Headscratchers / Gremlins 2: The New Batch

• Why, in the second movie, did the gremlin in the cookpot not give birth? There was water, or at least clear, water-based liquid. You can see it dripping from the vegetables or pasta on the sides of the vat.
  • He did. You are mentioning the scene when the original, Gizmo-spawned Gremlins give birth to more Gremlins so they can occupy the whole building. The thing is, nobody noticed since the other Gremlins started reproducing as well (due to the sprinkler system).
    • Doesn't count. He was in the pot well before the sprinklers came on. He should have been giving birth the moment he got in that pot.
    • Well, since he was covered in food when he came out, it's probably the case that the water in the pot had been mixed with oils, spices and other foodstuffs to the point where it was no longer 'water' enough for the rule to apply. You have to remember that snow isn't 'water' enough to trigger reproduction for these guys...it's apparently a really strict rule.
    • That's actually the most likely explanation. Moments before in the same scene the cook mentioned that she liked to add a LOT of liquor in her dishes, and we see her adding from a bottle to the pot, so odds are there wasn't that much water in there.
• Wait, why would the Gender Bender potion in the second movie even work on a Mogwai or Gremlin? They're a species that reproduces asexually, so logic would lead one to the conclusion that they don't have a gender.
  • Just because a species can reproduce asexually, it doesn't necessarily follow that they are themselves asexual or hermaphroditic.
  • Some species can do both (or have other types of reproduction options), depending on the situation.
  • And those gremlins sure as hell act male, if nothing else. Remember the catcalls and "hubba hubba" when the female gremlin was revealed?
    • In the second movie, there was clear sexual dimorphism between the Gremlins', unlike in the first movie. This is corroborated by unused character designs for the second movie, in which apparently there was intended to be a female Mogwai named Penny.
  • Being capable of asexual reproduction doesn't preclude the alternative. Many plants have some degree of asexual breeding capacity (budding, runners, etcetera), yet still produce seeds via pollination.
• How could Kate possibly mistake Daffy for Gizmo long enough to take him home? I'll give her a pass on physical resemblance as she didn't know Gizmo for that long. She probably can't tell one mogwai from another and those two are at least somewhat similar in fur colors. But come on, she spent enough time around Gizmo to know he's not a hyperactive lunatic. And given how paranoid she is about the entire situation, wouldn't any deviation be enough to send up a warning flag?
  • Remember how she reacts when Billy talks about having rescued Giz and wanting to bring him home with them? Her words are, and I quote: "That furry thing?!" She doesn't yet associate Gizmo as being the sole non-crazy/evil mogwai, thus wants to have as little contact as possible, which in turn means as little time checking for the close-set Loopy Eyes as she can get away with... namely zero. She just went by what she was told: he's in X drawer, box him up, take him home, remember the rules and such.
  • There's a 6-year gap between the first and second movies. Kate's never even kept a picture of Gizmo, and she doesn't like remembering him. He's the only Mogwai Kate has ever seen.
  • On top of the above explanations, Kate only knew Gizmo for a day in the first movie.
• In the second movie if there was a serum that removes gremlins' only weakness (and gives wings!), why didn't they instantly jump all over that stuff? At least why didn't the smart one inject himself with it?
  • For all we know, the Brain Gremlin did inject himself with the genetic sunblock (which was different from the bat serum) offscreen once he saw that it worked; it wasn't the sun that killed him. The others likely didn't know what it was.
  • Also, the sheer amount of gremlins versus what was available.
  • Brain shoots a fellow gremlin for being annoying. It's obvious the guy knows that a part of every civilization is corruption and murder.
  • They were waiting for the Batlin to return from his test flight.
  • To add to the above, considering that Batlin didn't return, he might have assumed it wore off or didn't even work, and so was useless. It was an experimental formula, after all.
• What happened to the old Chinese's grandson in between the two movies?
  • Either he is no longer in the picture or he and his grandad had one hell of a falling out. When Forster sees how sick Mr. Wing is he immediately decides that they can wait for him to die. Inference: Forster knows that Wing either has no heir to pass the shop to, or his only heir is someone willing to sell to Clamp against his grandfather's obvious wishes; seeing how quickly the kid went behind Mr. Wing's back to sell Gizmo, the old man's family selling the place against his wishes is actually pretty plausible.
    • Though the question of why Mr. Wing couldn't find someone to look after Gizmo after his passing remains.
    • Gizmo could be the reason they had the falling out. Maybe his grandson wanted to get rid of Gizmo after the incident at the town, saying he was too dangerous to exist, and that caused them to argue and break bonds.
  • I would go with the suggested answer above that the grandson didn't want to keep Gizmo. Also, the actor who played the grandson went missing and the director Joe Dante stated in the Director's Commentary for the first movie he has no idea what has become of the young actor.
• What exactly were Martin and Lewis doing outside of Mr. Wing's antique shop when the steam shovel is tearing it down? Yes, they work for Clamp and it's his company tearing the shop down, but they're scientists at Splice O' Life, not in any way involved with their boss' real estate empire, so why did they accompany the construction crew to Chinatown?
  • Well, one of them says that he found it on a specimen scout. He may have heard the crew were going downtown, and just hitched a ride to see if he could find anything interesting.
• Just what did happen to Clamp's secretary? I mean, besides the obvious. After that. When Clamp runs in to check on her, she's gone and the Gremlin is sitting at her computer banging the keys. A fight scene between Clamp and the Gremlin follows, ending with him stuffing the thing into a paper shredder to kill it... and then Billy and Forster run in and the missing and probably badly hurt secretary is never mentioned again.
  • She may have been killed, and if she was dead they probably decided to focus on helping the living.
• How does a gender-flipping serum work on an asexual creature?
  • It doesn't. Look at the Gremlins' faces in the second movie, and I mean REALLY look, and you'll notice there is clear sexual dimorphism in the species. Of course, considering how they reproduce, it would fall under Purely Aesthetic Gender or something.