Tyrannosaurus Rex: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"''Tyrannosaurus'' is [[Badass Boast|the most superb carnivorous mechanism among the terrestrial Vertebrata]], in which [[Lightning Bruiser|raptorial power and speed are combined]]."''|'''Henry Fairfield Osborn''' ([[Trope Namer]])}}

 

 

In fiction, ''T. rex'', like all dinosaurs, seems to [[Kill All Humans|really like the taste of humans]], despite the fact that we're fricking tiny compared to it (imagine passing on a turkey dinner to run a mile for Chicken McNuggets and you have the idea, and we might [[It Tastes Like Feet|not]] even taste as good as Chicken McNuggets). Expect to see ''T. rex'' [[Roar Before Beating|roaring constantly]] and [[Bad Vibrations|shaking the earth with every step]]. [[Rule of Cool]] always wins, but in [[Real Life]] predators will tread softly and shut up while hunting; otherwise [[Fridge Logic|how would they ambush their prey with success]]? It is also usually implied to be male, perhaps because ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' means "[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Tyrant Lizard King]]". Some scientists have suggested the females were larger; though this is plausible, solid scientific evidence for this hypothesis is not as strong as it used to be.

If a work of fiction involves [[Time Travel]], the probability of a ''T. rex'' appearing is directly proportional to the number of episodes. If the characters time-travel once in a series, they will either end up in a hilariously inaccurate version of the late Cretaceous and meet a ''T. rex'' or a hilariously inaccurate version of the old west -- where they may meet a ''T. rex'' anyway. Likewise, a machine that merely pulls things out of the past, or other dimensions, seemingly has a 90% chance of grabbing a ''T. rex''. If the work of fiction supposedly ''doesn't'' involve [[Time Travel]], there's a good chance of the ''T. rex'' nevertheless [[Misplaced Wildlife|encountering critters from wildly different eras]], such as ''Stegosaurus'', which predates ''T. rex'' by roughly as long as ''T. rex'' predates us.

 

 

Also, there was far more than one kind of "tyrannosaur". The word "tyrannosaur" can be used to describe various relatives of ''T. rex'' belonging to the superfamily [[wikipedia:Tyrannosauroidea|Tyrannosauroids]]. It turns out this group included members both large and powerful like the almost-identical Asian ''[[Prehistoric Life|Tarbosaurus]]'' and the smaller North American ''[[Prehistoric Life|Albertosaurus]]'' , ''[[Prehistoric Life|Daspletosaurus]]'' and ''[[Prehistoric Life|Gorgosaurus]]'' -- and relatively small and quick, like the recently discovered ''[[Prehistoric Life|Eotyrannus]]'' and ''[[Prehistoric Life|Guanlong]]''.

** The 2005 version, and its various merchandise, actually subverted this trope. There, the family of ''T. rex''-like dinosaurs were called ''Vastatosaurus rex'', apparently a kind of Tyrannosaur that had been evolving for all the 65 million years the rest of the dinosaurs were dead, into the forms seen in the film. However it does have Kong fighting no less than ''three'' of them at once, all over one tiny little human. Who one of them chased for several hundred metres, despite carrying a perfectly good dead animal in its mouth most of the way. It tore half of it off in the process, the half it lost being BIGGER than the human it was chasing. The fight scene was wrong on so many levels, but it was [[Rule of Cool|AWESOME.]]

* [[Godzilla]]'s design was based on a ''T. rex'', with the dorsal plates of a ''Stegosaurus'' and the forelimbs of an ''Iguanodon''. In the films, however, depending on the continuity, he is either a huge, prehistoric sea monster, or a mutated specimen of the fictional "Godzillasaurus". Incidentally, a theropod from the Triassic period was [[The Red Stapler|later named Gojirasaurus]], after the movie monster, though it bears no resemblance to Godzilla behind being a large, bipedal reptile.

* The ''T. rex'' is the [[Designated Villain]] in the B-movie ''[[Planet of the Dinosaurs]]''.

* The [[So Bad It's Good]] ''Aztec Rex'' featured what the [[Mayincatec|Aztec]] [[In Name Only]] local tribe called "Thunder Lizards", worshipping them and leaving sacrifices because they keep the valley free of intruders.

** In fact, the story is set in the 1860s, and ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' itself wasn't named until 1905, from bones discovered around the turn of the century. For that matter, most of the [[Stock Dinosaurs]] weren't discovered until the 1870s-1890s, so the narrator should have known almost none of them!

** ''Journey to Chandra'' also portrays some ''T. rex''es who are scavengers, and don't actually hassle the unarmored human and tiny ceratopsian passing through. Given that many smaller carnivores are apparently able to live in civilization and eat fish, one wonders if these might join them.

* As did his ''[[Quintaglio Ascension]] Trilogy''. Not only is the "Blackdeath" clearly a tyrannosaur, the Quintaglios themselves are [[Humanoid Animals]] descended from the smaller Tyrannosauroids.

* The [[Animorphs]] encountered ''T. rex'' in the time-traveling Megamorphs special, and, of course, used it as their go-to battle morph once they managed to acquire one (that morph [[Reset Button|was lost]] in the transition back to the present). Two of them, however, only had Deinonychus morphs. [[Blood Knight|Rachel]] complains about this.

* Speaking of Impossible Pictures and dinosaurs... it was refreshingly [[Averted]] in ''[[Primeval]]''... except for [[wikipedia:Extinction Event|one of]] [[Expanded Universe|the novels]]. Finally makes an onscreen appearance in the penultimate episode of series 5. Of course, by this point the show had already dealt with other large predators like ''Giganotosaurus'' and ''Spinosaurus'', so the ''T. rex'' feels much less egregious.

* Referenced, but not seen, in an episode of ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]''. One particular member of the expedition have begun to suspect [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Teyla]] of leading the Wraith to her team because of how often they seem to show up. When Sheppard's team is yet ''again'' running for their lives back to the gate, he immediately assumes this is the case again... when Sheppard and Ford inform him the Wraith had nothing to do with it, and they were just chased by something very much like a ''T. rex''.

* The final episode of ''[[Dinosaur Revolution]]'' focussed on a family of ''T.rexes'' and an antagonistic ''T.rex''. {{spoiler|They all die.}}

 

* There was a cartoon called ''[[wikipedia:The Adventures of T-Rex|The Adventures Of T-Rex]]'', about a group of anthropomorphic ''T. rex''es that [[Animal Superheroes|fight crime]]. Yeah.

* Naturally, there is a ''T. rex'' in ''[[Cadillacs and Dinosaurs]]''.

* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Dinosaucers]]'' was a ''T. rex'' named "Genghis Rex". Funnily enough, the leader of the heroes was an ''Allosaurus'', the first of many [[Ryu and Ken]]-ish counterparts that make up the cast, and the show also features Teryx, a very rare heroic maniraptor.

* ''[[Futurama]]''