Tremors

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!

There is not a whole lot that can be said about TREMORS other than that it was a great show. It wasn't quite as good as the movies, but it was still fun to watch. Just like with the TREMORS movies, the special effects were nothing special, but they still seemed cool. The special effects could have been better, though then again, it wouldn't be TREMORS if the special effects weren't a little cheesy. Being a big fan of the movie series, I watched the show every week and enjoyed every episode so naturally I was very disappointed when I heard it wasn't picked up for a second season. Hopefully the show will be released on DVD some day so fans of the movies who didn't get to see the show will be able to.

Long before Tremors: The Series actually aired, I saw many comments on how bad everyone thought the show was going to be. Considering how far the movies dropped off (Though Tremors 3 was a step up from 2), few felt any good would come out of trying to squeeze whatever life was left out of the Tremors franchise.

Well, prepare to be amazed.

While Tremors: The Series is no masterpiece, it is a far cry better than one would have imagined. The cast continues to boast the very-entertaining Michael Gross, and while it isn't the same as the days of Ward and Bacon, this new group is nothing to be turned off by, and actually clicks rather well. There are several seasoned actors, which helps make the characters all the more believable, though they still can be rather rough around the edges.

The storyline, believe it or not, works. The series does indeed keep the continuum of previous movies (Though it focuses mainly on Tremors 3), and provides a storyline that is fast-paced and fun. There is rarely a dull moment in Tremors, combining a nice blend of comedy, action and emotion that will keep you interested and coming back for more.

If you're a Tremors fan, Tremors: The Series is a must see, but to anyone else, I still highly recommend giving the show a chance. You may just be surprised yourself.

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.

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.