The Complete Cinematic History of Stegosaurus (Part 1 of 2)

Dinosaurs in Film: Stegosaurus

 

With a new dinosaur movie coming out this summer, I thought it would be fun to look at some different species and their history on the big screen. For this follow-up to Tyrannosaurus rex, I’m looking at another one of the most famous of all dinosaurs. Unlike the Tyrant Lizard King, this one is a plant eater from the Jurassic period, but it, too, is instantly recognizable thanks to its distinct appearance, and almost everyone knows its name when they see it. Stegosaurus is a thirty-foot long, four-legged weapon of an animal, with a small head and two rows of diamond-shaped plates running along its spine. Its tail ends with what is known as a “Thagomizer”: an arrangement of four spikes designed to inflict damage on large predators (the term comes from a Gary Larson cartoon).    

The history of Stegosaurus on film is quite different from that of other dinosaurs in the motion picture business. When paleontologists first found its fossils, they incorrectly thought the plates on its back laid flat (hence the name, which translates to “Roof Lizard”) but since then there’s been continued debate about the positioning and function of the plates. Did they line up or were they staggered? Were they armor or weapons? Did they act like solar panels or mating displays? Today, it’s mainly agreed the plates were in two staggered rows, but the function is still debated. Though the scientific understanding of this creature has changed in the decades since its discovery, the general look of the Steg hasn’t been too dramatically revised, but its film roles have been quite varied. We’ll begin with the earliest era, which I think is characterized in particular by these varying roles.

 

Identity Crisis Era (1920’s-1950’s)

The first Stegosaurus to appear on film was a quaint, quiet individual just minding its own business in Along the Moonbeam Trail (1920). This stop-motion model might be the most lizard-like of any Steg. It has a long flickering tongue, thick scales, and practically crawls on the ground. It pops in for a short scene and leaves, bringing no harm to the characters. In The Lost World (1925) it is depicted in the same way. In a wide shot of the plateau with lots of prehistoric creatures scattered around, Steggy is munching on plants in the foreground, and later it bothers a grazing Agathaumas (the three-horn is killed by a T. rex immediately after). The Steg is shown to have a back arched like a bridge, with its dorsal plates lined up next to one another down the length of its spine. We don’t get much more from it than that, but it seems harmless enough. That sense of harmlessness would be completely absent from its next big role.

When the rescue team pursues Anne Darrow past the wall in King Kong (1933) they have no idea what creatures will be waiting for them—Anne just got packed away by a giant ape, after all—but it turns out most of the creatures on Skull Island are prehistoric, and the first one they encounter is a Stegosaurus. It’s far away in the background, but it catches sight of the explorers and stampedes through the jungle right toward them, roaring. They throw a gas bomb and stun it, but it quickly gets back up. They shoot it over and over until it drops again, and even as they get close to it, the creature is still alive, but a shot directly to the face seems to finally kill it.

We get a pretty good look at this monstrosity; Carl Denham says it’s “something from the dinosaur family” and dubs it “a prehistoric beast” which is a term that would be re-used as the title for Phil Tippett’s short dinosaur film released over fifty years later. This Steg appears to be much larger than it was known to grow in real life, and has bumpy scales. Once again, the plates are arranged in two rows all lined up, and a unique trait of this one is the tail. It twitches like a cat as they walk past—one man shouts “it’s still alive!” (And I ask how? They shot it directly in the face!)—and instead of the normal four spikes it has twice as many. It would have seemed obvious for Peter Jackson to bring back the plated lizard for his King Kong remake, but surprisingly, it doesn’t make an appearance, and there isn’t even a creature that’s equivalent to it anywhere in the film. In the extended cut the first dinosaur the crew encounters is a ceratopsian called Ferrucutus, and the scene is meant to be reminiscent of that stegosaur encounter in the original.

In contrast to Tyrannosaurus rex, Stegosaurus could take on more diverse roles in this early era of dinosaur cinema. It could be an antagonistic brute, like in King Kong, or it could be a peaceful plant-eating protagonist. Disney’s Fantasia (1940) cast the Steg as the victim to the vicious Rex in the segment The Rite of Spring, and it’s a harrowing battle that ends tragically for the herbivore. As great as the colourful animation and epic music make it, this scene would have been impossible in the prehistoric past. Stegosaurus lived in the Jurassic period, millions of years before T. rex evolved. What would have been possible was seeing Stegosaurus terrorized by Allosaurus, but T. rex was bigger and scarier, so at the expense of scientific accuracy Disney went with Rexy instead. This Steg has the same posture as previous depictions, with the correct number of tail spikes this time, though the tail is way too fat and flops all around as if it has no bones. What can I say though: it’s a cartoon. 

So Stegosaurus had a couple unassuming roles, then played a bad guy, then a good guy. It was notably miscast twice in the 1950’s. Its most recognizable feature are those massive dorsal plates, and when you look at Godzilla, it’s easy to recognize the influence there. In the original Godzilla (1954) his spikes are more jagged and erratic than any real stegosaurians (plus they light up when he breathes his atomic breath), but it’s not just suggested there’s a relation between dino and monster through the way he looks. There’s a scene with scientists showing pictures of dinosaurs and explaining where Godzilla came from, suggesting he’s from the Jurassic age and is a mix of Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. I don’t need to repeat it but I will: no, they did not live at the same time, so this is yet another example of pure science fiction, not science fact. Over the years Godzilla’s dorsal spines would change size and shape, but always remain spiky, never coming closer to the real look of an actual Stegosaurus. In The Land Unknown (1957) a giant monitor lizard is stated to be a Stegosaurus. It clearly isn’t one, it’s just a lizard on a miniature set. It doesn’t even have any plastic spikes glued to it. They didn’t even try. 

After so many varying roles, Stegosaurus came back around full circle to being a peaceful plant eater created with stop motion animation again in Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955). This Czechoslovakian film didn’t depict dinosaurs as monsters but rather as living creatures, which made it ahead of its time (no pun intended). Stegosaurus encounters a Ceratosaurus (Hey! That dinosaur did live at the same time!), and they have a suitably exciting battle. The stop motion is a little jerky but not bad, and Stegosaurus looks less monstrous and more scientifically accurate than ever before, with the correct number of tail spikes and a staggered plate arrangement. Steggy still had a long way to go before being utilized to its full potential on the big screen.

Just like T. rex, this dinosaur’s cinematic history is too big to contain in one part. Check out the conclusion soon!