Gill-man
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| The Gill-man | |
|---|---|
 The Gill-man, as portrayed by Ben Chapman in Creature from the Black Lagoon |
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| Classification | Devonian amphibian |
| First appearance | Creature from the Black Lagoon |
| Last appearance | The Monster Squad |
| Created by | Harry Essex Arthur A. Ross Maurice Zimm |
| Portrayed by | Land Creature from the Black Lagoon Ben Chapman Revenge of the Creature Tom Hennesy The Creature Walks Among Us Don Megowan Water Ricou Browning |
The Gill-man is the titular character of the 1954 black-and-white science fiction film Creature from the Black Lagoon and its two sequels Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). Ricou Browning portrays the underwater Gill-man throughout the three films. Ben Chapman plays the Gill-Man on land in the first film, followed by Tom Hennesy in the second, and Don Megowan in the third. The Gill-man's popularity as an iconic monster of cinema has led to numerous cameo appearances, most notably in an episode of The Munsters and The Monster Squad.
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[edit] Concept and design
According to producer William Alland, the idea behind the film was originally thought up by an unnamed Barazilian director whom he met at the home of Orson Welles. The unnamed man spoke of a friend of his who disappeared in the Amazon in an attempt at filming a documentary on a rumoured population of fish people.[1]
There were various designs for the creature. William Alland envisioned the creature as a "sad, beautiful monster" and the sculpture of it was much like that of an aquatic development of a human. Alland said, "It would still frighten you, but because how human it was, not the other way around". Originally, the creature's design was meant to incorporate a sleek, feminine eel-like figure, which did not have as many bumps and gills of the final version. The designer of the approved Gill-man was Disney animator Millicent Patrick, though her role was deliberately downplayed by make-up artist Bud Westmore, who for half a century would receive sole credit for the creature's conception.[1]
The underwater sequences were filmed at Wakulla Springs in North Florida (today a state park), as were many of the rear projection images. Part of the film was shot in Jacksonville, Florida on the south side of the river near the foot of the old Acosta Bridge. The underwater Gill-man suit was painted yellow for greater visibility in the dark waters.[1]
[edit] Biology
The Gill-man is fully amphibious, capable of breathing both in and out of the water. As shown in the first film, it is vulnerable to rotenone.
The Gill-man's scaly skin is extremely tough, which combined with a fast acting healing factor, allows it to survive wounds which would be fatal to humans, such as gunshots and full immolation. As shown in the third film, the creature's body will automatically develop lungs should its gills be irreparably damaged.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Creature from the Black Lagoon
The last surviving member of a race of amphibious humanoids which lived during the Devonian age, the Gill-man (as christened by Dr. Thompson) dwelled in a lagoon located in a largely unexplored area of the Amazon rainforest. The creature was apparently known to the natives, as the captain of a boat the Rita mentioned local legends on a "man-fish".
After having found the fossilized remains of another Gill-man, a marine biology institute funds an expedition to the Amazon in order to find more remains. Though the Gill-man reacts violently to the intrusion, it develops a soft spot for the team's only female member; Kay and repeatedly tries to abduct her, going as far as building a makeshift dam to prevent their boat from escaping. After having killed numerous members of the expedition, the creature takes Kay to its underwater lair, where it is tracked down by the remaining survivors and riddled with bullets. The creature sinks into the depths of the lagoon.
[edit] Revenge of the Creature
The Gill-man survives and is captured and sent to the Ocean Harbor Oceanarium in Florida, where it is studied by an animal psychologist and his ichthyology student. The psychologist's attempts at communicating with the Gill-man are hampered by its attraction to his student. The Gill-man breaks free from its tank and escapes into the ocean. It is not long before it begins stalking the ichthyology student and kidnaps her. The Gill-man is soon tracked down and once again repeatedly shot, forcing it into the ocean.
[edit] The Creature Walks Among Us
After living for a short while in a Florida river, the creature is found again, and after a vicious struggle, is accidentally immolated. The Gill-man's injuries are so severe that its scales and gills fall off, forcing its captors to perform surgery on it to prevent it from suffocating. X-rays on the creature show it has begun developing a land animal's lung structure, so a tracheotomy is performed, opening an air passage to the lungs, transforming the Gill-man into an air-breathing, nearly human animal. Dressing it in a suit made of sail cloth, the creature is taken to a California estate where it is imprisoned within an electric fence. The creature escapes into the ocean, where it presumably drowns.
[edit] In literature
[edit] Creature from the Black Lagoon novelization
The 1977 novelization of Creature from the Black Lagoon by Carl Dreadstone offers a completely different origin for the Gill-man, who in this version of the story is a hermaphroditic giant, almost as big as the Rita itself, weighing in at 30 tons. This Gill-man is both cold blooded and warm blooded and also has a long whiplike tail. The gigantic creature is dubbed "AA", for "Advanced Amphibian," by the expedition team members. After slaying most of the team members, destroying a Sikorsky helicopter, and kidnapping Kay more than once, the creature is killed by the crew of a US Navy torpedo boat.
[edit] Time's Black Lagoon
In Paul Di Filippo's fan fiction novel Time's Black Lagoon, the Gill-man is depicted as descending from a race of extraterrestrials who came to Earth during the Devonian period on a giant spaceship called The Mother. The Gill-people have the ability to communicate telepathically among themselves and among the human characters. Highly telepathic individuals are alphas in their tribal communities, and include "Fleshmolders", "Mudshapers", "Fishcallers", etc.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon itself is a degenerate member of this race, descended from an individual who explored deep in the ocean and became exposed to archaebacteria, becoming deformed and insane, driven to infect others with the disease. Eventually there were no healthy gill-people left, and the race's numbers dwindled over the epochs to one individual in the 1950s, which is the one that appears in the original film.
[edit] In popular culture
- In an Abbott & Costello sketch, Gill-man appears in a haunted house after Frankenstein's monster faints at the sight of Lou Costello.
- The creature made a cameo appearance on an episode of TV's The Munsters as visiting Uncle Gilbert.
- The Gill-man also appears in the non-Universal release The Monster Squad (1987) along with Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy, and the Wolf Man. He was portrayed by Tom Woodruff, Jr.
- Gill-man is also seen in many Far Side cartoons.
- One of the monsters helping Kamen Rider Kiva is the Basshaa - a creature based from the Gill-man.
- In Rampage: Total Destruction there is Monster called Gilman the Blowfish who looks a bit like The Creature.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Ferrari, Andrea (2003). Il Cinema Dei Mostri, 287. ISBN 88-435-9915-1.
