Can’t remember now if 412 had a hidden meaning or if we just picked a number at random. And the idea for Proudfoot came late in our frantic writing of episodes for season 1, so we hadn’t had much time to think about its history. Once we were canceled for a second season — all thoughts stopped.
Archives
hy haven’t you asked Kevin bacon to do another Tremors movie?
We asked him to star in Tremors 2. But Tremors 1 had not done well when it first came out and he didn’t want to be in a sequel. Many years later, he has come to enjoy that Tremors ultimately became a cult favorite.
How do Tremors creatures compare to other movie creatures??
We get quite a few questions asking us to compare Tremors creatures to those in other movies. To be honest, we don’t keep up with every movie monster as assiduously as some of our fans apparently do. So we generally can’t answer or have no significant opinion to offer.
How smart are graboids? In T1, the last one falls off a cliff. But T2 the one who drags the truck with the chain stops [before the cliff] and does not fall. How did it know there was a cliff?
We actually try to think about these things. Here’s the explanation. When moving normally a graboid uses echo-location to identify things around it, like a cliff. In the case of the graboid in Tremors 1, however, it is “stampeding” wildly because it is in pain from the bomb Val throws. As Rhonda says, “They’re so sensitive to sound they gotta run!” In its desperation, it then can’t stop itself in time.
Could Mixmaster be derived from graboid DNA? Perhaps Proudfoot found some graboid eggs and used their uniquely metamorphic genes? Maybe it’s even why Proudfoot is based in Perfection?
Highly unlikely. Graboid eggs are laid by ABs, and those were eliminated in Perfection (except for the one that went to Vegas) in Tremors 3. So, too much of a stretch to say Proudfoot somehow stumbled onto some new ones.
Is it just me or did the TV series feel like it had a darker edgier tone than the movies? If so do you think that it was because of the new cast?
Our goal was to keep the tone the same. That was actually our job as creators. But it wouldn’t come from the cast in any case. They perform what we write. Maybe our staff of writers, all pitching and writing their own ideas, caused it to lean a bit darker.
For your original idea for Tremors 5 did the [Australian] graboids have a slightly different appearance since they would have had the potential to evolve differently? Do you think that Graboids in different environments around the world would have different appearances?
Yes, that idea was incorporated in the original script. They were larger and had more coloration, if I remember right. And yes, we think it’s fun to imagine how graboids might change in different environments.
Was Toluca, NM or Juniper, AZ based on real towns or where they just made up?
Made up. Generally in writing TV and movie fiction we avoid real names, places, addresses, etc. Sometimes there are rights issues. Sometimes you’re portraying them negatively, so no point in potentially offending people by using their town name.
Do you guys ever think “We can’t believe how popular we got!”
Yes.
Do you like Tremors 5, 6, and 7? Or the un-aired Kevin Bacon pilot? And what are your favorite other worm movies?
We get versions of these questions from time to time, so feel we should respond in some way. We understand that fans want more Tremors and have dutifully watched each incarnation. But other than T5, which was incredibly worse than we ever could have imagined, we have chosen not to see the rest, and thus don’t have opinions.
We have not seen the Kevin Bacon Tremors TV pilot. We don’t know anything about its graboid design, etc.
Fans also ask us to weigh in on what we think of over movie worms, but a) we’ve often not seen them and b) this seems to go beyond the intended scope of this FAQ.
I heard Tremors was the movie that birthed Stampede Entertainment. If that’s true did the company name come from the beginning where Val shouts “stampede?”
That’d be the simple version, but not exactly. Ron Underwood, SS Wilson, Brent Maddock and Nancy Roberts had an awful time agreeing on a name when formed the company. We discussed and discarded ideas endlessly until one of our staff, frustrated by all the wrangling, said something like, “You know what? You all like western ideas. There’s a stampede in City Slickers (which Ron had directed) and Val yells Stampede in Tremors. Why not that?” And we finally agreed.
The military truck Burt gets in Aftershocks seems to be a Deuce and a half or m35a2 is that correct? And what year if so?
As we have had to say in other vehicle ID questions, the movie’s transportation dept handles finding, renting, maintaining the vehicles. We asked for a deuce-and-a-half, and we okayed that truck when they found it (and S. S. Wilson had great fun driving it around the location one day) but we’re not detail-oriented enough to say now what year or specific model it was. If any military collector friends cad add more info, we’ll share it in an update!
Was Melvin ever resentful that the credit for naming the Graboids went solely to Chang when it was clearly shown as a group effort between the two?
Our feeling is Melvin only later realized how right Walter was about the marketing. Might have been fun to have him claiming he invented the term in T3 or the series. But his aims were real estate oriented, not graboid oriented, so maybe he wouldn’t care.
In-universe, who named the Shriekers? My money is on an Earl/Grady combo because Earl knew the value in naming them but Grady came up with the nomenclature.
Sounds right to us. It’s definitely a Grady sort of idea.
If Tremors was given another movie or series, what would be one thing you want to see put into it. Could something new or something old
Speaking only for SS Wilson, I’d love to see Reba McEntire and Finn Carter back. What have Heather and Rhonda been doing all this time?
Are there other monsters that exist in the Tremors universe? (Outside the ones in the TV series which are all traceable to Perfection) Like, is Nessie real? Bigfoot? Mothman?
When we wrote the originals, we didn’t think so. It’s fun, we think, to say there’s this ONE fantastical set of creatures in an otherwise normal world. The series forced us to open things up, so now we do have occasional thoughts like: could graboids live in a swamp? But then would they be interesting, or would they just be like ugly alligators? In any case we wouldn’t go so far as to start including any and all mythological things. To comic book for us.
Did you guys notice Jack and a few more characters were able to fend off an Assblaster with their bare hands and no one has done that to the shriekers except Burt, although he was in truck still. Any explanations?
The answer is simply that we always try to be realistic, even with fantasy creatures. They are just animals, not magical or supernatural. So you can have your characters sometimes get away with things. Even in T1 Val impulsively punches a tentacle and it works. (And was a great ad-lib by Kevin Bacon, btw). Somebody could probably punch or kick a shrieker, but the circumstance would have to be right.
Do you guys think the first shrieker episode ruined the series since it ultimately caused chronological chaos and confused the audience?
No. The decision to screw up the order was entirely the fault of the Sci-Fi execs.
Whose idea was it to make shriekers sound like a sad puppy dog when they got killed?
I wish I had more knowledge of the sound effects in all the films. For some reason I never got into those conversations with the FX creators. Especially on T2, while busy directing, I’d get to the editing room and the editor would say something like, “Oh, they sent over these shrieker sounds and want to know if you like any of them.” And he’d play them, and I’d go “Oh, good! Use that one for when they die!” And we’d move on!
In tremors 3, Why did the characters seem so surprised once the ass blaster starts flying? It looks like something that could fly or maybe it’s just me.
Yes, it would not have been wrong for someone, maybe Jodie, to comment on the wings and ask the question. But given the evolution of the graboids up to that point, it still seems an unlikely thing for someone to expect. Also, we feel their surprise is as much about HOW the ABs take off as the fact that they fly/glide.
What do you think would have happened if Burt found out about what happened with Hiram in Rejection? Was there ever a plan to explore this happening before 5 got axed?
We made it a point that Hiram swears the townsfolk to secrecy, in order to explain why no one in the Perfection of 1990s knows about graboids. That said, no, it has never occurred to us to figure out a way for Burt to learn the history. Could have made a great series episode!
Who ACTUALLY made breakfast the day before? Was it Val’s bologna and beans or Earl’s eggs over-easy?
This is one of those questions that more expert writers would be able to answer, since they have created detailed histories and backgrounds for their characters. In our case, we thought it was funny that they disagree and literally didn’t think more about it.
Were the graboids inspired by that robot that little boy made in Tales from the Darkside “Hush”? The woman that babysits him kinda even looks like Rhonda.
No, we didn’t happen to see this episode of that old show, but we did check it out. We agree the boy’s creepy creation certainly looks similar to a graboid tentacle. And it is attracted by sound! Funny coincidence!
How come el blanco didn’t eat the shriekers when they were still in the canyon?
The general consensus is that graboids and their subsequent forms are not cannibalistic. El Blanco would not eat his own kind.
Did Earl go back for his truck after the end of the movie and fix it? Please tell me he wouldn’t leave a classic such as that behind.
Earl’s truck of course was left far out in the oil fields, stuck in that ravine with a broken axle. Our feeling is we can argue the answer either way. He gets a lot of money at the end of the movie and can afford any truck he wants, so maybe he’d abandon it. Or you could also imagine gruff Earl mumbling: “Hey… I like that truck,” and paying a crew to retrieve and restore it. Like you, we sort of prefer the second idea.