Rogue Cinema - Shadow’s Monster Survival Guide: The Id Monster

Shadow’s Monster Survival Guide: The Id Monster - By Timothy Martinez
Posted on Sunday, May 01 @ Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

Name: The Id Monster

Monster Genus: Subconscious Cometolifus

Notable Appearances: Forbidden Planet (1956)

Origin: This heading comes first this time around, as a full understanding of the nature of an Id Monster will greatly help in discussing it’s various attributes. Id Monsters were the unexpected creation of an alien race known as the Krell. The Krell had reached a super advanced technological state and had perfected a means of linking their minds directly with their machines and aided by a vast and almost limitless power supply, were capable of carrying out amazing feats, including manipulating raw energy into tangible objects (in essence creation by mere thought) and creating a society without instrumentality. However, they forgot about the darker natures that lurked in their subconscious minds, and once this darkness gained access to such unending power, the poor Krell were annihilated by their own inner demons. Their great machines endured, and anyone who links their mind to these systems runs the risk of unleashing more monsters from the Id.

Height: An Id Monster is an example of one of the most dangerous and horrifying of monsters…and no, I am not referring to a Paris Hilton clone, but rather a creature whose form, including it’s height, truly has no limits. Sure, The Blob can stretch if necessary so it can grab you off the roof of a building, and good old Godzilla can just topple the damn building over, but even they have limits. Even if “Blobby” ate every living thing on Earth it would finally reach a point where it would stop growing (unlike Marlon Brando who was finally thwarted by death itself). However, not only can an Id Monster take any form imaginable – and everything “unimaginable” – it’s form can alter at any time to further help it achieve it’s goals. It can call upon the huge power generators of the Krell machines to fuel any and all changes. What this means for you is very simple: You are screwed. No matter how high you go, an Id Monster can follow. The tallest building will do you no good. Hell, even an airplane is useless as an Id Monster could alter it’s form and just “fly” after you.

Weight: The Id Monster may very well be the heaviest S.O.B. in the entire galaxy. To say that they weigh a lot is akin to describing The Incredible Melting Man as slightly moist. Indeed, every Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig chapter in the world would commit mass suicide if they ever learned how much an Id Monster weighed. An Id Monster is made of solid nuclear material and is so dense it can absorb any energy directed at it. Normally such a fatass would sink to the center of the planet due to it’s own weight, but an Id Monster avoids this by drawing on enough power to renew it’s molecular structure from one microsecond to the next. In essence, this means that if you exercise the colossal stupidity required in order to take an Id Monster on “mano a mano,” it will only take about .00009 seconds before you are quite dead, and most likely in multiple pieces. Hell, you’ll be lucky if you are not squished into paste or reduced to component atoms.

Intelligence: 0-5/5 Yep, an Id Monster covers the entire I.Q. spectrum, from dizzying intellects that make Stephen Hawking look like Forrest Gump, to so downright stupid and dumb, that the previously mentioned Paris Hilton looks like a supergenius in comparison. It really depends on the mind of the person whose subconscious is creating the monster. That being said, it doesn’t matter how dumb the Id Monster may be or how many numbers are in your own I.Q. – with near limitless power to back it up, who needs brains when brawn will do the trick? So, don’t pat yourself on the back for eluding the monster or setting an ingenious trap for the beast, because sooner or later it will get you, even if it has to burn through the entire planet to do so.

Description: As with so many of it’s other aspects, the physical appearance of an Id Monster is not set in stone. The forms it can take are as limitless as the imagination, and given that it is the darker influences of the subconscious mind that create an Id Monster, they are usually quite hideous in appearance…that is, when you can see them. The one aspect that is shared by all Id Monsters is that they are invisible, only being seen under certain situations – such as having something thrown on them or when having enormous amounts of energy directed at them.

Habitat: Anywhere and everywhere. Seeing as how ID Monsters are made up of pure energy, there really are very few places that they cannot go. Certainly they can exist quite well on any type of planetary surface, and no doubt could just as easily get by in the cold vacuum of space. Hell, I’m willing to bet that they would even be safe in the heart of a star. About the only place that might cause them trouble is a black hole. However, if you cross the event horizon of such a singularity in order to escape an Id Monster, you have much larger issues with which to contend.

Behavior: Id Monsters have only one purpose in life – to carry out the subconscious desires of whoever has created the beast. Sadly, since those subconscious desires are more often than not very dark in nature, this purpose usually involves reducing some poor slob (or group of slobs) into an unworked jigsaw puzzle. Once that mission is accomplished, or once the subconscious thoughts of the person creating the monster have focused on something else, an Id Monster will instantly cease to exist.

Special Abilities: Other than the invisibility factor, an Id Monster really doesn’t have any special abilities and in all honesty, it does not really need any. I mean, c’mon! It can draw upon near limitless power in order to achieve it’s goals. Who needs finesse when raw power will do the trick? It is resilient to any weapon and has enough strength to tear a planet apart if need be. Does it really need a suped up car or kung-fu grip? I think not.

Weaknesses: Despite it’s seemingly overwhelming advantages (hell, there is no “seemingly” about it – it owns your ass) an Id Monster has two small disadvantages that will aid you in your quest to remain alive. First, despite being invisible it can be tracked given the proper detection equipment. That will help in determining just where it is and in what direction it is moving. Second, and most important for you is this: Id Monsters are slow as hell. They do not move fast at all. Really when you think about it, they don’t have to. They do not tire and will eventually catch up with their prey. However, their ponderous pace gives you the time necessary to carry out the one act that will stop the beast, either temporarily or for good (see below).

Relatives: None really. An Id Monster is in a class all to itself.

What to do if you encounter: Fortunately for you, the homeworld of the Krell was destroyed, so encountering an Id Monster will not be a likely thing to happen. The bad thing is, the Krell were far-reaching explorers and who knows if they left any colony worlds behind or if there exists other planets where their technology may still reside. Encountering an Id Monster is really a bad thing for you. It is impervious to anything, and I do mean anything that you can throw at it, whether it be a rock, a hand grenade, a SCUD missile or one-hundred megaton nuclear warhead. There is no place you can hide that it cannot reach. Sure, the vault at Fort Knox seems secure to you now, but given a few minutes and an Id Monster will reduce the thickest metal walls into pools of slag. Run all you want, but an Id Monster will eventually catch up with you. To put it frankly: you are screwed. Royally. There is only one way to stop an Id Monster – find the person whose mind is creating the beast and divert those subconscious thoughts away from you! This might be achieved as easily as waking a dreaming person, or in the more extreme case of a fully alert individual who is unaware that his subconscious mind is running amok and after your precious posterior, ending their life. Sure that is extreme, but the only other option is extensive counseling for that person so their inner mind will no longer see you as a threat. Given that the time for such a method is unlikely to be at your disposal, knocking them upside the head is the best course of action.