Giant Sea Serpent

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Giant Sea Serpent Alternate names Giant Sea Snake, Sea Snake, The Serpent of Mondo Island Subtitle(s) Sea Beast (海獣,   Kaijū) Species Giant serpent Length 85 meters Weight 4,000 metric tons Allies Giant CondorGZB, Godzilla-kun, Kinggoji-kun Enemies King Kong Modeled by Teizo Toshimitsu, Yasuei Yagi[citation needed] First appearance King Kong Escapes Roar(s)

“	A thousand thrills as King Kong battles the Serpent of Mondo Island.	„
	— Narrator (King Kong Escapes American trailer)

The Giant Sea Serpent (大ウミヘビ,   Ōumihebi, lit. Giant Sea Snake) is a kaiju who first appeared in the 1967 Toho film King Kong Escapes.

Patrolling the waters around Mondo Island, the Giant Sea Serpent was confronted by King Kong when it approached the Hover Car as it made its way back to the Explorer. The serpent constricted its body around Kong, but the giant ape ultimately triumphed and threw the defeated serpent aside into the water.

Name

The Giant Sea Serpent is literally called Giant Sea Snake (Ōumihebi) in Japanese. Its name is most often written in Japanese media as 大ウミヘビ, with the umihebi spelled out in katakana. Sometimes the name is represented entirely in kanji, as 大海蛇. In the film itself, the character Jiro Nomura calls it a Sea Snake (海蛇,   Umihebi), while it is left unnamed in the English dub.

Development

The Giant Sea Serpent was included in King Kong Escapes as an homage to the serpent-like Elasmosaurus Kong battles in the original 1933 film. The puppet's head was modeled by Teizo Toshimitsu and its body by Yasuei Yagi.^{[citation needed]}

Personality

In King Kong Escapes, the Giant Sea Serpent is depicted as a curious creature that does not approach the Hover Car to attack it. However, it entered into a battle with King Kong after the ape threw a boulder at it, where it displayed more aggressive behavior, constricting around him.

History

• King Kong Escapes (1967)
• Godziban (web 2019-)

Showa era

King Kong Escapes

As Susan Watson, Jiro Nomura, and Carl Nelson attempted to leave Mondo Island, the Giant Sea Serpent's head emerged from the waves, moving to intercept their Hover Car before it could reach the submarine Explorer. King Kong, concerned with Susan's safety, threw a boulder from the shore at the serpent's head. Despite the blow, it continues to menace the Hover Car, forcing Kong to wade into the water and throttle it. The Giant Sea Serpent countered by constricting his neck. After a lengthy struggle, Kong freed himself from the Giant Sea Serpent's grasp, squeezed its head, and slammed it against the water, leaving the sea snake to limply float away as he made his way towards the submarine.

Abilities

Physical abilities

After being enraged by King Kong, the Giant Sea Serpent lashed out with its tail, hitting the Hover Car and temporarily disabling its stabilizers.

Amphibiousness

The Giant Sea Serpent is an excellent swimmer, speeding towards the Hover Car before being deterred by King Kong. It was quickly able to constrict Kong even after the ape punched it beneath the waves.

Constriction

The Giant Sea Serpent can wrap its entire body around its enemies. It demonstrated this during his battle with King Kong, wrapping around his torso before sliding up towards his neck. While it was unable to do any lasting damage towards the ape, it required a struggle before Kong could pry the Giant Sea Serpent off of him.

Durability

The Giant Sea Serpent became agitated after King Kong threw a boulder at its head. While physically engaging the ape, the Giant Sea Serpent was briefly disoriented after being punched in the head, sending the aquatic beast under the waves. Even while Kong was throttling it, the Giant Sea Serpent continued to constrict around the ape's neck, only seceding after King Kong pried him off, got a hold of his jaws, and slammed him into the water.

Gallery

Main article: Giant Sea Serpent/Gallery.

Trivia

• The Giant Sea Serpent is absent from the 58-minute version of King Kong Escapes Ishiro Honda edited for the Toho Champion Festival in 1973.
• A puppet of the Giant Sea Serpent was built for Godziban near the end of 2024 and first revealed through a New Year's Day 2025 post commemorating the Year of the Snake.
• Despite its obscurity and lack of a formal name, the Giant Sea Serpent received toys from Iwakura in 2003 and Y-MSF in 2010.

References

This is a list of references for Giant Sea Serpent. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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