It is the stuff of legend. A giant beast of the deep, with razor-toothed suckers and eyes the size of dinner plates. After an epic and elusive search, the creature has been found and captured on film for the first time. A landmark special presentation – airing day and date with Discovery U.S. – MONSTER SQUID: THE GIANT IS REAL, premieres Sunday, January 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery. Mankind finally confronts the creature of the deep as the first-ever footage of the giant squid in its natural habitat in the special, which premieres as the final episode this season of Discovery’s CURIOSITY series.
A production four years in the making, Discovery and Japanese broadcaster NHK joined forces to undertake the most ambitious search ever mounted to find the greatest mystery of the deep, the giant squid. Tales of the creature have been around since ancient times – the Norse legend of the sea monster the Kraken, and the Scylla from Greek mythology might have derived from the giant squid. This massive predator has always been shrouded in secrecy, and every attempt to capture a live giant squid on camera in its natural habitat – considered by many to be the Holy Grail of natural history filmmaking – has failed. Until now.
Discovery and NHK captured groundbreaking imagery below the Pacific waters during a mission that included over more than 285 hours in the abyss, 55 sub dives – some at depths greater than 915 meters – and a crew of scientists, including oceanographer and marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder, marine biologist Steve O’Shea, and zoologist Dr. Tsunemi Kobodera of the National Science Museum of Japan, in addition to engineers, technicians, and sub pilots. To catch the animal’s majestic power – as well as its ultimate fragility – MONSTER SQUID: THE GIANT IS REAL utilized the latest cinematographic techniques and technology, including two deep sea submersibles with panoramic views, ultra-sensitive camera systems with light invisible to squid, bio luminescent lures and secret squid attractants.
The NHK crew has been studying and filming the underwater life in this region for over 10 years in cooperation with Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science. The collaborative Discovery and NHK crew led to a face-to-face encounter with the giant squid deep below the water’s surface. Other previous attempts to capture footage of a live giant squid yielded the first-ever still photographs of a giant squid in 2004 and another giant squid was captured floating on the water surface in 2006. This is the first-ever footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat, resulting in a significant contribution to science.
