# Gremlins **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607 "2000-07-14T21:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yosemite\_Joy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/13edae/32.png) [@Yosemite\_Joy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosemite_Joy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/1 "2000-07-14T21:42:22Z")
Let’s see if I recall correctly it’s 1. Don’t give them water 2. Keep them out of lights 3. And NEVER EVER feed them past midnight My question is wht if they moved time zones? What about Daylight Savings Time? I have pondered this with some friends and we are all stumped. Didn’t the people who made this movie realize this? 😕 YES I DO HAVE A LIFE…I am just curious… ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/2 "2000-07-14T21:46:31Z")
I wondered about that when the movie first came out. And the other thing I wondered was when it became late enough to be considered the next morning and not “after midnight” any more? 2:00? 3:00? ---
**Author:** ![winky99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71c47a/32.png) [@winky99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/winky99)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/3 "2000-07-14T21:46:32Z")
And at what point past Midnight was it ok to feed them again? Bright Light!! ::covers eyes:: ---
**Author:** ![winky99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71c47a/32.png) [@winky99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/winky99)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/4 "2000-07-14T21:47:40Z")
That was kind of cool. Same question, same time, same bat channel. ---
**Author:** ![Yosemite\_Joy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/13edae/32.png) [@Yosemite\_Joy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosemite_Joy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/5 "2000-07-14T21:51:18Z")
Good Question…Who wrote this movie? Were they smokin’ crack? Where is thier common sense? (I apologize to all you crack smokers hanging out here at MPSIMS) ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/6 "2000-07-14T21:54:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xizor \* > \*\*I wondered about that when the movie first came out. And the other thing I wondered was when it became late enough to be considered the next morning and not “after midnight” any more? 2:00? 3:00? \*\* My WAG is that this time period would be what is known as “The Witching Hour”, therefore, you would not feed a Mogwai between 12am and 1am, no matter where you lived. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/7 "2000-07-14T22:53:48Z")
I had a '72 model. It took regular unleaded. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/8 "2000-07-14T23:36:27Z")
Yeah, it doesn’t really matter if you feed a Gremlin after Midnight - he (or in a singular instance, she) is still a Gremlin. Feed a Mogwai after Midnight, though, and you’ve got a whole different animal. My guess as to when you can feed them is that Mogwai are diurnal creatures, and they have to sleep every night. The dangerous time is after Midnight, but before they go to sleep. If you wake them up around 2 AM or something, they’re so grumpy that they don’t want to eat anyway. Incidentally, in _Gremlins 2: The New Batch_, they pose the question about Time Zones, and also, “What if he gets something stuck in his teeth when he’s eating, and it gets dislodged and he swallows it after Midnight?” Also (geez, it’s been so long) I think that it’s not water that originally reproduces Gizmo, but Orange Juice. Just doing my part to help others realize that they do, after all, have a life. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/9 "2000-07-15T06:31:42Z")
I don’t know who wrote it but Gremlins has just been re-released and I found out something that I never knew before. It’s a Steven Spielberg production. Man, that guy really gets around. I had a similar experience a while ago when Poltergiest, which Spielberg also produced. As for Gremlin’s 2: A New Batch, anyone remember Gizmo’s “training” where he makes the crossbow out of those big paper clips? Man, give Gizmo an edge in a film and hilarity ensues! ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/10 "2000-07-15T06:41:15Z")
Yosemite\_Joe asks: > [@](#): > > My question is wht if they moved time zones? What about Daylight Savings Time? I have pondered this with some friends and we are all stumped. Didn’t the people who made this movie realize this? Yes, they did realize this. There was a scene in Gremlins 2 where a news guy was asking those exact questions right before a gremlin ate him. They wrote those questions into the script so they obviously realized it. Well, at least by the second movie they did. ---
**Author:** ![FreakFreely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@FreakFreely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreakFreely)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/11 "2000-07-15T07:09:32Z")
I have my own theory. Ever heard about how some people have nightmares if they eat before they go to sleep? Maybe Mogwai are sleep walkers. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/12 "2000-07-15T07:19:32Z")
[hijack] That had to be one of the sickest movies I’ve ever seen. Yeah, the little furry critters were cute, and the little scaly guys were scary, but the love interest’s dad has been stuck in the chimney for years?? You’d think Stephen King was involved in the production of THAT one… [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/13 "2000-07-15T13:07:55Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t know who wrote it but Gremlins has just been re-released and I found out something that I never knew before. It’s a Steven Spielberg production. I had a similar experience a while ago when Poltergiest, which Spielberg also produced. Interesting story behind all that, too. Way back when, when Spielberg was developing “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” he was working with screenwriter Paul Schrader (“Taxi Driver,” “Hardcore”). The story they developed was about malevolent aliens terrorizing people. It had a lot of the elements that eventually ended up in CE3K, but was not an uplifting story. So Spielberg decided to rewrite on his own, kept a lot of Schrader’s ideas, and went from there. One of Schrader’s plot elements involved one of the aliens _not_ being malevolent, and being rather friendly and helpful, and getting left behind at the end of the film. Having changed the focus of the story, Spielberg decided that that subplot had little dramatic impact now, so he cut it. THe friendly-alien-gets-left-behind idea, of course, became “E.T.” Spielberg also developed a story and screenplay based on the “family terrorized by alien forces” idea, which became “Poltergeist.” Director’s Guild rules prohibit directors from directing two films simultaneously, so Spielberg decided to direct “E.T.” (then known as “A Boy’s Life”) and hired “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” director Tobe Hooper to direct “Poltergeist” from his screenplay. As it happens, Spielberg was a very, er, “hands-on” producer on “Poltergeist,” much to Hooper’s dismay. He even directed portions of the film himself, leaving Hooper to deal strictly with the mechanics of blocking and camera placement. Later, when Chris Columbus (who should’ve remained a writer) was writing “Gremlins” for Spielberg’s Amblin’ Entertainment, Spielberg shared with him some of the “scary alien” ideas from his and Shrader’s “Close Encounters” script. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/14 "2000-07-15T23:07:15Z")
_in his best Johnny Carson voice_: I did not know that. 😃 Very cool info pldennison. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/15 "2000-07-15T23:19:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Also (geez, it’s been so long) I think that it’s not water that originally reproduces Gizmo, but Orange Juice. i can’t remember that well, either… but i thought it was watercolour water or something. ---
**Author:** ![ArkonDLoC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@ArkonDLoC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArkonDLoC)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/16 "2000-07-16T00:06:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > **My guess as to when you can feed them is that Mogwai are diurnal creatures, and they have to sleep every night.** Logical Question: How can they be diurnal if sunlight kills them? Unless they’re subterranian, they have to be nocturnal. Of course, logic has no place in movies. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/17 "2000-07-16T08:11:03Z")
There’s no problem when they’re in their natural habitat - locked in some old Oriental man’s cage - because then they’re always inside. Take them out of this habitat, and you get all sorts of confused creatures and zany antics! ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2000, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gremlins/25607/18 "2000-07-16T08:55:22Z")
I always figured it was after midnight, but before they slept. I am going to avoid saying “It’s just a movie, it doesn’t matter,” though. [hijack2] Am I the only one who immediately said “Hey, look, it’s Gizmo!” the first time they saw a Furby? [/hijack2]