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thegayhimbo · 2 months

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Stranger Things The Voyage Review

WARNING: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from the comic!

Stranger Things Reviews/Theories

Stranger Things Comics/Graphic Novels:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things “The Game Master” and “Erica’s Quest”

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Stranger Things Erica The Great

Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”

Stranger Things Tales From Hawkins

Stranger Things x TMNT Crossover

Stranger Things Tie-In Books:

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 3 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 3 of 3)

Stranger Things Rebel Robin Book and Podcast (Part 1 of 2)

Stranger Things Rebel Robin Book and Podcast (Part 2 of 2)

Stranger Things Hawkins Horrors Review

Stranger Things Flight Of Icarus

Stranger Things Lucas On The Line

Stranger Things Episode Reviews:

The Vanishing of Will Byers (Part 1 of 2)

The Vanishing of Will Byers (Part 2 of 2)

Synopsis: When Captain Jacoby Cunningham (no relation to Chrissy Cunningham) is approached by Russians for an "off-the-books, no questions asked" sea voyage to Kamchatka, he reluctantly take the job in exchange for much-needed compensation. However, tensions immediately begin to brew between his crew and the suspicious passengers. When a storm hits and a crew member goes missing, Jacoby begins to realize that not only is he way in over his head, but his employers may have brought an unwelcome and deadly passenger onboard without his knowledge.........

Observations:

Back in September (Has it really been that long?) when I did my review of Stranger Things Kamchatka, I predicted that The Voyage (which had yet to debut at that point) would likely follow the same plot threads of Ridley Scott's Alien. Guess who turned out to be right on that call?

And when I say similar plot threads, I mean eerily similar:

A commercial crew is out in the middle of nowhere (space in Alien, the sea in The Voyage) having picked up cargo they know nothing about. Said cargo turns out to be a creature (Xenomorph/Demogorgon) that gets loose on the ship and begins picking off the crew members one-by-one. The remaining crew eventually come to understand that this wasn't a happy accident, and that their employers (Weyland-Yutani/The Soviets) arranged for this to happen for their own purposes. Realizing they've become expendable, the crew is forced to fight for their lives, with their chances of survival looking slimmer by the minute. All of which culminates in a highly tense showdown.

Both the Stranger Things comics and novels have traditionally drawn inspiration from (or in some cases, paid homage to) famous movies from the 70s and 80s. Science Camp did it with the Friday the 13th Franchise. Tomb of Ybwen did it for The Goonies. Darkness on the Edge of Town drew heavily from Escape from New York (as well as the comic Batman The Cult). The Voyage follows a similar trajectory, so it's not unique in that regard, but it does add its own twists and turns (similar to the other comics/tie-ins I just mentioned) to keep things engaging without becoming a blatant rip-off. There were times I didn't know what direction the story was going, even though I had some general idea of how it might end (i.e not well). It's the same feeling I had two years ago when we were all waiting for Vol 2 of Season 4 to come out, and it helped me stay invested in this comic.

Speaking of which, The Voyage takes place between seasons 3 and 4, and acts as a prequel to Stranger Things Kamchatka. Unlike that comic, which was stylized as a Cold War thriller with science-fiction elements sprinkled in, this comic is straight science-fiction horror, with a major emphasis on the horror aspect:

There were genuinely scary moments in this comic, and a sense of dread and unease with each turn of the page. This is a comic that does an excellent job keeping you on edge.

I know I previously said that Stranger Things Kamchatka was a violent comic (even by the standards of the show) that didn't shy away from depicting graphic scenes. While I still stand by that, this comic arguably takes those graphic scenes up to eleven. Some of the deaths at the hands of the Demogorgon are the kinds of moments you'd expect to see in a gory R-Rated film:

Major props to the writers and artists for making effective use of lighting, shadows, colors, and the Demogorgon's vicious nature to truly emphasize the terror of being trapped in an isolated location with a monster that wants you dead.

On top of that, I appreciate how, even with the Demogorgon running around and causing chaos, the writers were able to keep tensions high during the scenes between Captain Jacoby's crew and the Soviets. Every interaction between these two groups was ripe with paranoia and mistrust, and I'm glad that the comic didn't beat around the bush in spelling out that the Russians were the antagonists. They even brought back a familiar face from the Kamchatka comic to emphasize this: Dr. Karine.

The moment she appeared in this comic is the moment I realized that, in spite of being the villain, this was her story. Captain Jacoby is initially set up as the main character, but the comic subverts this towards the end by turning him into a false protagonist who is doomed to die.

In fact, with the exception of one other character whose fate is left up in the air (and who could potentially appear in a sequel should the writers choose to pursue that), guess who ends up being the main survivor by the end of this?

Like I've said, the parallels to Alien (1979) are uncanny. However, instead of heroic final girl Ellen Ripley surviving the Xenomorph's carnage, we get villainous Dr. Karine managing to remain alive and come out on top. Since this comic is a prequel to Kamchatka, it isn't much of a spoiler to point out that she doesn't die (though interestingly enough, we never find out if the Demogorgon she smuggled onboard also survived the explosion).

The only other character who gets fleshed-out in any meaningful way is Captain Jacoby. Bit by bit, we are shown glimpses of his past as a disgraced military veteran, and find out he'd initially been an illegal gun-runner for the U.S. army, up until he accidentally led his men into a horrific ambush that cost them their lives:

When he tried to inquire into how things went wrong so quickly, he was dishonorably discharged (with the implication that his superiors threw him under the bus in an attempt to cover their asses), and it led to him regretting poking his nose in other people's businesses. This in turn led to him suppressing his curiosity in favor of taking shady jobs to survive. Unfortunately for him, and to the detriment of his crew, not only did this attitude cause him to take Dr. Karine's deal to ferry them to Kamchatka, but it also resulted in him missing some major warning signs that she and her people were not to be trusted. Everything went downhill from there.

Captain Jacoby and Dr. Karine's exchanges were interesting in that they provided humanizing moments for both characters, and also gave brief but unique insight into Dr. Karine's motivations:

I remember not caring that much for Dr. Karine in the Kamchatka comic since she came off as little more than a generic evil mad-scientist, but this comic turns that around with this conversation she has with Captain Jacoby. Regardless of what kind of person Dr. Karine is, she has enough self-awareness to recognize that, at the end of the day, she is merely a pawn for her government and their agenda, and that she could easily become expendable in the name of "The Motherland" or whatever self-serving cause her superiors decide to inevitably sacrifice her to. She isn't lying in this scene: You can practically sense the bitterness and resentment in her tone, intertwined with her clumsy attempt to empathize with Jacoby's backstory.

This gives more depth to her fascination with the Upside Down and the Demogorgon: It isn't just about harnessing its power; it's an escape for her. An escape from being under her governments fist, and an escape from the "forced conformity" of being an obedient citizen to a collapsing empire.

Come to think of it, when you look at many of the Russian characters in both the comics and the show, from Agent Frost to Alexei to Enzo/Dmitri to even Yuri, there's a recurring theme of these characters either growing disillusioned with the Soviet Union, or recognizing how shitty it is living in Russia, and doing everything they can to climb out of that hole before they're buried underneath.

I don't know if any of the characters in the comics will make an appearance in the final season of the show (my money is likely on it not happening), but if the Duffer Brothers are planning on bringing back the Russian arc for Season 5, and are looking for an antagonist to fill that role, then they might as well incorporate Dr. Karine. They've already written two comics around her character, establishing her as a credible threat and a compelling villain, and it would be a lot better than introducing another generic forgettable Russian Authority Figure** in lieu of what we've gotten for the past two seasons:

(**Can anyone even tell me their names without Googling them?)

I know some fans aren't eager to revisit the Russian arc return in S5, but considering the show's already spent 2 seasons on it and there are still unanswered questions (i.e. Who was the mole at Hawkins Lab that informed the Russians about El opening the gate? How did the Russians get that piece of the Mind Flayer, and what do they know about it? Are there other Russian facilities keeping UD monsters in captivity? Do the Russians plan to come back to America to either capture more monsters, or take revenge against Hopper, Joyce, and Murray for ruining their plans? Etc, etc.), they might as well wrap this up and give it a satisfying conclusion. Last thing I want to see are more story arcs left unresolved (*cough* Kali Prasad *cough*).

In regards to the other characters in the comic, I don't have much to say about them since they're not really developed. The remaining Soviets on the ship are either generic dumb-muscle or yes-men to Dr. Karine, and the rest of the crew don't have memorable personalities that make them stand out. Considering this is a monster story where most of the characters are going to be killed off anyways, the lack of development doesn't bother me.

Things That (Somewhat) Tie Into The Show:

The Voyage does provides a reasonable, albeit mundane, explanation for how the Soviets got the UD monsters out of Hawkins across the sea to Russia: They found people they could bribe to look the other way and not ask any questions while they smuggled their cargo (and presumably themselves and Hopper) to Kamchatka. Unlike Dr. Karine's Demogrogon, I'm assuming they found a way to keep the monsters anesthetized and hidden better so they wouldn't cause problems or attract unwanted attention.

On top of that, the device Dr. Karine was pursuing in the comic Kamchatka makes an appearance again, except with a different purpose: Instead of it being used to keep the Demogorgon alive, it's used by her to control the Demogorgon and hunt down Captain Jacoby's remaining crew in the climax:

While this is a Retcon from how the device was said to work in the previous comic, it's one I don't mind because the explanation here at least makes sense. The device allows Dr. Karine to mentally connect with the Demogorgon and control it, similar to how Vecna uses the Mind Flayer to possess people/UD monsters and control them. It also gives insight into how the Russians planned to weaponize the Demogorgons and Demodogs to do their bidding without having to worry about the monsters turning on them. While we don't see this particular aspect play out on the show (if anything, the Russians in S4 treated their Demogorgon like an attack dog with barely any restraint), it's an avenue the Duffer Brothers could explore should they choose to continue with the Russian arc in S5.

Overall, this was a grisly and dark comic, but one that kept me invested. For that, I give it a high recommendation.

#stranger things #stranger things comics #stranger things the voyage #the voyage #st5 spoilers #stranger things season 5 #stranger things theories #st5 theories #dr. karine #demogorgon #jim hopper #vecna #captain jacoby cunningham #tgh opinions #tgh reviews #alien 1979 #the duffer brothers

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nobodysdaydreams · 25 days

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Any one or more of these that you'd like to answer for any of the characters I'd love to see! Hope you're doing well with finals <3

Doug Eiffel, Daniel Jacobi, Nicholas Benedict, & Dr. Garrison

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Thank you, Sophie! So many fun questions! Let's see... where to begin.

Doug Eiffel

6. What's something you have in common with this character? We both have very bad ADHD. I don't know if there's a character I've related to as strongly as Doug Eiffel for that specific purpose. I'll have to pull together a list of all the ADHD characters I related to someday.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? He gets to see his daughter Anne again. After all this time he deserve a chance to make things right. His daughter needs her dad to come home and give her a hug.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire? I love Doug's friendship with Hera and Minkowski. They all care for each other so much despite their differences and they survive because they rely on and care for each other.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like? I love writing about Doug's new life experiences on Earth without his old memories. Reinventing himself, finding himself again. However, I don't like the fact that I haven't had time to write a ton of Wolf359 in a while. Why must my ideas be so ambitious? 😭

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? First impressions, ngl, I judged Doug a bit for his need to make jokes and be at the center of attention and apparent lack of regard for the feelings and concerns of others, until I realized the reason I didn't like him were because he reminded me of my own flaws. But we learn and we grow, and Doug certainly did. Very proud of him.

Daniel Jacobi (aka Duck Boy 🦆)

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? This is gonna sound bad, but affectionately bully him a little bit. Even though I really came around to this character, he really needed to get it together. Glad he finally did!

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? I have several head canons that I really need to start writing more about, one of them being that Jacobi and Maxwell have similar broken relationships with their families (for some similar and dissimilar reasons) and that's part of what drove them to become friends. Also that duck imprinting on Jacobi fic (it will take a while to get there but I have ideas)

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire? Jacobi and Maxwell's friendship. I know people talk a lot about Jacobi and Kepler, but he was a horrible boss and their relationship had a huge toxic power imbalance (though I begrudgingly came around on Kepler too, oh if only Whiskey Boy could have gotten there sooner). But you can tell Jacobi actually cares about Maxwell. She's possibly the only character he not only cares about but believes in. Jacobi knows Kepler is full of it (though his thoughts about Kepler being full of it certainly increase after Maxwell's death, he knows to some extent Kepler's kind of a jerk), but you can tell he believes in Maxwell. He justifies all the horrible things he does because he says they allow people like her to do her job. He sees her potential to do good and wonderful things and realizes just how much is lost when she dies (and later on, how much was really lost by having her work at Goddard when her work could have gone to so many better things). He sees his own goodness as only being an extension of protecting and helping her. When she dies, Jacobi just becomes the guy who explodes things and kills people. You see the toll that takes on him. It's also nice to see Maxwell caring for Jacobi before she died. You can tell she sees the potential he has for goodness despite the fact that Jacobi can't see it in himself.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? Y'all already know I had some negative words to say about this man (he deserved it), but I went from bullying Duck Boy to affectionately bullying him, and I loved his arc! We love to see redemption.

Nicholas Benedict

6. What's something you have in common with this character? Being neurodivergent, relying on friends and family, and especially the show version and the way he reacts to situations. Oh my brother is the evil guy who wants to kidnap me? Let me hop into a row boat I'll give him something to kidnap! He's very distractable and the inattentive ADHD is easy to see but those big emotions and impulsivity slip out every now and again and that's something I very much relate to.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? I love that we all recognize and agree that he is an amazing mentor figure and cares so much about his family. I know that sounds cliched but its so wholesome.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? SO MANY and in the interest of not spoiling my own fic, I'm just gonna say that he's been through so much, but has chosen, in spite of it all, to chose to be good and be better, and I greatly admire that.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire? His relationship with his daughters (Number Two, Rhonda, and Constance). You can tell he loves these girls and they are his family, blood related or not. It's delightfully wholesome.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like? I'll do the fic reading question for Nicholas, because I love when fics understand Nicholas. He might not be super athletic and might rely on his friends a lot, but that does not mean he's incapable or blind to who his brother is. Nicholas knows Nathaniel, he knows how controlling, manipulative, and slimy he is, heck, that's the whole reason he left when he was a kid. Nicholas knows Nathaniel has all sorts of traps for him, he's not stupid. He just loves his brother and believes in him and is willing to take risks to get him back (and it paid off 🥹🥰). Something I don't like is when Nicholas is portrayed as dumb or incompetent for believing in Nathaniel or forgiving him (not that Nathaniel wouldn't have consequences- that's part of the redemption process- but I don't like it when people try to say that Nicholas was wrong to want to get his brother back or somehow betrayed his friends by doing so even though Nicholas was firm in condemning Nathaniel for his treatment of the children and others).

Dr. Garrison

6. What's something you have in common with this character? Women in STEM. Mental health issues. Science. Psychology. Neuroscience. That about sums it up. I really wish we could have learned more about her backstory, what she wants, and what led her to work for Curtain.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? Explore her backstory and complex relationship with Curtain and other characters. If the show wouldn't do it, then we can! I mean, they teased it a bit in season 2, but like...give us more!

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? You already know. Here, let me just...there we go. But to summarize, she's an orphan, cares about others but has trauma and her own goals that frequently get in the way of that, she once had a better relationship with Curtain and several other characters, and she struggled with alcoholism and depression at several points in her life.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like? Give her angst and complexity. She's a villain, don't get me wrong, but there's so much to her, and I just want to give her a hug. I have no idea if this was where they were going with her in the show, but I love writing it. I'm glad I was able to do that in SOS because I don't like the idea of writing her off as a side character when I think she has a lot more to offer.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? At first, being a books fan, I wondered why the show had so much of her, and at first thought it was to better characterize Curtain and his complex and weird relationship with his employees and pathological need to be liked and have the appearance of friends. But then, season 2, when they revealed she built the inventions and was working with Curtain for the money...and is apparently aware of the existence of psychics (as was Curtain at one point)...like girl, WHAT HAPPENED? I didn't go this direction in SOS, but I would not be surprised if had the show continued, the research Curtain, SQ's birth parents, Garrison, and Milligan were doing together had something to do with psychics, which would have tied nicely into the whole "where are Constance's birth parents?" plotline. Will I incorporate any of that into my fic? Haha...no spoilers. 😉

Thanks for the ask Sophie! 🥰

#Bods answers #ask game #wolf 359 #w359 #doug eiffel #daniel jacobi #tmbs #the mysterious benedict society #mysterious benedict society #tmbs disney #mbs disney #nicholas benedict #mr benedict #dr. garrison #dr garrison #long post

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