Gizmo

Gizmo

• First Film

• Second Film

Background information

Feature films

Gremlins
Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Voice

(TV Show)
Daniel Ross (MultiVersus)Howie Mandel (Movies/Video Games) A. J. Locascio (TV Show)Daniel Ross (MultiVersus)

Character information

Gender

Male ♂

Species

Mogwai

Goal

To save Kingston Falls and New York City from the Gremlins (all succeeded)

Home

Kingston Falls
New York City

Relatives

• Sam Wing (previous caretaker)
• Billy Peltzer (current caretaker)

Allies

Barney

Enemies

Stripe
Gremlins
Mohawk

“Has it got a name, Dad?

Yeah, Mogwai.

What?

Mogwai; I don’t know, some Chinese word, I just call him Gizmo, he seems to like it.

”

Billy Peltzer and his father Randall Peltzer

Gizmo (also often referred to as “Giz” by Billy) is an adorable, very kind Mogwai who is part of Billy Peltzer’s life. Originally owned by Mr. Wing, Gizmo lives with Billy and Kate Peltzer in New York. Gizmo helps Billy defeat the gremlins each time they get loose. Gizmo can also display many emotions.

Personality

Gizmo is the infamous cute, kind, lovable, adorable Mogwai. Despite not being vicious like the other gremlins, and most other Mogwai, Gizmo has shown he’s just as adept as they are with weapons and electrical devices. Gizmo knows how to work an electrical keyboard, turning on a television, operating a toy car, playing a trumpet, and well just being plain adorable. Not to mention, making an effective bow and arrow out of office supplies. This might be a reference to his name, as the word “gizmo” means a gadget.

Gizmo has shown a love for TV, which he developed while in the Peltzers’ cared for him in the first movie. While Mr. Wing found the idea of the mogwai watching TV ridiculous, it has proven to be useful for Gizmo as in the first film, he watched a movie involving a race and he became interested in cars, or as he called them ‘Vroom-Vroom.’ In the climax, Gizmo drove a toy car through the department store to get to the greenhouse department before Stripe’s new army was born. In the second movie, TV proves its use for Gizmo again as he recalled what the hero of the Rambo movie did and mimicked those tactics with amazing results.

Then Gizmo was responsible for the destruction of the leaders of both batches (interestingly, Stripe met his demise following the destruction of his army, whereas Mohawk was destroyed before). It should be noted that Gizmo took a much more direct approach in Mohawk’s destruction than Stripe’s, as he shot Mohawk with a flaming arrow in the second movie, whereas he indirectly destroyed Stripe by exposing him to sunlight in the original. Then Gizmo became much more assertive than he was in the first movie because, as Billy said, “they pushed him too far.”

According to the novelization of the first film, the mogwai are a result of genetic manipulations by an alien scientist to create a creature that would evoke good-naturedness and goodwill amongst the galaxy. However, a slight miscalculation caused all but 1 in 10,000 to be mischievous or evil and the transformation mogwai can go through being totally unintended. Only one in ten thousand are gentle and as a result, is hated by their brethren. Also, this previously mentioned mogwai is effectively immortal. As Gizmo is gentle and has a long list of historical figures that have owned him, it is clear that he was this mogwai type. If this mogwai eats after midnight though, he will lose his longevity, becoming a typical gremlin. However, as that was never mentioned in the movie, the credence to this nature of the mogwai/Gizmo is unknown.

History

Gremlins

Gizmo was first heard when struggling inventor Randall Peltzer came to New York City’s Chinatown, particularly Mr. Wing’s Shop, to find his son Billy a Christmas present and he attempted to showcase his invention The Bathroom Buddy, only to hear him making noises from a far part of the shop, luring him to his cage where he sang to him a soft melody. Smitten by the little Mogwai, Randall tried to persuade Mr. Wing in taking him home for $200, though Mr. Wing said no, he said that he won’t sell the Mogwai at any price, even if it was the money he and his grandson needed very badly. However, his grandson disobeyed his grandfather’s warnings by selling Gizmo to Randall by the curb and informed him of not exposing him to light (especially sunlight) and water, and to never feed him beyond midnight.

A day after came, and Gizmo was presented to Billy by Randall in their home in Kingston Falls after a rough day at the bank he was working at. It was only after Lynn, Randall’s wife and Billy’s mom tried to take a picture of the two with Billy’s dog Barney (Woof-Woof as Gizmo would call him) with flash photography that Randall informed the family the rules of caring for a Mogwai. In spite of accidentally blinding Gizmo with light reflected from a mirror, then Billy got along with him really well.

The rules otherwise, were observed when Billy’s friend Pete Fountaine accidentally spilled water from a paintbrush jar on him the following day, and it caused him to breed 5 puff balls that grew into Mogwais, one of which being the eventual antagonist Stripe. It became clear from the first day the newly-spawned Mogwais were not like Gizmo in terms of personality as Stripe spat at Gizmo mercilessly. Right after an incident that left Barney tangled in Christmas porch lights and being sent away for a few days, then the first batch tricked Billy into feeding them past midnight by gnawing on a wire on his alarm clock and they greedily ate all the chicken drumsticks that he offered to them, Gizmo, on the other hand, simply refuses one.

Then the next morning, Gizmo saw some cocoons that were left by the ill-will Mogwais and in horror, he known that something bad will happen, and it really started to show as they hatched into Gremlins a few hours later, Then they tied him up on Billy’s darts board, and they shot multiple darts at him, and then they send him down into a laundry chute where Billy eventually found him after four of the Gremlins were dealt with by him and Lynn. Then they found Stripe in the local YMCA and they watched in horror as Stripe dived into the pool, forming a large army of Gremlins destroying Kingston Falls.

After local authorities dismiss Billy’s warnings, they later rescued Billy’s girlfriend Kate Peltzer who was trapped by the Gremlins at the local Irish pub bar she was working at and was forced to serve them that night, and the trio sought refuge in the devastated bank. Shortly after realizing the Gremlins weren’t outside anymore, they soon find them inside the movie theater watching Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (the 1937 Disney cartoon film) and made a fiery explosion that killed all but Stripe (who left the vicinity earlier). Realizing Stripe was left, they tracked him further into the department store, and initially Gizmo had to stay with Kate while she tries to turn the lights on to blind Stripe; tired of being helpless for the most part however, he quickly slips out to help Billy and made a toy car to drive in and find Billy who was being cornered and attacked by Stripe. By the time he reaches the greenhouse, Stripe was about to spawn new Gremlins when he opened the blinds to a hidden window, killing off Stripe.

Afterwards, Mr. Wing arrives at the Peltzer house to pick up Gizmo, scolding Randall for being so careless in looking after the Mogwai but informs Billy that he will take care for him again when he is ready before leaving.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Six years have passed since the Gremlin attack in Kingston Falls, and Gizmo has lost Mr. Wing six weeks after the latter refused to sell his shop in New York’s Chinatown to Clamp Industries who were planning to build a China-inspired multipurpose complex. Just as he is mourning, demolition on the shop was already starting, and Gizmo barely escaped the shop’s destruction, only to be captured by curious scientists working for the science company Splice O’ Life which is located in Clamp Tower.

Coincidentally, that is where his previous owner Billy and now fiancee Kate are working at, so when Billy inquired a delivery man about Gizmo’s singing, he immediately rescued him from being experimented on by Dr. Catheter, Martin and Lewis. However, Gizmo’s curiosity allowed him to slip away from Billy’s watch and explore the tower, only for him to got soaked by a broken water fountain and spawn four black and white furred Mogwai, namely George, Lenny, Daffy, and the initial leader Mohawk (who’s actually the reincarnated vengeful Stripe) like the previous batch in the first film, they bullied Gizmo badly, especially Mohawk, stuffed him in an air duct (which explains why Daffy was picked up by Kate by mistake) and later trapped him inside an air vent after they became Gremlins.

As the Gremlins started multiplying and causing chaos in Clamp Tower, Mohawk tortured Gizmo endlessly as a payback of his death as Stripe in the previous film, but after mistreating Gizmo for too long, he drank a spider formula and became a spider-Gremlin hybrid before trapping Kate and Marla Bloodstone in a spider web. He was about to finish them off when Gizmo, now angry at him for ‘pushing him too far’ as Billy later notes, shows up and kills him with a flaming makeshift arrow. After most of the Gremlins were killed at the end (one survived as a female Gremlin by the end) Gizmo, Billy and Kate finally reunited and settled down in New York for good.

Relationships

Mr. Wing

Mr. Wing was Gizmo’s owner and caretaker. Although Mr. Wing was very strict with him, Gizmo loved Mr. Wing very much. When Gizmo was sold to Randall Peltzer by Mr. Wing’s grandson, who had tricked his grandfather, Mr. Wing appeared to be furious about this, being that the Gremlins novel suggests that his grandson had been in huge trouble after Mr. Wing discovered what he had done. Mr. Wing eventually found Gizmo at the Peltzer family home in Kingston Falls, shortly after a gremlin attack had taken place, and returned him to his home in Chinatown.

Gizmo was sad about this, but also happy, because he missed Mr. Wing, but knew it would be hard leaving his new family. Gizmo and Mr. Wing did have different philosophies on many things, such as their opinions of television, but they do still care for each other, and Gizmo was obviously saddened by Wing’s death, being that he was seen grieving over the death of Mr. Wing shortly after it happened.

However, Wing had let Gizmo out of his cage just moments before his death, much to Gizmo’s relief, being that soon after the small junk shop Mr. Wing owned had been destroyed. After Wing’s death, Gizmo had ended up in the hands of some evil scientists, but he was rescued by his former owner, Billy, who ended up taking over as his owner and caretaker, something that Mr. Wing had hinted at happening once Billy was ready.

Gizmo discovered that he had spawned Stripe and his friends, and they had never gotten along since then. Their rivalry was first seen when Stripe spat at Gizmo, the Peltzer family’s dog Barney was tied up with Christmas lights outside, when Stripe tricked Billy into feeding him and the other Mogwai that had been spawned after midnight, Gizmo was trying to warn Billy, although it proved ineffective, after Stripe and the other Mogwai hatched into gremlins, they tortured Gizmo, Stripe even pinned Gizmo to Billy’s dartboard and threw darts at him, along with the other gremlins. Gizmo then joined forces with Billy and his girlfriend Kate to defeat the gremlins.

Kate and Billy were able to blow up the movie theater in which the gremlins were hiding, although Stripe had escaped. When Billy and Stripe went head-to-head in the nearby concessions store, Billy seemed doomed after Stripe wandered into the fountain in the store and began to spawn thousands of more gremlins. Gizmo was able to come to the rescue.

After Gizmo sees that the sun was out and knowing that it’s light was lethal to both mogwais and gremlins, he jumped in a Barbie car and drove towards the greenhouse, it seemed to be fate, however, when Gizmo crashed and flew into the air, right where a string hung that would pull open a tarp that would expose the sunlight from the hidden window to the plants and Stripe. Before Stripe could fire at Gizmo Gizmo has an epiphany that reflects his violent attitude of himself and leaves the work to Billy, who pulls open the blinds exposing Stripe to sunlight, thus; melting him Stripe seems to like beer and candy, and is the leader of the gremlins and the last gremlin to die.

Randall Peltzer was the man who had “bought” Gizmo and given him to his son, Billy, as a Christmas present, Gizmo appeared to learn to trust Randall, although frightened by him at first, this is especially seen when Randall’s wife, Lynn, attempted to take a picture of Gizmo, although the camera had flashed, terrifying Gizmo, who jumped out of Billy’s lap and clung to Randall, who he probably believed could protect him, Randall also seemed fascinated by the new Mogwai that Gizmo had spawned, much to the little Mogwai’s annoyance, Randall did appear saddened by the departure of Gizmo when Mr. Wing took Gizmo back to Chinatown. Randall was also the one to give Gizmo his name.

Billy Peltzer was the owner of Gizmo in the first film. Gizmo and Billy had gotten along instantly, and even when Gizmo spawned the new gremlins, Billy seemed to care for Gizmo the most. When the gremlins hatched, Billy returned to his house to search for Gizmo after saving his mother from a group of malicious gremlins who had savagely attacked her and left her scarred and bearing several minor injuries. At first, Billy believed Gizmo to be dead, however, Gizmo proved to be okay, with only a few very minor cuts. Gizmo then accompanied Billy to help find Stripe, only to find that the evil gremlin had already broken into the Kingston Falls YMCA and jumped into the swimming pool, spawning hundreds of more gremlins.

Billy and Gizmo had then gone to try and convince the Kingston Falls sheriff, Frank, and his partner, Brent, to help them, although they did not believe them (soon after they discovered this was true after seeing that Ruby Deagle had been murdered by the gremlins) Gizmo then accompanied Billy to help save his girlfriend, Kate, from the local pub (Dorry’s Tavern) from gremlins, most of whom were drunk. After escaping, the three of them snuck into the local movie theater and blew it up, killing all of the gremlins but one, Stripe. During the final confrontation in a nearby department store between Billy and Stripe, Gizmo came to the rescue when he pulled open the tarp that was blocking a window, which concealed morning sunlight that would kill Stripe, and Gizmo saved Billy, killing Stripe. Soon after, Gizmo’s original owner, Mr. Wing, came to take Gizmo back to his original home in Chinatown, much to Billy’s sadness. Upon his departure, Gizmo’s last words to Billy were, “Bye, Billy”.

Gizmo’s obvious affection for Billy causes Mr. Wing to tell Billy that someday he may be ready to care for Gizmo who will wait for that day. Years later, the two were reunited when Gizmo had been captured by evil scientists in a science lab in Clamp Center. Billy had been working there and rescued Gizmo.

When Billy left Gizmo in his desk drawer to go out with his boss, Marla, Gizmo jumped out, curious and longing to explore. He was sprayed by water from a broken drinking fountain, however, spawning new Mogwai who trapped Gizmo in the ventilation shaft. Billy had told Kate, who worked in the building with him, to pick Gizmo up, however, she took the wrong Mogwai, whose name was Daffy. Gizmo had eventually fallen out of the shaft and had been tortured by the Mogwai, specifically Mohawk, the leader. Gizmo went on to defeat the other gremlins with Billy and the other humans and then moved in with Billy and Kate, who were supposedly wed soon after.

Barney (the Peltzer family’s dog) appeared to be somewhat jealous of Gizmo, although Gizmo had instantly liked him. The two found a curious interest in one another, especially Gizmo, who referred to Barney as “Woof Woof”.

Barney and Gizmo both appeared to dislike Stripe and the other Mogwai, however, as Gizmo was seen playing with Barney when Billy first showed his father the new Mogwai that Gizmo had spawned.

Barney also showed up right after Gizmo had killed Stripe. Gizmo appeared to care about Barney, and he even said goodbye to “Woof Woof” when Mr. Wing came to take him back to Chinatown, something he said to only one other character, Billy.

Kate first saw Gizmo when Billy rescued her from the gremlins attacking Dorry’s Tavern, which she had been working in at the time. She was terrified of him at first because she thought he was a gremlin, however, Billy helped her adjust to Gizmo. She even held him. When Billy went after Stripe in the department store, Kate had been ordered to find the room in which all the lights in the building were controlled. She brought Gizmo with her because Billy trusted her, so Gizmo obviously trusted her, too.

Kate seemed somewhat sad when Mr. Wing took Gizmo with him back to Chinatown. When Billy found Gizmo soon after, in the Clamp Tower, in which he and Kate had been employed, Billy told Kate that he had found Gizmo, which obviously terrified her, as she started to freak out. She begrudgingly went to his office and got “Gizmo”, although she soon after discovered that the Mogwai she had brought home was Daffy, one of the new Mogwai accidentally spawned by Gizmo, who had been trapped in the air duct by Mohawk and his other followers. When Kate discovered this, Billy and she had to use a cover-up to get Mr. and Mrs. Futterman out of their apartment so that they could return Daffy to Clamp Tower and find Gizmo.

Eventually, Kate and Billy’s boss, Marla had been trapped by Mohawk, who was now a spider gremlin after drinking a strange chemical in Dr. Catheter’s lab. Kate and Marla’s lives had been threatened by Mohawk, who had trapped them in his spider web, however, Gizmo came to the rescue and killed Mohawk, saving Kate and Marla. After that, Kate was seen carrying Gizmo around in his little box and had learned to accept him, because Gizmo moved in with her and Billy, who were supposedly wed soon afterward.

Mohawk is Gizmo’s enemy in the second movie. Mohawk was the third Mogwai to be spawned when Gizmo was sprayed by a broken water fountain. Mohawk then climbed out of the trash can he landed in and then started to approach Gizmo, with George and Lenny following. They then stuffed Gizmo in the air vent, where they then left and escaped to the food court and ate after midnight, forming cocoons soon afterward. Soon after hatching, Mohawk, who was actually a reincarnation of Stripe and wanted revenge against Gizmo for his death in his previous life, found the mogwai wandering around where the gremlins had hatched and began to torture Gizmo by:

• Physically beating him
• Shocking him with an electrical wire
• Putting him in a photocopier
• Putting Velcro strips on him, then ripping them off.
• Ramming him with a toy train

Afterwards, Mohawk then went to the Splice O’ Life laboratory, where he tried to kill Billy with an Uzi Machine Gun. After that failed, he then stole a beaker filled with a spider serum. Meanwhile, Gizmo (having been fed up with being pushed around by Mohawk) then began training with a barbell (which sent him through the floor) and a punching bag (which hit him back). Remembering a scene from Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), he then created a bow out of a large paper-clip and rubber band and an arrow out of a pencil and bottle of white-out. Later, Mohawk (now a spider-gremlin hybrid) was seen approaching Kate and Billy’s boss, Marla Bloodstone, who were caught in his web. He was about to kill them when Gizmo popped out of the air vent, wearing a Rambo headband, lighting the bottle of white-out on fire, and shot Mohawk, setting him and his web on fire. Then, Billy and Murray Futterman showed up and saved Kate, Marla, and Gizmo from the flames. Upon seeing Gizmo’s new look and attitude, Kate asked what had happened to him, to which Billy replied; “i don’t know, i guess they pushed him too far”.

Trivia

• He was never shown to have eaten anything in both movies. However, a commercial that advertised Gremlins Cereal showed Gizmo eating Gremlins Cereal (Hopefully not after midnight). It’s also implied he was eating a candy cane. In the Mountain Dew ad, he takes a sip, but makes a mess.
  • The novel of the first film, however, contradicts the above statement. Gizmo has eaten half an egg roll, rice, broccoli, twice-fried pork scraps, a Milky Way bar, a rubber washer, cardboard, and packing chips.
• Gizmo has musical talent since he can play a trumpet (that was actually perfect in size for him), knew how to play the electronic keyboard, and sings regularly.
• Gizmo is the only known mogwai to not have a speck of hatred in him, unlike his fellow Mogwai, who are often cruel, mean, abusive, and vicious.
• The Gizmo puppet used in the first film was not used in the second film, however, the Gizmo puppet used in Gremlins 2: The New Batch was featured on the DVD cover of Gremlins.
• In the first film, Gizmo spawned five mogwai. However, in the second film, he spawned only four.
• Originally, Gizmo was supposed to be the Gremlin leader in Gremlins, not Stripe.
• It is implied Gizmo had spawned Gremlins before the events of Gremlins, as he already seemed to know that Stripe was trouble moments after he spawned him.
• Gizmo knows of two other eternal Mogwai that have been on Earth.
• Gizmo appears in the video game Gremlins: Gizmo. On the website for this game, it has this to say about him: “Gizmo is a loyal and lovable mogwai. He especially loves music and dancing.”
• In both films, Gizmo seems to recall what the characters in both movies he watched said, and mimicked the tactics in them.
• In the first film, in the scene where Billy was showing the cocoons to his mother, the white patch of fur on Gizmo’s right eye was then on the left.
• In Gremlins 2: The New Batch, it is learned that he is a fan of Rambo.
• Aside from Earl, Gizmo is the only known eternal Mogwai.

Video Games

Gizmo has been a playable character in many video games based on the Gremlins movies. He is the sole playable character in the Gremlins 2 game for the NES and Game Boy. In Gremlins: Unleashed for the Game Boy Color and Gremlins: Stripe vs. Gizmo for the Game Boy Advance, Gizmo is one of two playable characters, the other being Stripe. He is the final boss if the player chooses to play as Stripe. If the player decides to play as Gizmo, Stripe will be the final boss. Gizmo is also the main character and inspiration for the game Gremlins: Gizmo, which was released November 18, 2011.

Gizmo was added as a playable character in Year 2 of Lego Dimensions in a team pack alongside Stripe.

Gizmo would later also be added as a playable character during Season 1 of MultiVersus.

Gizmo also was one of the main characters in the Warner Brothers ride Gremlin Invasion, in which Gizmo accompanied the rider on their quest to defeat the gremlins who had taken over the Warner Brothers studio. The other main characters of the ride were ALF in the Germany location and Beetlejuice in the Australia location.

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