Shooting Fish #1 - Gremlins 3, The Story (Part 3)

Part 3: The Story

So how would I write Gremlins 3?

Well, with the full first movie nostalgia route already plotted in, it has to start With Gizmo and with Billy. Let’s assume that Zack Galligan returns to the part, which also sets our “when”. This will have to be a modern day set movie with Billy in his late fifties or early sixties. And although it has never been expressively stated, there are enough canonical hints about the longevity of Mogwai in other media, the Gremlins novelisation mainly, that we can assume Gizmo is still around too, essentially unchanged by age.

Having made a name for himself in New York, Billy has retired back to Kingston Falls, the town seemingly untouched by the passage of time, much the same as it was in the 1980s (and, indeed, the 50s if you’re a Back To The Future fan).

With Phoebe Cates now retired, it seems fitting to have her character have died in New York at some point before Billy reties, so he is essentially returning to Kingston Falls alone. Though, not quite alone. In the attic of his house (a much bigger house than the original movie, on the outskirts of town) lives someone else. Small… furry… you know who. Billy has returned to comic writing with a best selling series “Tales of the Mogwai” continuing the self-referencing “meta” tone set by the first two movies.

Billy’s friend Pete has remained in Kingston Falls all these years and, having been enamoured of Randall Peltzer’s inventions as a kid, grew up to be a mechanic, engineer, tinkerer and now runs the town repair shop. Being an intrinsic part of the events of Gremlins, Pete, along with Billy, is the only resident of the town to remember the truth behind what happened during the disaster of Kingston Falls and the rules that govern the responsible care of mogwai. With a bigger role to play, and with Goonies 2 on the horizon, I can see Corey Feldman returning for this.

Kingston Falls remains much as it was. In the 21^st Century, but reluctantly so. With data service blackspots, a population resistant to change, and a collective reluctance to truly remember what happened in the disaster that took place in 1984. Gerald (Judge Reinhold) never made his millions and remains at the bank, drinking in Dorry’s of an evening and insistent that a gas leak followed by “mass hysteria” was the cause of the events of the first film.

Billys daughter still lives in new York, but this coming Christmas he will be visited by his 13 year old grandchild. Billy’s Granddaughter, let’s call her Mae, arrives in Kingston Falls appalled by the change a of pace. A lively Gen-Z New Yorker, she is used to the hustle and bustle of the big city, but discovers the slow pace and rural charm of a small town makes her feel out of place. She can’t even call her mother or friends to complain as her phone struggles to get service.

Intrigued about her grandfather’s regular visits to the attic, she follows him up one day and is finally introduced to Gizmo. Billy explains the rules to Mae, who finds them ludicrous, but under the earnest gaze of her grandfather, begins to wonder if there is any truth to them. Her own parents have made reference to strange little green men and “things that go bump in the night” when she was younger. Mae thought they were just stories.

A few days before Christmas, Billy is visiting Pete with Mae and Gizmo when a package is delivered to the shop for Billy. It contains an ornate wooden box. Inside a small mogwai and a note written on one of Billy’s comics claiming it to be the last of the race to be born into this world, with Billy now one of the few remaining who understands the importance that it survives.

While Billy and Pete discuss the note and who it could be from, Mae befriends Pete’s nephew, Alex. Alex is scathing of Pete and Billy, thinking them eccentric and yearns to leave Kingston Falls.

Gerald and his less than charming son enter the workshop demanding Pete finish some work they have asked him to complete. In the ensuing argument some water is spilt and rolls, unnoticed, across the desk, along a Rube Goldberg machine of papers, boxes, tubes and equipment to drop poetically into the box of the last remaining mogwai born in the wild, which had been hidden as Gerald entered.

And so the Chaos begins… With Billy and Pete's experience, and a cellar full of Great Granddad Randall's inventions for Mae and Alex to discover and use, Gremlins 3 will echo the original, but bring a a 21st Century vibe.

I'm sure many would hate the idea of returning to Kingston Falls and there is a danger that this route would be merely repeating the first movie. But I think the danger of setting this initial "soft reboot" in a different location could lead to a Gremlins 2 "wacky" element.

I've seen some people push for a "Snakes On A Plane" type story. Fun, no doubt, and with a huge amount of scope for playing the the "rules" as time zones are flown over, food is eaten and water spilled. But  those "... trapped on a plane" scenarios are pretty common in cinema, and while the Gremlins would bring their own brand of chaos, would it bring anything new? Now I'm thinking on it, perhaps that would be a fun film? 

But I still lean towards a return to Kingston Falls. The nostalgia of someone raised in the 80s, no doubt. Would this be a good premise for a potential Gremlins 3? Would you work it differently? Let me know in the comments.

NOTE: I found these excellent fan fiction posters for a future Gremlins 3 online. I've linked to the original posts in the Alt Text.