TALES-spin. ’85 proves a STRANGEly average THING…
It’s 1985 and if things in Hawkins aren’t back to normal – and never really will be – then at least the kids there are dealing with the more mundane aspects of everyday life. Yes, Eleven is safe but permanently under the watchful eye of her erstwhile guardian Hopper and, yes there’s still some concerns about the laboratories just outside city limits – but there’s no imminent threat or risk to the future of the world.
Or is there?
Because something is growing, a ‘plant’ with a very distinct appetite. And it has its eyes and teeth set on the kids of Hawkins and a new student called Nikki. Is it related to the Demogorgon threat… or is this something just as dangerous?
*some spoilers*
There’s really nothing wrong with Stranger Things: Tales from ’85. However – and this is notable counterpoint – what’s right doesn’t feel particularly strange, urgent or of necessity.
The obvious pros are upfront in the visuals: its design work accurately reflects a stylised version of the original characters from one of Netflix‘s biggest hits. The voice-artistes are not the original cast – which is immediately a potential mark against its raison d’être – but the soundalikes are good enough to convince in the moment. Locations from the live-action show are faithfully replicated with due care and the familiar vibe will likely please a casual viewer of the original. In short, this isn’t an inferior, cut-price, rushed-job cash-in – clearly some time and effort has been spent getting it here.
Yet beyond those basics, there’s also no real imperative to give it urgency or momentum, no compelling backstory in need of telling, no sequel to set Things straight, nothing that screams ‘this is a secret story we HAD to tell!‘. Despite it not being rushed, it does still feel like that proverbial cash-in: not back because YOU demanded it so much as a way of further monetising a hit… something unapologetically designed by the Powers that Be to ride the tidal wave of the original into less risky, less deep but still commercial waters. In that sense it’s totally a 1980s thing…
Narratively, Tales from ’85 is sandwiched between Seasons Two and Three (so, for the record, Max is a newer member of the team and Eleven is back but she is secretly living under the over-protection of Hopper at his cabin). Our heroes think they’ve defeated the UpsideDown menace, but our tale pivots around a demogorgan-ish plant that is initially defeated but actually manages to release spores that begin to spread – and more importantly eat some of the Hawkins townsfolk (though, thankfully, mostly just school bullies… to begin with).
The idea of animation being purely for children is an age long gone, but though Tales from ’85 is geared to the younger end of the Stranger Things fanbase, it’s not a Scooby Doo-styled enterprise. No, there’s no R-rated blood and gore here, and it’s not as in-your-face, dialed up to literal Eleven as the final live-action run, but neither is it too santitised. Like the main show’s midway seasons, it doesn’t shy away from some classic horror tropes and some unfortunates getting dragged away, kicking and screaming to their genuine doom, though some things are definitely left to the just-off-screen imagination. But that does leave it a little adrift in the marketing department, with only its brand and lineage on which to hang its existence. It’s a show that’s now ALL easter-eggs.
While none of the original cast provide their voices, there are some ‘names’ in the mix as other characters. Robert Englund (the infamous alter-ego of Freddy Krueger and who played Victor Creel in Stranger Things‘ fourth season) returns to the franchise as a different character named Cosmo – the editor-in-chief of The Weekly Watcher, a tabloid that revels in conspiracy theories. Lou Diamond Phillips and Janeane Garofalo also provide their dulcet tones. It’s certainly a way to hook those who might have given the series a pass because of its lack of behind-the-scenes connective tissue.
For what it is and the purpose it serves, Tales form ’85 is a perfectly acceptable diversion that doesn’t detract from the source material while equally adding nothing substantial to it. But perhaps the most revealing metaphor is that in the age of must-have, inspired-designed popcorn buckets where you might expect Stranger Things to excel, the upcoming Tales of ’85 tie in is simply a McDonalds Happy Meal.
Then again, it did just get renewed today for a second season to debut before the end of the year and there may be more planned, so Stranger Things have indeed happened…
7/10
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is on Netflix now…