Fans of Stranger Things who wanted the show to continue so much after the series finale, they started a rumor that a secret ninth episode of the final season was made will probably be happy with the first animated spinoff of the franchise, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85. But how well does it integrate in to the show’s canon?
Opening Shot: “January 10, 1985. Hawkins, Indiana.” In a wintery scene, a person in a yellow hazmat suit chases something from the Upside Down with a flashlight and a torch. The person thinks he’s obliterated what looks like a tiny demogorgon with the torch, but the ashes settle in the snow and reconstitute themselves as something else.
The Gist: It’s the first day back to school for the gang from Hawkins Middle School, and they’re on their walkie-talkies, trying to coordinate their bike ride. Mike Wheeler (Luca Diaz) wants to pick up Eleven (Brooklyn Davey Norstedt) first; she doesn’t go to the school yet, but wants her to feel as much like a normal kid as possible. Of course, Will Byers (Ben Plessala), Lucas Sinclair (Elisha Williams) and Max Mayfield (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) are all there.
Dustin Henderson (Braxton Quinney) is at the Snack ‘N’ Go, playing Centipede. As he bikes towards his friends, though, he’s confronted by two of his usual tormentors. As he tries to get away from them, though, a creature that tunnels through the snow grabs one of them, and eventually takes the other one.
In the meantime, Mike goes to pick up Eleven, and he gets a warning from Hopper (Brett Gipson): If anything happens to her, “these woods hide a lot of mistakes.”
At school. the group meets a new kid, Nikki (Odessa A’zion), who immediately connects with them when she keeps Steve Harrington (Jeremy Jordan) from performatively pounding Will in order to impress his girlfriend. They also find out that their science teacher, Mr. Clarke (Pressly Coker) is going on sabbatical, and they meet their enthusiastic substitute, Mrs. Baxter (Janeane Garofalo).
When the gang try to make some money shoveling walks and driveways in the wealthy neighborhood (with Eleven’s help, over Mike’s objections), they see the burrowing monster for the first time when it grabs the plow operator. Then, as they chase it, knowing it’s from the Upside Down, they see it going after Nikki.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Of course, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is an animated extension of Stranger Things, taking place between seasons 2 and 3 of the original series. Eric Robles is the showrunner of this series, with The Duffer Brothers among the executive producers.
Our Take: Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 has one big thing going for it: It returns the characters that fans of the franchise followed for almost a decade to their middle-school selves. Because the story takes place between Seasons 2 and 3, the group has already fought various demogorgons and their first confrontation with the Mind Flayer. In other words, they already know what they’re doing when it comes to creatures from the Upside Down.
But it also shows them being kids, planning epic D&D campaigns and doing those Gen X teen things things that we Gen Xers always taunt the younger generations about. That Goonies-esque vibe that the early seasons of the original series did so well is definitely evident in this animated spinoff.
The voice actors in this series aren’t trying to do impressions of the actors from the original series, but the voices do come close enough that fans aren’t going to sit there and think that the gang sounds different than they used to, which helps keep them engaged with the story. The animation, though, is another matter. It’s fairly detailed, especially showing ’80s-era cars and other background details that help put us in a 1985 state of mind. But the character designs are a little creepy, and in the case of characters like Eleven, they don’t look much like the actors who played them on the original series.
But the biggest problem is that the scare factor isn’t there. The show is TV-PG, and while it’s not necessarily aimed towards kids, it certainly has toned-down violence and monster designs. Perhaps it’s just difficult to convey just how scary-looking the various Upside Down creatures are via animation. But at no time did we look at any of the supposedly scary moments and cringe or, well, any reaction that we had when we’d see the monsters in the original. That factor is important to make Tales From ’85 feel more like something that’s Stranger Things canon and not a watered-down and unnecessary addition to the franchise.
Performance Worth Watching: Brooklyn Davey Norstedt does a good job of replicating Eleven’s sometimes-stiff cadence, which of course was perfected by Mille Bobby Brown.
What Age Group Is This For?: Tales From ’85 will be good for scare-adverse kids that are age 8 and up.
Parting Shot: The burrowing monster comes out of the ground, and… well, it doesn’t look all that scary.
Sleeper Star: There are a few well-known guest voices in this series who haven’t been a part of the franchise before. Beside Garafalo, there’s also Lou Diamond Phillips and Robert Englund.
Most Pilot-y Line: There’s a mention of the Starcourt Mall opening on Memorial Day weekend, which we guess is a necessary Easter egg that helps connect this story to the third season of the original show, but it’s also not exactly a subtle one.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is good enough that franchise completists aren’t going to cringe while watching it, and it may be a good way to introduce younger kids to the franchise. But we just wish it was a little scarier, and the character animation a little less weird.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
