Publication History |
Weta Workshop’s “The World of King Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island”
is as astonishing as Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” film. The premise of the book
is simple. It is presented as the sum of information gathered by the seven
expeditions to Skull Island that followed Carl Denham’s 1933 discovery of the
island. Through these systematic explorations, scientists pieced together the
island’s geological development as well as a history of its flora and fauna dating
from the island’s separation from Gondwanaland through its eventual
disappearance into the sea in the 1940s.
Weta Workshop makes the most of this broad premise. Skull Island is
explained, categorized, analyzed, and dissected through sketches, maps,
anatomical and architectural details, and jaw-dropping illustrations. The island
is divided into ecological zones and then populated with an astonishing array of
species, each complete with its Latin name. Most creatures have descriptions of
varying lengths that may include mating, feeding, defense, and breeding
behaviors as well as speculation as to how these vibrant and vicious creatures
evolved and their evolutionary trade-offs. The bestiary is punctuated by
entertaining quotes from the researchers’ field journals.
Weta Workshop surveys everything from Skull Island’s parasites to its massive
dinosaurs, explaining how these creatures diverge from their more well-known
ancestors such as T. Rex in order to deal with the particular evolutionary
challenges of the remote island. Weta Workshop shines not only in its
believable explanations and its detail, but its artwork. Weta manages to convey
not just movement, but ferocity, savagery, and desperate survival. Not just
animals, but downy plumage, stiff flight feathers, overlapping scales, and
armored skin. Not just plants, but the heaviness of foliage in tropical humidity.
Nor does Weta satisfy itself with ordinary angles. The reader is treated to a
brontosaurus-eye view, a feast of carrion parrots, life as a dung beetle, a blood
bath of deadly eels, and the rear view of a lamprey-type fish as it slithers into
the reeds.
Despite this dissection Skull Island retains its mysterious and supernatural
aura—usually lost in such fictional encyclopedic works. Life on Skull Island is,
as philosopher Thomas Hobbes might say, “nasty, brutish and short.”
Criticisms of the work are few. Clearly, there are too many gigantic species for
Skull Island to support, even given the premise of the book. Additionally, both
the species and the art repeat too often. Thus, what seemed ingenious at the
beginning of the book seems ho-hum after 200 pages. The art in Kong’s section
seems cribbed directly from the film (or maybe prepared for use in the film).
Despite minor drawbacks, “The World of King Kong” is an outstanding
companion to the film and a wonderful study of art and natural history.
Therefore, I rate this book a 9.
is as astonishing as Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” film. The premise of the book
is simple. It is presented as the sum of information gathered by the seven
expeditions to Skull Island that followed Carl Denham’s 1933 discovery of the
island. Through these systematic explorations, scientists pieced together the
island’s geological development as well as a history of its flora and fauna dating
from the island’s separation from Gondwanaland through its eventual
disappearance into the sea in the 1940s.
Weta Workshop makes the most of this broad premise. Skull Island is
explained, categorized, analyzed, and dissected through sketches, maps,
anatomical and architectural details, and jaw-dropping illustrations. The island
is divided into ecological zones and then populated with an astonishing array of
species, each complete with its Latin name. Most creatures have descriptions of
varying lengths that may include mating, feeding, defense, and breeding
behaviors as well as speculation as to how these vibrant and vicious creatures
evolved and their evolutionary trade-offs. The bestiary is punctuated by
entertaining quotes from the researchers’ field journals.
Weta Workshop surveys everything from Skull Island’s parasites to its massive
dinosaurs, explaining how these creatures diverge from their more well-known
ancestors such as T. Rex in order to deal with the particular evolutionary
challenges of the remote island. Weta Workshop shines not only in its
believable explanations and its detail, but its artwork. Weta manages to convey
not just movement, but ferocity, savagery, and desperate survival. Not just
animals, but downy plumage, stiff flight feathers, overlapping scales, and
armored skin. Not just plants, but the heaviness of foliage in tropical humidity.
Nor does Weta satisfy itself with ordinary angles. The reader is treated to a
brontosaurus-eye view, a feast of carrion parrots, life as a dung beetle, a blood
bath of deadly eels, and the rear view of a lamprey-type fish as it slithers into
the reeds.
Despite this dissection Skull Island retains its mysterious and supernatural
aura—usually lost in such fictional encyclopedic works. Life on Skull Island is,
as philosopher Thomas Hobbes might say, “nasty, brutish and short.”
Criticisms of the work are few. Clearly, there are too many gigantic species for
Skull Island to support, even given the premise of the book. Additionally, both
the species and the art repeat too often. Thus, what seemed ingenious at the
beginning of the book seems ho-hum after 200 pages. The art in Kong’s section
seems cribbed directly from the film (or maybe prepared for use in the film).
Despite minor drawbacks, “The World of King Kong” is an outstanding
companion to the film and a wonderful study of art and natural history.
Therefore, I rate this book a 9.
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| The World of King Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island (Weta Workshop) By SC Bryce |
First Printing:
SFReader.com (Apr. 15, 2006).
SFReader.com (Apr. 15, 2006).
Second Printing:
SCBryce.com (Dec. 23, 2006).
SCBryce.com (Dec. 23, 2006).
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