According to TVTropes, the list of shout outs to other works of pop culture is long and varied.
Stranger Things / Shout Out - TV Tropes
I liked the one to Alien Resurrection in the Russian lab with Wynona Ryder.
Having actors play characters much younger than them is common in all media, due to the extra expense of working with child actors.
In this case I think we should give them a pretty big pass. The (younger) kids were about the right age for 7th grade when the first season was filmed, but the 4 seasons cover like 3 years of Hawkins-time and took 6 years of reality to film. And ~2 years of that is due to Covid, which was pretty much out of their hands.
That was more or less my point - it’s exactly the sort of thing that’s done in the 80s movies the Duffers clearly love. Perhaps it’s serendipity but it’s totally appropriate they’re doing the same thing.
My wife and I just binged all 4 seasons in the past month or so. That was a lot of weirdness to absorb in a short time. I’ll be going through this thread before commenting here, lots of interesting stuff to discuss.
Finally got around to watching over the last couple weeks, and I agree with every word of this. Sure, you can pick apart the logic and plot holes all day, but so what? I’m not watching this for logic; I’m going for a fun ride. And what a ride it was!
Most of my thoughts have been covered already here. I did want to comment on Jason’s fate, which was briefly mentioned upthread.
I’m glad he got killed. I only wish his death had been more painful. We’ve seen enough characters who start out as jerks but go through some sort of redemption and become good guys in the end. Don’t get me wrong, I love Steve, but we don’t need any more Steves. There’s something quite satisfying about seeing the jerk, who always was and always will be a jerk, get roasted in the end. Same goes on a smaller level for El’s bully; she gets a roller skate to the face and we never see her again. Good riddance. We don’t need to be all Kumbaya about it.
New photos from the set of Stranger Things season 5, where the Hawkins teens will confront enlarged prostates, early bird specials, and kids on their lawns.