It's a ham radio, the Cadillac of ham radio. Hello everyone, Welcome back to yet another episode of Ham Radio as Stranger Things podcast. We've got a great episode for you today as usual. But first, we have a little housekeeping to take care of, and I'm going to turn it over to Jasmine to let you know where you can find us on social media and where you can listen to the podcast.
Thanks Ashley. You can find us on Instagram at Ham Radio Media, all one word on Twitter, at Ham Through on YouTube at Ham Radio Media, or using our handle Ham Radio 1983. We also have a discord you can join which is linked to the description of this episode. If you have a fan theory or question you want to share, you can e-mail us at hamradiomedia@gmail.com. Ashley also has a fanfic on AO3 entire Stranger Things College, which is also LinkedIn the
description. The podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, and much more. If you like the show, please consider leaving us a rating or review. We have a lot of totally tuberous stuff coming up, so be sure to follow us on social media to keep up with the podcast and all of our new content. And welcome back to another episode of the Ham Radio Podcast.
Today is a very special episode because Jasmine is back from her brief hiatus. Yay, Jasmine, welcome back. We missed you. Thanks, Ashley. Good to be back. Yes, and Jasmine actually went on a trip to the Upside Down. That's where she has been. And we're glad to see that she survived. And sounds like you had a great trip. Yeah, can't. Complain. I hear they have a resort down there now so hopefully I'll get tickets myself. Not bad.
So anyway, on today's episode, we will be continuing with our script breakdown series where we've been analyzing the script for the Stranger Things for episode Chapter 7, The Massacre at Hawkins Lab. So if you haven't listened to parts one through 13 yet, we highly encourage you to do that before you listen to this episode because we will be discussing the appendices in the script and the anatomy of a
script in general. And we will also be sharing our predictions for what we might get on to dumb this upcoming Saturday. All righty, so I feel like to start off, we should talk about to dumb. That's what's on everybody's mind. I'm hopeful, Ashley, honestly, I'm more hopeful than I've been in a while in terms of content. I think mainly because they're officially advertising that a bunch of the cast is going to be
there. And for any of the Wednesday fans out there, if you've been following any of their social media, their plan after they you know, the teaser came out and they announced the rue states for that. They've been pretty regularly posting both old and new content to their socials in the lead up to to them. And I've also noticed that other shows that are going to be coming out later this year and then the next year as well have
been posting more content. So, you know, typically from a marketing communications perspective, you, you do that when you lead up to something. For them to do that much work and then not do something big would be a really weird strategy. Like it's not typically how it's done. So to be honest, I really am hopeful because they've got the members of the cast there and feels like we're we're leading up to something.
On top of that, this is the first time the event will be broadcast live on Netflix. In the past, it's been broadcast on YouTube and TikTok. This is the first time it's
going live on the platform. And I think that's because, you know, Eagle Eye fans will have noticed that Netflix has been doing more live events in the past few months, which seems to indicate they've either gotten some kind of deal or contract with a a provider that's able to do live entertainment and or they've upgraded their technology to be able to do this. So it's really cool that it's going to be on Netflix itself. And it appears they are pulling
out all the stops. It's been confirmed that Lady Gaga will perform and it's their first musical performance. She's has a guest role on Wednesday Season 2 that's been reported. So that's part of it. So they appear to be pulling out all the stops for this.
And I think a big part of that is the fact that they didn't do to them last year and there was no kind of press or media around why they weren't doing it. Just, you know, time came and went and they didn't do it. So it appears that they're pulling out all the stops for this one. And I for one, am very excited. Yeah, so am I I feel like this this to Dom, I think is is one I've, you know, been the most
excited for in quite some time. I think it's because like, it's not just about Stranger Things, although that's really what I'm going for. But I mean, we have Wednesday and Squid Game stuff and you know, they just, they have, I feel like just more interesting content these days. And also with the Lady Gaga performance, I'm really looking forward to that. And so it just seems like this year they they have just more available.
And I think it's equal parts them not doing it last year and it being on the Netflix platform, maybe copyright reasons or what have you, they're able to do a lot more on the Netflix platform than just YouTube. But yeah, I'm very excited about it. I think, I think I actually might watch the entire event from beginning to end. And in the past I've only really stuck around for like the Stranger Things stuff.
But I think this year, I think that's, I think that's going to, I think it's going to change for me this year because again, there's just, it seems like there's just more more to it this year and just more to get excited about. And this will be my first live event, like watching it on Netflix the platform. So that's going to be very
interesting for sure. So Jasmine, like do you want to talk about like some of the hopes that you have for to Dom and maybe like some fears that you have for it as it really relates to Stranger Things? Yeah, for sure. In terms of hopes as has been rumored, I I think we are going to either get a teaser trailer or a full trailer. I'd love a full trailer. I know for Wednesday they did, there's some behind the scenes stuff and then they did the
teaser. So it looks like, you know, we'll get the full trailer presumably for that. I think it depends on if the behind the scenes teaser we got is what their, you know, is their official teaser and then we are going to get a full trailer at TADAM or if if there's going to be another teaser like that's not the official teaser and we're going to get another teaser and then a full trailer at some point over the summer. But I feel like the trailer is likely based on what they've
been leading up to the rumors. Also what they've done for Wednesday. The shows have a lot in common, so it makes sense they follow similar kind of promotional strategy and if you look at what they've done for the other big shows like Squid Game and Bridgeton, that kind of thing. So I'm really helpful for that. I think we definitely will get release dates because it'd be super weird if we didn't. We know Wednesday's coming out in this like August, September,
Bridgeton's next year. So I feel like the only slot really available is the fall, and it'd be weird if we didn't. So those are some of my hopes. I feel like there's the cast I'm hoping for. Maybe, you know, they're doing trivia with the cast like they did during COVID or something else like that. And we know that according to the poster, Caleb, Finn, Gayton, Milly and Noah are all confirmed. And according to his Instagram story, Noah landed in LA yesterday.
I got to be honest, when I first saw that, I was like, cool, He's, he's on a tarmac next to a plate. I was like, and within someone on Instagram pointed out that he was like he'd landed there because, you know, for Tadam. And I was like, oh, that makes more sense. That's more exciting. And something else I noticed is David Harbour is listed as attending on his IMDb. So fingers crossed that he and other cast members show up. That wouldn't surprise me. Like they don't want the cat out
of the bag for everything. So I could see them bringing out the initial people they've advertised and then the rest of the cast kind of showing up kind of part way through or something or have been like, you know, like, oh, we've got a surprise, you guys and other people come out. I could see something like that. So those are some of my hopes. I think probably fears is that it's it's a let down. I've watched previous years in I mean, the last time I watched it
was like a total let down. I think it was just like the Linda Hamilton announcements that were introduced by like Arnold Schwarzenegger is not even like part of the show and like that was it. So there's been a lot of let downs in the past. So I just, I feel like the fears are it's a let down. Like the cast is there, but they don't announce anything big. I feel like maybe just release dates or, or something small or like a poster or something like
a poster would be cool. But yeah, that it's, they don't give us something concrete, but I feel like we will because I feel like every other big show they had, if you've looked at their marketing, you've looked at their social media, they've been dropping stuff continuously or on a regular basis. And Stranger Things the only show in which they have not done
that. So it'd be really weird, especially to have gotten all the actors like we've got the main party there to them to come down for this when they're busy with other projects, to just have them be like, it's coming soon or like here's a poster or like here's some release release dates piece. That'd be kind of a waste of their time, you know, like I know they're under contract, but still, it's kind of a waste. So I feel like we're going to get good stuff. I'm hopeful this year for like
the first time in in a while. What about you, Ashley? What are your hopes and fears? Yeah, I feel like we're on the same same plane there with, with both our hopes and fears. I mean, obviously, I mean, I'm just hopeful for any actual Stranger Things five content at this point.
I mean, it's been like, it's been a very understandable drought, but yet that doesn't mean it's been any less, you know, frustrating, especially when you see other shows like, like you brought up Bridgerton, like they randomly dropped a little bit of footage from Bridgerton season 4, which is supposed to come out next year. And it's like, you know, the Duffer Brothers back in January, it said we have 650 hours of raw footage to comb through and yet we can't even get like 10
seconds worth. I would hope that it really is worth the wait. I mean, I feel like it will be, but you know what I'm saying? But but yeah, like, really. I mean, I'm not, I don't feel like I'm asking too much here. But, you know, maybe like first official teaser trailer, not even the full trailer. It doesn't even have to be the
full trailer. Like just give it, give me a nice minute 32nd to two-minute long teaser trailer, then the release date and maybe a visual poster or confirmation on who Linda Hamilton's going to be playing or maybe even another behind the scenes featurette or maybe all of the above. I don't, I don't really feel like that's at this point too big of an ask, especially I mean, since I know it's dumb. It's going to be on May 31st, but that's technically June.
And so, you know, at this point I feel like we're definitely due for all those things. And like you said, like being as you've got and managed to get like 5 confirmed that we know of of some of the biggest actors on the show to come down for this thing. I mean, I would hope it's something big, especially since there's a live audience there as
well. Because like, you know, part of my biggest fears is, you know, like these, like you said it, it being, you know, a total let down and then doing something like have these cast members just go up there and say something like Stranger things is coming soon or things we've heard already, like you're not ready or Stranger Things 5 will be the most epic season yet. Like we've heard that like
probably 10 times already now. And and saying if that were to happen, Jasmine, if that were to be the only thing consider like everything I just said about this event. I mean, if people in the audience hurled tomatoes at them, I mean, I I probably wouldn't be that surprised. I mean, again, this is not it wouldn't be on the actors fault.
It would be definitely Netflix. And at that point I would be like, wow, they couldn't have given a bigger F you to to the fans, you know, if they did that. But you know, I don't really think it's going to be that. I think they're going to give you do more than that. But you know, then the other fears I have are like more first shadow stuff or, or a sneak sneak peek or something similar for the new animated spin off the Tales from 85, which I am
excited about that. I am, but I want Stranger Things 5 stuff. That's what I am tuning in for. That's where we're at currently. I don't at this point, I'm not really interested in the animated show right now. But really I think if any, if it's not season 5 related content, I think I would be highly disappointed and that would be my biggest fear. But I mean, I try to be very optimistic and so I am being optimistic.
I'm, I've been excited since Sunday for this and I'm going to be excited for it and hopeful until, you know, they, they prove otherwise on Saturday evening. But yeah, I, I feel like it'll be our first official trailer. I mean, we've heard rumors that have been circulating for the past month that the teaser is ready. And I, I can't think of a, a better event that they could,
could drop it than to dumb. Because I feel like if it's not to dumb, I I just don't other than some random Friday or something in in June or July. I don't see it happening until we get to around the time of the release date. Because I feel like in late June, but especially July, they're going to start ramping up all the Wednesday stuff. So I feel like it's dumb. It's either, it's either dumb or it's not happening until the season is released, you know?
Yeah, totally. And something you just made me think of is, you know, one of the reasons I'm hopeful is there's been lots of promotional stuff about how they're trying to find Stranger Things superfans to attend the event and last night's, well, that had sold out.
I think that plus the fact that Lady Gaga was performing, the fact that they were specifically looking for Stranger Things fan for like a special like fan experience and they were selling tickets that does the past where they had a whole bunch of footage of art and cosplay and different things that fans had done. And then they had the actors doing, you know, trivia and different things like that.
I think that's what made the last time they did to them so disappointing is because they had to pull it off during COVID and then we got absolutely nothing. And it was like, if you can pull this off during COVID, by that time, you know, stuff with the pandemic goes winding down, it's like, well, you do, you should be doing more, not less.
But I feel like they wouldn't go out of their way to find super fans to do an event for them to sell tickets to get them to like do the fan event and also have them at to them like to do all
of that work. They're not going to do something because then it's like, well, presumably you're getting footage, like there's probably people who are going to fly in or travel in for this and to do all of that and to just have it be, I don't know, some kind of like photo op with props or like, you know, you don't get something like real, you don't get something presented or meet anybody. Like you don't you don't get something special out of it. I feel like people would be really angry.
I feel like they'd have like a riot on their hands. And like you said, like, you know, people are going to start legit throwing stuff if they get to that point in the show and there's nothing concrete. There's nothing significant. I feel like people are going to lose and start throwing things and like 11 would hope that the organizers are smart enough to know that you don't want to piss people off to that extent after
this long. Like in a big group, you know, generally a bad idea security wise and just yeah. I know that would be like accidentally popping yourself in the throat with a rubber band, which I've done before and it's not pleasant. But yeah, especially considering that, I mean, I'm, I'm already preparing for that. I, I would be very surprised if they did it like at, you know, at the, the outset at 8:00, which is when the event starts.
I mean, like, definitely it's going to be, it's going to be at the, the beginning, like the 10:00 hour, maybe even down to 11, which again, it would not surprise me if they waited until 11 to do it because, you know, 1111. And so with that being said, if that is the case and they, they throw out this lame duck something, you know, people have waited three hours and that's it. Like, come on. I mean, you know, we've, we've literally gotten like maybe 3 actual real like content things.
Like, I mean, yeah, we had all the behind the scenes pictures during filming, but in terms of, like, you know, edited and cut content, it was the behind the scenes teaser in July of last year. And then we got on Stranger
Things Day, the episode titles. And then we didn't get anything else until like February when they dropped that missing poster of 11, which I made it look like something that you and I could have created on Canva. But I mean, since then, I mean like almost four months later, it's been crickets. Yeah, we haven't Yeah, we haven't gotten so much.
I think people were expecting, you know, the last big drop was towards the end of January where we got like the poster and the like the little coming soon for all of Netflix trailer that they did and other shows like you said have gotten, you know, a lot more. And I feel like, I feel like the kind of assumption earlier on was they were still editing and everything, but when it came out they had that much raw footage and that much stuff they were working with.
It's like, OK, well, you could have given us something, photos, production, still something. And, and they haven't so past that point. So yeah, I, I think it's got to be something good and it would be a real waste. I feel like if it's going to be something lame, I, I don't know, I feel like they'd have one or two actors there. I feel like they would not get people to fly in. You don't need that many people to to announce something like that, you know. Yeah, I heard the timing if I
remember correctly. I feel like there before, I think Nicola Cochlin from Bridgeton came out about halfway through the event and showed sneak peeks for Bridgeton season 3. So I would guess that they'd probably do something similar were about the midway point. Like they'd start with like the new upcoming stuff. And I don't know if they're including more stuff from other
languages, which is cool. I remember there's a bunch of like Spanish and other language kind of they started with would I know fans who are, you know, speak those other English I'm sure do appreciate. So I feel like they'll probably start with that and then I know about halfway related Bridgerton. So they might do that just because it's a little bit farther off.
And then I feel like interspice with other things, we're probably going to get Wednesday and Squid Game and then I feel like Serger thing stuff will come towards the end. And then I feel like maybe they'll end with the Lady Gaga performance or they might flip it. They might do like Virgin or Squid Game and then and then Wednesday and then they finish it off with the performance. So that's kind of what I'm I'm picturing based on what they've
done in the past. Yeah, definitely 7 the the best for last. Which is like totally cool as long as they give us something, you know, like if we get really good stuff, no one's going to care when it was. And also it's going to go up on YouTube afterwards. I always do that. So it'll be all over TikTok, so and you know, wheels and everything else. So that's fine as long as they give us something really. If they don't and people TuneIn for the whole thing.
I remember being so angry and disappointed when a couple years ago when I watched the whole thing and I gave up whole afternoon and it was like, that's it. That that's literally it. Like what? Yeah, I've, I've been there too. Like, well, that was a total waste of time. Yeah. For sure. So fingers crossed everybody, that we that we get good stuff and it's not a waste of our time. And yeah, we're gonna think good thoughts. Think good stranger things.
Five content thoughts. Yes, everyone start manifesting. That's what you need to do manifest. Get out the get out the candles guys and manifest. Even throughout the day on Saturday manifest. Think good thoughts and we're going to manifest good content into existence. All righty. OK, so now we're talking about our predictions.
Let's get into the appendixes. So first we're going to start off with an explanation of what an appendix is and provide some context for that, and then we're going to get into it.
So what is an appendix? It's when in ATV show or movie script, there's a section at the end that contains supplementary information like character BIOS, location details, costume or prop details, music cues or sound effects, or alternate dialogue that isn't essential for the core script but can be helpful for production or future reference.
So what we're going to be talking about is the first few appendixes of the Massacre Talkins Lab script and what we can learn from them and how the sausage gets made in terms of, you know, putting together a movie script or TV show script and all the stuff that has to go into that. So, Ashley, do you want to talk about the anatomy of a script for everyone? Absolutely. You know, Jasmine, I've been waiting a long time to get into
this. I mean, I've, I went through my Screenplay for Dummies book and get all the basic information for you guys on the script. And it's important to note that what I'm going to be talking about specifically is for a screenplay script, because there are actually different types of scripts for different medias like audio dramas, gameplay scripts. Those are vastly different from a screenplay. And so today I'll just be talking mostly about the anatomy of a script screenplay script.
So it begins with the title page. It has the title centered all caps and usually written by followed by the writer's name. Or sometimes, like with the case with this script, Chapter 7 script, it has the title and then it just has by the Duffer Brothers and then they have directed by the Duffer Brothers. So typically you, you'll typically see that more with a film than a TV series. But I mean, I've seen it done a multitude of ways.
Some I've seen put written by and or they just put by and then there's contact information on there which is optional and that's usually it'll be on the right hand, bottom right hand corner and it has the content information of the agent, e-mail, phone number or company information. The second thing is the scene heading which we get into the actual script itself. The scene heading is also called a slug line and this indicates where and when the scene takes
place. The format is int, which stands for interior or extension, which stands for exterior plus location plus time of day. So to give you an example, this is 1 I took from the Chapter 7 script. It's exterior, lake bed, dash, night, upside down. So that just the slug lines really help the cast and the crew, but especially like the crew, like the editing crew and everyone set like for the directing to know the setting, the time and place. But you don't want to go too
overboard with the details. It just again, just very quickly. You just indicate the location and then if it's interior, exterior and then the time of day. And typically you only use day, night, dawn, dusk or continuous as the slug lines. Though I have seen some use morning it just again, it just, it just varies. Just depends on the scale and scope of the TV show or the film.
And then we have the action, which the action headings, which describes what is happening in the scene and what the audience sees and hears. The action is always written in the present tense, and camera directions and shot directions are usually avoided unless absolutely necessary. So in reading the script for Chapter 7, I've noticed that the Duffers do include camera directions in their action lines. So my guess would be they do this because they're also like directing this episode.
And so they just went ahead and included the camera shots and directions, though they're very minimal. I guess like whenever they they put it in the script, whenever they like a specific like it has to be done like this during filming in the scripts that they write themselves. And so I'd actually would love to be able to read a Stranger Things script written by another writer on the Stranger Things writers room to see if they do the same.
Here's an example of action, which again, I took from the Chapter 7 script, we pick up right where we left off with the demo bats fitting on Steve. So again, that just tells everyone who's going to read this script what is happening here in this scene. And then an example of a camera directions last shot again, I also took this from Chapter 7 script. They put in all caps clothes on. They're talking about the dib of bats. Nasty little razor sharp mouths RIP skin from his bare body like
supernatural vultures. It's awful. So again, like you have this camera direction. I've also seen them do like we Dolly around. So usually again with the camera shots, they'll typically put those in all caps. So basically in a script also like whatever is important to the scene or if it's like a noun, you want to put those in caps, all caps as well.
A character name. It's always centered and capitalized, and it appears above the character's name, which are also known as Rylys RURYL i.e. S. They appear in parentheses under the character name right before the dialogue. They're used sparingly to indicate tone or action that affects delivery. I've spotted this a few times in Chapter 7 script. I've mostly seen this done in audio drama scripts because again, that's all audio.
The audience is not going to be able to see, you know, Someone Like You know, pouting or or be able to to see from like their tones. So it's typically where I've seen parentheses used the most, but I have I've spotted it used in in this Chapter 7 script. One example I found was Steve parentheses catching breath. I think I lost about a, a pound of flesh. But other than that, yeah, never better. It's after he gets bitten by the
demo bats. So I guess, you know, they put that there, you know, just for, you know, when Joe Kerry was reading that, so he'd know. OK. You know, this is how I kind of need to go into this scene. And then dialogue. The lines are spoken by a character. Obviously they are indented and formatted beneath the character name and then transitions. Optional and usually write aligned examples of this or cut to fade in, fade out, dissolve to.
Transitions are typically used only when necessary to guide the editor or emphasize A stylistic moment. Sound and music cues. They are more common in audio drama scripts or shooting scripts, but for film and television they only use if sound is integral or integral. For audio drama, sound effects and music cues are essential and often formatted clearly for clarity. I've rarely ever seen it in the Duffer brothers. Like the scripts that they've written.
I remember it's I believe it's either in the Montauk script or the Vanishing Will Buyer script, but I believe it is the Montauk script. They do have in there. They list specifically or they write specifically a song by Queen in there. But I in in the piggyback script. They do write in there like something like intense sci-fi music plays or something like
that. But again, it's very very very rare because most of that happens It takes place in post and then subheaders and secondary slug lines are used to indicate a change of location within the same larger scene example later or across the room. Then montages and series of shots. There's special format to indicate multiple short visually distinct moments. They can be written as a list under 1 scene heading or introduced with begin montage.
In montage, superimposed text is used to show on screen text like dates, times or titles. An example this comes from the Vanishing of Will Buyers script. This is right when the episode opens and it goes superimposed titles November 6th, 1983 Hawkins, Indiana. And so that's how you like you. You basically describe what the titles are going to like over the image you know in the background and then back to scene is used after a flashback montage or dream sequence.
I've also seen in some scripts where the writer will simply like they'll just Simply put begin flashback in flashback to indicate a flashback sequence. The same for montages and dream sequences. I noticed in Chapter 7 script the duffers would include it either in the slug line or action. So there's no I guess particular industry standard or correct way to do this.
It seems like. I guess it's just whatever is easy for your your cast and crew to and yourself to understand and then some script formatting information. Font it's it's always Courier New 12 point font that's industry standard. Your margins should be 1 inch all around and 1.5 inches left margin for binding page count. For feature films, it's usually around 90 to 120 pages, but for TV it's usually 22 pages to 60 pages. And then a page is usually equals to about a minute of
screen time. And for those of you out there who maybe would be interested in writing script and you're worried about all of these things, putting all this formatting together, I would suggest there's going and finding a script scripting software. Like I like to use Writer's Duet, but there's also Final Draft and 6 Go. That one's good. But I say like for especially for beginners, Writer's Duet does the best. And again, it'll put it all in
there for you. So you don't have to worry about making like making sure all the formatting and all that's correct. But yeah, that is that is basically the entire anatomy of a screenplay. Well. Thank you, Ashley. I feel like if people aren't familiar with it, they now have like a much better idea of what we're what we're talking about. And this reminds me of something. So I had this high school English teacher.
I remember this guy and he would insist that we submit all of our essays, all our assignments in Courier New 12 point and like the margins you're talking about. And he kept insisting this was the standard. And when we got to university, like we were going to have to do this. And it was ridiculous because it by that point, it wasn't the default on Word anymore. So we'd have to like make these like special templates to do it. And none of us could figure out what the Frick this guy was
talking about. You know, classmates of mine had siblings in university and college and they were like this, this is not the standard. What the heck that guys talking about? And somebody finally figured it out. Like several months into grade 12, they finally figured it out. They determined that it's the
standard for scripts. And so the conclusion we all came to was that it's continued to be the standard for scripts, but at some point it was the standard for other types of writing too, essays, other formats, which is all based off, you know, a typewriter. And then that became digitized. And I'm all we can figure is that it was the standard for all assignments for any type of written work when he was in university. And that's, it obviously changed
in the years since. Like these days, every time Word goes to a new update, there's a new standard. But clearly he was like, not interested in learning what the new one was. And so he just kept repeating this. And it was always frustrating. But once we understood that, we're like, oh, the guy's just stuck in the past. Like, cool.
Nothing he teaches us is useful, but OK, at least we understand why he's doing it. But it was so annoying because we'd especially format like our Word documents and everything. And today, obviously, like you said, there's software to help you and everything, and Word has a lot more features than it used to. But back then it was kind of limited. And yeah, it was like, really? Yeah, I was like late middle school, throughout high school, it was all MLA. You had to do MLA standard.
And then when I got to college, they did not accept MLA. It was Chicago Standard. And so I had to. I mean, that was rough, especially that first year having to learn Chicago Standard format because it's completely different from MLA, So I totally understand. Yeah. And I don't know if this has gotten any better, but I remember there being like a huge disconnect. And I was in high school where they kept insisting that we were going to need all this stuff.
And then we, you know, I got to university and we were like, what the heck? We don't use any of it. Like the only thing they taught me that I used was I think in my last couple of years, they taught us how to do an annotated bibliography with when in my first couple years of university, we had to use those for like assignments. That was literally the only useful thing I, I realized I've been taught because everything else was like so out of date, it
was no longer used. And we, we were talking to various different styles of annotation. So like that was helpful because I, I remembered each teacher would have like their own thing they wanted. So like that was good. But the way they taught us to write an essay that was considered total crap. When you got to university, you do that and we're failing you.
Even the history they taught us, like the last year they started doing revisionist history, but prior to that, I was like, oh, like none of this is relevant anymore, or this isn't the way it should be taught, or we were missing chunks of information or just like, oh, this hasn't, this isn't relevant. So yeah, I, I remember that feeling. I don't know if it's more aligned now. I hope it is. But yeah, I definitely remember
that feeling. OK, so we're going to begin with Appendix 1. And so we pick up back at the Wheeler House. This is the additional dialogue and instructions for the scene where Lucas, Dustin and Max are sitting on the couch and they've gotten, you know, all back from the lake and they've been found out.
And Erica's, you know, glaring at them from the corner and they're asking where Nancy is. And they're being, quote, interrogated by the police and their parents, who are doing a terrible job of it. So that is where we pick up. We pick up the top line is interior Wheeler house living room night, and we pick up with Erica, whose dialogue here is listed as the fire is consuming us now it's consuming us. Ted, thread them with a little jail time.
See if that loosens their lips. I always like appreciated that a moment of committed relief here and so being able to read like what all the dialogue is. Because like you can, whenever you watch this scene, you can hear what's going on in the background, but it's, again, it's not the focus. So you, you don't have much time to really think about what it is that they're saying or to be able to pick up on it all. And so it's really fun to, to read.
I just love their sibling dynamic and their sibling relationship and and reading it this this appendix, it really makes me appreciate them even more. Yeah, I love their. Dynamic too, and I think Caleb and Priya do such like a a great job with that. And you can particularly in the couch scene. I really love the dynamic. They're like, you can really tell. And we're watching for the first time. And I was like, oh, you can just like, you know, Caleb, Gaytan and Sadie, you know, all kind of
grew up as Broadway babies. Like they, you know, did Broadway together before they were ever cast. And so you could just really feel that camaraderie and that closeness of being friends with somebody for that long. You it just came through. And I thought it was such a great use of their talents. And I feel like going into the season, that must have been something they planned for was let's give them a scene all together where they can show that off. And then you have Erica.
I mean, like the count is literally on fire. Like the dynamic we're Justin and Lucas are trying to get Erica to shut the heck up. And that kind of like speaking through your teeth, like those silent eye conversations when the adults aren't looking is so much a part of the way siblings interact, the way friends interact. And just it, it's so much apart, especially when you're young of the way that those kind of like non verbal conversations you have with people is so much a part of that.
And I, I just love that scene and I love their dynamic and they have really good like chemistry together and it's very fun. And you can, you can tell, particularly in this scene, like the, the sequence that comes after where Caleb slides his handle on the counter has like as he's making his point, stuff like that, where it's, it's kind of not in the script, but they, they kind of play around with it And there's like a physicality to it too.
So it's good to get like more detail on what the actual lines were. And the first thing I noticed is that Erica's lines are slightly different and like a lot funnier in the final version. So I'm guessing that Pria Ferguson did some improv here. My guess would be that they ran through it like the way it was scripted and then like did some alternates because I feel like her final version is is a lot more spunky. It's like it's really funny.
Like the the starting line was good, but I feel like they they improved upon it. And what's interesting is that Lucas has a line here that was cut in the final version where there's two competing sets of dialogue in the in the original where there's Sue, Ted, Karen and Claudia who are yelling at each other because Ted says that dumb line about threatening them with jail time and all the other parents like seriously, Ted? And then Karen's trying to, like, defuse the situation in
this. In the appendix, it's listed that their dad, Charles, asks Lucas if your sister's right and is she lying? And then Lucas says, dad, no, she just wants me in trouble, like always. She's full of shit. And there it goes full of shit. Really. You take that back right now, Lucas, like, take it back and goes like, you take it back. And they're like, back and forth. And so these things are supposed to be competing.
I'm guessing that they went with one over the other because I feel like they actually had them doing this. You wouldn't have actually been able to hear on their party. Like it would have just been like a cacophony of people yelling on screen. So I feel like maybe they tried this and were like, Oh yeah, you can't hear anybody. We kind of got to pick 1. So they picked the one with the adults because we'd already had banter with the kids already.
Also, I feel like Lucas is in the word shit in front of his parents and a bunch of other adults. Doesn't really make any sense. He's like a pretty respectful kid and his parents seem pretty no nonsense. And I mean, you're not going to swear in front of your parents, especially when you're already in trouble. Like that doesn't really fit. So I feel like when they went to film this, maybe Caleb said something or, you know, they just realized you couldn't hear both conversations.
They just picked the one with the adults. But it's really interesting to see, like how it goes from this is what we scripted. But then like how much changes when they go to film the day of. Like just so much comes out when you're physically doing it that that isn't always obvious when you when you script something. Yeah, that is interesting.
I hadn't noticed that before. Right, so that is the end of hendix #1. We then pick up with appendix #2. In parentheses it says parents talking to Daniels. So that is as we learn Officer Daniels. Something I didn't realize until I really watched this scene for this episode is that there's actually two other officers with Callahan and Powell at the
Wheeler house. But they're in, they're so far into the background that I, you know, the, the lighting in the forefront is the parents and Erica and the deputies. And so I didn't realize there were other officers even there. Like you're not really supposed to focus on them.
So yeah, there's an officer named Officer Daniels that standing behind them as well as another officer, which I realized on rewatch was kind of excessive because like, we have 4 police officers for three kids that were found by a lake. And parents are asking, you know, should we do we need to like, hire lawyers? And, you know, Officer Andrew replies that you're not at that stage yet. And, you know, as far as we know, they did nothing wrong. So it seems to have been excessive.
And I guess there's kind of some mixed messaging in the scene where they're trying to get the kids to take it seriously. Meanwhile, you know, they're telling the parents like, oh, you don't need to hire a lawyer. Like it's not that serious. You know, they didn't do anything wrong. He's like, well, no wonder the kids aren't talking to you. Like you're telling them it's super serious, but then you're telling their parents don't worry about it.
You know, they're and also the fact that like, like Officer Daniels says there, there's no evidence of a crime being committed. You know, it seems excessive to them to have that many officers when there's no evidence of a of a crime. Yeah, exactly. Like you bring up how how many officers there are in the Wheeler living room and it's like not one of them knows what they're doing except for maybe Officer Daniels, which I actually like. Officer Daniels, I feel like he
was the most level headed one. This appendix here only made me further question, you know, why isn't Officer Daniels more involved in the investigation into the murders? Because he actually seems to have a clue. He. Has a clue, unlike Callahan and Powell. Like I, I feel like the job kind of went the way it did just because they were hoppers deputies rather than who would be the best fit because like, Oh my God, like Kelly and Powell, like don't have, they don't have
a God damn clue, man. Like they have, they have no clue what the heck they're doing. And that is so freaking obvious. They keep wondering why no one's taking them seriously. And it's like, because you're a joke. And like it is immediately obvious they haven't listened to a damn thing. Hopper told them he was big on protocol. He Hopper had his issues, but he knew what he was doing. And right off the bat, when they get to the Munson trailer, they
immediately break protocol. You know, they do it over the phone instead of over the walkie. They tip Jason off to the fact that Chrissy was buying drugs from Eddie. Like they just, they break all kinds of protocols. They let Jason take over the town hall meeting. And I feel like you could really feel Hopper's absence because you know what you could really feel in those things is Hopper would never let this happen. Like that would last about 30, like he'd never make those
mistakes. And the minute Jason got up, he'd be like, sit the hell down. And if he didn't sit the hell down, he'd be like the deputies be like, arrest him right now, get him out of here. Like all of his goons arrest go like no one does that. We're just done here. And the fact that he, even in his not best state, commanded more respect, and these guys do, he's just like, oh, man. Yeah, I mean, I feel like Powell is trying his best, but I feel like he's he's just a little bit in over his head.
I mean, I don't I don't think that he was expecting to to have all this happen and like his first year on the job. But Callahan definitely is, is an idiot. But but he's, he's fun to watch like he is. He's funny. But yeah, he's definitely an idiot and he has been since season 1. So there you go. Yeah, for sure. And it definitely feels like he's always kind of been a bit of an idiot. But I, I feel like, yeah, I feel like Powell is trying his best, you know, but at the same time,
like he seems overwhelmed. But like you said, he didn't expect this to happen. But I mean, the guy clearly wasn't paying attention. Kids have been getting murdered and disappearing in this town for like 4 years at that point. And I feel like maybe the two of them didn't really appreciate how much Hopper was doing or maybe they weren't really aware
of it, I don't know. But he's basically the only person keeping that stuff at Bay and like, handling stuff, like kids are still dying, bad things are still happening. But he's he's doing his best to keep a handle on things. And with him gone, I don't think they really appreciated how much the guy was doing. And for all their comments about Joyce being kind of loony and all these kids being troublemakers behind the scenes, they're the only ones doing
something about this stuff. So the minute that Joyce and Hopper rattle the picture and half the Hawkins crew is elsewhere, you know, things get out of hand, like, really quickly because they're not there to save the day. And then also, if you're not prepared to deal with that, maybe don't keep, like, maybe don't take the job because I could have found somebody else, like, from another town or something. I could have filled it like,
externally. Like, if you're not prepared to deal with murder and mayhem, I don't think, like, there was a time like, when nothing bad happened in Hawkins. But that time has passed, man. Like, like by the time we get there, it's been like this has been happening for four years and even that we know bad things were happening in the lab. The town just wasn't aware of it.
So I don't know, man. It's like he signed up for a job and then was shocked when bad things happened after bad things have been happening for three years. It's kind of like, well, you signed up for it. The other thing I want to talk about is how, because the focus is so much on the forefront, parents and, you know, teens in in these scenes, I realized there's a lot of stuff that like happened so quickly in the background I didn't really
catch. So for example, we find out from the appendix that the parents are talking to Officer Daniels as Dustin leaves the bathroom. I originally thought they were talking to Chief Powell in that scene because we only glimpse that person from behind. And they do have a similar look. So it wasn't until I was reading the appendix, I was like, oh, yeah, that is a different person.
And then I noticed that the officers standing behind them, the couch scene and the second officer, not Daniels, but the other one that's unnamed, is the one who care and gets a drink. Look forward during the scene that like, Dustin, Lucas and Erica are talking where she's like, if you just don't want water, you know, I've got all this other stuff. And he takes a Coke and then they walk out of the room.
There's actually a lot more going on in these scenes than there appears at first glance because of the way things are framed. And like, that's intentional. You're, you're supposed to focus on the parents and teens and in the forefront, not what's going on behind them. And then we go to appendix #3. So this is the dialogue for when the boys are rewinding and explaining things to Erica.
So you have the full dialogue because this is the, the part where we, you know, the camera moves from where they're talking in the kitchen to the front door of the Wheeler house. And then we transition into the Upside Down. So they had them presumably film the full dialogue and then we only use parts of it as they make that transition. So I think this is worth reading in full because we get a lot of other information here. So the appendix is the dialogue
as such. It says the boys rewind for Erica. The hallway continuous. Our frustrated boys turn to Erica and begin to quote rewind Dust in size. OK, so you remember the gate under the lab? Erica sarcastic. Oh, no, I blocked that out, Dustin. OK, but you seem to think it was made by the commies, which it It wasn't. Erica, There was a giant gun made by comedies find blue energy into the gate opening it.
Dustin Yes and no. That was the gate Eleven opened the mother gate 11 reclose it two years ago around Halloween. And though she succeeded, the barrier between our worlds remain thin, which allowed the comedies to pry it back open with their tech. Erica, I still don't get what it has to do with lovers like Dustin. Yeah, I'm getting there. The government was teaching 11 remote viewing, which is basically psychic spying.
Right. We push past them toward the front door end of appendix #3. So what I think is interesting is if you watch the the final scene, we only get snippets of this conversation as a camera pans over to the front door. The noise of the pulsing lights signifying, you know, something with the upside down drowns out some of their words. We only get parts of it. And so we only hear the parts about the gate, the Russians, and the laser. And the part about the laser is a bit different.
Erica says there was a giant laser. So they obviously changed that dialogue, presumably when they shot this, I'm guessing so that the sound bites that we did get made more sense and were a bit more impactful. So they kept the the first part about the gait and they're being sarcastic, but like, no, I blocked that out.
And then they just added a part that's a bit more simple about the laser rather than going to a lot of detail, presumably because it was easier to mesh with the sound of the pulsing lights and the the transition. And also I really love that transition. It's one of my favorites. Something I love about Season 4 is the transitions are like really cool and interesting. Like could they put a lot of thought into the transitions for this season?
So that's something that's really cool to kind of see how they map that out from the beginning and what they were going for there. Yeah, and you know what? I really like from Appendix 3, which is continued through the seceding appendices. But what Dustin explains here about when he's beginning to explain to Erica about, you know, the commies aren't behind this, this time.
I mean, because at this point, like they don't know yet that Vetna has been behind it, but you know, he's they're starting to put the pieces together. And but I like the explanation though, like the way Dustin begins it by saying, you know, no, it's not the commies. Yes, the commies were just trying to open the gate, but really it's because like 11 first, she initially opened it open mother gate and because of that, it the the barrier between worlds is been weakened.
Even though she closed it, you know, it's still left. It's, you know, still weak. The the the veil between both worlds is still very weak. And that's kind of how the commies we're able to have at least some success with, you know, having it open just enough for, you know, the Mind Flayer in Season 3. And so I just love the way he kind of breaks it down for her here and in the script.
And I know we didn't necessarily hear him say that on screen, but I did love reading it about it in the in the script, the way the Duffer Brothers here are explaining it. And so I feel like this appendix maybe like sets sets the tone for that. Yeah, for sure. And something else I find interesting is that the paragraph Dustin has ways like yes and no. I feel like a lot of that language, there's a lot more formal and I feel like Dustin would actually say it.
I get that he's a bit of a know it all, but he describes it. He's like around Halloween. And though she succeeded, I'm like OK, I could even know it all but he's still a teenager. So I feel like they probably simplified some of this because it I feel like when they went to film it, it, it sounded a bit too adult in some cases. It's not how a teenager talks. And they also needed like better sound bites for the transition.
Also, something I found interesting is that at the end of his explanation, Eric is like, what does this have to do? Lovers like? And he's like, I'm getting to that. The government teaching 11 remote viewing, which is basically psychic spying, right?
So presumably what he was going to say after that was about how Vecna is able like who Vecna is, what Vecna is, how he's able to remote spy on on people like through remote viewing, Because I don't know what else, how else that would be related to what what they were saying because the rest of it's about the gates. Is that your understanding Ashley or? Yeah, that was my understanding
as well. Like that's what he was leading to. Because I think like this scene is supposed to be like, after Dustin figures out like what Vecna is trying to do with opening these gates and stuff and how he's doing it, and then he kind of puts two and two together. But yeah, that was kind of what I felt like he was headed towards.
Like them, Vecna and 11 both having the ability for remote viewing, which is also interesting because when you consider like everything else we've learned in Season 4 up at this point through Elevens flashbacks in the Neenah tank, is that like Brenner, outside of what we see that one scene with him in #10 they don't really seem to be doing a lot of remote viewing as part of their training.
It seems to be like more of being able to move things with their minds and being able to, you know, face off in battles against each other. So I found that very interesting. I mean, yeah, he's he's correct. Because we know like from season 1 that Brenner was, that's what he was doing with 11. I find it very interesting that he says that, considering that he doesn't know where 11 is. He doesn't know that she's seeing all these memories and stuff. So yeah, I found that part of it
interesting as well. Yeah. And I feel like there's a lot of parallel journeys in this season. I've seen people comment about how Max and Elle kind of have these parallel journeys with what they're dealing with and how it's really obvious, especially in the way they make the transitions between scenes, Like the one the high school I really like a lot that, you know, they really could have used each other this season, but
they were separated. And I feel like it's a theme throughout, you know, where you see in a different scene, you see Justin being frustrated, be like, oh, we need Will when when Max is trying to draw what she saw this scene, too, it's Dustin and Lucas are trying to figure things out and they're bringing Erica into the loop. But simultaneously you have like the California gang, we're trying to figure things out and it's there's a lot of parallel journeys.
And but I think part of what they're trying to illustrate there is if they were all together in one place, they'd be able to figure this out real quick. But because they're all separated, all that's part of what's causing them not to get to the conclusion they need to right away. And I feel like they've done that in other seasons where you have the groups that kind of break off into smaller groups or pairings or team up. So they always come back together at the end.
And I feel like what made this season different is that everybody was so spread out, like country, continent. Really, really spread out and I was personally looking forward to see that everybody come back together at the end and they chose to push that to the beginning of season 5.
So we didn't really get to, to have that instead of ending with it, we're starting with it, which I'm, I'm looking forward to because I'm, I'm interested to see how everybody's going to be describing what's been going on, especially since we see Vicky standing next to, to Robin when the ash starts falling. And if she's with her when they show up, they're going to explain that to Vicky, which I think just watching them try to explain this to somebody, if they show us that on screen is
going to be really interesting. I also think it's going to be interesting what they say and what they don't say because I saw people point out that when Nancy's describing her recnatrients, she leaves some stuff out. She leaves the stuff out about Barb. She doesn't go into detail of certain parts, at least on
screen anyway. And so I'm, I'm very curious to see kind of the at the beginning of five where the characters try to explain to each other like what has occurred and what has happened and what they leave in and what they leave out. So I'm really interested to see how that goes. Yeah, so am I, I think that's what I'm, I'm most intrigued about is, is seeing how they get everyone together and, and sharing the information. Yeah, I'm, I'm very interested to see how, how they pull that off.
As am I, we all have high hopes for for Season 5, for the final conclusion to the story and how they're going to start things off, but also, you know, wrap things up. Yes, and it all begins this Saturday at the Dom. Maybe. Hopefully. Excellent segue my friend. It's almost like we've been doing this a while. I know. All righty. Well, those are all of my thoughts. Anything else you can think of? That's all I have for now for these appendices.
I definitely have a lot more for the next crop of them. Yeah, that's going to be interesting. And that's our show. If you like what you heard today, be sure to subscribe and tell your friends. Our theme music is provided by Neon Nights. Thank you for listening to this episode of HAM Radio, a Stranger Things podcast. Please join us next time. Same dial, same time. Over and out.