The Beast
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The film's titular Beast, the "Rhedosaurus", is the main antagonist of the film. Though often called a dinosaur, the fictional Rhedosaurus has several differences from any true dinosaur species. For one, it has semi-sprawling limbs, a feature no dinosaur possessed; second, it was portrayed as a quadrupedal predator, also unlike any true theropods. It also features an undinosaurian skull, lizard-like spines, a forked tongue and dragging tail. It has been suggested that the "Rh" in the creature's name are Ray Harryhausen's initials.
A dinosaur whose appearance was based on that of the "Rhedosaurus" appeared in the 1978 film Planet of Dinosaurs, where it was killed by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Before this, another dinosaur similar in appearance was featured in the 1970 film When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth.
Read more about this topic: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
Famous quotes containing the word beast:
“Our eyes
Are armed, but we are strangers to the stars,
And strangers to the mystic beast and bird,
And strangers to the plant and to the mine.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Through light-obliterating garden foliage what magic drum?
Down limb and breast or down that glimmering belly move his mouth and sinewy tongue.
What from the forest came? What beast has licked its young?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)