# Paper Girls on Amazon Prime **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** amazon-prime, comic-books-manga, tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 29, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808 "2022-07-29T21:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/1 "2022-07-29T21:59:23Z")
I haven’t seen this yet, in fact I only just learned today it was turned into a TV show, but I read the comic it is based on and enjoyed it. I don’t want to give too much away but assuming the show is like the comic, it is basically Stranger Things but Sci Fi rather than horror/fantasy and the kids are all girls. Anyone see it? Spoilers should be masked for now but curious for opinions especially if you read the comic. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/2 "2022-07-30T13:44:58Z")
Here is a review–which gives away too much: > **[Paper Girls review – a hugely fun sci-fi caper that’s like an all-female...](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/jul/29/paper-girls-review-amazon-prime)** > > It’s set in the 80s and follows suburban kids who get drawn into a reality-warping battle, but its feminist approach to time-hopping makes it feel genuinely fresh ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/3 "2022-07-30T14:27:22Z")
Currently 87% at RT (86% top critics) and 76% audience rating. Interesting. Set in the 80s, sounds almost familiar. But do they film in the same mall that my kids hung out at in the 80s? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/4 "2022-07-30T15:02:58Z")
What service is it on? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/5 "2022-07-30T15:19:08Z")
From the title: “Paper Girls on Amazon Prime” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/6 "2022-07-30T21:46:29Z")
Ah, but the _title_ is _Paper Girls on Amazon Prime_, the service is Hulu. I have never read the comic (was aware of it, always meant to give it a look, never got around to it). I have watched the first five episodes of the series. I would say that is almost _nothing_ like _Stranger Things_. It is okay, it has a bit of hammyness to it that I’m not sure is actually supposed to be there, mostly in the acting of the main villain (the one _without_ the t-shirt). It is interesting that they are saying it is set in the 80s (in the review I didn’t read) because in the first five episodes maybe 10 minutes take place in the 80s. The majority is in 2019, with a little at the end of episode five in 1999. Even if they immediately jumped back to the 80s at the beginning of episode six, close to 5/7ths of the show would have been in 1999. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/7 "2022-07-30T21:55:42Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Ah, but the _title_ is _Paper Girls on Amazon Prime_, the service is Hulu. I’m getting very whooshable in my old age. I actually believed that for a minute. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/8 "2022-07-30T21:59:46Z")
Five word summary: Girls accidentally join time war. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/9 "2022-07-31T00:05:14Z")
Yeah my comparison to Stranger Things was just an elevator pitch for people who knew nothing about it. I honestly hadn’t seen ST since its first season. The main comparison ends at " Weird stuff happens to a group of kids in the 80s". ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/10 "2022-07-31T00:25:40Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > but I read the comic it is based on and enjoyed it. So did I. Thanks for the heads up, I definitely have to check this one out if it is getting passable reviews. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/11 "2022-07-31T00:37:57Z")
For anyone who hasn’t read the comics (or “graphic novels” if you want to seem grown up), do so. Here’s a review. (An early review of the comics [here).](https://thelibraryladies.com/category/kates-reviews/page/63/) The writing is crisp, the art award-winning, and the coloring inspired. I hadn’t bought a graphic novel in decades, but happened across Paper Girls issue #6 and was hooked. Mostly by the chemistry between the girls and the time-traveling. My currently favorite line from literature? Context: Erin and the other Paper Girls are found by grown-up Erin, who’s immediately taken to task by her younger self (“I can’t believe I grow up to have a crappy car like this.” Are you telling me I still live in this dumpy neighborhood?"). At one point 1999 Erin swears, and younger Erin says… _“ **Could you not swear? It just sounds like we’re trying too hard to be cool**.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/12 "2022-07-31T00:40:22Z")
Finished it. The plot didn’t really move that much further by the end of episode 7 than it had by the end of episode 5. They definitely want to draw this out across several seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/13 "2022-07-31T00:42:27Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The main comparison ends at " Weird stuff happens to a group of kids in the 80s". So it is like _Goonies_! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/14 "2022-07-31T06:11:19Z")
Okay, I started the comic, am around 170 pages into [this version](https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Girls-Complete-Brian-Vaughan/dp/1534319999). So far the comic and the TV adaptation are hitting very broadly similar beats, but the details are extremely different. Those 170-ish pages have just reached the…um…“setting change” that took place around 10 or 15 minutes into the first episode of the TV series. (Among other changes is the TV series has a distinct lack of pterosaurs.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/15 "2022-07-31T15:19:31Z")
Finished the comic. Pretty huge differences between the comic storyline and what has been in the TV series so far. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/16 "2022-08-01T19:56:03Z")
I’m just about to finish the series tonight- I’m on the last episode. One thing that’s done particularly well is it shows the girls’ absolute frustration at how none of this is their fault because the adults keep fucking everything up. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/17 "2022-08-01T20:25:55Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I honestly hadn’t seen ST since its first season. Same here. Maybe _“The Goonies”_ might be a better comparo? Thanks for the rec, I will give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/18 "2022-08-01T21:55:42Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > One thing that’s done particularly well is it shows the girls’ absolute frustration at how none of this is their fault because the adults keep fucking everything up. In the comic the subtext was text—the rival groups were the “Old Timers” and the “Teenagers”, not the Watch and the Underground. It isn’t subtle. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/19 "2022-08-01T22:02:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Maybe _“The Goonies”_ might be a better comparo? No, it would not. (I know I mentioned that, but I did it sarcasticly.) It isn’t just the OP referencing _Stranger Things_, I’ve seen other sources do it, too, but there really is _no_ similarity other than 1.) kids and 2.) a connection to the 1980s. You might as well compare it to _Stand By Me_ or _The Lost Boys_. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808/20 "2022-08-01T22:06:36Z")
As for actual comparison, closer would be _[Future Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Man_(TV_series))_ (which isn’t especially close). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-girls-on-amazon-prime/968808.md?page=2)