After a boy vanishes into thin air, his close-knit group of friends and family search for answers and are pulled into a high-stakes and deadly series of events. Beneath the surface of their ordinary town lurks an extraordinary supernatural mystery, along with top-secret government experiments and a dangerous gateway that connects our world to a powerful yet sinister realm. Friendships will be tested and lives will be altered as what they discover will change Hawkins and possibly the world – forever.

Boxsets always endeavour to be something special, and although we live in a digital era, there’s nothing quite like building a curated collection of your favourite films and TV Shows, and if it happens to be a special edition, or an anniversary release, then even better. If you really wanted to up the stakes, then you’d include not only special features, but also weighty extra entities within the boxset and this Arrow Video special has it all, from the top of the powerful storytelling right through to the depths of upside down.

Having often enjoyed Arrow Video releases, I held out huge expectation for this Stranger Things: The Complete Series collection when it was announced, and this Deluxe 4K UHD Edition is quite simply stunning. Somehow through time, it’s been 10 years since the show was first released on Netflix. And, if we look back for a moment, I clearly recall sitting down for that weekend of the 15^th – 17^th July 2016, scrolling through the streaming service before dipping into this intriguingly named Stranger Things. With its 80s nostalgia vibes, a title font was stylistically perfect, and then falling into what felt Spielbergian, old and new in the same space yet never felt tired or unoriginal, it took recognised influences and magnified them beyond our expectations.

While I’m not entirely sure how it’s already a decade later, but we’re lucky to get the joy of this superb boxset, slithering and materialising from the digital world, into the thoroughly formed physical dimension, i.e. this very world we’re in right now. Creators The Duffer Brothers started with what seemed like such a simple idea, honouring a selection of pop culture classics, but it wasn’t long before they gradually creating a world of unforgettable characters, secret lairs, swimming pools, radio stations, high schools, safe havens and – of course – haunting, terrifying physical and psychological monsters, and as an entirety it stamped its place in television history, leaving an indelible mark on pop culture forever more.

And within this Stranger Things: The Complete Series Deluxe Edition 4K UHD boxset, and there’s also standard editions here, you’ll get the 5 seasons with every clear, concise stand-out moment, and individual favourite scenes – I’m sure you can think of yours now, whether it be that opening season and first DnD game in the basement with Will (Noah Schnapp), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard), through to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) finding them in the rain, to countless thrilling adventures, fears, deaths, fiends and friends, deep love, and much more. It’s welcomingly easy to immerse yourself. And while, like any TV Show, there’s a few bumps on the road, Stranger Things is unusual because it didn’t appear to phase the Duffer Brothers, they subtly collated a host of story off-shoots and eventually brought the relevant things together and pretty much tie everything up, which can be unheard of if you’re new to the cult favourite TV series world.

First Impressions

Stranger Things: The Complete Series arrives in a solid-backed chunky box with excellent wrap around art by Juan Ramos, the main box has a trouble-free lift-off lid that reveals all the contents and their extras. This includes individual 4K UHD sets, and from 1 to 5, and you’ll be able to tell which is which because literally get bigger through the years – due to the nature of the ever-expanding show. In total, you get 25 discs which give you everything in 4K Ultra HD (at 2160p), basically at the best quality you can receive for this in its physical format. They’re all presented in Dolby Vision, that’s 42 episodes, and offer the original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround and stereo sound, plus additional Dolby Atmos once you hit seasons 4 and 5. In essence, trying them out with the surround sound on, and the lights down or curtains closed, was outstanding.

As a boxset itself, which you can see from my pictures, not only will you get all the discs, but you’ve got an absolute wealth of ST good stuff to enjoy. Individually, every disc also has its own unique season design, I haven’t spoiled them all in my pictures because they’re really fun to discover and certainly themed to the events with packaging that’s so cleverly created, my favourite being season 4 at the moment!

Also, each season disc has a reversible sleeve, meaning you can either choose the original art by Kyle Lambert, or keep it on the Juan Ramos version that arrives, and within it you’ll get all the episodes plus the bonus material for the specific season that includes interviews, bloopers, set tours and behind-the-scenes featurettes. Also, if you need it, they’ve included option English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, plus the option for audio description, which is great!

Extra extras

This is where the Deluxe Edition comes into its own, as well as everything revealed so far, you kick things off with an impressive 148-page artbook, edited by Lelia El-Khalifi Hall, that sits in the box next to the discs. This lovely perfect-bound tome contains all varieties of goodness incorporating concept art, storyboards, design sketches and behind-the-scenes production photos. Additionally, it features a little ‘thanks!’ from Matt and Ross Duffer for picking up this physical media version, as well as reflective insights and memories from Andrew Stanton, Uta Briesewitz and Shawn Levy. Folded in effortlessly next door are five double-sided posters, with original artwork from Kyle Lambert, plus an excellent double-sided fold out map of Hawkins, which is the one you see on-screen as well as a special upside-down version.

And we’re not done yet; they give you 25 art cards that embrace each season by picking out poignant, memorable moments (I’ve added just a few pics, and you’ll always have your own favourite), a properly solid Palace Arcade coin, a self-adhesive Hellfire Club patch and then I let out an audible gasp when I saw the exclusive Hellfire Club d20, peaking out from the top of the additional box, alongside a player character sheet. There’s even more, with a ‘Will Byers Missing’ poster and a grand selection of stickers including a Karen F****** Wheeler one, quite right to.

Summary

Stranger Things is unquestionably a love letter to the 80s films that I grew up with, but it’s also a deep, intelligent and emotively crafted world all of its own. It’s not difficult to understand why its captured and obsessed a global audience over the last decade, as it certainly had me at every point. The ensemble cast also deserves a mention, which includes (and this isn’t exhaustive) Sadie Sink, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Maya Hawke, Matthew Modine, Jamie Campbell Bower, Joseph Quinn, Brett Gelman, Priah Ferguson, Cara Buono, Sean Astin, Dacre Montgomery and so many more great actors, directors and creative teams.

This Arrow Video and Netflix boxset is certainly the definitive collection that’s packed out like an endless supply of glorious Eggos, hell it could flip a van, take down a Demogorgon, leap through the air with ease because, quite honestly, this is sheer, spectacular joy.