No, it was not a set up or a reference to a cut scene. We were just having Val express his feelings and frustration about what would really help them in that moment. And of course the reference to tank is what triggers Earl to think of the dozer.
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How sensitive is a graboid’s hearing? Like what is the range of hearing they have, and would they be able to sense a person walking really slow?
It’s a question scientists like Rhonda would love to answer more fully, but graboids are pretty hard to test in the field! That said, evidence indicates they can sense something as small as a rabbit if it is moving on the surface nearby. Even so, walking slowly does help because you are both making less noise and spacing out the time between steps, thus hopefully preventing the graboid from investigating.
In the 5th movie, a character manages escapes being eaten by a Graboid by… via shooting its insides with a shotgun to… make it regurgitate him… In T3 when Burt is swallowed did he think to use his sidearm to try to make it expel him?
For us, from a writing stand point it’s a bad idea to present the audience with an easy escape from your monster. You’re saying, from then on, anyone with a gun needn’t worry about being eaten by a graboid.
I have been a fan of tremors for as long as I can remember and I was curious if you have any info for the different wrist watches used in Tremors 1, Tremors 2 and Tremors 3.
Surprisingly (to us) this question comes up a lot.
Several have asked what watch Nestor is wearing just before his demise.
Sorry that we really can’t track down what watches the prop departments got for our actors all those years ago except for the Storm Navigator Michael Gross wears in T3. Unless a prop is important to the story, often times the decision is left up the the prop people and/or actors feelings about what their characters would wear.
Here again, as with the Storm Navigator, we always appreciate input from fans who happen to recognize a given watch!
Why didn’t they see that assblaster “taking off like a godamn rocket!” coming? I mean it looks like something that can fly.
Our intention was not that the characters were surprised the AB could fly, but rather that it could launch itself via its bizarre built-in chemical rocket. But that might not be clear.
In March 2021 someone at Stampede mentioned that S.S. Wilson wanted to post the synopsis of your version of Tremors 5 in Australia. Did that ever happen?
It was for the website Unseen Hollywood. This link should work:
https://www.oneheatminute.com/articles/unseen-hollywood/2021/06/22/fair-dinkum-terror-graboids-down-under
WE LOVE TREMORS!
Yes, not a question, but many of you have used the Stampede FAQ over the years to comment about simply enjoying the movies. We’ve seen many about sharing with grandparents, sharing with kids, even weathering hard times or loss of loved ones. So we’d like to take a break from questions to say thanks for all those kind remarks and stories!
Was Burt in the military?
Somewhat unexpectedly, no. Comfortable financially (due to inheritance of Hiram Gummer’s silver mine), once he drifted into a prepper mindset, he did all his own research and training in weaponry and survival.
Given that Burt has often been blindsided by various Tremors creatures’ unexpected transformations (into shriekers, into Abs), might he not reconsider his resistance to the idea of letting one of them live so they can be studied? Especially if it means they can get a better gauge of their abilities and intelligence? He is always going on about things like “know your terrain” and what not.
While Burt does tend to lean toward “wipe them out,” he does so because he feels he sees threats more clearly than others. That said, we think he’d guardedly agree with your proposal. In T3 an AB was sent to Las Vegas (where it is hopefully being studied). And he has somewhat reluctantly made his peace with the protection of El Blanco.
What kind of game do you think the Graboid arcade was? Looking at the cabinet, both its structure and artwork seem to resemble earlier 80s arcade games like Pac-Man or Berzerk, rather than the ones being developed in the mid-90s. Could this suggest that the gameplay was similar to those arcades, in terms of genre or complexity? Lastly, assuming the Graboid cabinet was repurposed from an pre-existing one, would you happen to know which one?
We feel the arcade game was probably a side-scroller where you’re navigating a desert landscape avoiding graboids by moving slowly and/or hopping from rock to rock. The faster your character moves, the more noise he/she makes and the more graboids are attracted. Later you get a pole vault upgrade. Those concepts were being developed for a real Tremors video game years ago, but the company making it went under. Another lost opportunity.
As for where the cabinet came from, we no longer know unfortunately. Those decisions get made in the frantic rush of pre-production. Might’ve been bought somewhere or might’ve been quickly thrown together by our expert carpenters.
I buy lottery tickets quite often… if I ever win a jackpot of several hundred million dollars then I will make Universal an offer on the franchise and then return full rights of all things Tremors back to Stampede.
Okay, it’s not a question, but it’s such a nice thought we thought we’d share it!
If you got the rights to the Tremors franchise back would you be willing to work with writers on publishing books based Tremors as I would love to write some books based on Tremors.
Having no control at all over Tremors, we’ve long been dismayed at what we consider lost opportunities for marketing and expanding the franchise. Yes, in that alternate universe we’d be interested in supporting novelizations — but it’s not our call.
How old was Mindy in Tremors 1?
She is 9. Here’s the line introducing her, from the shooting script: “While they talk, Nancy’s daughter, MINDY (9), comes bouncing
along on her pogo-stick…”
Were the snake things ever intended to be the actual creatures?
No. They are just part of a graboid’s mouth.
I know you have said that the location of th puppets is up in the air, but who/what company made them?
The creature puppets for Tremors 1, 2, and 3 were made by the FX company Amalgamated Dynamics. For Tremors 4 they were made by KNB EFX.
Enjoyed your Tremors: Lost Tapes videos [on youtube]. You’ve stated that behind the scenes footage like this wasn’t shot on the set of Tremors II: Aftershocks. But would you consider doing video and narration using stills from that movie?
When I went through my collection of stuff to provide to Arrow for their Tremors II HD video, I did find more material than I thought I had, so yes, I am considering doing some sort of mini-lost-tape thing for T2. However, I’m currently busy (Apr 2024) working on my next novel.
How much chaos would it’ll have been if the shriekers had of turned into assblasters at Pioneer Days?
Probably a lot. Or, alternatively, if the shriekers went into the pre-AB cocoon state and our heroes realized it, they’d be easy to take out!
How much do shriekers weigh?
The puppets: 30-60 pounds depending on how full of mechanics. Real shriekers, like a lot of animals, probably weigh more than you’d think, in the 200lb range.
If you had continued the series would there have been an episode where mixmaster affected the original creatures? Heat-detecting graboids? Shriekers that can hear?
We hadn’t gotten that far in our thinking. But — maybe!
How was Val able to bullseye that graboids tentacle when he had trouble hitting a nail at the beginning of the movie?
Hammering and shooting a rifle are two entirely different skills. Val excels at the latter.
Why are assblasters so clumsy and awkward when attacking humans compared to shriekers? Jack and Rosalita were able to fight one off without any weapons.
ABs’ primary role is carrying eggs. They are not as strong or as fierce as shriekers. It’s actually part of the “reality” we like to apply to our fantasy creatures. We think its good that they have real world limitations.
Why is El Blanco’s mouth so big compared to other graboids?
Well… we don’t think it is. He (literally) came from the same molds as the earlier ones. It may be an illusion due to his being pale, or perhaps due to how Brent Maddock and DP Virgil Harper chose to shoot him (like using wider lenses, or doing more close-ups, etc).
Did Melvin get PTSD from seeing Nestor get eaten?
If he did, given his success as he moved on in life, it doesn’t seem to have held him back.
Love when Rohnda cringes at Walter when he comes up with the name “graboids.” Pretty cute.
What can we say? Finn Carter is the kind of actress you hope for, always in the moment, always reacting in character to everything going on in the scene.
Are shriekers the proper reproductive stage of the Graboid life cycle, since thats the stage in which the animals primarily multiply? Extending that, are Graboids all essentially clones of each other? How is genetic diversity maintained? Are Graboids “born pregnant” with Shriekers just as ABs are with Graboid eggs? Do Shriekers actually contain Graboid eggs themselves that they can only lay once they “mature” into ABs?
Wow, a long but very science-based question! Not having kept up with the literature, we’ll make some educated guesses. ABs are the primary way that the species spreads to other locales, given that the shrieker stage is fairly short. Yes, graboids have the “seeds” of shriekers in them from the start. It isn’t clear what triggers the transformation (age? environmental factors?). We don’t think shriekers carry eggs. They probably pass on some sort of stem cell when they metamorphose into ABs, and those cells then differentiate into eggs. Yes, it does seem all these creatures are clones, so how they maintain genetic diversity is a mystery. However, there are examples in nature of creatures that reproduce asexually yet still maintain that diversity, so graboids must fall into those groups.