like, you may not sync up with the stories they're telling. They really are retreading a bunch of 80s tropes; I enjoy it, but I recognize that the kids are rehashing a Spielberg-ian kidventure flick along the lines of Goonies or ET, the teenagers are stuck in a horror flick ala Friday the 13th, and the grownups are in a paranoid government conspiracy movie. Any of it would also fit comfortably into an X Files episode. I like all those things; even while I recognize they're pandering to my inner child. Then again, my girlfriend really likes it, too, and she's young enough to have not grown up on any of these things. So, I don't know. I like it. It's not high art, but it's definitely fun pop culture, for me.
- RangerScience 10y ago
  There's this interesting thing with the Netflix originals - they feel fantastically formulaic. Or, maybe a better way to put it - I feel like I can see the genes (memes?) in the story, and it comes out the better for it. In my imagination, it starts with the data scientists identifying a gap or opportunity based on people's viewing habits - House of Cards being the prime example; a show by X staring Y in Z genre. That provides the baseline; queue the writers raised on TV Tropes. I don't think there's an intact trope in the whole show; anything that is primarily subverted has sub-tropes done straight; anything done straight has sub-tropes subverted. The Marvel series do this the least; the pure Netflix originals do this the most. I'd say maybe you could call it "high craft"? Like Michelangelo versus Picasso.
  - SwellJoe 10y ago
    House of Cards had the British version to build on, so it's not entirely a Netflix taste triangulation. But, the CEO or somebody from Netflix has actually spelled out in the past that though they're taking risks in making a bunch of their own content, the risk is smaller than it has historically been. They know the taste of their audience (on a nearly individual level) better than any entertainment company in history ever has. And, they extract the value of their viewers directly and without middlemen, unlike almost every other entertainment company in history. So, for them, a successful show is one that brings in X number of new subscribers and keeps them around through multiple seasons...and that X number is smaller than it's ever needed to be. So, you're right; they are triangulating in on very specific sub-genres and very specific audiences in ways that entertainment companies in the past couldn't afford to do. This is long-tail television production. Stranger Things, while it is a niche market, is actually one of the bigger niche markets they've tapped into, thus far. It's gotten far more buzz than a lot of the other Netflix original programming. So, they're either getting better at the triangulation (likely) or they got lucky with this particular toss at the dart board of niche programming, or maybe it's a little of both. And, maybe the people making this show happened to be particularly passionate about it, and it shows in the attention to detail; they're having fun with it, and it makes it fun for viewers who like this sort of thing (or, are at least nostalgic about it...I don't read/watch Stephen King novels/movies very frequently as an adult, but loved them as a kid). I find the quality of the Netflix originals to vary pretty wildly, and I don't get hooked on most of them. But, I enjoyed Stranger Things. It's a fun escapist bit of entertainment. It's no House of Cards, or even Orange is the New Black, in terms of quality, but it delivers very effectively on what it promises. I wonder how well Stranger Things is doing among viewers who aren't old enough to have grown up surrounded by this stuff? I know many of my friends on facebook are hooked, but mostly the ones really talking about it are around my age. It's an interesting phenomenon, I think; the stuff it is paying homage to and modeled after was mostly targeted at kids and young adults, but the people most excited about it are maybe middle aged. Weird how that happens.

InclinedPlane 10y ago

Perhaps you should become acquainted with the music genre "synthwave", "new retro wave", or "outrun". Some examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1s9SmrQRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1s9SmrQRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpDn4-Na5co https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpDn4-Na5co https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egAB2qtVWFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egAB2qtVWFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vsf3zYppP4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vsf3zYppP4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv1ZN8c4_Gs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv1ZN8c4_Gs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGnNMnvM6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGnNMnvM6M

poisonarena 10y ago
this is just 80s synthpop made with ableton live after everyone saw Drive
SwellJoe 10y ago
Sturgeon's law applies to musical genres: 90% of everything is crap. But, those are pretty good. I'm aware of the genre, though not super familiar with it, most of it doesn't grab me. SURVIVE doesn't seem to fall into the nostalgia trap; wherein things have to sound exactly like the old thing it is paying homage to. A lot of retro stuff, in many genres (punk, country, rock and roll, metal, etc. it goes on and on), is just annoying and trite retreads of good stuff that happened 20+ years ago. I'm maybe sounding way more grumpy about it than I actually am, and I'm not specifically criticizing the links you've provided; I'm checking them out now, and mostly liking them. Just rambling, in general, about how retro in the arts can be a trap, and it takes a really strong artist to escape that trap. So, umm...after that rant: Thanks for the links! I'm checking them out as we speak.
- noxToken 10y ago
  I get where you're coming from. The great thing about electronic music is that anyone can get a setup for cheap and start producing tracks. The terrible thing about electronic music is that anyone can get a setup for cheap and start producing tracks. I have some producer friends (none of them renown), and the approaches taken by those with a musical background and those without are wildly different. The ones without the background tend to shovel out tracks, wipe their hands, and say, "Look! Easy!" They fail to realize that while their tracks do constitute as a musical piece, they have no idea about any of the composition. They claim their tracks are bangers just like everyone else's, but they're either making new arrangements or missing subtleties on why some tracks are considered great. All of that was to say that Sturgeon's law is especially prevalent with electronic music. Everyone is just as good as that one world famous producer, and there is nothing difficult about producing electronic music. However, your 100 plays across your 25 tracks on SoundCloud beg to differ.

wyager 10y ago

Plug for the local Austin band, S U R V I V E, which scored the show!

SwellJoe 10y ago
Yeah, I didn't know they were an Austin band at first (I'm from Austin, though I've been traveling for the past several months). I learned they were from Austin when friends started congratulating them and tagging them on facebook. Their other work is quite good, and available on bandcamp. I've been listening to their stuff pretty much daily lately.
ultrasandwich 10y ago
Yeah these guys are the real deal. Saw them play live a few times around Austin. All-hardware setup, no laptops, just raw knowledge of old synths. Michael Stein (one of the composers) worked at Switched On for a long time as a repair technician.

dclowd9901 10y ago

Seconded. Watched the intro again and again for every ep. But I have to say, the synth score is a prize. I am aching for Netflix to release it.

nickpsecurity 10y ago

The show itself looks to be a mix of key parts of Poltergeist and Silent Hill with better characters. Rewatched Poltergeist a day or so ago to find three people in the family even look close to Stranger Things family. Especially the boy. So, I thought it was a tribute to those or tapping into recognition of them. Without spoiling, the ending was great, too. Lots of producers seem to give middle finger to audience with how a season ends these days. That ending could be a decent finale or allow for another Season. Right way to do it. The opening is great. I marathon watched them but still enjoyed seeing opening each time. I agree with OP that it's refreshingly simple. Agree with you the music is like 70's or 80's style mixed with what I'd describe as common, background music for building suspense or interest in what's coming. Visuals for large letters and coloring were neat, too. I want to see more like it.

roboguy12 10y ago

I've been meaning to watch this show, but haven't yet gotten around to it. But, having just watched the title song video, I absolutely agree with the music aspect. I just recently saw the movie It Follows an 80's-influenced horror/suspense movie from 2014, and it has a lot of the same aspects as what I saw in the trailer, especially with the music. I'd recommend it to anyone based on the music alone, but as far as horror movies go (I'm usually not a fan) it was brilliant.