Trivia / Sea Monsters

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: Downplayed. T. rex showing up 75 mya is still a major example of Anachronism Stew, but in 2024, we named a second species of Tyrannosaurus (T. mcraeensis), who, as it turns out, lived towards the very end of the Campanian (73-72 mya) and was nearly as large as its famous descendent, making the anachronism here far less egregious.
• Deleted Scene:
  • In the book, Nigel observes the Nothosaurus as they lay eggs on the beach, at night. There is a photo of Nigel with the eggs, so it was almost certainly filmed. By being cut, the show unwittingly avoided a case of Science Marches On, as it is now believed that nothosaurs had already evolved live birth in the Triassic.
  • In the final segment, there was supposed to be a scene showing a Tylosaurus killing the Xiphactinus. It explains why the latter randomly pops up during the climax. A shot of the Tylosaurus killing the Xiphactinus can be seen in the monologue counting down the seven deadly seas, and in the Discovery Channel broadcast, two Tylosaurus are shown eating the corpse of the fish during the intro to that program.
• Prop Recycling:
  • The Stethacanthus is still the same ol' shark model used for Hybodus and Physogaleus, but with the whips and anvil added.
  • The Squalicorax reuses the Megalodon model.
  • The Halisaurus is modified from the same model as Tylosaurus, although it's stockier and with a shorter tail, rather than a transplant.
  • It's clear the "dead half Archelon" and the "other living Archelon" are played by the same half turtle prop.
• What Could Have Been: The book describes a number of scenes that didn't make it into the series, such as the female nothosaurs leaving their eggs on the beach at night (there is a picture of Nigel inspecting the eggs, meaning it was filmed) and Nigel meeting the utterly bizarre aquatic ground sloth, Thalassocnus, before going to look for the megalodon shark. There was also supposed to be a scene in the final episode where a Tylosaurus ate a Xiphactinus, explaining why the fish shows up after Nigel is ambushed by the mosasaur only to vanish seconds later.

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