What are those Stranger Things writers up to? Nothing, according to the writers. But fans of the show counter that there’s some Tomfoolery going on. Trouble started over a man forgetting a birthday. Doesn’t it always? Apparently, in an early season of Stranger Things, Will Byers’ birthday was made known as March 22. This season, an episode took place on March 22 but Will’s bday was never mentioned. The reason: the Duffer Brother’s forgot Will’s birthday had ever been established. Oops. So they told Variety they were going to go back and dub over Joyce (Will’s mom) to have her say “May 22” instead to fix the issue. This opened the floodgates to speculation that the ST team reedits scenes years after they’ve aired. The biggest one in question took place during season one. The scene involved Jonathon Byers photographing his future girlfriend Nancy without her knowledge. Today, the scene seems sweet, as he’s so infatuated with her. Fans claim the scene originally had Jonathan continuing to photograph Nancy, again, without her knowledge, as she undressed and that part has since been clipped. The writers aren’t having this reediting slander and have officially (well, as official as a Twitter announcement is) stated that no scenes have ever been reedited. Including *that* scene.
The “Stranger Things” writers’ room is refuting recent reports that older episodes of the Netflix series are being re-edited years after the fact. The official Twitter account for the show’s writers posted the following message: “PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be.”
Reports surfaced earlier in July that Netflix had re-edited a scene in the show’s first scene to make the character Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) appear less “pervy.” The scene in question found Jonathan photographing Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) without her knowledge. Some fans believed that Jonathan continued to take photos of Nancy as she undressed, which is not how the scene is cut in the episode, thus leading to theories that the streamer was re-editing previous content.
I feel bad for the writers because they’re having to defend themselves for a mess that Matt and Ross Duffer made. Basically, the Duffer Brothers wanted to work “George Lucasing” into a discussion. That refers to tweaking a project after it’s been released, something Mr. Lucas loves to do. The Duffers claimed they’ve done much George Lucasing that people don’t know about but again, they’re muddying the waters. The visual effects geniuses at Stranger Things just spoke about some of the challenges of filming season four. A few of those tricks involved having to film actors on different continents because of Covid and splice the scene to make it look like they were standing face to face. That’s not George Lucasing something. George Lucasing is Han shot first.
As for this Jonathan peeped on Nancy debate, I don’t know what to tell you. The writers say no. I don’t remember the scene let alone how long Jonathan snapped pics. Honestly even the tamer description sounds creepy. It could be this is Team Steve tarring Jonathan’s image to make a better case for their beautifully coifed reformed bad boy to woo Nancy. Or it could be that Team Jonathan has deep pockets and this really is a massive cover-up. I guess we’ll have to wait to see what Hopper uncovers next season. Either that or the Duffers will forget something else and leave production scrambling to fix that mess.
PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be. pic.twitter.com/H0j8JwidLs
— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) July 26, 2022
Yes
— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) July 26, 2022
Photo credit: Netflix and Twitter
Maybe it’s a Mandela effect but my memory is that he was shooting when she was taking her top off.
So they were joking when they said they were going to re-dub it? Weird.
That’s what I remember. The last shot, I think, was her taking her top off.
this is what I remember as well, but maybe it was just implied? We watched the first season a few times but not in years now, so I’ve seen the episode multiple times and I thought he was still shooting as she started to undress. Maybe its the Mandela effect though like you said.
However, Han shot first.
Yes, me too! But it could totally be the Mandela effect. 🤷♀️
I don’t understand what scene they are referencing. Jonathan takes pictures of Nancy while she’s undressing. Once he sees her and Steve kiss he stops and starts taking pictures of Barb. Steve’s breaks Jonathan’s camera bc of the pictures. Especially the pic of Nancy in her bra.
If they truly believe the scenes were edited then pull out the DVDs and compare it with what’s on Netflix. It’s stupid to make a fuss about something that could be proven true/false easily.
He continued shooting as she undressed. It was less creepy than it sounds.
I can get over a lack of continuity in shows with multiple writers, NCIS for example – I sometimes would wonder if the writer had ever watched the show! But with 2 writers, they should recall or write down things they have established.
I’m totally Team Steve now!
I just rewatched the whole series and that scene is still there? Steve finds out about the pictures and accuses him of being a perv and they fight about it, I’m so confused, lol.
There were how many people who swore up and down that they saw the knife going in to Janet Leigh’s body in Psycho, even though those images aren’t there and never were. Sometimes the mind completes things that aren’t shown on screen.
Yep. Also: Gwyneth’s head in a box in Seven. Fincher says he gets that all the time.
This one is pretty easy. They didn’t ever film him photographing her undressing. They showed photos a few scenes later, which Steve was holding, that Jon took of Nancy taking off her clothes. People forgot they never saw him actually photograph her in the first place – just evidence that he did it – and said it was changed.
It never seemed sweet to me. Always had me on the outs with Jon a little bit.
I just binged the first season and that scene looks to still be there on Netflix.
That scene is still there (just re-watched the whole show) and has ALWAYS been creepy. That’s why I could never warm up to Jonathan. He is the misunderstood loner who secretly takes pictures of a girl he likes and we are supposed to feel sorry for him, when Steves drops his camera? It’s a no from me.
That scene never felt creepy to me, idk.
To me, this is an example of how you can never please everyone and you should never create a precedent of changing or correcting media after the fact.
OK, the Duffer Brothers admit that they forgot Will’s birthday. The characters could plausibly forget Will’s birthday given all that goes down in Season 4 (even before all of the Upside Down stuff kicks off). And that could actually contribute to the context of Will’s and others’ feelings. The Duffer Brothers should admit they forgot that piece of Stranger Things cannon but that it kind of works for the story and move on. Art isn’t perfect.
Regarding Jonathan– man, ok– people are flawed, and characters should be flawed too. They should not always engage in behavior that is in line with our modern values– especially when questionable behavior was viewed as socially acceptable in 1983 or whenever. The way they handle it is actually more in line with our values now. This is an interesting example of critical nostalgia. That sort of behavior would definitely be in a piece of 80s media that the Duffer Brothers love to reference; and that behavior would not have been called out– would have been celebrated and rewarded– in an 80s film etc. In the context of the show, Jonathan’s creeping isn’t celebrated or rewarded– he is confronted about his pervy behavior, as he should be. The differences in how it is handled now is what makes it interesting.
Yes technically Johnathan was confronted about his actions, but the scene is clearly framed in a way as to make Steve seem like a jerk and a bully who’s destroying the poor kids camera.
These scenes were traumatic lol I didn’t need to scroll down to see them again