Line #23 Film/KingDinosaur


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/king_dinosaur.JPG]]
2
3	->'''Ralph:''' Well, we did it.\
4	'''Richard:''' Yeah, we did it... we brought [[StuffBlowingUp civilization]] to Planet Nova.
5
6	''King Dinosaur'' is a 1955 ScienceFiction BMovie produced and directed by quickie king Creator/BertIGordon for Creator/LippertPictures. The film was shot over seven days in [[BronsonCanyonAndCaves Bronson Canyon]], Griffith Park and the Benedict Canyon area. The story is predicated on the notion that a new solar system has set up shop "a half-year's rocket flight away" from our own. A group of intrepid scientists turned space travelers -- zoogeographer Richard Gordon (Douglas Henderson), mineralogist Nora Pierce (Patti Gallagher), physician Ralph Martin (Bill Bryant) and chemist Patricia Bennett (Wanda Curtis) -- blast off (via stock footage of Germany's V-2 rocket) to explore the earth's new neighbors.
7
8	Upon landing on one of the planets (actually the mountains surrounding UsefulNotes/LosAngeles) the scientists confront all manner of outsized reptiles (courtesy of clips from ''Film/OneMillionBC''). When the planet's "dinosaurs" threaten our heroes, the huge lizards are dissipated by an atomic-bomb blast (more library footage). Having made the planet safe for colonization (?), the space travelers return to Earth.
9
10	For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode see [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S02E10KingDinosaur here]].
11
12	!!King Troposaur:
13	* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: The only apparent difference is the bacteria.
14	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The "giant bee" is actually an Orthoptera, probably a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket Jerusalem cricket]].
15	* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Dick notes that the giant iguana is identical to the ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. Um... no?[[note]]'''Servo:''' ''(firmly)'' That's an iguana from Pet World.[[/note]] He also claims that ''T. rex'' lived 125 million years ago, which is almost 60 million years too early.
16	* BeeAfraid: Especially giant, superimposed bees.
17	* ChekhovsGun: The atomic battery. Its description in the introductory stock footage (including conspicuous mention of its explosive potential) all but screams at the audience "Remember This For Later!"
18	* ClothingDamage: Both Ralph and Nora get some of this in separate animal attacks; but Dick tops everyone when he has to [[ShirtlessScene tear his entire shirt off]] to make a tourniquet.
19	* DeusExNukina: The atomic battery is used as a bomb in order to escape the giant lizards in the climax (see page quote).
20	* HardWorkMontage: Ralph and Pat testing the atmosphere of Planet Nova.
21	* ItsAllMyFault: Ralph's near death-by-gator comes as a side result of his and Pat's sneaking off to snog in the night. Pat is so distraught by this that she is [[NeutralFemale unable to help patch him up afterward]].
22	* {{Jerkass}}: [[MeaningfulName Dick]] spends a lot of time pushing the women around -- literally. [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 The 'bots]] call him out for this.
23	* [[StuffBlowingUp Lizards Blowing Up]]
24	* MightyWhitey: It's a TheFifties sci-fi BMovie, so it's fairly inevitable.
25	* NeutralFemale: Invoked and enforced by Dick; when the ladies volunteer to share night watch duties, he quickly shoots the idea down.
26	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Not so much for their respective scientific fields per se (although the zoologist does a good job doctoring up the doctor), but rather the mission as a whole; note the rocket's complete and total lack of '''astronauts.'''
27	* PseudoCrisis: Several:
28	** Ralph is attacked early on by an alligator and injured badly; however, he's pretty much fully recovered within a few scenes (two days' time, in-story). After that, his weakened state becomes essentially an InformedFlaw.
29	** The giant bee; they simply shoot it dead, although it did take a lot of shots.
30	** At one point, a snake slides and shimmies across a sleeping Ralph's body while Dick looks on helplessly. After a minute, the snake gets bored and departs of its own volition.
31	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: And not just the giant ones; Pat very nearly has a complete meltdown when a snake gets fresh. [[note]]To be completely fair, of course, lots of folk have strong snake phobias.[[/note]]
32	* ScreamingWoman: For cryin' out loud, Pat!
33	* ShirtlessScene: Dick needed to wrap a wound.
34	* StockFootage:
35	** Not unlike ''Film/TheDeadlyMantis'' (which would feature in [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] some years later), ''King Dinosaur'' opens with about ten minutes of stock footage. Unlike the latter, however, here the stock footage is actually relevant to the story at hand -- it details construction of the rocket that will take the scientists to Planet Nova. The opening also includes a callout to the [[ChekhovsGun atomic battery]] and its explosive potential.
36	** The giant bee is clearly taken from another film, seeing as it never appears in the same shot as the characters.
37	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: In order to outrun a giant iguana, the scientists... plant an atom bomb. Makes sense.
38	* TitleDrop: When comparing the giant iguana to Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dick appends the appellation "King Dinosaur!"
39	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: One of the scientists cheerfully says that she doubts they'll see any race of super beings -- just after they'd been attacked ''by a bee the size of a car''. FacePalm.

Context Film / KingDinosaur