Fear of Gremlins – Gremlins and the “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” 1963 episode of the Twilight Zone
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Fear_of_Gremlins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmare_at_20,000_Feet
Doctor Demented and her stooges are helping the Admiral with his grand plan to drive the Dwarves and the Nimbari mad with fear. They stage attacks to make the Nimbari paranoid. They scare the Dwarves with Myth Monsters so the Dwarves will bring their nightmares to life which in turn riles up the Myth Monsters. It’s a beautiful cycle of fear.
However, the Doctor couldn’t care less for the Admiral’s scheme. She just wants to study the Myth and Storm Chain up close. Getting ready to fight Captain Pork and your wizard she summons three of Captain Pork’s greatest fears.
The third is the Fear of Gremlins. This fear is embodied by well, a gremlin. Why? Apparently a gremlin attacked one of Captain Pork’s previous ships.
MONSTROLOGY TOME DESCRIPTION: A Sky Captain’s worst fear is a gremlin on the wings. Or sails. Gremlins really mess those up.
Gremlins is a 1984 American comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus, and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voice of Gizmo, the main mogwai character. It draws on legends of folkloric mischievous creatures that cause malfunctions—”gremlins”—in the British Royal Air Force going back to World War II. The story follows young man Billy Peltzer, who receives a strange creature as a pet, which then spawns other creatures that transform into aggressive, imp-like monsters that wreak havoc on Billy’s town during Christmas Eve.
The film was the center of large merchandising campaigns and opts for black comedy, balanced against a Christmastime setting. Steven Spielberg was the film’s executive producer, with the film being produced by Michael Finnell.
Gremlins was theatrically released on June 8, 1984 by Warner Bros. to critical and commercial success. However, it was heavily criticized for some of its more violent sequences. In response to this and to similar complaints about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Spielberg suggested that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) alter its rating system, which it did within two months of the film’s release, creating a new PG-13 rating. It was followed by a sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).
“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” is the third episode of the fifth season American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, based on the short story of the same name by Richard Matheson, first published in the short story anthology Alone by Night (1961). It originally aired on October 11, 1963, and is one of the most well-known and frequently referenced episodes of the series. The story follows a passenger on an airline flight who notices a hideous creature trying to sabotage the aircraft during flight.
Opening Narration: (from the episode)
Portrait of a frightened man: Mr. Robert Wilson, thirty-seven, husband, father and salesman on sick leave. Mr. Wilson has just been discharged from a sanatorium where he spent the last six months recovering from a nervous breakdown, the onset of which took place on an evening not dissimilar to this one, on an airliner very much like the one in which Mr. Wilson is about to be flown home—the difference being that, on that evening half a year ago, Mr. Wilson’s flight was terminated by the onslaught of his mental breakdown. Tonight, he’s traveling all the way to his appointed destination, which, contrary to Mr. Wilson’s plan, happens to be in the darkest corner of the Twilight Zone.
The current list of all the (known) Empyrea references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Fear of Gremlins image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.
Gremlins movie poster is borrowed from Imp Awards and is copyright Warner Bros.
Gremlins movie still is copyright Warner Bros.
All Twilight Zone images are copyright CBS Studios
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
Vulcan Stev's Database 