"Y'know they're still shippin' them over here. They put 'em in cars, they put 'em in yer TV. They put 'em in stereos and those little radios you stick in your ears. They even put 'em in watches, they have teeny gremlins for our watches!!" - Murray Futterman
The Gremlins are the fictional and unknown reptilian creatures who are the primary antagonists of the Gremlins franchise. They made their debut in the 1984 film Gremlins and reappeared in its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). They are also based upon the creatures with the same name of old English folklore.
In both movies, the Gremlins have a leader that is smarter than all others. Stripe is the leader in the first movie and though the Brain Gremlin is the smartest, Mohawk is the leader in the second movie (before being replaced by the Brain Gremlin).
A gremlin is the last stage of the Gremlin life cycle which goes from Mogwai-Cocoon-Gremlin. It is said that the gremlins are considered to be an unwanted side-effect from when the Mogwais were created on a far away planet to be used as ambassadors of peace on other planets.
Gremlins in different colors and with different looks.
They are about one metre tall, have reptilian skin, large batlike ears, sharp claws on their feet and hands and equally sharp teeth. Their looks and color may vary; which can be in either various shades of green, brown, and black. Their intelligence and strength varies and they are all very mischievous, violent and fun loving. They are capable of working (and sabotaging) complex machinery and devices, as apparent in folklore where they were believed to have brought down hundreds of planes. No gremlin has so far proved to be good-willed and nice and most of them don't seem to regard the life of their fellow gremlins, sometimes even killing or beating others for fun. Even though they are dangerous and fun loving they don't seem to hurt any human who are not afraid of them (example: when Grandpa Fred was doing a inside scoop of what was happening inside the building, not a single gremlin behind him laid a finger on him). Also in the deleted scenes when Grandpa Fred was doing his section George, Lenny and Daffy were present but didn't try to scare or hurt him, rather joining him for fun.
How new gremlins are born.
Mogwai evolve into gremlins by eating after midnight. It would appear that mogwai are aware of this as many show to be determined to eat after midnight. Even after their metamorphsis, gremlins still retain traits they had as mogwai, such as their dislike to bright lights and their vulnerability to sunlight and most dangerously their ability to multiply upon getting wet. Unlike the mogwais, where small furballs that pop out from their backs and quickly inflate to turn into new mogwais, the backs of the wet gremlins get riddled with big blisters that contains small gremlins that rather quickly break free and starts to grow. The gremlins that are giving birth to new gremlins are often more vulnerable than other gremlins because the birthing process is often painful for the creatures. Afterwards, they continue to live as if nothing happened, often along with the newly born gremlins that have quickly grown to full gremlin size.
Diet[]
Mogwai, the first stage in a gremlin's life cycle.
It is unknown if they are omnivorous or carnivorous. However, they don't usually eat food other than candy. But while as Mogwai, Stripe and his brothers ate chicken legs (which is meat) and Mohawk, Lenny, and George ate frozen yogurt (which is dairy). Daffy has eaten corn, but doesn't like chicken or mashed potatoes. Earl liked eating a sandwich that had lettuce, meat, and possibly cheese as he said, "Yum yum" when he grabbed a sandwich and ate it. Earl also liked the chocolate candy bar that Mr. Hanson gave him. However, Earl did not like the apple that he took a bite out of in Mr. Hanson's office. But he did like eating the glass test tube.
Cocoons, the second stage in a gremlins life-cycle.
A fully grown gremlin, the last stage in it's life cycle.
Gremlin Mutants[]
Main Article See: List of The Gremlins
In the second film, some of the gremlins are mutated. The following is a complete list of the mutated gremlins.
Vegetable Gremlin-One gremlin turns into a creature made of living vegetation.
Electric Gremlin-It drinks a serum that turns it into raw energy.
Brain Gremlin-It drinks a serum that increases its intelligence and gives it a human voice.
Bat Gremlin-It mutates into a bat-creature and is injected with genetic sunblock by the Brain Gremlin.
Phantom Gremlin-It has acid splashed in his face and hides his facial scars behind a mask.
Greta-One Gremlin drinks a serum and becomes female.
Mohawk/Spider-Gremlin-Near the end of the film, Mohawk drinks a potion that turns it into a spider-like gremlin.
The Animated Series[]
Gremlin name is Demon
Behind the scenes[]
Basically all of the gremlins in the film series were portrayed on screen by using animatronics and highly advanced puppets and puppetry, it was the only technique other than stop-motion to bring the creatures to life on screen with.
The Gremlins are often seen drinking beer, but they don't multiply. However, Randall Peltzer said to Billy not to give Gizmo any water to drink, mainly because it's water that makes them multiply not beer.
It was unknown if the Gremlins possessed a specific gender. It was then revealed with the release of Gizmo: The Game at least two female Mogwai existed - Valerie andGrace.
Gremlins are often said to be green, but gremlins are also shown to be other colours, including brown, yellow, and even black.
According to the first novel, the gremlins have caused many accidents in the past. The Memphis runaway escalators of 1972, the 1969 Super Bowl, the East Coast power failure of November 1965, a lesser known power failure a month later in Texas, New Mexico and Juarez, Mexico, the closing in 1963 of the New York Mirror (a newspaper that could not rid its systems of the gremlins), the 1962 collision of a runaway train, jet plane, and a seagoing tanker at Danzig, Poland, the Bay of Pigs paramilitary fiasco of 1961, the three day episode at the Onawa, Iowa, buttonhole factory in 1957, World War 2, and the disappearance of Vansk which was, until 1936, the largest city in Siberia.
Some different colored gremlins from Gremlins 2: the New Batch
