Stranger Things Season 2 – All the Easter Eggs, References, Homages and Callbacks – Episode 5: Dig Dug
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Back on track with the fifth episode of our nine-part Stranger Things 2 article series, in which we’ll do our very best to catch all the visual easter eggs, references, homages and callback from the fabulous 80s that the author put on-screen. If you’re looking for the soundtrack and music references for this episode, click here.
In case you missed the previous parts, dedicated to the easter eggs in the first three episodes, check out the links in the Episode List below to make amend! There are two links to the right of each episode: the first one is dedicated to the visual homages, while the second lists the soundtrack & music references.
Let’s now start our journey through all the Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 5: Dig Dug easter eggs from the 80s (and not) that we found: feel free to tell us if we missed anything… there’s a huge chance we did!
Jaws: When Will and Mike talks at Will’s house, the original Jaws(Steven Spielberg, 1975) playbill can be spotted hanged on a wall.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – Jaws [01:28]It: The scars in Nancy and Jonathan’s hands were from Season 1, when they cut themselves to lure the Demogorgon: however, this is also a clear reference to the Stephen King novel It (1986), where the main characters cut their palms for a binding oath.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – It [07:10]The Goonies: Sean Astin gets another chance to look at a treasure map with an X on it: he even says “pirate treaure”, just like he did in The Goonies (Richard Donner, 1985).
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – The Goonies [09:35]Wheel of Fortune, Score Four, 500, Labyrinth: a huge pack of board & family games can be seen in the cabinet under the telephone in Dustin’s house: Wheel of Fortune, Score Four, a 500-pieces puzzle and Labyrinth, which is not a callback of Jim Henson’s 1986 movie featuring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly but a wood-crafted game published since the 1940’s, also known as Marble Tilt, Space Tilt and so on.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – Wheel of Fortune, 500, Score Four, Labyrinth [07:10]Pac-Man: When Lucas tricks Max into the Arcade Palace’s staff room to speak with her about Eleven, a Pac-Man poster can be spotted hanging on the wall: that’s actually a commercial for the Atari 2006 Pac-Man port, which happened on 16 march 1982. There are also a couple other notable ’80s videogame posters in that room: Crystal Castles (Atari, 1983) and Centipede (Atari, 1980), which we already talked about here.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – Pac-Man love at first bite Atari 2006 [21:40]Hi-Q: When Bob comes to visit Will and Joey, A whole collection of Ideal’s Hi-Q boardgames, a series of abstract games mainly targeted at “smart” children in the 1980s: nice to know that Bob is also into boargames, he’s really one of the coolest characters of the season! To know more about Ideal Toy Company, click here.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – Ideal Hi-Q [24:25]Indiana Jones: Hopper’s descent into darkness is highly reminiscing of the Indiana Jones franchise: he performs a number of quotes there, such as coming back to pick up his hat, torching snake-like creatures on a wall, and looking around like a pro – until getting beaten into unconsciousness by the bad stuff.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – Indiana Jones [27:45]Mister Plumber: a vintage bottle of Mister Plumber, a popular Liquid-Plumbr sold in the Unites States, can be spotted within Daniel’s kitchen when he tries to equip himself to confront Dart.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – Mister Plumber [28:25]Masters of the Universe: When Lucas is out talking to Max and his sister enters his room, she gets her hands on no less than He-Man, the main character of the Masters of the Universe media franchise created by Mattel, Inc. in 1982. His partner Man-at-Arms can also be briefly spotted, lying on the bed face down.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – Masters of the Universe – He Man and Man-at-Arms [28:40]NASA Space Shuttle Challenger: Another noticeable homage in Lucas room is the model of the NASA space shuttle Challenger, who took off in 1983 for the first time: unfortunately, it went down in 1986, killing seven crew members. Luckily enough, such a tragic event is not happened yet in the series.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – NASA Space Shuttle Challenger [28:40]The Evil Dead: more and more homages to Sam Raimi’s 1981 movie in this episode: the tentacular vines entangling Tom Hopper are definitely close to the handsy ones featured in that movie.
Stranger Things – Season 02 Episode 05 – The Evil Dead [37:00]That’s it, at least for the time being: if you’ve got something else, tell us in the comments and we’ll be happy to update the list!
Soundtrack, Music & Songs
For a comprehensive list of this episode soundtrack, together with all the musical Easter Eggs, References, Homages and Callbacks, read here.
