The streaming service has found yet another way to milk more out of Stranger Things.
Stranger Things might have already ended, but Netflix is far from done with it. The streaming service has just released a “VHS” special edition of the show’s first season. “Rewatch Season 1 like it’s 1983,” it wrote in its announcement. Indeed, the version looks very much like you’re watching a VHS tape.
It has the 4:3 aspect ratio of old tube TVs, so you’ll see two large black bars on both sides of the screen, unless you’re really watching on a CRT display. The picture itself has a grainy and soft blur quality to it. If you’re of a certain age, it could bring back memories of going to the store to rent tapes and then slotting it into your VHS player to watch.
“If Stranger Things existed in Hawkins, sitting on a shelf at Family Video, it would look just like this — complete with pan-and-scan,” the Duffer brothers said. Pan-and-scan is an editing technique to fit wide pictures into smaller screens, mainly by cutting off the sides and making the camera pan across the image if the action moves to the edges that had been cut off.
Even the Netflix’s opening animation was edited to look dated, though we didn’t notice any difference with the audio. The Duffer brothers said they’ll “maybe” release VHS edits for the other seasons if enough people watch the first. We guess we’ll see if the nostalgia bait works if Netflix rolls out more VHS special editions in the future. To check it out, just go to the release’s landing page or search for “Stranger Things VHS” on Netflix.
