An enveloping celebration of Netflix’s popular sci-fi horror mystery series arrives in the ultrahigh definition disc format via a massive, boxed set collecting all five seasons of the popular show Stranger Things: The Complete Series — Deluxe Edition (Arrow Video, rated: TV-14, 2.00:1 aspect ratio, 2,722 minutes, $269.95).
Creators Matt and Ross Duffer gave 1980s nerds a thrill ride into the sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana. The disappearance of young Will Byers sends his frantic mother Joyce (Winona Ryder), police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour), and Will’s tight-knit group of friends — Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) — searching for answers.
Their investigation quickly reveals something more sinister, leading them to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), a mysterious young girl with extraordinary abilities and an equally mysterious past.
Her arrival coincides with evidence that secret government experiments have opened a doorway to an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down, unleashing creatures and forces upon the town.
As the story expands, the original group of kids is joined by older siblings, classmates and unlikely adult allies and villains including Will’s determined older brother Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton); Mike’s older nosy sister Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer); outsider Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink); pop culture icon Matthew Modine (“Full Metal Jacket”) as Eleven’s keeper Dr. Martin Brenner; Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings”) as Joyce’s boyfriend Bob Newby; and Linda Hamilton (“The Terminator”) as military scientist Dr. Kay.
The whopping 25-disc, 4K set offers all 42 episodes of the series that relished in the Duffers’ epic adventure and their loving recreation of 1980s pop culture, mixing elements of Stephen King horror, Steven Spielberg’s suburban fantasy and Cold War paranoia.
“Stranger Things” not only succeeded for its Lovecraftian monsters, fantastical world-building and bicycle-riding heroics, but also as a story about friendship, family and a familiar coming-of-age tale of a group of children forced to grow up as they discover that the most frightening things imaginable are lurking in their neighborhood.
4K in action: All episodes offer a native 2160p Dolby Vision presentation sure to please fans and tech cinephiles alike.
The 4K shines, for example, in the jewel-like Christmas bulbs blinking and glowing against Joyce Byers’ darkened living room as impressively as the murky, floating particle-filled Upside Down or the blazing red storms engulfing Hawkins.
I’ll also suggest some moments that really tax the ultrahigh definition format to deliver maximum color and resolution. Let’s take a stroll through the 1980s vintage Starcourt Mall from Season 3.
Appreciate the glowing storefronts, indoor fireworks explosions, candy-colored clothing, saturated signage, tentacled textures and viscous gore of the Mind Flayer all layered against dark purplish night interiors.
Best extras: Arrow goes all out for its partnership with Netflix and delivers a literal box (6.5-wide by 7.5-tall by 5.75-deep) of goodies for fans in this deluxe edition.
Slide the cover off the package covered in themed art from Juan Ramos and first find a 148-page, newly assembled, full-color, mini art book spanning the series, including on-set photographs, original design sketches, poster art, concept art and storyboards.
Wedged between the art are new and previously released short recollections and commentary pages from the Duffer brothers (the directors), Shawn Levy, Andrew Stanton and Uta Briesewitz and composer Kyle Dixon.
Although the book is a gorgeous anchor to the set, older fans will need a magnifying glass to appreciate many of its detailed pages. I would separately buy this tome in a much larger-sized release just for the complexity of the visual information.
Next, owners get a double-sided foldout map of Hawkins (16 inches wide and 20 inches tall), designed like a detailed 1984 municipal survey. One side charts the town’s streets and topography, while the reverse reveals the red tendrils of the subterranean tunnel network spreading beneath Hawkins.
Arrow then piles on some replica-style memorabilia, such as: a Hawkins Palace Arcade coin; a mini Will Byers “Have You Seen Me?” missing-person poster; Starcourt Mall’s ice cream shop Scoops Ahoy loyalty punch card; two sheets of stickers; a Camp Know Where postcard; a self-adhesive Hellfire Club cloth patch and an exclusive Hellfire Club 20-sided die and role-playing character sheet (particularly appropriate nods to the Dungeons & Dragons games woven throughout the series).
The box also contains five double-sided posters (16 inches wide and 20 inches tall) featuring Kyle Lambert’s original promotional artwork for each season and 25 art cards collecting imagery from all five seasons in a postcard-sized format.
And just as special for disc collectors, each season’s case (with reversible art sleeves) presents different-style packaging, such as Season 1 with a lenticular cover and Season 2 with a die-cut slipcase.
Just as important for fans, since Netflix previously released only the first two seasons on disc with zero extras, each season now comes with an additional 4K disc of bonus digital goodies.
Viewers get over five hours of content, including both episodes of “Stranger Things: Unlocked” (roughly 50 minutes each) hosted by Felicia Day, covering the fourth season and loaded with interviews and director insight.
Also among the more entertaining supplements is a series of visual “Cast Rewatches,” retrospectives that place members of the now-grown ensemble in front of selected scenes from each season (roughly 15 minutes per season).
Rather than running alongside an entire episode like a traditional commentary, the pieces jump among memorable moments while the actors discuss filming them, recalling incidents from the set and offering nostalgic observations with plenty of laughs.
Additionally, look for an abundance of short interviews (over two hours’ worth) found on the bonus discs of the first three seasons as well as collections of featurettes.
They cover everything, including playing Dungeons & Dragons, bringing the villain Vecna to life, behind-the-scenes segments for every episode of the fifth season (over 90 minutes) and even a table read-through of the episode “Chapter Four: Sorcerer” from the fifth season.
Overall, Arrow Video presents its best reason yet for keeping the home-theater disc-entertainment format alive and delivers to collectors a “Stranger Things” nirvana, perfect for any fan of the series’ mythos.
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