29 Crazy Ridiculous Things That Happened in Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens

The fourth installment of Syfy's mega-popular Sharknado series premiered Sunday. And in case there was any question that The 4th Awakens would be a slight Star Wars parody, the film answered that right away by opening with an "Episode IV" scrolling prologue reminiscent of George Lucas' space franchise.

Ian Ziering was back as chainsaw-touting Fin Shepard, alongside Tara Reid and David Hasselhoff. With a new team of allies by their side, they battled the Sharknados – which this time have evolved into fire-breathing, hail-throwing, sand-blasting threats.

They also spewed their fair share of Star Wars puns, including a "May the force be with you" line, a lightsaber battle and one hysterically misplaced Star Trek quote. (Hey, it's easy to confuse the two, right?)

But the real reason Sharknado keeps audiences returning is for its ridiculous celebrity cameos and wacky plot points. One may have thought the series couldn't top itself after Reid's character gave birth in the belly of a shark while it fell to Earth from outer space in last year's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, but one should never bet against the power of Sharknado.



Here were The 4th Awakens best moments:

• 1. Tommy Davidson played Aston Reynolds – founder of tech company Astro-X, whose Astro-Pods have prevented the creation of Sharknados for the past five years. No word on whether they'd prevent Juwanna Mann though…

• 2. Last we saw Fin Shepard's son Gil (Anthony Rogers), he was just born out of the belly of a shark. Now, he's 5-years-old and living with his grandma (played by supermodel Cheryl Tiegs) and cousin Gemini ( The George Lopez Show's Masiela Lusha) on his family's farm in Kansas. Also, he may think his mother is a shark. Fin has saved the world three times now, but he's going to need a little more time to teach his son where babies come from.

• 3. Welcome to Las Vegas! The Shepards are in town for a family reunion. Because nothing says family reunion like Sin City!

• 4. Carrot Top is an Uber driver. They didn't cast him in that role, it was just a happy coincidence.



• 5. Hannah Montana star Cody Linley and Everybody Hates Chris alum Imani Hakim played Fin's son Matt and wife Gabrielle, respectively. The two married in a ceremony officiated by Dr. Drew – held on a on an airplane flying above Vegas – and then parachuted right into a Sharknado. Naturally.

• 6. Among the Vegas regulars who were eaten during the Sin City-Sharknado: Vince Neil, Adrian Zmed, Carrot Top, Rascal Flatts singer Jay DeMarcus and the legendary Wayne Newton. Don't worry though – the Chippendales managed to survive … one fighting back at the sharks with his pelvic thrust.

• 7. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fans everywhere gasped upon seeing current Housewife Erika Girardi and former Housewife Brandi Glanville playing Astro-X technicians the same scene. (The gossip they must have spilled about Lisa Vanderpump while on set…). Also appearing for Housewives fans? RHOA stars Kenya Moore and Cynthia Bailey. Can the fifth installment just be The Real Housewives of Sharknado?

• 8. Turns out the pirate ship in the front of Las Vegas resort Treasure Island totally works! And David Faustino from Married with Children is randomly on it. Bud Bundy… always in trouble...

• 9. The big reveal wasn't that Tara Reid's character April is alive. It was that Fin and the rest of her family thought she was dead – and she thought they were dead. Her father, played by Gary Busey also turned her into a machine. She can fly, shoot lasers out of her hands, and has to plug herself into a machine to charge like an iPhone.

• 10. After the "Sandnado" took down the Hoover Dam, Astro-X blowed up the Grand Canyon to stop the flood – turning the Sandnado into a Bouldernado.

• 11. Before long, the Sharknado hit an oil field and to become an Oilnado. And then, obviously, caught fire to become a Firenado!

• 12. Fin thought about taking on the Firenado with a chainsaw bought from Dog the Bounty Hunter and Texas Chainsaw Massacre alums Caroline Williams and Dan Yeager. Instead, he threw a fire extinguisher at it, putting it out. Way easier.

• 13. Three other Sharknados popped up – a Lighteningnado, a Lavanado and a Hail-to-the-no-nado.

• 14. April had a sweet training montage with The Biggest Loser coach Dolvett Quince. Then she saved a boy from a falling car – that just so happened to have her father-in-law, Gilbert (LINK "http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:DavidHasselhoff,00.html" "David Hasselhoff") and daughter Claudia (Ryan Newman) riding as passengers. Cue the awkward family reunion.

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• 15. Today anchors Natalie Morales and Al Roker popped up from time to time to explain what exactly was going on. Morales wore an eye patch – due to her previous injury in Sharknado 3.

• 16. In the oddest easter egg, Howard Stern Show regular Benjy Bronk showed up as Network news anchor Howard Beale. There's even a reference to the film character's iconic "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" line.

• 17. Yes, that was Steve Guttenberg reprising his role from Syfy's other camp movie hit, Lavalantula (and its sequel 2 Lava 2 Lantula).

• 18. A Cow-nado (yes) merged with a Sharknado. One good thing? The Twister callback it inspired ("Cow! 'Nother Cow" "Actually, I think it's the same cow").

• 19. A runaway ball of twine with sharks living in it almost killed everyone but Fin saved the day by literally tying it up to a post like a dog. That was easy!

• 20. When the storm hit Kansas, the Wizard of Oz references came out – including known lines ("Follow the yellow brick road," "We're not in Kansas anymore," etc.). The most satisfying one? Watching Stacey Dash's obnoxious politician character get hit by a falling house while wearing her black and white striped knee-socks and ruby slippers.

• 21. The Lighteningnado hit a nuclear power plant in Ohio to become a Nuclearnado.

• 22. Fin seemed to have no problem with April being mostly machine. "As long as you have a beating heart, I'm gonna love you" he told her before they kissed. True love!

• 23. Vanderpump Rules stars Stassi Schroeder and Jax Taylor appeared – with Schroeder doing the best acting work she's done since begging for her former SUR coworkers' forgiveness last season.

• 24. The Hoff also reunited with his former Baywatch co-stars Alexandra Paul and Gena Lee Nolin – Paul saying "my parents wanted me to get a PhD instead of running around in a bathing suit all day."

• 25. Gil was doing a lot of screaming so they put him in a barrel for safety. Except it fell over Niagara Falls oops!

• 26. Fin diffused the Nuclearnado while wearing chainsaw-handed robot armor. Sadly, he and most of his family were then eaten by sharks – each bigger than the next. The topper? A whale who the shark containing the whole family.

• 27. After he was rescued by his mother April, Gil crawled inside the mouth of the whale and used his toy chainsaw to cut up the belly of each shark. Out came Claudia, Matt, Gilbert and Fin – as if they were Russian nesting dolls.

• 28. Fin wasn't breathing. The solution? Shocking his heart back into beating using a defibrillator made of baby sharks. Best episode of ER ever.

• 29. Nova (Cassie Scerbo) – who has been in Paris – returned on a flying Eiffel Tower. "I don't think this is over yet," says April. Duh!