All they had to do was follow 3 simple rules:

1) Keep him out of the light.
2) Keep him away from water, don’t get him wet.
3) Never, never feed him after midnight.

Was that really so hard to follow? Apparently it was and as a result little green monsters ran amok through the small unsuspecting town of Kingston Falls, New York.

Ok, I’ll give Billy Peltzer a break in regards to the 3rd rule, after all he was tricked. Come to think of it now the 3rd rule is also a little vague; what exactly constitutes as "after midnight"? Could you start feeding Mogwai again in say 2 or 6 hours after the stroke of 12? Or should you even continue to feed them at all after their first day being born, or in their case sprouted, since every minute from their first midnight on would technically be "after midnight"?  I'm guessing if you did decide to feed them it would be best to wait until the sun is up. Now, then would it have really been wise to feed Spike and the others with only 25 minutes till midnight? Considering that in modern society time is is dependent on the time zone you live in and depending on where you live in that time zone, time may not be all that accurate in relation to the position of the sun and stars above you. So, it may not have been a wise decision for Billy to feed them regardless of whether he had been deceived or not. With that I take back which I had previously said; Billy Peltzer you were not ready for the Mogwai.

Ok, enough with the speculation from the geek gallery. Whatever the case may be apparently it didn't mater much to me as a child, as the Gremlins turned out to be one of my favorite movies. After having watched the film I soon had toy figures of Gizmo and Spike, Gremlin sticker albums, and even Gremlin trading cards, though I am not sure where they are all now. The one item I do have now, however, was purchased long after the movie was first released in the theaters. This is a 1984 Topps Gremlins movie trading card, #81, featuring the two young co-stars of the film, Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates, that has been autographed by the lovely Phoebe Cates.

The card was originally purchased from the Hunter's Vault in Carmel, Indiana. I no longer have the original receipt of purchase for the Hunter’s Vault guarantee, though I am not sure it would make a difference as I cannot confirm that the Hunter's Vault is currently in business. This item, however, is still a niece piece of memorabilia to have for fans of both Gremlins and Phoebe Cates.

If you are interested in this item, you can find it for sale on... Will be posting soon.