The Gordon Holmes footage newly taken at Loch Ness, which you can view the stablized version here, should have us looking with caution at the footage of an already existing radio-controlled Nessie.

Recognize the above image? Is this one of the two photographs of the original “Surgeon’s Photograph” from 1934? Or is it something else?

Since 2005, the year when the Japanese toy company Takara introduced their radio-controlled Nessie, we all have to be careful and questioning when looking at new loch and lake videos of cryptids.

Here are some photos of the model, in two different color versions, with video footage for comparison to the Holmes images.

When the Takara Nessie came out in 2005, the media quoted me as saying this Nessie toy will make it “more and more difficult to separate the wheat from the shaft.” (I purposedly used the word “shaft,” instead of “chaff.”)

How did the American branch of Takara respond? Takara spokeswoman Lauri Abel told the Wireless Flash news servise she wasn’t worried about hoaxed photos because, she pointed out, “In order to compare it to a real Nessie, you have to prove there IS a Loch Ness monster.”

There is no way I am saying that the Holmes footage is a fake. I don’t know what it is. But I figured if we are going to have to address that angle of the forthcoming investigation of the new Nessie images, you might as well see these of the Takara model.