What I'm into: Stranger Things

I've gotten into a couple of new shows in the last month or so, and since I'm making another stab at getting back on DW for awhile, I thought maybe I'd open up by telling you what I'm into these days and why they're awesome so you can try them too, if you want. :D

First of all: Stranger Things



What is it? It's an 8-episode miniseries on Netflix, a period horror/suspense show set in 1983. The first season aired last year as a self-contained miniseries - there's a sequel hook at the very end, but otherwise it wraps up all its storylines in a satisfying way - and it got renewed, so there will be a new 8-episode season dropping on Oct. 27. TWO WEEKS!!!

What's it about? It's obviously inspired by Stephen King, ET, and kid/teen movies of the 1980s in general. The basic concept is Plucky Kids Fight Monsters. There are three different sets of characters - the little kids, the teenagers, and the adults, each of whom have their own storyline as they separately investigate different aspects of creepy goings-on in small-town Indiana in 1983, picking up different pieces of the puzzle that finally come together at the end.

Why is it awesome/why might I want to try it? If you're in a mood for 80s nostalgia, the period feeling is basically perfect, from the clothes and hairstyles to the music and even the camera angles. It's such a good period show that I kept trying to calculate how old the actors were in the modern day and then going "Wait, no, this show was filmed last year!"

But even if you couldn't care less about period nostalgia, it's a very solidly written show with fantastic child actors, well-constructed storylines full of twists, A+ use of All The Tropes (from eerie psychic kids to mysterious top-secret government facilities to creepy supernatural things happening with ordinary household appliances). I loved the characters, and there's a very shippable OT3.

Plus Winona Ryder's in it.

What might turn me off? Well, demographically speaking, it's very true to the source material, which is to say - mostly white cast, all het romances, etc. (The OT3 isn't canon, alas.) There's also the fact that it's horror, although it's not extreme horror. The level of gore/creepiness is similar to Supernatural, so if you can handle that, you can probably handle this.

Anything else? NEW SEASON! OCTOBER 27! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ALL MY BABIES AND BREAK UP MY SHIPS AND I WILL DIE!! Okay, hopefully not.

There's also a really cute and addictive phone game with adorable retro graphics (similar to a 1980s run-and-jump-on-things arcade game, e.g. Legend of Zelda or old-school Mario).

What I'm into: Dark Matter

No spoilers past mid season three, please! I'm not caught up yet!

So here's the other thing that's eaten my heart/brain/soul over the last week or two: Dark Matter



What is it? It's a 3-season Syfy spaceship show, by some of the same people who did Stargate. All of it is streaming on Netflix.

What's it about? Six people -- seven counting the ship's android -- wake up on a spaceship without their memories. Evidence suggests one of them is a traitor. Further evidence suggests they're part of a galactic conflict they can't even remember. They have to figure out who they are and who they can trust before their pasts catch up with them. Basically this turns into found-family on a spaceship, as it does. (Also, to make it less confusing if I end up making more posts about this show, most of the main characters have numbers for names, because they don't know their real names for awhile and adopt numbers as shorthand.)

Why is it awesome/why might I want to try it? FOUND FAMILY ON A SPACESHIP. I've really missed having a spaceship show in my life, and this one hits my team-love buttons like few things have since Stargate.

It’s got femslash, slash, and het potential. It’s got a ton of interesting character relationships, including kid-mentor ones and sometimes-enemies learning to trust each other (”Stop saving my life. … Now you’re just doing it on purpose”) and a relationship that’s a lot like Janeway/Seven of Nine in which one is a woman of color. It’s got canon h/c and teaminess and all the sci-fi tropes (e.g. the characters meet their evil alternate universe doubles, trapped on a prison world, taken over by mind-control goo, on a spaceship fulla zombies, time loops, etc). It has redemption arcs and snark and themes about the meaning of life/what it means to have a soul and characters running around doing action stuff in long coats and leather jackets while rock music plays in the background. It's got several Stargate actors in recurring roles, including David Hewlett playing a character who is basically Rodney McKay as a seedy fixer, and Evil Elizabeth Weir.

It has a female Asian captain, a cast that (depending on the cast makeup from season to season) is frequently at least half female and less than half white, and multiple recurring female villains for your foe-yay needs. Plus a number of different characters being incredibly hot in black leather, and actually some pretty cool sci-fi worldbuilding, such as travel-via-cloning in which instantaneous intergalactic travel is accomplished by animating a disposable clone of yourself in a different location, and a galactic milieu with a higher-than-I'm-used-to level of background multiculturalism; they really do a pretty good job of making this feel like a plausible hundreds-of-years-in-the-future Earth-colonized galaxy, at least I think so.

It also contains an episode that has managed to make the coveted "sholio's All-Time Favorite H/C Episodes" list. :D (Er, this list does not exist in reality. But now I think it's a list I should make. And post.)

What might turn me off? There are some questionable writing/casting choices (my least favorite of these is that one of the main characters is basically Space Samurai from Space Samurai Planet, and he doesn't really have a whole lot of characterization other than that). In general, since it's by the same people who did SGA and Stargate Universe, it unsurprisingly shares some writing weaknesses with earlier Stargate shows. I'm watching it with my husband and I get the impression that the handwavy science and occasionally WTF plot resolutions are driving him crazy on a regular basis. I personally could not care less because I am there for FOUND FAMILY IN SPACE, but ymmv.

Also, it got unexpectedly cancelled after season three. I suspect (though I don't know for sure, since I'm not there yet) that it's going to end on a forever-unresolved cliffhanger.

Anything else? Based on what I remember from the last time I posted about Dark Matter when I watched the first season, there are people following me who dislike Three. Which is fine, but keep that to yourself around here, please, because Three is AWESOME and no one can tell me different. :D (Although it's tough to pick a real favorite; as of season three, I think the entire cast is my favorite. It's one of those shows.)

ETA: If you haven't watched the show, beware of spoilers up to early season three in the comments!

And in conclusion

Other stuff I'm up to lately:

- Still writing paranormal romance
- Webcomic
- Failing spectacularly at Inktober (go me)
- Posted my trickortreatex fic today! \o/ (Reveals aren't until the end of the month, so I'm early.)
- Almost there on several bingo lines

I would love some icons for Dark Matter or Stranger Things. Does anyone know where I might find some?