Stranger Things: Brilliant and Dark
I had the great privilege to finally sit down and watch "Stranger Things" last night. I must say that most of the night, I couldn't sleep because once again, I was seeing the future of content on the net.
Stranger Things is the creation of Earl Newton. He diligently put out update after update on the web. This set up expectations in my mind. I figured that the acting and the sets were all going to be second rate. I believed (and I think that I mistakenly wrote) that the sets were going to be green screen. I pretty much thought that Newton was trying to put up a second rate "Twilight Zone".
That stereotype was shattered last night with the first episode "Sacred Cow". Not only was the feature shot in beautiful high definition, but everything from the acting to the sets were first class. I'm a big fan of Scott Sigler as well. Finding out that he actually wrote this story really added to my enjoyment of it.
"Sacred Cow" tells the story of a Catholic priest and his orphaned savant ward who come up with a way to "see" people's prayers. An investigation by another priest leads to an examination of the true nature of religion. I'm not going to go into much more, less I spoil the plot. YOU HAVE TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES.
If the stories, acting, and brilliant cinematography stay at this level, "Stranger Things" is sure to be one of the first true episodic hits on the web.
There is only a few more weeks until the next episode. My advice to you is to subscribe on iTunes or go to the website right away. It is my firm belief that we are seeing the equivalent of groundbreaking 50's TV on the net. It's only going to get better as people such as Newton obtain more funding and a way to monetize their creations.
With content like this on the net, I might as well throw out my TV.
4 comments:
I also loved it, loved seeing what Earl and his crew did with my story. You are right, this IS the future of entertainment. We won't see it for another 3-5 years, but the writing is on the wall. Earl did this with NO BUDGET. What's going to happen when he picks up advertisers and gets to do this full time? With a budget? And the thing is, there's 500 more Earls out there with the talent and the work ethic to make high-quality video content. Very soon, you will have hundreds of producers, making EXACTLY the story they want to make with no oversight, and all of them have instant, free global distribution.
Bye-bye, network TV. It was nice knowing your repetitive, watered-down, over-produced, lowest-common-denominator stories.
Wow, thanks for the post Scott. I'm glad my thinking isn't faulty.
Even if you compare "Stranger Things" to the "Twilight Zone", I think you would agree that your topic of the true nature of prayer would have never have gotten air time.
We really are entering the golden age of self expression on the net, where low cost and high creativity can finally meet.
Let's hope there are 500 more Earls out there.
Keep the novels coming and I'll keep listening.
Let's hope those 500 Earls don't appear too quickly.
- The First Earl
Maybe we should call you "Earl the First" just to be safe (;
Trust me, you are so far ahead of the curve, there isn't even a curve yet.
Keep it up. What your doing is revolutionary.
I'm trying to do the same thing, except I'm on the critic side. Which makes me the evil person of the group.
Maybe we shouldn't be talking....
Just kidding
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