While daylight, mass electrocution and Lynn Peltzer have often proved to be the biggest causes of downfall the Gremlins seem to possess, thanks to a bizarrely long gap between episodes five and six of the second animated series based on Joe Dante’s classic, I guess we can include time as a major enemy too. I mean, for whatever reason, six months between episodes would be problematic for an average show, but it could be next to catastrophic for a show primarily aimed at kids. Generally welding an attention span as short at the titular, bat-eared monsters, six months is just around the right amount of time to completely forget everything that’s occurred in the series so far and be utterly lost when we finally picked up matters once again. However, seeing as Gremlins: The Wild Batch is something of an incredibly charismatic show that constantly deals out easter eggs to long time fans, can the belatedly continuing adventures of Gizmo, Sam and Elle manage to rehook its audience once more?
For those scratching their head trying to remember where we got to, Sam, Elle, Gizmo and Chang were still traversing America in an attempt to find the Water God known as Kung Kung in order to lift the curse placed on Elle’s mother that transformed her into a water being. We catch up with the gang as they’re chased by cops thanks to the fact that Chang is a) speeding and b) unwisely transporting bootleg rum in the back of the truck, but after a lot of bickering and a blown tyre, they manage to lose their pursuers and take refuge in a large, scary mansion known as Camp Castle.
A first, all the creaking foundations and flickering electricity seems to suggest that the group have stumbled upon another supernatural side mission and it’s soon confirmed when a cowering Butler known as Rodney fills them in on Camp Castle’s worrying history. After losing almost all of her family’s wealth after a money grubbing suitor poisoned her parents, it’s said that Lady Lillian Clamp (aka. the electric chairess) haunts the mansion to scare off any prospective thieves. Bit when the crackling, cackling ghost shows up, it starts to negatively effect the already unstable mental health of both Chang and Gizmo.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to catch up with their errant child, Sam’s parents and his Grandfather attempt to find a way to head them off by boarding the Train Between Worlds. However, to summon it they’ll need a special whistle and the only way they can get their hands on that is to find the Air Spirit known as Jingwei, a creature who is part woman, part bird and an ex-girlfriend of Grandpa Wing.
While we take a moment to appreciate just how freaky Grandpa Wing’s taste in woman really is (Jingwei is a bird from the waist down), Sam and Elle set about solving the mystery of Camp Castle; but even once they manage to escape, has the damage to Gizmo’s psyche already been done?
So it’s my great pleasure to announce that regardless of the reason that the second half of The Wild Batch was delayed for so long, it’s pretty much business as usual for the over achieving series. For a start, even without the benefit of a catch up, it was relatively easy for me to remember all the overarching plot threads such as Gizmo’s feral episodes, Elle mission to save her mother and Chang’s continuing issues about his dead father’s disappointment in him. Also, it kind of helps that Don’t Get Out Of The Truck is something of a bottle episode that helps you get back into the action while giving you time to get back into the swing of things. However, while all this other stuff helps casual viewers integrate back into the story, episode six proves to be yet another goldmine for those who love it when the show immersed itself fully in the franchise lore.
Anyone who knows their Stripes from their Mohawks will immediately recognise the name Camp as the Trumpian empire of Daniel Clamp from Gremlins 2: The New Batch and the fact we get to go back and cast an eye over the beginnings of the family fortune is admittedly pretty cool to a fan like me. Even better, Rodney is voiced by Daniel Clamp himself, John Glover, which may not mean much to younger viewers, but it’s exactly the sort of attention to detail and love for the franchise that brought me to the show in the first place. From here, the episode takes a much more Ghostbusters approach thanks to its focus on more western spirits as the spectral form of Lady Clamp bears more than a little resemblance to the Library Ghost that opened that film. Although, I have to enquire; is the swimming pool filled with skeletons supposed to invoke the body pit from Dario Argento’s Phenomena, because despite the fact that the scene is a far more PG version (for obvious reasons), my brain is trying to convince me its virtually the same room.
Of course, references to 80s Giallos in kids cartoons aside, after a spot of detective work, Sam and Elle figure everything out and once again we can move on, but thankfully the effects an unfortunate run in with hallucinogenic gas means that Chang and Gizmo’s issues are starting to snowball.
Gizmo’s monstrous attacks are getting ever more frequent and although we’re still not sure what’s going on there, Chang’s inferiority complex continues to be the main thrust of the season. It still seems that the disposed son of a crimeboss still feels he has something to prove, especially when his vision had the smart Gremlin known as Noggin mocking him mercilessly, but I feel that after a six month break, it’s probably time for the show to step up these sub-plots significantly.
But while Sam and the gang tangle with American legends, it’s down to his family to continue wrestling with the spirits of Chinese lore and the biggest take away here is that Grandpa Wang didn’t just have supernatural adventures during his youth, he actually indulged in supernatural relations too. While this means we have another pissed off God getting involved in the rapidly ballooning adventure, it does finally get Fong, Hon and Grampa onto the Train Between Worlds while allowing for some more bonding between the absent father and his long suffering daughter.
While Gremlins returns with an episode that eases us back in to the action nicely, I have to say, I feel like that massive gap may have done damage insofar that any more bottle episodes might start trying my patience a little and that the Wild Batch might need to start getting to the point sooner rather than later. But until then, Gremlins is back and is as fun as ever – but aside from stuff about sunlight, water and eating after midnight, could the next rule attributed to the franchise read something like “Don’t disappear randomly for six months”?
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