# What movie is this prop from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363 "2008-11-12T16:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/21 "2008-11-12T21:07:50Z")
That Bermuda Depths turtle looks nothing like this one. It has some kind of huge sagittal crest that the prop doesn’t, and the prop has huge eyebrow ridges that the one in the movie doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/22 "2008-11-12T22:47:26Z")
I think it’s from a kids’ movie or TV show. Look at the big, cartoony eyes on that prop – it’s so cute! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/23 "2008-11-12T23:05:09Z")
> [@cbawlmer](#): > > Plus, that prop doesn’t look like it could survive much aquatic action. For what it’s worth, most underwater special effects are shot “dry for wet.” In other words, a low-light stage with some heavy floating smoke to simulate the translucency of the water, plus vertical shafts of light, with bubbles or rippling effects superimposed later. Almost all of the exteriors in Cameron’s _The Abyss_ were done this way, for example; the minisubs were three-to-four-foot miniatures manipulated on hanging wires, like marionettes. And no, I don’t recognize the turtle. My first thought was that it’s not an actual on-screen prop, but a [maquette](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquette), i.e. a sculptural prototype used as a reference by people in various departments of a film’s production. Pixar, for instance, makes 3-d sculptures of all their characters and scans them ([example](http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/images/upload/Edna-maquette.jpg)). I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/24 "2008-11-12T23:06:09Z")
I asked on another board. Their suggestions were _Dinotopia_ or _Dinosaurs_, the TV series from Disney, the one with the really cute baby what kept asking “Who’s the momma?” (or something like that). ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/25 "2008-11-12T23:22:04Z")
I know about dry for wet, but the still that was shown on that one page showed the giant turtle’s head sticking out of the water. It looked like a giant fake turtle, like the giant fake shark they used to make _Jaws_. It looks too big to be a maquette, and the eyes look like a puppet’s eyes (i.e. they look like they could be manipulated for movement, either manually from the inside or remotely). I think _Dinotopia_ might be a good candidate. I seem to recall the _Dinosaurs_ dinos being even less realistic. So the video store has no idea where they got this prop, or when? Can they tell if its insides appear to be rigged for animatronics, or if it’s a puppet head? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/26 "2008-11-12T23:33:52Z")
Not in the same style as [Dinosaurs](http://crazyabouttv.com/dinosaurs.html)at all. Dinotopia’s a good guess though. I haven’t found that one precisely, but it’s within the realm of possibility, [style-wise](http://www.dvdtech.com.au/gallery/film/images/dinotopia_03.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/27 "2008-11-12T23:37:13Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I asked on another board. Their suggestions were _Dinotopia_ or _Dinosaurs_, the TV series from Disney, the one with the really cute baby what kept asking “Who’s the momma?” (or something like that). _Dinosaurs_ was made by Jim Henson’s group (“Not the Mama!” baby is performed by Kevin Clash, using his Elmo voice) and they do much better work than this shows. _Dinotopia_ had 100% computer generated dinosaurs, I think. So it’s neither of them. Maybe it’s from the remake of _Land of the Lost_ from the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/28 "2008-11-13T05:38:35Z")
Is that one of “The Boogens”? That was a really bad, low budget horror flick from my college days (1980 or so?). They were supposed to be these gruesome, bloodthirsty subterranean beats, but they looked more like Muppet turtles. [http://www.terrortrap.com/creaturefeatures/boogens/](http://www.terrortrap.com/creaturefeatures/boogens/) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/29 "2008-11-13T14:45:26Z")
I liked _The Boogens_. I like any movie where a yappy little dog is a victim. I don’t think that’s it though. The critter looks too friendly. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363/30 "2009-01-30T22:46:25Z")
This thread has bugged me since it was first posted, but since the board has done what it does, and figured out the Big Bang Theory prop, I figured I would give this a bump. I was also looking through Hulu and came across the screen cap for [Gargantua](http://www.hulu.com/videos/search?query=gargantua). Though I haven’t seen the movie, it looks like there could be a chance this is it. Has any one else seen this movie? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-prop-from/472363.md?page=1)