Loch Ness Monster and popular culture

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The Loch Ness Monster is well known throughout Scotland and the rest of the world.

Contents 1 Literature 2 Music 3 Movies 4 Television 5 Surveys and studies of Nessie in popular culture 6 Sport 7 Other 8 References

[edit] Literature

In the book The Bogart and the Monster the Loch Ness Monster is actually an invisible shape shifting creature that has become trapped in one form.

The Loch by Steve Alten is a novel about the Loch Ness monster which incorporates many historical and scientific elements into the story line.

In Steven Kellogg's redo of the book, The Mysterious Tadpole, a boy's uncle finds a strange tadpole and gives it to him for his birthday which the kid names Alphonse. But it doesn't become a frog, it becomes a dinosaur like creature that grows to gigantic proportions. In the midst of the development, he trained the creature to do certain things dogs do. A while after he reached his full size it was revealed that this was an offspring of the Loch Ness Monster due to the fact that it was found by his uncle in Loch Ness. He wanted to make a swimming pool from the nearby parking lot for Alphonse and got the money needed to do so by having the creature find sunken treasure. And his next birthday, a similar thing happens. His uncle finds a large stone in the hills of Scotland, it's revealed to be an egg of a bird. That part is narrowed down to 4 pages. 1, it comes out of the egg. 2, it's fed in a bathtub. 3, it's fully grown to 20 feet tall and a wingspan of 80 feet. Lastly, you see the boy and Alphonse ride on the bird. So now he has two giant pets.

In the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling, it is said that the so-called "Loch Ness Monster" is the muggle world's misunderstanding of what is in fact the world's largest kelpie.

[edit] Music

The Judas Priest song "Lochness" from their 2005 album Angel of Retribution is about the Loch Ness Monster.

The Police mention the Loch Ness Monster in the song "Synchronicity II" on their album Synchronicity.

The Real McKenzies' 2001 album Loch'd and Loaded features a song titled "Nessie," which protests the capture and search for Nessie.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band wrote a song based on the Loch Ness Monster called Water Beastie, which can be heard on their last ever studio album "Rock Drill".

Reggie and the Full Effect made a music video for their song "Get Well Soon," which shows the Loch Ness Monster walking around an unidentified city going to shows and drinking alcohol, after being kicked out of her home.

American progressive-metal band Mastodon have a song entitled Ol'e Nessie (named after the Loch Ness Monster) on their full length debut album, Remission

Composer Guto Puw wrote a piece for SATB choir in 1998 called "The Loch Ness Monster's Song".

[edit] Movies

The monster was treated in a rather tongue in cheek fashion in a 1961 film What a Whopper.

In the 1970 film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes the monster is revealed to be a miniature submarine in disguise.

In 1978, a film about the Loch Ness Monster was going to be produced by Toho, but fell through.[1] The monster was featured in the 1981 american horror film The Loch Ness Horror, directed by Larry Buchanan.

In the 1987 film Amazon Women on the Moon it was revealed that Jack the Ripper was none other than the monster itself.

In the 1992 animated movie Freddie as F.R.O.7 Nessie befriends an enchanted frog prince called Frederick who uses powers of telekinesis to free her tail trapped under a fallen boulder. It is later revealed she has a family, who later helps Freddie defeat an enemy invasion of Britain.

Ted Danson starred in the 1996 film Loch Ness in which he plays an American scientist trying to disprove the existence of the Loch Ness monster.

In the Disney-Pixar movie Monsters, Inc. (2001), the Loch Ness Monster was banished from Monstropolis as punishment for an unnamed crime.

The television series Scooby-Doo inspired a movie Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster. The gang went to Scotland to solve the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster. It turned out that the monster was just a machine, though the existence of an actual one is hinted at in the ending. As a bonus feature, National Geographic Inside Scoop, Scooby and Shaggy are hiding in the Mystery Machine, because they are afraid to go out, because of the Loch Ness Monster.

The cult-favourite film Napoleon Dynamite (2004) features a current events presentation given by Napoleon in which he tells the story of how "Last week, Japanese scientists explaced... placed explosive detonators at the bottom of Lake Loch Ness to blow Nessie out of the water. Sir Godfrey of the Nessie Alliance summoned the help of Scotland's local wizards to cast a protective spell over the lake and its local residents and all those who seek for the peaceful existence of our underwater ally."

A film starring Director Werner Herzog entitled Incident at Loch Ness (2004) shows the director filming scenes around Loch Ness in an attempt to disprove the theories of the monster. His writer/producer continually tries to make a "blockbuster" film that Werner does not want. They eventually run afoul of the real Nessie with eerie results.

The 2005 film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit featured a character reading through a book of mythological monsters. In the book, the monster is given the Latin name Tourist Trappus.

The 2007 film, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep featured a young boy who discovers and hatches an egg belonging to the legendary Celtic creature, the Water Horse. Naming it Crusoe after the fictional character, he eventually is forced to release it into the loch and the world begins to notice.

[edit] Television

In the 1975 Doctor Who story Terror of the Zygons, the Loch Ness Monster is revealed to be an alien cyborg controlled by the extraterrestrial race known as the Zygons and is used in a bid for world conquest. When that scheme is foiled by the Doctor and its masters killed, the creature returns to its watery home. In the 1985 story Timelash (and somewhat contradictory to the previous adventure), the Loch Ness monster was revealed to be the Borad, a tyrant whose DNA got mixed with a dinosaur type monster. In the 2006 episode "School Reunion", Sarah Jane Smith trumps new companion Rose Tyler, who believes she has met far more interesting beings in her travels with the Doctor, by mentioning the time she encountered the Loch Ness Monster (in Terror of the Zygons), causing Rose to respond, "Seriously?!"

The BBC television series The Family-Ness showed the adventures of a family of "Loch Ness Monsters" and their human friends, Elspeth and Angus McTout.

The British science fiction show The Tomorrow People stated that the Loch Ness monster was a preserved dinosaur, placed in the water in neolithic time to scare away locals from an alien mine. The mine extracted an extremely rare mineral and was abandoned after the aliens left Earth, but the dinosaur in Loch Ness was forgotten and remained.

Another animated series, Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch, featured two groups of the creatures. The friendly Nessies included Happy Ness, Brave Ness, Forgetful Ness, Silly Ness and Bright Ness (representing intelligence), while the villains included Pompous Ness (their leader), Mean Ness and Dark Ness. A trio of human characters befriended the good Nessies, assisting them in occasional conflicts with the bad Nessies. Both groups wore Loch-ets, each capable of performing a "Ness Bless", making its target feel the same, temporarily, as the caster. For example, in one episode Forgetful Ness cast a Ness Bless on Pompous Ness, and she forgot all about who she was and what she was trying to do. The Ness Bless wears off after a time. Smaller (and less potent) Ness Bless-ettes can also be created and carried to another location to use, rather than being used directly from the Loch-ets. In addition, the Loch-ets protect the wearer from prying eyes, rendering them invisible to all but other Nessies and their trusted human friends. Pompous Ness tries on many occasions to steal the other Loch-ets from their owners, but always fails.

In the television series, The X-Files, Mulder and Scully investigate the sightings of a similar creature, named Big Blue, inhabiting Heuvelmans Lake in rural Georgia. The fictitious lake was named after the father of cryptozoology, Bernard Heuvelmans. The cuprit was revealed to be a giant alligator; however, as the two agents left the lake, the real "Big Blue" rose out of the water.

The television series The Simpsons included an episode (#224, 'Monty Can't Buy Me Love') on the Loch Ness Monster. Mr. Burns takes Homer, Groundskeeper Willie, and Professor Frink to Scotland to capture the creature. After failing to find the monster by manually searching the loch, Burns orders the loch drained (by hand pump). Sure enough, they find the monster (the immensely weak Burns somehow manages to overpower it) and bring it back to Springfield. After a disastrous unveiling reminiscent of Kong's rampage in King Kong (except that Nessie wasn't the one who caused the rampage, unlike King Kong, it enjoyed getting pictures, but Mr. Burns got blinded from the camera flashes and staggered into some equipment and set the stage on fire), Burns gives Nessie a job at a casino.

In an episode of Futurama, Fry claims that the Loch Ness Monster's Book was right about the existence of Big Foot. Additionally, in the Futurama movie Bender's Big Score, Fry's beloved narwhal is displaced from the aquarium by the Loch Ness Monster, despite it having turned out to be "just a log with a halloween mask on it."

In an episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny is constantly chasing the monster in attempts to get his haggas back. After realizing he doesn't want it, Johnny decides to take the monster in as a pet.

One particular sketch in the Scottish sketch show, Scotch and Wry, shows a local tour guide taking some American tourists to Loch Ness. The tourists are desperate to see the monster, and the tour guide, desperate to make money, keeps randomly yelling "There it is!" and then proclaiming the tourists "just missed it" when they turned around. When this proves unconvincing, he resorts to plan B, which involves instructing the coach driver (who we don't actually see) dressing up as the monster (also occurring off camera). Unfortunately, a second monster then shows up; the real one, who eats the coach driver. Whilst the tourists are in awe of what they've seen, the tour guide is grief strucken, as well as wondering how they'll get back to the hotel with no coach driver!

In the Lupin the 3rd second TV series, episode 004 "50 Ways to Leave Your 50 Foot Lover", Lupin and Fujiko "meets" Nessie. At Loch Ness, Scotland, the mysterious monster Nessie shows itself charmed by Fujiko's singing. Doctor Oz, seeing this, decides to use Fujiko to draw out Nessie so that he can capture it and show it all over the world. There is also revenge involved. It's a fight to the death between Nessie and Oz's dinosaur robot. Will Lupin let Oz get away with his scheme?

The Goodies also went to Scotland and captured the Loch Ness Monster. "A bid to trap the Loch Ness Monster to pacify a suicidal zoo keeper sees the Goodies travel to Scotland, where they have a close brush with the deadly Bagpipes spider among other trials." SEASON 2 1971-72 "LOCH NESS MONSTER". Also, in one episode, Arthur C. Clarke (in fact Graeme) claims that the monster is an upside-down Garden Hippopotamus with French Bread on it's chin with a Tortoise balanced on the bread; the actual monster is seen swimming behind Clarke, and it even peeks over his shoulder and harumphs at the illustration of his theory.

Dojo the dragon from Xiaolin Showdown is related to Nessie, and hid the Shen-Gon-Wu called the Tangle Web Comb in the loch during one of his visits.

In episode #303 of South Park, Chef's father constantly complains that he is being harassed by the Loch Ness Monster trying to borrow three dollars and fifty cents ("tree-fiddy," as he puts it) from him.

In episode #302 of Drawn Together, Toot Braunstein names the Wienermobile, the Loch Ness Monster, and God's mercy as examples of legendary things she is sure really exist; the scene then cuts to a little boy praying for God's protection and then being eaten by the Loch Ness Monster.

On the Shelley Duvall series Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories (1992), an animated series for kids, there was an episode titled "Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster", which featured the character Little Toot, a steamboat who is circulating around Loch Ness where he befriends the creature himself. The monster appears to be friendly and needs Little Toot's help to avoid capture from poachers. Comic actor Rick Moranis narrated the episode.

In an episode of the MTV series Celebrity Deathmatch, Nessie appears in a match against Bigfoot. After cutting Bigfoot in half with its tail it kidnaps Fran Drescher. Later it is revealed that Fran's laugh sounds exactly like the mating call of the Loch Ness Monster and they get married.

In the 1994 animated series Gargoyles, Goliath, Elisa Maza, and Goliath's daughter, Angela, encounter the Loch Ness Monster while traveling the world. Angela befriends the creature's child.

There was a British spoof of the documentary style titled "Loch Ness: Real or Pretend?". One of the scenes had tourists standing by the castle looking at the lake. When the monster did not appear, the film crew handed out 'special glasses' which had silhouettes of the monster on the lenses. The tourists immediately "saw" the monster, pointing at it in whatever direction they were looking, including one tourist looking at the sky shouting "It's flying! It's flying!"

In the Godzilla: The Series episode "Deadloch", "Nessie" is an evolved Mesosaur. Godzilla fought the Loch Ness Monster as it attacked a research station where its offspring was being kept. Once this was revealed, Godzilla aided Nessie in the rescue of its offspring.

The monster Jirass from Episode 10: Mysterious Dinosaur base of the Japanese television show Ultraman, was supposedly from Loch Ness. The monster was created from parts of two Godzilla suits.

In a 1964 episode of the supermarionated TV series Stingray the characters travel to Loch Ness to solve the mystery of the monster.

In the Samurai Jack series created by Genndy Tartokovsky a creature resembling nessie appears in the background of the highlands episode.

In Kong:the animated series; an alantis like city at the bottom of Lock Ness has Nessie(whom the call Nessia) as its protecter.

In Little House on the Prarie The Lake Kezia Monster Kezia doesn't believe in paying property taxes, and it isn't long before Mrs. Olesen decides to foreclose on the property and purchase it for herself as the family's vacation home. Nels objects to the purchase, knowing she had acquired it unfairly and that Kezia would have no place to go, but Mrs. Olesen responds by moving herself and Nellie and Willie to the lakeside property. Mrs. Olesen, in a show of pity, hires Kezia to be their servant and force her to live in the shack. Laura, Albert and Andy watch from afar and are disgusted at how cruelly the three Olesens are treating their friend Kezia, and also aware that Mrs. Olesen used underhanded means to buy the property. One night, after hearing Caroline read a story about monsters, Albert comes up with an idea to concoct a monster to drive the Olesens off the property. Working with Kezia, the children set their plans in motion, but Mrs. Olesen, Nellie and Willie are too smart for any tricks and harden their resolve to stay on "their" property. Eventually, Laura, Andy and Albert bring out the heavy artillery: creating a Loch Ness monster out of papier-mâché. (You see Mrs. Olesen shoot it in the head which activates fireworks that were positioned there) When they hatch their plans, Mrs. Olesen and her children are convinced that the (non-existent) monster poses a real threat to their safety and they beat it. Nels celebrates the success of Laura's plan with Kezia and the others, and it isn't long before Kezia's ownership in her property is restored ... with the promise she will pay her property taxes, no matter what she thinks.

In the TV series How I Met Your Mother one of the main characters Marshall has a continuing obsession with the Loch Ness monster. He in fact believes that Nessie is a 'gentle creature' and derides the fact that the it is referred to as a 'monster'. He also plans to go to Scotland for his honeymoon so that he could search for Nessie.

In The Sarah Silverman Program on Comedy Central The Loch Ness Monster appears in Sarah's dream after she drinks too much cough syrup in the pilot Officer Jay.

In the episode of "Cheese Orbs" on Camp Lazlo, Nessie appears after Bigfoot does. The Bagpipes, the main instrument of Scotland, can be heard in the background.

In the popular Pokemon Series, there is a Pokemon based on the monster named Lapras.

In the 1990s PBS game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Eartha Brute stole the Loch Ness Monster.

Beyond Loch Ness (at one point named Loch Ness Terror^[1]) is a 2008 horror television movie, produced by Insight Film Studios for the Sci Fi Channel, and directed by Paul Ziller, scheduled to debut January 5, 2008.

The tabloid Weekly World News often reports on the creature, claiming that it has been captured, pregnant, sold, or even that it is dead.

[edit] Surveys and studies of Nessie in popular culture

A critical appraisal of 17 television and film documentaries on the Loch Ness Monster is given by Bauer^[2]. He concludes that they promulgate various errors of fact and interpretations.

He comments that newspapers have fairly consistently treated Nessie as a myth. Magazines and books treated the subject fairly seriously in the 1960s and 1970s and early 1980s but since then have become dismissive. Moreover The Loch Ness Monster is a recurrent figure in modern literature, television, movies and games, and people's 'common knowledge' has been strongly if unconsciously influenced by fictional depictions.

[edit] Sport

The closest football team to Loch Ness, Inverness Caledonian Thistle have a mascot named Nessie.

[edit] Other

There is a Loch Ness Monster rollercoaster at Busch Gardens Europe.

In the Super Nintendo videogame EarthBound, there exists Tessie, a friendly purple parody of the Loch Ness monster, Nessie.

In the Playstation game Ape Escape, in the second level, there is a Nessie-like monster which swims in circles around a small island. The player can jump onto its back and it will not attack.

In Super Mario 64 a Nessie like creature is seen in the underwater cave in Hazy Maze Cave. For the first star, you have to ride on its head.

In the PlayStation Portable game Lemmings, there is a level named Hunt the Nessie! Where stones are arranged in a way to look like Nessie.

In Pokémon games, there is a Pokémon called Milotic who could be based on Nessie.

In Rayman 2, a sea creature resembling Nessie, called Sam, transports Rayman to the other part of a swamp.

In World of Warcraft, a boss NPC named Nessy can be found in the waters outside of the Deeprun Tram. It cannot be attacked.^[3]

In Capcom's Ace Attorney series, a monster resembling Nessie called Gourdy is said to live in Gourd Lake.

In Endless Ocean in the abyess there is a fossil of a giant Plesiosaur that is suppose to be Nessie.

In the Playstation game Dino Crisis 2 you must eventually battle a giant Nessie-like monster boss underwater, which is revealed to be a huge Plesiosaur.

In The Sims a monster resembling Nessie can be briefly seen in the river from a full view of the town at random moments.

[edit] References