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Why did Chang’s Market night scenes have to be shot during the day?

This sort of seemingly odd decision is usually driven by budget concerns. A movie’s production managers are always checking and re-checking the cost of everything while you work.  Sometimes it’s cheaper to keep the crew working days than to “turn around” and start shooting nights, because time/money can be wasted in the changeover.

The Blazer used in the series. I am looking to identify the tires on it. Can you tell me who built the truck?

While we love that fans are out there looking to duplicate the movies’ props and vehicles, sadly we don’t know the answer.  On a movie, a lot of decisions are made by various department heads (in the case of the truck, the transportation team) and other than us probably saying something like, “It should have gnarly tires,” as producer/directors we don’t ever learn the names of components like that. Years later there’s no way to track the info down.

Why was Mindy so mean to Buford? He seemed like a nice guy, mostly. What guy wouldn’t start to get annoyed when the person he invites out is constantly putting him down? Also, Jack and Buford both work on the graboid tour, so why would Mindy talk so highly of Jack and so negatively towards Buford? They worked together ripping off people.

Well, we confess we didn’t expect to get a pro-Buford question!  And, we kind of see the point.  Our defense is, since we always intended the Buford character to be unlikable, we viewed him that way during writing and shooting, and perhaps weren’t aware that Mindy might come off as being unnecessarily mean.

In ‘A Little Paranoia Among Friends’ what is the light in the sky at the very beginning just before the first person gets eaten?

Didn’t remember this, so had to re-watch the episode.  Sadly, I think the light is a “cheat.”  As far as I can see, nothing in the rest of that show ever explains it.  So, my assumption is the director decided to imply that people were being abducted by aliens (since that’s what the locals believe), adding the UFO-mystery light coming from above just for the fun of it.

Was there any more information about the character of Edgar, since we don’t see much of him in the film? Did you think of a backstory for a character that would only be dead on screen or not even bother really?

There was more information planned for both Edgar and Old Fred.  We thought of them as old-timers who had lived in Perfection Valley longer than anyone else.  And we shot scenes with them where we learned that Edgar takes good care of his donkey, Fred brings her carrots,  and the two guys like to get together to play cards; but those scenes were cut from the final movie.

Does Black Hand Kelly load 5 rounds in his Colt Army or 6? Old single-action revolvers have an unfortunate design flaw where if the hammer is resting on a live round and if it is bumped hard enough the round discharges. So, it is common practice to only load 5 and have the hammer rest on an empty chamber. Was this practiced on the set and was this something Black Hand Kelly did? I notice in the Mule Station it is possible he loaded all 6 before going to sleep predicting that they may be attacked. What are your thoughts?

Detailed 19th century handgun question!  While I don’t remember discussing it, I do feel the character Blackhand would definitely have followed this safety practice.  And, expecting possible attack, might have loaded six on special occasions.  On set our super-careful armorers would load only what was needed for a given take.  If Blackhand was to fire one shot, then only one blank would be loaded before the gun was handed over to actor Billy Drago.  Guns were never loaded at all unless needed for a given take, and then only right before the cameras rolled.

Have you thought of doing a UK based/version of Tremors based in Birmingham, London or on a farm?

Versions of this question has come up remarkably often over the years.  While we appreciate that UK citizens would love their own local graboids, it does seem to us hard to explain how the creatures would have remained hidden in a country so densely populated for so many centuries.  And of course, we don’t control the franchise any longer so it’s a bit moot from that perspective.

Do the perfectionists ever worry about El Blanco running into concrete walls?

Graboids naturally avoid solid obstacles like underground rocks.  In only rare instances are they so frenzied that they plow into concrete walls.  It is possible that concrete doesn’t reflect vibration on the same way as natural rocks.  That said, El Blanco leads a pretty sedate life and rarely would be chasing something so aggressively that he’d collide with a wall. Also, the only below-ground concrete in the whole valley big enough to pose a danger are Burt’s perimeter barrier and the concrete ditch of the first movie. Both of these El Blanco would have long-ago gotten used to and learned to avoid.

Was Rhonda a track star or something. She runs fast!

We wrote Rhonda to be a strong independent woman but did not specify her sports history.  That said, we agree there is a very athletic quality to her run.  That came totally from Finn Carter and her commitment to the character.