‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’: Eric Robles On Expanding Hawkins, Keeping The Stakes Real, & Why This Isn’t Just ‘Stranger Things For Kids’ [Bingeworthy Podcast]

When networks spin off popular series, it’s easy to come at them with arms folded and write them off as cash grabs. A “Stranger Things” animated spin-off really could have failed. A version of this show exists, in another reality, as something like a Saturday morning cartoon with “Stranger Things” as a disguise: bright colors, low stakes, perhaps Dustin and a sweet monster learning to be friends. Luckily, “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85” appeared from a different portal.

This version remembers that Hawkins is a town where children don’t tell their parents the truth, quarrel with their friends, and then, from time to time, confront something that really shouldn’t be there.

The animated series is placed between the second and third seasons of “Stranger Things”, fitting into that odd, in-between period when things should be calm. They aren’t, though. Instead, the show manages to feel like a lost season that happens to be animated – the same tension, the same complicated feelings, and the same sense that one poor choice is about to cause five even worse ones, along with some new mysteries.

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On this episode of Bingeworthy, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by showrunner Eric Robles to discuss entering the wider world of the Upside Down and finding ways to have fun with the characters and story without ruining them.

Robles isn’t just doing what he’s told to copy the original tone. He’s naturally suited to it. Being an eighties child who watched horror films a bit younger than he probably should have, he says he watched slashers with his dad before he was likely ready for them. “I was watching horror films with my dad… I’m like eight, seven years old, right… I’d be like this because I wanted to see, like, what the heck’s going on next.”

That “peeking through your fingers but unable to look away” vibe is throughout the show. It’s playful, definitely, but never gentle.

The series’s biggest achievement is finding a solution to a problem that sounds dull until you realize it is everything. The gate is closed, the Upside Down is contained, so where do the creatures come from? Robles went completely into scientist mode with the idea. “What if there’s a way to do this… where you have Upside Down, you know what I mean, matter meets Hawkins Lab science, and if we can figure out how to make this happen, we might have something really interesting here.”

All of a sudden, the show isn’t restricted by what’s happened before. It has space to change, to try things out, and to be a bit unpleasant in ways that remain consistent with the story. And crucially, it won’t take the easy route. Robles deliberately didn’t want to make this a simpler, weaker version of the original. “Demogorgons are not funny. The stakes are real. This is not just the kiddie version. I want kids to watch this, but I want them to have that sense of concern about these characters.”

You can tell how the characters are developed. These kids don’t only make snappy remarks and then go and fight monsters. They bicker, they don’t let things go, they say regrettable things, and then have to live with them. There’s an episode where the group falls apart, and it has a real effect. The emotional parts aren’t just to fill the gaps between the action; they’re what make the characters get into the action.

And the quality of the work is serious. Animation can sometimes feel like an easy option. This isn’t. It feels carefully considered, and in a good way. Robles is sure to praise the team, and you can understand why. “If there’s a pencil in Hopper’s cabin, somebody designed it, somebody did the research to make sure that that pencil existed in that set… there’s so much love that goes into these things.”

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This attention to detail is what makes it work. You aren’t watching something on the side; you’re back in Hawkins.

Something else that catches you by surprise is how substantial this is – it’s a proper meal, not just a snack. It has a proper story for the whole season, with a growing pace and increasing stakes. By the end, it doesn’t feel like a side trip. And yes, Robles has more ideas prepared. “Do I have ideas of where this is gonna go? Abso-freakin-lutely. We’ve got big ideas, and we know where this is going.”

What makes “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85” good isn’t simply nostalgia. Nostalgia gets you to watch it. What keeps you watching is that it still gets what made the original so good—fear, of course. But also a friendship that is a little bit delicate, a little bit flawed, and is always being put to the test.

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Bingeworthy is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes Deep Focus, The Discourse, and more. We can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the embed within the article. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe and drop a rating.

“Stranger Things: Tales From ’85” hits Netflix on April 23rd. You can check out the full interview with show runner Eric Robles below.

Mike DeAngelo

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