Creatures of the Deep

VHS cover

Creatures of the Deep is the third episode of Creatures Fantastic, which aired in 1997 on the Discovery Channel and Arts Channel. The topic of this episode is about the sea in mythology, including the gods and creatures that live within it.

## Episode information

Currently Creatures of the Deep has not been uploaded online, so only basic information is available. Features of the episode that have been gleaned from online reviews include:

* Mermaids and their seductive powers.
* Atargatis, the mermaid and moon goddess from ancient Syria
* Sirens, and Odysseus' way of surviving their musical enchantment
* Shark gods from Polynesian myth
* Jonah and the big fish
* Matsya, the fish incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu
* Noah's Ark, and a similar story from India
* Atlantis
* Poseidon
* The importance of the fish in mythology, including its use as a symbol by persecuted Christians

The only narration from the episode currently online is from the video trailer, played on all VHS releases before the beginning of the feature episode:

"*The sea has many faces. From the fearsome rage of Poseidon to the divine bounty of Atargatis, the mermaid goddess. Like the mermaid’s mirror, the sea reveals to us an image of our true selves. On its billowing surface, overawed by its towering waves, at its mercy, we sense our own insignificance*."

## Animal species filmed for the programme (incomplete)

### Stock footage

* Golden trevally, *Gnathanodon speciosus*

While the episode remains lost, a still image from the episode on the University of Auckland's TV and Radio Library has a screenshot showing the same trevally clip as appeared in Eyewitness Ocean.

## Stock footage sources

The Natural World: Atlantic Realm – Into the Abyss (1989) - Hammerhead sharks\*

\*While not absolutely confirmed to be in the episode, the picture on the spine and back cover of the VHS box is a still taken from this programme; as the found episodes all have these VHS box images occur within the episode, it can be assumed that the same is true here.

## Credits

* Director - Ovidio Salazar
* Production Designer - Graeme Thomson
* Graphic Designer - Rachel Tsang
* Graphics Director - Richard Higgs
* Narrator - Zoë Wanamaker
* Storyteller - John Shrapnel

## Home media releases

As with all Creatures Fantastic episodes, Creatures of the Deep has only been released on VHS. The cover of the box shows a close-up of a Southern right whale overlaid with a faint picture of a ruined Greek temple, with the main picture being an old artwork of a mermaid. Also on the cover is a picture of Matsya. Some versions of the cover also have a faded stock photograph of a lesser octopus.

The picture on the spine and back cover is a screenshot showing a large school of scalloped hammerhead sharks viewed from below.

The blurb on the back cover of the VHS reads:

For hundreds of years sailors have recounted tales of seductive mermaids. Were they the ravings of lonely seafarers or could they be based on something real? What was the giant sea creature that swallowed Jonah whole? In **Creatures of the Deep**, gods become fish to guide men to salvation, men create surfboards to race sharks. What is it about the sea that makes us fear and fantasise?

Back cover of Creatures of the Deep VHS

**Narrators** Zoë Wanamaker (primary narrator) • John Shrapnel (storyteller narrator)
**Episodes**: Creatures of the Night • Dragons • **Creatures of the Deep** • Mythical Cats • The Apocalypse • Werewolves • The Underworld • Man Beasts • Spirits of the Forest • Mythical Horses • Birds and Things with Wings • Tricky Tricksters • Aliens