How ‘Stranger Things’ made the real-life Department of Energy a lot more human

In a surprising twist, a records request for government emails resulted in good press. Mostly.
Investigative reporter Lachlan Markey from the Washington Free Beacon requested from the Department of Energy (DOE) internal communications concerning the popular Netflix series, Stranger Things, in which the DOE is depicted in Stranger Things as a shadowy government agency run by mad scientists who (spoiler alert) loosed monsters upon the world when opening a way into parallel universes.
The e-mails from the DOE’s press office revealed that staffers (duh) loved the series and thought their agency was depicted as “sinister (but awesome)”.
However the staffers were less than pleased about spoilers.
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/784092960958746628
An internal newsletter included in the FOIA request begins with, “You may have received a call from friends and family asking if you’ve encountered dimensional rifts or children with ESP at work…”

Yes, that’s a reference to cat videos. (via the Washington Free Beacon)

The FOIA documents include several email threads: mostly plot summaries of Stranger Things and plans for the DOE’s lighthearted blog post, which stated: “The show’s portrayal of the Energy Department was a little less than accurate.”

Markey did have one heavily redacted page concerning the DOE’s involvement with weapons manufacturing and human experimentation as alleged in Stranger Things:

https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/784091441987481600
The DOE tweeted back, what else? A shoutout to Barb, everyone’s favorite character on the show.

no matter what you write, it won't bring Barb back. #JusticeForBarb

— Charisma Troiano (@ENERGYSpox) October 6, 2016

With an abundance of “sinister suit” stereotypes in movies, sometimes we all need a reminder about the humans who staff government agencies.
For more, you can peruse a scan of the entire FOIA release which Markey uploaded on Scribd.