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If Stampede or Don Michael Paul is to write the script for the next Tremors movies, can they be the electrically released? If not, can we have all generations of graboids in one film. Can we have a fight to the death between all generations?

Don Michael Paul has not written any Tremors movies.  Tremors 5 and 6 were written by John Whelpley.  We have no say over what format Universal will choose release future versions, so we’ll all have to wait and see.  Finally, we are somewhat baffled by how many fans want to see Graboids, ABs, and Shriekers battling it out.  It seems to us that Graboids would win every time.

When El Blanco eats the last A@@Blaster, shouldn’t the chemicals inside it cause it to explode and kill El Blanco?

We LOVE Tremors fans.  All these years later you are still coming up with provocative questions.  Yes, technically it is possible that, when El Blanco’s jaws crushed the AB, the chemicals would mix and explode.  But we would argue that it is equally possible that the chemicals would be mixed first with blood and other fluids (not to be too graphic) and then be too diluted to explode.  But you have a point.  El Blanco probably got lucky.

In the Tremors episode “Hit and Run,” why did Max draw his automatic as El Blanco approaches? Didn’t he know (or care) that El Blanco was endangered?

This is a very good question, since Max is the one who believes in and knows about Graboids.  One made-up answer is that he’s a gangster and just naturally goes for his gun when excited.  But another could be that the director forgot the “rules” of the show when directing the scene and just thought it would be cool to have Max do that.   We weren’t on location when the episodes were shot down in Mexico, so things sometimes got done in ways we didn’t agree with.

Why didn’t sci-fi network like the “Shriek and Destroy” episode?

It was a difficult episode to shoot, using full-scale Shrieker puppet, etc.  I don’t remember all the details, but in part they felt the director didn’t get the action right and that it didn’t edit together well.  It was shot early in the season. Directors and crew were still struggling to learn the best ways to get the shows done on the extremely tight budgets and short shooting schedules.

What kind of cowboy hat does Earl wear?

Sometimes the details get away from us.  Sorry to report that nobody in the current Stampede circle remembers what brand of hat we picked for him all those years ago.

Who was Nancy’s husband? What happened to him? Why does she hate Earl?

In all the years of answering Tremors questions, this is a first.  I am embarrassed to say we’ve never thought much about Mindy’s father.  We do think that free-spirit Nancy was not married to him and that they drifted apart for some reason.  But that’s about it.

On part two, we’re not sure where that question comes from.  Nancy does not hate Earl.  She pretty much likes everybody, though she gets impatient with Burt at times.

Why is Rhonda bold enough to go without a bra but still wears full coverage panties?

Well — because the panties were our idea, that is, the director and writer/producers.  We are not fans of monster/horror movies where women are scantily clad for no reason, but we also really liked the scene in which she has to get out of her pants to escape the barbed wire, so we discussed it with Finn and all agreed on the modest version she wore.

After the Graboid grabbed Buford and took him underground, why did the it come back out of the ground just to eat him, then go back under?

There’s the science-of-Graboids answer:  if has been determined by Rhonda and other researchers that, when possible, Graboids try to avoid swallowing too much dirt with their prey.  The reasons are not clear, but the current thinking is that it interferes with their digestion.

Then there’s the movie drama answer:  it is much cooler for the Graboid to burst back up and swallow Buford in front of the horrified tour group.

And finally there’s the physical effects answer: by the time we did Tremors 3, the rigs for moving and lifting the Graboids were much better than on T-1.  We LOVED being able to lift a Graboid with a real person in its mouth and see it all work on camera.

When he was swallowed, how did Burt stay alive so long inside the Graboid?

We do try to work out the details on every bit of action.  Note that Burt takes cover inside an oil drum as he is swallowed.   So a little air is trapped with him.  He mentions that he has “limited air” on the radio.  Also, a person can survive at least three minute without air.  From the time he is swallowed til the time he is cut out of the Graboid is 3 minutes and about 14 seconds, actual screen time, although in “movie” time it does feel longer.  Finally, Burt plans for everything, and has probably done breath-holding exercises like deep sea free divers, right?

The Internet Movie Database says that: “One idea by the special effects crew was for the worms to have an outer shell. When above the dirt, the shell would retract to reveal a slimier ‘inner worm’. However, many production members started to giggle at the ‘phallic’ resemblance it had with a foreskin, so this was changed to the big worm sprouting several smaller worms from its mouth.” Could you confirm, or deny, the story?

This is partly true. Early sketches by the guys at Amalgamated Dynamics did have the retractable head skin, and it did get a laugh in an early meeting, especially from Exec Producer Gale Ann Hurd, as being too phalic.   So the retracting skin was dropped.  However, it is not true that we replaced it with the tentacles.  They were always part of the design and were described in the original script.