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

Here’s part two of looking at Stegosaurus on film. Be sure to check out the first era in part one if you haven’t!

 

Victim Era (1960’s-1980’s)

You might think Stegosaurus had more and more roles as Hollywood moved into the age of colour pictures, widescreen lenses, and increasingly sophisticated special effects, but actually it struggled to make any memorable appearances in the 1960s. The biggest dinosaur movies from this time (One Million Years B.C., The Valley of Gwangi, and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, to name a few) ruled out the Steg in favour of other spiky plant eaters: namely ceratopsians like Chasmosaurus, Styracosaurus, and one of the other old standbys, Triceratops. Godzilla continued to make appearances throughout this era, but that was about as much representation as Stegosaurus had for a while.

The Forgotten Duology is an unofficial term I just made up for a pair of films based on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who dabbled with dinos in his Tarzan and Caspak books, the latter being the inspiration for this pair of films. The Land That Time Forgot (1974) only shows Stegosaurus briefly, and it’s a puppet that looks a little ridiculous. The thing that stands out the most about it is how the back plates are shaped like teeth, making it resemble a Huayangosaurus (other species of stegosaurian) more than a Stegosaurus. Some characters get up close and personal with the Steg in the sequel, The People That Time Forgot (1977), and this one gives the dinosaur more of a spotlight. Sure, the people comment on its stupidity and slow metabolism, but it’s just munching away on plants, doing its thing. Then they mess with it by tying a rope to its spiky tail and shooting a gun to scare it so it can pull their plane free. The special effects still aren’t great, but at least it actually looks like a Stegosaurus this time around.

Finally, in Planet of Dinosaurs (1978), the first decent-looking Steg since Journey to the Beginning of Time graced cinema screens. The movie itself? Not good. The dinosaurs, though, were stop motion, and the models were detailed. There’s a small Stegosaurus herd shown briefly, then a grumpy loner shows up not long after to menace the group of humans. They flee from the stampeding behemoth, only to run into a Tyrannosaurus rex. Steg and Rex meet head-on, and the humans get out of the way so the giants can battle. It’s a fantastic fight, and the Steg looks great, with a swishing tail and staggered plates. But, it doesn’t stand a chance against the Rex, and the fight ends with the carnivore clamping its jaws over its little head, twisting and breaking its neck. This was how Stegosaurus would be characterized for most of the era: a dim-witted salad muncher with a brain no bigger than a walnut (not true, for the record) that stood little chance against the big meat-eaters despite its impressive armament.

A whole generation learned what Stegosaurus was from the animated kids film The Land Before Time (1988), which introduced audiences to Spike: a baby “Spike Tail” that becomes the adopted brother of Ducky the duckbill. Spike is immediately established as a non-verbal, constantly-starving, frequently-sleepy young lad, and he lacks the plates and spikes of the full-grown adults, but the row of bumps along his spine hint at what he will one day grow into—if he can survive the perils on the journey to the Great Valley along with the rest of his friends. Spoilers: they do survive, and Spike doesn’t get any bigger. Spike was never seen as the cutest of the group, but was a favourite of director Don Bluth. According to the internet, the character was written to be comparatively slower than the others in the group not because that fit best with the preexisting stereotypes of Stegosaurus, but in order for him to appeal to the mentally handicapped children in the audience. I searched for verification of this fact and could find none, so I think that’s a dubious claim. Spike also has big stoner energy, being sleepy and always having the munchies, but I don’t know if that was intentional or not either.  

So not only was Stegosaurus a victim of being typecast as a dumb herbivore (if it was cast at all), it was a victim of bullying for being so dumb, and repeatedly pitted against big meat-eaters as a victim despite its armament of plates and spikes. The next era would give the dinosaur some better roles, though, and show the world it was more than just a moronic vegetarian.

 

Character Era (1990’s-Present)

Land Before Time’s Spike was an indicator of the direction Stegosaurus would take going into the early 90’s: a period of time affectionately called the Dinosaur Renaissance. Dinosaurs have always been a fascination for people big and small, old and young, curious and timid, but everyone’s interest in them grew exponentially during this era. Spike returned for the direct-to-video sequel The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (1994) with the same character traits but a slightly different design. The end of his tail lacked the rudimentary Thagomizer that was previously present, and his back ridges were reduced, likely to make it easier for the animators to draw him. Spike was a fully-fledged supporting character by this point, and he returned for every sequel, even getting to speak a few times throughout the series and being featured more prominently in The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze (2001). 

In 1993 Stegosaurus had another notable role…but it wasn’t in Jurassic Park (1993). Carl Denham comments on the length of the one in King Kong, and as far as I can tell it’s the largest cinematic stegosaur of them all, but the one in Prehysteria! (1993) has to be the smallest example. There’s a quintet of miniature prehistoric beasts, all named after famous singers, and the Stegosaurus “Jagger” gets its moniker from the Rolling Stones leading man. Jagger is one of the only stegosaurs other than Spike that I can think of who has a name. He looks similar to the one from Planet of Dinosaurs and was brought to life using mainly rod puppetry, which works well since it’s such a small individual.   

The Steg wasn’t completely absent from the first Jurassic Park. In the novel the characters come across a sick Stegosaurus, but it was changed to a Triceratops for the movie. During the scene in the cryo chamber when Nedry steals the embryos you can see its name on one of the columns of DNA vials. It stands out because the spelling is wrong: it’s incorrectly labelled Steg[a]saurus. Guess they forgot to use spellcheck. Steven Spielberg received more requests for it to be featured in the sequel than any other dinosaur. Not wanting to disappoint the fans, the first big dinosaur shown in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) is the plated giant. The tiny Compsognathus that attack the little girl in the opening scene were from the first novel, and used in the opening specifically to subvert the audiences expectations. Instead of something huge and terrifying, a tiny little chicken-like lizard leaps out. But, when the main characters arrive on the island we get a scene comparable to that of the Brachiosaurus reveal in the first movie, around the same twenty minute mark. A herd of Stegosaurus stroll out from the forest and everyone’s jaws drop. “Yeah, ‘ou, ah’ that’s how it always starts,” Ian Malcolm laments, “but then later there’s running, and, and, screaming…”

This is without a doubt the best Stegosaurus has ever looked in a movie. They aren’t dragging their tails or their bellies, their backs aren’t perfect bridge arches, they aren’t crashing into things, and they aren’t roaring senselessly or being ruthless. They are acting like real animals. A Steg is usually depicted as grey or brown or green in colour; Stan Winston Studios didn’t do anything too crazy with their colour palate, which I think was for the best. We get up close and personal with a baby that looks even cuter than Spike from Land Before Time, but its cries for help put Paleontologist Sarah Harding in a tight spot: a stampeding adult takes a swing at her with its Thagomizer, nearly killing her. We only see the infant and adults a couple more times, once briefly in a later scene at the camp and in the final shot before the camera pans up to a Pteranodon. Even though these stegosaurs don’t feel as much like characters as previous examples from this era (or even compared to other dinosaurs in the Jurassic franchise, for that matter) they still transcend previous iterations, thanks to the beautiful design, high-quality mix of cgi and practical effects, and more scientifically-accurate representation.

Stegosaurus still stayed predominantly true to this era of being a character rather than being typecast as a cliché victim or miscast as a bloodthirsty monster. Spike returned for a further twelve sequels after Land Before Time II and Jagger came back for two Prehysteria sequels. It made only brief appearences in Jurassic Park III (2001), Jurassic World (2015), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), as well as the TV miniseries Dinotopia (2002) and the bizarre Anonymous Rex (2004). Stegosaurus was much better represented on the small screen compared to the big screen going into the 21^st century, appearing in dramatic docuseries’ like Walking with Dinosaurs and Jurassic Fight Club. I think this is what has helped contribute to the Steg’s continued popularity and recognition, because looking at the cinematic history of the extinct creature, it definitely hasn’t been featured as frequently in recent years. At least it finally earned the respect it deserved and came into its own after a long, complicated history, and hopefully continues to be well-represented in future films.