When the Duffer Brothers created the Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things, they had no idea it would blow up the way it did in popular culture. But even if they did, it’s safe to say that they probably never thought their little retro sci-fi horror show would be the subject of pages of documents from the actual Department of Energy. But, believe it or not, that’s exactly what happened.
Thanks to Gizmodo, we’ve learned that someone at the Department actually made a blog post back in August to explain to regular folks that they don’t explore alternate dimensions, and they also don’t have a secret facility in Hawkins, Indiana (a town which doesn’t even exist, they remind us) and they don’t have any evil scientists working for them. Although really…how can just one guy know that? I’m just sayin’. It’s a big department.
I FOIA’d DOE’s public affairs office for internal talk of Netflix’s Stranger Things. This is…more than I expected pic.twitter.com/asSgPllk8J
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 6, 2016
After that blog post, a writer from the Washington Free Beacon named Lachlan Markay requested internal communications from the Department of Energy’s public affairs, as part of the Freedom of Information Act. And it was not a small amount of documents he got in return in relation to Stranger Things (see the tweet above). Among all that paperwork was the department’s director of strategic communications admitting “It’s not true that ‘the Energy Department doesn’t explore parallel universes. We support theoretical physicists/cosmologists through the Office of Science High Energy Physics program, some of whom almost certainly are doing a fair amount of research on parallel universes.”
Update on this: these are some seriously shady redactions pic.twitter.com/3DTrHaro2c— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 6, 2016
And then there’s another staffer commenting, “We actually do make weapons” before going on about the atomic energy commission’s history of experimentation. Well, so much for that initial blog post then. If they lied about all that, they could be lying about everything. (Or not.) If you check out Lacklan Markay’s full article at The Washington Beacon, there are even more details. At least now we know where the Department of Energy stands on the all-important Barb question:
@lachlan no matter what you write, it won’t bring Barb back. #JusticeForBarb — DOE Press Staff (@EnergyPressSec) October 6, 2016
What do you think of the DoE’s response to Stranger Things? Do you think they are hiding the demogorgon? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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Images: Netflix