The Original Gremlins

Early in World War II, a Royal Air Force pilot wrote an explanation for some of the mechanical glitches that plagued airplanes — they were being caused by little creatures called Gremlins.  That pilot was Roald Dahl, later to be a famous children’s author.  His tale came to the attention of Walt Disney, and pre-production work was begun on an animated short, including character design.  For a variety of reasons, the project was never completed; there is an excellent account in the book The Disney That Never Was by animation historian and critic Charles Solomon. However, a book was produced and Gremlin toys have been released.

If you’re looking for an interesting children’s book, a reproduction of the original story was released in 2006 by Dark Horse.  It’s a bit pricy, but can be found at http://www.amazon.com/Gremlins-Roald-Dahl/dp/1593074964/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434397947&sr=1-5&keywords=Gremlins.  And  a sequel, Return of the Gremlins by Mike Richardson, is due to be released this month.

Perhaps the sequel will include computers?

 

 

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