The Gremlins Novel Makes The Movie Look Sane
If you thought Gremlins was a wild movie, it’s got nothing on the book. The Gremlins novel takes the furry little critters who turn into reptilian pranksters when they eat too late and makes them even weirder. How weird? Would you believe Gizmo’s an alien?
The Perfect Lifeform
According to the Gremlins novel, the Mogwai were created centuries ago by a scientist named Mogturmen. Mogturmen created the creatures to be the perfect lifeform—adaptable to any climate and able to reproduce easily.
Unfortunately, the Mogwai turn out mischievous, with Gizmo’s peaceful nature being a fluke.
For some reason, Gizmo is sent to Earth, where he is discovered by Mr. Wing and cared for until the events of the movie.
Along with a new extraterrestrial origin, the Gremlins novel also gives Gizmo a voice—and we don’t mean Howie Mandel. Rather, the book contains several long passages featuring Gizmo and the other Mogwai/Gremlins having conversations in their native tongue.
Mogwai Have Longer Lives
What could the Gremlins have to discuss, you might wonder? Quite a lot, it seems. One passage from the Gremlins novel where Stripe confronts Gizmo about being created with higher intelligence and a longer lifespan reads like something from Blade Runner:
““It’s not fair that you should be allowed such a long life and we such a short one,” Stripe hissed in Mogwai words.
“It was an accident of the Mogturmen’s creative process,” Gizmo replied softly.”
Much More Eloquent Gremlins
“You also have more knowledge than we,” Stripe charged. “More life and more knowledge. Why don’t you share it with us? We want there to be more of us. If we’re doomed to short lives, at least we can spread our species, enjoy the company of our massed millions.”
At one point in the Gremlins novel, Gizmo even uses reverse psychology to convince Stripe not to reproduce. If you haven’t seen Gremlins in a while, let us remind you that in the film, the creatures’ speech is limited to small phrases like “Bright light!”
In the book, they won’t shut up.
Gremlins Change History
Author George Gipe based the Gremlins novel partly on an earlier copy of the screenplay and partly on his own wacky ideas.
The part in the book where Billie’s dad, Rand Peltzer, comes home early and engages the Gremlins in combat comes from an early draft of the shooting script. Meanwhile, the scene where Gizmo reminisces about “watching mind-battles between the armored worms of Ucursian,” is pure Gipe.
In the movie Gremlins, Billie’s neighbor, Mr. Futterman, alludes to the existence of Gremlins prior to the film’s events.
The book, on the other hand, flat-out gives us a list of Gremlin-caused disasters throughout history. A few of the highlights include the East Coast power failure of 1965, a collision involving a runaway train, a jet plane, and an oil tanker in 1962, and even the Bay of Pigs.
Joe Dante Had His Own Weird Ideas
For anyone who’s been watching the ’80s horror comedy for decades, the Gremlins novel can be quite a shock. We can’t imagine anyone sitting in the theater in 1984 thinking, “I bet these things came from outer space.” Not that director Joe Dante’s version of the Mogwai’s origin is any better.
“In my mind, they came from China and were the results of the mating of a dragon and a panda.” Dante said in an interview once. On second thought, perhaps the Gremlins novel isn’t as weird as we thought.
