THE PIT:  A Brief History of the Beast

Before there was the Godzilla or the giant octopus from It Came From Beneath the Sea, there was the original sea monster--The Rhedosaurus . . . perhaps better known as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  In fact, the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms actually inspired Godzilla and set off the "Monster on the Loose" craze of the 1950s.  Released in 1953, this film was based on Ray Bradbury's short story, "The Lighthouse," and was Ray Harryhausen's first great solo work.  With the possible exception of Mighty Joe Young (which Harryhausen also worked on), the first important giant monster film since King Kong.

However, unlike Godzilla (who had over two dozen sequels), there are not that many Rhedosaurus kits.  The ones that do exist tend to be pretty darn good though, so here is a quick look.

This is part of the "What if" series of boxes that are based on the old Aurora kits.  This particular art was done by Vin Di Fate and comes shrink wrapped for presevation purposes.  It is an odd collectors item that you can pick up for $25 at www.morbidmonster.com

The first kit I know about featuring this amazing beast came from Japan in the late 1980s (maybe early 1990s . . . I am not sure).  The company was called Billiken and they were among the first to produce these subjects for consumers across the world in big numbers after Aurora died out.

The kit was made of vinyl, the most common injection medium of the day.  It had about a dozen parts and was a pretty good likeness (when some of the Billiken kits were not).  This is almost impossible to find (and I was shocked to see one on Ebay this weekend), and it will typically sell for over $100.

The build up to the right was done by my friend Bill "Monster" Jones and is one of his first builds.  You can check out more of Bill's work on this page or go to his website at www.monsterjones.com.

The next important kit was done by Alternative Images in the mid-1990s.  The big garage kit boom was happening then and American resin companies like Alternative Images were making spectacular contributions including a number of large kits like this Rhedosaurus.  The completed critter was about two feet long and it showed more attention to detail and replication than the Billiken kit.  In fact, it was highly coveted and probably cannot be found in an unbuilt state.

The Beast was sculpted by Joe Laudati, who has made a name for himself with Harryhausen sculptures (and whose name you will see below, too.)  It came in 10 resin parts and orginally cost $175.  Today . . . who knows?

The photo to the right is a build up from Scott Kelly that was featured on the old Gremlins in the Garage site.  The build up below left is from Bill Jones again and the one below right is from Amazing Figure Modeler's Mike Wallace, whose website I encourage you to visit.

One of my favorite sculptors of all time, Tony McVey of Menagerie Productions, did some remarkable interpretations of famous monster subjects from The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Teenage Werewolf to larger subjects like Harryhausen's Ymir and this rendition of the Rhedosaurus.  Basically, Tony went with the "what if" approach . . . what if these monsters looked more like real animals?

"The Sea Monster" shows many true dinosaurian traits, which makes sense as McVey worked at the British Museum of Natural History for several years on reconstructions.  The website says the Sea Monster is back up for sale in a limited run of 30 castings, but I don't know how recent that is or how much it costs.  I can tell you I am a McVey collector and if I can get it, I will.  Check out www.menagerieproductions.com for more amazing kits and sculptures.

Another great version of this subject comes from Fantamation Studios and was done by Jim Davidson, an artist that has worked on Hollywood special effects including films like Batman Returns, Cat in the Hat and Charlie Wilson's War.  Like so many others, Davison was heavily influenced by stop motion animation from Ray Harryhausen and this kit celebrates that.

At the moment, the kit is out of production, but it was 15 inches long, came in 8 parts and sold for $125.00, a great price since it was solid resin and only one small run was made.  This is one I wish I had picked up when it was out.

Finally, I have a kit that is in production and if you want one, we can work that out.

This is a bust of the beast done by Joe Laudati (whose name you saw at the top of the page).  Laudati originally released this independently but signed over the license to Geometric Designs, making it available again.

The kit has four resin parts--two rows of teeth, a lower jaw and the body/base.  It sits about half a foot tall when completed and is nicely sculpted and cast.  The whole thing can be done in a weekend . . . and in fact, I am working on one right now, so maybe next week's article will be the how-to, eh?

Anyway, the price is $54.99 plus shipping and handling, but at CreatureScape I can bring it down to a cool $48 unfinished.  If you want it finished, just email me at editor@creaturescape.com and we can work that out.

Here is a Paypal link if you are interested in this great deal . . .

Well, glad to be making a return to Creature Feature.  CreatureScape itself is under renovation, but one of the improvements we are making is a link to our CreatureScape group.  We'll post specials and news and have a reader gallery, so please join at by clicking the link below!