Giant Sea Serpent

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Giant Sea Serpent Alternate names Giant Sea Snake, Sea Snake, The Serpent of Mondo Island Subtitle(s) Sea Beast (海獣,   Kaijū) Species Giant serpent Length 85 meters Weight 4,000 metric tons Enemies King Kong Modeled by Teizo Toshimitsu, Yasuei Yagi First appearance King Kong Escapes Roar(s)

“	A thousand thrills as King Kong battles the Serpent of Mondo Island.	„
	— Narrator (King Kong Escapes American trailer)

The Giant Sea Serpent (大ウミヘビ,   Ōumihebi, lit. Giant Sea Snake) is a kaiju who first appeared in the 1967 Toho film King Kong Escapes.

Patrolling the waters around Mondo Island, the Giant Sea Serpent was confronted by King Kong when it approached the Hover Car as it made its way back to the Submarine. The serpent constricted its body around Kong, but the giant ape was able to triumph and threw the defeated serpent aside into the water.

Name

The Giant Sea Serpent is literally called Giant Sea Snake (Ōumihebi) in Japanese. Its name is most often written in Japanese media as 大ウミヘビ, with the umihebi spelled out in katakana. Sometimes the name is represented entirely in kanji, as 大海蛇. In the film itself, the character Jiro Nomura calls it a Sea Snake (海蛇,   Umihebi), while it is left unnamed in the English version.

Development

The Giant Sea Serpent was included in King Kong Escapes as an homage to the serpent-like Elasmosaurus Kong battles in the original 1933 film. The puppet's head was modeled by Teizo Toshimitsu and its body by Yasuei Yagi. In the 1973 Toho Champion Festival release of the film, the Giant Sea Serpent's scene was cut.

History

Showa era

King Kong Escapes

The Giant Sea Serpent only has a short appearance in the film King Kong Escapes. When the film's central character Susan Watson and her companions are attempting to leave Mondo Island, the Giant Sea Serpent rises out from the water and approaches their craft. On the shore, King Kong, concerned with the safety of Susan then throws a boulder at the serpent to distract it while Susan Watson and her companions escape the serpent and reach their submarine. King Kong goes into the water, and is attacked by the Giant Sea Serpent, who attempts to constrict Kong. After a brief skirmish, Kong frees himself from the Giant Sea Serpent's grasp and tosses him back into the water.

Abilities

Amphibiousness

The Giant Sea Serpent is an excellent swimmer.

Constriction

The Giant Sea Serpent can wrap his entire body around his enemies.

Gallery

Main article: Giant Sea Serpent/Gallery.

Trivia

• The Giant Sea Serpent is absent from the 58-minute version of King Kong Escapes Ishiro Honda edited for the Toho Champion Festival in 1973.
• The battle with King Kong and the Giant Sea Serpent is reminiscent of Kong's bout with the Elasmosaurus in the original King Kong film.
• Despite its obscurity and lack of a formal name, the Giant Sea Serpent received toys from Iwakura in 2003 and Y-MSF in 2010.

References

This is a list of references for Giant Sea Serpent. 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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