It’s possible he’d accept it; like a semi-tame tiger or something. It’s one of those things we wish we’d been able to explore had the series gone on longer. It would have been great fun if say Jodi or Rosalita developed as special bond with the graboid. Burt would have been very annoyed by that!
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Did Covid infect prehistoric creatures beamed in from the Aztec Pyramid designers and thus the morphology alterations resulted in graboid DEVOLUTION? Thanks for the memories of Tremors – it elicits nostalgic bygone years.
Hey, a question is a question. The info on prehistoric graboids is very sketchy; so, I guess the answer is: COULD BE!
And thanks for the kind comment!
What happened to the shriekers in Tremors 5 and 6?
We did not work on those films and don’t know why the writers/directors made the decisions they did.
In some of the TV series episodes with “Larry,” he’s drives a red car with automatic seatbelts. I’m not sure what make and model of car he has so I can’t look it up. Were the seat belts fitted as standard or were they added by Larry to try and show how “geeky” he was?
I’m going to have to take a guess here. We were not on location in Mexico most of the time, so many decisions were made without our input. And we are no longer in touch with most of the production team. The car was probably rented in Mexico. And, given our very low budget, I doubt that anyone took the extra time or money to install special seat belts.
Note: if any fans recognize the car and know more about it, let us know here at the FAQ!
We got a fan reply! We are posting it below. Thanks!
Responding to question about Larry's red car. It was a Toyota Camry. I had the same car, same color. Mine was a 1991, not sure what year Larry's was. The shoulder seatbelts being automatic was indeed a Toyota function and was very annoying. Lap belts were manual and separate from the shoulder belts. Great little car for its time. Oh, yeah, I was driving my 91 the same time Larry was driving his on the show. In an even weirder coincidence, my wife had an 89 Mustang like Rosalita's, only hers was white.
Out of all the vehicles used across all 4 films and the series, which 3 are your favourites??
Three? Well, that’s a lot easier than having to pick one. For S. S. Wilson it would be the Jeep Gladiator, Burt’s truck in the TV series — and the awesome steam tractor in Tremors 4!
Hi there, some of my earliest memories are my dad and I watching the Tremors movies. They created my love for movies and I find myself studying video production in college. How did you get your start making movies?
Some of our early history is posted in various places on the Stampede site. Short version is we nearly all started making movies as kids, using 8mm film cameras. Ron Underwood, Brent Maddock, and S. S. Wilson went to film school (USC) and met there. But it took years of low budget animation and short film work and screenwriting-on-spec before we finally “broke in” to Hollywood (with the script for Short Circuit).
Was that a Zippo lighter Burt pulls out in Tremors 3?
I think so. It is what director Brent Maddock would have wanted.
Make a tremors movie on Mars. It came from “Space” and “Predates the fossil record”. It could be better the the first movie!
Yeah, not a question. But we enjoy that fans are forever coming up with new sequel ideas even though we don’t get to work on them.
Can shriekers run as fast as humans?
We think a bit faster, based on the one we see charge Earl and Grady when they are behind the car.
Did no one think to get on the rooftops as soon as the graboids 1st arrived in Perfection?
No. The humans were always playing catch-up. It didn’t occur to anyone the monsters were strong enough to come through the floor until it actually happened.
I know it’s absolutely hell and deathgasms for a graboid to turn into shriekers, but does it hurt when shriekers turn into assblasters?
We don’t think so. While we never showed the whole transformation, a shrieker builds a sort of a cocoon around itself, like a caterpillar, and morphs into a AB. So it’s not a violent process.
Could a graboid use its tentacles as bait? Leave them above ground to attract a victim that assumes they are edible snakes or something?
Well… another interesting idea. It would probably work. If, say a coyote were very sensitive to graboids moving beneath it and repeatedly avoided being ambushed from below; the graboid might resort to this tactic to lure the coyote closer without tipping off it’s underground location.
Do you guys ever think about what if El Blanco gets trampled in a stampede?
Ummm, pretty sure than couldn’t happen. El Blanco lives underground!
Did you guys see the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode where you were referenced?
We did not catch that particular show. Tremors seems to be referenced a LOT these days, which is gratifying. Recently saw [Sept. 2021] a claymation ad for Rick and Morty on Adult Swim that had a graboid!
Did El Blanco manage to eat any of Megan’s rogue shriekers?
It’s an interesting question. Our vote is that El Blanco would recognize shriekers as kin and/or offspring (of a sort) and not eat them.
How far is Chang’s market from, Las Vegas? Could graboids exist there, or shriekers overrun a nearby town like Primm?
Chang’s is around 250-300 miles North of Las Vegas. As for graboid incursions, the Perfection graboids were hemmed in by rocks and mountains, but theoretically graboids can exist in any sandy desert if ABs can find the right places to lay eggs, so a Primm take-over is not out of the question. We have implied that graboid eggs need a warm environment, like that provided by hot springs, so they are somewhat limited in where they can hatch.
Would El Blanco be screwed if some troll decided to cut his tentacles off?
Good heavens, the things fans worry about. If such a demented thing did happen, clearly the townsfolk, even Burt, would rally round and figure out a way to feed him.
What if shriekers were the size of T-Rexs?
Uh… they would be a BIGGER problem?
Is it possible for a graboid to just throw up the shriekers instead of having to get eaten from the inside out?
No. It’s a baked-in part of the graboid life-cycle. The graboid’s body is needed to give the hungry shriekers a head start in life. Mother nature is cruel that way.
Why didn’t Megan get out and run in the trailer while the graboid was sinking her car?
Our hope was that it was clear that after she saw her husband pulled into the dirt she knew it wouldn’t be safe to get out of the car onto the ground. She assumes she has to be safer in the car (and can’t imagine a creature that is able to “sink” it).
Did the Graboid swallow the barrel along with Burt?
You know, we were wondering about that ourselves the other day. I don’t remember for sure, but I think our idea was the barrel does get swallowed. It protects Burt as he’s going down, and gives him a few minutes of air so he can talk on his walkie-talkie. I’m sure we had discussions like, “Okay, if it did get swallowed, why doesn’t Jack have to cut through it with the chain saw?” Obviously, in the end, we kind of skipped over that.
I know it was the 90s/early 00s, but did you ever consider having any kind of queer characters in the franchise, or would you do such a thing now?
You’re right that sort of character was not on our radar back then. We thought we were cutting edge enough making Rhonda smart and tough and having Victor be the most successful guy in town. Certainly these days we’d be open to any sort of character!
I am genuinely curious: are you all and Michael Gross still on good terms despite the recent sequels?
Yes, we are. There was no way it would have been fair to expect him to say no to Universal when they were asking him to keep playing the character he created, regardless of our involvement.
With all this talk about trying to get the rights of the franchise back to y’all, if its successful, do you think you’d go forward with a new Tremors project?
The possibility still seems so unlikely that we’ve not given it much thought. It would be additionally frustrating to have to deal with, or ignore, all problems created and rules broken by the sequels after T4. Unless and until it really might happen, we will continue to not give it much thought.
Since you are forbidden from working on Tremors anymore why not just work on ‘Shaky Ground Monsters’ ? The Rocky series morphed to Creed. Instead of El Blanco, just call the critter La Blanca since gender identity is so fluid nowadays. Graboids are now Procurement – flagellates . Burt can be Bubbles, Earl can be Oil ( New Jersey native) , Val evolves to Valveeta (a cheesy name) and Rhonda advances to Rhodium (more valuable than gold) . Perfection becomes OCD-Burg. Who will S.S. Wilson transmogrify into ?
Again, not a question, but an inventive if somewhat outlandish example of how far our supportive fans have gone in trying to figure out ways for us to keep working on Tremors-like-things.