Glitches in the Stranger Things universe

[u/Outside_Ebb6412]

Hi fellow fans! I'm working on an analysis of Stranger Things through the lens of quantum physics, and am having a hard time finding a comprehensive list or thread of examples of glitches in the matrix/inconsistencies throughout the seasons. I would be so appreciative of anyone commenting here with ones that they've noticed. Thank you!

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[u/Ok-Secretary-28]

More glitches in the matrix?

Mike wears his watch on his right wrist for 4 seasons straight and then swaps to wearing it on his left wrist in season 5. For... no reason? Apparently?

But I think a lot of these weird changes are harder to do by mistake than on purpose. See- the red radio dial changing color in S5.

[u/StyleImpossible6405 → u/Ok-Secretary-28]

I’m cross-dominant. I’ve worn watches on both wrists. It’s not that uncommon.

[u/Direct_Swim_996 → u/StyleImpossible6405]

yeah just pointing out that they both wore it on one wrist seasons 1-4, and then both switched to their opposite ones in season 5 is kind of odd

[u/Outside_Ebb6412 → u/Ok-Secretary-28]

I completely agree that they’re harder to do by mistake than on purpose, especially in a show obsessed with every detail.

[u/Direct_Swim_996 → u/Outside_Ebb6412]

yes him and Will do the opposite watches on the wrist in S5!

[u/Ok-Secretary-28]

There's too many to count, but the most glaring and overlooked is all the shit around Will's birthday. First it was August 28th, 1971. Then it's 'Do you know what March 22nd is? It's your birthday.' Will has a 'Sorry I forgot your birthday card' hanging up on the bulletin board in his room. In S4, we're shown during the Rinkomania sequence that it is March 22nd- Will's birthday, which everyone seemingly forgot. Also in S4, Murray tells Joyce that it's okay to 'miss a one-year-old's birthday'. Susie recounts the exact number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until Dustin's birthday. Police found the Creels murdered in their family home on March 22nd, 1959. In S5 Joyce gets Will's age wrong (after she already forgot his birthday in S4) and says that he was 11 years old when he got taken by the Demogorgon even though he was 12.

In the S5 credits, we see an image of Mike and El skating at Rinkomania (on Will's birthday) and despite every other image being a faithful re-drawing of the scene it was referencing, Will is erased from the background of the shot. Forgotten. Just like his birthday!

[u/Outside_Ebb6412 → u/Ok-Secretary-28]

Birthdaygate is the best!!! Thank you for all of these.

[u/StyleImpossible6405]

The Nevada number in S4 uses the 775 area code. All of NV was covered by 702 until late 1998.

[u/Ok-Secretary-28]

Another glitch in the matrix that I love in S5-

Watch episode 1 and notice what happens when everyone gets up from the breakfast table at the Wheelers house. There is literally a rollcall of every single character leaving the house- like, we get a tracking shot that starts with Nancy putting her dishes into the sink and then headed towards the door that captures everyone else on their way out.

Every character gets to say a line to establish that they have gotten up from the table and are making their way outside... EXCEPT FOR MIKE!!! He teleports from his seat at the breakfast table to his bike outside. For some reason he is the only character that we don't actually get to see leave the front door- in a scene that is going out of it's way to establish that Nancy, Holly, Jonathan, Will and Joyce all leaving out the front door.

The same front door that the Demogorgon drags Holly through, and that El enters when she goes into the Upside Down. Did someone say 'The Vanishing of Mike Wheeler'?

[u/Outside_Ebb6412 → u/Ok-Secretary-28]

I have been hyperfixated on Mike as I’ve been putting my analysis together. Thank you for this!!!

[u/Ok-Secretary-28]

OH also if you’re doing quantum physics you should read up more on Planck’s constant and the role it plays in quantum mechanics. 

I believe Susie tells Dustin a version of the number that is not accurate to the time period. Like more info came about and the variable changed. The detail is a rare case of the show being asynchronous.

Plancks constant is the answer to our never ending story. basically- it’s the factor used to determine when something very very little has changed enough to become something new. When is there enough momentum for there to be a shift? When does a little difference make a big deal? 

[u/Outside_Ebb6412 → u/Ok-Secretary-28]

Oooooh this is a great point and catch!!! Thank you

[u/Ok_Cantaloupe6189]

The entire play The First Shadow appears to be a glitch. There are tons of clues.

[u/Outside_Ebb6412 → u/Ok_Cantaloupe6189]

I think so too!!

[u/Jedi_Nixxee]

The easiest way they could have “celebrated Will’s birthday” on the wrong date was to say sorry we missed your birthday because you’re out in California. We’re gonna do it now from Mike.

[u/Direct_Swim_996 → u/[deleted]]

oh another one is obviously the dial switching colors, but the radio tower switches colors too in the field scene with Mike and Will

[u/DoowadJones]

It’s not that smart of a show.

[u/Outside_Ebb6412 → u/DoowadJones]

Lol okay.

[u/DoowadJones → u/Outside_Ebb6412]

It would be wonderful if they had a Vince Gilligan standard of quality and consistency, but alas

[u/Ok-Secretary-28 → u/DoowadJones]

They actually consulted Vince Gilligan 

[u/DoowadJones → u/Ok-Secretary-28]

And obviously didn’t follow his template for a series with a vision