#plot holes

They still keep the setup of the mosquito joke, with Pleakley explaining that they're an "endangered species" so they can't just destroy Earth.

But unlike the original, this doesn't lead to a running gag - Pleakley never sees or even mentions mosquitos again for the rest of the film - nor do we get the final payoff where it's revealed Cobra was the one who told them this (he has no prior contact with the aliens at all in this version).

So now there's no actual reason for how or why the aliens think this, and one of the best jokes from the original film is reduced to a weird throwaway line that makes no sense.

They also keep the scene where Stitch and Jumba destroy Lilo and Nani's house. Only now, it has completely different circumstances leading up to it, and the consequences this incident is supposed to have are completely skipped over.

It doesn't prompt Cobra to take Lilo, nor does it lead to Lilo running away (the closest equivalent happens before this scene) or getting captured, and when seeing the destruction themselves, Nani and the others are just mildly confused at best before they go back to the issue at hand.

So instead of a genuinely devastating culmination of all the film's mishaps, the destruction of the house now serves no purpose in the story and is completely pointless.

Even the music suffers from this, like Nani singing Aloha Oe or Lilo listening to Elvis.

In the first film, these songs tied into the characters' cultural heritage, and the film's running commentary about America's modern day colonisation of Hawaii. But, this being modern Disney, the more political themes are omitted entirely from this version - certainly not helped by the fact that they didn't even bother to cast a Native Hawaiian actress as Nani - and other than playing a few of this songs, the movie downplays Elvis' prominence so much that it never even mentions him by name.

So instead of actually serving the story or themes, there's no deeper meaning or purpose whatsoever behind the songs beyond the fact they're in the animated film, and now they're just included out of obligation.

This ends up being true for a lot of YA books where the teenager is the chosen solution to a problem because they need to be for plot reasons, but there is no actual logical reason why anyone would be relying on them to solve this problem (or often even letting them get close to this problem). No, this kid can't work for the FBI or the Secret Service. No, this twelve-year-old won't be a more accomplished soldier than a fully-trained servicemember. No, this kid isn't allowed to practice medicine.

And you can work around this by presenting a reason for them to be involved despite being less qualified--usually that they put themselves in a situation, despite the adults around them, but also that there is something else that makes them suited to a job/role despite their other lack of qualifications (we need someone who can blend in, etc.).

But it's also true for a lot of adult books. I'm reading a book where the ER doctor/medical professor First Gentleman is going to lead the response to a plane full of people who potentially have Marburg virus, and even ignoring the fact that he wouldn't be allowed within a thousand feet of that plane by the Secret Service, that also fundamentally just does not make sense with how U.S. pandemic and quarantine response work (or even how medicine works--an ER doctor is generally not an infecious disease specialist). It's waved away for plot reasons--but it also represents a failure of the plot as a whole.

Why is your character the one who is trying to solve this problem? Is it their job? If it's not their job, what does it mean for the story for them to be trying to solve a problem that they aren't qualified for, may not have access to, and/or aren't allowed to deal with?

• Why is the upside down suck on nov 6th?

• where are the demobats?

• max having all her bones snapped and being blind = no lasting effects??

• the spores from the upside down are toxic and will kill you

•The painting lie

• What happened to Derek's family??

• what happened to doctor Owens?

• where's argyle?

• what happened to Dustin and Suzie?

•Who created the upside down?

• what happened to the hive mind in the upside down?

•mikes pov

• why did vecna need exactly 12 kids?

• how is doctor kay related to Eddie Munson?

• what happens to Yuri?

• the pregnant women

• what happened over those 18 months?

• Madwise suddenly being close?

• Very little Max and El reaction

•how did Max know hopper was alive?

•why did Henry give Holly music?

• Why was Mike pareled to Vickie?

• Why wasn't Patty Newby mentioned at all?

•Why did Will say he likes getting milkshakes from a store that doesn't sell milkshakes?

• Why did Will say he likes "getting lost in the woods"?

•who opened the door in season 1?

•Why was lovers lake a pinned location?

•What happened to mr.clarke and Erica in the church?

•how did (if Mike's theory is right) Kali survive so long while bleeding out?

•If doctor Brenner isn't a good artist how did he draw the wormholes?

•Wouldn't the wormhole disrupt time?

•Where'd Vickie go?

•Why was Will taken out of everyone else?

• How come Hopper and Joyce didn't recognize Henry or at least the name?

•How did Jane recognize Will despite never seeing him?

•Why does everyone suddenly like hellfire?

•Why were there Russians?

•Why did Joyce just forget about her two other children?

•BIRTHDAY GATE

(my inspiration for this was starring_spencer's plot hole video on Tiktok. Many of these examples are from that video.)

This is quite a long post!

They had a really good concept, very interesting characters which a lot of people could relate to, and they are really good at taking cool shots, they know how film making works, they can make a scene look really good & epic.

Despite all this, I don't know how they managed to fuck up so bad. There are so many mistakes in their writing:

Season 1:

How the hell did Will communicate with Joyce in S1. We understand how the light communications work & that upside down is stuck in Nov 6 is S4. Given that, it is impossible for Will to use the lights to talk with Joyce. How did Will know where exactly were the letters written on the wall by Joyce. They could have tried to make this make sense in S4 but they didn't.

Who the hell opened the lock of the door when kidnapping Will. We know it wasn't demogorgan (because Duffers said in an "interview") I know we can tell it was probably Vecna but they could've at least shown that as a 5 second recap at the end of S5 Ep4.

Season 2:

They didn't address what happened to Will's dog (I know this is not important but it shows that they didn't pay attention to a lot of things while writing. They said they just set up a little gravestone in the Byers yard, which idk if it's even true.)

Season 3:

There was a big ass monster running around the town & somehow nobody saw it. You're telling me everyone was busy celebrating 4th of July.

Season 4:

They set up that songs are therapeutic and very important to escape Vecna's mind prison in S4 & then threw that out of the window in S5.

Does Vecna have a connection with his grandfather clock or was it just for the aesthetics? That was such a big thing in S4 & now it's just nothing.

The Gate by Russians was closed at the end of S3 (July 85) and the next time a gate opens is after Chrissy die (Mar 86). How did in between these times did the Russians have living Demogorgans/Demodogs? How were they still alive even after the Gate closed?

Season 5:

I don't know a single person who knew Jancy brokeup until Duffers said it.

Max had no reaction to Hopper being alive.

Bffs El & Max reunion was shit.

Joyce forgot that Will was 12 when he was kidnapped not 11.

There is no follow up on the painting Will gave Mike.

The Duffers forgot Will's birthday in S4 (RIP birthdaygate)

According to them, a strong female lead can't be independent and also have a good romantic relationship.

They ruined Mike's character.

Will's coming out scene. Joyce, Jonathan & Mike should have been the only ones in that scene. At most, Dustin, Lucas, El & Max. Everybody else was unnecessary.

Comparing Mike to Tammy which is such a bad comparison.

They didn't show us what happened after El disappeared. Did the millitary just let everyone go? Why didn't they question the group about what was happening?

So Kali was injured, lost a lot of blood & then El went to the Abyss to fight with the others for Idk how long. It was at least 30 minutes (AT LEAST) & then they came back. Somehow she was conscious through all this time & managed to make El vanish.

Also El didn't give a fuck about Hopper. He still doesn't know she could be alive. She could have also told Hopper something like she told Mike.

We still don't know the motive behind MindFlayer's plan to collapse two worlds. They said in, I think S3 or 2, that it was "a monster from an unknown dimension whose ultimate goal is to spread & take over other dimensions" but this was in DnD game. They didn't give any explanation for it's motive or goal in the series. And Duffers said it themselves, it's not a DnD campaign. If I had to guess, I'll say it's because Mindflayer wanted to... Idk eat people on our planet because the Demogorgans/dogs/bats weren't tasty?

Which reminds me that there is not a single Demogorgan, the main villain of S1, or any Demodogs/bats to seen around. Not in the upside down, not in the Abyss. They just disappeared because they were not needed for the plot anymore.

The military didn't give a shit about the supernatural things happening in Hawkins? They just wanted to get El's blood to create more like her & fight the Russians. Millitary still has no idea about the existence of Vecna.

What was the reason behind 12 kids? How is the no. 12 significant.

The main Fight scene of S5 was not creative at all. They just copied what they did in S3.

The Mind Flayer was also very disappointing because it looked just like the one in S3.

How the hell did all the characters climb up the canyon in a few minutes.

Joyce, Hopper knew Henry but this was never talked about.

All this time, were the Turnbow family just chilling in the barn? And did they not sue for being kidnapped, held hostage. Also their home was destroyed. Nothing about them was shown.

Byler Bones, Jancy Bones, Mileven Bones, Stancy Bones, Rovickie Bones, Duzie Bones.

The First Shadow:

Any person who hasn't seen the play, doesn't know who the person with the suitcase in the cave was or how & where did that person found that stone.

When that person was scared & accused Henry that, "They sent you." The general audience still has no idea who 'they' are.

What was Brenner's motive? Why did he start this project? Only people who saw the Play would know answers to these. At least they could have given us a little summary about the play in the series. Or just release the damn play on Netflix.

Also the First Shadow & Series are contradictory. In the play Henry was transported to dimension X (the abyss) for 12 hours & got his powers. Nothing like that happened in the series.

In the play, Henry was (16-17) in highschool when he killed his mom & sister. In the show he is 12 when this happens.

The use of plot armour was over abused, which is just bad writing. They gave plot armour to every single main character.

In S1, Hopper infiltrates the lab and gets caught but instead of killing Hopper, they bugged his house, safely put him back & called it a day. They killed Benny without any reason & hesitation. They could make a fake body of Will. You're telling me they couldn't have faked Hopper's death or faked him moving away from Hawkins.

Our main characters had no idea about how much time it would take for the merging or how it would even happen. Yes, they have a lot of nerds in the group but the thing they are talking about is totally theoretical & they have nothing or no time to even check if their plan would work. And for some reason, everyone agrees with this plan & thinks it's genius. But it all worked out because the writers wrote it like that.

And I'm not a science freak, but even I know that if two planets are that close to each other, it will disrupt the gravitational force & magnetic field of both of them. Nothing like that happened because it's magic or was needed for plot convenience.

Let's not forget how Joyce & Murray just went to Russia & rescued Hopper from the KGB!!

Mike was hit in the head in S3. He looked like he broke his arm & was blasted away by Vecna in S5 . And for some reason he is still fine. Does he have super healing abilities?

Same for Joyce, she was thrown away by Vecna & she seems fine a few minutes later.

Will is only hurt by the Hive Mind when needed by the writers. He felt it when Henry's hand got shot. He didn't feel anything when the whole thing got blown up with fire & died.

Props & other Problems:

Dial changed from grey to red.

All the blue & yellow symbolism.

What was the significance of Nov 6?

After writing all this, I feel stupid to think that the Duffers were geniuses.

Duffers can't write good characters, relationships & even plots. They drew parallels from so many different shows & movies for a lot of emotional scenes. Every good plot that they have written was a copy of some 80s movies or shows.

Having an “expert” character conveniently fuck up right when the plot needs it to happen, when they otherwise would never, always loudly looks like the hand of the author sabotaging things. Which is exactly what’s happening.

However, if you set up that scene in a way where that fuckup is possible and warranted, you can turn “this is so contrived” to “omg I knew that was going to happen”.

Some suggestions!

Firstly, if we’re dealing with humans, humans are not machines. Variability in skill even at the expert level happens. Go watch the Olympics or any professional sporting event and people have terrible days all the time.

In fiction, a conveniently terrible day because that’s just how this works doesn’t fly. Diablos ex machinas tend to go over easier than deus ex machinas, but a character failing at a critical challenge in the narrative for no reason screws with a lot of the tension and expectations. “For no reason” takes no effort by the author to set up and pay off, and it reads as cheap.

Behavioral variables

I am a novice archer. I write expert archers. I do not write supernaturally accurate archers. From the very beginning of my story, my expert, with four centuries of experience, isn’t nailing perfect kill shots with every hit. A) he doesn’t need to and B) leaving his enemy to die slowly and painfully is a low he will absolutely stoop to if he thinks it’s warranted.

He’s as good as he has to be and if he gets the job done, he doesn’t care if it’s a little messy. Him being messy and overconfident is what gets him in the end, too. If he’s trying, he’ll do better, but most of the time “eh, I got close enough, they’ll die eventually” is his mindset.

“Expert” in fiction being “this is a character who will reliably pass the challenges set up for them by the narrative”.

So if you have an “expert,” allowing them to get a little bit lazy and overconfident, or simply not think of themselves as needing to be perfect in a given situation, you allow yourself a lot of wiggle room for them to majorly fuck up.

Doesn’t work very well if I throw my archer into an archery tournament, but I haven’t done that, and I’ll get to that later.

Environmental variables

Using the archery example once again: Archery is finnicky and precision is key. So if you’ve got your archer, or any marksman, in a windy environment, they have to work that much harder to factor in the wind when setting up their shot.

If it’s rainy, or the sun’s in their face, or it’s dark, or it’s loud and they can’t focus, these things aren’t exact data points the audience is going to do the math on. Or, if they and their enemy are moving, which, in combat, is highly likely.

Physiological variables

Maybe your character didn’t get enough sleep, or they’re stressed about this moment, they’re cracking under the pressure, they’re doubting themselves, the enemy got into their head, or they’re distracted worrying about something else. Or they got drunk the night before, they ate too much or too little. They’re sick, their hands are sweaty, they’ve got a sinus headache. They’ve got cramps, or hot flashes, or earlier they pulled a muscle and it still tweaks.

These are all, once again, introducing doubt into the narrative so that, when they fuck up as the plot demands, the audience should consider “well they weren’t at their best, I believe it”.

—

The sloppy way to do this is to go, in the moment:

“But because it was windy, X missed his shot”.

Is this the first time the reader is learning that it’s windy? Pretty convenient to introduce it right as it becomes important.

Rather, establish your variable beforehand in a disconnected moment. Try to ground it to a different element, otherwise it might look like it’s being mentioned for no other reason than “this is important”. Or, if it’s environmental, bury it with the other sensory descriptors.

When establishing the scene and setting, casually mention how the wind is interacting with the characters—making their hair a mess, throwing pollen everywhere, making skirts billow, etc.

Have another character complain about this variable bothering them

Have the character instantly regret the decision they made the night before for unrelated reasons. Like, if they got drunk, now they’ve still got a headache.

Depends on the story and the audience, of course, but I personally think having the narrator explicitly call out the variable fuckery going on reads a bit hammy. I like letting the audience figure out what went wrong with the clues I give.

If the scene demands, I'll also let my characters get annoyed and upset about their shots going wrong and blaming the environment. So long as it's not "hand of the author here to tell you what went wrong" you've got options.

I wouldn’t pull this trick too many times, otherwise your “expert” ends up consistently not an expert and then their sudden success looks suspect and contrived.

If you are writing some sort of tournament where this character is deliberately setting themselves up for success and is considering all these variables… a great example I like is Todoroki vs Bakugo in My Hero Academia season 2.

Dude is an uncertain mess throughout the rest of his tournament once his “fuck you dad I’m gonna win by half-assing it” suddenly isn’t enough to beat Midoriya. He’s forced to face some Tragic Backstory and it throws him off his game—establishes doubt.

He has a string of successes once he starts taking baby steps with the other half of his powers, and in the finale, he’s up against someone where he really does have to give it his all if he wants to win. His brute force powers are up against someone who has honed his very specific and powerful abilities for a decade.

And he can’t do it.

The final fight stops being a matter of power metrics and who would win if they both were competing at their best with all the tricks in their playbook available, which is what most of the tournament had been up to this point.

Basically—it stops being a numbers game, and starts being an emotional one. If you have a character you need to fail at something, but who wouldn’t otherwise, consider shifting the battle from external to internal, so the task failure is just the catalyst for the real meat of the story: what this loss means to this person in the long run.

**Side note there are of course a ton of anime tournament fights probably better than this one, Rock Lee’s whole arc against Gaara is one of them, I just don’t remember it well enough to comment on it.

Not every reader is going to be savvy enough to go “well that’s going to be important later”. Use betas and editors to help gauge how vague or obvious your foreshadowing is.

But even if you have readers sussing out your foreshadowing: Part of the fun is figuring out how the journey will end, even if we know when and where. Otherwise tragedies and prequels wouldn’t be made.