If you compare it to other well known properties of the 80’s, Gremlins has been horribly underserved. Ok, so maybe other such Spielbergian projects such as E.T. and The Goonies didn’t get many spinoffs either, but considering that Back To The Future git an animated series and a musical and Indiana Jones had a TV show and is still getting sequels, fans of Joe Dante’s mini-monster epic must feel decidedly short changed.
However, that’s now all set to change thanks to Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai, a brand new animated series that helped launch HBO’s latest rebranding that gives Gremlins nuts the first true, official content since 1990’s awesome-but-too-smart-for-its-own-good Gremlins 2: The New Batch. But has the ridiculously long wait been worth it?
We meet the impossibly cute Mogwai that we will eventually come to know as Gizmo as he watches over a village made up of countless other members of his fuzzy, adorable species. However, the peace is broken when the Smurf-like village is attacked by a huge, snapping bird that seems quite untethered by the fact that every single one of these cuddly creatures is a potential timebomb of mischievous destruction. In the chaos, Gimzo is carried far away and winds up at the feet of a travelling circus – which is probably the worst place this potential Gremlin-factory could probably end up.
Jump to Shanghai: 1920 and we’re introduced to Sam, a dutiful, detail-obsessed young boy who works at his family’s pharmacy who is dragged off into an adventure with his mischievous, life-loving grandpa much to the worry of his Ratner sensible parents. As the spunky old timer predictably tries to get his grandson to enjoy life a little and to stop being quite so serious, they come across a familiar circus, one in which the imprisoned Gizmo performs dance routines under the title of the amazing cat-dog. Sam naturally thinks that Gizmo, while obviously sad, is overwhelmingly sweet, but under that fuzzy, giant-eyed exterior is a cunning brain as soon the tenacious little bugger has enacted an escape and before you know it, has taken refuge with Sam who takes him home. Meanwhile, streetwise urchin, Elle, is searching for the Mogwai for a shadowy buyer and money is no object to this obviously sinister gentleman.
However, while veryone else thinks that little Gimzo is just some endearingly sassy rodent, Grandpa is fully aware of what the Mogwai are and how catastrophically dangerous they can be if certain rules aren’t obeyed. Cue some spilt water…
To continue my complaint from the top of the review, the lack of a longer running Gremlins franchise has been something that’s been getting on my nerves for over thirty years now – something that is blatantly inexcusable considering that the Critters series has made it to five movies and has even had a bloody TV show! Well, the wait is finally over and I am extremely happy to report that the first episode – tantalisingly titled “Never Get Them Wet” – has been well worth the wait.
Developed by Tze Chun, executive produced by Steven Spielberg and given a last minute bit of quality control by Joe Dante himself (although he claims the show barely needed it), Secrets Of The Mogwai gets immediately stuck in to cracking open all those questions about what Mogwai actually are and were Gizmo originally came from. While there are some who cling to the utter bonkers explanation given by George Gipe’s mental tie-in novel to the original movie (and who’s to say the show won’t go to such extremes), we’re given immediate teasers by seeing Gizmo in his natural habitat.
The show’s design is crisp and nicely stylised, forgoing intricate detail for clean, simple shapes which is perfect for realising the iconic Mogwai in his belated comeback and the computer animation is clean and distinctive enough to stand out. It may not be up to the standard of the impossibly inventive Spider-Verse movies (what is?), but it’s certainly more striking and smooth than that of say, Netflix’s Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous series.
However, the most intriguing aspect of the show so far is that setting it in 1920’s Shanghai is something of a master stroke, allowing us to enact the familiar story of boy-meets-mythical-creature, boy-immediately-violates-creature’s-rules, boy-causes-inordinate-destruction-of-hometown-on-Christmas-Eve, in an entirely new surroundings. In fact, what’s even better is that young Sam Wing grows up to be the wizened old man who refuses to sell Gimzo to Rand Peltzer in 1984 which ties things together incredibly well.
The characters are precocious without being annoying and while we haven’t seen too much of the other cast yet to comment, the trifecta of Izaac Wang (Sam), Grampa Wang (the legendary James Hong, who utterly kills it) and Gizmo (A.J. LoCascio making all kinds of squeaks and coos in the absence of Howie Mandel) is more than enough to keep the early episode moving along. The fact that young Sam is disproportionately sensible for one so young (he has a 21-year plan) is teamed with his game-for-anything senior who boasts a past of adventuring, magic and a knowledge of what Gizmo actually is, is a great pairing and one that seems like it’s going to genuinely fun.
Any issues that arise from this first episode are all decidedly minor. An action scene late in the episode plays a little fast and loose with Gizmo’s tolerance to sunlight (under shade is fine) and the fact that the Mogwai’s actual name is phonetically similar to the nickname given to him by Sam which coincidentally is the same name given to him 64 years later may make some cynical eyeballs roll, but it’s nothing serious.
However, the most gratifying thing so far is how thoroughly Gremlins the whole thing feels. Not only do we retain Jerry Goldsmith’s perfect main theme (yes!), but the cliffhanger ending of Gimzo reproducing other Mogwai with differently looks has leapt right out of the cadre of malevolent furballs that popped out of his back in Gremlins 2.
As perfect a continuation as a fan could have hoped for (save a third movie, of course), Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai is off to a cracking start, but whether it can sustain it for a further nine episodes is something that remains to be seen. However, if it keeps up this level of quality, Gremlins fans can look forward to eating well over the next few weeks – just not after midnight…
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 