Moby Dick
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Moby Dick is a fictional white sperm whale created by Herman Melville for his 1851 novel Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. The character has appeared in numerous other works since the novel lapsed into the public domain, including the 1966 cartoon The King Kong Show and issue #2 of IDW Publishing's 2023 comic miniseries Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons.
Name
Herman Melville named Moby Dick after Mocha Dick, a real albino sperm whale renowned for his hostility towards whalers. Despite the novel's title, Moby Dick's name is spelled without a dash in the text.
Design
In Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Moby Dick is described as having a white forehead and hump, with the rest of his otherwise-gray body "streaked, and spotted, and marbled" with white. Multiple harpoons are embedded in his hide from past battles. In The King Kong Show, he sports several bruises and two harpoons in his back. Professor Bond successfully removes the harpoons and heals his injuries following his fight with King Kong, with his eyes changing from red to white as well. He has two humps on his back, with his blow hole on the hump closer to his head. His cameo in Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons #2 depicts him with entirely white skin.
History
- The King Kong Show (TV 1966-1967) [episode 23b]
The King Kong Show
"Mad Whale"
Professor Bond sought out Moby Dick while aboard Captain Englehorn's ship, with a sleeping King Kong towed behind them on a raft. The scientist hoped to inject Moby Dick with sleep medicine via harpoon so he could take out the harpoons already embedded in the whale's skin, which had been driving him into a fury. After a crew member spotted Moby Dick at rest, his son Bobby asked if he could join his father on the mission, but the Professor deemed it too dangerous. Bond and Englehorn set off in a rowboat. Moby Dick woke up just as the harpoon left Bond's hands, but too late to prevent it from hitting him. Angered, he surged forward, dragging the pair along with him. He rammed the ship repeatedly, dislodging Bond's harpoon, but as he circled around to attack from another angle, he splashed water onto Kong, awakening him. Before Kong could get his wits about him, Moby Dick tackled the raft, knocking the ape into the water. Kong quickly climbed onto the whale's back and started riding him like a bull. Moby Dick dove underwater with Kong still on his back, but they soon emerged with the whale exhausted. Bond removed the harpoons and treated Moby Dick with penicillin; while recovering, he played with Kong and a giant ball.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Moby Dick attacked both Captain Englehorn's ship and King Kong's raft with headbutts, though he did not seriously damage either. His tail is dexterous enough to throw a ball back to Kong.
Swimming
Moby Dick is a swift and strong swimmer, even with King Kong on his back.
Comics
Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons
While telling his captors the tale of his encounter with Godzilla on Monster Island while serving under Sir Francis Drake, Henry Hull brought up tales of a whale "white as the Caribbean sands" sinking ships alongside legends of the Kraken, mermaids, and sea serpents. Godzilla, he maintained, was a leviathan eclipsing all of them in might.
In other languages
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Japanese
Trivia
- The story of Moby Dick was undoubtedly an influence on Koichiro Uno's 1961 novel The Whale God. This novel was later adapted as the tokusatsu film Killer Whale by Daiei in 1962.
- The Asylum's 2010 film 2010: Moby Dick reimagines the character as a 500-foot-long prehistoric monster, with Captain Ahab becoming an American submarine captain instead of a whaling ship captain.
- Ray Bradbury, author of "The Fog Horn", also wrote the screenplay for the 1956 film adaptation of Moby-Dick, as well as a science-fiction version of the story called Leviathan '99 which he realized as a radio play, a play, and a novella.
- Moby Dick appears in the mobile game Hungry Shark Evolution, which also includes a shark based on Godzilla named Sharkjira.
External links
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