Tremors

Well, when I first heard that Tremors was going to become a weekly TV series, my first reaction was WTF? I loved the original movies and still do this day, but to have Burt Gummer go up against Tremors week after week would seem pretty redundant. Until I saw the series.

The best thing about the show is that they do not focus as much on Graboids or Shriekers or Asslbasters that much at all, but rather take an X-Files approach to the series. It doesn't take itself seriously at all, and could be considered the pick-up of the humur that was lacking in many X-Files episodes. Seeing it as a continuation of the events from the last movie makes sense, as most movie-to-TV series concepts don't have the same relish as the movies (Ferris Bueller? Clerks? Clueless?), but this could really turn that feeling around greatly. I hope SciFi realizes what they have and keep it for three or four seasons.

Just a great series that is as much fun as the movie series.

For the avid Tremors fan, this series is a dream come true. Sure, the Graboids are what the films are about, but the real draw to the films is the characters. They do an excellent job of intertwining characters and plot lines from the films into the series. Past story lines are are strongly connected between the movies and the series, and all the "pieces fit together".

The series continues the story line of what happens next to the characters, and their lives. Not necessarily all Graboids, but life with a Graboid alway there.

You are drawn into the series, making you feel you are a character in the series, fully aware of the Graboid "routine".

If you haven't seen the films, go out and rent all three of them (and I mean all three). I doubt you can really appreciate the series unless you understand the past history of the characters of Perfection Valley. They throw in so many references from the films, that a lot of the dialog might seem like an inside joke with you on the outside.

Maybe they were not the best films. Maybe it is not the best series, but you have to love Michael Gross as Burt Gummer. Go Burt!

Beware the graboids. Stay on the pavement. El Blanco is on the loose, but that doesn't bother the citizens of Perfection Valley, Nevada (population 7). Just another typical day for them..

This series is based on the movie trilogy Tremors. It picks up where part 3 left off. Surprisingly the main charachters make returns (two with new actors, two without) plus a few new faces.

If you haven't seen the Tremors films I'll sum them up.

It all began with the original tremors film. The town was bigger then. About 12 people lived around there then. Till people started getting killed. Turns out to be giant killer worm like creatures aka Graboids who hunt through sensing seismic vibrations in the ground. Well they manage to survive by killing all the worms.

In the second Earl gets hired along with a new guy Grady, to kill Graboids in Mexico around an oil field. They enlist hte help of Burt Gummer, a citizen of Perfection, who is a paranoid gun nut who is ready for WWIII with his own bomb shelter and enough MREs to last a decade. Well he heads down armed to the teeth (Thanks to the Mexican Gov.) and they kill lots of graboids.. till the change... into Shreikers. New ballgame now. They hatched little creatures the size of a large turkey. They run on two legs and hunt through heat vision. Well they survive.

In the third movie we return to Perfection. A couple more grabois show up. One is an albino. The government wants to stop the killing of the graboids because they are considered an endangered species. Well the worms turn into shreikers again, but then they change again.. into a new form. They blast fire out of their rears through a chemical reaction and launch them selves into flight. They are dubbed Assblasters (Buttlaunchers was another proposed name). Well Burt it smart. He knows that they can't do anything to them if the area is protected. He lets the albino worm live thus making Perfection Valley.

The series picks up where part 3 left off. Some charachters from the series moved on to better things. Val left to marry the Geologist after part one, Grady and Earl went to make a theme park based on the graboids, and Jack, the Graboid Safari tour guide, moved to Vegas. Melvin, as we learned in part 3, is now a real estate agent. He wants to turn Perfection Valley into his own town.. Melville. But as long as El Blanco, the albino graboid, is around that can't happen.

The series is like a Tremors version of Smallville. Strange things happen. In one episode a giant ghostly bacteria attacks sucking the water out of people. Plus there is always the potential (and there will be) more graboid, shreiker, and assblaster sightings.

I give this series an 8/10. The only problem I had was the jerky fast moving camera work during the graboid attacks. Other wise a big thumbs up!

For those of you who enjoyed the movies, you'll also find a taste for the series. Michael Gross has evolved in the role of Burt Gummer from paranoid survivalist to paranoid survivalist leader, of the now not so clueless residents of Perfection, Nevada. As with all the films, the cast changes but the humor is still intact.

Gummer's sidekick, Tyler Reed (Victor Browne), is sort of a combination of the original Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon characters, and he does a good job as action hero and comic relief. Reed and Gummer play off each other rather well and compensate for each other's shortcomings.

The supporting cast is also entertaining and keep the story lines moving. There's a few recurring characters who provide a few laughs and in some cases villainy, every few episodes, including a greedy land developer with no conscience and a classic geek, who collects action figures and comics, knows incredible depths of movie trivia, and comes close to being eaten pretty much every visit to Perfection.

Give the show a chance! The cast is very professional, the writing is witty, and the special effects are just hokey enough to make a 50s horror movie maker proud.

I have been waiting for Tremors The Series for some time and now that I just watched the first two episode, I feel pretty excited about what the future will bring. The first episode "Feeding Frenzy" was well done, a good introduction to the series, with Burt Grummer back once again! I was really impressed with the CGI effects done when El Blanco made his full debut. They has a side camera shot of the Graboid which was very impressive, even better than what I have seen in the films. The special effects were great but limited. It would have been great to see more but maybe this is a taste for things to come.

The cast of the show was all around good, even though some of the film actors could not come back and have been replaced. The best however was the excellent addition of Christopher Lloyd in the second episode! He was great, playing a never before known character in Perfection Valley, a hermit who has many mysteries but much knowledge when it comes to science. He seemed to fit right in perfectly with the show, can't wait to see more of him.

I will say that the first episode was better than the second, since the second focused on a 'ghost' creature and not a Graboid creature. However, the episode served a purpose for the future so I can understand why it works. You'll have to watch it and see.

Overall, I enjoyed the show and want to see more. It might not be quite like the movies, but it has a great quality about it. Hopefully, some of the techniques used in the series will be applied to the next film. If you like the films, I'm sure you'll enjoy the series!