The Gremlin is a character from The Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and served as the episode's antagonist. The episode was remade as a segment in Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Appearance[]
In the original series, the Gremlin is a portly, ape-like creature with thick, curly, fuzzy fur and prominent, ugly lips. It has deep-set eyes with a monstrous black outline and a gorilla-like nose. Despite its ungainly appearance, it is capable of floating away swiftly when necessary.
In Twilight Zone: The Movie, the Gremlin is a slender creature with a large, skull-like head, black hair and prominent, bulbous, light green eyes. Its grinning mouth is full of oversized, sharp teeth. Its arms are short in comparison to its legs and sharp black claws, and its body generally has well-defined musculature. It had double-jointed legs with black claws and a tail like that of the character Pumpkinhead from the Pumpkinhead franchise. It darts swiftly through the sky when flying.
Neither version of the creature has wings or any visible means of flight.
History[]
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet[]
The Gremlin is seen through a window on an airplane by Bob Wilson, who alerts a flight attendant. However, as soon as she arrives, the Gremlin disappears. Bob then decides to relax. However, Bob opens his window to find the Gremlin with his face right near the window staring at him. Bob alerts his wife. However, the Gremlin once again disappears. Bob keeps seeing the Gremlin through his window but realizes that nobody will believe him, and does not alert anybody else. At one point it curiously pokes its finger at the spinning propeller, pulling away suddenly but suffering no apparent injury. The Gremlin then starts to tamper with the engine, prying up a cowling plate on the wing. Bob opens the hatch and shoots the Gremlin with a revolver that he stole from the air marshal. The Gremlin is shot 3 or 4 times in the chest, through the heart, and finally collapses. However, it is unknown if it actually died.
Twilight Zone: The Movie[]
The episode was remade in the fourth segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. The character who sees the Gremlin is renamed John Valentine. The Gremlin is seen on the wing's engine and is struck by lightning, which seems to have no effect on the creature.
After trying to alert the others, John ties to go to sleep. However, he opens his window shade to find the Gremlin peering into the window and menacingly scowling at John, who starts to scream. John continues to see the Gremlin on the plane's wing and the creature starts to sabotage the plane by tearing pieces of the wing off and throwing them into the engine. When the plane starts losing control, John takes a gun from an FAA security officer and shoots open his window in an attempt to shoot the Gremlin, whereupon he is blown into the window by the pressure differential. Stuck halfway out of the window in the raging storm, John fires several times at the Gremlin, which leaps towards John and bites his gun in half. The plane drops through the clouds and the lights of the airport and city appear. The Gremlin puts its hand on John's face, grins at him, and waves its finger in an admonishing manner. The gremlin leaps off of the plane and is last seen flying through the sky, weaving effortlessly up into the storm clouds.
Personality and behavior[]
The Gremlin's origin is never explained in either the film or series. The Gremlin seems more curious than malicious, poking and testing various portions of the plane. It understands how the aircraft functions and it has some ability to communicate with people, as seen by its finger-wagging gesture before it flies off.
Notes[]
- The original version of the Gremlin was made into both and action figure and a ten inch bobble head.
- In the end credits of Twilight Zone: The Movie, the Gremlin is referred to as "Creature".
- The myth of the gremlin has its origins in the early days of aviation, when air crews would half-jokingly blame mechanical failures on mischievous spirits who would sabotage these complex machines.
- The segment is parodied in Johnny Bravo "The Zone Where Normal Things Don't Happen Very Often" episode: "The Man Who Cried 'Clown'". Here, Johnny Bravo sees a clown on the wing of the plane and tries to warn the pilots and the passengers of the danger, to no avail. Eventually, he takes matters into his own hands, catching and then subduing the evil clown, ultimately hiding him in the bathroom. This turns out to have been a mistake, as the airplane captain and passengers confront and admonish Johnny Bravo, finally forcing him to take the incapacitated clown's place on the wing.
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