Customer Reviews

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

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David Bischoff's novelization of "Gremlins 2 The New Batch" is quite good, disappointing only in its length, or rather, lack thereof. I personally thought it should have been longer; it's a shame they were unable to get the marvellous George Gipe to do this book (I believe that he passed away), for he turned in TWO excellent novelization jobs-- on the original GREMLINS, plus BACK TO THE FUTURE.

But since, for whatever reason, death or otherwise, Gipe was unavailable, Bischoff steps up to the plate. And though perhaps not a grand slam, this one still goes out of the park.

Bischoff includes plenty of his own satire, while still staying true to the film (and also the first novel).

The best moment comes as Dr. Catheter repents. In the original theatrical version, here the "film breaks" and the Gremlins supposedly mess around with the projector; in the video release, the "tape messes up" and the Gremlins infiltrate the VCR. I had found myself wondering what Bischoff would do.

He lives up to those moments and creates an even funnier one. Mr. Glasses (aka "Brain Gremlin," voiced in the movie by Tony Randall) flies to Los Angeles, ties up none other than "Mr. David Bischoff" and takes over the keyboard himself for a couple of pages, talking about how the Gremlins will revolutionize politics. At this point, Bischoff frees himself. Mr. Glasses decides it's time to relinquish the keyboard and so flies right back to the Clamp Center. I nearly died laughing.

Hilarious!

I first read this book years ago, at the same time as the film came out. Being too young to see the film until it came out on video, and being a great fan of the first film, Gremlins, I was delighted to be given a copy of Gremlins 2, and finished it off within a few days.

That was years ago, and I'd thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Looking over it again now, I can't believe I didn't noticed how satirical the style is, and Bischoff doesn't ever go more than a few paragraphs without throwing in another sardonic comment, or personal reference about a celebrity.

This book is funny, though, and if you liked the mischevious characters from the first book, or if you are a fan of the film, then you will probably enjoy this book too.