Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 perhaps the strangest move Stranger Things could be taken.
Take the release date for starters. Tales From ’85 aired just four months later Stranger Things final series. This left fans with almost no room to breathe between the end of the flagship series and the start of this animated spinoff, a testament to Netflix’s ambitious and non-stop design to turn one of its most original shows into a major franchise. (The name includes stage plays, books, and plays.)
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There’s just one big problem with that plan: Stranger Things‘ The final season was highly controversial, leaving desperate fans theorizing about a secret surprise episode and accusing the Duffer Brothers of writing Season 5 with ChatGPT. This outrage is still too fresh for another TV trip to Hawkins, Indiana, not to go the way Netflix hopes.
The trip back to Hawkins doesn’t really move the story along Stranger Things proceed. Instead, Tales From ’85 goes back in time, sandwiched between Seasons 2 and 3 and raises a lot of questions about the series. Namely, why?
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is a confusing journey into the past.
Credit: Netflix
Tales From ’85 is set in the winter of 1985, a few months before the Hawkins kids set foot in Starcourt Mall. It’s the winter holidays, and Mike (voiced by Luca Diaz), Eleven (voiced by Brooklyn Davey Norstedt), Dustin (voiced by Braxton Quinney), Lucas (voiced by Elisha Williams), Will (voiced by Ben Plessala), and Max (voiced by Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) are excited to enjoy the snow, the Hawkins winter festival, and of course, some Dungeons & Dragons.
But the Upside Down has other plans, as a wave of strange new creatures invades Hawkins. A “snow shark” burrows through snowdrifts, its incessant movements reminiscent of a Graboid Tremors. The “Jerk-O-Lanterns” disturb the pumpkin patch that proves important in Season 2.
Encounters with these animals range from terrifying to exhilarating, thanks to dynamic and lively animation from Flying Bark Productions. His painterly style is reminiscent of the Netflix smash hit Innerand while the series certainly wasn’t the first to pioneer the look, there’s a sense that Netflix is trying to recreate the same magic in a blockbuster new animated series.
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However, no matter how creative each creature or battle is, there is a bigger problem looming Tales From ’85. None of this has anything to do with future seasons Stranger Things self. In Season 3 and beyond, no one brings up the treacherous winter of 85, or discusses how the strategies they used while solving this mystery can help them in their current investigation. Dustin even went out of his way to start the Hawkins Investigators Club, something that could be done Of course appeared in the following season Tales From ’85 more than just an afterthought.
Plus, not to be Also is very faithful to canon, but Eleven pushes her psychic abilities here to almost Season 5 levels of superhero-dom, all without breaking a sweat. (Nosebleeds are still included, of course.) It depends on the magic of animation, which is possible Tales From ’85 goes wild with the depiction of Eleven’s powers. As epic as it is, it’s also divorced from the reality of the main series. For something that is meant to fit Stranger Things, Tales From ’85 ended up feeling very disjointed. Nowhere is that clearer than when he introduces a new key character who we know will have to disappear from Hawkins before Season 3.
Nikki is the heart Stranger Things: Tales From ’85… and the biggest problem.
Credit: Netflix
The new character is Nikki Baxter (voiced by Odessa A’zion). A brawny punk accustomed to moving cities with her scientist mother, Anna (Janeane Garofalo), Nikki isn’t used to putting down roots. But when he is caught in a snow shark attack and witnesses Eleven’s powers firsthand, he is welcomed into the Hawkins party and quickly becomes friends with them.
Despite her intimidating appearance, Nikki is shown to have a heart of gold (as well as a keen ability for tinkering that makes her indispensable to the party’s investigations). While she often serves as the friend group’s therapist, mediating arguments with ease, she also bonds with Will over their outsider status, encouraging him to accept what makes him different. Tales From ’85 overtly attributed Will’s “difference” to his supernatural issues in Seasons 1 and 2, though considering he came out as gay in Season 5, Nikki’s suggestion takes on new meaning here. Do Tales From ’85 act further on that subtext, or do anything in its power to reflect the show’s next season more meaningfully? NO.
When rewinding us to the time period between Seasons 2 and 3, Tales From ’85 trapping his character in a strange development. We know where their characters are headed, but here, we’ve taken a few leaps back in their journey. That no real actors lend their voices to the series doesn’t help either. While the voice actors do a fine job, even capturing some of the mannerisms of their live-action counterparts, there’s no denying how important the original cast was in establishing these characters. Without them, that is Tales From ’85 Hawkins’ version of the party ends up as an uncanny simulacra of the real thing.
That’s why Nikki is so important Tales From ’85. As an original character, he’s a breath of fresh air in the ensemble we’ve spent a decade with. It’s fun to rock Hawkins’ party with a new face, even if his concerns about moving on or not fitting in are pretty cliche.
Considering Nikki didn’t show up or even get one the in the future Stranger Things season, audiences will know he’s finally out of the narrative. Did he continue Stranger Things‘ the proud tradition of introducing beloved side characters only to kill them off? (See: Barb, Bob, Alexei, and Eddie.) Is he as distant as he always feared? Was he erased from everyone’s memories?
I tried to put these questions out of my mind as I watched Tales From ’85hoping to meet the show more on its level. But when the levels are awkwardly inserted into the wider show to keep the franchise going, how can I not think about how everything will ultimately connect, and why does this exist?
Of course we already know why it exists: franchises. More than that, it is an attempt to evoke nostalgia for the past Stranger Things season, which fans may be more willing to digest after their reactions to Season 5. But a franchise needs more than just nostalgia to survive, and that’s clear from Tales From ’85 That Stranger Things still need to learn that lesson.
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 now streaming on Netflix.
Topic
Netflix’s Stranger Things
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