Stegosaurus in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As one of the most recognizable dinosaurs, Stegosaurus has been widely depicted on film, in cartoons, comics, as children's toys, and was even declared the State Dinosaur of Colorado in 1982.[1] Stegosaurus is a popular subject for inclusion in dinosaur toy and scale model lines, such as the Carnegie Collection. Stegosaurus toys, both plastic and plush, are popular among children. Though apparently out of print (used copies available on the Web), Evelyn Sibley Lampman's "The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek" is a charming children's book about twins who find a talking Stegosaurus on their ranch.
Sculptor Jim Gary created several, almost-life-sized versions of Stegosaurus. One was always displayed among his traveling exhibition, Jim Gary's Twentieth Century Dinosaurs, and they are frequently used as an illustration of his work in books and articles about the artist because of their distinctive characteristics. One displayed among a 2005 exhibition at Belk College of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte became a mascot of sorts to students studying in nearby buildings.[2] Howard the Duck walked under one when a museum display of the sculptor's work was used as a set for the 1986 film of the same name which was produced by George Lucas.
As late as the 1970s, Stegosaurus along with other dinosaurs were depicted in fiction as slow-moving, dim-witted creatures. The "dinosaur renaissance" changed the prevailing image of dinosaurs as sluggish and cold-blooded and this re-evaluation has been reflected in popular media.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Science
In September 2002, a hoax poster was presented at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology entitled "The case for Stegosaurus as an agile, cursorial biped", ostensibly by T. R. Karbek (an anagram of R. T. Bakker) from the non-existent "Steveville Academy of Palaeontological Studies". This was reported in New Scientist magazine, where it was remarked that Stegosaurus was generally believed to be "about as cursorial as a fridge-freezer".[4]
[edit] Cinema
Over the years, Stegosaurus has seen its share of screen time, often pitted in battle against large carnivorous dinosaurs, on both the big and small screen. It came up against Ceratosaurus in Journey to the Beginning of Time (1954), in The Animal World (1956) and in the documentary When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001). It appeared in episode two of "Walking With Dinosaurs" (1999), as well as in the special The Ballad of Big Al (2000). It was even seen pitted against Tyrannosaurus, in Planet of Dinosaurs (1978), Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940) and in the remake of the series Land of the Lost (1992-93).
In the classic monster film, King Kong (1933), the first creature that the band of rescuers meet, as they chase the abducted Fay Wray deep into Skull Island, is a roaring Stegosaurus, which charges. In the 2005 Peter Jackson remake Stegosaurus is nowhere to be seen, although in the extended edition the Triceratops-like fictional "Ferructus" takes its place.
Stegosaurus has also appeared in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as one of the first dinosaurs to be seen. They were also seen briefly in Jurassic Park III. (An ailing Stegosaurus is encountered by the characters in the novel Jurassic Park,[5] but was replaced by a Triceratops in the film version.) Although it makes no actual appearance in the film, the name is used; it is on one of the embryo vials stolen (misspelled as 'Stegasaurus').
Stegosaurus is one of the three dinosaur species whose physical characteristics were combined by the designers at Toho, to create the Japanese monster Godzilla; the other two dinosaurs were Tyrannosaurus and Iguanodon.
[edit] Television
A toy Ceratosaurus can be seen attacking a toy Stegosaurus in a whimsical battle staged by the character Hoban Washburne in the opening few minutes of the pilot episode of the Firefly (TV series).
[edit] Cartoons and comics
Dinosaurs are popular amongst children, and Stegosaurus is no exception. It is one of the more frequently depicted dinosaurs in cartoons. The Transformers television series features four characters which can transform into stegosaurids: Snarl, Slugfest, Saberback and Striker. In The Land Before Time and its sequels, the character Spike is a young Stegosaurus. In the 1980s cartoon Dinosaucers, the character Stego is an anthropomorphic Stegosaurus. Also, "Stegz" was an anthropomorphic stegosaur featured in the series "Extreme Dinosaurs". Ironically, despite the tiny brain size of the Stegosaurus, he was the most intelligent of the characters in the show.
Gary Larson's The Far Side comic strip often used stegosaurs when he showed dinosaurs. The term "Thagomizer" originated as a joke from a Far Side comic strip, in which a group of cavemen in a lecture hall are taught by their caveman professor that the spikes were named in honor of "the late Thag Simmons". The implication is that the Thagomizer was responsible for Thag's death. Whatever the original word for the spiked tail of Stegosaurus was, if it ever had one, has since the Far Side publication been replaced by "thagomizer", which is used as a genuine anatomical term[6] by multiple palaeontological authorities, including the Smithsonian Institution.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Colorado Department of Personnel website - State emblems
- ^ Light emitting diodes (LED) & optoelectronic device research at UNC Charlotte. University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.
- ^ Lucas, S.G. (2006). "The Three Faces of Dinosaurs". Geotimes. Retrieved October 7, 2006.
- ^ "Feedback", New Scientist Magazine, Elsevier, 16 November 2002.
- ^ Crichton M (1990). Jurassic Park. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-58816-9.
- ^ "The word: Thagomizer," New Scientist, July 8, 2006. Retrieved October 26, 2006.
- ^ Stegosaurus Changes. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Department of Paleobiology. Retrieved on 2006-03-07.
