With Stranger Things coming to an end on New Year’s Eve, many fans might be looking for something similar to binge on Netflix. The good news is that there is a perfect substitution for fans of the sci-fi series, and it is an overlooked masterpiece on the streamer. On the surface, Stranger Things was about 80s nostalgia, as the Duffer Brothers created a story that seemed like a mix between a Stephen King horror story and a Steven Spielberg sci-fi movie. However, there is more to it than that, as the Duffer Brothers took the story into dark areas where the world beneath the surface is just as important, and that sounds very similar to another Netflix series.
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In 2017, one year after Stranger Things released its first season, a German sci-fi mystery thriller began to air called Dark and told its full story in three seasons.
Stranger Things Fans Should Watch Netflix’s Dark
When fans finish up with Stranger Things, and that story comes to its close, there is no better time than to watch the German sci-fi series Dark. This is a time-travel series, but it is so much more than that. Dark follows four families from the town of Winden, Germany, who set out to figure out the truth about a child’s disappearance. That already sounds similar to Stranger Things, whose first season was about a child’s disappearance, a mystery that opened up a dark, deadly world for the residents of Hawkins, Indiana.
However, while Stranger Things introduced the Upside Down, which was a world similar to the real one, but much darker with some terrifying monsters, the mystery in Dark opened up a cave that led to time-traveling adventures that went into the past, and then into the far reaches of the future. However, in both cases, it was about families trying to get answers and then figuring out what fate had in store for each of them.
Both shows also feature some younger cast members, as the young boy who disappeared in Dark plays into the past, since he wasn’t kidnapped or abducted, but ended up going back in time to the era where his ancestors lived. Stranger Things saw the young boy swept away into the Upside Down, and then showed him finding his way back, with no idea what the future held for his friends now that he had seen the other side. They also feature larger organizations that try to structure the mysteries in a way that suits them best.
Dark is Even More Twisted Than Stranger Things
While both of these Netflix shows have similar themes following lost children, supernatural mysteries, and broken families, Dark is a lot more twisted and confusing than Stranger Things. While there are a lot of weird things that happen in Stranger Things, and a lot of fun twists and turns, the entire premise of Dark starts with the missing child and then offers nothing but crazed twists and turns for the rest of the series, completely flipping things on its head.
The actors in Dark almost all play different characters in different eras, and there are many characters with different actors taking on the roles, based on which year is being shown at the time. The first season starts in 2019, when a young boy named Mikkel disappears into a cave in his small town. This is the cave that is the time portal to the past and future. The story then goes to 1986, 1953, and then into the future in 2052. However, that is just the first season. The second season moves the story of each timeline forward a year, while also adding a new storyline in 1921. The last season then adds a final timeline in 1888, and what turns out to be a parallel reality with alternative versions of all the characters.
This is all very confusing, but it pays off in the end, and it never dropped the ball. The three seasons have spectacular Rotten Tomatoes scores, with a 90%, 100%, and 97%, respectively. It isn’t just critics, as the audience scores for the three seasons are 92%, 96%, and 94%. Even better is the Metacritic score, where even a 70 is considered good. The second and third seasons earned an 82 and 92, which is unheard of for a sci-fi TV show.
Dark is intelligent sci-fi, and it forces the viewer to pay attention to follow the twists and turns. However, that makes it a very rewarding show to watch. Stranger Things was a lot more about entertainment value and cheering the kids on to victory over the monsters. However, there was also a lot of great sci-fi storytelling involved. Anyone who loved the sci-fi elements of Stranger Things should love Dark, and it is well worth watching.
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Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme -
A photo of the Retrovolt Arcade taken in 2017, showing several classic arcade cabinets and stools. -
Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan
