# Welcome to Derry
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** hbomax-wb-dc
**Created:** [November 24, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105 "2025-11-24T21:46:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/1 "2025-11-24T21:46:25Z")
Kind of surprised there’s no thread on this series. Unless I missed it in my search; that would be very unsurprising.
I know we have Stephen King fans here. Are any of you watching?
I’m really enjoying it and would love to hear others’ thoughts. It’s on HBO, with one episode being released weekly. So far there have been five eps shown.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/2 "2025-11-24T22:09:02Z")
I only made it two episodes. Some good scares but the victims being kids made it hard to have fun with it. Am I right in assuming that they front-loaded the best scene of the season in the first ten minutes of episode one?
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/3 "2025-11-24T22:20:46Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Am I right in assuming that they front-loaded the best scene of the season in the first ten minutes of episode one?
Likely.
I’m intrigued by the presence (not a spoiler, it’s in the ads) of Dick Hallorann, some unspecified number of years before the events of _The Shining_. (Of course all the chronologies have shifted, of _It_ and other King works, due to his long career.)
I suppose there’s only so much they can do with him, given that we know his fate. And that his fate doesn’t seem to have anything to do with “It” but instead with human ghosts.
But I’m interested to see if they have anything clever up their sleeves.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/4 "2025-11-24T22:40:08Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Am I right in assuming that they front-loaded the best scene of the season in the first ten minutes of episode one?
That, and the last ten minutes of episode one. Episode four had a pretty good scene.
[ ](https://i.imgur.com/pbNlSNC.gif)
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/5 "2025-11-24T22:43:18Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#):
>
> Kind of surprised there’s no thread on this series.
I mentioned it in the omnibus thread. Couple of others commented, I think.
> [@Series you've recently watched, are now watching or have given up on](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/7655):
>
> Watched the first episode of It: Welcome to Derry. A mix of the familiar and Holy fucking crap!.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/6 "2025-11-24T22:44:34Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Episode four had a pretty good scene.
That was definitely creepy. I do like to see nature photography inspire horror-story developments!
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/7 "2025-11-24T22:51:33Z")
But I wonder if that film is an anachronism? I don’t remember seeing/hearing of those in my childhood, only well into the internet era, probably less than 20 years ago.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/8 "2025-11-24T22:59:31Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> But I wonder if that film is an anachronism?
I hadn’t thought of that but I bet you’re right. There was plenty of nature-filming in the 1960s, but perhaps not at that level of magnification.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/9 "2025-11-24T23:30:59Z")
[_ **The Hellstrom Chronicle** _](https://youtu.be/BXmYQw4xGVc?si=SGtO-2muoMsipJ_f) came out in 1971.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/10 "2025-11-24T23:38:52Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#):
>
> Unless I missed it in my search; that would be very unsurprising.
Searching for “it” on the forums can lead to very unhelpful results, to be fair.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2025, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/11 "2025-11-25T03:18:04Z")
I did see that when I searched but I didn’t want to take over that thread.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/12 "2025-11-26T18:36:30Z")
The last episode totally lost me.
The military enters the sewers looking for Pennywise…, and proceed to commit all possible errors, they get separated, have lousy communications, shoot things they should _know_ cannot be shot, etc etc.
And what’s the matter with bomber pilots first piloting helicopters(!) and then serving as a grunts with a rifle?.
I will be taking a pass from future episodes.
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### Author:  [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/13 "2025-11-26T18:38:54Z")
I’ve been watching it - it’s generally good until Pennywise makes an appearance. I’ve never understood the creepy/scary clown archetype and i just cannot take him seriously.
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### Author:  [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/14 "2025-11-26T18:41:04Z")
Yeah the writers really do not understand how the military works - i just fanwank it away as normal military procedures in the Stephen Kingverse…
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/15 "2025-11-26T23:28:21Z")
> [@Frodo](#):
>
> The last episode totally lost me.
> The military enters the sewers looking for Pennywise…, and proceed to commit all possible errors, they get separated, have lousy communications, shoot things they should _know_ cannot be shot, etc etc.
Not only that, but the Big Idea of the series—that “It” is helpless when there is no fear—was completely abandoned. The Army officer (a main character) who, due to a head injury, can’t feel fear, was just as affected by “It” as if he had normal brain function. And the pills the kids took to reduce their ability to feel fear did nothing to help them.
Way to lose viewers, HBO!
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2025, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/16 "2025-11-27T02:39:10Z")
I’m very disappointed in the Pennywise character so far. The writer - or, possibly. the actor (my Sweet Baby, Bill Skarsgard) needs to take care lest he veers too far into Freddie Kreuger territory.
The military aspect doesn’t bother me too much, but I’d rather watch the kids battle IT.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/17 "2025-12-08T13:38:08Z")
Episode 7 was eventful.
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### Author:  [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2026, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/18 "2026-01-04T16:05:47Z")
I didn’t expect realism–it is, after all, glorified fan fiction–and on that score, its failings are no worse than many other popular shows.
The cast was excellent. The breakout seems to be Arian Cartaya, the kid who played Rich. Little scene stealer’s what he is.
The plotting wasn’t too bad. Lots of interconnected things going on, though, and the plot occasionally seemed rushed and at times confused.
Some of the questions left by the novel got satisfying answers, so the asides into Derry’s past were illuminating (avoiding spoilers here).
Skarsgård’s return was well received, though the writers in WTD went for viciousness and gore over the understated horror of Chapter 1.
My biggest issue was that they once again turned to a fetch quest as the overarching objective. Which, also to me, is what ruined Chapter 2.
The series is based on the two movies, and gone are many of the locations that featured prominently in the book. By my count, the Kenduskeag got 1 mention, as did the Canal and the Barrens. Though the standpipe did get considerable screen time.
It’s no Stranger Things season one, but I’d watch it again, and I’ll follow the story if it makes it through the next two seasons as the developers have planned.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2026, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-derry/1025105/19 "2026-01-09T14:37:26Z")
> [@Dorjan](#):
>
> Yeah the writers really do not understand how the military works - i just fanwank it away as normal military procedures in the Stephen Kingverse…
I’m pretty sure sending an ill-prepared isolated squad into a claustrophobic maze to fight an unkillable monster is SOP, based on how frequently it’s portrayed on film.