Stranger Things

Stranger Things is a live-action LEGO film featuring the Netflix Stranger Things characters, directed, written, filmed and edited by BogleBlocks Pictures. It is the first installment of BogleBlocks Pictures' live action Stranger Things film series and his primary project of 2020. The film follows four young boys, Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson in Hawkins, Indiana in the year 1983. One day Will goes missing and his mother, Joyce, police chief Jim Hopper, and his partner, Trent Callaghan, along with Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, and Steve Harrington, try to rescue him from a monster while discovering a strange little girl and unfolding events in the nearby laboratory.

In mid-2019 BogleBlocks Pictures had the idea to remake the Netflix TV Show into a film with his own ideas added into it. By November he had finished planning it out and started production. Filming took place from December to April. The film had begun to air on YouTube from January 26, 2020 and concluded on April 14 and the full film was released on July 15. It gained a generally positive reception.

The sequel to the film, Stranger Things 2: Divided was released a year later in 2021.

A third film is planned to be released in 2022.

Plot
Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson are chased in a junkyard by a feral dog. After escaping, Will is abducted by a monster, which alarms his mother and brother, motivating Chief Jim Hopper and Trent Callaghan to find him. The three boys decide to look for him on their own and encounter a girl on the run from agents of Hawkins' National Laboratory. The girl's name is Eleven and reveals to them she has biokinesis, which could potentially help them find Will. Eleven stays in Mike's basement for the time being.

Nancy Wheeler, a high school student and Mike's older brother, goes with Steve Harrington and his friends, Tommy Hagan and Carol Perkins, to pool party. Barb Holland, Nancy's closest friend, is invited but captured that night with Jonathan as witness. Joyce is able to figure out that she can communicate with Will through Christmas lights, and is attacked by monster soon afterwards. Nancy sees Jonathan's pictures of the pool party and decides to team up with Jonathan to find Barb. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Eleven are chased into the woods by agents Crawford and Monroe but manage to escape.

Having found the laboratory the prior night with Trent, Hopper breaks into building and collects information on Hawkins and Eleven, also finding a portal which leads to the Upside Down, an alternate version of the world as the kids call it. The kids dub the monster "The Demogorgon" and set out to find the gate which can lead them to Will, using compasses. Joyce and Hopper visit Terry Ives, the mother of Eleven, and her sister Becky, tells them that Terry has had her mind destroyed and can't even speak. Becky also tells them about the D-Virus, a serum that Hawkins Lab has been developing for years. Jonathan and Nancy hunt the Demogorgon in the woods, where Nancy accidentally enters the Upside Down, giving her trauma. Steve sees the two together which makes him feel betrayed. Jonathan and Steve then fight in an alleyway and Trent shows up to arrest them. Jonathan and Nancy are apprehended and Steve tells off Tommy and Carol. Eleven sabotages the compasses, angering Lucas, and is thrown agains a car. Mike scolds Eleven, causing her to flee, and Dustin is captured by Crawford and Monroe. The agents threaten to kill Dustin if Mike doesn't tell them where Eleven is, but is rescued by her soon after. Mike takes Monroe's gun, hiding it from everyone else. Lonnie, Joyce's ex-husband and Will and Jonathan's father turns up to the Byers' Residence, partially Demogorgon and is forced to be put down by Hopper.

Tommy is killed by the Demogorgon in his house that night. Trent confronts Martin Brenner, the head of Hawkins' Lab and threatens him, causing him to be thrown out. Lucas, scoping out the lab, overhears that Eleven had a tracker planted on her by Crawford. Lucas warns Mike that the agents are coming after them, and are pursued by a truck, eventually hiding in the junkyard. Lucas and Mike make amends and the tracker is destroyed. Hopper and Joyce meet up with Trent, Nancy, and Jonathan, who scope out the Wheeler residence, crawling with Hawkins agents. Hopper and Trent rescue the kids from the junkyard, who were almost captured by a helicopter crew. Back at the Byers' house, the kids show them Eleven's power and realize in order to find Will and Barb, they need to build her a makeshift sceptic tank. The group goes to the school and sets up a kiddie pool with salt in it. Eleven locates Will but Barb is already dead. Trent goes to answer a disturbance call and is killed by the Demogorgon when he's out.

Joyce and Hopper go to find Trent, and wind up at Hawkins Lab where they are held captive. Filled with revenge, Nancy and Jonathan go to face the Demogorgon theirselves, setting up traps in the house. The kids are left alone once more. Brenner strikes a deal with Hopper, telling him if they reveal where Eleven is, he will let him and Joyce go into the Upside Down to save Will. Hopper takes the deal. Nancy and Jonathan, now accompanied by Steve face the Demogorgon severely damaging it with fire. The agents arrive at the school, where Eleven injects Crawford with the D-Virus, causing him to commit suicide. Eleven crushes the rest of the agents brains. Brenner takes Mike's gun and before he shoots him, the Demogorgon arrives because of the smell of blood. Lucas takes the gun back and shoots Brenner who is then attacked by the monster. In the Upside Down, Hopper and Joyce find Will and attempt to bring him back to life. Lucas shoots at the Demogorgon, but is ultimately killed by Eleven, who sacrifices herself by using all her strength to do it. Will is revived by Hopper, with police showing up at the school after the night.

One month later, Will has fully recovered and takes the dog at the junkyard home to be his own. Jonathan and Steve are now good friends. Hopper takes food from the station and puts it in a wooden chest, presumably for Eleven. The Byers' family then have Christmas dinner, closing out the film.

Protagonists:

 * Eleven- A little girl who has telekinetic abilities and helps the boys search for Will. She is the love interest of Mike.


 * Mike Wheeler- A young boy who is best friends with Lucas, Will, and Dustin, the younger brother of Nancy, and love interest of Eleven.


 * Dustin Henderson- A young boy who is best friends with Lucas, Mike, and Will.


 * Lucas Sinclair- A young boy who is best friends with Mike, Will, and Dustin.


 * Joyce Byers- The mother of Will and Jonathan, and a long-time friend of Jim Hopper.


 * Jim Hopper- The police chief of Hawkins, who lost his only daughter, and a long-time friend of Joyce.


 * Will Byers- A young boy who is best friends with Lucas, Mike, and Dustin, and a victim of the Demogorgon kidnappings.


 * Jonathan Byers- The older brother of Will, best friend of Nancy, and rival turned friend of Steve.


 * Nancy Wheeler- The older sister of Mike, best friend of Jonathan and Barb, and girlfriend of Steve.


 * Steve Harrington- The jock of Hawkins High School, girlfriend of Nancy, rival turned friend of Jonathan, and former friends with Tommy and Carol.


 * Trent Callaghan- The police partner of Jim Hopper.

Antagonists:

 * The Demogorgon- A creature from the Upside Down that terrorized Hawkins, Indiana in 1983. It is the main antagonist.


 * Martin Brenner- The lead scientist at Hawkins Lab, and father figure to Eleven. He is the secondary antagonist.


 * Connie Frazer- Right hand to Martin Brenner.


 * Agent Crawford- One of Brenner's top agents and Monroe's partner.


 * Agent Monroe- One of Brenner's top agents and Crawford's partner.


 * Tommy Hagan- Former friend to Steve, boyfriend of Carol and victim to the Demogorgon.


 * Carol Perkins- Former friend to Steve and girlfriend of Tommy.


 * Head Soldier- A high-ranking Hawkins agent.

Supporting:

 * Barbara Holland- Best friend to Nancy and victim of the Demogorgon.


 * Karen Wheeler- Mike and Nancy's mother and Joyce's friend.


 * Ted Wheeler- Mike and Nancy's father.


 * Lonnie Byers- Jonathan and Will's father and D-Virus victim.


 * Benny Hammond- Owner of Benny's market and ally of Eleven.


 * Scott Clarke- Teacher of science at Hawkins' Middle School.


 * Officer Perkins- A Hawkins' police officer and Carol's uncle.


 * Diane Hopper- Mother of Sara and ex-wife of Jim Hopper.


 * Sara Hopper- Deceased daughter of Jim and Diane.


 * Becky Ives- Terry Ive's sister and aunt to Eleven.

Differences from the TV Show
While writing the film, BogleBlocks Pictures wanted to pay homage to the original show but didn't want it to be exactly the same. He wanted to tell his own story. So he brought in many characters from the show but also brought in new characters that they interact with such as Trent Callaghan and Agents Crawford and Monroe. He also wanted to give more depth to side roles like Benny Hammond and Tommy Hagan, making controversial decisions like killing Tommy but keeping Benny alive, both different from the show. BogleBlocks Pictures also replaced Lucas's slingshot for a gun, wanting to have the kids develop in their maturity and show that they must do things they question in order to save their friend.

Music
The film predominantly features music by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, the composers for the Stranger Things TV Show. The scores featured in the film are from the first season both volumes one and two. "Lights Out" "The Upside Down" and "Danger Danger" are heavily used for the Demogorgon's theme.

Music by John Ottman (X-Men films), Michael Giacchino (Jurassic World), and songs like American Pie by Don McLean and Salty Seas by Devics are also used in the film.

Trivia

 * All characters are voiced by BogleBlocks Pictures, like most of his films, except for Sara Hopper being voiced by his sister.
 * BogleBlocks Pictures filmed the entirety of his Stranger Things film down in his home basement, but found it is very noisy and there are a lot of distractions.
 * Furthermore, he decided that most other films would be shot outdoors, like The Expedition, which he found to be much easier and more fun and open.
 * Stranger Things is BogleBlocks Pictures most successful film, gaining 2.5K views and 66 likes.
 * There are many police cruisers that Hopper and Trent use throughout the film. However, BogleBlocks Pictures only owns one cruiser and uses it as the primary vehicle of the film (along with the bikes).
 * There are three police cruisers that are destroyed throughout the film.
 * The D-Virus is an original concept created by BogleBlocks Pictures and never appears in the show. While the D-Virus itself doesn't appear much in the film, it is the thing responsible for setting half of the film's plot into motion, which is the Hawkins agents hunting Eleven.  The D-Virus caused several deaths throughout the film, such as Lonnie Byers, Agent Crawford, and indirectly Agent Monroe.
 * The Hawkins soldier's armor is from the Man of Steel line of LEGO sets. 76009 Superman: Black Zero Escape and 76003 Superman: Battle of Smallville carry the pieces.
 * 76003 Superman: Battle of Smallville also carries Trent Callaghan's torso piece.
 * The Will Byers Fake Death arc from episodes 3-5 of the TV Show never made it into the film because BogleBlocks Pictures thought it was unnecessary and would just add more time.
 * The film was set to run anywhere from 120 to 150 minutes in length, but ended up being 200 minutes.
 * Jonathan Byers breaks his arm after his fight with the Demogorgon along with Steve and Nancy. However, the next scene he's in it is just fine.  This is a minor flaw oversaw by BogleBlocks Pictures as it was a last minute decision and he genuinely forgot he broke his arm.
 * Crawford and Monroe's looks were based off of the looks of Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, played by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction.
 * Barbara Holland was abducted in second part of the film, but her death scene was not shown until the fourth part of the film. BogleBlocks Pictures wanted the viewers to feel what Eleven was feeling in that moment, which was terror.
 * Trent Callaghan's original status was to be unknown. During his fight with the Demogorgon in part four, he was supposed to disappear and never be shown again.  But BogleBlocks Pictures thought this would bring up a big plot hole and too many questions if he ever made a sequel, so he decided he would sacrifice himself in the fight.