Stranger Things

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Stranger Things.

It’s an eight-episode Netflix original series set in 1983 that channels classic Spielberg and other exemplar sci-fi. Think E.T. mixed with The Goonies, blended with Akira and The X-Files.

It’s reminiscent of Super 8 (co-written by Spielberg), with shades of Chronicle and occasionally even imagery from Alien. It’s heavily inspired by a specific era in movies and television, but is still very much its own work.

Basically, it’s kids on bikes investigating paranormal events while eluding the watchful eye and exasperated grasp of the federal government, all without overbearing helicopter parents and the intrusive pervasiveness of cell phones and the Internet. And it. is. awesome.

If you dig that, then you’ll dig this.

If Netflix does follow through with a Zelda series, here’s what I’d like to see.

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Around two weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Netflix and Nintendo are purportedly working together to develop an original series based on The Legend of Zelda. The source, however, is named only as “a person familiar with the matter,” and neither company has responded to inquiries about the claim.

The “person familiar with the matter” claims this is to be a live-action series, and that Netflix – who’s still looking for writers – is describing the premise as “Game of Thrones for a family audience.”

If these claims are true, and Netflix is in talks with Nintendo to start a series based upon the Zelda franchise, there’s still no guarantee it will ever actually come to fruition. Nintendo is very protective of its properties, having been burned in the past by poor adaptations like the Super Mario Bros. movie and the Legend of Zelda cartoon, so I imagine Netflix would have to really impress Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto (among others) to move forward with this.

If this does end up happening, I have some ideas about how I’d like the series to be developed. Continue reading