Monster of the Day #150

Updated on December 7, 2010 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

MotD #150! An anniversary of sorts, at least using comic book numbering logic. So I wanted a goodie. We’ve done Kong and a couple of other beasties from the film, but I don’t think we’ve gotten to this guy yet.

Notice that Wray looks a wee bit bigger in this still:

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  • The Rev.

    Obviously she’s just a lot closer to us. It’s perspective. Yeah, that’s it.

    I almost liked the Pteranodan here more than the T-rex just because he was the most scientifically accurate of the dinosaurs and related creatures in that movie. That held a lot of power with a young Rev., who’d been commenting on the stego’s tail spikes and size and number of fingers on the T-rex and other such things up to that point.

  • Pteranodon got to be the “biggest” flying creature for a long time too. Until the discovery of Teratorns and Azdarchids.

    Teratorns were humongous predatory birds from the ice age and before, many of which seriously outbulked poor Pteranodon – up to 250 lbs plus, which is a disturbing weight for a bird of prey.

    Azdarchids are the frighteningly huge pterodactyls such as Quetzalcoatlicus which stood taller than a giraffe when walking on the ground. Let alone in flight.

    Still Pteranodon will always exemplify jurassic flight for those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s.

  • KeithB

    Sandy:
    Not to mention that one from Jonny Quest that was also in the credits.

  • Ericb
  • The Rev.

    I was wondering why Sandy didn’t mention Quetzalcoatlus…I was unfamiliar with the term “Azdarchids.” Something new for me today!

    Teratorns I knew, though, so that makes me happy.

  • Reed

    For some reason the 150th anniversay reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where Dogbert creates a millenial cult. His irrefutable reason is the 2000 is a big round number. It’s biiiiiiiiiiig, and it’s roooooouuuuuuund…

  • Rock Baker

    Something to think about for sure. King Kong is just about 80 years old, and yet it’s dinosaurs are still among the best ever filmed (1969’s Valley of Gwangi and 1970’s When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth are the only other ones I can think of that really come as close, but that’s not to degrade any of a multitude of other nifty dinosaur movies).

  • The Rev.

    I’d add in One Million Years B.C., which has a nifty Archelon in addition to some great dinosaurs (I love the little Allosaurus the hero fights).

    After all, it’s a Harryhausen just like Gwangi; it should be good.

  • KeithB

    Are we leaving CGI out of this? I thought that “Jurassiac Park” had some (literally) awesome moments.

  • Ericb

    Though they’re not movies the Walking With .. series had some wonderfull prehistoric beasties.

  • The Rev.

    Keith: I would include JP, definitely. There’s a lot of good stuff: The T-rex chase scene is brilliant, the ‘raptors have a couple of great bits (the kitchen in particular), and that scanning shot of the brachiosaurs and parasaurolophi by the lake is beautiful. The final scene with the T-rex and the banner filled me with sheer delight as my adult self and my inner child both rejoiced in just how cool that was. It’s not a great movie, although a good one; but, as Ms. Kingsley once said, “It’s the dinosaurs.” They are fantastic.

  • KeithB

    Walking with the Dinosaurs: The Live Experience had some really good dinosaurs, too. You could easily make a movie with them using some mis-direction and good editing.

    (The Natural History Museum in Los Angeles has some dino puppets from the same guys and they are really good, too if you want an up-close and personal experience.)

  • JPs dinosaurs are now sadly dated. They made the decision to make the dinosaurs as mammal-like as possible, with elephant-like bare skin for instance. It turns out that sauropods (like Brachiosaurus) had huge horny scales, and many had a row of scales down their back like Dinny from Alley Oop. In essence, dinosaurs looked a lot more “reptilian” than was thought at the time. Note this doesn’t mean they weren’t warm-blooded, and doesn’t necessarily apply to small theropods like Velociraptor which were probably heavily feathered.

  • KeithB

    Sandy:
    Don’t these criticism’s apply to *all* the dinosaur movies ever made? Why single out JP?

  • Rock Baker

    Movie dinosaurs just need to look cool (like the ones in Kong did), and leave the ever-changing science of dinosaurs to the classroom and scientific circles. I was still (fairly) little when Jurassic Park was released and I loved the movie. The monsters of King Kong and The Lost World still had more impact on me. The look of dinosaurs for the last thrity years just isn’t as inspiring or captivating (or just pleasing to the eye) as the dinosaurs from the 30s thru the 60s. In a movie, looks are more important than the ‘scientific reality’ of the monsters. Its suspension of disbelief, like how we can play along with a movie about a giant, flying turle that spits and eats fire.