Rhedosaurus
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The Rhedosaurus is a giant fictional dinosaur that first appeared in the 1953 American giant monster film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
Design
The Rhedosaurus has a quadrupedal build, with a long tail and forelimbs noticeably longer than its hindlimbs. Its back is adorned with a single row of backwards-facing spikes that continue from its scalp to its tail. Crocodilian scales line down its underside while bumpy, pebble-like scales cover the remainder of the body. Its snout is short with protruding nostrils and small fangs.
In Planet of Dinosaurs, the Rhedosaurus has a slimmer skull and a slightly-longer neck. Its skin is brown.
Development
This section is a Ray Harryhausen created a 3-foot-long stop-motion model of the Rhedosaurus, exposed a frame of film, moved the dinosaur replica almost imperceptibly, shot another frame of film, and so on.[4] As the film played through a projector normally, the reptile model appeared to move. The elaborate special effects took approximately seven months to complete and were integrated into the live action footage, which had only taken place over a two-week period.[4]
History
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
The Rhedosaurus in the film was one of the last surviving members of its species, awakened by a nuclear test in the Arctic. It made its way down the North American coast, destroying everything in its path and ending up in New York, its original home. The Rhedosaurus wandered the streets, eating anyone who got too close to it. Attempts to kill it were complicated by an ancient disease it carried; spilling its blood freed the plague, which was almost as deadly as the reptile itself. The Rhedosaurus was eventually killed at Coney Island when a radioactive isotope was shot into a wound on its neck, both fatally wounding it and also neutralizing the disease. As the Rhedosaurus succumbed to the isotope, a fire it started by destroying the machinery of a roller coaster spread across the island. The Rhedosaurus burst free of the burning coaster and roared out defiantly, before finally collapsing to the ground, dead.
Planet of Dinosaurs
As a Tyrannosaurus rex began menacing Captain Lee's crew, Lee and Jim broke into an argument over who should be in charge of crafting a plan to kill it. To prove his resolve, Lee baited the Tyrannosaurus into chasing him away from the camp when the trap preparations were not yet ready. As he continued to run, he took shelter under a ledge, above which a car-sized Rhedosaurus appeared. It hissed at Lee but did not chase him as he continued running. The pursuing Tyrannosaurus came upon the Rhedosaurus and roared at it. The Rhedosaurus roared back, prompting the Tyrannosaurus to lunge at it and bite it on the shoulder, carrying it in the air for several seconds as the Rhedosaurus struggled and tried to fight back. The conflict was ended when the Tyrannosaurus set the Rhedosaurus on the ground and quickly bit into its head, crushing its skull and killing it before carrying the body back to its lair to feed on it, giving Lee enough time to return to his crew and plan the counterattack.
Abilities
Contaminated blood
The Rhedosaurus's blood contains a disease that can rapidly cause severe sickness and death in humans.
Physical abilities
Since it lacks any ranged weaponry, the Rhedosaurus primarily relied on its sheer bulk and powerful limbs during combat, shown when it topples over a lighthouse and crushes a car like it was an insect underneath its metaphorical boot. Its jaws were able to kill and eat a human in one bite as well.
Durability
The Rhedosaurus's scales were thick enough to be unharmed by small arms fire, though heavier munitions were able to wound it sufficiently enough to be able to kill it.
Filmography
- The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
- Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) [stock footage; television screen]
- Cloverfield (2008) [stock footage; still frame]
- Godzilla Singular Point (TV 2021) [film poster]
Short stories
- "The Fog Horn" (1951)
Gallery
- Main article: Rhedosaurus/Gallery.
In other languages
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Japanese
Roar
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Trivia
- The Rhedosaurus, along with King Kong, was one of the main inspirations for Godzilla. During the production of the 1954 film Godzilla, its pre-published storyline was very similar to that of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and was actually titled The Giant Monster from 20,000 Miles Under the Sea (海底二万哩から来た大怪獣 Kaiteinimanmairu kara Kita Daikaijū).[5]
- Ray Harryhausen reused parts of the Rhedosaurus model for the dragon in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.[6]
- Stephen Czerkas constructed a stop-motion Rhedosaurus model for the 1977 film Planet of Dinosaurs, where it battles, and is killed by, a Tyrannosaurus rex. According to animator Jim Aupperle, "Stephen and I both place the Rhedosaurus among our top favorite of Ray's myriad monsters. We felt that by giving the great Beast a cameo in our film we were acknowledging the immense debt we both feel to Ray. We had to make the Rhedosaurus more of a baby size because one as large as the original would have made a meal of our Tyrannosaurus instead of the other way around."[7]
- A creature resembling the Rhedosaurus briefly appeared in the 1970 film When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, though whether it is meant to be an homage to the Rhedosaurus is unclear.
- The Rhedosaurus appeared in the sixth episode of the second season of ABC's Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
- A dinosaur modeled on the Rhedosaurus appears in issues #2 and 4 of the 5-issue IDW comic miniseries Dinosaurs Attack! In issue #4, it leads a charge against U.S. forces alongside creatures resembling Godzilla, Rodan, Reptilicus, Gorgo, and Gertie.[8]
References
This is a list of references for Rhedosaurus. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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