Stranger Things The Ultimate Unofficial A to Z E-Book

Jonathan Dexter

• Herausgeber: epubli
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 432

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The ultimate directory to the Netflix show. This A-Z includes information on the cast, production team, influences, locations, episodes, culture and more. Everything you would want to know about Stranger Things is in this bumper guide to the popular and iconic series. Where all other Stranger Things books end, this complete A-Z is only just beginning!

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Stranger ThingsThe Ultimate Unofficial A to Z    

Jonathan Dexter© Copyright 2024 Jonathan Dexter

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ContentsIntroductionThe A-ZPhoto CreditIntroductionThe ultimate directory to the Netflix show. Where all other Stranger Things books end, this one is only just beginning!THE A-ZAACROBAT THEORYThe school science teacher Mr Clarke uses an analogy to explain superstring theory (superstring theory is a theoretical framework in particle physics that suggests that all fundamental particles are actually tiny, vibrating strings) and the multiverse to the boys when they ask about other dimensions at the 'funeral' of Will Byers in season one. Mr Clarke tells them to picture an acrobat on a rope. The acrobat can only go back and forwards. Then imagine a flea on the rope. The flea can go anywhere. It can move around and come back to where it started. The flea has access to a dimension that the acrobat doesn't. Cosmologist Ranga-Ram Chary felt that Mr Clarke's analogy wasn't perfect. He suggested this alternative - "You are stuck in a traffic jam. You can only go forward, backward or change lanes. That is being stuck in two dimensions. If you could get the car to get off the ground (there are a few prototypes that I have seen), that would help you move in a third dimension. Strictly speaking even that isn't accurate, because the driver is extended in the third dimension. But then, neither is the flea or a tightrope — both of which are three-dimensional objects!"ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTINGA possible cinematic inspiration for Steve becoming the babysitter to the kids in season two might be the 1987 Chris Columbus film Adventures in Babysitting where Elisabeth Shue plays a babysitter who ends up in all sorts of trouble with crooks and thieves and various crazy situations as she babysits a gaggle of children and teenagers in Chicago. AGENT ORANGEHopper reveals in season four that when he served in Vietnam he was involved in the preparation of Agent Orange. He therefore believes he was to blame for his daughter Sara developing cancer and dying. Agent Orange is a herbicide and defoliant chemical which was used by the U.S. military in Vietnam in 'herbicidal' warfare tactics to destroy the jungle cover in which their enemy was hiding. Agent Orange is a known carcinogen. It's safe to say that mixing vats of Agent Orange is a hazardous job that you'd rather avoid given a choice. Hopper says he was just a kid at the time and had no idea what he was doing. The military clearly didn't tell young soldiers much about Agent Orange.AIMEE MULLINSPennsylvania born athlete, actress, and fashion model who played Terry Ives in Stranger Things. Mullins was born with fibular hemimelia (missing fibula bones) and as a result, had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was one year old. Mullins competed in the Paralympics in 1996 in Atlanta.AKIRAThe sequence in the season one finale where Eleven takes out the soldiers in the school corridor feels inspired by a sequence in the animated film Akira where Tetsuo uses his powers to escape from heavily armed guards in a hospital. ALAN TURINGWe don't actually see Will Byers do his school presentation at the start of Stranger Things 4 but we see evidence that it was going to be about Alan Turing. Alan Turing was a British mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. He played a vital role for the Allies in cracking the German codes during World War 2. Sadly, Turing lived during a time when it was much more difficult to be gay. This contributed to his suicide at the age of 42. ALEC UTGOFFThe actor who portrays the sympathetic and Slurpee loving Soviet scientist Alexei in season three. Utgoff was born in Ukraine and moved to England with his family when he was fifteen. He then appeared in a number of British TV shows and had small parts in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and San Andreas. Utgoff says he was very touched that people seemed to like Alexei.ALEXEI A character in Stranger Things 3. Alexei is a Soviet scientist who has been forced to work on the Upside Down drilling machine the Red Army have secretly constructed beneath the Starcourt Mall in Hawkins. Alexei is kidnapped by Hopper - who enlists Murray Bauman as a translator. Alexei finds himself caught in the middle of a very difficult situation. He is very reluctant to betray his superiors and his country because that could have awful (and deadly) consequences but he is also unhappy to have to work on the Upside Down project. In the end, Alexei becomes friends with Murray and begins to trust these crazy Americans who have captured him. Alexei likes the United States (especially Burger King and Woody Woodpecker) but, sadly, he isn't destined to experience it for very long. Smirnoff is Hopper's nickname for Alexei in Stranger Things 3. This might refer to Yakov Smirnoff, a Ukraine-born comedian who immigrated to the United States in the ’70s and enjoyed success making jokes at the Soviet Union's expense. Alexei is a fan of Woody Woodpecker in Stranger Things 3. Woody Woodpecker is a fictional animated anthropomorphic woodpecker who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures during the golden age of American animation. The character was created in 1940 by Lantz and storyboard artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway.ALICE CREELYounger sister of Henry Creel in the season four flashbacks concerning the spooky Creel house and the origin of Vecna. Alice is murdered by Henry along with her mother. Her father Victor was wrongly blamed for these murders. Livi Birch was the main actor for Alice. ALIEN FRANCHISEThe Alien franchise is referenced more than once in Stranger Things in key sequences and production designs. The residue left by the alternate world creatures in Stranger Things is similar to the secretions of the Xenomorphs in the Alien universe and Stranger Things also uses the idea of facehugger type organisms and humans becoming cocooned by Lovecraftian beasts. The Demogorgon creature in Stranger Things is very H.R Giger and the scene in the last episode of season one where Joyce and Hopper explore the nightmarish Upside Down world looking for Will - their faces visible through hazmat suit helmet lights - is a direct tribute to the sequence Alien where the crew of the Nostromo explore the desolate, mist shrouded LV-426. The shot early in episode one of Stranger Things where the scientist in the elevator looks up in terror at something above him and is then pulled up by this unseen horror is a direct homage to a similar sequence in David Fincher's Alien 3. The Duffer Brothers are big fans of David Fincher and designed this scene as a tribute to the director. James Cameron's 1986 sci-fi classic Aliens was an influence on season one but even more so on Stranger Things 2. Not only do we get Paul Reiser as the possibly dubious 'company man' in Stranger Things 2 (as he was as Carter Burke in Aliens) but there are many riffs on Aliens throughout. The Spy, which is episode six of Stranger Things 2, is Stranger Things in complete Aliens tribute mode with the Demogorgons attacking the soldiers in the tunnels, motion trackers, and video camera point of view footage. Aliens was named as the biggest influence on Stranger Things 2 by the Duffer Brothers in that they wanted to do a sequel that was still part of the Stranger Things universe but also bigger and slightly different - just like Aliens was a blood relative to Alien but bigger. We must mention too that Eleven's curly hair at the start of Stranger Things 2 seems to be partly inspired by Sigourney Weaver's hairstyle in Aliens. The scene in season two where Bob is attacked by DemoDogs and Hopper drags Joyce away seems to be inspired by the moment in Aliens where Vasquez is reluctantly dragged away as her friend Drake is about to be killed. Eleven's dramatic return at the end of the penultimate episode of season two owes something to the scene in Alien: Resurrection where Winona Ryder's android character Call returns to save her friends after the aquatic chase. A similarity in the scenes too is that Eleven and Call are assumed to be dead. It is only Hopper who knows that Eleven is alive. When Dustin's pet 'Dart' keeps shedding its skin and getting bigger, this feels very inspired by the Xenomorph's initial growth in Ridley Scott's Alien. Another Alien 3 reference in Stranger Things comes in season three when the Flayer looms close enough to breathe on Nancy. This happened to Ripley in Alien 3 with the xenomorph. The green gloop in the vials that the Scoop Troop find in the Soviet base in Stranger Things 3 turns out to be acidic. This is a reference to the Alien series - most likely the scene where Dallas tries to cut the facehugger from Kane in Alien and the creature's acid blood begins eating through the hull of the Nostromo.  Erica crawling through the vents in Stranger Things 3 could be a homage to Bishop in James Cameron's Aliens crawling through piping conduits to reach the colony's transmitter and remote pilot the Sulaco's remaining dropship to the surface. Some fans have suggested that the Soviets attempting to get control of the Upside Down (or at the very least gain access to it) could be a reference to the Alien franchise - where the sinister corporations are very eager to get hold of a Xenomorph specimen - despite the grave danger that this task could potentially pose. The Duffer Brothers said the alien Queen in the 1986 film Aliens was an influence on the Mind Flayer in that they wanted the Upside Down to have a boss in the way that alien Queen is the boss of the aliens. David Harbour said that one of the biggest inspirations for Hopper's Soviet arc in season four was the horror sequel Alien 3. In Alien 3, Sigourney Weaver's Ripley crash lands on a desolate and grim prison planet named Fiorina "Fury" 161 and one of the alien creatures (inevitably) gets loose.ALISON TATLOCKAlison Tatlock wrote the first season episode The Flea and the Acrobat. She later worked as a producer on the acclaimed Breaking Bad spin-off show Better Call Saul. ALTERED STATESThe film Altered States was plainly an influence on Stranger Things. Altered States is a 1980 science fiction horror film by Ken Russell based on a novel by Paddy Chayefsky. The story is based on real life experiments by physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, and philosopher Dr John Cunningham Lilly. Lilly invented the sensory deprivation tank. He saw the sensory deprivation tank as a means to explore the nature of human consciousness and used psychedelic drugs in his experiments. In the film, William Hurt plays a university professor who experiments with other states of consciousness by using psychotropic drugs and entering a sensory deprivation tank.ALTERNATE DIMENSIONSAlternate dimensions refer to regions of existence that are separate from our own physical reality, but may run parallel to it or intersect with it in some way. These dimensions are theorised in certain branches of theoretical physics and speculative fiction, and are typically described as existing beyond the limits of our traditional three-dimensional space. Some interpretations suggest that alternate dimensions could contain entirely different laws of physics, alternate versions of ourselves, or even entirely separate universes. The concept of alternate dimensions is a popular theme in science fiction and can be used to explore ideas of parallel realities, time travel, and the nature of existence.AMYBETH McNULTYAmybeth McNulty was introduced as Vickie in Stranger Things 4. Amybeth McNulty is an Irish born actor best known for her role as Anne Shirley in the CBC/Netflix drama series Anne with an E, based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables. Amybeth McNulty said she binged the first season of Stranger Things when it came out and had been a friend of Millie Bobby Brown on social media since 2016. She was thrilled to be in Stranger Things and said her casting came out of the blue. It was the Duffer Brothers love of all things Anne of Green Gables which brought Amybeth McNulty to their attention. AMY L. FORSYTHEStranger Things makeup artist. Her eclectic range of duties on Stranger Things have included everything from making edible fertiliser for Mrs Driscoll to eat in Stranger Things 3 to coming up with Eleven's makeup for the Snow Ball dance in season two. Amy Forsythe, after her time on Stranger Things, has seen more fake blood than you've had hot dinners.AMY PARRISCostume designer on the show for season two. Amy Parris scoured Etsy for some of the vintage clothes you see in Stranger Things. She also trawled through clothes shops and markets in Atlanta. Her duties included designing Eleven's clothes at Hopper's cabin and the makeover the character has in The Lost Sister. Amy Parris also naturally had to help come up with the Ghostbusters costumes the boys wear in season two.AMY SEIMETZTampa raised actress who played Becky Ives. She has appeared in AMC's The Killing, HBO's Family Tree and Shane Carruth's Upstream Color. In 2017 she featured in Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant.ANDREW STANTONSecond season director Andrew Stanton said working on the show made him feel very nostalgic for the 1980s and that he was impressed by the accuracy of the period recreations by the art and costume departments. Stanton is best known for his work with Pixar. His directing credits include Finding Dory and John Carter. Stanton's knowledge of special effects was very helpful to the Duffers on Stranger Things 2 (which was much more FX intensive than the first season). ANDREY IVCHENKOAndrey Ivchenko, who played the Terminator inspired Red Army enforcer Grigori in Stranger Things 3, was born in Ukraine - which was then in the old Soviet Union. In real life, he really did once serve in the Red Army (for two years). Despite the obvious Schwarzenegger/Terminator riffs, Andrey Ivchenko said he tried not to make Grigori too robotic in Stranger Things 3.ANGELAThe coal-hearted bully who makes life miserable for Eleven at the start of Stranger Things 4. Angela is determined to humiliate and belittle Eleven at every turn. Fortunately for Angela, Eleven doesn't have her powers. However, Eleven finally reaches the end of her tether and whacks Angela with a roller skate at Rink-O-Mania. Angela suffers a bad cut and concussion as a result. Despite the brutality of Eleven's skate attack it is doubtful that many Stranger Things fans managed to dredge up too much sympathy for Angela. Angela was so detestable that most of us were probably happy to see her take a roller skate to the face!ANIMAL HOUSESteve, much to the dismay of the more cultured Robin, names the John Landis comedy Animal House as one of his top three films when in Keith's video store at the end of Stranger Things 3. You may recall that we could see someone dressed as John Belushi in Animal House during the Halloween party that Steve and Nancy attended in Stranger Things 2.ANNE OF GREEN GABLESAnne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Hopper reads Anne of Green Gables to Eleven in the cabin. We saw him read this book to his daughter in season one flashbacks. The passage he reads to Eleven is - "I would feel so sad if I was a disappointment to her -- because she didn't live very long after that, you see. She died of a fever when I was just three months old. I do wish she'd lived long enough for me to remember calling her mother. I think it would be so sweet to say 'mother,' don't you? And father died four days afterwards from fever too. That left me an orphan and folks were at their wits' end, so Mrs. Thomas said, what to do with me. You see, nobody wanted me even then. It seems to be my fate." ARGYLEArgyle (portrayed by Eduardo Franco) is Jonathan's new best friend in California in Stranger Things 4. Argyle works in a Surfer Boy Pizza branch and is often stoned. Because he is usually high, Argyle frequently has no idea what is actually going on around him. Argyle becomes unwittingly involved in the road trip of Jonathan, Will, and Mike when they have to flee after soldiers attack the Byers house in search of Eleven. Argyle's pizza van is their transportation as they try to find out what happened to El and make sense of the last cryptic words of the deceased agent who protected them. Whether Argyle is a help or a hindrance on this road mission is sometimes open to debate but you can be sure that he'll somehow find a way to have a good time all the same.ATLANTAThe location where Stranger Things is based and mostly filmed. Atlanta is the capital city of the state of Georgia in the United States. Atlanta is also home to many iconic landmarks, including the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. The city is a major transportation hub with the busiest airport in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Chris Trujillo, the production designer, said that Georgia was chosen as the shooting location for Stranger Things because it represented a broad spectrum of archetypal Americana. AUDITIONSThe Duffers auditioned 906 boys and 307 girls before deciding on their younger cast members. The child actors were required to read scenes from (among other films) Rob Reiner's Stand By Me. The Duffer Brothers said that casting the right children in season one was the most important task they had. A gratingly bad performance from just one of the child actors could potentially have sunk the whole show.BBACK TO THE FUTUREThere are a large number of references to this classic 1985 film in Stranger Things 3. Dustin, Erica, Steve and Robin duck into a screening of the film in season three to hide from the Russians after they manage to escape from the secret underground base. There are also a few musical bars of Huey Lewis and the scene where Steve drives through the mall in his car to save Nancy, Jonathan and the kids from Billy feels like a nod to the car park scenes in Back to the Future where Marty must get the Delorean up to 88 mph. Note too that when Joyce visits Mr Clarke, he has a table top model of the town to test scientific theories - rather like Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown.  The Hess farm mailbox being destroyed when Hopper and Joyce escape from Grigori in Stranger Things 3 is a reference to the moment in Back to the Future where the mailbox at Peabody's farm is destroyed when Otis Peabody shoots at the DeLorean. Maxine Mayfield has a Madrid Skateboard when she is introduced in season two. This is the same brand that Marty McFly has in Back to the Future. Bob Newby's JVC GR-C1 camcorder in Stranger Things 2 was much prized at the time because it had instant playback. Doc Brown had this same camera in Back to the Future. When Jonathan trips over in Stranger Things 3 while trying to put his pants on, this is a reference to Marty McFly doing the same thing in Back to the Future. The doomed Mrs Driscoll has a Kit-Cat Klock on her wall in Stranger Things 3. The first Kit-Kat Klock was designed by Earl Arnault (1904-1971) in 1932 and made by the Allied Manufacturing Company in Portland, Oregon. These clocks are still quite popular and easy to buy. Doc Brown has the same clock on his wall in Back to the Future. At the end of Stranger Things 3, when Steve and Robin go to the video store, Steve is wearing something a bit similar to Marty McFly's puffy burnt orange down vest from Back to the Future. This 'jacket without sleeves' look was very popular in 1985. You can see a piece of paper near where Joyce works in Stranger Things 3 that says 'Save Downtown, No to mall'. This is a riff on the 'Save the Clock Tower' flyer that features in Back to the Future. The vials of green liquid that the Soviets use for their Upside Down drilling machine in Stranger Things 3 sort of resemble the vials of plutonium that Doc Brown uses for the DeLorean in Back to the Future.BAMBIEleven has a Bambi figurine on her desk in Stranger Things 4. This is a symbol of how vulnerable feels without her powers and how alone she feels without Hopper and cut adrift from her friends in Hawkins. BANDANAThe camouflage bandanna worn by Lucas in season one was a suggestion by Caleb McLaughlin. In Stranger Things 2, Steve seems to be wearing the same red bandanna to cover his face in the tunnels that Josh Brolin had in The Goonies.BARBARA HOLLAND Barb Holland is Nancy's best friend at the beginning of Stranger Things in season one. However, Nancy is becoming sucked into the orbit of Steve (who is not a terribly nice person for much of season one) and his nasty and shallow friends Tommy and Carol. This all threatens to drift Nancy away from Barb. Barb, who wears huge glasses and frumpy clothes, is very much an outsider in this group and isn't made to feel especially welcome when she reluctantly attends a party at Steve's house with Nancy. Barb is left to her own devices at the party and is captured and killed by the Demogorgon when she sits on the swimming pool diving board alone. Nancy, who was sleeping with Steve at this time, is profoundly affected by the disappearance of Barb and can't help but think it was her fault (though of course it wasn't - Nancy was hardly to know a monster from another dimension was lurking). In season two of Stranger Things, Barb drives a major plot arc when Nancy and Jonathan hatch a scheme to expose the lab and thus finally get closure for Barb's parents (who naturally have no idea what really happened to their daughter). Despite her minimal screen time and the fact that she only appeared in a few episodes at the start of season one, Barb was a character who not only activated future plots but also made quite an impact. Many related to the character of Barb when they thought of their own teenage years. The slightly nerdy kid who didn't run with the crowd and wasn't considered to be cool. The Duffer Brothers said they felt some guilt at killing Barb off so quickly because it was Shannon Purser's first acting job and she was so nice to work with. They did say though that this death was necessary because they wanted the audience to feel that no one in the show was safe. THE BATHTUBChapter seven of season one. The Bathtub was directed by the Duffer Brothers - who also wrote the screenplay with Paul Dichter (who is credited with the story). The Duffers and Millie Bobby Brown both said they think this is the best episode of season one - mainly because all the different groups of characters on their individual and respective investigations finally meet up and start to work together. This episode begins with the kids - specifically Eleven - in big trouble. Agents from the lab are on the way. Lucas manages to get a warning to them. Eleven has only just got back to the Wheeler house but now it's time to run again. The Bathtub then has a great stunt sequence that provides another iconic Eleven moment when the children flee on their bikes and are chased by the lab's white Chevy vans. Eleven uses her powers to make one of the vans flip over them and block the path ahead. It's great stuff when the van somersaults over their heads in slow motion after Eleven fixes it with her meanest gaze of super concentration. It is probably the biggest stunt sequence in season one. The child actors are excellent again as they bicker in the junkyard in an abandoned bus. Dustin paces up and down, convinced that they have been double crossed. Lando indeed. The diminutive fugitives seem to be at a dead end - especially when government agents locate their position and begin to circle the bus. Help has arrived though. Hopper is on the scene and dispatches the agents - knocking them out as they try to enter the bus. It's nice to see that in this episode Eleven and Lucas finally seem to be friends at last. Lucas has been the most vocal in his suspicions of Eleven but he finally apologises in this episode. The gang are finally all together again and now united. One of the best moments in this episode comes when Mike and Nancy are reunited. Nancy now knows of Eleven (Eleven is even wearing one of Nancy's dresses that the boys gave her when they smuggled her into school to use the ham radio) and a wonderful exchange between brother and sister takes place. The story here finally brings all of the characters together as their separate investigations finally coalesce. They are all now aware that something weird is going on in Hawkins. Joyce is no longer alone in her (previously eccentric) assertion that Will was still alive in some shadow world. They must contact Will but Eleven is exhausted after her efforts in the bike chase. She needs a peaceful place where she can focus her energies with no distraction. The solution is obvious. A sensory deprivation tank. Dustin telephones Mr Clark in a classic scene to get the nuts and bolts of what is required. Mr Clarke is home watching a film with a date. He tells Dustin they can talk about this at school on Monday but Dustin is so insistent that the curiosity door should always be open when it comes to science that Mr Clarke finally relents and offers some information. This scene is not only funny but also stresses character traits. We see how persuasive Dustin can be and also how kind and patient Mr Clarke is. So, with the help of a kiddie pool and a gargantuan amount of salt, Eleven floats in the water and contacts Will in the Upside Down. The exhausted and ailing Will is near the end of his endurance and holed up in the shadow version of his woodland clubhouse Castle Byers. There are many touching moments in these scenes. Joyce becomes the mother that Eleven never had as she calms her in the pool and Eleven is comforting to Will in the Upside Down when she tells him that help is one the way. Eleven becomes a mythic character in the way that she can straddle these two worlds with her powers. Sadly though, the actual rescue of Will will require someone to physically enter the Upside Down and retrieve him. Eleven's trip to the Upside Down does confirm and answer one lingering question when she encounters a very dead Barb with a slug in her mouth. Barb obviously didn't fare as well as Will when it came to hiding and surviving in the Upside Down. At the conclusion of this episode, Hopper and Joyce break into the Hawkins Lab to search for a way to find Will but are quickly apprehended. If they are to save Will they might have to strike a bargain. Jonathan and Nancy meanwhile, resolve to go and confront the monster. There's an awful lot to love in The Bathtub despite it being a quieter sort of episode (save for the big chase sequence at the start). It's great to see Mike and Lucas shake hands and make up at the beginning after their argument and it's also great to see Winona Ryder and Millie Bobby Brown get some scenes together. It is naturally very enjoyable also to see all of these characters meet up and interact with one another. This penultimate episode of season one is a very effective table setter for the finale to come. BATMANThe car chase that opens Stranger Things 2 was inspired by car chases in the Christopher Nolan Batman films. The Duffers often listen to film soundtracks when they write to get them in the right mood. The score for The Dark Knight was one of their favourites while they were writing Stranger Things 2.BATTLE OF IWO JIMAThe scene where the kids push Dustin's radio tower aloft in Suzie, Do You Copy? seems to ape the famous World War 2 photograph where six United States Marines raised the flag atop Mount Suribachi at the Battle of Iwo Jima.THE BATTLE OF STARCOURTChapter eight of season three and the finale. The Battle of Starcourt was written and directed by the Duffer Brothers. David Harbour said at the time he thought this was the best episode of Stranger Things so far. The episode begins with Eleven using her powers to remove the creature that was inside her leg. It scuttles away - whereupon it is crushed under the boot of the arriving Hopper. Our heroes come up with a plan. Hopper will infiltrate the Soviet base with Joyce and Murray to disable the machine. Dustin and Erica will guide them on walkie-talkies using Dustin's radio tower Cerebro. Hopper, Murray, and Joyce manage to get inside the base and steal uniforms to blend in. Joyce suggests they should go out on a date if they make it out of the base alive - a reversal of her earlier reluctance. Hopper finds that the keys to the machine are in a vault that can only be unlocked with Planck's constant. However, even Dustin can't remember the numbers. They are saved though by Dustin's girlfriend Suzie - who finally makes contact. She is real after all. Suzie reveals the numbers that Hopper needs - though not before she makes Dustin sing the theme song to The Neverending Story with her. The gang at the mall have further trouble when the Flayer monster crashes through the roof. Meanwhile, Steve is alarmed that he can't seem to contact the mall group on the walkie-talkie so he decides to go and see if they are safe. Steve smashes into Billy's car when he tries to ram Nancy and the others. Now that he has the keys to the machine drilling into the Upside Down, Hopper heads to the control room to shut it down. Billy enters the mall and knocks out Max and Mike. He takes the powerless Eleven in order to give her to the returning Mind Flayer. The kids attempt to distract the Flayer with fireworks and Eleven manages to reach inside of Billy's memories and make contact with his real personality by reminding him of his mother. Billy sacrifices himself to the Flayer to save Eleven and the others (notably his step-sister Max) as, down in the underground base, Hopper is attacked by Grigori. Hopper indicates to Joyce that she should turn the keys and so apparently sacrifices himself in the explosion to close off the Upside Down.Three months later we see a news report about Hawkins - which is now becoming infamous as some sort of cursed town where crazy things happen. You'd probably be safer spending Halloween in Haddonfield than spending any time in Hawkins! Mayor Kline is taken away in handcuffs and Steve and Robin manage to get a new job at the Family Video store. The Byers family are preparing to leave Hawkins. Now that Hopper is (apparently) dead, Eleven is going with them. There is a tearful farewell. Will has given his D&D games to Erica and Eleven tells Mike that she loves him. Eleven tries to crush a Coke can before they leave but her powers are still gone. She reads the letter that Hopper wrote to her (instead of that talk he planned) in episode one. In a post-credit scene set in a Soviet military prison we hear evidence that they have an American prisoner. We also see that in one of the cells they have a captive Demogorgon. The Battle of Starcourt is about all you could want from a finale. There is tension, some emotional moments, action aplenty, and plenty of fun to be had from watching this cast work together. This continues the show's enjoyable tradition of having big exciting finales. BECKY IVES Becky Ives is the sister of Terry Ives and Eleven's aunt. Becky has to look after the catatonic Terry. We see in season two that Eleven doesn't quite trust Becky and suspects that Becky might turn her in to the authorities. BEKSISNKIThe work of Polish painter Zdzislaw Beksinski was a very big influence on the look of the Upside Down. BELLWOOD QUARRYThe place where the quarry scenes in the show were shot. Bellwood Quarry has been used in other productions like The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games movie franchise. The quarry was the setting for one of the most memorable scenes in season one - Eleven rescuing Mike and Dustin from the school bullies Troy and James. BENGUIATStranger Things uses the ITC Benguiat typeface for its credits and title. This font was used for the Star Trek films First Contact and Generations. It was also used in the Choose Your Own Adventure series and on Strangeways Here we Come - the last studio album by The Smiths. Quentin Tarantino is fond of this typeface and uses it at the start of his movies for his own writing/directing credit. The recent sleeper hit horror film Barbarian also made use of ITC Benguiat in its promotional art. BENNY HAMMONDThe owner of Benny's Burgers in season one. Benny allows Eleven to take refuge in his diner when she escapes from the lab and gives her some food. He calls social services but Brenner's agents arrive instead and Benny is murdered by Connie Frazier. Eleven gets revenge in the season one finale when she kills Connie Frazier in the school corridor. Benny is a big man but very kind. He was a friend of Hopper. BENNY'S BURGERSA small diner in Hawkins run by Benny Hammond. This is where Eleven goes to steal food when she first escapes from the lab. Benny's kindness in feeding Eleven and looking after her doesn't do him much good when he's shot by Hawkins Lab employee Connie Frazier. In Stranger Things 4, Jason Carver's basketball gang used the boarded up Benny's Burgers as a place to crash. Benny's Burgers is really Tiffany's Kitchen in Lithia Springs, Georgia. This is a real diner that you can visit and eat in. In the pilot script, Benny's Burgers was a Fish and Chip themed diner.BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOWThe Duffers have been rather coy about the possible influence of a 2010 science fiction film called Beyond the Black Rainbow but the similarities between this film and Stranger Things are hard to ignore. Beyond the Black Rainbow has an ambient electronic soundtrack like Stranger Things, is set in the 1980s, and revolves around a mysterious lab where a young woman called Elena (Eva Allan) is captive and has psychic abilities. Sound familiar? Elena wanders in the woods when she eludes her captors just as Eleven does in Stranger Things and the lab in the movie also conducts sensory deprivation experiments. BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINABig Trouble in Little China is a 1986 film by John Carpenter. Jack Burton (Kurt Russell), an all-American truck driver with a John Wayne swagger, wins a bet gambling with old friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) while in San Francisco. While he waits for his winnings, Jack gives Wang a lift to the airport where Wang's bride-to-be Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) is due to arrive. However, Miao has green eyes and this has attracted the attention of 2000-year-old sorcerer David Lo Pan (James Hong) who needs a green eyed girl in order to restore his youth and flesh and blood. Lo Pan's gang kidnaps Miao from right under the noses of Jack and Wang and soon the two friends, with the help of friendly sorcerer Egg Shen (Victor Wong), are involved in all manner of mayhem and strange goings on in the heart of Chinatown as they attempt to rescue Miao and Jack's beloved truck - The Pork Chop Express - from Lo Pan's subterranean lair. Billy Hargrove's licence plate is a reference to the truck driven by Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China. Billy is also dressed like Jack Burton at the end of Stranger Things 3. The piece of music in the movie titled Abduction at Airport begins in a similar way to the Stranger Things theme. One might argue too that Jack Burton, a brave but rather dim hero who frequently has no idea what is going on around him, is something of an inspiration for Steve Harrington. BIKESThe bikes that the boys ride in Stranger Things are not specific makes but rig-ups using different props and parts (from bikes like BMX) to make them look like eighties bikes. This is because each of the actors/characters had to have three back up bikes (for stunts and in case of accidents) and it was impossible to find that many identical bikes from the eighties. Finn Wolfhard said the bike he rode as Mike Wheeler in season one was hard work because the gears were messed up. BILLY HARGROVEThe older step-brother of Max Mayfield, Billy is a walking eighties movie cliche with his mullet and super tight jeans. Billy seems to despise his step-sister Max and makes her life a misery. He seems to be prejudiced too - as evidenced by his dislike of Lucas. Billy sees Steve as his big rival at school and seems determined to supplant him. Although the Billy we see in Stranger Things 2 is mostly a swaggering oaf, there are other aspects to his persona. We see he is cowed by his strict father. We also see Billy turn on the charm and flirt with Mrs Wheeler. In season three, Billy, while working as a lifeguard at the swimming pool, becomes a vessel for the Mind Flayer. Billy tries to fight back though and has what you could describe as a heroic death. Billy's anger and resentment came from his parents' divorce. He was a happy child with his mother but became mean and surly when his mother left and he was left at the mercy of his strict and abusive father. Billy's denim/mullet look owes something to Randall Flagg in Stephen King's The Stand. Rob Lowe in St Elmo's Fire and Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys also feel like influences on Billy's hairstyle. BINGHAM FAMILYJonathan, Mike, Argyle and Will visit Suzie in Salt Lake City for assistance in season four. Suzie turns out to have a very large and obstreperous family. Her siblings are Cornelius, Peter, Tabitha, Tatum, Tanner, and Sterling. The eldest of the siblings is Eden (Audrey Holcomb) - who Argyle takes a shine to. Eden looks like Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club. The head of this crazy household is the long suffering Mr Bingham (Mark Rowe) - who simply wants to do some work in his office but is constantly being interrupted by his eccentric kids. The Bingham house resembles the house in Home Alone - which is obviously deliberate. THE BITEChapter seven of season three. The Bite was written and directed by the Duffer Brothers. Eleven and the gang hole up in Hopper's cabin where they come under attack from the monster and a siege ensues. Dustin and Erica manage to get Steve and Robin back to the surface but Steve and Robin are very groggy and seem to be high and intoxicated as a result of being drugged during their interrogation in the underground base. There are Soviet security men still on their trail so they all duck into a packed screening of Back to the Future in order to hide amongst the crowd. Alexei, Murray, Hopper, and Joyce race back to Hawkins to make sure that the kids are safe. Their ultimate mission is to destroy the machine that is trying to open a portal to the Upside Down. After managing to hold off the monster, Eleven and her party stop at a store to get some bandages for the injury she sustained to her leg. Dustin manages to make contact on his walkie-talkie and Eleven manages to deduce where Dustin is. While they are at the store, Mike tries to tell Eleven that he loves her. When they leave the store we see that Eleven's blood from her bandages begins to move of its own accord - indicating that it is infected. Steve and Robin, still addled from the drugs, escape from the cinema and end up vomiting in the foyer bathroom after the twinkling blue lights of the mall roof have too trippy an effect on them. While they recover in the bathroom, Steve reveals that he has feelings for Robin. Robin explains to Steve that she used to stare at him in class because she was jealous that her crush Tammy Thompson only had eyes for Steve. Steve accepts that Robin is gay. Their destiny is to become close platonic friends. Alexei, Murray, Hopper, and Joyce look for the kids at the carnival Mayor Kline has arranged but Karen Wheeler tells them the kids haven't arrived yet. Their presence has been detected by the Soviets and Hopper has to do battle with Grigoro again. However, they can't save Alexei - who is shot by Grigoro for being a traitor. Eleven and the gang arrive at the mall just in time to save Steve's gang from Soviet security men. Eleven flips a showroom car at the guards but then collapses in pain because something seems to be alive inside her leg wound. The action/horror sequences featuring Eleven in this episode are spectacular and exciting and the carnival scenes are tense and well staged. The use of a carnival adds another interesting and visually arresting backdrop to the season. Stranger Things 3 takes us out of the woods and the lab and throws the horror and danger into some more surprising places like a mall, hospital, and funfair. The Bite is an exciting penultimate episode with lashings of action and intrigue. THE BLACK CAULDRONThere seems to be a poster for The Black Cauldron in Starcourt Mall. The Black Cauldron is a 1985 animated adventure dark fantasy film produced by Walt Disney. It is loosely based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. With the budget of $44 million, it was the most expensive animated film ever made at the time. Earning $21.3 million domestically, it led to a loss for the studio, putting Walt Disney Feature Animation near bankruptcy.BLACK WIDOWDavid Harbour played an inmate in a Russian prison for the film Black Widow around the time that Stranger Things 4 was gearing up. In that film he had a beard and overgrown hair. Harbour suggested to the Duffer Brothers that he should have a shaved head in Stranger Things 4 to visually distance Hopper from the character he played in Black Widow. They agreed that this was a sensible idea. While on the set of Black Widow, Harbour even secretly texted the Duffer Brothers photos of the prison set so that they could make sure the prison Hopper finds himself in Stranger Things 4 would look completely different. Harbour said it was just a very unusual coincidence that he had to play two characters captive in Russian prisons in fairly short order.THE BLOBThe underrated 1988 remake of The Blob has a number of uncanny similarities with Stranger Things 3. It has a small town atmosphere, a sheriff, and some horror scenes in a hospital. The home of the heroine Shawnee Smith in The Blob also looks a lot like the Wheeler house inside and the hero Kevin Dillon has an outrageous mullet like Billy Hargrove. The Blob remake also naturally has mysterious government scientists in hazmat suits. It even has kids being smuggled into a cinema to watch a horror film and then the movie cutting out because of an inexplicable event! The military scientists in The Blob want to get hold of the organism to use as a biological weapon. This is sort of what the Soviets are trying to do in Stranger Things 3. Given all the similarities, you would be amazed if the Duffers had never watched The Blob remake.BLONDIENancy Wheeler has a calender for the album Autoamerican by Blondie in her room in season one. BLOWUPJonathan and Nancy potentially having a fragment of the Demogorgon on a photograph in season one is a nod to the film Blowup. Blowup is a 1966 British-Italian film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. The film follows a fashion photographer in swinging London who believes he may have unwittingly captured a murder on filmBOB NEWBY The new boyfriend of Joyce in season two. The character was played by Sean Astin. Bob works at Radio Shack and is an electronics and computer nerd. He likes Kenny Rogers and prefers Mr Mom to horror films. Will seems to like Bob although Jonathan doesn't seem so sure. Bob dies a heroic death in Stranger Things 2 when he goes on a mission in the lab to reboot the computer system and is killed by Demodogs. Bob Newby's nickname Bob the Brain is most likely a reference to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Heenan was a famous wrestling manager in the 1980s. He was best known for managing Andre the Giant. In season three of Stranger Things, you can see a drawing of Bob Newby as a superhero on the fridge in the Byers house. This drawing was obviously done by Will. Bob Newby makes a brief appearance in a season three flashback. We see in season three that Joyce is very affected by his death. BO DEREKIn season two, Hopper sarcastically says to the journalist Murray - "Yeah, I want a date with Bo Derek. We all want things." Bo Derek is an actress and was a major sex symbol thanks mostly to the Blake Edwards film '10' - where she played a beautiful young woman who Dudley Moore becomes obsessed with. Her other film roles included Tarzan, the Ape Man. In 1984, when Stranger Things 2 takes place, Bo Derek starred in the risque (and much panned) film Bolero.BODY DOUBLE When Jonathan is in the woods with his telephoto lens looking for signs of his missing brother Will and spies on Nancy while she frolics at Steve's house this feels like an obvious homage to Brian De Palma’s film Body Double. BOOGIE MANThe music that plays while Murray Bauman searches Alexei in Stranger Things 3 is Sid Phillips's Boogie Man. Boogie Man is included in the 2008 video game Fallout 3 - which is most likely where the Duffers got the idea to use it from.THE BORDERLAND A 1963 episode of The Outer Limits by series creator Leslie Stevens - who writes and directs. In a remarkable scientific breakthrough, Ian Fraser (Mark Richman) and his team have discovered a doorway to a parallel universe/other dimension at Arrex Electronics - where he is Head Chairman of the board of Directors. Millionaire Dwight Hartley (Barry Jones) agrees to fund Fraser's research. His motivation? Hartley wants to see if he can make contact with his late son in this other dimensional 'borderland'. This is an enjoyable parallel universe episode that reminds one of the work of Nigel Kneale and The Twilight Zone episode Little Girl Lost by Richard Matheson. In an early scene a scientist puts his hand through and it comes out back to front leaving him with two right hands. It's a topsy turvy world but how similar to ours will it ultimately be? That is the question. And might it really contain loved ones who have passed on in our reality? The Borderland anticipates the sort of dimensional intrigue that shows like Stranger Things would later mine. The Borderland looks pleasingly large scale as an episode too (albeit with some use of stock footage) with the huge big factory laboratory type building where Fraser sets up his experiment and tries to gauge what is on the other side. It sort of makes sense that this dimensional rift requires practically an entire factory to activate it (and also contain this experiment and give it a modicum of secrecy). The Borderland is reminiscent of Stranger Things in many ways. Not only the alternate dimension with all of its resident strangeness but also the factory sized laboratory where the story is set. It's rather like the Hawkins Lab in Stranger Things. BRADLEY'S BIG BUYWhen Nancy breaks into the store so the gang can fix up Eleven's leg in Stranger Things 3, this is Bradley's Big Buy - the same store that Eleven stole the waffles from in season one. The location for this is a real store in Palmetto, Ga. BRAZILThe baby mask that Eleven wears in The Lost Sister episode also appeared in Terry Gilliam's cult 1985 film Brazil.BREAKING AWAYBreaking Away is a cult 1979 film directed by Peter Yates. This film was an unlikely but clear influence on Stranger Things with its Indiana setting, quarry scenes, and love of bicycles. The story revolves around four working-class teenagers, Dave (Dennis Christopher), Mike (Dennis Quaid), Cyril (Daniel Stern) and Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley), from Bloomington, Indiana, who have left school but don't know what to do with their lives and spend lazy summer days hanging around and swimming in an abandoned limestone quarry. The boys are known as 'cutters' by the rich kids at nearby Indiana University due to Bloomington´s stone cutting history and are generally looked down upon as losers by the students they encounter. Mike is an aimless out of shape former school quarterback while Moocher has fallen in love but can't even afford a marriage license. Cyril is tall and clumsy and expected to fail while Dave worships all things Italian through his love of cycling and now speaks in an Italian accent, much to the exasperation of his blue collar car salesman father Ray (Paul Dooley). When they ask Dave to form a cycling team to enter the Indiana University Little 500 bicycle race, the boys finally have a chance to make their mark on the town and life. Breaking Away is just a very charming and enjoyable film with great characters and performances and an uplifting quality. I wonder if Eleven calling Brenner "Papa" was inspired by Dave Stoller? Lucas dons a cap of an Italian cycling team (Ceramiche Ariostea) in Stranger Things 3. This is a direct reference to Breaking Away. BRETT GELMANActor who plays Murray Bauman. Gelman joined the cast in season two and has enjoyed an increasingly expanded role in the show. Brett Gelman is an American actor and comedian known for his roles in TV shows like Fleabag and Go On. He has also appeared in movies such as The Other Guys and 30 Minutes or Less. Gelman is known for his dark and edgy comedic style, and he has gained a following for his unique performances. Brett Gelman had to learn some Russian to play Murray and has also been permitted to improvise at times on Stranger Things (though obviously not too much). BROADWAYGaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Sadie Sink all knew each other a little bit before Stranger Things because their paths had crossed on Broadway.BRUCE LOWEJournalist at the Hawkins Post in season three. The character is played by Jake Busey. Bruce makes life especially difficult for Nancy in the office with his sexist attitude and jokes. He meets a gruesome end when he becomes one of the Flayed. When the Flayed version of Bruce punches through a hospital window in Stranger Things 3 and says "Hi there", this is an obvious reference to the famous scene of Jack Nicholson smashing through the door with an axe in The Shining.BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYERSome fans have noted the similarities between 'Hellmouths' from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Upside Down in Stranger Things. A Hellmouth was an area in which the barriers between dimensions was particularly weak, allowing the creation of portals between Earth and several hell dimensions. For these reasons, the Hellmouth attracts demons and other supernatural creatures, becoming a place for supernatural activity. A Hellmouth is created when a Deeper Well or Wellspring is used to cut a path to another dimension, allowing its magic to flow through.BYERS HOUSEIn the early seasons, Joyce lives with her kids out in the sticks in a ramshackle house. The exterior used for the Byers house in the early seasons was a real house at 149 Coastline Road in Fayetteville, Georgia. In 2022 this house was put up for sale for $300,000 and sold in one week. One buyer bid $600,000 so it went for well above the asking price. The house will reportedly be turned into an Airbnb. It was estimated that it would cost $100,000 to make the three bedroom house modern and ship shape. The production team on season one had to build an extra replica of the hall in the Byers' house so they could set fire to it. CCADE JONES2001 born actor who played James - the sidekick of the school bully Troy - in season one. His other credits include Drop Dead Diva and Parental Guidance. Cade Jones has apparently now quit acting. CAITLIN SCHNEIDERHANStaff writer on season four. Caitlin Schneiderhan wrote The Monster and the Superhero. CALEB MCLAUGHLINActor who plays Lucas. Caleb McLaughlin was born in Carmel, New York, in 2001. He studied dance for a year at Happy Feet Dance School in Carmel, NY and then at The Harlem School of the Arts. From 2012 he featured in The Lion King at the Minskoff Theatre. Caleb was content to play Simba on Broadway and had no initial thoughts about becoming an actor but changed his mind when some television auditions came his way. Caleb made television appearances in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Forever, and Unforgettable - all in 2013. In addition to Stranger Things, Caleb starred in a 2017 miniseries called The New Edition Story, all about the R&B group New Edition and their rise to fame from early ages. Caleb played the young Ricky Bell in the miniseries. He was also cast in High Flying Bird - a 2019 American sports drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh. In 2020, Caleb starred in the well received Western drama Concrete Cowboy. Caleb very nearly skipped the initial Stranger Things auditions because he didn't think the chances of him being cast were very good. Caleb's finest hour in the show in surely Stranger Things 4 - where he gives a terrific performance as Lucas and is given more to do than the previous few seasons. CAMP HEROStranger Things was loosely inspired by Camp Hero at Montauk - which is obviously why the show was originally going to have this title. Montauk is a village on the tip of Long Island. There is an old decommissioned military base there called Camp Hero which was one of the SAGE radar stations of Air Defense Command. The main purpose of these stations was to warn of any threat of nuclear attack. The base at Camp Hero, though apparently abandoned now, is still fenced off and guarded. The imposing Cold War radar still stands - silent and motionless. A number of conspiracies have been floated in relation to the base. There are stories that the government secretly buried a nuclear reactor there and it is often alleged to have been part of the secret MK-Ultra project (which was basically a clandestine experiment by the CIA to see if mind control and remote viewing was actually real). In 1992, Preston B. Nichols (along with Peter Moon) wrote a book called The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time in which Nichols claimed that after discovering he was a 'telepath' he had visited Montauk - where the caretaker of the old military base seemed to know who he was. Nichols claims that he was once in charge of a secret project at Camp Hero which opened a rip in time and made him experience alternate realities. That was merely the tip of the iceberg as Camp Hero was also allegedly subject to aliens, monsters, and time travel. The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time rather gives the game away in the introduction when it invites us to read the book that follows as a work of fiction should we choose. No one in their right mind believed that this book had any basis in reality. Nonetheless, the conspiracy theories related to Camp Hero tickled the imaginations of the Duffers and made them want to set the show in Montauk. In the original pilot script for the show Jim Hopper lives in a shack on the beach and the Byers house is right next to Camp Hero. While the general story and concepts in the show remained the same it did have a very different atmosphere and aura by moving the action from Long Island to Indiana. In the original early concept for the show, when it was still called Montauk, there were even plans to have everything take place in a blanket of heavy snow. A sort of Stranger Things meets 30 Days of Night. CANDICE