Creature From The Black Lagoon - Legacy

Legacy

The movie has an enduring legacy in both media and the general public. A musical based on the movie opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in late June 2009. It has also been widely referenced, in part due to its groundbreaking character, in other media. In fact, many movies featuring monsters put a Gill-man likeness in the background as homage. More directly, the Gill-man appeared in the Robot Chicken episode "Shoe", voiced by Seth Green. He tells a man that he prefers the lagoon to be called the "African-American Lagoon."

The Monster also appears in "We Are a Humble Factory", now voiced by Breckin Meyer, where Count Chocula, FrankenBerry, and BooBerry are angrily mentioned by him, as well Fruity Yummy Mummy and Fruit Brute. The creature decides to make his own cereal called "Creature with the Black Macaroons" because macaroon sounds like lagoon; however, the cereal wasn't successful and when all the cereals were dumped into his lagoon, he says "I should've gone with legumes", as legume also sounds like lagoon. Its likeness was also used for the film The Monster Squad. However, due to licensing issues with Universal, the creature is referred to as "Gill-Man."

Ben Chapman introduced the creature in costume with Abbott and Costello on live television on an episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour. Even earlier, in The Seven Year Itch, the film is referenced when Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe come out of a theatre showing Creature from the Black Lagoon. Monroe expresses some sympathy for the creature, saying that it was not really bad and "just wanted to be loved".

The creature has a brief cameo emerging from Lake Springfield on The Simpsons.

Creature from the Black Lagoon was later made into a pinball game, designed by John Trudeau (AKA "Dr. Flash"), and released in 1992 by Midway (under the Bally brand name). This game has a retro 1950s drive-in theme. It also features such 50s classic songs like Rock Around the Clock, Get a Job, and Summertime Blues. Completing side missions in the pinball game causes the screen to display "Universal Presents... Creature from the Black Lagoon", and then requires the player to chase after the monster just like in the film. The game sold 7,841 units.

A series of children's books, written by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee, parody the film. Beginning with The Teacher From the Black Lagoon, it continued with The Principal..., The Gym Teacher... and several others.

The Marvel Comics character Triton of the Inhumans is a green water breathing character resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The DC Comics character Aquaman donned a suit of armor resembling the Creature in the 2005–07 miniseries Justice.

In The Nightmare Before Christmas, there is a character in Halloween Town who is clearly meant to be a version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. In one song, it ponders the contents of Jack's present: "Perhaps it's the head that I found in the lake".

When paleontologist Jenny Clack of the University of Cambridge discovered a fossil amphibian in what was once a fetid swamp, she named it Eucritta melanolimnetes, which is Greek for "the true creature from the black lagoon."

Though technically a merman, the character Rikuo in the Darkstalkers game series and his race bear a striking resemblance to the Gill-Man, and perhaps more so than any character in the game, remain very true to the source character, with Rikuo being from an area in Brazil near the Amazon. Even the character's name is a reference to one of the actors who played the creature.

Trinidadian calypso singer Lord Melody released a song called "Creature From The Black Lagoon" in 1957. In this song, he is compared to the creature by his son's friends, which his son protests. This song became one of his signature songs and also endured as a nickname for Melody for many years.

Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 a band from North Carolina who were fronted by now Murderdolls lead singer and solo artist Wednesday 13 also did a song about the creature naming it Creature From The Black Lagoon.

The heavy metal band Iced Earth also did a song about the creature called Dragon's Child on the Horror Show album.

Dave Edmunds also did a song called "Creature from the Black Lagoon".

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series parodied the movie in "The Tomato From The Black Lagoon", where the gang looks for a missing tomato link in the San Zucchini Botanical Gardens and are stalked by an amphibious tomato who goes after Tara, who is also part tomato.

Abe Sapien of Hellboy fame was originally inspired by the film and its titular creature.

The half-man half-fish character known as The Missing link (often referred to as 'Link') in the movie Aliens vs. Monsters is an homage to the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

In Hotel Transylvania, there are multiple Gill-men and Gill-women in the crowd scenes with other famous monsters.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series) episode Go Fish featured aquatic creatures very similar to the Gill Man. It also gave rise to the following dialogue: Cordelia: It's one thing to be dating the lame unpopular guy, but it's another to be dating the Creature from the Blue Lagoon. Xander: Black Lagoon! The Creature from the Blue Lagoon was Brooke Shields.

Funko released in October 2010 a 7-inch button eyed cuddly monster.

Pro Wrestling for the Nintendo Entertainment System features The Amazon, otherwise known as Half-piranha, half-man, who shares many similarities with the Creature.