The Loch Ness Monster is a creature from folklore that has appeared in popular culture in various genres since at least 1934. It is most often depicted as a relictdinosaur or similar, but other explanations for its existence such as being a shapeshifter or from outer space also appear. It is only occasionally portrayed as threatening, despite its name.
The issue of Loch Ness not being a sufficiently large body of water for a breeding population of very large animals is occasionally addressed. In the 1964 film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao the monster leaves the loch for the ocean to breed, and in the aforementioned book and film versions of The Water Horse, it reproduces asexually.[1]
Characteristics
Despite being called a monster, it is benign in the majority of works wherein it appears.[1] Friendly versions of the creature appear in the 1996 films Loch Ness and Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch, among others.[1][3] The less common depiction of the monster as a threat appears in the 1981 film The Loch Ness Horror and the 2008 film Loch Ness Terror (a.k.a. Beyond Loch Ness).[1] Some versions do not fall into either of these categories; for instance, in the aforementioned 7 Faces of Dr. Lao the monster is a tiny fish that grows into the familiar shape when out of the water, but remains comparatively harmless in its larger serpentine form.[1][2]
^ abcWestfahl, Gary (2005). "Fish and Sea Creatures". In Westfahl, Gary (ed.). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 299. ISBN978-0-313-32951-7. Scotland's Loch Ness Monster figures in some stories, including Fred Hoyle and Geoffrey Hoyle's novella "The Monster of Loch Ness" (1971), wherein the "monster" is a vehicle used by the lake's intelligent inhabitants to scrutinize the surface world; the Doctor Who episode "Terror of the Zygons" (1975), which reinterprets the monster as an alien on Earth; Sandy Schofield's Quantum Leap novel Loch Ness Leap (1997), in which the time traveler becomes a scientist searching for the Loch Ness Monster (see Time Travel); and the film Beneath Loch Ness (2001), a routine horror movie.
^ abWestfahl, Gary (2021). "Imaginary Beings". Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 361. ISBN978-1-4408-6617-3. One of the most popular of these animals is Scotland's Loch Ness Monster, described as a large reptile from the age of the dinosaurs in stories like Leslie Charteris's (1907–1993) "The Convenient Monster" (1959) and Lionel Fanthorpe's (1935–) "The Loch Ness Terror" (1960). Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) and Geoffrey Hoyle (1941–) more ingeniously suggest that it is really an alien in "The Monster of Loch Ness" (1972).