You probably remember the movie Critters as being not much more than another one of those mid-’80s Gremlins knockoffs (a charge the film’s creators have vehemently denied), but the film actually had a decent amount of success on its own, with a dedicated fanbase to boot. Between 1986 and 1992, four Critters films were produced before the franchise came to an end, but now the malevolent alien furballs are set to return in a brand new TV series.
Warner Bros. Television Group’s digital studio, Blue Ribbon Content, is set to produce a new show called Critters: A New Binge. The live action series will be largely comedic in tone, and will see the Crites return to Earth in search of one of their own. They end up landing in Burbank, CA of all places, and begin terrorizing the city, which will surely lead to lots of inside show business jokes. The new series will air on go90, which in case you’ve lost track of the billions of streaming platforms out there, is Verizon’s free video streaming service.
It also sounds like the modestly-budgeted series will use practical effects rather than CGI to bring the Crites to life once again, which should be music to the ears of original Critters fans. “There’s a budget, but ways to shoot for a bigger scale, so not gopher-Caddyshack look,” Jordan Rubin, the series’ director and executive producer, told Syfy Wire. “With this budget, the CG doesn’t match up. Rather shoot practically, so it’s realistic and not campy.” Rubin also stated that the series began as “a darker take that became more campy. Fun but grounded, and true to the genre, so it’s played straight and not spoofing.” Producers Rupert Harvey and Barry Opper, who worked on the original Critters, are also involved in the production.
The new campy but realistic, funny but dark, practical effects-laden Critters TV series is expected to start shooting early this year. What a time to be alive.
