GALAXIA

The subject was something like a 12 foot long water scorpion

And Poppy, what you saw was an arthropod known as Pterygotus (it was actually featured in Walking With Monsters). Not only was it as big (or maybe even bigger) than your average human, it had a stinger the size of a lightbulb. REALLY glad that bugger isn’t around anymore.

Also, Megalodon deserves to be mention again, because just hearing its name makes me want to never be submerged in water ever again.

THAT IS A GODDAMNED LEAF-EATING SLOTH.

AMBULOCETUS WAS AMPHIBIOUS AND PRETTY BADASS

BASILOSAURUS WAS THIS GIANT REPTILIAN CETACEAN THAT PROBABLY SWAM LIKE A DUMB EEL BECAUSE OF ITS TINY FLUKES BUT THIS FUCKER WAS 60 FEET LONG AND AT THE TOP OF THE MARINE FOOD CHAIN

AND THEN THERE’S MY FAVORITE, ZYGOPHYSETER, WHICH WAS THIS HUGE EARLY SPERM WHALE THAT ATE SHARKS AND OTHER WHALES

IT WAS NOTHING BUT TEETH

Publicity images from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980).

Part two in a few hours; some very unusual ones there I had never seen before.

Why do I love vintage publicity photos so much? I suppose because they remind me of my childhood—or rather, the alluring promise such images held back then. Back then (I can’t stop saying “back then”), they were the only glimpses to be gotten from a film. Unless you happened to catch a trailer of course, but even then, you usually only saw it once. Publicity images jumped out at you in magazines, they were like spotting a rare bird. You couldn’t just go online and watch a trailer and look up 10,000 images. Yes, I sound old now.