Stranger Things Information

Stranger Things is an American supernatural horror web television series created by the Duffer Brothers. It is written and directed by Matt and Ross Duffer and executive-produced by Shawn Levy. It stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, and Matthew Modine. The plot follows the disappearance of a young boy, and a telekinetic girl who helps his friends in their search, while the boy's older brother and the town police chief start their own investigations.

The show is set in 1980s Indiana and is an homage to '80s pop culture, channeling the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George Lucas, among others.

The show was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016. It received positive reviews for its characterization, pacing, atmosphere, acting, soundtrack, directing, writing, and homages to 1980s genre films.

Premise

On November 6, 1983, in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, 12-year-old Will Byers vanishes mysteriously. Will's frantic mother, Joyce, searches for him while Police Chief Jim Hopper launches his own investigation. Will's friends Dustin, Mike and Lucas discover a psychokinetic girl who claims to know Will's location. As they uncover the truth, a sinister government agency tries to cover it up, while a more insidious force lurks below the surface.

Cast

• Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, the frazzled yet courageous single mother of 12-year-old Will Byers and teenaged Jonathan Byers. Divorced from Lonnie, she relies heavily on Jonathan to help her.
• David Harbour as Chief Jim Hopper, the police chief of Hawkins Police Department. Hopper divorced after his daughter died of cancer, which has caused him to lapse into drugs and alcoholism.
• Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, the son of Karen Wheeler and younger brother of Nancy Wheeler, and one of three friends to Will Byers. He is shown as an intelligent and conscientious student and is very committed to his friends.
• Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven ("El"), a young girl with psychokinetic abilities and limited vocabulary. She becomes close friends with Lucas, Dustin, and most notably, Mike. Lucas and Dustin remain skeptical of her motives and Mike has his doubts after an incident where Lucas is injured but reconcile after they find her and help her find Will.
• Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, part of the clique of friends that include Mike, Will, and Lucas. He is a fan of comic books and is a very logical boy. He doesn't have his permanent front teeth because he has cleidocranial dysplasia, which causes him to lisp.
• Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, a member of the clique that include Mike and Will. He is bold, independent, and charismatic. He is also wary of Eleven.
• Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, the daughter of Karen Wheeler, older sister of Mike Wheeler, and the girlfriend of Steve Harrington. Seemingly conventional, she is trying to balance her values with her emotions and responsibilities. She is a good student and is best friends with Barb.
• Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, the older brother of Will Byers and the son of Joyce Byers. Considered an outsider at school, he is a quiet teenager and an aspiring photographer. He is very close with his mother and brother. He also has a secret crush on Nancy Wheeler.
• Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler, the mother to Nancy and Mike Wheeler as well as their toddler sister Holly.
• Matthew Modine as Dr. Martin Brenner, the scientist in charge of Hawkins Laboratory and the experiments performed there. He is manipulative and remote.

Recurring

• Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, the younger brother of Jonathan Byers and the son of Joyce Byers. He vanishes after encountering the strange creature.
• Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, the boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler. Famous at their high school for his bad boy antics, he initially seems arrogant but in fact harbors a deep sense of loyalty and bravery to those he cares about.
• Shannon Purser as Barbara ("Barb") Holland, the best friend of Nancy Wheeler. She is intelligent and outspoken, and is very loyal to Nancy. She does not care about being popular with the other students at the school she and Nancy attend, but is concerned that their friendship may be threatened by Nancy's relationship with Steve.
• Ross Partridge as Lonnie, the drunk, egotistical, and selfish ex-husband of Joyce Byers, with Jonathan and Will being his only sons. He has a much younger girlfriend named Cynthia.
• Rob Morgan as Officer Powell, one of Hopper's officers. He is serious and by the book.
• John Paul Reynolds as Officer Callahan, another of Hopper's officers. Not nearly as serious as his partner, he still works hard in the search for Will Byers.
• Randall P. Havens as Mr. Clark, the boys' teacher. He cares about their interest in science and helps them whenever asked.
• Aimee Mullins as Terry Ives, the mysterious woman who claims her daughter was stolen from her shortly after giving birth. She is the biological mother of Jane ("Eleven") Ives.

Episodes

| ShortSummary = In 1983, in a US Department of Energy laboratory in the town of Hawkins, Indiana, a scientist is attacked by an unseen creature. 12-year-old Will Byers vanishes after encountering the creature while riding his bicycle home from a Dungeons & Dragons session with his friends. The next day, a young girl with a shaved head, wearing a hospital gown, steals food from a local diner. The owner, Benny (Chris Sullivan), takes pity on her and feeds her before calling Social Services. A woman posing as a social worker arrives and shoots Benny. Armed men search the diner for the girl, but she escapes. Will's friends Lucas, Mike, and Dustin find her in the woods as they search for Will. | LineColor = 8A0707 }}

| ShortSummary = The boys take the girl to Mike's house. She shows Mike a tattoo of "011" on her arm; Mike nicknames her "El" (short for "Eleven"). At Will's home, Joyce receives a staticky phone call and believes she heard Will's voice, but her phone short circuits. After scientists from the laboratory eavesdrop on a phone call between Joyce and Florence, the police dispatcher, they go to Joyce's home in hazmat suits and radiation detectors, and find a substance oozing from the walls. At Mike's home, El recognizes Will in a photo. El uses psychokinesis to lock the door and prevent Dustin and Lucas from informing Mike's parents, insisting that informing anyone else about her is not safe. While searching for Will, Hopper discovers a torn piece of El's hospital gown. His investigation leads him to a narrow drainpipe originating inside the laboratory's grounds. Nancy goes with her friend Barb to her boyfriend Steve's house for a party. Will's brother, Jonathan, investigates his disappearance using his camera near where Will went missing. Hearing screaming, he runs and sees Steve, Nancy, and their friends playing in Steve's swimming pool, and he photographs them. Shortly after, Barb vanishes from the poolside. Joyce receives another call from Will, hears music from his room, and sees something coming through the wall. | LineColor = 8A0707 }}

| ShortSummary = Barb wakes up in an empty pool near a tall, dark creature. She tries to climb out in vain. Nancy notices Barb is gone, but she assumes she went home. Hopper goes to the laboratory and is told to speak to Rick Schaffer. After some insistence, a guard lets Hopper through. Joyce strings Christmas lights around her home, establishing communication with Will, who can turn them ON and OFF. At the library, Hopper and his deputies research Dr. Martin Brenner, the laboratory, and a woman named Terry Ives (Aimee Mullins) who claimed her daughter was taken by scientists. El leaves Mike's house to meet the boys for another search and has another flashback in which she is instructed to inflict pain on a cat. She refuses to continue, so Dr. Brenner, whom she calls "Papa", has her put in solitary confinement. When Barb doesn't show up at school, Nancy becomes worried. Steve and his friends discover Jonathan's photographs and destroy them along with his camera, but Nancy notices one photo of Barb at the pool moments before she disappeared and returns to Steve's house to search for her. Nancy finds Barb's car and sees a glimpse of the creature in the woods. Nancy goes home, and tearfully confesses to her mother that she lied about their whereabouts and is afraid for Barb. Joyce establishes a code with Will using the lights, which he uses to tell her that he is alive but unsafe. He tells Joyce to run as a creature begins to climb through her wall. Hopper tries to connect Brenner to Will's disappearance when he receives a radio call. El leads the boys to Will's house, claiming that he is hiding there, but the boys accuse her of lying. Will's body is discovered in a quarry. | LineColor = 8A0707 }}

| ShortSummary = El proves to the boys that Will is still alive by making contact through Mike's walkie-talkie. They decide to use their science teacher (Mr. Clarke)'s more powerful ham radio to contact Will. Using the radio, El and the boys overhear Will talking to his mother, saying he is afraid, and that it is dark and cold where he is. Simultaneously, Joyce hears him through her living room wall and tears the wallpaper, revealing a flesh-like substance on the wall, with Will on the other side. She breaks the wall with an axe, but this opens only to her front porch. Examining Jonathan's photo of Barb, Nancy realizes the monster is also visible. Jonathan realizes that Nancy's description of the monster matches his mother's: a humanoid figure with long arms and no face. Hopper confronts the state trooper who found Will's body. Suspicious, Hopper goes to the morgue, cuts open Will's body, and discovers it is a dummy. He heads to the laboratory. | LineColor = 8A0707 }}

| ShortSummary = Will's father Lonnie assures Joyce that her experiences are hallucinations. The boys conclude that Will is trapped in an alternative dimension of death and decay, which El calls the Upside-Down. After Will's funeral, the boys ask Mr. Clarke about dimensions; quoting the many-worlds interpretation of Hugh Everett III, he tells them that a space-time tear could create a passage between dimensions. Dustin notices that his compass no longer points north; positing that an inter-dimensional passage would disrupt the electromagnetic field, throwing off compasses, the boys follow their compasses to find the source of the disruption. El remembers being placed in a sensory-deprivation tank to telekinetically intercept information from a Russian spy; while listening to the spy, she comes across the creature. Scared of finding the gate, El directs the compasses away from the laboratory. When Lucas notices the distortion, he confronts her. Mike defends her, and he and Lucas fight. El telekinetically flings Lucas off Mike, knocking Lucas unconscious. Lucas recovers and runs away. Nancy and Jonathan decide to search for the creature in the woods and find a wounded deer, which the creature drags away. Following the blood trail, Nancy crawls through an opening in a tree to the Upside-Down world and discovers the creature feasting upon the deer. The creature gives chase. Hearing her screams, Jonathan looks for her as the tree-portal closes. | LineColor = 8A0707 }}

| ShortSummary = Jonathan pulls Nancy through the portal in the tree, saving her from the creature. In her bedroom, she is afraid to be alone and asks Jonathan to stay. Steve sees them together through her bedroom window. The next day, Nancy and Jonathan resolve to kill the monster, and purchase ammunition and bear traps from an army surplus store. Downtown, they discover graffiti calling Nancy a slut and confront Steve and his friends. Steve insults Jonathan's family, resulting in a fight in which Jonathan brutally beats Steve, but is arrested after he inadvertently assaults an officer. Joyce and Hopper decide to investigate together after Hopper discovers his home has been bugged. They track down the woman named Terry Ives, who has maintained her claim that a covert facility stole her baby; she is El's biological mother, who underwent MKUltra training while pregnant. Jane, now known as "011", was confiscated by Dr. Brenner, under the fake story that Terry miscarried. Lucas angrily parts ways with Dustin and Mike again, and follows his compass alone to the laboratory, while Mike and Dustin search for El in the woods. El shoplifts frozen waffles and recalls how she accidentally opened the gate between the normal world and the Upside-Down while on a reconnaissance mission, thereby allowing the monster through. While searching for El, Mike and Dustin are ambushed by Troy and his bully friend; Troy holds Dustin at knife-point and demands that Mike jump off the quarry cliff, into the lake where Will's body was discovered. Mike jumps, an almost certainly fatal move, but is levitated to safety by El, who later uses telekinesis to break Troy's arm and knock down his bully friend. Mike and Dustin reconcile with El, and they head back to Mike's house. Lucas sees agents leaving the Laboratory and realizes they are heading to Mike's house to capture El. | LineColor = 8A0707 }}

| ShortSummary = Lucas warns Mike via walkie-talkie that government agents are en route. Mike, Dustin, and El flee the house and narrowly escape with Lucas; El telekinetically flips a van that blocks their path. At their junkyard base, Lucas reconciles with Mike and El. Joyce and Hopper are called to the police station, where they find Nancy with Jonathan, and Jonathan reveals his knowledge about the creature to his mother and Hopper. The group contacts Mike and his friends, and they rendezvous with him at the junkyard, formulating a plan to make a sensory-deprivation tank to amplify El's powers so she can search for Will and Barb. They break into the middle school and construct the tank in the gym. With Joyce's help, El successfully enters the Upside-Down to find Barbara dead and Will alive, hiding in the Upside-Down "Castle Byers", his fort. Hopper and Joyce attempt to break into Hawkins Laboratory to save Will, but are apprehended by security guards. Nancy and Jonathan resolve to kill the monster, and steal their hunting gear back from the police station. In the Upside-Down, the monster breaks into the fort where Will is hiding. | LineColor = 8A0707 }}

| OriginalAirDate = | ShortSummary = Joyce and Hopper are detained in the Hawkins Laboratory and interrogated by Brenner. Hopper gives up El's location in exchange for neutrality and access to the gate. Joyce and Hopper enter in Hazmat suits and discover the creature's nest, where they find Will unconscious with a slug-like creature in his esophagus. Nancy and Jonathan turn the Byers home into a trap for the creature, then cut their hands to attract it with their blood. As they wait, Steve unexpectedly arrives, intending to apologize to Jonathan about their fight. As the three argue, the monster attacks, and Steve manages to trap it. Jonathan sets it on fire, injuring it, but it escapes back to the Upside-Down. In the middle school, where El and the boys are hiding, Mike asks El to a school dance, then kisses her. Agents storm the school, but El crushes their brains, killing them. As Brenner recovers the weakened El, the monster enters, attacks Brenner, and corners the children in a classroom. El pins it against a wall, and both vanish. Will is hospitalized and reunited with his mother, brother, and friends. As Hopper exits the hospital, a black car pulls up, and he reluctantly gets in. At Christmas one month later, Nancy has gotten back together with Steve, and both are friends with Jonathan; they give him a new camera for Christmas. Hopper leaves an office Christmas party with leftovers, which he leaves in the woods in a concealed box along with waffles, like the ones that El liked. Will and his friends have resumed their Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. After returning home to eat dinner with Joyce and Jonathan, Will excuses himself to wash his hands. In the bathroom he coughs up a slug-like creature, briefly sees the world like the Upside-Down, and returns to dinner. | LineColor = 8A0707 }} }}

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the series an approval rating of 94%, based on 54 reviews, with a weighted average score of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Exciting, heartbreaking, and sometimes scary, Stranger Things acts as an addictive homage to Spielberg films and vintage 1980s television." Review aggregator Metacritic gave the series a normalized score of 76 out of 100, based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Soundtrack

On August 10, 2016, Stranger Things' social media profiles announced that the original soundtrack would be available for digital download and streaming on August 10 for Volume 1, and August 19 for Volume 2. Following that, Volume 1 will become available September 16 for the physical CD, whilst Volume 2 will be released the following week.