(вЂњItвЂ™s right next to you and you donвЂ™t even see it.вЂќ) In true Last Starfighter spirit, a group of picked-on nerds are finally able to use their store of RPG arcana as applied knowledge. In вЂњThe Flea and the Acrobat,вЂќ the show goes one step further by connecting the parallel netherworld of its faceless creature with вЂњThe Vale of Shadows,вЂќ a Dungeons & Dragons realm that acts as a dark reflection or echo of our own world. And that extends to the characters, too, even though they canвЂ™t know how much theyвЂ™re playing out a script that the culture has already written. Stranger Things isnвЂ™t quite as shameless, but its heavy reliance on вЂ80s reference points makes it feel like a product of (and gift to) fan culture, one big homage to the movies that the Duffer brothers love.

Ernest ClineвЂ™s junky novel Ready Player One -В soon to be a Steven Spielberg film -В goes even further, setting up a virtual realm that its hero navigates through his vast knowledge of pop history. In The Last Starfighter, the Chosen OneвЂ“type is so chosen because heвЂ™s excellent at an arcade game used as a recruiting tool for interstellar warfare. The film is entertainingly tacky, but itвЂ™s notable mainly for a premise that tapped into a primal nerd fantasy: All the dorky, time-wasting pursuits occupying a nerdвЂ™s life will someday be useful in saving the universe.

That July, The Last Starfighter tried and failed to seize the imaginations of audiences looking for the next Star Wars. In 1984, the year after Stranger Things takes place, HollywoodвЂ™s summer hit streak of Ghostbusters, Gremlins, and The Karate Kid took an anticlimactic turn. Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Millie Bobby Brown as Elle, Finn Wolfhard as Mike.

Stranger things season 1 episode 5