Skull Island
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Skull Island is the name of many islands used in various works of fiction, first appearing in the 1933 film King Kong.
Contents |
[edit] In King Kong
In King Kong, Skull Island is a long island, located at approximately 90 degrees East and 2 degrees South - somewhere off the coast of Sumatra. There is a distinctive rocky knoll in the center of the island which is shaped like a human skull, hence its forboding name.
At first, it is thought of as deserted, but upon further examination by the heroes 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".
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.
Kong: King of Skull Island, a 2004 sequel-novel which ignores The Son Of Kong, makes an attempt to reveal the history of Skull Island before the events of the 1933 film's story.
[edit] In Braindead (1992 film)
In the 1992 film Braindead, Skull Island is seen as a relatively barren place off the coast of Sumatra with very little foliage and rocky beaches. It is alluded that there is some technology present on the island, given the appearance of a Jeep driving along the rocky shore.
It is never stated what kind of creatures live on this Skull Island, aside from the Sumatran Rat-Monkey. The hideous creature, found only on that island, is the offspring of plagued rats and tree monkeys. Its bite, while fatal, can also bring the recently deceased back to life.
The native people of this Skull Island also appear to be of African descent, although they were portrayed in the film by Fiji's national rugby team.
[edit] In The Curse of Monkey Island (1997 video game)
In the 1997 adventure game The Curse of Monkey Island, Skull Island is home to the infamous smuggler known as "King Andre".
Skull Island is only reachable via a small dinghy operated by the ghostly "Flying Welshman" (an allusion to the legend of The Flying Dutchman). While living, the Welshman became lost in the fog surrounding Skull Island when the lighthouse on neighbouring Blood Island was broken. Guybrush Threepwood needs to get to Skull Island in order to get a diamond he needs to lift the curse cast on Elaine Marley by LeChuck's cursed ring. In order to get to Skull Island, he must fix the lighthouse and make a compass for the Welshman.
Trivia:
- Many characters claim that Skull Island is in the shape of a skull. When the island is finally shown, however, it more closely resembles a duck than a skull. An astonished Guybrush grumbles "It should be called Duck Island." The Welshman (who insists it looks like a skull) reluctantly responds, "Well if you turn your head and squint..." to which Guybrush insists, "If you turn your head and squint it looks like a bunny," a reference to a well-known optical illusion.
- Skull Island is one of the smallest islands in the Monkey Island series (the player can only interact with a few things on the island and it is contained by only four perspective shots).
[edit] In King Kong (2005 film and Video Game)
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. The animals there have turned into violent killing machines - the harsh environment of Skull Island changing their evolutionary outcome. Aside from dinosaurs, the island is also home to insectoid and worm-like creatures. 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 Skull Island Coastal Region and the Village, the Skull Island Lowlands, the Skull Island Swamp and River System, the Skull Island Jungle, the Skull Island Chasms and the Skull Island 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 portrayed by a number of different Pacific Island people, who 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 in their flesh, such as through the nose. Many also have bright red eyes, presumably an evolved evolutionary 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.
[edit] In The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island
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).
[edit] Skull Island inhabitants
[edit] King Kong and Son of Kong
- King Kong: A large gorilla that lives on Skull Island.
- Tyrannosaurus: Large carnivore (Identified in DVD Commentary) that threatens Ann and is dispatched by Kong. This animal had an additional finger now known to be inaccurate.
- Stegosaurus: Plated dinosaur that has only ever had one appearance in any of the King Kong films, which was in the original 1933 film. It was bombed and gunned senseless by Denham's crew. Grew up to 10 metres (33 feet) long.
- Brontosaurus: Later re-interpreted as an Apatosaurus, portrayed as an aggressive, semi-aquatic creature that chomps one of the crew to death, without eating him. Appears again in Son of Kong as the island is sinking.
- Unclassified reptilian: Seen in a brief sequence in 1933 original, it is two-legged lizard that crawls up a crevice to attack Jack Driscoll. He cuts away at a vine with a knife, and the creature crashes into the crevice, and presumably to its death (In a remarkable piece of real-world news, in 2006 scientists revealed finding a fossil of a prehistoric ancestor of snakes, which had two legs instead of four).
- Unknown serpent-like, aquatic reptile: Found only in the 1933 movie, and has some characteristics of the pleisiosaur species, such as four flipper-appendanges, but attacks in the manner of the giant snakes, like python and anaconda, by coiling and suffocating its prey or enemies.
- Monsters of the Pits: These creatures were not seen in the 1933 King Kong and only appear in the script and original story boards. These monsters include a giant spider, a large tentacled "insect", a giant crab and a snub-nosed giant lizard.
- Pteranodon: The well-known flying reptile was battered to death by Kong in the original 1933 King Kong.
- Tricaratops: In the original script only, encountered by Kong on volcanic flats, he hurls bolders at a herd of them and drives them into a stampede, impailing 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 attacks Denham and Hilda, but is killed by Kiko. King Kong: A History of a Movie Icon, calls the creature 'The Dragon' all through its review of Son of Kong.
- Second Unknown, dragon-like Plesiosaur: A very stylized, dragon-headed incarnation of this marine reptile eats Hellstrom as he attempts to flee at the end of Son of Kong.
[edit] 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 and possible ancestor. The average M. Kong could stand up to 5-8 meters (18-25 feet tall) and possibly weighed 5-8 tons. By 1933, there was only one of them left. This specimen, a male, was captured and brought back to New York 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: Originally portrayed as a cold-hearted killer, which grew up to 15 metres (50 feet), the V-Rex was portrayed with the same general attitude, but was considerably larger than the T-Rex and had an additional finger.
- Venatosaurus saevidicus: A large dromeosaur. Size is 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 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 Styracosaurus. In the extended edition, one attacks the crew, but is gunned down. (Although like the Stegosaurus in the original, it does not die instantly)
- Brontosaurus baxteri: A herding, herbivorous creature that tramples several of the crew during a stampede.
- Terapusmordax obscenus: Giant batlike creatures, Actually rodents, that were found in the cave where Kong lived in the 2005 film, though they had long, bare tails, unlike a real bat, which has only a vestigial, webbed one.
- Ligocristus innocens: A hadrosaur. No confirmed sightings are in the 2005 version, but it may be the carcass that the Foetodon are feeding on. It grew from 26-34 feet (8-10 metres) 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.
- 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 inplies - a mix of a spider and a crab.
- Deplector (Reaper): Giant lobster-like insects 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 kills a sailor in the movie.
- 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.
- Scorpio-pede: In the extended cut, several of these centepede-like creatures attack the venture crew, but flee as the Pirahnodon approaches.
- Burtornis: In the extended cut, Lumpy shoots this 7ft tall carnivorous bird as it approaches the crew unseen, but heard. Driskol 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.
[edit] Other references
- A skull-shaped island was seen in the original teaser trailers for Disney's 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) includes an island called Totenkopf's ("Death's Head") Island.
- 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 Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror 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."
- 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.
