It's a ham radio, the Cadillac of ham radio.
Hello everyone, Welcome back to yet another episode of Ham Radio
as Stranger Things podcast. We've got a great episode for
you today as usual. But first, we have a little
housekeeping to take care of, and I'm going to turn it over to
Jasmine to let you know where you can find us on social media
and where you can listen to the podcast.
Thanks Ashley. You can find us on Instagram at
Ham Radio Media, all one word on Twitter, at Ham Through on
YouTube at Ham Radio Media, or using our handle Ham Radio 1983.
We also have a discord you can join which is linked to the
description of this episode. If you have a fan theory or
question you want to share, you can e-mail us at
hamradiomedia@gmail.com. Ashley also has a fanfic on AO3
entire Stranger Things College, which is also LinkedIn the
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If you like the show, please consider leaving us a rating or
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tuberous stuff coming up, so be sure to follow us on social
media to keep up with the podcast and all of our new
content. And welcome back to another
episode of the Ham Radio Podcast.
Today is a very special episode because Jasmine is back from her
brief hiatus. Yay, Jasmine, welcome back.
We missed you. Thanks, Ashley.
Good to be back. Yes, and Jasmine actually went
on a trip to the Upside Down. That's where she has been.
And we're glad to see that she survived.
And sounds like you had a great trip.
Yeah, can't. Complain.
I hear they have a resort down there now so hopefully I'll get
tickets myself. Not bad.
So anyway, on today's episode, we will be continuing with our
script breakdown series where we've been analyzing the script
for the Stranger Things for episode Chapter 7, The Massacre
at Hawkins Lab. So if you haven't listened to
parts one through 13 yet, we highly encourage you to do that
before you listen to this episode because we will be
discussing the appendices in the script and the anatomy of a
script in general. And we will also be sharing our
predictions for what we might get on to dumb this upcoming
Saturday. All righty, so I feel like to
start off, we should talk about to dumb.
That's what's on everybody's mind.
I'm hopeful, Ashley, honestly, I'm more hopeful than I've been
in a while in terms of content. I think mainly because they're
officially advertising that a bunch of the cast is going to be
there. And for any of the Wednesday
fans out there, if you've been following any of their social
media, their plan after they you know, the teaser came out and
they announced the rue states for that.
They've been pretty regularly posting both old and new content
to their socials in the lead up to to them.
And I've also noticed that other shows that are going to be
coming out later this year and then the next year as well have
been posting more content. So, you know, typically from a
marketing communications perspective, you, you do that
when you lead up to something. For them to do that much work
and then not do something big would be a really weird
strategy. Like it's not typically how it's
done. So to be honest, I really am
hopeful because they've got the members of the cast there and
feels like we're we're leading up to something.
On top of that, this is the first time the event will be
broadcast live on Netflix. In the past, it's been broadcast
on YouTube and TikTok. This is the first time it's
going live on the platform. And I think that's because, you
know, Eagle Eye fans will have noticed that Netflix has been
doing more live events in the past few months, which seems to
indicate they've either gotten some kind of deal or contract
with a a provider that's able to do live entertainment and or
they've upgraded their technology to be able to do
this. So it's really cool that it's
going to be on Netflix itself. And it appears they are pulling
out all the stops. It's been confirmed that Lady
Gaga will perform and it's their first musical performance.
She's has a guest role on Wednesday Season 2 that's been
reported. So that's part of it.
So they appear to be pulling out all the stops for this.
And I think a big part of that is the fact that they didn't do
to them last year and there was no kind of press or media around
why they weren't doing it. Just, you know, time came and
went and they didn't do it. So it appears that they're
pulling out all the stops for this one.
And I for one, am very excited. Yeah, so am I I feel like this
this to Dom, I think is is one I've, you know, been the most
excited for in quite some time. I think it's because like, it's
not just about Stranger Things, although that's really what I'm
going for. But I mean, we have Wednesday
and Squid Game stuff and you know, they just, they have, I
feel like just more interesting content these days.
And also with the Lady Gaga performance, I'm really looking
forward to that. And so it just seems like this
year they they have just more available.
And I think it's equal parts them not doing it last year and
it being on the Netflix platform, maybe copyright
reasons or what have you, they're able to do a lot more on
the Netflix platform than just YouTube.
But yeah, I'm very excited about it.
I think, I think I actually might watch the entire event
from beginning to end. And in the past I've only really
stuck around for like the Stranger Things stuff.
But I think this year, I think that's, I think that's going to,
I think it's going to change for me this year because again,
there's just, it seems like there's just more more to it
this year and just more to get excited about.
And this will be my first live event, like watching it on
Netflix the platform. So that's going to be very
interesting for sure. So Jasmine, like do you want to
talk about like some of the hopes that you have for to Dom
and maybe like some fears that you have for it as it really
relates to Stranger Things? Yeah, for sure.
In terms of hopes as has been rumored, I I think we are going
to either get a teaser trailer or a full trailer.
I'd love a full trailer. I know for Wednesday they did,
there's some behind the scenes stuff and then they did the
teaser. So it looks like, you know,
we'll get the full trailer presumably for that.
I think it depends on if the behind the scenes teaser we got
is what their, you know, is their official teaser and then
we are going to get a full trailer at TADAM or if if
there's going to be another teaser like that's not the
official teaser and we're going to get another teaser and then a
full trailer at some point over the summer.
But I feel like the trailer is likely based on what they've
been leading up to the rumors. Also what they've done for
Wednesday. The shows have a lot in common,
so it makes sense they follow similar kind of promotional
strategy and if you look at what they've done for the other big
shows like Squid Game and Bridgeton, that kind of thing.
So I'm really helpful for that. I think we definitely will get
release dates because it'd be super weird if we didn't.
We know Wednesday's coming out in this like August, September,
Bridgeton's next year. So I feel like the only slot
really available is the fall, and it'd be weird if we didn't.
So those are some of my hopes. I feel like there's the cast I'm
hoping for. Maybe, you know, they're doing
trivia with the cast like they did during COVID or something
else like that. And we know that according to
the poster, Caleb, Finn, Gayton, Milly and Noah are all
confirmed. And according to his Instagram
story, Noah landed in LA yesterday.
I got to be honest, when I first saw that, I was like, cool,
He's, he's on a tarmac next to a plate.
I was like, and within someone on Instagram pointed out that he
was like he'd landed there because, you know, for Tadam.
And I was like, oh, that makes more sense.
That's more exciting. And something else I noticed is
David Harbour is listed as attending on his IMDb.
So fingers crossed that he and other cast members show up.
That wouldn't surprise me. Like they don't want the cat out
of the bag for everything. So I could see them bringing out
the initial people they've advertised and then the rest of
the cast kind of showing up kind of part way through or something
or have been like, you know, like, oh, we've got a surprise,
you guys and other people come out.
I could see something like that. So those are some of my hopes.
I think probably fears is that it's it's a let down.
I've watched previous years in I mean, the last time I watched it
was like a total let down. I think it was just like the
Linda Hamilton announcements that were introduced by like
Arnold Schwarzenegger is not even like part of the show and
like that was it. So there's been a lot of let
downs in the past. So I just, I feel like the fears
are it's a let down. Like the cast is there, but they
don't announce anything big. I feel like maybe just release
dates or, or something small or like a poster or something like
a poster would be cool. But yeah, that it's, they don't
give us something concrete, but I feel like we will because I
feel like every other big show they had, if you've looked at
their marketing, you've looked at their social media, they've
been dropping stuff continuously or on a regular basis.
And Stranger Things the only show in which they have not done
that. So it'd be really weird,
especially to have gotten all the actors like we've got the
main party there to them to come down for this when they're busy
with other projects, to just have them be like, it's coming
soon or like here's a poster or like here's some release release
dates piece. That'd be kind of a waste of
their time, you know, like I know they're under contract, but
still, it's kind of a waste. So I feel like we're going to
get good stuff. I'm hopeful this year for like
the first time in in a while. What about you, Ashley?
What are your hopes and fears? Yeah, I feel like we're on the
same same plane there with, with both our hopes and fears.
I mean, obviously, I mean, I'm just hopeful for any actual
Stranger Things five content at this point.
I mean, it's been like, it's been a very understandable
drought, but yet that doesn't mean it's been any less, you
know, frustrating, especially when you see other shows like,
like you brought up Bridgerton, like they randomly dropped a
little bit of footage from Bridgerton season 4, which is
supposed to come out next year. And it's like, you know, the
Duffer Brothers back in January, it said we have 650 hours of raw
footage to comb through and yet we can't even get like 10
seconds worth. I would hope that it really is
worth the wait. I mean, I feel like it will be,
but you know what I'm saying? But but yeah, like, really.
I mean, I'm not, I don't feel like I'm asking too much here.
But, you know, maybe like first official teaser trailer, not
even the full trailer. It doesn't even have to be the
full trailer. Like just give it, give me a
nice minute 32nd to two-minute long teaser trailer, then the
release date and maybe a visual poster or confirmation on who
Linda Hamilton's going to be playing or maybe even another
behind the scenes featurette or maybe all of the above.
I don't, I don't really feel like that's at this point too
big of an ask, especially I mean, since I know it's dumb.
It's going to be on May 31st, but that's technically June.
And so, you know, at this point I feel like we're definitely due
for all those things. And like you said, like being as
you've got and managed to get like 5 confirmed that we know of
of some of the biggest actors on the show to come down for this
thing. I mean, I would hope it's
something big, especially since there's a live audience there as
well. Because like, you know, part of
my biggest fears is, you know, like these, like you said it, it
being, you know, a total let down and then doing something
like have these cast members just go up there and say
something like Stranger things is coming soon or things we've
heard already, like you're not ready or Stranger Things 5 will
be the most epic season yet. Like we've heard that like
probably 10 times already now. And and saying if that were to
happen, Jasmine, if that were to be the only thing consider like
everything I just said about this event.
I mean, if people in the audience hurled tomatoes at
them, I mean, I I probably wouldn't be that surprised.
I mean, again, this is not it wouldn't be on the actors fault.
It would be definitely Netflix. And at that point I would be
like, wow, they couldn't have given a bigger F you to to the
fans, you know, if they did that.
But you know, I don't really think it's going to be that.
I think they're going to give you do more than that.
But you know, then the other fears I have are like more first
shadow stuff or, or a sneak sneak peek or something similar
for the new animated spin off the Tales from 85, which I am
excited about that. I am, but I want Stranger Things
5 stuff. That's what I am tuning in for.
That's where we're at currently. I don't at this point, I'm not
really interested in the animated show right now.
But really I think if any, if it's not season 5 related
content, I think I would be highly disappointed and that
would be my biggest fear. But I mean, I try to be very
optimistic and so I am being optimistic.
I'm, I've been excited since Sunday for this and I'm going to
be excited for it and hopeful until, you know, they, they
prove otherwise on Saturday evening.
But yeah, I, I feel like it'll be our first official trailer.
I mean, we've heard rumors that have been circulating for the
past month that the teaser is ready.
And I, I can't think of a, a better event that they could,
could drop it than to dumb. Because I feel like if it's not
to dumb, I I just don't other than some random Friday or
something in in June or July. I don't see it happening until
we get to around the time of the release date.
Because I feel like in late June, but especially July,
they're going to start ramping up all the Wednesday stuff.
So I feel like it's dumb. It's either, it's either dumb or
it's not happening until the season is released, you know?
Yeah, totally. And something you just made me
think of is, you know, one of the reasons I'm hopeful is
there's been lots of promotional stuff about how they're trying
to find Stranger Things superfans to attend the event
and last night's, well, that had sold out.
I think that plus the fact that Lady Gaga was performing, the
fact that they were specifically looking for Stranger Things fan
for like a special like fan experience and they were selling
tickets that does the past where they had a whole bunch of
footage of art and cosplay and different things that fans had
done. And then they had the actors
doing, you know, trivia and different things like that.
I think that's what made the last time they did to them so
disappointing is because they had to pull it off during COVID
and then we got absolutely nothing.
And it was like, if you can pull this off during COVID, by that
time, you know, stuff with the pandemic goes winding down, it's
like, well, you do, you should be doing more, not less.
But I feel like they wouldn't go out of their way to find super
fans to do an event for them to sell tickets to get them to like
do the fan event and also have them at to them like to do all
of that work. They're not going to do
something because then it's like, well, presumably you're
getting footage, like there's probably people who are going to
fly in or travel in for this and to do all of that and to just
have it be, I don't know, some kind of like photo op with props
or like, you know, you don't get something like real, you don't
get something presented or meet anybody.
Like you don't you don't get something special out of it.
I feel like people would be really angry.
I feel like they'd have like a riot on their hands.
And like you said, like, you know, people are going to start
legit throwing stuff if they get to that point in the show and
there's nothing concrete. There's nothing significant.
I feel like people are going to lose and start throwing things
and like 11 would hope that the organizers are smart enough to
know that you don't want to piss people off to that extent after
this long. Like in a big group, you know,
generally a bad idea security wise and just yeah.
I know that would be like accidentally popping yourself in
the throat with a rubber band, which I've done before and it's
not pleasant. But yeah, especially considering
that, I mean, I'm, I'm already preparing for that.
I, I would be very surprised if they did it like at, you know,
at the, the outset at 8:00, which is when the event starts.
I mean, like, definitely it's going to be, it's going to be at
the, the beginning, like the 10:00 hour, maybe even down to
11, which again, it would not surprise me if they waited until
11 to do it because, you know, 1111.
And so with that being said, if that is the case and they, they
throw out this lame duck something, you know, people have
waited three hours and that's it.
Like, come on. I mean, you know, we've, we've
literally gotten like maybe 3 actual real like content things.
Like, I mean, yeah, we had all the behind the scenes pictures
during filming, but in terms of, like, you know, edited and cut
content, it was the behind the scenes teaser in July of last
year. And then we got on Stranger
Things Day, the episode titles. And then we didn't get anything
else until like February when they dropped that missing poster
of 11, which I made it look like something that you and I could
have created on Canva. But I mean, since then, I mean
like almost four months later, it's been crickets.
Yeah, we haven't Yeah, we haven't gotten so much.
I think people were expecting, you know, the last big drop was
towards the end of January where we got like the poster and the
like the little coming soon for all of Netflix trailer that they
did and other shows like you said have gotten, you know, a
lot more. And I feel like, I feel like the
kind of assumption earlier on was they were still editing and
everything, but when it came out they had that much raw footage
and that much stuff they were working with.
It's like, OK, well, you could have given us something, photos,
production, still something. And, and they haven't so past
that point. So yeah, I, I think it's got to
be something good and it would be a real waste.
I feel like if it's going to be something lame, I, I don't know,
I feel like they'd have one or two actors there.
I feel like they would not get people to fly in.
You don't need that many people to to announce something like
that, you know. Yeah, I heard the timing if I
remember correctly. I feel like there before, I
think Nicola Cochlin from Bridgeton came out about halfway
through the event and showed sneak peeks for Bridgeton season
3. So I would guess that they'd
probably do something similar were about the midway point.
Like they'd start with like the new upcoming stuff.
And I don't know if they're including more stuff from other
languages, which is cool. I remember there's a bunch of
like Spanish and other language kind of they started with would
I know fans who are, you know, speak those other English I'm
sure do appreciate. So I feel like they'll probably
start with that and then I know about halfway related
Bridgerton. So they might do that just
because it's a little bit farther off.
And then I feel like interspice with other things, we're
probably going to get Wednesday and Squid Game and then I feel
like Serger thing stuff will come towards the end.
And then I feel like maybe they'll end with the Lady Gaga
performance or they might flip it.
They might do like Virgin or Squid Game and then and then
Wednesday and then they finish it off with the performance.
So that's kind of what I'm I'm picturing based on what they've
done in the past. Yeah, definitely 7 the the best
for last. Which is like totally cool as
long as they give us something, you know, like if we get really
good stuff, no one's going to care when it was.
And also it's going to go up on YouTube afterwards.
I always do that. So it'll be all over TikTok, so
and you know, wheels and everything else.
So that's fine as long as they give us something really.
If they don't and people TuneIn for the whole thing.
I remember being so angry and disappointed when a couple years
ago when I watched the whole thing and I gave up whole
afternoon and it was like, that's it.
That that's literally it. Like what?
Yeah, I've, I've been there too. Like, well, that was a total
waste of time. Yeah.
For sure. So fingers crossed everybody,
that we that we get good stuff and it's not a waste of our
time. And yeah, we're gonna think good
thoughts. Think good stranger things.
Five content thoughts. Yes, everyone start manifesting.
That's what you need to do manifest.
Get out the get out the candles guys and manifest.
Even throughout the day on Saturday manifest.
Think good thoughts and we're going to manifest good content
into existence. All righty.
OK, so now we're talking about our predictions.
Let's get into the appendixes. So first we're going to start
off with an explanation of what an appendix is and provide some
context for that, and then we're going to get into it.
So what is an appendix? It's when in ATV show or movie
script, there's a section at the end that contains supplementary
information like character BIOS, location details, costume or
prop details, music cues or sound effects, or alternate
dialogue that isn't essential for the core script but can be
helpful for production or future reference.
So what we're going to be talking about is the first few
appendixes of the Massacre Talkins Lab script and what we
can learn from them and how the sausage gets made in terms of,
you know, putting together a movie script or TV show script
and all the stuff that has to go into that.
So, Ashley, do you want to talk about the anatomy of a script
for everyone? Absolutely.
You know, Jasmine, I've been waiting a long time to get into
this. I mean, I've, I went through my
Screenplay for Dummies book and get all the basic information
for you guys on the script. And it's important to note that
what I'm going to be talking about specifically is for a
screenplay script, because there are actually different types of
scripts for different medias like audio dramas, gameplay
scripts. Those are vastly different from
a screenplay. And so today I'll just be
talking mostly about the anatomy of a script screenplay script.
So it begins with the title page.
It has the title centered all caps and usually written by
followed by the writer's name. Or sometimes, like with the case
with this script, Chapter 7 script, it has the title and
then it just has by the Duffer Brothers and then they have
directed by the Duffer Brothers. So typically you, you'll
typically see that more with a film than a TV series.
But I mean, I've seen it done a multitude of ways.
Some I've seen put written by and or they just put by and then
there's contact information on there which is optional and
that's usually it'll be on the right hand, bottom right hand
corner and it has the content information of the agent,
e-mail, phone number or company information.
The second thing is the scene heading which we get into the
actual script itself. The scene heading is also called
a slug line and this indicates where and when the scene takes
place. The format is int, which stands
for interior or extension, which stands for exterior plus
location plus time of day. So to give you an example, this
is 1 I took from the Chapter 7 script.
It's exterior, lake bed, dash, night, upside down.
So that just the slug lines really help the cast and the
crew, but especially like the crew, like the editing crew and
everyone set like for the directing to know the setting,
the time and place. But you don't want to go too
overboard with the details. It just again, just very
quickly. You just indicate the location
and then if it's interior, exterior and then the time of
day. And typically you only use day,
night, dawn, dusk or continuous as the slug lines.
Though I have seen some use morning it just again, it just,
it just varies. Just depends on the scale and
scope of the TV show or the film.
And then we have the action, which the action headings, which
describes what is happening in the scene and what the audience
sees and hears. The action is always written in
the present tense, and camera directions and shot directions
are usually avoided unless absolutely necessary.
So in reading the script for Chapter 7, I've noticed that the
Duffers do include camera directions in their action
lines. So my guess would be they do
this because they're also like directing this episode.
And so they just went ahead and included the camera shots and
directions, though they're very minimal.
I guess like whenever they they put it in the script, whenever
they like a specific like it has to be done like this during
filming in the scripts that they write themselves.
And so I'd actually would love to be able to read a Stranger
Things script written by another writer on the Stranger Things
writers room to see if they do the same.
Here's an example of action, which again, I took from the
Chapter 7 script, we pick up right where we left off with the
demo bats fitting on Steve. So again, that just tells
everyone who's going to read this script what is happening
here in this scene. And then an example of a camera
directions last shot again, I also took this from Chapter 7
script. They put in all caps clothes on.
They're talking about the dib of bats.
Nasty little razor sharp mouths RIP skin from his bare body like
supernatural vultures. It's awful.
So again, like you have this camera direction.
I've also seen them do like we Dolly around.
So usually again with the camera shots, they'll typically put
those in all caps. So basically in a script also
like whatever is important to the scene or if it's like a
noun, you want to put those in caps, all caps as well.
A character name. It's always centered and
capitalized, and it appears above the character's name,
which are also known as Rylys RURYL i.e.
S. They appear in parentheses under
the character name right before the dialogue.
They're used sparingly to indicate tone or action that
affects delivery. I've spotted this a few times in
Chapter 7 script. I've mostly seen this done in
audio drama scripts because again, that's all audio.
The audience is not going to be able to see, you know, Someone
Like You know, pouting or or be able to to see from like their
tones. So it's typically where I've
seen parentheses used the most, but I have I've spotted it used
in in this Chapter 7 script. One example I found was Steve
parentheses catching breath. I think I lost about a, a pound
of flesh. But other than that, yeah, never
better. It's after he gets bitten by the
demo bats. So I guess, you know, they put
that there, you know, just for, you know, when Joe Kerry was
reading that, so he'd know. OK.
You know, this is how I kind of need to go into this scene.
And then dialogue. The lines are spoken by a
character. Obviously they are indented and
formatted beneath the character name and then transitions.
Optional and usually write aligned examples of this or cut
to fade in, fade out, dissolve to.
Transitions are typically used only when necessary to guide the
editor or emphasize A stylistic moment.
Sound and music cues. They are more common in audio
drama scripts or shooting scripts, but for film and
television they only use if sound is integral or integral.
For audio drama, sound effects and music cues are essential and
often formatted clearly for clarity.
I've rarely ever seen it in the Duffer brothers.
Like the scripts that they've written.
I remember it's I believe it's either in the Montauk script or
the Vanishing Will Buyer script, but I believe it is the Montauk
script. They do have in there.
They list specifically or they write specifically a song by
Queen in there. But I in in the piggyback
script. They do write in there like
something like intense sci-fi music plays or something like
that. But again, it's very very very
rare because most of that happens It takes place in post
and then subheaders and secondary slug lines are used to
indicate a change of location within the same larger scene
example later or across the room.
Then montages and series of shots.
There's special format to indicate multiple short visually
distinct moments. They can be written as a list
under 1 scene heading or introduced with begin montage.
In montage, superimposed text is used to show on screen text like
dates, times or titles. An example this comes from the
Vanishing of Will Buyers script. This is right when the episode
opens and it goes superimposed titles November 6th, 1983
Hawkins, Indiana. And so that's how you like you.
You basically describe what the titles are going to like over
the image you know in the background and then back to
scene is used after a flashback montage or dream sequence.
I've also seen in some scripts where the writer will simply
like they'll just Simply put begin flashback in flashback to
indicate a flashback sequence. The same for montages and dream
sequences. I noticed in Chapter 7 script
the duffers would include it either in the slug line or
action. So there's no I guess particular
industry standard or correct way to do this.
It seems like. I guess it's just whatever is
easy for your your cast and crew to and yourself to understand
and then some script formatting information.
Font it's it's always Courier New 12 point font that's
industry standard. Your margins should be 1 inch
all around and 1.5 inches left margin for binding page count.
For feature films, it's usually around 90 to 120 pages, but for
TV it's usually 22 pages to 60 pages.
And then a page is usually equals to about a minute of
screen time. And for those of you out there
who maybe would be interested in writing script and you're
worried about all of these things, putting all this
formatting together, I would suggest there's going and
finding a script scripting software.
Like I like to use Writer's Duet, but there's also Final
Draft and 6 Go. That one's good.
But I say like for especially for beginners, Writer's Duet
does the best. And again, it'll put it all in
there for you. So you don't have to worry about
making like making sure all the formatting and all that's
correct. But yeah, that is that is
basically the entire anatomy of a screenplay.
Well. Thank you, Ashley.
I feel like if people aren't familiar with it, they now have
like a much better idea of what we're what we're talking about.
And this reminds me of something.
So I had this high school English teacher.
I remember this guy and he would insist that we submit all of our
essays, all our assignments in Courier New 12 point and like
the margins you're talking about.
And he kept insisting this was the standard.
And when we got to university, like we were going to have to do
this. And it was ridiculous because it
by that point, it wasn't the default on Word anymore.
So we'd have to like make these like special templates to do it.
And none of us could figure out what the Frick this guy was
talking about. You know, classmates of mine had
siblings in university and college and they were like this,
this is not the standard. What the heck that guys talking
about? And somebody finally figured it
out. Like several months into grade
12, they finally figured it out. They determined that it's the
standard for scripts. And so the conclusion we all
came to was that it's continued to be the standard for scripts,
but at some point it was the standard for other types of
writing too, essays, other formats, which is all based off,
you know, a typewriter. And then that became digitized.
And I'm all we can figure is that it was the standard for all
assignments for any type of written work when he was in
university. And that's, it obviously changed
in the years since. Like these days, every time Word
goes to a new update, there's a new standard.
But clearly he was like, not interested in learning what the
new one was. And so he just kept repeating
this. And it was always frustrating.
But once we understood that, we're like, oh, the guy's just
stuck in the past. Like, cool.
Nothing he teaches us is useful, but OK, at least we understand
why he's doing it. But it was so annoying because
we'd especially format like our Word documents and everything.
And today, obviously, like you said, there's software to help
you and everything, and Word has a lot more features than it used
to. But back then it was kind of
limited. And yeah, it was like, really?
Yeah, I was like late middle school, throughout high school,
it was all MLA. You had to do MLA standard.
And then when I got to college, they did not accept MLA.
It was Chicago Standard. And so I had to.
I mean, that was rough, especially that first year
having to learn Chicago Standard format because it's completely
different from MLA, So I totally understand.
Yeah. And I don't know if this has
gotten any better, but I remember there being like a huge
disconnect. And I was in high school where
they kept insisting that we were going to need all this stuff.
And then we, you know, I got to university and we were like,
what the heck? We don't use any of it.
Like the only thing they taught me that I used was I think in my
last couple of years, they taught us how to do an annotated
bibliography with when in my first couple years of
university, we had to use those for like assignments.
That was literally the only useful thing I, I realized I've
been taught because everything else was like so out of date, it
was no longer used. And we, we were talking to
various different styles of annotation.
So like that was helpful because I, I remembered each teacher
would have like their own thing they wanted.
So like that was good. But the way they taught us to
write an essay that was considered total crap.
When you got to university, you do that and we're failing you.
Even the history they taught us, like the last year they started
doing revisionist history, but prior to that, I was like, oh,
like none of this is relevant anymore, or this isn't the way
it should be taught, or we were missing chunks of information or
just like, oh, this hasn't, this isn't relevant.
So yeah, I, I remember that feeling.
I don't know if it's more aligned now.
I hope it is. But yeah, I definitely remember
that feeling. OK, so we're going to begin with
Appendix 1. And so we pick up back at the
Wheeler House. This is the additional dialogue
and instructions for the scene where Lucas, Dustin and Max are
sitting on the couch and they've gotten, you know, all back from
the lake and they've been found out.
And Erica's, you know, glaring at them from the corner and
they're asking where Nancy is. And they're being, quote,
interrogated by the police and their parents, who are doing a
terrible job of it. So that is where we pick up.
We pick up the top line is interior Wheeler house living
room night, and we pick up with Erica, whose dialogue here is
listed as the fire is consuming us now it's consuming us.
Ted, thread them with a little jail time.
See if that loosens their lips. I always like appreciated that a
moment of committed relief here and so being able to read like
what all the dialogue is. Because like you can, whenever
you watch this scene, you can hear what's going on in the
background, but it's, again, it's not the focus.
So you, you don't have much time to really think about what it is
that they're saying or to be able to pick up on it all.
And so it's really fun to, to read.
I just love their sibling dynamic and their sibling
relationship and and reading it this this appendix, it really
makes me appreciate them even more.
Yeah, I love their. Dynamic too, and I think Caleb
and Priya do such like a a great job with that.
And you can particularly in the couch scene.
I really love the dynamic. They're like, you can really
tell. And we're watching for the first
time. And I was like, oh, you can just
like, you know, Caleb, Gaytan and Sadie, you know, all kind of
grew up as Broadway babies. Like they, you know, did
Broadway together before they were ever cast.
And so you could just really feel that camaraderie and that
closeness of being friends with somebody for that long.
You it just came through. And I thought it was such a
great use of their talents. And I feel like going into the
season, that must have been something they planned for was
let's give them a scene all together where they can show
that off. And then you have Erica.
I mean, like the count is literally on fire.
Like the dynamic we're Justin and Lucas are trying to get
Erica to shut the heck up. And that kind of like speaking
through your teeth, like those silent eye conversations when
the adults aren't looking is so much a part of the way siblings
interact, the way friends interact.
And just it, it's so much apart, especially when you're young of
the way that those kind of like non verbal conversations you
have with people is so much a part of that.
And I, I just love that scene and I love their dynamic and
they have really good like chemistry together and it's very
fun. And you can, you can tell,
particularly in this scene, like the, the sequence that comes
after where Caleb slides his handle on the counter has like
as he's making his point, stuff like that, where it's, it's kind
of not in the script, but they, they kind of play around with it
And there's like a physicality to it too.
So it's good to get like more detail on what the actual lines
were. And the first thing I noticed is
that Erica's lines are slightly different and like a lot funnier
in the final version. So I'm guessing that Pria
Ferguson did some improv here. My guess would be that they ran
through it like the way it was scripted and then like did some
alternates because I feel like her final version is is a lot
more spunky. It's like it's really funny.
Like the the starting line was good, but I feel like they they
improved upon it. And what's interesting is that
Lucas has a line here that was cut in the final version where
there's two competing sets of dialogue in the in the original
where there's Sue, Ted, Karen and Claudia who are yelling at
each other because Ted says that dumb line about threatening them
with jail time and all the other parents like seriously, Ted?
And then Karen's trying to, like, defuse the situation in
this. In the appendix, it's listed
that their dad, Charles, asks Lucas if your sister's right and
is she lying? And then Lucas says, dad, no,
she just wants me in trouble, like always.
She's full of shit. And there it goes full of shit.
Really. You take that back right now,
Lucas, like, take it back and goes like, you take it back.
And they're like, back and forth.
And so these things are supposed to be competing.
I'm guessing that they went with one over the other because I
feel like they actually had them doing this.
You wouldn't have actually been able to hear on their party.
Like it would have just been like a cacophony of people
yelling on screen. So I feel like maybe they tried
this and were like, Oh yeah, you can't hear anybody.
We kind of got to pick 1. So they picked the one with the
adults because we'd already had banter with the kids already.
Also, I feel like Lucas is in the word shit in front of his
parents and a bunch of other adults.
Doesn't really make any sense. He's like a pretty respectful
kid and his parents seem pretty no nonsense.
And I mean, you're not going to swear in front of your parents,
especially when you're already in trouble.
Like that doesn't really fit. So I feel like when they went to
film this, maybe Caleb said something or, you know, they
just realized you couldn't hear both conversations.
They just picked the one with the adults.
But it's really interesting to see, like how it goes from this
is what we scripted. But then like how much changes
when they go to film the day of. Like just so much comes out when
you're physically doing it that that isn't always obvious when
you when you script something. Yeah, that is interesting.
I hadn't noticed that before. Right, so that is the end of
hendix #1. We then pick up with appendix
#2. In parentheses it says parents
talking to Daniels. So that is as we learn Officer
Daniels. Something I didn't realize until
I really watched this scene for this episode is that there's
actually two other officers with Callahan and Powell at the
Wheeler house. But they're in, they're so far
into the background that I, you know, the, the lighting in the
forefront is the parents and Erica and the deputies.
And so I didn't realize there were other officers even there.
Like you're not really supposed to focus on them.
So yeah, there's an officer named Officer Daniels that
standing behind them as well as another officer, which I
realized on rewatch was kind of excessive because like, we have
4 police officers for three kids that were found by a lake.
And parents are asking, you know, should we do we need to
like, hire lawyers? And, you know, Officer Andrew
replies that you're not at that stage yet.
And, you know, as far as we know, they did nothing wrong.
So it seems to have been excessive.
And I guess there's kind of some mixed messaging in the scene
where they're trying to get the kids to take it seriously.
Meanwhile, you know, they're telling the parents like, oh,
you don't need to hire a lawyer. Like it's not that serious.
You know, they didn't do anything wrong.
He's like, well, no wonder the kids aren't talking to you.
Like you're telling them it's super serious, but then you're
telling their parents don't worry about it.
You know, they're and also the fact that like, like Officer
Daniels says there, there's no evidence of a crime being
committed. You know, it seems excessive to
them to have that many officers when there's no evidence of a of
a crime. Yeah, exactly.
Like you bring up how how many officers there are in the
Wheeler living room and it's like not one of them knows what
they're doing except for maybe Officer Daniels, which I
actually like. Officer Daniels, I feel like he
was the most level headed one. This appendix here only made me
further question, you know, why isn't Officer Daniels more
involved in the investigation into the murders?
Because he actually seems to have a clue.
He. Has a clue, unlike Callahan and
Powell. Like I, I feel like the job kind
of went the way it did just because they were hoppers
deputies rather than who would be the best fit because like, Oh
my God, like Kelly and Powell, like don't have, they don't have
a God damn clue, man. Like they have, they have no
clue what the heck they're doing.
And that is so freaking obvious. They keep wondering why no one's
taking them seriously. And it's like, because you're a
joke. And like it is immediately
obvious they haven't listened to a damn thing.
Hopper told them he was big on protocol.
He Hopper had his issues, but he knew what he was doing.
And right off the bat, when they get to the Munson trailer, they
immediately break protocol. You know, they do it over the
phone instead of over the walkie.
They tip Jason off to the fact that Chrissy was buying drugs
from Eddie. Like they just, they break all
kinds of protocols. They let Jason take over the
town hall meeting. And I feel like you could really
feel Hopper's absence because you know what you could really
feel in those things is Hopper would never let this happen.
Like that would last about 30, like he'd never make those
mistakes. And the minute Jason got up,
he'd be like, sit the hell down. And if he didn't sit the hell
down, he'd be like the deputies be like, arrest him right now,
get him out of here. Like all of his goons arrest go
like no one does that. We're just done here.
And the fact that he, even in his not best state, commanded
more respect, and these guys do, he's just like, oh, man.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like Powell is trying his best, but I feel
like he's he's just a little bit in over his head.
I mean, I don't I don't think that he was expecting to to have
all this happen and like his first year on the job.
But Callahan definitely is, is an idiot.
But but he's, he's fun to watch like he is.
He's funny. But yeah, he's definitely an
idiot and he has been since season 1.
So there you go. Yeah, for sure.
And it definitely feels like he's always kind of been a bit
of an idiot. But I, I feel like, yeah, I feel
like Powell is trying his best, you know, but at the same time,
like he seems overwhelmed. But like you said, he didn't
expect this to happen. But I mean, the guy clearly
wasn't paying attention. Kids have been getting murdered
and disappearing in this town for like 4 years at that point.
And I feel like maybe the two of them didn't really appreciate
how much Hopper was doing or maybe they weren't really aware
of it, I don't know. But he's basically the only
person keeping that stuff at Bay and like, handling stuff, like
kids are still dying, bad things are still happening.
But he's he's doing his best to keep a handle on things.
And with him gone, I don't think they really appreciated how much
the guy was doing. And for all their comments about
Joyce being kind of loony and all these kids being
troublemakers behind the scenes, they're the only ones doing
something about this stuff. So the minute that Joyce and
Hopper rattle the picture and half the Hawkins crew is
elsewhere, you know, things get out of hand, like, really
quickly because they're not there to save the day.
And then also, if you're not prepared to deal with that,
maybe don't keep, like, maybe don't take the job because I
could have found somebody else, like, from another town or
something. I could have filled it like,
externally. Like, if you're not prepared to
deal with murder and mayhem, I don't think, like, there was a
time like, when nothing bad happened in Hawkins.
But that time has passed, man. Like, like by the time we get
there, it's been like this has been happening for four years
and even that we know bad things were happening in the lab.
The town just wasn't aware of it.
So I don't know, man. It's like he signed up for a job
and then was shocked when bad things happened after bad things
have been happening for three years.
It's kind of like, well, you signed up for it.
The other thing I want to talk about is how, because the focus
is so much on the forefront, parents and, you know, teens in
in these scenes, I realized there's a lot of stuff that like
happened so quickly in the background I didn't really
catch. So for example, we find out from
the appendix that the parents are talking to Officer Daniels
as Dustin leaves the bathroom. I originally thought they were
talking to Chief Powell in that scene because we only glimpse
that person from behind. And they do have a similar look.
So it wasn't until I was reading the appendix, I was like, oh,
yeah, that is a different person.
And then I noticed that the officers standing behind them,
the couch scene and the second officer, not Daniels, but the
other one that's unnamed, is the one who care and gets a drink.
Look forward during the scene that like, Dustin, Lucas and
Erica are talking where she's like, if you just don't want
water, you know, I've got all this other stuff.
And he takes a Coke and then they walk out of the room.
There's actually a lot more going on in these scenes than
there appears at first glance because of the way things are
framed. And like, that's intentional.
You're, you're supposed to focus on the parents and teens and in
the forefront, not what's going on behind them.
And then we go to appendix #3. So this is the dialogue for when
the boys are rewinding and explaining things to Erica.
So you have the full dialogue because this is the, the part
where we, you know, the camera moves from where they're talking
in the kitchen to the front door of the Wheeler house.
And then we transition into the Upside Down.
So they had them presumably film the full dialogue and then we
only use parts of it as they make that transition.
So I think this is worth reading in full because we get a lot of
other information here. So the appendix is the dialogue
as such. It says the boys rewind for
Erica. The hallway continuous.
Our frustrated boys turn to Erica and begin to quote rewind
Dust in size. OK, so you remember the gate
under the lab? Erica sarcastic.
Oh, no, I blocked that out, Dustin.
OK, but you seem to think it was made by the commies, which it It
wasn't. Erica, There was a giant gun
made by comedies find blue energy into the gate opening it.
Dustin Yes and no. That was the gate Eleven opened
the mother gate 11 reclose it two years ago around Halloween.
And though she succeeded, the barrier between our worlds
remain thin, which allowed the comedies to pry it back open
with their tech. Erica, I still don't get what it
has to do with lovers like Dustin.
Yeah, I'm getting there. The government was teaching 11
remote viewing, which is basically psychic spying.
Right. We push past them toward the
front door end of appendix #3. So what I think is interesting
is if you watch the the final scene, we only get snippets of
this conversation as a camera pans over to the front door.
The noise of the pulsing lights signifying, you know, something
with the upside down drowns out some of their words.
We only get parts of it. And so we only hear the parts
about the gate, the Russians, and the laser.
And the part about the laser is a bit different.
Erica says there was a giant laser.
So they obviously changed that dialogue, presumably when they
shot this, I'm guessing so that the sound bites that we did get
made more sense and were a bit more impactful.
So they kept the the first part about the gait and they're being
sarcastic, but like, no, I blocked that out.
And then they just added a part that's a bit more simple about
the laser rather than going to a lot of detail, presumably
because it was easier to mesh with the sound of the pulsing
lights and the the transition. And also I really love that
transition. It's one of my favorites.
Something I love about Season 4 is the transitions are like
really cool and interesting. Like could they put a lot of
thought into the transitions for this season?
So that's something that's really cool to kind of see how
they map that out from the beginning and what they were
going for there. Yeah, and you know what?
I really like from Appendix 3, which is continued through the
seceding appendices. But what Dustin explains here
about when he's beginning to explain to Erica about, you
know, the commies aren't behind this, this time.
I mean, because at this point, like they don't know yet that
Vetna has been behind it, but you know, he's they're starting
to put the pieces together. And but I like the explanation
though, like the way Dustin begins it by saying, you know,
no, it's not the commies. Yes, the commies were just
trying to open the gate, but really it's because like 11
first, she initially opened it open mother gate and because of
that, it the the barrier between worlds is been weakened.
Even though she closed it, you know, it's still left.
It's, you know, still weak. The the the veil between both
worlds is still very weak. And that's kind of how the
commies we're able to have at least some success with, you
know, having it open just enough for, you know, the Mind Flayer
in Season 3. And so I just love the way he
kind of breaks it down for her here and in the script.
And I know we didn't necessarily hear him say that on screen, but
I did love reading it about it in the in the script, the way
the Duffer Brothers here are explaining it.
And so I feel like this appendix maybe like sets sets the tone
for that. Yeah, for sure.
And something else I find interesting is that the
paragraph Dustin has ways like yes and no.
I feel like a lot of that language, there's a lot more
formal and I feel like Dustin would actually say it.
I get that he's a bit of a know it all, but he describes it.
He's like around Halloween. And though she succeeded, I'm
like OK, I could even know it all but he's still a teenager.
So I feel like they probably simplified some of this because
it I feel like when they went to film it, it, it sounded a bit
too adult in some cases. It's not how a teenager talks.
And they also needed like better sound bites for the transition.
Also, something I found interesting is that at the end
of his explanation, Eric is like, what does this have to do?
Lovers like? And he's like, I'm getting to
that. The government teaching 11
remote viewing, which is basically psychic spying, right?
So presumably what he was going to say after that was about how
Vecna is able like who Vecna is, what Vecna is, how he's able to
remote spy on on people like through remote viewing, Because
I don't know what else, how else that would be related to what
what they were saying because the rest of it's about the
gates. Is that your understanding
Ashley or? Yeah, that was my understanding
as well. Like that's what he was leading
to. Because I think like this scene
is supposed to be like, after Dustin figures out like what
Vecna is trying to do with opening these gates and stuff
and how he's doing it, and then he kind of puts two and two
together. But yeah, that was kind of what
I felt like he was headed towards.
Like them, Vecna and 11 both having the ability for remote
viewing, which is also interesting because when you
consider like everything else we've learned in Season 4 up at
this point through Elevens flashbacks in the Neenah tank,
is that like Brenner, outside of what we see that one scene with
him in #10 they don't really seem to be doing a lot of remote
viewing as part of their training.
It seems to be like more of being able to move things with
their minds and being able to, you know, face off in battles
against each other. So I found that very
interesting. I mean, yeah, he's he's correct.
Because we know like from season 1 that Brenner was, that's what
he was doing with 11. I find it very interesting that
he says that, considering that he doesn't know where 11 is.
He doesn't know that she's seeing all these memories and
stuff. So yeah, I found that part of it
interesting as well. Yeah.
And I feel like there's a lot of parallel journeys in this
season. I've seen people comment about
how Max and Elle kind of have these parallel journeys with
what they're dealing with and how it's really obvious,
especially in the way they make the transitions between scenes,
Like the one the high school I really like a lot that, you
know, they really could have used each other this season, but
they were separated. And I feel like it's a theme
throughout, you know, where you see in a different scene, you
see Justin being frustrated, be like, oh, we need Will when when
Max is trying to draw what she saw this scene, too, it's Dustin
and Lucas are trying to figure things out and they're bringing
Erica into the loop. But simultaneously you have like
the California gang, we're trying to figure things out and
it's there's a lot of parallel journeys.
And but I think part of what they're trying to illustrate
there is if they were all together in one place, they'd be
able to figure this out real quick.
But because they're all separated, all that's part of
what's causing them not to get to the conclusion they need to
right away. And I feel like they've done
that in other seasons where you have the groups that kind of
break off into smaller groups or pairings or team up.
So they always come back together at the end.
And I feel like what made this season different is that
everybody was so spread out, like country, continent.
Really, really spread out and I was personally looking forward
to see that everybody come back together at the end and they
chose to push that to the beginning of season 5.
So we didn't really get to, to have that instead of ending with
it, we're starting with it, which I'm, I'm looking forward
to because I'm, I'm interested to see how everybody's going to
be describing what's been going on, especially since we see
Vicky standing next to, to Robin when the ash starts falling.
And if she's with her when they show up, they're going to
explain that to Vicky, which I think just watching them try to
explain this to somebody, if they show us that on screen is
going to be really interesting. I also think it's going to be
interesting what they say and what they don't say because I
saw people point out that when Nancy's describing her
recnatrients, she leaves some stuff out.
She leaves the stuff out about Barb.
She doesn't go into detail of certain parts, at least on
screen anyway. And so I'm, I'm very curious to
see kind of the at the beginning of five where the characters try
to explain to each other like what has occurred and what has
happened and what they leave in and what they leave out.
So I'm really interested to see how that goes.
Yeah, so am I, I think that's what I'm, I'm most intrigued
about is, is seeing how they get everyone together and, and
sharing the information. Yeah, I'm, I'm very interested
to see how, how they pull that off.
As am I, we all have high hopes for for Season 5, for the final
conclusion to the story and how they're going to start things
off, but also, you know, wrap things up.
Yes, and it all begins this Saturday at the Dom.
Maybe. Hopefully.
Excellent segue my friend. It's almost like we've been
doing this a while. I know.
All righty. Well, those are all of my
thoughts. Anything else you can think of?
That's all I have for now for these appendices.
I definitely have a lot more for the next crop of them.
Yeah, that's going to be interesting.
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