History Main / Slurpasaur

Still, [[SoBadItsGood that's what makes these movies]] such [[NarmCharm cheesy fun]]. A good source of NightmareRetardant, many fans suspect that these films' animal stars are the film-makers' pets. This has been a DiscreditedTrope since TheSixties. A normal-sized but similarly nonthreatening movie animal is the TerrifyingPetStoreRat. A similar trope in which human actors are dressed as humanoid aliens is the RubberForeheadAlien, although it tends to be more convincing.

Given growing mainstream awareness that many dinosaurs had feathers (possibly even ''T. rex''), and that dinosaurs in general would be better described as big proto-birdesque monsters than as big lizards (to the point where modern biologists actually differentiate between "avian dinosaurs" and "non-avian dinosaurs" rather than between birds and dinosaurs), it would be interesting to see a reconstruction/parody of this trope in the form of a {{Retraux}} or GenreThrowback work using a [[CluckingFunny chicken]] in a toy-sized toothy mask in place of a ''T. rex''.

Technically, dressing a horse up as a {{Unicorn}} ''should'' be this trope, although the lack of ''actual'' unicorns to compare them to means that it's usually given a pass. To a lesser extent, dressing dogs up as wolves or canine monsters like {{hellhound}}s or [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] is also accepted since dogs are a domesticated wolf subspecies, and many dog breeds resemble their ancestors enough. Really, examples where mammals are dressed up do fare a bit better in believability then the reptilian kind. In its classic form, however, this is is very much a DeadHorseTrope, having died out in the 1960s, and is today only employed as deliberate {{Retraux}} kitsch, with crude CGI having taken over as the go-to monster effect for low-budget filmmaking.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' in which Norb, Dag, and Stump go spelunking. They see the massive shadow of a ferocious dimetrodon-like animal approaching them... [[Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth which turns out to be a tiny lizard with a fin conspicuously taped to its back]].

* The {{Trope Namer|s}} example (albeit by fans of the film), and the one where most of this footage comes from, is ''One Million BC'' with Victor Mature and Carole Landis. This film had a plethora of animals in makeup and/or visually enlarged to make them look monstrous. The image above is from this movie. Other examples from this film include an elephant in fur as a woolly mammoth,[[note]]which is actually quite convincing when you realize woolly mammoths were furry elephants,[[/note]] a pig with glued-on horns and a tail as a ''Triceratops'', alligator with a glued-on fin (enlarged), various enlarged lizards (monitors, iguana, skinks) as dinosaurs, a snake and an enlarged coati which eats the snake on screen, and an (enlarged) armadillo with rubber horns. It also featured a [[PeopleInRubberSuits rubbersuit]] ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' which was ''not'' enlarged in any way. Yeah, it's SoBadItsGood.

* In the 1959 film ''Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'', optically enlarged lizards with fins glued to their backs play dimetrodons, a synapsid that actually looks... ''sort of'' like a lizard with a fin on its back (though the ones in the film are somewhat larger than their real-life counterparts). They don't actually look too bad. Although, this is later played again with an even bigger lizard in the ruins of {{Atlantis}} which they didn't even try to pass off as anything unique (Wikipedia lists it as ''Megalania'', a giant prehistoric monitor lizard - although it's portrayed by a tegu lizard, not a monitor). Technically also applicable for Gertrude, who was originally slated to be a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_eider common eider]] duck, but was played by a white domestic duck in makeup because the trainer couldn't get a real eider through customs in the time available.

Making movies about [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant monsters]] (often dinosaurs) is [[RuleOfCool downright awesome]]. However, sometimes, the filmmakers just don't have the budget to make a [[PeopleInRubberSuits somewhat convincing monster suit]], or an animatronic puppet, or stop-motion, or, for newer movies, a crappily animated CGI monster.

Technically, dressing a horse up as a {{Unicorn}} ''should'' be this trope, although the lack of ''actual'' unicorns to compare them to means that it's usually given a pass. To a lesser extent, dressing dogs up as wolves or canine monsters like {{hellhound}}s or [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] is also accepted since dogs are a domesticated wolf subspecies, and many dog breeds resemble their ancestors enough. Really, examples where mammals are dressed up do fare a bit better in believability then the reptilian kind.

** Daniel Cohen's book ''Hollywood Dinosaur'' suggests the ''brontosaurus'' line as what really pushes this movie's use of the trope past acceptability. An audience might be willing to suspend their disbelief enough to accept an iguana with fins as a generic, unspecified dinosaur, but [[CallASmeerpARabbit asking them to accept it]] as a ''brontosaurus'' is just an insult to their intelligence.

'''Nick Van Owen:''' Animals, maybe...big iguanas.

*** Used very effectively with the giant maggots in "The Green Death", which were real maggots on miniature sets when not puppets made of condoms and taxidermy supplies.
*** One of the more infamous examples is from "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", in which close-ups of a rat in a model sewer are meant to suggest a terrifying giant rat. A man in a rat costume is also used. Sadly, and predictably, [[SpecialEffectsFailure the real rat and the rat suit of course look nothing alike]].

*** InvokedTrope in the story "Colony in Space". A robot with claws plus a hologram simulates a giant lizard attack, in a plot to drive the colonists off the planet.
*** Also invoked in the later story "Vengeance on Varos", only with a hologram (stock footage) of a fly instead of an iguana.

* The early Triassic in general fits well this trope and also the typical OneMillionBC landscape of vast rocky deserts and active volcanoes. After over 90% of land lifeforms died in the Permian extinction but before dinosaurs learned to walk upright, the dominant creatures were quadrupedal cocodriliforms, sometimes of massive size and with extravagant crests, horns, and shells.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/OneMillionYearsBC https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iguanasaur_9812.jpg]]]]

** The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Resolutions" used a spider monkey that had been trained to walk on its hind legs. Unfortunately the first time we see it is in a tree, so the effect is ruined. Even when it's standing, it's still recognizable as a monkey.

* ''Film/Alien3'' attempted to put an alien suit on a small whippet dog for a brief scene when the xenomorph is still at small size, but when they looked at [[https://m.imgur.com/u49de5k the [[https://www.reddit.com/r/dogswithjobs/comments/ceyw7f/this_whippet_was_originally_planned_to_star_as result]], [[EpicFail it looked exactly like a small dog wearing an alien suit]]. Adorable, but not exactly threatening, so they ended up using a puppet.

* ''Film/Alien3'' attempted to put an alien suit on a small whippet dog for a brief scene when the xenomorph is still at small size, but when they looked at [[https://m.imgur.com/u49de5k the [[https://www.reddit.com/r/dogswithjobs/comments/ceyw7f/this_whippet_was_originally_planned_to_star_as/ result]], [[EpicFail it looked exactly like a small dog wearing an alien suit]]. Adorable, but not exactly threatening, so they ended up using a puppet.

* ''Film/Alien3'' attempted to put an alien suit on a small whippet dog for a brief scene when the xenomorph is still at small size, but when they looked at [[https://m.imgur.com/u49de5k the result]], [[EpicFail it looked exactly like a small dog wearing an alien suit]]. Adorable, but not exactly threatening, so they ended up using a puppet.

* ''Film/Alien3'' attempted to put an alien suit on a small dog for a brief scene when the xenomorph is still at small size, but when they looked at [[https://m.imgur.com/u49de5k the result]], [[EpicFail it looked exactly like a small dog wearing an alien suit]].

Given growing mainstream awareness that many dinosaurs had feathers (possibly even ''T. rex''), and that dinosaurs in general would be better described as big proto-birds than as big lizards (to the point where modern biologists actually differentiate between "avian dinosaurs" and "non-avian dinosaurs" rather than between birds and dinosaurs), it would be interesting to see a reconstruction/parody of this trope in the form of a {{Retraux}} or GenreThrowback work using a [[CluckingFunny chicken]] in a toy-sized toothy mask in place of a ''T. rex''.

Given growing mainstream awareness that many dinosaurs had feathers (possibly even ''T. rex''), and that dinosaurs in general would be better described as big proto-birds than as big lizards (to the point where modern biologists actually differentiate between "avian dinosaurs" and "non-avian dinosaurs" rather than between birds and dinosaurs), it would be interesting to see a reconstruction/parody of this trope in the form of a {{Retraux}} or GenreThrowback work using a pigeon in a toothy mask in place of a ''T. rex''.

Making movies about [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant monsters]] (often [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs]]) is [[RuleOfCool downright awesome]]. However, sometimes, the filmmakers just don't have the budget to make a [[PeopleInRubberSuits somewhat convincing monster suit]], or an animatronic puppet, or stop-motion, or, for newer movies, a crappily animated CGI monster.

* [[http://www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/slurpasaurs_article.html At least one website has over-analysed the biology behind these]], including a mock paper on the subject by the legendary Literature/ProfessorChallenger.

* Creator/IrwinAllen's 1960 adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's ''Literature/TheLostWorld1912'' is notorious for this. Particularly when poor Creator/ClaudeRains identifies an iguana with plastic fins as a ''brontosaurus''. The most definitely not-fake alligator vs. monitor lizard battle shows one of the main reasons why this trope isn't used anymore. This is the last real use of this trope in the classic sense.
** Daniel Cohen's book ''Hollywood Dinosaur'' suggests the ''brontosaurus'' line as what really pushes this movie's use of the trope past acceptability. An audience might be willing to suspend their disbelief enough to accept an iguana with fins as a generic, unspecified dinosaur, but asking them to accept it as a ''brontosaurus'' is just an insult to their intelligence.

* ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace''. Reporter Buster Kincaid says that the Slurpasaur Captain Proton allegedly encountered on an alien world has been identified by experts as "an optically-enlarged iguana with a fin stuck to its back."

* [[http://www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/slurpasaurs_article.html At least one website has over-analysed the biology behind these.]]

* In the 1959 film ''Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'', optically enlarged lizards with fins glued to their backs play dimetrodons, a synapsid that actually looks... ''sort of'' like a lizard with a fin on its back (though the ones in the film are somewhat larger than their real-life counterparts). They don't actually look too bad. Although, this is later played again with an even bigger lizard in the ruins of {{Atlantis}} which they didn't even try to pass off as anything unique (Wikipedia lists it as ''Megalania'', a giant prehistoric monitor lizard - although it's portrayed by a tegu lizard, not a monitor). Technically also applicable for Gertrude, who was originally slated to be an Icelandic eider duck, but was played by a white domestic duck in makeup because the trainer couldn't get a real eider through customs in the time available.

Making movies about [[RentAZilla giant monsters]] (often [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs]]) is [[RuleOfCool downright awesome]]. However, sometimes, the filmmakers just don't have the budget to make a [[PeopleInRubberSuits somewhat convincing monster suit]], or an animatronic puppet, or stop-motion, or, for newer movies, a crappily animated CGI monster.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGJ3MBMclgg Midnight Movie]], the fifth episode of the AnalogHorror series ''WebVideo/EventideMediaCenter'', presents a scenario where this went horribly wrong; a film crew working on a horror film entitled ''Attack of the Somberville Spiders!'' decided to use an actual giant species of venomous spider in the production, only for the spiders to break free, killing a large number of the people in the crew before rampaging through Somberville, killing presumably more people in the process. A FreezeFrameBonus confirms that the whole accident was then 'disguised' as the final product.

* Inverted in the original ''Literature/JurassicPark'' novel, where the ''Procompsognatus'' that attacked the little girl on the beach is misidentified by a reptile expert as a ''Basiliscus'', a present-day lizard that is known for occasionally standing and running on 2 legs.

Making movies about [[RentAZilla giant monsters]] (often dinosaurs) is [[RuleOfCool downright awesome]]. However, sometimes, the filmmakers just don't have the budget to make a [[PeopleInRubberSuits somewhat convincing monster suit]], or an animatronic puppet, or stop-motion, or, for newer movies, a crappily animated CGI monster.

Given growing mainstream awareness that many dinosaurs had feathers (T. rex included), and that dinosaurs in general would be better described as big proto-birds than as big lizards (to the point where modern biologists actually differentiate between "avian dinosaurs" and "non-avian dinosaurs" rather than between birds and dinosaurs), it would be interesting to see a reconstruction/parody of this trope in the form of a {{Retraux}} or GenreThrowback work using a pigeon in a toothy mask in place of a ''T. rex''.

* The large fire-breathing dragon in 1971 Swedish fantasy comedy ''Äppelkriget''/''The Apple War'' is played by a little lizard.