The Story Behind Gremlins
From spec script to sequel possibilities...
BY Sep 15th 2009 8:08AMFILED UNDER: Features
It's hard - and scary - to believe that it's really been 25 years since Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg unleashed Gremlins on the world.
But the chattering, chaos-causing critters are indeed celebrating their silver cinematic anniversary this year, and they don't look a day over 600 (it's the faces).
Take a stroll with us back through time and down the main street of the picturesque small American town of Kingston Falls. As Christmas creeps up, the craziness is about to begin.
And all because one bloke couldn't follow a few simple rules…
1. A Brief History Of Gremlins
Long before the movie entered the minds of Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus and Joe Dante, gremlins had been causing problems for humanity.
The term "gremlin" originated with the Royal Air Force, becoming a slang term with pilots and technicians around the late 1920s. But it was truly popular among servicemen during World War Two, where the imaginary creatures were blamed for equipment failures and sabotage.
Despite the presence of faults and errors in the RAF, it seems that the annoying little beasts didn't favour one side or the other - the German military reported similar problems and "gremlins" as the cause for mechanical failure have long since passed into common use.
That's partly thanks to author Roald Dahl, who was familiar with the myth following his military service with the 80th Squadron of the RAF in the Middle East and a crash landing in Libya.
He was inspired to write a novel titled The Gremlins in 1942, in which he describes males (widgets) and females (fifinellas) of the species. Dahl submitted his story to the head of the British Information service, Sidney Bernstein, who suggested it get passed on to Walt Disney.
While Disney loved the idea and considered it as a film project, it never came to pass, though he helped push it out into the world via a few publications, which meant the concept become popular beyond the armed services.
Since then, the troublesome gremlin has spread through pop culture, cropping up in Warner Bros cartoons (Falling Hare, part of the Merrie Melodies series) and even more famously, the 1963 installment of The Twilight Zone, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, which sees William Shatner's nervy passenger bothered by a wing-ripping monster only he can seemingly see.
The segment was remade as the fourth segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Not, perhaps, coincidentally, the film featured contributions from both Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante...
Next: Columbus explores the idea
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