Skull Island

Skull Island

Skull Island is a fictional island first appearing in the 1933 film "King Kong" and later appearing in its sequels and in the two remakesFact|date=December 2007.

Appearance in the 1933 film

In "King Kong", Skull Island is located at approximately coord|2|S|90|E — somewhere off the coast of SumatraFact|date=December 2007. There is a distinctive rocky knoll in the center of the island which is shaped like a human skull, hence its foreboding nameFact|date=December 2007.

At first, it is thought of as deserted, but upon further examination by the protagonists of the picture, it is filled to the brim with superstitious natives, prehistoric creatures of all sorts, and one extremely large gorilla, known by those on the island as "Kong"Fact|date=December 2007.

The native people of Skull Island appear to be of West African (or perhaps Papuan) descent. Their barbaric portrayal in the film has provoked complaints and controversy ever since the movie's release. In the sequel film, "Son of Kong", we last see Skull Island as it sinks into the sea. Kong's son drowns while holding Carl Denham above the water. Denham survives unscathed.

Skull Island is never referred to by name on film. In the original film, only "Skull Mountain" is named, while in the sequel "Son of Kong", its simply referred to as "Kong's Island". In the novelization of King Kong (1933) by Delos Lovelace its called "Skull Mountain Island". But RKO referred to it as Skull Island in their publicity materials.

"Kong: King of Skull Island", a 2004 sequel-novel which ignores "Son of Kong", makes an attempt to reveal the history of Skull Island before the events of the 1933 film's story.

Appearance in the 1976 remake

Though not called by name in the film (it is simply referred to as the "Beach of the Skull" by Jack Prescott), and lacking the distinctive Skull outcropping, the island featured in the 1976 remake is referenced as Skull Island within the film's soundtrack. The infrared satellite photo of the island featured in the shipboard briefing demonstrates that it is the island's outline, rather than its features, that is the cause of its being referred to as skull-like. This incarnation is located in the Pacific and is discovered by an oil drilling expedition. As in the original, the native people appear to be of West African descent. In this film's sequel "King Kong Lives" (1986), the island is mistakenly referred to by Hank Mitchell as "Kong Island".

Appearance in the 2005 remake

The Skull Island of 2005's "King Kong" is very similar to that of the 1933 film. It is once again a long-forgotten place, noted as being "far west of Sumatra", until a mysterious map leads a group of adventurers to it. It appears to be in a region that affects magnets, and is frequently shrouded in fog. The island is slowly sinking beneath the sea.

The island is shaped like a large hand with long, skeletal fingers. It is surrounded by carved stone reefs, made to resemble faces crying out in anger and pain, and is criss-crossed by an enormous stone wall and covered with jungle-swallowed ruins that are countless generations old, which are all that remain of an unknown, ancient human civilization that somehow once existed and thrived on Skull Island.

It is filled with all manner of monstrous creatures, but these beings have evolved past their primitive ancestors. Due to Skull Island's unstable ecosystem, there are many more carnivores than herbivores. Aside from dinosaurs and other large animals, the island is also home to insectoid and worm-like creatures, most of them giants. There are strange creatures like Arachno-Claw, Scorpio-Pede, and "Celocimex". See the main link above for details.

The island can be broken down into several smaller ecosystems, all shifting and changing as the animals fight amongst each other. These ecosystems are the Coastal Region and the Village, the Lowlands, the Swamp and River System, the Jungle, the Chasms and the Uplands. Each has its own unique collection of species that continuously fight with each other.

The current native people of this Skull Island appear to be of a mixed Melanesian descent, although director Peter Jackson has stated that they are supposed to look like no other people on Earth. They were largely portrayed by a number of different Pacific Island people, but also by natives of Africa and Asia. The actors and extras were sprayed with a brown paint to make all of their skin tones coincide. Many wear pieces of bone in some form (such as a necklace) and some even have smaller pieces of bone embedded or pierced in their flesh, such as through the nose. Artistic scarification is evident on a large number of Skull Islanders. Bright red eyes are a seemingly derived trait.

The island is further explored in the later series of expeditions called Project Legacy. In 1948, the island sinks and is forever lost due to a huge earthquake, measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale, with all of its unique animals and strange people.

The Weta Workshop book "The World of Kong" documents many of the inhabitants, locations and details of Skull island, as of "King Kong (2005 film)".

kull Island inhabitants

"King Kong" and "Son of Kong"

* Stegosaurus: Appears in a sequence in which it is disturbed by Carl Denham's crew. Like an angry rhinoceros, it charges the men and they fell it with a gas-bomb. As they walk by, it starts to get up again and is shot. Orville Goldner, who worked on the film, described the film's stegosaur as a combination of two genera: "Stegosaurus ungulatus" and the less well-known "Kentrosaurus".Orville Goldner, George E Turner (1975). "Making of King Kong: The Story Behind a Film Classic". ISBN 0498015106. See also "Spawn of Skull Island" (2002). ISBN 1887664459]
* A long-necked "Apatosaurus": The dinosaur is disturbed by the rescue party's raft as it crosses a swamp and capsizes it, attacking the men in the water. Several of them are chased onto land, and one fellow is cornered while climbing a tree and mauled to death by the animal. A common misconception is that the sauropod actually eats the sailor, but it is stated in the script and observed in the film that the dinosaur kills and then abandons the body of a sailor identified as "Tim." The creature reappears in "Son of Kong", crying out as the island is sinking.
* A large 2-legged lizard-like creature: This creature climbs up a vine from the crevasse to attack Jack Driscoll. It falls back into the pit when Jack cuts the vine it is climbing. Other than the two limbs, the other distinct feature of this creature is the iguana-like ridge of spikes down its back. Orville Goldner said it was loosely based on the features of the "Desmatosuchus".
* A large theropod which has been identified as both "Tyrannosaurus" and "Allosaurus": The dinosaur was modeled after Charles R. Knight's depiction of a "Tyrannosaurus". However, it possesses three fingers per hand, unlike "Tyrannosaurus" which had only two (it should be noted that the number of fingers in "Tyrannosaurus" was disputed at the time, as a complete "manus" would not be uncovered until the mid-90s). In the documentary "I'm King Kong! The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper", included on the 2 disk DVD release of "King Kong", Cooper refers to this beast as an "Allosaurus", not a "Tyrannosaurus", which would help explain the number of fingers. However, the creature was originally intended to be a "Tyrannosaurus" designed for the canceled Willis O'Brien film "Creation" (1931). It may also be worth noting that the "Tyrannosaurus" present in Willis O'Brien's earlier project "The Lost World" (1925) also had a third finger. The 1932 "King Kong" screenplay refers to the dinosaur only as a "Meat Eater." The creature appears in the iconic scene where Kong defends Anne from its attack, killing it after a protracted fight.
* An "Elasmosaurus"-like creature: a highly stylized, serpentine aquatic reptile with a long neck and tail as well as two pairs of flippers. It inhabits the bubbling swamp area inside Kong's cave. Goldner describes the "Elasmosaurus" as "being designed as more slender then the ones known to science, and its swimming limbs are less prominent. In those respects, it more closely resembles the polydactyl nothosaur Ceresiosaurus. " It battles Kong in the style of a giant, constricting snake.
* A "Pteranodon"-like pterosaur menaces Anne and is the last major creature to appear on Skull Island. It is slain by Kong.
* "Teratornis": These birds can be seen flying around the dead "Tyrannosaurus". One is seen eating the dead tyrannosaur and is frightened off by the approaching Jack Driscoll.
* "Rhamphorhynchus": The tiny "Rhamphorhynchus" are seen flying around Skull Mountain. A few are flying around the large cave at the base of Skull Mountain, while others are seen at Kong's lair near the top of Skull Mountain.
* "Archaeopteryx": The tiny "Archaeopteryx" are seen flying around in the jungle. Most notably a few fly by when the "Stegosaurus" enters the clearing, and one flies out of the dead tree that Kong puts Ann in before he goes to fight the sailors on the log bridge. According to Goldner, they "were made to flit among the trees on invisible wires."
* "Arsinotherium": This huge prehistoric mammal was to chase the men onto the log bridge and corner them between itself and the enraged Kong. in the test reel. According to Goldner, Cooper had second thoughts about the "Arsinotherium" and "ordered the action to be refilmed using a "Styracosaurus". Both versions were eventually thrown out because they captured too much audience attention." This can be attested to by the fact that the sailors didn't just run back across the log when Kong appeared.
* "Gigantophis garstini": According to Goldner, "This huge serpent that appeared in one scene and later cut out of the film, had its living prototype in Egypt." This giant snake frightens Ann at the base of the dead tree that Kong puts her in before he battles the sailors on the log bridge. It was in the test reel, but later cut. However, you can still see Ann Darrow's reactions to it below her just before the "T. rex" shows up in the clearing.
* "Cynognathus": created and then re-created for the "spider-pit sequence" and portrayed as a stout reptilian predator. Goldner stated that a was loosely adapted, as many of the creatures of the pit were imaginative.
* A giant crab, spider and tentacled "bug": all appear in the original notes, script, and re-created "spider-pit sequence," eating the surviving crewmen in the crevasse.
* "Triceratops": In the original script only, encountered by Kong on volcanic flats; he hurls boulders at a herd of them and drives them into a stampede, impaling one of the crew of the Venture.
* Giant Bear: A gigantic bear that attacks Denham and Hilda, but is driven off by the son of Kong.
* "Styracosaurus": Corners Hellstrom, Englehorn and Charlie into a cave in "Son of Kong", destroying one of their guns. Originally slated to appear in King Kong, chasing the crew onto the log bridge and keeping them trapped there.
* "Cave Serpent": A dragon-like creature that threatens Denham and Hilda, but is fended off and killed by Kiko. "King Kong: A History of a Movie Icon" calls the creature 'The Dragon' all through its review of "Son of Kong". In some respects it resembles a very large Protorosaurus.
* Second unknown, dragon-like plesiosaur: A very stylized incarnation of this marine reptile eats Hellstrom as he attempts to flee at the end of "Son of Kong". The 'snapping' version that grabbed Hellstrom was actually the revamped brontosaur from the original film; same holds for the armature version seen briefly snarling in predatory glee.

1976 Remake

* Aside from Kong, the only other animal that appears in this incarnation of the island is a giant snake very similar to the "Gigantophis garstini". It battles with Kong and, unlike the original film's T.rex finisher (a simple jaw-break), the snake's jaw is ripped off entirely.

2005 Remake

* "Megaprimatus kong": A huge species of gorilla, they were the largest primates to have ever lived, even bigger than "Gigantopithecus", the previous record holder. The average "M. Kong" could stand up to 6-8 metres (18-25 feet tall) and possibly weighed 6 tons. By 1933, there was only one of them left. This specimen, an old male, was captured and brought back to New York City by Carl Denham, but escaped and was shot down off the top of the Empire State Building, rendering the species of "Megaprimatus kong" extinct.
* "Vastatosaurus rex": A giant tyrannosaur, which grew up to 21 metres (70 feet long), the "V-Rex" was portrayed with the same general attitude, but was considerably larger (in proportions) than the "T-Rex" and had an additional finger. They can kill larger animals by themselves easily, but will also live in loose packs to defend their young.
* "Venatosaurus saevidicus": A large dromaeosaur. Size is 5-7 metres (16–24 feet) long. Distinguished by its sickle-like claw, in King Kong (2005 film) they killed Denham's cameraman, hunted in packs, and caused a "Brontosaurus" stampede. Another species is the smaller "Venatosaurus impavidus". "Venatosaurus saevidicus" is the only small predator on Skull Island that preys on adult "Brontosaurus".
* "Ferrucutus cerates": Ceratopsian seen briefly by the foot of the stairway to Kong's lair. Similar to a "Pachyrhinosaurus" only much larger. In the extended edition, a "Ferrucutus" attacks the crew, but is gunned down. (Like the "Stegosaurus" in the original, it does not die instantly) It is about 8-10m (26-34 feet) long.
* "Brontosaurus baxteri": A large sauropod that the Venatosaurus attack and cause a stampede. They trample several of the crew and crush a few unwary Venatosaurus (and sent one flying hilariously) during the stampede. It grew from 80-120 feet long (24-36 m).
* "Terapusmordax obscenus": Giant bat-like creatures descended from rodents that were found in the cave where Kong lived in the 2005 film. They had long, bare tails, unlike real bats, which have only vestigial, webbed tails.
* "Ligocristus innocens": A hadrosaur. A confirmed sighting is in the 2005 version, but it was the carcass that the "Foetodon" are feeding on. It looked like (and possibly was descended from) "Saurolophus" (it also looks amazingly similar to the newly discovered Olorotitan) and grew from 9–12m (30–40 feet) long.
* "Decarnocimex" (Flesh-removing bug): According to "The World of Kong", these are "oversized relatives of crickets with bladed forelimbs for tearing apart carcasses." Carl Denham fights these when he falls into the pit. Oddly for insects, these huge horrors appeared to know rudimentary hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when Carl defended himself with an unloaded rifle.
* Weta-Rex; "Deinacrida rex" (Terrible-cricket king): Dog-sized Wetas which attacked Jack Driscoll.
* Arachno-Claw; "Arachnocidis" ("spider-claw"): The only remake of the original pit beasts, the Arachno-Claw is what the name implies — a mix of a spider and a crab.
* "Deplector" (Reaper): Giant crabs that live in crevasses lining the chasm walls. They reach out of their crevices to grab prey. Females are much, much larger than males. Blind, "Deplectors" are tethered to their holes by excretions that are elastic. This monster is the owner of the gigantic claw that launches from a cave in the chasms and snags an unfortunate sailor.
* "Carnitis sordicus" (Vile Meat-Weasel): One of the beasts that is most memorable, "Carnictus" is a large worm with a sphinter-maw at one end. It undulates inside-out and exposes the mouth to its prey, allowing it to eat. These monsters end up eating Lumpy the cook in the remake.
* "Pirahnodon": In the extended cut, this gigantic fish attacks the Venture crew as they pass through a swamp, devouring several crewmen.
* "Scorpiopede": In the extended cut, several of these eurypterid-like creatures attack the venture crew, but flee as the "Pirahnodon" approaches.
* "Brutornis": In the extended cut, Lumpy shoots this 2.1m (7 ft) tall carnivorous bird as it approaches the crew unseen, but heard. Driscoll believes it is Anne, but is relieved to see the bird instead, dying on the ground. Lumpy then ends the bird's suffering. It is the only creature in the film to be portrayed by a puppet rather than CGI.
* "Foetodon": A large, crocodillian reptile that was eating a presumed Ligocristus carcass that chases Ann and later falls prey to an adolescent V.rex.
* "Megapede": A 5 foot long cetipede, one of the largest centipedes ever. The many species have a venemous bite, and appeared in the scene where Anne attempts to escape a Foetodon by hiding in a rotten log. A pair, represented by two species, attempt to investigate her, but she is understandably frightened and manages to escape.
* "Moonspider": A large spider that feeds on animals such as dinosaur young. Appeared incredibly briefly when one hisses at Anne after she lifts the rock under which it was hiding.

Other uses

* The video game "The Curse of Monkey Island" features a Skull Island, which is actually shaped like a duck.
* The Peter Jackson-directed 1992 film Braindead, released in North America as "Dead Alive" also features a Skull Island.
* A skull-shaped island is seen in the original teaser trailer for Disney's 2003 film "".
* "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (2004) includes an island called "Totenkopf Island" (Totenkopf is German for "Skull") (see image).
* Skull Island was one of the original attractions at Six Flags Over Texas on opening day in 1961.
* A puzzle from the first game in the Simon the Sorcerer series involves retrieving a herb from a place called Skull Island, in this case an actual giant's skull half-submerged in a swamp.
* A section of the video game "" takes place in the Caribbean and features a skull-shaped island called "Zombie Island".
* Skull Island appears in the television series "The Simpsons" in its parody of "King Kong" in the episode "Treehouse of Horror III," but the island is jokingly renamed "Ape Island." Carl states his wish that they were going to "Candy Apple Island", which is also infested with apes, albeit of a smaller size than those on "Ape Island".
* Skull Island was a name given to an island in the anime and manga "One Piece".
* The scientific name for the giant ape King Kong, according only to supplemental material created for the 2005 film, is "Megaprimatus kong". This species was said to have evolved from "Gigantopithecus". King Kong was the last of the "Megaprimatus".
* In the film "The Devil's Rejects", the bounty hunter portrayed by Diamond Dallas Page says of his targets, "They're going to think King Kong came down from Skull Island!"
* In Disney's "Peter Pan", there is a tiny skull-shaped island off the coast of Neverland called "skull rock".
* Skull Island is a small island found in the Northern Territory, Australia.
* In "I Dream of Jeannie" Season 3, Episode 20, Commander Porter brings Majors Nelson and Healey to Skull Island to "Live off the Land" as part of a diet program.

References


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