...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Slurpasaur
- 370 statements
- 70 feature instances
- 45 referencing feature instances
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Slurpasaur | comment |
Making movies about giant monsters (often dinosaurs) is downright awesome. However, sometimes, the filmmakers just don't have the budget to make a somewhat convincing monster suit, or an animatronic puppet, or stop-motion, or, for newer movies, a reasonable-looking CGI monster. But, all hope is not lost. No.... you can just take an ordinary lizard, alligator or other non-extinct reptile (or, very rarely, other smallish animal), stick it in a costume or glue on a few cardboard fins and horns, and... ta-da! Instant dinosaur! Of course, having an Adventurer Palaeontologist pointing to an oversized iguana with horns glued to its head and calling it a "Brontosaurus" is just as convincing as it sounds, not to mention a complete and utter mockery of palaeontology. After all, if a five-year-old kid can tell the difference between a Tyrannosaurus rex and an iguana, it's highly unlikely anyone is going to be convinced that your cardboard-taped-to-his-back monitor lizard is supposed to be a dinosaur. Especially if they have any understanding of the Square-Cube Law. Still, that's what makes these movies such cheesy fun. A good source of Nightmare Retardant, many fans suspect that these films' animal stars are the film-makers' pets. This has been a Discredited Trope since The '60s, with crude CGI having taken over as the go-to monster effect for low-budget filmmaking.. A normal-sized but similarly nonthreatening movie animal is the Terrifying Pet Store Rat. A similar trope in which human actors are dressed as humanoid aliens is the Rubber-Forehead Alien, although it tends to be more convincing. Slurpasaurs are very much a Dead Horse Trope, having died out in the 1960s, and is today only employed as deliberate Retraux kitsch. Given growing mainstream awareness that many dinosaurs had feathers (possibly even T. rex), and that dinosaurs in general would be better described as proto-birds than as big lizards (to the point where modern biologists actually differentiate between "avian dinosaurs" and "non-avian dinosaurs" rather than between birds and dinosaurs), it would be interesting to see a reconstruction/parody of this trope in the form of a Retraux or Genre Throwback work using a chicken in a toy-sized toothy mask in place of a T. rex. While rare, mammallian examples have been used, such as dressing a horse up as a Unicorn or dressing dogs up as wolves or canine monsters, or putting fake pelts on elephants to make mammoths. Oddly enough, depending on the example these uses actually fare a bit better in the believablity department. |
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Slurpasaur | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
Slurpasaur / int_180976d7 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_180976d7 | comment |
In Julian Comstock the protagonists are making a silent film about naturalist Charles Darwin without much concern for historical accuracy, so the naturalist confronts a ferocious Lion that The Narrator tells us is "really a mastiff dressed up in a carpet and a wig, but very convincing for all that." | |
Slurpasaur / int_180976d7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_180976d7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Julian Comstock | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_180976d7 | |
Slurpasaur / int_1d3c6a24 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_1d3c6a24 | comment |
Women of the Prehistoric Planet features an unconvincing shot of an iguana as one of the "monsters" on the eponymous Prehistoric Planet. Mystery Science Theater 3000 wasted no time mocking it. | |
Slurpasaur / int_1d3c6a24 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_1d3c6a24 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Women of the Prehistoric Planet | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_1d3c6a24 | |
Slurpasaur / int_1e511d6f | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_1e511d6f | comment |
An America's Funniest Home Videos submission spoofing Jurassic Park used dinosaurs played by guinea pigs. GUINEA PIGS. | |
Slurpasaur / int_1e511d6f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_1e511d6f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
America's Funniest Home Videos | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_1e511d6f | |
Slurpasaur / int_2243b85c | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_2243b85c | comment |
The "Pangea" table in Epic Pinball prominently features a dinosaur that resembles an oversized alligator more than anything else. | |
Slurpasaur / int_2243b85c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_2243b85c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Epic Pinball (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_2243b85c | |
Slurpasaur / int_2365cd7a | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_2365cd7a | comment |
Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space. Reporter Buster Kincaid accuses Captain Proton of fraud, saying that experts have identified the Slurpasaur that Proton allegedly encountered on an alien world as "an optically-enlarged iguana with a fin stuck to its back." | |
Slurpasaur / int_2365cd7a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_2365cd7a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_2365cd7a | |
Slurpasaur / int_31defbd7 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_31defbd7 | comment |
In Quest for Fire, the sabre-toothed cats are played by trained lions with prosthetic teeth. It looks okay. | |
Slurpasaur / int_31defbd7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_31defbd7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Quest for Fire | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_31defbd7 | |
Slurpasaur / int_3d756af | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_3d756af | comment |
Goosebumps (1995): The adaptation of "Deep Trouble" dealt with animals being enlarged thanks to Applied Phlebotinum. They use normal-sized iguanas, ants, spiders zoomed in and enlarged with CGI. | |
Slurpasaur / int_3d756af | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_3d756af | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Goosebumps (1995) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_3d756af | |
Slurpasaur / int_3f20a7f5 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_3f20a7f5 | comment |
One briefly appears in Stielauge Der Urkrebs, but it is called a dragon. | |
Slurpasaur / int_3f20a7f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_3f20a7f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Stielauge Der Urkrebs | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_3f20a7f5 | |
Slurpasaur / int_443000dd | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_443000dd | comment |
In-universe example in The Last Unicorn. Mommy Fortuna takes everyday animals and uses a little bit of trickery to fool people into thinking they're mythical beasts. When she captures the titular unicorn, as the general public can't see her horn, she has to stick a fake horn onto her head. | |
Slurpasaur / int_443000dd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_443000dd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Last Unicorn | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_443000dd | |
Slurpasaur / int_45478d74 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_45478d74 | comment |
The Devil Rides Out has a scene where the protagonists are terrorised by a powerful warlock. He summons a Giant Spider to frighten them, and it's a tarantula enlarged on screen. | |
Slurpasaur / int_45478d74 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_45478d74 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Devil Rides Out | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_45478d74 | |
Slurpasaur / int_4915d262 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_4915d262 | comment |
Parodied in Frankenweenie (and in Tim Burton's original short film). The film opens with the projection of the protagonist's homemade film, on it, "dinosaurs" made of handkerchief sock puppets "fight" and then the "monster" appears: the protagonist's dog in a costume. | |
Slurpasaur / int_4915d262 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_4915d262 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Frankenweenie | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_4915d262 | |
Slurpasaur / int_493666a1 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_493666a1 | comment |
King Kong vs. Godzilla features a giant octopus as a secondary monster on top of the two in the title, who menaces the natives and explorers on Farou Island before Kong comes to the rescue. An unusually-polished example, the giant octopus was for the most part portrayed by real octopi, who were encouraged to clamber over the miniature set by using warm air and studio lighting. A sophisticated puppet was also built, and stop motion animation was additionally used to portray the giant cephalopod. | |
Slurpasaur / int_493666a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_493666a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
King Kong vs. Godzilla | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_493666a1 | |
Slurpasaur / int_4acee881 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_4acee881 | comment |
In Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), optically enlarged lizards with fins glued to their backs play dimetrodons, a synapsid that actually looks... sort of like a lizard with a fin on its back (though the ones in the film are somewhat larger than their real-life counterparts). They don't actually look too bad. Although, this is later played again with an even bigger lizard in the ruins of Atlantis which they didn't even try to pass off as anything unique (Wikipedia lists it as Megalania, a giant prehistoric monitor lizard — although it's portrayed by a tegu lizard, not a monitor). Technically also applicable for Gertrude, who was originally slated to be a common eider duck, but was played by a white domestic duck in makeup because the trainer couldn't get a real eider through customs in the time available. | |
Slurpasaur / int_4acee881 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_4acee881 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_4acee881 | |
Slurpasaur / int_52488502 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_52488502 | comment |
An odd inversion appears in ARK: Survival Evolved: Extinction. The Velonasaur is an apparent theropod dinosaur that looks more like a large, spiky frilled lizard. According to the dossier, it actually is a large, spiky frilled lizard that convergently evolved the body plan of a theropod dinosaur. | |
Slurpasaur / int_52488502 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_52488502 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
ARK: Survival Evolved (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_52488502 | |
Slurpasaur / int_54a7dc07 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_54a7dc07 | comment |
Space: 1999: in the episode "New Adam, New Eve", in a change from the usual People in Rubber Suits, giant lizards are encountered in a cave. Commander Koenig makes short work of them with his laser. | |
Slurpasaur / int_54a7dc07 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_54a7dc07 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Space: 1999 | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_54a7dc07 | |
Slurpasaur / int_56404f5d | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_56404f5d | comment |
* Rebel Moon features riding animals that are clearly horses with something attached to their heads. | |
Slurpasaur / int_56404f5d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_56404f5d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Rebel Moon | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_56404f5d | |
Slurpasaur / int_583ed05d | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_583ed05d | comment |
The Life of Birds attempted the same thing by using a Harris's hawk to play a Haast's eagle. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as convincing. | |
Slurpasaur / int_583ed05d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_583ed05d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Life Of Birds | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_583ed05d | |
Slurpasaur / int_585e345c | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_585e345c | comment |
In A*P*E, at one point the giant ape encounters a giant snake in a tree, played by a python placed in a miniature set. | |
Slurpasaur / int_585e345c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_585e345c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A*P*E | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_585e345c | |
Slurpasaur / int_5dfc7572 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_5dfc7572 | comment |
Parodied in an episode of The Angry Beavers in which Norb, Dag, and Stump go spelunking. They see the massive shadow of a ferocious dimetrodon-like animal approaching them... which turns out to be a tiny lizard with a fin conspicuously taped to its back. | |
Slurpasaur / int_5dfc7572 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_5dfc7572 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Angry Beavers | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_5dfc7572 | |
Slurpasaur / int_625fbf24 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_625fbf24 | comment |
Beginning of the End revolves around giant mutant grasshoppers attacking Chicago, and naturally said bugs are played by actual grasshoppers composited into the shot - or in some cases, crawling around on postcards. | |
Slurpasaur / int_625fbf24 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_625fbf24 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Beginning of the End | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_625fbf24 | |
Slurpasaur / int_63fe06a0 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_63fe06a0 | comment |
The titular creatures from "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon" are obviously modeled on monitor lizards. | |
Slurpasaur / int_63fe06a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_63fe06a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_63fe06a0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_64716a5e | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_64716a5e | comment |
Played for horror in The Dream of Perpetual Motion. Prospero Taligent, a fabulously wealthy inventor, promises his daughter Miranda she can have anything she wants for her birthday. She asks for a unicorn, knowing it's something he can't give her. Instead she's Forced to Watch while her Mad Scientist father drills a hole into a horse's head and inserts a horn. | |
Slurpasaur / int_64716a5e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_64716a5e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Dream of Perpetual Motion | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_64716a5e | |
Slurpasaur / int_67cdde7d | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_67cdde7d | comment |
In a joke Dragon Magazine contest in which gamers had to write about why they love Giant Space Hamsters, one entry claimed to love how, instead of using a miniature, they could set their pet hamster loose on the gaming table and have a really random encounter. | |
Slurpasaur / int_67cdde7d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_67cdde7d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dragon (Magazine) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_67cdde7d | |
Slurpasaur / int_6bd368a2 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_6bd368a2 | comment |
In King Dinosaur (from 1955) an iguana plays a Tyrannosaurus rex (which, for some reason, lives on another planet). Hilariously, the biologist identifies the obvious iguana as a tyrannosaur! There's also plenty of requisite One Million BC Stock Footage, and some woolly mammoths which are just elephants clothed in shaggy fur, though that doesn't seem very far-fetched considering woolly mammoths are indeed just elephants covered in long fur. All of these get pointed out in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring the film. | |
Slurpasaur / int_6bd368a2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_6bd368a2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
King Dinosaur | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_6bd368a2 | |
Slurpasaur / int_73b4d4c1 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_73b4d4c1 | comment |
The Call of Cthulhu book Blood Brothers offers a series of one-off adventures, using the game's rules but unrelated to the main Cthulhu Mythos setting, and mostly pastiching various horror subgenres. One of these, The Land That Time Ignored, opens thus: | |
Slurpasaur / int_73b4d4c1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_73b4d4c1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Call of Cthulhu (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_73b4d4c1 | |
Slurpasaur / int_74b796a7 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_74b796a7 | comment |
The FX from One Million BC got reused from the 1940s through the 1960s in such films as: Tarzan's Desert Mystery, Two Lost Worlds, The Lost Volcano, the American version of Godzilla Raids Again, Jungle Manhunt, Untamed Women, Robot Monster, King Dinosaur, Teenage Caveman, Valley of the Dragons, Journey to the Center of Time, Horror of the Blood Monsters (the stock footage was tinted in color for this film), and the Mexican films Island of the Dinosaurs (La Isla De Los Dinosaurios) and Adventure at the Center of the Earth (Aventura al Centro de la Tierra). If you've seen much MST3K, you've probably seen the footage in question a few times. | |
Slurpasaur / int_74b796a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_74b796a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Godzilla Raids Again | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_74b796a7 | |
Slurpasaur / int_7a7a1a46 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_7a7a1a46 | comment |
Alien³ attempted to put an alien suit on a small whippet dog for a brief scene when the xenomorph is still at small size, but when they looked at the result, it looked exactly like a small dog wearing an alien suit. Adorable, but not exactly threatening, so they ended up using a puppet. | |
Slurpasaur / int_7a7a1a46 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_7a7a1a46 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Alien³ | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_7a7a1a46 | |
Slurpasaur / int_81692f99 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_81692f99 | comment |
Star Trek: Star Trek: The Original Series: An episode has a lovable alien creature played by... a pomeranian with a horn stuck between its eyes. Granted, it fulfilled its main requirement: it was cute, and could alternately be lovable/evil. Klingon targs throughout the various series were generally played by largish dogs in costume, although since the targ was supposed to be roughly that size and mammalian (vaguely like a small, angry boar), it didn't go too poorly. The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Resolutions" used a spider monkey that had been trained to walk on its hind legs. Unfortunately the first time we see it is in a tree, so the effect is ruined. Even when it's standing, it's still recognizable as a monkey. |
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Slurpasaur / int_81692f99 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_81692f99 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Trek (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_81692f99 | |
Slurpasaur / int_858c17d5 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_858c17d5 | comment |
The Giant Gila Monster more traditionally has a reptile play a reptile. The title monster looks okay — except for the fact that it isn't a Gila monster, it's a Mexican beaded lizard (which is, to be fair, a very closely related species). Seeing the little guy wander around the miniature sets and push matchbox cars around is the high point of the movie. | |
Slurpasaur / int_858c17d5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_858c17d5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Giant Gila Monster | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_858c17d5 | |
Slurpasaur / int_87527199 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_87527199 | comment |
Team America: World Police: All the characters are puppets, so when they need the characters to get attacked by panthers, they use regular black cats with Mighty Roars dubbed over them. Played for Laughs. And the Shark Pool is full of little nurse sharks — you can't say they aren't sharks! |
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Slurpasaur / int_87527199 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_87527199 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Team America: World Police | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_87527199 | |
Slurpasaur / int_883c15db | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_883c15db | comment |
Ingagi, about an expedition into Darkest Africa, features the "tortadillo", allegedly a venomous reptile previously unknown to science. It's really just a tortoise with fake wings and a tail glued onto it. | |
Slurpasaur / int_883c15db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_883c15db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ingagi | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_883c15db | |
Slurpasaur / int_8b7b9cd5 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_8b7b9cd5 | comment |
Proving that it's possible to dress up an animal and make it work, the banthas from A New Hope were played by an elephant named Mardji draped with thick furs and a puppet head, and since they could only afford one elephant several scenes with more than one bantha were achieved through optical composing. In a few scenes the elephant's trunk can be barely seen through the furs but it's otherwise a convincing illusion, though she apparently attempted to remove her costume several times during filming and caused a few outtakes. Averted with Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, who was initially conceived as being portrayed by a costumed monkey rather than a puppet. In a rare modern (and convincing) example, the Corellian hounds in Solo were played by actual dogs in full-body costumes, as an homage to the Death Dogs from the earlier Ron Howard/George Lucas production Willow. |
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Slurpasaur / int_8b7b9cd5 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_8b7b9cd5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A New Hope | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_8b7b9cd5 | |
Slurpasaur / int_98a71547 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_98a71547 | comment |
Nosferatu used a striped hyena to pose as a werewolf, which is pretty clever given that it's superficially dog-like but also alien to viewers in the 1920s. | |
Slurpasaur / int_98a71547 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_98a71547 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Nosferatu | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_98a71547 | |
Slurpasaur / int_9a7088bc | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_9a7088bc | comment |
Star Trek: The Original Series: An episode has a lovable alien creature played by... a pomeranian with a horn stuck between its eyes. Granted, it fulfilled its main requirement: it was cute, and could alternately be lovable/evil. Klingon targs throughout the various series were generally played by largish dogs in costume, although since the targ was supposed to be roughly that size and mammalian (vaguely like a small, angry boar), it didn't go too poorly. |
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Slurpasaur / int_9a7088bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_9a7088bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Trek: The Original Series | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_9a7088bc | |
Slurpasaur / int_9b7e31d | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_9b7e31d | comment |
Thunderbirds episode "Attack of the Alligators" features an accident with some kind of Super Serum getting into the water table near a laboratory somewhere in Louisiana. Live baby alligators were employed on model sets alongside miniatures of the characters, but since working around the limitations of models and miniatures was what Gerry Anderson Productions did, it actually worked fairly well. Have a look. It doesn't hurt that alligators are actually scary on their own. (Although it's rather easy for reptile aficionados to tell that they're babies.) | |
Slurpasaur / int_9b7e31d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_9b7e31d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Thunderbirds | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_9b7e31d | |
Slurpasaur / int_9fdbe934 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_9fdbe934 | comment |
Willow uses dogs wearing costumes for the "death dogs." | |
Slurpasaur / int_9fdbe934 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_9fdbe934 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Willow | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_9fdbe934 | |
Slurpasaur / int_9ff4a8d9 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_9ff4a8d9 | comment |
In 1963, the Japanese studio Daiei, inspired by the Kaiju film craze which had started by rival studio Toho’s Godzilla attempted to make one of these, titled Nezura, about a horde of giant rats attacking Tokyo. The problems began when the store-bought rats they brought in failed to either rampage around the miniature set, or do much of anything at all. The wild rats they brought in were slightly better, but also brought heaps of parasites, fleas, and other germs which led to the production being shut down. Undeterred, Daiei would go on to make a monster movie about a giant flying turtle instead. | |
Slurpasaur / int_9ff4a8d9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_9ff4a8d9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Godzilla (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_9ff4a8d9 | |
Slurpasaur / int_a1bda379 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_a1bda379 | comment |
Night of the Lepus combines this with Terrifying Pet Store Rat, with the monsters portrayed by cute bunnies wandering around a miniature set. | |
Slurpasaur / int_a1bda379 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_a1bda379 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Night of the Lepus | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_a1bda379 | |
Slurpasaur / int_a83b26f5 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_a83b26f5 | comment |
In a shout-out to the Doctor Who example above, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible uses miniature footage of an ordinary crab superimposed on footage of a sewer, as well as some footage of a claw puppet, in order to give the impression of a Giant Enemy Crab. | |
Slurpasaur / int_a83b26f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_a83b26f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_a83b26f5 | |
Slurpasaur / int_b3f687d1 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_b3f687d1 | comment |
FoxTrot: On more than one occasion, Jason would try to make dinosaur or Godzilla-wannabe movies by filming his pet iguana Quincy, usually with a cardboard fin on his back or some other type of accoutrements. More often than not, this would end with Quincy chewing Jason's toys or sets into unrecognizable hunks of plastic. | |
Slurpasaur / int_b3f687d1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_b3f687d1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
FoxTrot (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_b3f687d1 | |
Slurpasaur / int_b7d3b813 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_b7d3b813 | comment |
Kung Fury has a wolf who's clearly portrayed by a regular dog digitally made larger, part of the film's general tone. A peculiar case of Shallow Parody, since Kung Fury is supposed to be a spoof of 1980s movies, but this technique in so blatant a form was already long discredited by the '80s. | |
Slurpasaur / int_b7d3b813 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_b7d3b813 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kung Fury | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_b7d3b813 | |
Slurpasaur / int_b8c2ace6 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_b8c2ace6 | comment |
A mammalian example would be the film The Killer Shrews. When the so-called giant shrews were not being played by cheap puppets, they were being played by dogs in very unconvincing costumes. This is hilariously pointed out in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode that featured this movie. | |
Slurpasaur / int_b8c2ace6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_b8c2ace6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Killer Shrews | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_b8c2ace6 | |
Slurpasaur / int_bdbf82fb | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_bdbf82fb | comment |
Some scenes from Razorback used a real boar dressed up with extra-long prosthetic tusks and bristles. | |
Slurpasaur / int_bdbf82fb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_bdbf82fb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Razorback | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_bdbf82fb | |
Slurpasaur / int_c43df4d8 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
Doctor Who: Played straight: Used very effectively with the giant maggots in "The Green Death", which were real maggots on miniature sets when not puppets made of condoms and taxidermy supplies. One of the more infamous examples is from "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", in which close-ups of a rat in a model sewer are meant to suggest a terrifying giant rat. A man in a rat costume is also used. Sadly, and predictably, the real rat and the rat suit of course look nothing alike. Subverted: Invoked in the story "Colony in Space". A robot with claws plus a hologram simulates a giant lizard attack, in a plot to drive the colonists off the planet. Also invoked in the later story "Vengeance on Varos", only with a hologram (stock footage) of a fly instead of an iguana. |
|
Slurpasaur / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c43df4d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doctor Who | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_c43df4d8 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c4fa53cb | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_c4fa53cb | comment |
Inverted in the original Jurassic Park novel, where the Procompsognathus that attacked the little girl on the beach is misidentified by a reptile expert as a basilisk lizard, a present-day lizard that is known for occasionally standing and running on 2 legs. | |
Slurpasaur / int_c4fa53cb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c4fa53cb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Jurassic Park | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_c4fa53cb | |
Slurpasaur / int_c720f71e | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_c720f71e | comment |
There's a quite funny YouTube video claiming to be of "A GIANT SPIDER". It's a dachshund in a spider suit. | |
Slurpasaur / int_c720f71e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c720f71e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
YouTube (Website) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_c720f71e | |
Slurpasaur / int_c77904a0 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_c77904a0 | comment |
Bride of the Monster's giant octopus is portrayed in some shots by an actual octopus, and in others by a very unconvincing puppet. | |
Slurpasaur / int_c77904a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c77904a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Bride of the Monster | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_c77904a0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c836b8f1 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_c836b8f1 | comment |
The Adventures of Sinbad, used superimposed crows and iguanas as giant monsters for its first season. | |
Slurpasaur / int_c836b8f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c836b8f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Adventures of Sinbad | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_c836b8f1 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c86d70b5 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_c86d70b5 | comment |
As the page quote indicates, the trope is referred to but not actually shown in The Lost World: Jurassic Park: Nick Van Owen's prior experience with dinosaurs was clearly dependent on the likes of One Million B.C.. It also serves as a nice contrast between the old standard and the new presentation of dinosaurs in media in general, which Jurassic Park had a big hand in establishing, both the effects themselves—stop-motion and animals in costumes vs. digital effects and giant animatronics—and the appearance of the dinosaurs, contrasting something which only superficially resembles a real dinosaur with a (mostly) then-accurate representation of the fossil animal. | |
Slurpasaur / int_c86d70b5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_c86d70b5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Lost World: Jurassic Park | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_c86d70b5 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ca5d97f1 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_ca5d97f1 | comment |
Parodied in a Little Red Riding Hood-based skit on Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (also seen in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl) in which the Big Bad Wolf is played by a tired-looking dachshund with a piece of faux fur tied to its back. | |
Slurpasaur / int_ca5d97f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ca5d97f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Monty Python's Flying Circus | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_ca5d97f1 | |
Slurpasaur / int_cacc7427 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_cacc7427 | comment |
Played for laughs on Galavant, where King Richard purchases something he insists is a baby dragon like on Game of Thrones, and he gives it the mighty name of Tad Cooper. It's clear to every other character that Tad is really just a bearded dragon until The Stinger suggests he has finally grown into a full-size (offscreen) dragon. | |
Slurpasaur / int_cacc7427 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_cacc7427 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Galavant | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_cacc7427 | |
Slurpasaur / int_cc6c074a | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_cc6c074a | comment |
A fairly recent and surprisingly convincing example are the aurochs from Beasts of the Southern Wild, which are actual pigs wearing a makeup of fur and horns (nevermind the fact that the aurochs in Real Life were prehistoric cattle rather than pig-monsters). | |
Slurpasaur / int_cc6c074a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_cc6c074a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Beasts of the Southern Wild | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_cc6c074a | |
Slurpasaur / int_cda38c8a | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_cda38c8a | comment |
Brotherhood of the Wolf is a kind of meta-example. The mysterious "Beast of Gévaudan", which the locals initially thought was either a particularly large wolf or some outright supernatural monster, turns out to be something else: A lion wearing a set of leather-and-iron barding with some Spikes Of Villany, trained as an Attack Animal by the antagonist. | |
Slurpasaur / int_cda38c8a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_cda38c8a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Brotherhood of the Wolf | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_cda38c8a | |
Slurpasaur / int_d57d63c5 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_d57d63c5 | comment |
The Neanderthal Man: Aside from a rather moth-eaten looking prop head used in closeups, the saber-tooth cat is played by a regular non-saber-tooth tiger, making all the skepticism over whether such a beast could actually exist seem very silly. In a few shots you can even see the chain around its neck. You could even call this an aversion since they don't even bother to give it plastic fangs. | |
Slurpasaur / int_d57d63c5 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_d57d63c5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Neanderthal Man | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_d57d63c5 | |
Slurpasaur / int_d9c602eb | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_d9c602eb | comment |
Parodied in South Park, "The Startling" story arc, in which the mass arrest and deportation of Peruvian flute bands unleashes monsters everywhere, or green screened guinea pigs who just kind of placidly walk through the scenes. | |
Slurpasaur / int_d9c602eb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_d9c602eb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
South Park | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_d9c602eb | |
Slurpasaur / int_dfabfce5 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_dfabfce5 | comment |
An in-universe example in Red Dead Redemption 2, when Arthur helps a low-grade traveling circus recover its lost animals: namely, a zebra, two lions, and a tiger. The zebra and tiger are just, respectively, a mule and a cougar with painted-on stripes, and the first lion is just a dog with hair trimmed to broadly resemble a mane. Subverted in the case of the other lion, which turns out to be extremely real and very dangerous. | |
Slurpasaur / int_dfabfce5 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Slurpasaur / int_dfabfce5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Red Dead Redemption II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_dfabfce5 | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d19a57 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d19a57 | comment |
One Million Years B.C., the 1966 remake, generally avoided this (favoring stop-motion instead), although a real lizard and spider were thrown in around the beginning as an homage to the original film, and to make the quality of all the other effects in the movie easier to appreciate by contrast. The Archelon (a giant prehistoric turtle) that attacks Loana's tribe is sometimes mistaken for a slurpasaur effect, which is probably a testament to the quality of Ray Harryhausen's animation. | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d19a57 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d19a57 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
One Million Years B.C. | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d19a57 | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d80549 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d80549 | comment |
Both Earth vs. the Spider and Tarantula! used real spiders on miniature sets or with rear projection to represent their respective Giant Spider antagonists. On the miniature sets they look pretty good by '50s standards, although Tarantula in particular has some pretty shaky Chroma Key shots. | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d80549 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d80549 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Earth vs. the Spider | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_e5d80549 | |
Slurpasaur / int_e902e8a8 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_e902e8a8 | comment |
The Land Unknown (1957) had two stegosauruses fighting each other which were obviously photographically enlarged monitor lizards. | |
Slurpasaur / int_e902e8a8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_e902e8a8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Land Unknown | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_e902e8a8 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ec25a849 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_ec25a849 | comment |
In one episode of Doug, Doug and Skeeter were making a monster movie in their backyard. They attached a cardboard shark fin, tail, and jaws to Porkchop, to make him into a "shark dog". | |
Slurpasaur / int_ec25a849 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ec25a849 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doug | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_ec25a849 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ecd2a256 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_ecd2a256 | comment |
Made fun of in Girls with Slingshots, during Maureen and Jameson's honeymoon when they travel to a Dinosaur theme park with a "Brachiosaurus" which is a just a giraffe painted green and a "Triceratops" which is a rhinoceros with a glued frill. | |
Slurpasaur / int_ecd2a256 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ecd2a256 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Girls with Slingshots (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_ecd2a256 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef076a36 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef076a36 | comment |
The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Resolutions" used a spider monkey that had been trained to walk on its hind legs. Unfortunately the first time we see it is in a tree, so the effect is ruined. Even when it's standing, it's still recognizable as a monkey. | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef076a36 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef076a36 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Trek: Voyager | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_ef076a36 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef7a115 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef7a115 | comment |
Despite being created with CGI, the Ancestral Komodo Dragon from Terra Nova may be a subtle parody of this trope. | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef7a115 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_ef7a115 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Terra Nova | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_ef7a115 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f0fe960e | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_f0fe960e | comment |
An interesting case where this actually works is the BBC documentary series Monsters We Met. The giant Haast eagle is played by an enlarged Harpy eagle, and it's downright creepy. | |
Slurpasaur / int_f0fe960e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f0fe960e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Monsters We Met | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_f0fe960e | |
Slurpasaur / int_f1938c51 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_f1938c51 | comment |
In More Information Than You Require, the mole-men ride around on "pseudosaurs", enormous iguanas that they think are dinosaurs. | |
Slurpasaur / int_f1938c51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f1938c51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
More Information Than You Require | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_f1938c51 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f3e1f424 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_f3e1f424 | comment |
Merlin occasionally has Arthur fighting giant underground monsters, vaguely mammalian but with no hair and huge front teeth. They are actually naked mole rats filmed close-up and superimposed on the action. And this from a series that routinely includes a convincing CGI dragon. | |
Slurpasaur / int_f3e1f424 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f3e1f424 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Merlin (2008) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_f3e1f424 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f6245b73 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_f6245b73 | comment |
In Amazon Women on the Moon, the astronauts are attacked a dinosaur that is some kind of lizard with horns attached. | |
Slurpasaur / int_f6245b73 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f6245b73 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Amazon Women on the Moon | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_f6245b73 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f79abfa3 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_f79abfa3 | comment |
The original Flash Gordon (serial) features "dragons of death", which are actually iguanas on a miniature set of Bronson Canyon and Caves. You could also apply this to Vultan's pet "Ursul" and the "tigron" used by Princess Aura's trackers, which are supposed to be alien creatures but are played, respectively, by a bear and a tiger, though they're portrayed as more akin to regular animals than to monsters - sort of the animal equivalent to all the Human Aliens in the serial. | |
Slurpasaur / int_f79abfa3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_f79abfa3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Flash Gordon (serial) | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_f79abfa3 | |
Slurpasaur / int_facd2d24 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_facd2d24 | comment |
The giant Kaiju-like being Meowthra who attacks the city in The LEGO Ninjago Movie turns out to be an ordinary house-cat... which, seeing as she's an ordinary house-cat attacking a city made out of and populated by LEGO, means that she can cause as much destruction as an actual kaiju. | |
Slurpasaur / int_facd2d24 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_facd2d24 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The LEGO Ninjago Movie | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_facd2d24 | |
Slurpasaur / int_fe561105 | type |
Slurpasaur | |
Slurpasaur / int_fe561105 | comment |
The large fire-breathing dragon in 1971 Swedish fantasy comedy Äppelkriget/The Apple War is played by a little lizard. | |
Slurpasaur / int_fe561105 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Slurpasaur / int_fe561105 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Apple War | hasFeature |
Slurpasaur / int_fe561105 |
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