Many have said that the show “Stranger Things” and the German drama “Dark” are virtually the exact same thing. Though the summaries are similar, the plots are very different.

Both series include children who have gone missing, as well as tunnels leading to things such as labs and nuclear power plants. Both have groups of kids bent on unravel mysteries that the police can’t solve, and  they both take place in the 80’s and feature mysterious phenomenons that can’t be explained.

“Dark” introduces us to a teen named Jonas, who had just spent some of his life in a mental hospital after his father committed suicide, and he is now just trying to adjust to normal life in 2019. Soon after returning to school, he learns that his classmate, Erik, has gone missing.

Later on, Jonas and several friends go into the winding woods after sundown, to see if they can recover some drugs that Erik stashed away in a hiding spot. During this event, Mikkel, the sibling of Jonas’s ex-girlfriend, goes missing. Mikkel had been wandering at the time, and he had gone into a cave and found a wormhole, which had somehow brought him to 1986. Mikkel is also the son of the police chief who is having an affair with Jonas’s mother.

“Stranger Things,” on the other hand, starts with a Dungeons & Dragons (other wise known as D&D, or a role-play of sorts that is played with paper, dice, and sometimes a board) and a party of four friends. On the way home after their D&D campaign (a campaign is one game of D&D) ended, Will, the wizard of their little D&D group, goes missing in the woods, and his family and friends go one a crazy hunt to find him. Along the way they meet a telepathic bald girl who loves Eggos, ferocious monsters, and best of all, TONS OF DRAMA.

But those who have watched this either dis-like it, or are in love with it. Jennifer Morales says, “Barb being obsessed over is weird. She wasn’t THAT special. The whole show itself wasn’t special. Definitely way overrated.”

Barbara is the best friend of Nancy in season 1, and goes missing and dies in the first 2-3. She tries to stop her best friend from being reckless for the sake of popularity, but she is ditched at a party and killed by the demogorgon. The  demogorgon is a killer inter-dimensional being, who just loves to nibble on unsuspecting humans. It is also the creature that took Will.

“Stranger Things” has a incredibly big fan base, and when compared to the one Dark has, it almost seems like Dark never existed. When asking students at the iSchool, most have said they had never heard of “Dark”, and the only one who I have talked to who knew of “Dark,”  Jalexie Urena, says, “Isn’t that like the copy of ‘Stranger Things’?”

Overall, both series are pretty good, but is “Dark” really worth the watch? Or could you just watch “Stranger Things” and be satisfied?  “Dark” and “Stranger Things” may have similar plots, so if you like “Stranger Things” you will definitely love “Dark”! There’s just enough of a difference to make you fully able to enjoy both series, and there are lots of surprises along the way to make “Dark” worth your time.