‘Stranger Things: Tales from ’85’ – An All Too Familiar Campaign [Review]

Created by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, “Stranger Things” first debuted in 2016. The series about a group of friends taking on monsters in 1980s, Indiana, went on to become a hit for Netflix. Spanning multiple seasons, the long-winded tale came to an end in late 2025. Or so we thought. With Eric Robles stepping in as showrunner, the animated spinoff that no one asked for, “Stranger Things: Tales from ’85”, just hit the streamer…and it’s exactly what the most skeptical of you may expect. An unnecessary, meaningless, ultimately hollow nostalgia grab that somehow crawled its way out of the Upside Down and onto your screens for one last, exhausted gasp of an adventure in Hawkins.

Set between seasons two and three, we find Elle (Brooklyn Davey Norstedt) and the gang in the midst of winter and ready for a spring break of D&D. Too bad for them, party pooper vines from the Upside Down have somehow survived and are evolving into a variety of all new horrors threatening to destroy Hawkins. New kid on the block, punk rocker Nikki (Odessa A’zion) gets dragged into the fold, along with her quirky science teacher of a mother (Janeane Garofalo). Together, the gang must once again find a way to stop the creatures or face certain destruction.

Just another day in the lives of Hawkins pre-teens.

I kid, yet that’s also the big problem with “Tales from ’85”…it all feels so typical by now. And the creators don’t have many ideas for how to fix that.

There isn’t much here that we haven’t seen before. Like a “Stranger Things” mix tape, “Tales from ’85” plays all the greatest hits. The kids delve into a combination of science and D&D guidebooks to take on the monsters. Hopper () is back at scolding Elle for going out and desperately trying to control her. Will () is searching for his inner strength. Max () and Lucas () are developing their romance. Dustin’s () still getting beat up, while Mike () struggles with his leadership role. All of which would be fine…if we hadn’t already seen these things play out through various seasons.