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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
5
Mixed:
8
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews
Apr 23, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Mounted by showrunner Eric Robles, it’s a streamlined, supercharged telling, stripped of the soap operatics that occupied more of the original series than you might remember. It’s a classic kids-versus-monster adventure from which adults are largely absent, which in its own way makes this a superior “Stranger Things.”
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Apr 23, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is good enough that franchise completists aren’t going to cringe while watching it, and it may be a good way to introduce younger kids to the franchise. But we just wish it was a little scarier, and the character animation a little less weird.
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Apr 23, 2026
Season 1 Review:
I suspect viewers content to settle for a diet version of Stranger Things, whether because they’re too little for the real thing or too fanatical to pass it over, will find little to object to in the spinoff’s faithful if watered-down recreation of the original’s appeal. But I can’t imagine most of them finding much to adore about it, either.
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Apr 23, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Tales From ’85 tries to appeal to both longtime fans of the live-action series wanting more of this universe and also kids who aren’t old enough to watch Stranger Things. That divide impacts every aspect of the show, from the visuals to the tone to the story—and not for the better.
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Apr 23, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Without the liability of actors whose voices will deepen and heights will shoot up over time, Netflix can continue to exploit this IP as long as its audience desires, looking ever-more-solipsistically inward rather than branching out. I’ll give “Tales From ‘85” this much credit: it’s as creepy and unsettling an idea as this horror-adjacent franchise has produced in years.
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