Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2206

Jimmy Fallon Recreated LA LA LAND in Film Nerd Style for the Golden Globes

You had to figure Jimmy Fallon wouldn’t pull a Ricky Gervais, just strolling out on stage with a big drink to insult everyone. But he went a lot bigger for his gig as Golden Globes host. Fallon, who doesn’t really do “mean,” but does do impersonations and potentially viral video bits, recreated the opening freeway musical number from La La Land, and loaded it with nerdy references aplenty

At first glance, it looked like he’s populated the scene with characters from all this year’s big movies. There was Deadpool, a Stormtrooper, an army guy probably meant to be Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge. And then Nicole Kidman! Dolores from Westworld! Amy Adams with hazmat suit guys from Arrival! Jon Snow coming back to life! And best of all, a Stranger Things rap by the young cast that may or may not have just offered a big revelation in regards to season 2.

As to who would play Emma Stone to Fallon’s Ryan Gosling, it seems no one person could do her part justice. So we got two: longtime Fallon BFFs Tina Fey and Justin Timberlake.

You can freeze-frame the video above and probably catch even more references. We’re just happy to see so many of the movies and shows we love and obsess over get their due at a major awards ceremony.

How do you think Jimmy Fallon fared as a host? Was his gentler approach a necessary corrective to years past, or too kind? Share your feelings in comments below.

Image: NBC

Rob Thomas Reveals Why IZOMBIE Season Three Feels Like a Whole New Show

The zombie apocalypse never looked as good as it does on iZombie. The CW’s “zom-com-rom-dram” keeps getting better and better with each brain that Liv (Rose McIver) eats, each cure that Ravi (Rahul Kohli) tries to create, each nefarious plot that Blaine (David Anders) tries to put into action. And in season three, things are only getting bigger as Liv and the rest of Team Z find out there are a lot more zombies walking among them than they originally thought.

“Season three has a much different feel than seasons one and two,” executive producer Rob Thomas said at the 2017 Winter Television Critics Association panel. “Both of seasons one and two, there were big bads who were pretty clearly doing awful things and both seasons ended up, season one had a very cool showdown like a gunfight at the O.K. Corral and then season two topped that with a full-on traditional zombie movie at the end where they’re trying to escape from zombies. This season we wanted to do something very different.”

So how do you top a literal zombie horde attack? Instead of going bigger, you go smaller and more mysterious.

“In this season, you do not have such a clearly defined antagonist at the center of the show,” Thomas said. “In fact, the big mystery of season three for the audience is trying to figure out whose side are we on? The zombies at this military outfit Fillmore Graves just want to survive. Some of them are willing to go further than Liv might think necessary but who is in the right in this situation? That’s a big part of the question. No one needs to be nefarious in a blatant way. There’s much more figuring out who’s got the best plan for zombies moving forward.”

Now that the zombie population is growing exponentially, with an entire military community gearing up for the day that they are outted, Thomas revealed that the world might get clued in to Team Z sooner than you think.

“We were really building to a season four where that will be a big issue,” Thomas said. “It does become more front and center in season three. We say at the end of season two, ‘Look, Liv and gang, there are not just 30 zombies in town. There’s an entire zombie military outfit bent on making the world safe for zombies if the day comes when they are found out.’ There are a lot more zombies walking around in the world and the issue is, is it better to be a zombie? Are you a higher functioning creature? Is this the next step in evolution? Those issues come up this year and hopefully they will come up even more in a season four.”

One of the highlights of The CW’s zombie series is watching Liv take on the personalities of the brains she eats, each one more hilarious and wacky than the next. But there is one brain that McIver refused to have Liv eat.

“They were like, ‘We’ve got a list of 35 brains and you’re allowed to veto one,'” McIver said. “Just everything you could imagine, terrifying, all sorts of adventurous, scary things. Cat lady is what I vetoed. I’m a dog person. They thought it would be a great prank to play on me to pretend there was this brain I had to eat where I was interacting with like seven cats. That was the one where I was like, ‘Absolutely not.'”

And Robert Buckley got a taste of what McIver does on a weekly basis now that newly-zombified Major has to eat brains to survive. He really gets his chance to shine in episode two of the new season when Liv and Major eat the brains of a teenage girl and her father. But Major, not Liv, eats the brain of the daughter.

“They had told me in the off-season, ‘We have a great episode for you. It’s perfect for you,'” Buckley said. “As an actor, that’s exciting, like is he going to be a cage fighter or a lothario? They were like, ‘No, for you, a 14-year-old bitchy teenage girl.’ It wasn’t a stretch at all. That’s just who I am. But then to try and balance Major who is quite a dude bro, he’s a man, with a 14-year-old girl, like be super hot but also freezing cold at the same time, it’s very challenging. It’s not easy at all.”

You’ll never look at Major the same way after that episode; that’s a guarantee.

Images: The CW

iZombie season three premieres Tuesday, April 4 at 9 p.m. on The CW.

What does neuroscience say about zombies?

David Bowie’s Birthday Arrives with an Eerie New Music Video

David Bowie‘s latest posthumous surprise is a mysterious music video for “No Plan.” The song is one of three new compositions from his Lazarus soundtrack, the music from his Off-Broadway musical of the same name. Released today on what would have been Ziggy Stardust’s 70th birthday, the video is an exercise in existentialism, one made all the more potent with the eternal pallor of Bowie’s ghost hanging over us.

“No Plan” opens on a store called Newton Electronics. The storefront is the backdrop for a stack of various-sized TV screens, each displaying grainy white noise. As a cymbal crash begins the song, lyrics and lo-fi images appear on-screen, portraying scenes of birds and a sepia-colored New York City. “Here, am I nowhere now? No plan,” sings Bowie.

The phenomenon attracts a small crowd, who gather around the televisions, intently observing the song unfold. “Here, there’s no music here,” he muses. “I’m lost in screens of sound.” Just before the jazzy song ends, an image of Bowie briefly fills the screen before fading to red. The crowd disappears. The screens flicker to off. We are left alone, without Bowie or a plan, once again.

“No Plan” joins “Lazarus” and fellow newcomers, “When I Met You” and “Killing a Little Time,” on the four-song No Plan EP, as Entertainment Weekly reports. The new record arrived on the iTunes store today, and you can download or stream it here.

What do you think of the new video? Is it as eerie for you as it was for me? Let us know in the comments below.

Image: DavidBowieVEVO

CONSTANTINE Is Coming Back! 10 Things We Want to See in the Animated Version

Constantine may have only had a single season on NBC, but he’s getting a second chance on CW Seed! Earlier today, CW Seed revealed plans for a Constantine animated series, with Matt Ryan reprising his role as John Constantine. The live-action Constantine series is also streaming on CW Seed, and the animated series may be our best chance to see some of that show’s unresolved plotlines get some closure.

That said, the Constantine animated series is only going to be ten episodes long, with a running time of five to six minutes per episode. That really doesn’t leave much room to address everything, but there’s always the potential for future animated seasons, as long as there’s a willingness to continue the new series.

We’ve come up with a list of things that we’d love to see addressed in the new animated revival. If you haven’t seen the first season of Constantine, there are some major spoilers ahead for that show! You’ve been warned!

Manny is Evil, Now What?

Throughout the first season of Constantine, Harold Perrineau’s jerkish angel, Manny, was John’s closest ally in Heaven and his guide in the battle against the Rising Darkness of the Brujeria. According to John, the Brujeria have existed since the beginning of creation and not even Hell gave them refuge during the Great Flood.

While Manny alerted John to the threat of the Brujeria, the final episode of Constantine (which would have been the mid-season finale if the show had been picked up a full season) revealed that Manny was not only in league with the Brujeria, they were working for him! That suggests that John has been unwittingly serving Manny’s agenda, and we’ve got to see what happens when he eventually figures out the truth.

The Final Battle With the Brujeria

We can assume from John’s guest appearance on Arrow that the world didn’t actually end. But that doesn’t mean that the battle against the Brujeria shouldn’t be the major storyline of the new animated series. Remember, the Brujeria were creatures that even angels and demons feared, and they were somehow weakening the barriers between Hell and Earth.

There’s no doubt that John Constantine would ultimately prevail, but his victories always come with a price. And we expect this one to be pretty costly.

The Fate of Zed

One of the running subplots of the first season was that Constantine’s psychic ally, Zed Martin, was slowly dying because of a brain tumor that may have been linked to her spiritual gifts. Manny seemed to encourage her decision to leave the tumor in place, but after the revelation of his true agenda, that’s not exactly a comforting thought.

That also suggests that Manny intends to use Zed’s talents for his own purposes. However, Zed has proven herself to be capable of stepping out of John’s shadow and she may even be the key to humanity’s survival. The real question is whether she can survive the coming war with the Rising Darkness.

Papa Midnight’s Revenge

John Constantine and the deadly vodun shaman known as Papa Midnight crossed paths several times in the first season, as their mutual enmity deepened. Papa Midnight clearly seems to be looking for some serious payback, and he’s currently the only one who knows Manny’s true agenda. Somehow, we don’t think he’s inclined to share that information with John. But Papa Midnight’s eventual revenge on his rival is likely to be very personal…when it finally happens.

Who Will Betray John?

Another lingering thread comes directly from Hell, courtesy of Papa Midnight’s dead sister. She told her brother that someone close to John would betray him in the battle against the Rising Darkness. While Manny’s betrayal could be what she was referring to, it would be more dramatic if Zed or Chas ended up turning on John. Because Manny has already been manipulating Zed, she seems to be the more likely suspect. But Chas has also proven that he can be blackmailed as well through the safety of his family.

How Many Lives Does Chas Have Left?

Speaking of Chas, his origin story in the first season revealed how and why he was seemingly immortal. Because of a spell, Chas absorbed 47 souls, which essentially gave him 47 lives. He burned through quite a few of them in the adventures we saw onscreen. So the question now is how many more souls does Chas have? And will he really die forever once the final soul is consumed?

Where’s Liv?

Remember when Lucy Griffiths’ Liv Aberdin was unceremoniously written out of the series at the end of the pilot episode? That never sat right with us. Liv also had supernatural gifts before she abandoned the fight and went into hiding. We’d love to see what happened to Liv. And if the series goes forward, there’s no reason she can’t eventually make a comeback.

The Rise of the Spectre

In an intriguing touch, Detective Jim Corrigan made several appearances on Constantine that hinted at his destiny. In DC’s comic book universe, Corrigan became the Spectre, the spirit of God’s Vengeance. On the show, Zed predicted Corrigan’s death and she even caught a glimpse of the Spectre himself. And while the Spectre could be an ally against the Rising Darkness, he’s also extremely dangerous. His emergence could cause John more problems than it solves.

Dangerous Habits

The TV series established that John was a heavy smoker even if it rarely showed him holding a cigarette. In the comics, John eventually discovered he had lung cancer…and he came up with an elaborate con to save his life by pitting the powers of Hell against each other. The “Dangerous Habits” storyline is still one of the greatest Constantine tales, and we’d love to see it adapted in a future season of the animated revival.

Constantine in Hell?

John Constantine made a one-and-done appearance on Arrow in its fourth season, but the show kept referring back to him. One of the last times he was mentioned, Oliver Queen said that Constantine was literally in Hell. Now, that’s a story we want to see!

Which plotlines would you like to see explored in the Constantine animated series? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: CW Seed/Warner Bros. TV/DC Comics

Who will play the big-screen version of Constantine?

Kingston Digital’s New 2TB DataTraveler Is the Godzilla of Memory Sticks

Kingston Digital, the flash memory arm of the Kingston Technology Company, revealed at this year’s CES something akin to a Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch or that 108″ dual-screen Pac-Man game: a 2TB memory stick capable of holding 70 hours of 4k video. Kingston’s 2TB stick is massive, nobody asked for it, but still, it’s kind of fun that it exists.

The 2TB USB 3.1 flash memory drive, which comes via Slash Gear, has been dubbed the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate Generation Terabyte (GT) — because you presumably need a mouthful of name for a pocketful of data. The monstrous 2TB stick, unsurprisingly, has been claimed by Kingston in a press release (which gave lots of specs) to be “the world’s highest capacity USB Flash drive.”

The behemoth stick is a successor to Kingston’s 1TB flash drive, which the company released in 2013. Along with providing enough data storage to accommodate the Death Star plans, the DataTraveler Ultimate GT also sports “a zinc-alloy metal casing for shock resistance” as well as a decently compact size.

2TB in the palm of your hands via @kingstontech pic.twitter.com/5w0A2YMKs6

— Danny Winget (@superscientific) January 6, 2017

In a tweet, Kingston showed the kind of progress that’s been made in hard drive capacity vs. size over the last 67 years:

1950 vs. 2017 #ThrowbackThursday#CES2017 exclusives on the world’s largest USB Flash Drive on @periscopeco tmw! username: kingstontech pic.twitter.com/QdVZViDOof

— Kingston Technology (@kingstontech) January 5, 2017

We started from the bottom and now we here. 

There’s no word on pricing for the 2TB stick, although for reference, the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX Predator 1TB USB 3.0 will set you back a cool $1,100. (Also ten minutes of your life to say that name out loud.)

What do you think about this 2TB ultra-portable flash drive? How much data do you think a drive like this will be able to hold in ten years? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Images: Kingston Technology Corporation

The NES Classic Can Be Hacked to Add More Games

If you were one of the fortunate fans who managed to snag a NES Classic this holiday season, there’s now some hope that you may be able to get more NES games. Hackers have discovered a way to add additional titles to the NES Classic without tearing open the miniature console recreation. However, it may not be advisable for a few reasons, including the fact that it may brick your NES Classic if you make a mistake along the way.

Ars Technica is reporting that hackers in Japan and Russia have independently discovered a method to add games by connecting the NES Classic to a computer through a micro-USB cable. There’s more information about the hack on Reddit, but again, we have to point out some of the inherent problems. For starters, unless you actually own the original NES games and have the hardware and software to upload the ROMs from them, then there really aren’t any easy legal ways to acquire them.

The accompanying video posted at ARCADERU’s YouTube channel provides a tantalizing glimpse of the possibilities, with titles like Mega Man, Darkwing Duck, Battletoads, Bucky O’Hare, and others. The hackers reportedly managed to add an additional 30 titles to the NES Classic, and the video seems to prove that claim. However, it’s very possible that Nintendo could figure out a way to block this hack on future shipments of the NES Classic, if the company still plans to catch up with the demand.

That said, what we really want to see is Nintendo adding an official update to the NES Classic to let gamers legally buy the additional titles. We don’t want the current NES Classic owners to be left out, but it would make things a lot easier if the next iteration of the NES Classic had a more straightforward way of adding games. There’s clearly still a market for these retro titles, and it would be money left on the table for Nintendo to pass up the opportunity to give the fans what they want.

What games would you like to add to the NES Classic? Share your picks in the comment section below!

Image: ARCADERU

THE HANDMAID’S TALE Cast/Creators Think Margaret Atwood’s Story Is Always Relevant

The cast of The Handmaid’s Tale know what you’re going to say—never before has this story been so prescient. And while that may be true, it’s also worth noting, as Executive Producer Bruce Miller so posited during the Hulu series’ 2017 Television Critics Association Winter Tour, “Every time someone reads this they go, ‘wow, this is timely.'”

Bringing Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction tale to the small screen isn’t its first time ’round the entertainment block. The novel—which has yet to go out of print even ONCE since it premiered in the mid-’80s—has been several plays, a ballet, a movie, and a radio serial, just to name a few. But today, in the wake of all that’s going on socially around the world, the machinations at play in the Republic of Gilead feel less like a this-could-never-happen story, to something more akin to an episode of Black Mirror.

For Elizabeth Moss, who plays the titular character—a handmaid named Offred (whose original name was June in the world before this totalitarian society took hold)—was happy to discover that re-reading the book years after her initial read, she “was still incredibly taken and interested in the story.”

“I selfishly said yes because I couldn’t stand the thought of someone else doing it” explained Moss.

For O.T. Fagbenle, who plays June/Offred (Elisabeth Moss)’s pre-Handmaid husband, Luke, “the central themes—the distribution of power & gender & who controls reproduction—were most important” to dissect. It was a notion that was echoed by The Commander, a man in a high position of power within the regime, something he found incredible powerful. “I love that [Offred] finds power in a position of nothingness,” explained Fiennes.

Freedom and power and the things people do to control them are tantamount to the story of “a society that’s based in a perverted reading of the Old Testament” explained Miller. But before you pick up your pitchforks, these are not thinly-veiled stand-ins for Christians. In fact, the writing staff has been using the Puritans as a model because “they like their religious freedom, but no one else’s.”

Still, it begs the question: how many seasons could a story like this go on for? According to Bruce Miller: “C’mon: 200. Forever. I think there’s an incredible amount in the book” to explore. Given the state of the world, something about that statement feels right.

Are you looking forward to The Handmaid’s Tale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments as we wait impatiently for its April 26th, 2017 premiere.

Images: Hulu

Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor of Nerdist, creator/co-host of Fangirling, and a regular user of famed website, Twitter dot com, covering this year’s Television Critics Association 2017 Winter Tour.

STAR WARS REBELS Recap: Saw Gerrera Looks for “Ghosts of Geonosis”

Warning: This recap contains spoilers for the Star Wars Rebels episode “Ghosts of Geonosis.” Jump into hyperspace and away from this page if you haven’t watched the episode yet.

Saw Gerrera’s been through hell. We first met him in Star Wars: The Clone Wars when Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano went to Saw’s home, Onderon, to train him, his sister, and other militia members in guerrilla tactics. The Onderonians used the techniques to fight the Separatists, but Saw lost his sister, the Empire eventually took hold of Onderon, and the galaxy more or less went to hell. Saw took it personally. We witnessed his extremism in action in Rogue One, and his harsh methods were on full display in the latest Star Wars Rebels episode, “Ghosts of Geonosis.”

The two-parter is set roughly two years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope. Saw looks fitter and doesn’t sound more machine than man yet. Forest Whitaker reprised the role and made the younger Saw come across as slightly more sound of body but only on the fringes of being sound of mind. Desperation and bitterness seemed to rule his actions and bleed through every decibel of his communications. I mean, he partially blames the Jedi for the downfall of the Republic. This isn’t a guy who lets go of grudges.

Saw was on Geonosis investigating the sterilization of the planet. He’s convinced the Empire conducted some sort of secret activity there, and he’s right. The Death Star was built in the orbit of Geonosis. The Ghost team was sent by Bail Organa and Commander Sato to help Saw and his crew, and when they arrived, they saw that all the scaffolding and construction debris present the last time they were near Geonosis (in season two) was gone.

The plot continued to thicken. Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper found Saw (his team was killed) and learned the rebel was tracking a single remaining Geonosian. I have to say, the bug is rather adorable. It’s not words I imagined saying about a Geonosian, but animation can do wonders in the category of making weird aliens cute. With that important observation out of the way, let’s discuss how this is the point where Saw showed his rash and unkind behavior.

Sure, the bug–dubbed Click Clack by Ezra–caused problems for Saw. He apparently maintained and operated the battle droids responsible for killing Saw’s team. Click Clack isn’t innocent. However, Saw immediately took a bad cop approach, despite the fact Click Clack was clearly afraid. It wasn’t a deliberate interrogation decision; it’s how Saw works. At least, that’s the impression I got.

Fortunately, Ezra rose to the occasion. He showed kindness. I was proud of Ezra for continually being compassionate while Saw was ready to throttle Click Clack for answers. Could you imagine if Saw was Force-sensitive? I believe he would turn to the dark side if he thought he could help the greater good with the power he’d wield. Saw was even indifferent when they all learned Click Clack was trying to keep a queen egg safe; he was trying to prevent the extinction of his entire race.

And hey, not to mention Click Clack told them what they wanted to know. Saw and Ezra asked what the Empire was doing on Geonosis and Click Clack drew a picture of the Death Star. Of course, without context, as Rex put it, the drawing in the dirt looked like a circle inside another circle. They couldn’t have known what Click Clack meant, but the whole scene still made my insides cringe.

My gut continued to twist when Saw broke his deal with Kanan and tried to kidnap Click Clack and the egg. He was only concerned about getting answers and showed no regard for the methods used. Saw’s blind to how this makes him like the Empire he’s battling. Worse, he didn’t listen to the pleas of those around him.

They ended up mistaking Click Clack’s crude drawing for the Imperial symbol, which they found deep below the surface on poison gas canisters. The poison is what caused the sterilization of the planet. The Ghost crew tried to take canisters as evidence of the Imperial’s wrongdoing–the Senate needs hard proof, apparently, and not just images–but the Empire interfered. A light cruiser arrived on Geonosis. It didn’t gain the upper hand on Hera or the rest of the team, but it did cut the rebels’ mission short. And yes, I hoped the captain of the Imperial ship was Rae Sloane, too. She was listed as Captain Brunson.

Ultimately, Saw came around. He realized Click Clack deserved a chance to rebuild, as everyone screwed by the Empire does. I’m thankful Saw had an epiphany, but boy, it took him long enough. I can’t pretend to imagine the trauma coursing through Saw’s brain and heart, but I also can’t pretend his actions are the solution.

One last note. Sabine gets a bonus point for this line: “Stupid sand. It gets everywhere.”

What did you think of Saw? Drop to the comments and tell me your thoughts about his Rebels introduction.

Images: Disney XD

Did you notice all the Rebels nods in Rogue One?

What THE GOOD PLACE and BLACK MIRROR Have In Common (Besides a Writer)

Ever been completely horrified by something a fellow human being has decided is okay to do in public—looking at you, subway nail-clippers—despite the fact that it is most certainly NOT?

Mike Schur understands you—and that’s where he drew inspiration not only for the elaborate points-based system for getting into heaven on his newest series, The Good Place, but also the much-talked-about episode of Black Mirror he co-wrote with Rashida Jones, “Nosedive,” which envisions a world in which humans are rated on social media (like Uber drivers) and awarded stars for every aspect of their lives.

But most of the similarities between the show and the episode are coincidental, according to Schur, because Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker actually provided him and Jones an outline of the story for “Nosedive.” “I would agree that there’s some weird symbolic overlap or something, but all of the credit goes to Charlie Brooker, because that was his story,” he told reporters at a Television Critics Association 2017 winter press tour panel for The Good Place.

“I think it was sort of a happy accident that that’s the one that I got to work on because, obviously, my brain was already thinking about some of [that],” Schur said of Brooker’s outline. “His version of it was a little more twisted and dark and morose and stuff, but it felt very easy to sort of jump in.”

When Schur was creating the points system on The Good Place, he mostly just wanted a way to penalize people for doing terrible things in public. “The one that’s gotten me recently is when people are at a stoplight and they open their car door. And if you’re driving and see someone open their car door, your fight or flight instinct kicks in. Whatever is about to happen is not good. And then the people open the door and they lean over and just spit on the ground.”

Not. Okay.

“It’s such a weird invasion of basic decency. So I would observe behaviors like that and I’d wish that a little negative 18 in red just floated up over that guy’s head,” Schur explained, adding. “It’s not about religion or what you believe or who God is or anything, it’s just, like, we’re all here together, we all share the same little tiny bit of dirt, and if we could just agree on certain rules of propriety and behavior I think that everything would be better off.”

He continued, “And if that guy knew like, ‘hey, man, you can do that, but you’re going lose 18 points,’ maybe he would go, ‘alright, I’ll look for a Kleenex in my car or wait ’til I get home so I don’t make the lives of the 28 people who can see me right now miserable for eight seconds.’ That would be worth it to me.”

What disgusting public behavior would you deduct points for? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Image credit: NBC/Netflix

Netflix Mash-Up of TROLLHUNTERS and STRANGER THINGS Totally Owns

Remember those kids who accidentally let one of their friends get murdered in an alternate-dimension swimming pool? Well, there are a lot of parallels between that show and another show from the same distributor. Sorry, did you want a spoiler warning? Are you the one person alive who hasn’t seen Stranger Things?

You know what? I don’t owe you an apology. Get involved with the zeitgeist, man. It’s super fun and there are Eggos. Go watch it now. We’ll wait.

Anyhow, Netflix has released a new trailer that mashes up their huge break-out show of 2016 with their new jewel in the crown. Trollhunters is a co-production with DreamWorks and horror mastermind Guillermo del Toro, which focuses on a group of friends attempting to save another friend who is trapped in a parallel dimension–all while avoiding being pursued by monsters from said dimension.

You know what? It does sound REALLY familiar.

Using the theme song created by Austin’s own S U R V I V E (who have a new album out and a killer slot at Coachella this year), the music of Stranger Things and the art design are re-purposed to sell us on a similar story with fantastical new elements, and a pretty excellent adaptation of East Los Angeles as a setting. Consider us sold. As if we weren’t already. DEL TOROOOOOOO.

What do you think? Does this seem like it’s a disservice to point out that the two shows are treading dangerously similar territory, or are you on board for an animated adventure with gnome murder and kids on bikes? Sound off in the comments to let us know!

Image: Netflix

For more on the original Stranger Things…