Emmy-winner Eric Robles, of Nickelodeon’s Fanboy & Chum Chum, is the executive producer and showrunner of Netflix’s new animated series spinoff of one of the streamer’s most beloved programs. Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is set in between seasons two and three — during the winter of that year — with the kids from Hawkins, Indiana on some of their most thrilling and emotional adventures ever. It premieres Thursday April 23rd, with the first two episodes screening in select cinemas even sooner, as Robles and I discuss in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This Interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: The first two episodes are gonna be at select AMC theaters and a couple other locations on Saturday April 18th. Not every animated TV series gets the opportunity to go to the big screen. You gotta be thrilled with this.

Eric Robles: I’ve never even heard of anything like this, Jackson. I’ve never even heard of anything like this. That’s why we are just like, “What?” And it just goes to show, Netflix really believes in this show. The Duffer brothers have been super not only excited but just supportive of this series. And they’ve been invested in this thing, making sure that we continue the adventures and we go back to a time where we just get to spend time with our best friends again. And that’s been important for us. But the idea of going to the theater… Let me tell you something: If you’re ever gonna invest in saying, “You know what? I think I’m gonna go see this at a theater”… This is the time. You will never experience any episode like you will in a theater because of that surround sound. First of all, it’s gonna be amazing, but at the same time, you’re gonna be in a community… around people who love “Stranger Things” just as much as you do. That vibe alone and that theater experience and that communal experience is something that you just can’t get nowadays. So an opportunity like this it’s pretty amazing and we’re just really excited about it.

JM: The first two episodes are so cinematic, and I think fans and animation lovers… The biggest movies of the year so far are all animated… and now you get this experience, so it’s fantastic. It’s in the universe of this beloved saga, in between seasons two and three. What did Winter of 1985 offer you in terms of what you wanted to do with the story and this opportunity for a new layer here in the “Stranger Things” universe?

ER: In early days of discussion with the Duffer brothers, right out the gate, they were like, “Seasons two and three. The kids were still young.” They weren’t worrying about… the world ending just yet. The kids were not worrying about saving the world. Let’s just make ’em worrying about saving Hawkins. Keep it simple. And one of the things that we talk about all the time, it was kinda like our mantra in the writer’s room: Kids riding bikes, solving mysteries with their walkie talkies and flashlights. Keep it simple in that way. So understanding that we can spend time with these kids when they were kids and going on these adventures in this way, it just felt right for us. And then on top of that, you add wintertime. Something that we’ve never experienced in Hawkins in this way. So now we’re able to go back to Hawkins, go on these new amazing adventures with these kids trying to figure out a new mystery. What the heck is going on with in Hawkins right now? The gates closed. There shouldn’t be anything living that’s from the Upside Down in our world. So what the heck is going on? And that’s what we’re bringing to the table. If anybody, knows how to do mystery, it’s the Duffer Brothers. And we’ve really been able to open up this new adventure in a way that’s allowing for these mysteries. So the same questions that everybody has are the same questions the kids have.

JM: What you’re doing with this is good storytelling. It is bringing us back to where the characters were at the beginning and those feels and those vibes, and it’s almost like comfort food and for the fans of the series and to feel that engagement. And you gotta feel the engagement as well in the look of these characters — taking real humans, people we’ve seen for years and years on this very popular show — and now in animated form. Was that an interesting experience for you in that CG transition of the character designs?

ER: Oh, absolutely. Early days when we were trying to figure out what the style of the show was, sometimes some of the designs felt a little too young. They felt a little too Disney maybe, or Pixar. We were trying to find out who we were just visually. I’m a huge fan of my community of artists. And I’m just a fan of art, animation, every aspect of it. On Instagram, I follow artists like [I collect] Pokemon. So whenever I see somebody I really like, I’m always like, “Oh, this person’s really good.” And I finally came across Meybis Ruiz Cruz, [who] became our lead designer as far as the look of the characters. If you are familiar with illustrators, there was an illustrator back in the early 1900s named J. C. Leyendecker, and he was able to capture the sense of stylized realism. He used to do old Saturday Evening Posts. And I hadn’t seen anybody like that in forever, until I came across Meybis Ruiz Cruz. She knows how to do that Leyendecker thing where you capture stylized realism. And if we can figure out a way to capture that stylized realism with these familiar characters that are beloved characters, in a way that really captures the essence of who they were during this time of 1985, then we’re going to have a really cool look for our show. And then we were able to do that, and on top of that, our production designer, Benjamin Plouffe, really added that artistic kind of flare that you’re seeing in the series.

JM: And there are great moments that are visually very ambitious — and you do a lot with the editing, which makes it even more exciting and even more thrilling, especially for kids watching this. Was there a lot of work put into what you wanted to accomplish with the editing and the timing of certain key moments?

ER: Absolutely. We were already up for a big challenge because the Duffer Brothers had already created this editing style that was already awesome. But [with] our animation, we don’t have the luxury of 44 minutes for one episode. We have to tell our episodes in a smaller time length. So at the same time, we have to figure out what our language is for animation, allowing us to have a unique way of doing our editing and making sure that we’re still capturing the essence of “Stranger Things”. And at the same time, engaging you in these dangerous moments that, because of animation, we’re able to move faster. We’re able to have these action sequences that are in your face in a whole different way. We make our creatures eel like they are chasing you — that they’re right behind you or they’re right over you. They’re about to eat you in a different way. And that’s what animation does so well. We’re able to push the envelope, push the acting, push the animation. So you’re feeling it in that way.

JM: I like how in the opening episode of this, the kids are already talking about their excitement for the year. They’re planning out other adventures in the spring and summer, and thinking about the wintertime as well. And one of the main things about the success of “Stranger Things” is that 80s nostalgia factor and the excitement for that. How does that enthusiasm from you, as somebody who grew up in the 80s, go into a show like this, paired with that 80s, huge nostalgia that “Stranger Things” has stood for.

ER: When I first saw “Stranger Things” for the very first time, I was like, “I’m home.” This is exactly the world I remember and I wanna go back to. And being an 80s kid and watching the Spielberg films and watching… “E.T.”… Elliot hanging out in his neighborhood, or going back to… “The Lost Boys” or “The Goonies”. I just wanted to hang out with those guys ’cause they felt like my friends. And I feel like that’s what we were able to capture with “Stranger Things: Tales from ’85”… the idea that you can go back in time, hang out with these kids and go on these adventures that really feel genuine, like you are genuinely in Hawkins again. And you’re able to slow down time because we didn’t have cell phones. We just had the walkie talkies. These kids have their walkie talkies. That was their form of communication. If not, if those walkie talkies are out, then you literally had to go chase down your friend, figure out what’s going on with them, and go on those adventures with them. Communication was a bigger deal back then. I just feel that we’re able to slow things down in a time where things weren’t so rushed. And because of the storytelling… yes, we can have these moments that are action, but it’s not all about the action. Our trailers are great. They really show these cool monsters, what have you. But when you start looking at the series, you’re gonna understand that it’s not about just all the action, it’s about relationships. The series has always been about relationships, and we make sure that we’re following that and we’re seeing these kids going through their own journeys. By the time you get to I think episode four, you’re gonna see the conflict that these kids have. It’s not, ‘everything’s always gonna be great’. It’s not like we’re always gonna be on the same page, and that’s part of the journey — the growth that these kids have. And so making sure that we’re tracking that growth and those experiences in this adventure is also very key for us.

JM: And you have a voice ensemble up to the task of voicing these characters that, again, we’ve seen for a long time in live-action form — and forming those relationships and exploring those relationships and the depth and the timing of all of that. That must have been cool for you to work with these voice actors on embodying these characters in this way.

ER: Yeah. These actors are so good. They bring these characters to life in a way that even… We can spend weeks on end, months on end, in the writer’s room thinking, “Oh, I know exactly how this character’s gonna emphasize this, how they’re gonna do that.” But the magic of performance and acting is that there’s ownership behind it. And these actors that are coming to the show, these young kids who are doing this, they’re bringing their voices, their unique way of the nuances that they’re doing. And sometimes you’ll get a voice crack out of nowhere. And I’m like, “That’s the take. Let’s do that one right there.” If you had the original cast, let’s just say, come back and do these voices, they’ve grown. They now have life experience, whereas kids are… They’re performing these as: This is the first time they’re ever even thinking about monsters. This is all new and fresh to them. So every line that’s recorded… every line that they’re reading, they’re excited about it. They’re scared about it. Whatever those feelings are, they’re all very pure and genuine. And these kids have been so consistent on bringing that authenticity to every record that we’ve done.