Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai (max) (2023)

I loved the ending. Great iconic closing shot. And the bad guy's bit about the differences between explanations and excuses to deflect blame lets us know a lot about him.

And the scene at the beginning of the little Mogwais singing in the village was beyond adorable.

I love the positive Chinese representations in the series. To be honest, the films were a bit dodgy there. This feel more real and less stereotypical.

I don't love that Sam coincidentally named him "Gizmo". I understand why that needs to be for branding reasons, but I don't like it. It doesn't make sense.

The idea that Gizmo IS this old is not something I believe the films set up (although it's been awhile since I've seen them) but I don't think the idea contradicts anything either.

Positive impression. I wish more had been done with this property before now. 4 stars.

Oh no! Gremlins!

Greene is a refreshing villain because he has great powers of observation and deduction. It's a great and unusual skill to give a villain (it's almost exclusively the gift of a hero detective) and it really sets both him and the entire show apart.

And the scene of him swallowing the orb with Grandpa in it was horrific. But I don't think Grandpa is actually dead. I doubt they'd be allowed to get away with something that visually horrible if it were permanent.

I love Sam suggesting to Gizmo that the new Mogwais might be considered his kids. You know what? They might be at that.

I'm loving this show so far. 4 stars.

I like that all the episode titles are rules. Rules were what the first movie was about.

Elle cannot be trusted. At least not yet.

The Mogwai don't turn into Gremlins on this show. Furry Mogwai turn into scaly Mogwai instead. They are considered the same species.

The idea that whoever eats a furry Mogwai whole will gain immortality is a great and gruesome hook, and explains why the creatures are considered valuable. We never actually understood why that was so in the movies, but the show came up with a solid reason.

Speaking of gruesome, the puke Gremlin and the severed finger don't actually involved blood, but they both say the show's TV-PG rating is earned.

Solid. 4 stars.

Sam instantly drinking the tea offered by the creepy lady shows that Elle was right to consider him a liability and ditch him.

I think Elle's flashback was supposed to deliberately mirror Kate's "And that's the day I learned there was no such thing as Santa Claus" speech from the first film, but as far as parallels goes, it doesn't work. I found Elle's story horrific, but within bounds of the rest of the story, while Kate's insane sob story actually ruined the first movie completely. I still can't believe they never cut that scene.

Green is funny insisting the henchmen not humanize themselves by telling him their names, and telling Sam's parent if they HAD to amputate, he wanted the arm. But the ending proves something I hope they don't buy back later: Gremlins cannot be controlled. They are pure chaos and cannot be weaponized by anyone for that reason.

It was cool. 4 stars.

TV-PG indeed. Human deaths and gory gross-out ends for the Gremlins are back.

The jar Gremlin is taking one of the conceits of the second film. Oftentimes a Gremlin wiil get disfigured or turn into a weird sort of Mutant and be stuck that way until they're killed. Gremlins are the species always getting either permanently mutilated or superpowered.

I instantly dislike Radish and am very concerned he's going to go on the journey. He's a bad character. His demeanor is entirely off-putting, and I think he's gonna be a hindrance on par with Shortround. Not as a racist of course. But I expect the character is going to be one I endure rather than enjoy.

It's so cute Greene thinks he can strike a deal with the Gremlins. What part of chaos does he not get?

The franchise is going back to its horror movie roots. It doing so while being a kids cartoon is a pretty cool thing. 4 stars.

That was amazing. What a great creation myth for a 40 year old franchise. And yeah, the feeding rule initially dealing with moonlight actually makes sense although I don't see how it's possible humans themselves were able to shorten it to "after midnight".

I love the idea that lobster were never intended to be eaten. When she puts it that way. What WERE they created for? Who can remember?

This episode is the first time we're ever heard of scaled Mogwais being "cured", and reverted back to furry Mogwais. I don't expect that a second time for these beasts, but it's good to have that option in the back pocket in case the worst were ever to happen to Gizmo himself. That Goddess strike me as incredibly useful. And the poison made her useless at the worst possible moment.

What a great episode. 4 1/2 stars.

Drunkenness is okay to talk about. Red blood is still a problem.

I had a problem with Nuwa always talking down Elle. Her coming around at the end was nice, but Occam's Razor says Elle actually cares and is NOT the selfish monster Nuwa is saying she is. Way before she nearly died sacrificing herself for Gizmo she clearly was on Team Good Guy.

Greene's specific horrible superpower is one of the most damaging you can possibly imagine. I really wish he didn't have it. I don't see how the heroes can win while he does. They obviously do, because check out those two 1980's movies. But this seems impossible while he has not only the ability to kill their biggest guns, but to absorb both all their knowledge and all their powers. Him just swallowing a God makes me unhappy.

She's greatly weakened though, and not able to use her powers, and hopefully that aspect is part of what he got. But still, damn.

It's really cool the show gave Radish a happy ending. Because the character creeps me out, and I would NOT have liked him to actually become a series regular. I guess I can tolerate him on a guest star basis.

I love the Celestial Administrator revealing and twisting the knife that Greene is what he is because he was never hugged as a child. Greene doesn't miss a beat and instead of being ashamed or embarrassed, he slices the dude in half as punishment. Let's not bring that up again in the future, all right? It's good to know, and explains a lot, but knowing it doesn't help the heroes, and probably makes things worse. So shush.

This show is just so great. 4 stars.

Oh, my God! This show is bananas! I will always have a special place in my heart for Gremlins 2: The New Batch. But this show blows the first film out of the water. And I love that about it. I love that the producers did not worry about not overshining The Legacy, and simply made the premise the best it could be. It was a great premise in a flawed first movie and a good second one. I love that decades of hindsight have given the producers of this show fuller license to explore the world of the Mogwais and how they came to be.

Greene having his hands sliced off and stumped is just desserts. He is, of course not out of the picture, and still the true threat. But he was playing dirty the entire season, and it was fun to watch one of his loopholes backfire on hum, Especially funny because the answer was realized by a Gremlin, no Rhodes Scholars them. Even the George Takei Gremlin's intelligence is probably limited. What they DO possess is low cunning and large degree of self-interest and self-preservation.

Not too large, I hope. The race would probably last a lot longer if they weren't always so obsessed with "fun". That usually ends in a blender and a microwave.

Ah, Greene got all of Nuwa's power at full strength and is not poisoned after all. Damn it.

Is a temporary alliance with Greene coming next week? That's what I would do if I wrote the show, but the previews suggest the producers have something else in mind.

Some people will call foul on the fact that of course, Gizmo himself is the only one not turned into a Gremlin. It doesn't make logical sense to leave him furry. He is now a valuable hostage that both Greene and Sam and Elle will stop at nothing to get back. But I like the explanation the show had. The Gremlins were specifically trying to hurt Gizmo HIMSELF. Watching his friends and family be corrupted, (probably forever with Muwa gone) is even more painful because he's the one left behind. In the writer's room, it's done because Gizmo must remain Gizmo in this continuity. As far as the characters' motivations go, it's a brilliant early example of how much the Gremlins take a personal dislike to Gizmo himself, unlike every other Mogwai. He reminds them of what they used to be, and what they used to hate about themselves, and he's just so much more damn noble than they ever were. He must suffer for this. And it's giving these wacky little monsters real personalities and motivations for the first time ever. Did I mention this show isn't afraid to be the best thing in the franchise? That! That!

I look at the recent Jurassic World and Fast & Furious cartoons, and they seem even more woefully inadequate in contrast compared to this. The writers and producers of those shows were not under any sort of obligation to the fans of those movies to make 100% sure those cartoons were the worst things in the franchise, and never outshone the source material. That was in fact a deliberate choice on the producers' end. This show proves to me it's not remotely a legitimate choice, and I feel nothing but scorn for both Camp Cretaceous and Spy Racers.

This show is knocking it out of the park. I wish tie-ins to CURRENT stuff was this good. It's amazing it took revisiting a franchise that's spent over 30 years in mothballs to get a decent kiddie cartoon tie-in. But that's apparently what happened. 5 stars.

Greene ALMOST did it. He ALMOST got to call them Gremlins. Although I thought Gremlins was a World War II thing and this is set in the 1920's.

Either way, the show is pretty awesome.

The stuff in the nightclub and the theater was from the movie. Where do the Gremlins find all of those little clothes anyways?

You can get a TV-PG rating for "Hell on Earth" and "Caca". Both of those things are labeled "course language" if you can believe that. Apparently, I've been swearing wrong all this time.

Good stuff. 4 stars.

Greene is one of those villains who wants what's worst for everyone. His plans actually won't help him, and are actually pointless. He has no redeeming virtues. His ending was just.

Loved the tag of Noggin on the boat to San Francisco. Means the show isn't over. Without it, I would have considered it a closed ended miniseries.

Changing the Gremlins back to Mogwai was the right move. Although take note: There is an unusual amount of gore due to the sunlight. The fact that Madame Claw apparently had genuine feelings for Gizmo also gives me a sense of remorse for her gruesome ending.

Grandpa and Nuwa being okay after all is because this is a kids show and I like that it's a kids show.

Flasher Gremlin was a nod to the movie.

I love this show so much. That was a great finale. 4 1/2 stars.