One of the most pleasant surprises of last year was Max’s long overdue addition to Gremlins continuity, Gremlins: Secret Of The Mogwai which swept in a delivered the finest slice of Gremlins lore seen since the giggling green critters dissolved in a puddle of goo at the climax of their second movie. While it’s also fair to say it was pretty much the only slice of lore that the franchise had in over thirty years, that didn’t stop the little animated series that could being an utter joy to a rabid Gremlins fan such as myself as it opened up an entire world of supernatural, Chinese history and plonked it seamlessly into an animated series that followed the tone of Joe Dante’s original impressively closely.
Well, guess what. Like a Mogwai in a water fight, thecseries has multipled into a second season that not only promises to take the action into San Francisco, but it lays out possibly the most intriguing scenario that Gremlins has ever suggested.
What if Gizmo went… evil?!
It’s been roughly a year since a Gremlin attack tore the city of Shanhai a new a-hole, but after a cover story concerning bad alcohol and an invasion of mutant komodo dragons has smoothed everything over, it’s business as usual for Sam, his overly cautious family, his orphan friend Elle and his mischievous grandpa. However, this new era of calm doesn’t seem to be extending its reach to Gizmo who apparently is experiencing some Mogwai-related glitches in his normally benevolent personality and as he escapes one night to become a one-Mogwai wrecking crew, his behavior and red eyes suggest behavior that’s worryingly Gremlin-like.
However, when he almost eats just after midnight, Sam and Elle declare it the last straw and realise that something has to be done, but Gizmo’s behavioral issue have to take a back seat when Sam and Elle discover that not only have some Gremlins survived the battle of Shanghai, but they’ve managed to stow away on a ship to America which could spell disaster for the world in general.
Deciding that the mystical being known as Nuwa must be alerted, Grandpa Wing reveals that he knows a shortcut to the Valley Of Jade thanks to various portals being scattered around the world. But after finding one in Shangai located in a movie theatre (which probably could have saved us a lot of time in Season One if Grandpa hadn’t been sucked into a pearl), the group has to contend with wisecracking Ice Dragons, Big Big and Little Big, who bar their way to seeing the Celestial Administrator and getting help.
However, in a snafu that can only occur in the Gremlins universe, Sam, Elle and Gizmo end up falling through a portal that dumps them in San Francisco – which would be great news; if they hadn’t arrived in Alcatraz…
For some inexplicable reason, I didn’t see much press one way or the other concerning Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai, which was nothing sort of criminal as it really deserved to be touted as something special in a time when animation is regularly infusing existing properties such as Spider-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men with bold new life. Thankfully the first episode of The Wild Batch manages to uphold this tradition and give my Gremlins-starved ass more of the goods it so desperately seemed to need.
For a start, the decision to move the show to that other spiritual home for the franchise – San Francisco – is worth the price of admission alone, primarily because that’s where we first met Gizmo and an elderly Sam as he was accidently sold to Hoyt Axton’s Rand Peltzer decades later in 1984. However, we don’t manage to get there until the end of the episode, so until then, “Always Be Ready For Adventure” drops us back into this world in a way that eases us in while still attacking us with supernatural weirdness.
Thus we getvall the normal beats that includes Sam being pragmatic, James Hong’s Grandpa Wing being reckless and Sam’s parents (still played by Ming-Na Wen and BD Wong) being so overly protective, they’ve managed to whip up a 20-year, 50-step life plan for their son to ensure he follows in their footsteps. However, to stop things bring too familiar, both Gizmo and Elle have other things going on that’ll play out while they go toe-to-claw with their green, big- eared nemesis. Elle is having vibrant dreams about her childhood that sees her long lost mother plead that her daughter should come and try to find her in America which will no doubt come to fruition in an episode or two – but the main issue seems to be with ol’ Giz himself as the show finally sees to be partly embracing a question that’s been on my mind for decades.
While I truly believe no filmmaker would ever truly pull the trigger on turning Gizmo into a Gremlin (good god people, hasn’t he been through enough?), the notion of what would happen if the iconic Mogwai ever started developing Gremlin-style traits has been a concept if been idly wondering about since the 80s and it seems that the writers have too. So we now get the sight of a Gizmo who is sporting giant, red eyes and is causing chaos as he enacts little rampages while he sleeps and I have to be honest – I think this will be the plot thread that’s going to hold my interest the most as it gives us an entirely new mindset for the little, furry, trouble magnet.
Another thing that’s carried over I to the new season is the show’s habit of casting prominent Asian actors as much as it can in cool, cameo roles and this time it’s the turn of Ronny Chieng and Jimmy O’ Yang who play the jocular Ice Dragons Big Big (who is little) and Little Big (who is also little) who lure our heroes into a battle with their third brother, Little Little (who is huge) and their banter (especially a panicked confession to killing the dinosaurs and starting the ice age) proves to be a perky highlight.
However, if any proof was needed that the animated Gremlins show is back and operating at full steam is that the first episode is so full of incident, jokes (Wing admits to eating Mogwai scat for tracking purposes) and little references (surely the cinema in Shangai is a nod to the Kingston Falls movie theatre), you don’t actually realise that there’s not a single Gremlin in the episode at all until it’s over – which proves that its dedication to the tone set by Joe Dante’s original movie still holds strong.
A spirited return for the show then that boasts a new playground, new rules and even more connections to the original movies. Get ’em wet, feed ’em after midnight, let’s friggin’ go.
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