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Loch Ness Monster in popular culture

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Loch Ness Monster (oil painting) by Heikenwaelder Hugo.

The legend of the Loch Ness Monster is well known throughout Scotland and the rest of the world and has entered into popular culture. This page lists notable appearances in fiction, and notable creative works where the Loch Ness Monster is a major plot point or character.

Literature

  • The Loch (2005) by Steve Alten is a novel about the Loch Ness Monster[1] which incorporates many historical and scientific elements into the story line. In the book, the creature is said to be a species of gigantic and carnivorous Eel.

Films

  • A fake monster is a significant plot element in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).
  • The monster is featured in the American horror film The Loch Ness Horror (1981), directed by Larry Buchanan.[2]
  • Nessie – das verrückteste Monster der Welt [de] is a West German film made in 1985.[3]
  • Ted Danson starred in the film Loch Ness (1996) in which he plays an American scientist trying to disprove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, only to later disprove his own evidence when he comes to recognise that the Monster is best left alone to survive by itself.
  • In the film Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster (2004),[1] the Mystery, Inc. gang travel to Loch Ness in Scotland to see the famous Blake Castle, the home of Daphne Blake's cousin, Shannon. The Castle grounds is home to the first annual Highland Games, composed of many traditional Scottish sports. But when they arrive Shannon informs them that the Castle had recently been terrorized by the Loch Ness Monster. The gang investigate with help from Professor Fiona Pembrooke (who believes Nessie exists) and Sir Ian Locksley (a sceptic). Due to their opposing views, Locksley and Pembrooke share a mutual hatred for each other. It is later revealed the monster that has been terrorizing Blake Castle are actually two fakes (one land-based and the other an aquatic sub) perpatraited by Professor Pembrooke. Pembrooke's plan was to use her fake Nessie to convince Locksley the real monster existed, and enlist his aide in finding it. The next day, the games begin on schedule; But Locksley calls everyone to his ship to look at new pictures of the monster his underwater cameras had taken. These, plus other pictures Pembrooke had taken convince him the monster does exist. The film ends with the gang leaving Blake Castle and shows Scooby briefly seeing the real Loch Ness Monster.
  • A mockumentary starring director Werner Herzog titled Incident at Loch Ness (2004) shows the director filming scenes around Loch Ness[4] 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 film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007) 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 Loch Ness and the world begins to notice. Based on a novel by Dick King-Smith, the movie includes a scene that suggests the Surgeon's Photo (depicted inaccurately as happening in 1942) was not so much a hoax as a staged re-enactment of a genuine sighting.
  • Beyond Loch Ness (at one point named Loch Ness Terror[5]) is a 2008 horror television film made for the Sci-Fi Channel, directed by Paul Ziller.[1][6]
  • Disney released The Ballad of Nessie along with their main feature Winnie the Pooh in 2011. It is a short 2D cartoon narrated by Scottish comedian Billy Connolly and is a story about Nessie's origins.
  • In Nessie & Me (2016), Jamie Williams befriends a sea captain who claims to have seen Nessie. He also learns that a mogul, Maxwell Gordon, is forcing people to sell their land, and believes that if he can prove Nessie is real, she is the perfect solution to save the town from Maxwell. Nessie & Me marks the first time that Jim Wynorski directed a children's film.

Television

  • In the 1975 Doctor Who story Terror of the Zygons, the Loch Ness Monster is revealed to be a Skarasen, an alien cyborg controlled by the extraterrestrial race known as the Zygons, who use it in a bid for world conquest. When that scheme is foiled by the Fourth Doctor and its masters killed, the creature peacefully returns to its watery home.
  • The BBC television series The Family-Ness showed the adventures of a whole family of Loch Ness Monsters and their human friends, Elspeth and Angus McTout.
  • An animated series, Happy Ness: 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, while the villains included Pompous Ness, Mean Ness, Devious Ness and Dark Ness. A trio of human children Hannah, Hosie and Hayden befriended the good Nessies, assisting them in occasional conflicts with the bad Nessies, while their uncle who owned a hotel in a Scottish castle is more keen on catching the Nessies. Both groups wore Loch-ets, each capable of performing a "Ness Bless", making its target temporarily feel the same as the caster. In addition, the Loch-ets protect the wearer from prying eyes, rendering them invisible to all but other Nessies and their trusted human friends.
  • The TV series The Simpsons featured the Loch Ness Monster in the episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", in which Montgomery Burns captures the monster with the help of Homer Simpson, Professor Frink and Groundskeeper Willie. At the end of the episode, the Monster is given a job at a casino (along with Homer Simpson).

Games

  • A board game of the hunt for Nessie was produced by Searchglen called Nessie Hunt in 1987.[7] The game was designed by Anthony Harmsworth.[8]
  • The Pokemon Lapras and Milotic are based on Nessie.
  • Loch Ness Monster,[9] built in 1985, was the final pinball machine built by Game Plan,[10] before the Game Plan company went out of business. As the factory "production run" was but a single prototype, the machine is almost as rare as the monster itself. Among the few who have played it, Loch Ness Monster is said to be Game Plan's best game, by far. Unlike all previous Game Plan games, it featured speech, a ramp, and a strobe-lit mechanical animation below the playfield.
  • In the game, The Cameron Files: Secret at Loch Ness, detective Alan Parker Cameron is investigating the secret case of the monster.

Theme park rides

Toys

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Bosky, Bernadette (2014). "Loch Ness Monster". In Weinstock, Jeffrey (ed.). The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 383–388.
  2. ^ Craig, Rob (2007). The Films of Larry Buchanan: A Critical Examination. McFarland & Company. pp. 209–217. ISBN 978-0786429820.
  3. ^ "Nessie – das verrückteste Monster der Welt". Lexikon des internationalen Films (in German). Filmdienst. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  4. ^ Murray, Rebecca. "Screenwriter Zak Penn Makes His Directorial Debut With "Incident at Loch Ness"". Archived from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  5. ^ Loch Ness Terror page at Insight Film Studios
  6. ^ "Paul Ziller talks about the SciFi Original Beyond Loch Ness". Archived from the original on 10 January 2008.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Loch Ness Webmaster, Tony Harmsworth".
  9. ^ Loch Ness Monster pinball machine
  10. ^ Tribute page for Game Plan, a pinball machine manufacturer that went out of business in 1985
  11. ^ Mochocka, Aleksandra (2018). "Gothic, Commodities, and Culture". In Lowczanin, Agnieszka; Malecka, Katarzyna (eds.). Gothic Peregrinations: The Unexplored and Re-explored Territories. Routledge Studies in Nineteenth Century Literature. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1138311008.
  12. ^ "Toymaker Mattel creates new doll Lorna McNessie". February 20, 2015. Archived from the original on November 27, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2016 – via www.bbc.com.
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