Remember the Three Rules?

Keep them away from the Bright Light.

Do not let them get Wet.

But most importantly; no matter how much it cries – no matter how much it begs – Never, ever, feed them after Midnight.

Oh! .. You didn't listen?

Well, here are My 2 Cents on MAX's new series, Gremlins Secrets of the Mogwai, an animated prequel to the 1984 Horror Comedy Gremlins and its more insane 1990 Sequel, Gremlins 2 the new Batch.

Premise...

The series is set in 1920 and tells the story of how Gizmo, a young Mogwai, is force out from his secret village in an eagle attack and falls onto the hands of a traveling circus and turns him into their latest performance, thus his meeting with 10 y/o Sam Wing – old Man Wing from the movies and Gizmo's keeper – in his home city of Shanghai.

After been rescue by Sam and his Grandfather – a former adventurer and treasure hunter with knowledge of the mystical, who identify Gizmo for what it is and the danger that his kind represents – they planned to set out to take our lost Mogwai back to his home – the Valley of Jade – before disaster befalls China once more.

Unfortunately, our little friendly fur ball gets wet and spawns 4 new Evil Mogwai (Claw, Snout, Gaptooth and Noggin) and Sam is left on his own with Gizmo when an industrialist, Riley Greene, who also possess knowledge of the mystical and access to the Dark Arts to boot, takes his family as he seeks the little Mogwai for himself and has devious plans to use the now turned Gremlins, led by Claw.

Now Sam, Gizmo, and their ally Elle, must travel the length of China to reach the Valley of Jade and reunite our brave Mogwai with those of his kind while running from Greene, his Gremlins and any other Mystical creature that also seeks Gizmo for the secret: The Four Rule.

My Opinion...

After watching the four episodes release thus far, I say that we got here an interesting addition to Joe Dante's Gremlins, which doesn't use the weird idea of the Mogwai been alien creatures, as it was written by George Gripes for the novel back in 84, and that Dante wasn't too kin of, as he view the little fur balls and their malicious variants as Mystical creatures. Though one thing is kept, which is the bases for the Fourth Rule.

I, who had my doubts for this show, but reserve Judgement till I at least got to see as much Episodes, am pleased to say the show is really good – Spielberg and Dante did good; Not a solid 10, but a secure 8 for me, mostly because the first Episode is something of a slow burner, not bad to be fair, and things don't get really starting until the 2nd Episode, but WB feels confident with it and the fan reception, that a 2nd Season has been ordered. It doesn't shy away to show violence when it needs to which you would not think to expect for a show where kids and a little friendly furry creature are the main protagonists; I actually gasped with a mutilation scene and how the Gremlin takes joy in the suffering of the henchmen at every turn. So when it needs to be shown, it is done quite well, since this is a show aim to both kids, as well the fans of the films.

Also, we get the Dark Humor in the form of Greene consistently dehumanizing his henchmen, never referring them by name, but Henchman and a number, and he is blatantly honest about this. As main villain he is fun to watch, he will give a quick quip when doing so, but he is still one who will not tolerate excuses for failure and his way of showing punishment is unique. As quick as snack, if you will. Greene is voice by Mathew Rhys, and he does an excellent job on his role as the main villain.

Another really funny dark humor moment is when one of the Gremlins ... “volunteers” for something, doesn't end well for the poor bastard, yet he is still alive in his new jarring condition. I do hope he gets well😄

However, what about our two main human characters; Sam and Elle?

I'm please to say both are enjoyable and don't feel jarring in anyway, which can be a problem when it comes with putting kids as your main protagonist, but Sam and Elle passed my “Just Give us Good Characters, Please?” Test.

This is reflective in their upbringings which is the bases for their personalities and morals.

Sam is a hardworking child, who loves his family and was hoping for a future in learning from his mother's pharmaceutic education, but his Grandfather, concern that been under the wing (get it?) of his parents, would not allow him to travel the world and learn from it, like he did. Where as Elle, whose upbringings makes her know of the world's hardships which explains the path she took as a thief, but which also lead her to Greene and a never ending debt to pay with him.

These colliding personalities, born from opposite upbringings and motivations, is the subject of their friction, and yet is equally the key to their strength;

Sam's knowledge of herbs and chemistry, as well been the keeper of his Grandfather's journal which contains years of knowledge of the mystical, is complimented by Elle's agility, quick of wit and resourcefulness. Yet, when without the other, both can fall in trouble when facing Mystical creatures on their own. This odd team, born on their strength of the other's talents is the key to help Gizmo to make it home and which is also fired up by their own motivations; Sam's need to save his family, and Elle to be free from Greene. Simple, to the point, character motivations to root for - and you'll love them for that.

Both are voice by Izaac Wang and Gabrielle Nevaeh Green.

And of course, there is Gizmo, the star of the franchise - seeing him been happy in his home when he is snatch away, when trying to save other Mogwai, you can't feel but sorry for the little guy. Surprisingly, he is far more intrepid than his timid self from the movies - that's probably because the movies feature puppets and you had limitation on what they could do, where as in here, been animation, he is agile and jumping obstacles. Still you root for the little guy. It is disappointing to know Howie Mandel is not voicing the character this time, a bit unfortunate, but A.J. Locascio steps in for the role and thus a good job doing Gizmo voice.

Sitting back, I kinda felt a bit like I'm watching Goonies meets the Monster Squad the cartoon show and honestly, I was enjoying it, and already it gave me my favorite character thus far, and I hope we get to see more of him in the future and than that wasn't his final Bow.

Also, I did like some of the references it made, specially one which is related to a past work of the shows veteran actor, James Hong. You'll be quick to spot it. It escaped me, mostly because I hadn't seeing it in years.

The show also tries to be consistent with its own lore, while adding the Mystical stuff into it, as well the Fourth Rule - We got Gremlins, but they are not refereed to as such, since the term would not be coined by British Pilots until WWII and later adopted by Mr. Futterman for every single issue that would befall his equipment later in life (we love you, where ever you are Dick Miller) which Billy and the others adopted to referred to the final form. So Greene refers to them as Meaner Stronger Mogwai or Scaly one by another character.

The one single major change that differs from the movie is Gizmo's name; here is already called Gizmo (or Giz Mo), which contradicts the movie, as Randall Peltzer (Billy's father) named him with that when he bought him in 1984, yet Old man Wing never referred to the little guy as such but Mogwai, and if memory serves me, I think was a bit peeved when he learned they named him (a may be wrong on this, need to watch the movie again).

Also a bit off putting is when seeing Gizmo expose (indirectly) to sunlight at times, though he uses means to protect himself, like sheets, vent lids or been under the shades, but still, you would think when exposing to some level of sunlight would have him in Goopsville by now. However, it is consistent the New Batch, where Gizmo is seeing running down the street after the demolition in broad daylight before been taken by Doctors Lewis and Martin.

Another change, is the Spawning of the Gremlins, which we saw in the trailers - Greene has one of the Gremlins wet and it spawns in a similar way to the Mogwai: little balls popping from the back (albeit fleshy than furry) rather than having the bubbly sacks of flesh that form on the back when a Gremlins spawns another one, and they can pop anywhere in the body that gets wet - in this case, the three new Gremlins come from the nose, which it was odd.

Still, these are a minor gripes and not enough to sour ones enjoyment of the show. The real only negative thing is the whole season its just 10 Episodes and WB is posting 2 a week - started last week and we are now up to four episodes in. So we'll be done with its run in three more weeks. I do hope season 2 gets more episodes.

In all, with a slow Episode starter, Gremlins Secrets of the Mogwai is a nice little addition to the Gremlins franchise, to keep us entice with the little Green Bastards and their never ending malicious quest to have a good time... At the expense of those humans, of course. Wouldn't be much of a Gremlins if they didn't.

8 out of 10, thus far, but enough to keep me around.

Now, I'll end this with these profound emotional words of wisdom.

*Ajum*

Gizmo ... CACA!!!!