Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Spoilers follow.
“Stranger Things” season 5 continues the series’ trend of paying homage to nerdy (to put it mildly) pop culture. Hell, some scenarios reuse ideas from elsewhere, like The relationship between Will (Noah Schnapp) and Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) copies the feud between Harry Potter and Voldemort. The wizarding world was not, however, the only source of inspiration for the Duffer brothers, since season 5 of “Stranger Things” is also inspired by The best and worst films in the “Star Wars” franchise.
Let’s start with the good ones.
“Chapter 5: Shock Jock,” sees Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Steve (Joe Keery), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) find themselves trapped in the Hawkins Energy Department of the Upside Down. Upon entering the building, Dustin compares their mission to the Rebels’ quest to destroy the Galactic Empire’s Death Star in “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.” He claims that the goo on the walls of the facility is Vecna’s version of the Death Star shield, so they must find what is generating it and destroy it accordingly. Solid plan.
Regardless, Dustin’s analogy more or less confirms that this particular storyline draws on ideas from the beloved “Star Wars” trio – the Duffer brothers aren’t even trying to hide it. However, there’s also a quiet nod to the film when Max (Sadie Sink) wakes up from her trance in “Chapter 7: The Bridge.” Her eyes are sore and she has difficulty moving, reminiscent of the scene where Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is unable to walk after being rescued from his carbonite tomb.
If you want to get ideas from “Star Wars,” then “Return of the Jedi” is a great movie to choose. That said, it’s arguably even bolder to pay homage to a trio that wasn’t as well-received as the 1983 classic.
Stranger Things season 5 riffs on the worst scene in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
“Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker” is a disappointing conclusion to a solid trilogy. We don’t need to get into the ins and outs of why here, but the fact that it’s the second lowest-rated “Star Wars” movie on Rotten Tomatoes indicates that a lot of people don’t like it. Still, that didn’t stop the Duffer Brothers from taking inspiration from one of the stupidest ideas in film in season 5 of “Stranger Things.”
“The Rise of Skywalker” contains a scene where Rey (Daisy Ridley) holds a Sith digger up to a mountain range and realizes that it is inscribed with directions to the planet Exegol, where Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) hangs out. The dagger’s scribbles are supposed to reflect the mountain peaks, except they don’t, but the movie wants us to believe that they do. This is a much-mocked plot hole in “Star Wars” fandom circles, so how does this factor into “Stranger Things” season 5?
“Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz” sees Max and Holly (Nell Fisher) wandering through a desert, where Holly suddenly notices strange markings on the cap of the mirror she is wearing. Holly notes that if they can line up the shapes with the shapes around a cave Max is hiding in, they might discover a map. Using this hypothesis, they are able to locate a mine shaft in the ground.
If I had to guess, I’d say the Duffer Brothers were making fun of the maligned “Rise of Skywalker” here. After all, what’s the point of paying homage to “Star Wars” if you can’t acknowledge that the franchise is pretty silly at times… even if it’s not trying to be?
