By Sarah Musnicky
Taking place one year after the events of season one, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH follows Gizmo, Sam, and Elle as they travel from their home in Shanghai to San Francisco, bringing even more magic, mystery, and Mogwai mayhem. Hot on the trail of a new brood of evil Mogwai, our heroes journey deep into the American West, coming up against new supernatural creatures and picking up a few mysterious characters along the way.
For GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH, Creepy Kingdom's Sarah Musnicky participated in a roundtable with Showrunner/Executive Producer/Co-writer Tze Chun and Co-writer/Executive Producer Brendan Hay. During their conversation, they discussed recreating a more historical San Francisco's Chinatown for the latest season, the prevalent theme of being able to take charge of one's identity, and the return of one of our favorite characters.
Recreating San Francisco of the 1920s
In the first half of GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH, the gang finds themselves in San Francisco's Chinatown - a place that, for many who have visited, has a timeless quality to its design. Given how much research was done to design Shanghai of the 1920s in the previous season, it would make sense that a similar approach was used in the latest season. But, as Tze Chun filled in for us, there were other influences in the design as well:
"I grew up on the East Coast, but I spent a lot of time, just because my family was Chinese, in Boston, Chinatown, and there's such an interesting history there. Some of my memories of the history of Boston, Chinatown, were transposed. My mom [actually] worked underneath a Chinese Benevolent Society, which is like a club I transposed onto San Francisco."
Even with those elements brought over from the East Coast, there is no denying how familiar San Francisco's Chinatown looks to those familiar with the neighborhood. All of that boiled down to how particular the animation team was about capturing as many details - big and small - into their version of San Francisco's Chinatown.
"San Francisco Chinatown has such an incredible visual look to it as well, with the hills. Even in the first season, our animation team was so exact about many things," Chun explained. "Even something like, how many inches across are the wheels of the trolley in San Francisco from 1922 to 1923. [I]t would go down to that level of detail."
Taking charge of your identity
With the Wing family's transition to the United States in GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH, a prominent theme began to find its footing in the first half of the season. Regardless of age or circumstance, how you define yourself is in your hands. There may be barriers to achieving that, but ultimately, you can craft your own identity. Not anyone else. This theming and messaging was intentional, according to Chun and Brendan Hay.
"A lot of how we were forming this season was, what's our version of an immigrant story, with the Mogwai, with coming to America and trying to fit in, but also as a new place for yourself, and as a place of reinvention. This was a chance to explore that with our characters," shared Hay. "We started with the immigration story, [but] once we started talking characters, [we realized] all of our arcs are going in that direction. Let's be intentional about it."
Leaning into how America has crafted its image also played a hand in the intention. For many of us, the America of old had cultivated the image of being a land of opportunity, regardless of where a person came from or what they had in their possession. "America is the land of reinvention, shared Chun. "You can decide who you are. America is filled with tall tales. All those are based on, at least the germ of it, something that really happened. And to see somebody [like Sam] creating a legend about themselves in real-time spoke to the Americanness of this season."
Sam proved to be a perfect character to explore this idea of reinvention for a younger audience, who had all seen Sam learn and grow in the first season. Hay explained, "When you have a character like Sam who was so sheltered, here is a chance for him to figure out who I really want to be, and how do I present that? And is that creating a whole new identity, or does that feel too far and making mistakes along the way, and that being an okay part of the process of figuring yourself out growing up?"
According to Hay, this process involved Elle showing a new side of herself and figuring out what she was ready to explore in this new land. Gizmo's journey this season is influenced by repression, and he grapples with whether or not he should let go. Most surprisingly, Noggin, who reappears in GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH, finds himself on a parallel journey with Gizmo.
The Prodigal Son Returns
We are self-admitted Noggin stans here at Creepy Kingdom. Upon realizing that our favorite evilly intelligent Mogwai was returning for GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH, we had to ask Hay how he felt about the little critter returning. Ecstatic doesn't quite describe the feeling. In fact, he joked about Noggin's inclusion being a part of his agenda for the entire show.
Going back to his love of the Brain Gremlin, the character has filled a special place inside Hay's heart. The odd space Noggin comes to embody gave the writing team a unique opportunity to play with: "I just think there's something really fascinating and unique about being the smartest evil Mogwai. He has so much more together than the rest of his brethren, yet he will never be accepted by the humans because he is still an agent of chaos and kind of crazy in his own way."
With the character getting an episode just for him in GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH, Noggin finally takes center stage. What this means for his journey cannot be shared just yet. However, one thing is certain. The character is always a joy: " "He's hilarious to write for. There's also, especially with George Takei as the voice, such gravitas given to such a ridiculous character."
While a third season is still up in the air, Chun and Hay have discussed the series' future. With so much time left to explore between GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH and the start of Joe Dante's Gremlins, this season may not mean the end of the Wing family, Gizmo, and - potentially - Noggin's story. So tune into the first half of season two of the critically acclaimed GREMLINS prequel animated series, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH, which will be available to stream on Thursday, October 3, 2024, on Max.
To learn more about the series, check out our review here.
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