| “ | So here's the riddle, folks. What does a three hundred and eight-pound mako shark with a brain the size of a V-8 engine and no natural predators, think about?
(That's the answer to the riddle. Because that's what a three hundred and eight-pound mako thinks about. About freedom...About the deep blue sea!)
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” |
— Tom Scoggins and Carter Blake
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| Mako Shark | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Binomen | Isurus oxyrinchus | ||
| Morphology | |||
| Average height | Bigger than an actual shark | ||
| Average wingspan | None | ||
| Average legspan | None | ||
| Intelligence | |||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Non-sapient | ||
| Aggressivity | Extreme | ||
| Ecology | |||
| Habitat | Bodies of water | ||
| Diet | Carnivorous | ||
| Locomotion | Swimming | ||
| Status | Deceased | ||
| Behind the Scenes | |||
| Universe | Deep Blue Sea | ||
The Shortfin Mako sharks are the main antagonists of a 1999 sci-fi horror film Deep Blue Sea. They were originally normal animals but they were genetically engineered to have greater brain capacities, making them faster, deadlier, and smarter than the average shark.
History[]
At the start of the movie, one of the three sharks escapes containment and almost attacks a boat of teens, but the shark wrangler Carter Blake captures the creature to return it to the Aquatica research facility. As a result, Chimera Pharmaceuticals, which funded the Aquatica project, sends their board president, Russell Franklin, to investigate the underwater research center. The research team includes the head scientist Susan McAlester, Carter Blake, doctor Jim Whitlock, the communications tower operator Brenda, Janice, an engineer Thomas Scoggins and a cook Preacher.
During the first test, Carter brings the largest shark into the lab. When it is sedated and put to sleep, Susan extracts the protein complex from its brain and applied two CCs of it onto a sample of inactive brain neurons of an Alzheimer's patient. The result was a complete success as the cells start to reactivate and maintain membrane integrity in 6.5 seconds. However, Jim suddenly has his arm chopped off by the monster. Carter then attempts to kill the shark with a shotgun, but Susan releases it back into its pen, much to Carter's anger.
The team radios an helicopter to evacuate Jim for medical attention but a hurricane, stronger than predicted, made it too difficult for the stretcher to be reeled in. The stretcher, with Jim on it, falls into the water, and one shark grabs hold of it, pulling the cable into the facility tower. This kills all the helicopter crew and Brenda, while also causing a system shutdown within the complex. The shark releases the stretcher on an underwater window and Jim succumbs to asphyxiation as the area starts to flood slowly. When the group demands answers, Susan is forced to admit that she and Jim performed illegal experiments, thus causing them to lose their temper.
While attempting to reach a safe area, Franklin is the first to be killed while giving a motivational speech at the submarine deck. Janice is the next victim who is eaten while climbing through a flooding maintenance tunnel. Tom Scoggins then gets killed while activating some controls that drain the stairwell leading to the surface. Meanwhile, Preacher managed to kill the first shark by throwing his lighter at the kitchen's heating oven to blow it up after it ate his pet parrot. Susan uses an electric cable to kill the second, but destroys her research in the process. When Susan, Carter and Preacher attempt to surface, the third shark assaults him. He swims to safety by using his crucifix to impale the shark's eye.
As they provide Preacher with first aid, Susan and Carter come to a terrible conclusion: the sharks have been herding the team into flooding the facility so that they could escape through the plain steel fences at the surface into the open deep blue sea. Realizing now that the big shark is too dangerous to be set free into the wild, Susan decides that she and Carter would have to kill it.
Carter devised a plan to kill the big shark: he would fire a harpoon filled with dynamite powder at the shark, and that Susan would have to connect the trailing wire to a car battery that will send in an electric current to blow it up. The shark is too far away and too deep for Carter to shoot it. In a last-ditch effort to draw the shark's attention, Susan cuts her hand and dives into the water. The creature senses her blood and turns towards her. As she tries to escape from the water, the rusty ladder rung breaks and the shark devours Susan. While Carter was in distress, he found the creature was within firing range, and Preacher fired the harpoon at its dorsal fin. However, Carter's leg was injured by the shot. While the shark attempts again to escape to the open sea, Carter frees himself and Preacher connects the trailing wire to the battery. This blows the creature, avenging the deaths of the rest of the team, much to both Carter and Preacher's relief.
With the sharks now gone for good, Carter and Preacher reunite in the wreckage of the facility as they await for an incoming boat en-route on the horizon.
Mistakes[]
- Sharks actually suffer from cancer, so Susan's theory would be rendered void.