The Thunder Child Science Fiction and Fantasy Web Magazine and Sourcebooks

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Vol 1, Issue #10

"Stand By For Mars!"

October 2006

The Thunder Child: The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) Sourcebook The narrative opening The science fiction movies of the early 1950s were usually filmed with a documentary format, at least at the very beginning of the film, when a narrator would explain the history of life, the universe and everything before the action of the film truly began. Sometimes, this opening narrative referenced the Bible, if the film to follow dealt with such things as "missing links" (as in this case) or in the destruction of the world (as in When Worlds Collide). For The Creature From the Black Lagoon, our narrative opening begins with the formation of the earth. In the beginning, god created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void. This is the planet Earth, newly born, and cooling rapidly from a temperature of 6,000 degrees to a few hundred, in less than five million years. Heat rises, meets the atmosphere, the clouds form, and rain pours down upon the hardening surface for countless centuries. The restless seas rise, find boundaries, are contained. Now, in their warm depths, the miracle of life begins. In infinite variety, living things appear, and change, and reach the land, leaving a record of their coming, of their struggle to survive, and of their eventual end. The record of life is written on the land, where fifteen million years later, in the upper reaches of the Amazon, man is still trying to read it. The Creature From the Black Lagoon was written by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Ross from a story by Martin Zimm. Note: These film stills are shown for reference and review. © Universal, no infringement intended Go To The Movie Index Return to the Table of Contents Go to the Site Map Go to Volcano Seven Click on the icons for new features in The Thunder Child. Radiation Theater: 1950s Sci Fi Movies Discussion Boards The Sand Rock Sentinel: Ripped From the Headlines of 1950s Sci Fi Films

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