Author Topic: Stranger Things (Read 17992 times)

SFEley · **on:** March 01, 2007, 01:59:09 AM

You guys need to subscribe to this feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/StrangerThings

Here's the iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=208772104

Tomorrow you will be very glad you did.

What is it? Oh, fine. It's a show. It premieres tomorrow. Just...trust me. This is good.

nebulinda · **Reply #1 on:** March 01, 2007, 02:27:59 AM

I know! I found it browsing iTunes. Even though they haven't had a full episode yet, I'm totally enjoying it. I never knew two-minute snippets promising a good show could be so good themselves. The filming and editing is fantasic, and I absolutely love their theme music. I can't even imagine how good a full episode will be.

I'm going to be clicking the refresh button in iTunes all day tomorrow, and wait impatiently while it downloads.

Swamp · **Reply #2 on:** March 01, 2007, 05:18:08 AM

Yes, I they talked about this new podcast on Slice of SciFi today. It sounds very cool indeed!

ClintMemo · **Reply #3 on:** March 01, 2007, 03:00:18 PM

I downloaded one of the previews, but I have nothing that plays the m4v format.
Anybody want to recommend a good free m4v player that runs in windows?

SFEley · **Reply #4 on:** March 01, 2007, 03:12:38 PM

Quote from: ClintMemo on March 01, 2007, 03:00:18 PM

I downloaded one of the previews, but I have nothing that plays the m4v format.
Anybody want to recommend a good free m4v player that runs in windows?

Quicktime Player is probably your most reliable bet.

ClintMemo · **Reply #5 on:** March 01, 2007, 04:31:47 PM

My version of quicktime wouldn't play it. I'll go see if there is a newer one available.

ClintMemo · **Reply #6 on:** March 01, 2007, 05:35:16 PM

Ah.... much better.
Cool.
Steve, I think you may have over achieved on their "just tell one person" request.

SFEley · **Reply #7 on:** March 01, 2007, 08:53:40 PM

Quote from: ClintMemo on March 01, 2007, 05:35:16 PM

Steve, I think you may have over achieved on their "just tell one person" request.

Yes, well. I do believe in the product, and I helped copyedit the script for this first episode so I know it's good.

Heradel · **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2007, 07:08:10 AM

After watching the first episode I can say it's good, though I'm left wondering where they're getting the money for something like this.

sirana · **Reply #9 on:** March 03, 2007, 12:28:17 PM

Quote from: ClintMemo on March 01, 2007, 03:00:18 PM

I downloaded one of the previews, but I have nothing that plays the m4v format.
Anybody want to recommend a good free m4v player that runs in windows?

If you don't like Quicktimes (you can't play Fullscreen if you don't buy the pro version, for example) VLC-player is the ultimate video player around. Free, small, open source and plays everything you throw against it. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

fiveyearwinter · **Reply #10 on:** March 03, 2007, 04:11:40 PM

I was conflicted by this episode. I mean, to some extent it was a little cheesy...but I did like what they're doing and I am excited to see other episodes. I can't wait to see what else they can do.

scottjanssens · **Reply #11 on:** March 04, 2007, 12:00:58 AM

Like fiveyearwinter, I was underwhelmed. Production-wise, I thought the crew did a fine job. But then I'm a story guy and I hate everything. I'd have liked it better if after the priest killed the creature he learned it was a Seraph. That would have put a bend in an otherwise linear plot. Too many questions were left unanswered. If we know how to destroy the creatures why do we need to keep the covenent that ensures our freedom? I'm not given the impression that these creature are capable of enslaving the human race. I wondered if the young priest was actually thousands of years old and was one of the original brokers of the covenent. That would give him extra motive to want to keep the covenent intact. The story that was told could probably have been told in half the time.

Still, it was better than the first episodes of Lone Gunmen and Firefly.

BSWeichsel · **Reply #12 on:** March 05, 2007, 01:26:57 PM

Well I liked it but I think they would have done better to stick to the orginal story more so. This version was more about the monsters where as the story was about faith in general.

I thought they did a good production but I was excepting more. But as a struggling film making I feel for the crew much of the exterior shots felt empty but that is always hard to fill.

Im looking forward to this and Seems to be that it will be like a blend of pseudopod and escape pod in terms of content.

Steve have you thought about helping this guys get stories?

SFEley · **Reply #13 on:** March 05, 2007, 03:02:37 PM

Quote from: BSWeichsel on March 05, 2007, 01:26:57 PM

Steve have you thought about helping this guys get stories?

I'm not sure what you mean. My understanding is that they have several months' worth of story material already. If Earl asked for my help I'd be happy to help, but he doesn't need me for it. Story is everywhere. >8->

BSWeichsel · **Reply #14 on:** March 05, 2007, 03:09:02 PM

Ah I wasn't sure how many stories they had lined up. What about getting some escape pod favorties up as stranger things episodes?

ClintMemo · **Reply #15 on:** March 05, 2007, 03:22:39 PM

I was very impressed. Admittedly, my expectations were pretty low, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. I'm glad to see they have gotten their 1000 subscriber goal.

fiveyearwinter · **Reply #16 on:** March 05, 2007, 06:42:36 PM

Quote from: SFEley on March 05, 2007, 03:02:37 PM

Story is everywhere. >8->

That was very zen.

SFEley · **Reply #17 on:** March 05, 2007, 06:55:25 PM

Quote from: BSWeichsel on March 05, 2007, 03:09:02 PM

Ah I wasn't sure how many stories they had lined up. What about getting some escape pod favorties up as stranger things episodes?

That's not up to me, that's up to Earl. He's interested, he's a regular listener and he claims EP as one of his inspirations, but I'd venture to guess a lot of the stories we've done would either be impractical to film for setting or budget reasons, or simply wouldn't work as well in adaptation.

I do know, however, that he's working on an adaptation of Mur Lafferty's "I Look Forward to Remembering You." (There was a discussion of having me and Mur appear in a cameo when it's shot. That'll be fun if it happens.) >8->

eytanz · **Reply #18 on:** March 05, 2007, 07:12:47 PM

In line with some opinions above, I really admired the production, acting, and general high standards this podcast made. I just thought it was a god-awful story (no pun intended). It was totally predictable, and really a clear-cut case of the entire story being driven by the fact that every single character was a moron. A few examples:

- The young priest's entire ruse would have fallen apart if the older priest happened to say "let me speak to the bishop". Fortunately for him, the older priest seemed to hate authority.

- The younger priest also suffered from the well-known need by a villain to explain everything he does.

- The church sent someone to investigate the appearance of a known murderer. It seems, however, that they didn't tell him what the murderer looks like, and that he's willing to accept a stranger's words that people he knows are in danger "have just left suddenly".

- I don't even want to go into the whole "mysterious idiot savant who just figures out all the scientific answers in 5 minutes" syndrome, or the fact that they seemed to have all the components they needed at home. I'm not even going to dwell on the fact that they were able to predict the effect a chemical change would have on a totally alien lifeform they have only been aware of for a few minutes. I'm just going to mention the entire "The best way to make sure something succeeds is to shout at someone until he assures you it will" approach that the older priest takes to all the problems. For someone whose job includes being a spiritual advisor, he certainly doesn't seem to have much patience or wisdom.

Oh well, that's just scratching the surface. I'll go back for future episodes, because I think the production was really good. And I realize this is early on. But if this is the level of stories chosen, then I won't be watching for much longer.

beardiebloke · **Reply #19 on:** March 06, 2007, 09:00:00 AM

I thought that one thing the story lacked was an illustration that the creatures are evil. By the time the one above the church is killed we haven't seen it doing anything that bad. "Hey, it's ugly and weird so let's kill it." In most thrillers the bad guy always has to kill an innocent bystander, torture someone, or at least park in a disabled space. I guess equating ugly, gross things with evil is just human nature and priests get mad if you mess with their churches.

Cool effects though and it looked great! Looking forward to the next one.

Anyone know where the "Sacred Cow" story is published?

Russell Nash · **Reply #20 on:** March 06, 2007, 01:16:44 PM

Quote from: sirana on March 03, 2007, 12:28:17 PM

Quote from: ClintMemo on March 01, 2007, 03:00:18 PM
I downloaded one of the previews, but I have nothing that plays the m4v format.
Anybody want to recommend a good free m4v player that runs in windows?

If you don't like Quicktimes (you can't play Fullscreen if you don't buy the pro version, for example) VLC-player is the ultimate video player around. Free, small, open source and plays everything you throw against it. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

WOW!!

I had something that would play video but not sound in quicktime. I checked all the plugins at apple and it still wouldn't work. I downloaded this and it played everything first try.

eytanz · **Reply #21 on:** March 06, 2007, 07:20:24 PM

Quote from: beardiebloke on March 06, 2007, 09:00:00 AM

I thought that one thing the story lacked was an illustration that the creatures are evil. By the time the one above the church is killed we haven't seen it doing anything that bad. "Hey, it's ugly and weird so let's kill it." In most thrillers the bad guy always has to kill an innocent bystander, torture someone, or at least park in a disabled space. I guess equating ugly, gross things with evil is just human nature and priests get mad if you mess with their churches.

Oh yes, that was something I was going to mention and forgot.

DKT · **Reply #22 on:** March 06, 2007, 08:46:26 PM

Wow. Colored me impressed. My expectations were a bit low, but I was blown away by the quality the cast and crew put into it. Overall, the story worked really well for me but I'm with beardiebloke, wondering why the creatures are in fact evil.

I liked the easter eggs, too.

I'd also like to know where I can find the original story. I'd love to read it, especially based on some of the differences BSWeischel.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for this podcast show. Thanks for the heads up, Steve!

BSWeichsel · **Reply #23 on:** March 07, 2007, 12:20:55 AM

Well its not on scott's site any more I have it but I don;t know how his copy right on his podcast works.

If I can send it to via email with out violating the copy right then I will.

Any body know?

beardiebloke · **Reply #24 on:** March 07, 2007, 08:28:50 AM

For what it's worth I've e-mailed Scott to ask how we could read the original. Fingers crossed I'll get a positive response...

DKT · **Reply #25 on:** March 07, 2007, 06:29:34 PM

Heh. We must be on the same wave-length. I just did the same thing.

FNH · **Reply #26 on:** March 15, 2007, 08:10:53 PM

I thought it was a real good watch! I rank this at least as good as any Twighlight Zone.

Have I got all of the Easter eggs?

Scott was one of the phone voices.
Scott appeared in a photo frame.
One of the characters was named Hutchins, as in Scott's arch-competitor JC.

Any more?

DKT · **Reply #27 on:** March 15, 2007, 09:47:49 PM

Missed the picture frame.

I'm pretty sure J. C. Hutchins was one of the voices on the phone, in addition to Scott's.

sirana · **Reply #28 on:** March 20, 2007, 03:41:55 PM

only watched it today, the site is down and only today I got the glorious idea that I could directly go to the feedsite.
I really really liked it, but more for the promise it makes than the first episode.
The production values are stellar and the acting is high quality (especially the older priest and Gordon, didn't like the younger priest's performance that much).
Yeah, the story was pretty straightforward and lacked something really original (don't know if that is a fault of the story itself or the adaptation), but there were some things I liked.
To make the beginning a very crude (dare i say youtube like ;-) youtube video is very clever.
The Stranger Things theme is wonderfull and the whole intro and credits stuff looks very much like professional tv.

But for me what really makes this a wonderful project is the fact that a bunch of guys just took a video camera and produced this episode that (to me at least) is more appealing than 95% of what is on tv.
If that is what one can produce and distribute without any corporate backing, I see very dark clouds on the horizon for disney, viacom ect.

DKT · **Reply #29 on:** March 28, 2007, 04:13:49 PM

I got an email from Sigler this morning with the link to the story:

http://m.podshow.com/media/222/episodes/26848/infection-26848-09-19-2006.mp3

Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but I definitely will.

Russell Nash · **Reply #30 on:** August 10, 2007, 04:38:15 PM

The cello music from the theme song was used on NPR's Radio Lab episode Beyond Time. Just thought it was cool.

DKT · **Reply #31 on:** August 10, 2007, 08:12:31 PM

Does anyone know when the next episode of the show is coming out?

SFEley · **Reply #32 on:** August 11, 2007, 08:44:26 PM

Quote from: Russell Nash on August 10, 2007, 04:38:15 PM

The cello music from the theme song was used on NPR's Radio Lab episode Beyond Time. Just thought it was cool.

Nifty! I got to hear Zoë Keating, the musician, in concert a few weeks ago. (Earl Newton drove up to Atlanta to hear her too, and stayed the weekend with me.)

Her live technique is amazing. It's her, the cello, a laptop and a couple of sample machines operated by floor pedals. She does the sampling in real time and plays the loops back, layered on top of each other, as she transitions to each new theme -- so the effect is that of a full cello ensemble, even though it's just her.

She also did some improvised duets with violinist Paul Mercer of Ghost Project; so at that point she was improvising all this sampling and layering. I've never seen or heard anything like it. The music was extraordinary.

Bdoomed · **Reply #33 on:** August 14, 2007, 02:07:35 AM

Quote from: Russell Nash on March 06, 2007, 01:16:44 PM

Quote from: sirana on March 03, 2007, 12:28:17 PM
Quote from: ClintMemo on March 01, 2007, 03:00:18 PM
I downloaded one of the previews, but I have nothing that plays the m4v format.
Anybody want to recommend a good free m4v player that runs in windows?

If you don't like Quicktimes (you can't play Fullscreen if you don't buy the pro version, for example) VLC-player is the ultimate video player around. Free, small, open source and plays everything you throw against it. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

WOW!!

I had something that would play video but not sound in quicktime. I checked all the plugins at apple and it still wouldn't work. I downloaded this and it played everything first try.

yea VLC media player is the best. Not only will it play ANY type of video (i havent found something it wont play), but also it is the only program ive found so far that can take screen captures of video. (right click video, screenshot, will save in specified directory in preferences)
its great for getting AMAZING screenshots of The 300!

Anyways, ive been waitin a while for this next Stranger Things... the last ones werent particularily well produced.. well, at least not as well produced as the first episode, which was stellar!

Russell Nash · **Reply #34 on:** August 14, 2007, 10:34:09 AM

Quote from: Bdoomed on August 14, 2007, 02:07:35 AM

Anyways, ive been waitin a while for this next Stranger Things... the last ones werent particularily well produced.. well, at least not as well produced as the first episode, which was stellar!

On something without a professional budget, quality is going to shift back and forth a little. I think we should be more amazed at the high level they sometimes reach, as opposed to pointing out when they don't reach that level.

Mr. Tweedy · **Reply #35 on:** August 14, 2007, 01:33:18 PM

Actually, production-wise, I was most impressed with the third episode (Sins of the mother). The effects for the holo-terminal were very cool and, I think, fully up to pro standards.

It was also the most original of the three stories thus far. "Sacred Cow" was decent, but that story has been done, in various forms, about a million times. "Sins" was the only one where anything really surprised me.

I bought Zoe's EP of iTunes. Pretty cool. Very atmospheric, although I'm sure it's better live. It seems very much like soundtrack music. That is, if I let it play while I'm doing something else, it seems entrancing and hypnotic, but if I actively listen to it, it seems too repetitive. I played it for my daughter to go to sleep to last night. She seems to like it.

Bdoomed · **Reply #36 on:** August 15, 2007, 04:43:06 AM

Quote from: Russell Nash on August 14, 2007, 10:34:09 AM

Quote from: Bdoomed on August 14, 2007, 02:07:35 AM
Anyways, ive been waitin a while for this next Stranger Things... the last ones werent particularily well produced.. well, at least not as well produced as the first episode, which was stellar!

On something without a professional budget, quality is going to shift back and forth a little. I think we should be more amazed at the high level they sometimes reach, as opposed to pointing out when they don't reach that level.

i meant the audio messups in sins of the mother and discontent. not the actual visual production, but the audio overlays (or lack thereof)

Russell Nash · **Reply #37 on:** January 17, 2008, 10:12:31 AM

Quote from: SFEley on August 11, 2007, 08:44:26 PM

Quote from: Russell Nash on August 10, 2007, 04:38:15 PM
The cello music from the theme song was used on NPR's Radio Lab episode Beyond Time. Just thought it was cool.

Nifty! I got to hear Zoë Keating, the musician, in concert a few weeks ago. (Earl Newton drove up to Atlanta to hear her too, and stayed the weekend with me.)

Her live technique is amazing. It's her, the cello, a laptop and a couple of sample machines operated by floor pedals. She does the sampling in real time and plays the loops back, layered on top of each other, as she transitions to each new theme -- so the effect is that of a full cello ensemble, even though it's just her.

She also did some improvised duets with violinist Paul Mercer of Ghost Project; so at that point she was improvising all this sampling and layering. I've never seen or heard anything like it. The music was extraordinary.

KT Tunstall just did a demonstration of this technique for a video on the BPP website.