The Lost World, 20 years on

Last week, fanpersons all over the world were sent into a tizzy by a precious few seconds of footage from next year's Jurassic World sequel. In it, hunk-o-saurus Chris Pratt appeared to be acquainting himself with some sort of slightly unconvincing-looking, bug-eyed, lizardlike CG creature. It got me thinking about an idea that I had earlier this year, but rejected 'cos it seemed way too predictable and slightly tiresome - a retrospective on the first JP movie sequel, The Lost World, which was released 20 years ago this year. You never know - it might be more fun than trashing San Diego and eating the family dog.

From Jurassic Wiki.

Guest Post: A Look Back at Crichton's Lost World

Today we welcome Rohan Long to the blog to offer his insights about The Lost World novel. Rohan is a zoology teaching guy at University of Melbourne. You can find him on Twitter @zoologyrohan and listen to his new musical project, Bronzewing, at bronzewing.bandcamp.com. Take it away, Rohan!

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The Lost World, published by Michael Crichton in 1995, must have been one of the most anticipated literary sequels of all time. And yet, it seems to have been forgotten almost instantly.

The basic plot (spoiler alert?) is that mathematician Ian Malcolm has teamed up with palaeontologist Dr. Richard Levine to find a remote, isolated region where non-avian dinosaurs have escaped extinction. The appearance of a number of unusual animal specimens leads them to Isla Sorna in Costa Rica. They are joined on the island by field biologist Sarah Harding, a couple of engineers who designed their gear and two precocious high school students – you can almost see Spielberg standing over Crichton’s shoulder at the computer, cajoling him to add some kids to the cast. Unbeknownst to our team, they are followed to the island by unscrupulous geneticist Lewis Dodgson and his team of expendable dinosaur chew toys who are attempting to steal the animals for their own nefarious ends (again).

Writerly advice? Illustration © David Orr 2016.

In contrast to Jurassic Park’s amiable Alan Grant, Crichton writes Levine as an irritating pedant, albeit one with the fierce intelligence to back it up; “the best palaeobiologist of his generation, perhaps the best in the world”. Yet it’s hard to believe that a brilliant, world-renowned scientist would think that a remnant population of living dinosaurs is a plausible scenario. This is fringe stuff; the sort of thing only taken seriously by young Earth creationists and cryptozoologists. Levine even puts forward Mokele-mbembe – a folkloric sauropod from the Congo beloved by both aforementioned groups – as supporting evidence for his ‘lost world hypothesis’, a suggestion more befitting a recreational sasquatch hunter than a world authority on palaeontology.

Malcolm’s stated reason for being on this expedition is that it will allow him to work out the cause of the Cretaceous mass extinction. This is basically a silly idea and Crichton is coy as to how exactly one would make this deduction. The majority of the dinosaur species on the island weren’t even alive during this era. Ok, Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Parasaurolophus and Pachycephalosaurus were right there at the KT boundary, but how is the behaviour of say, Procompsognathus - extinct around 145 million years earlier - going to contribute to this theory? There’s a constant nagging question plaguing the book - why on earth would Malcolm willingly place himself on yet another island full of blood-thirsty dinosaurs - and this flimsy premise for a science experiment cannot and does not fulfil this narrative shortcoming.

Throughout the novel, there’s an unearned air of absolute certainty from the scientist characters. We hear Harding explaining exactly what the predator-prey ecology should be like on the island, Levine authoritatively identifying dinosaurs to species level based on a glance – how could they possibly know this stuff? Crichton was by no means a stupid man, but half way through The Lost World I felt like I was reading Dunning-Kruger Effect: The Novel. A vast amount of the dialogue is clearly intended to make the reader think, ‘Wow! These people are so smart!’ – and that’s certainly how I responded when I was younger – but this time around I found it grating and unwarranted.

In the later years of his career, Crichton showed a tendency toward scientific conservatism and denialism. Knowing this, it’s hard not to pick up on passages in The Lost World as precursors to this kind of thinking. One of Malcolm’s early speeches about the nature of evolutionary thought contains noticeable creationist talking points – even quoting Hoyle’s famous line about evolution being as improbable as ‘a tornado sweeping through a junkyard and assembling a Boeing 747’. The final statement of the book, spoken by engineer Thorne, but it could have easily come from Malcolm or Levine, basically states that because people used to believe in phlogiston and the like, all science is fantasy and can’t be trusted.

I’m critical of The Lost World, but I have enjoyed revisiting it. I realised that this novel contained some of the most evocative scenes of life at a university and as a field researcher that I had read as a young person. The descriptions of Levine and Malcolm’s research and meetings at academic institutions in California, the passages about Sarah Harding’s work on hyenas and her struggles as a female scientist; these really stuck with me as a teenager. That’s what I’m hoping to take away from this re-reading and not the silly caricature of science so inevitable of mass-produced pop culture.

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And as a bonus treat, I really dig Rohan's Bronzewing album, so take a listen.

Welcome... To Waterloo Station

The dust of Jurassic World may have settled too long to warrant sharing these pictures now, but I was in the throes of moving house, followed by a lengthy period without home internet, and lacked the opportunity previously. Still, I felt I couldn’t have these pictures on my hands without posting them on the blog. 

During the first week of Jurassic World’s release, London’s Waterloo Station took part in what can only be described as a promotional extravaganza with a display featuring models of the film’s ‘raptors’. Visitors were encouraged to take their own JW selfie with the beasties and to share them on Twitter. Yes, folks, it had its own hashtag. I had hoped to drag Marc along for this privilege. Sadly, the display only lasted a week and there wasn’t enough time.

 

King Craptor's "Jur-Ass-Kick World" Review

In the interest of providing another opinion on Jurassic World, which is something the world sorely needs, we at LITC are giving a guest post to one "King Craptor."

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I liked that movie so much I gave it the title "Jur-Ass-Kick World"! The dinosaurs were mostly strong and it was very exciting to see the people die. I liked it that dinosaurs died to, like the brontosauruses that died, those were better dead than alive, and it was exciting to see how dead they were.

I liked the mean pterodactyls that attacked the people. Those pterodactyls were pretty scary. I liked the mean mossasaurus that ate the pterodactyl. I liked that the babysitter died. I don't like to admit when I'm wrong, but I sure was wrong about pterodactyls. I thought they sucked but they didn't suck. They were badass. VERY COOL.

Indomnus was the show stopper of course! I was excited every time that naughty freak showed up on the screen to wreck havoc. I was sad when mossasaurus killed it, but I know that the mean guys will make another Indomnus. Maybe a bunch of them! I liked the raptors best when they were chums with Indomnus, I don't know what kind of crazy juice they were drinking to be buddies with Starlord anyway, I had a hard time suspending my disbeliefs about that. THANKS HOLLYWOOD.

If I have to pick which people were my favorite people were the mean people with guns. I don't know why more people aren't mean, it's fun to watch. But I still get to see all those people get ripped up by dinosaurs and it is entertaining.

Jimmy Fallon tickles my funny bones, so that gyroscope scene was just extra gravy on the whole cake for old King Craptor. I still want him to be ripped to meat pieces by a gross killer dinosaur though.

So over all, I approve, go see the move already! It's the opposite of garbage! Double A+!!

Marc's Jurassic World review: not your father's de-extinction theme park

Aptly enough, Jurassic World feels like a theme park ride, and certainly not one of the sedate, trundle-along-in-a-gyrosphere variety. It's a high-tech, towering, gleaming steel roller coaster, with a breakneck pace that very rarely relents (only when they need to force a little character development in). It's certainly enormous fun, a spectacle worthy of being seen on the biggest screen possible. What it isn't is a Jurassic Park movie.

I've tried to keep it brief, but as a warning, this might get unusually wordy.

The Jurassic World Challenge

[Edited 6:41pm EST 6/2/15 for clarity and to incorporate some feedback; 12:27pm EST 6/6/15 to include links to our paleoart gift guide; 2:40pm EST 6/15 to add information about the Jurassic Foundation.]

It's June 2, and we're officially 10 days away from the release of Jurassic World in the US. The online paleontology community has long been afire with speculation, opining, ranting, and even a bit of giddy anticipation. This post is not about our respective attitudes about the film or the franchise, but about turning all of that energy around into something that can benefit our shared love of natural history. Whether we're happy with the way Jurassic World depicts its animals, tolerate it, or bemoan it, we all want the current scientific view of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals to gain more traction among laypeople.

So here is an idea. It's pretty simple. I call it the Jurassic World Challenge. If you're buying a ticket for the movie, it's a fair bet that you also have that much money to give to the people who bring prehistory to life in the real world. Think of it as a matching fund, crowdsourced. See the movie, do some good. The official rules:

• Donate the equivalent of your Jurassic World ticket price to paleontological research
  or
• Spend the equivalent of your ticket price on the wares of an independent paleoartist

Of course, you don't have to pick one or the other. Buy some art, give some money to a research effort, enjoy the movie. I also put together a graphic to help spread the word, in before and after flavors. You are free to disseminate these far and wide! Take it and post it on your blog or other social media channels.





Below, I've put together a list of research and education funding efforts in need of our help, since these tend not to get much coverage. You may have local or regional museums and other institutions that you can support - just be sure, as Andy Farke notes in the comments below, to specify that you want to donate to research. It may even be worth it to team up with a group of friends and family to pool your money together. As for artists, most readers can probably think of a dozen off the top of their heads. You may check out the huge three-part gift guide I did last year, which focused on paleoart: parts one, two, and three. Also, browse our paleoart and Mesozoic Miscellany tags to find some of the many we've shared here over the years - almost all of them have work available for purchase!

Jurassic Foundation

Since I first posted this, I have been in touch with Matt Lamanna, current president of the Jurassic Foundation, about how people can donate to them. The Jurassic Foundation was founded in 1998 and its sole purpose is to fund dinosaur research. This is a great beneficiary. I was surprised to hear how little they've ever even had people inquire about donations! They don't have a way to do it online, but checks made out to the Jurassic Foundation can be sent to the following address:

Matthew Lamanna (current president)
Section of Vertebrate Paleontology
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
4400 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4080
U.S.A.

From Indiegogo:

Research Dinosaur Tracks in Northeast BC, Canada! (As featured recently in an interview with Lisa Buckley!)

The Ice-Blue Bones of Telluride: A Discovery Story

From GoFundMe:

Help MHP Paleo get a field vehicle

Mobile Fossil Teaching Sets

Support My Fossil Internship in Panama!

Looking into the Waters of the Past

Paleontology vs. The Dakar Rally 2016

Here are a couple hosted by Experiment, a science research crowdfunding platform.

Paleo-School - Students Experiencing their Childhood Dream

Using the Past to Understand Climate Change

A selection of campaigns from Donors Choose, a crowdfunding platform specifically for classrooms. These all came up by searching for "fossil", "geology", and "dinosaur."

Super Heroes Learning Through Our Senses

Help Kids Appreciate the Beauty and Wonder of Science!

Rocks Rock!

Rock Cycle and Fossil Activity Kits- Middle School Geology

Class Supplies for Success

The Jurassic World Challenge is not meant to be a test, or to shame anyone who does not take part. It is not meant to indict the producers of the movie for not funding science. It's just a way to encourage people to give back to the paleontological community that makes a movie like Jurassic World possible. So, if you're moved to comment on this post, rather than argue over Jurassic World's dinosaurs, add to the list above and suggest a good museum, education project, research funding campaign, or other paleontological cause to give money to. Or, of course, your favorite artist who runs an on-line shop! Let's put our Jurassic World money to good use!

The Academy Award for Best Costuming Goes To...

Jurassic World!

I teamed up with Rosemary Mosco of Bird and Moon fame to illustrate this comic she wrote, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the interepid dromaeosaurs who endure hours in stifling rubbery costumes to deliver the awesomebro thrills the world craves.

Comic written by Rosemary Mosco and illustrated by David Orr

It was awesome to work with Rosemary! I'm sure many of you are fans of her already; be sure to check out her on-line shop. You can also support her at Patreon.

Jurassic Park 3D: a beleaguered novice's view

For some reason or other, the UK release of Jurassic Park in 3D has been pushed back to August - in spite of the fact that it's been out in mainland Europe for a while now (as it has been in the US). Fortunately, my girlfriend Nicole - who is Dutch - offered to go and see it with me over there. Unbelievably, Nicole had managed to avoid ever seeing Jurassic Park - save the occasional snippet while flicking through TV channels - and so the 3D screening in Amersfoort would be her very first time. Naturally, this made us quite the contrasting pair, what with my childhood obsession with and gratingly geeky adult ability to recite lines from the movie.

Therefore, rather than produce yet another gushing retrospective on the awe and the majesty and the dinosaurs truly being brought to life and that amazing range of huge, rubbery toys, etc. etc., I thought it would be a lot more entertaining for the dino-geek-o-blog-o-sphere to hear what it's like for an outsider to see Jurassic Park for the first time...in 2013. With an enthusiast in tow. Oh dear.

"WHAT?! You haven’t seen it?!" 

No. I had never. I admitted over and over again. "Why haven’t you seen it?" I don’t know. My parents never watched it and as I was just an annoying four-year old toddler at the time it was released, I hadn't either. They probably wouldn’t have allowed me to anyway. All those scary animals. No, I had a safe childhood with my Disney films and Lego and such.

So, yes. YES. I had never seen it - the big movie - ever in my life. It must have been one of the biggest disappointments that my coughdinolovinggeekyboyfriendcough (no offence, my dears. Nor to everyone who reads this) had experienced since he was going out with me.

No. NO. I had never seen Jurassic Park.

So a long period of convincing the girlfriend started. Even though he didn’t nag, there were slight but clear signals that I should give in and watch. Sometimes he would say: "They're expensive, they're noisy, they smell..." when I was once again pointing out a sweet, beautiful, little baby two metres away from us. I felt offended and started a ramble about why babies are nice and that he was one once as well. Well, I guessed the latter.. More of those quotes which made me frown followed in his apparently 'convincing girlfriend period'. "Nice hat. What are you trying to look like, a secret agent?", "Dinosaurs...eat man. Woman inherits the Earth". WHAT THE….?!  Ever since Jurassic Park 3D was about to be released, the pressure got higher and higher...

So last Saturday, the unforgettable 25th of May 2013, we took the train to a city nearby to watch the afternoon show of Jurassic Park 3D in a very quiet cinema. I was all geared up but still didn’t really know what to expect. I was about to watch THE movie while being a complete noob on the topic. In my opinion, it started rather nicely. As you all know palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant and the lovely Dr. Ellie Sattler find an amazing skeleton and are overwhelmed. Dr. Grant scares the child very well and makes the not so full cinema laugh (they all probably knew this bit). Good start. But suddenly a prick – called John Hammond – decides to fly into the area with his fat ass helicopter to convert them to go over to his fancy theme park. OK, you probably all know this scene. They were converted very easily – too easily - and so it all began.

Palaeontologists: they just want your money.

The film went on and I started to wonder when the real dinosaurs in this blockbuster movie would appear. It was Jurassic Park after all. But just as I was thinking that, I got pleased by Mr. Spielberg.  The car stopped and Dr. Grant saw something he could only dream of. While struggling to take his glasses off and trying to turn around the head of his girlfriend, he sees a giraffe-like dinosaur. He's overwhelmed and so is Dr. Sattler. Where I would run away out of fear, the pair easily steps out of the car, as if they see a not so dangerous dog wandering around. Oh, little note: I know now that you don’t have to feel fear for this brachiosaur, as it only eats veggies.

The story continues. With bombastic (but lovely) music, the cars arrive at the visitors’ centre and we get to see a long long explanation of how the dinosaurs came into the park. From finding the mosquito to the breeding and feeding. Of course, it’s quite important to know. You can’t miss it. But where’s the action?! In the meantime I started to feel some affection for the bad ass but very clever Dr Malcolm. Rrrrr. Good for the ladies [I think The Fly remake is next on the cards - M] Anyway, they go on and on and finally they're in the cars, heading for the T. rex area. THE MONSTROUS T. REX! Of course the insidious Mr. Nedry aka Wayne Knight (oh yes, you’ll already know) has sabotaged the whole system. This is where I thought the proper tension finally began. And yes: the T. rex was huge and was going for the kids (of course, the poor kids!) and proper fear was speeding through my veins.

It was only after this T. rex encounter that I thought the film was about to start. Excitement, compassion, anxiety and sometimes a slight feeling of terror was felt in my fingertips and toes. It helps that there were children involved and that the man with the biggest aversion to kids had to deal with them. Poor kids. Or poor Dr. Grant.

At one point Nedry gets attacked by this dinosaur which looked lovely but wasn’t so lovely after all. At that moment I had to ask the boyfriend which species this was, but he shushed me. Finally I had proper interest in his subject and then all he did was shushing me. As you might understand: I am still offended.

I especially liked the bit where Dr. Grant and the children are sleeping in the tree and suddenly there’s a brachiosaur eating the leaves nearby. Personally, I thought this was a bit for the ladies (which may be sexist. My apologies girls! Girls like dinosaurs too!) who were dragged along with their geeky boyfriends. It was like some sunlight was shining through the film and everything seemed happy in the terrible situation they were in. Somehow I did expect the girl to fall out of the tree though, which – fortunately for her, but slightly disappointing to me – did not happen.

Quickly after that lovely part, we had to go back to the dinosaur terror. The part where the Velociraptor comes through the wall where Dr. Sattler had just switched on the electricity especially scared the blubbers out of me. It didn’t help that Mr. Boyfriend knows the film by every scene and grabbed my arm at the same time as the dinosaur was suddenly appearing.

Anyway, we know how it goes (if you don't then I just don't want to spoil it all) and the children and doctors escape luckily from the Velociraptor because of the scary but now slightly friendly T. rex.

To make a long blog post short: I thought the film was OK, but not too good. I speak from an entirely subjective point here, of course. There was a pretty good story and I think it's a much better Spielberg film than for example War Horse. But I have to admit that the dinosaurs didn't grab me at all. Maybe it's because I am already used to big big animals in films (Life of Pi – to name one) and the dinosaurs weren't CG exceptionnel. I can imagine why this film was such a hit in the '90s though, as animals – and especially dinosaurs – weren’t shown on the big screen like this before. The film was all right, but I am not entirely sure if I will ever buy the DVD, if you get what I mean.

Still I am happy that I have finally, properly, entered the world of the boyfriend now. I don't regret it. Besides that I feel very obliged – as I am the biggest noob in the Universe on this topic - to write a post on this blog. Which by the way is very, very precious to him, dear readers.

Oh, I shouldn’t forget this: the music in the film was great!

A big thanks for reading and well done if you have made it to the end of this post! -- Nicole Heins

Nicole, recently.

Mesozoic Miscellany 59

Plenty of news about Jurassic Park 4 lately, with the latest latest news being that it might not be happening any time soon. Still, it's inspired a nice flurry of writing among our blogging comrades, and that's a good thing.

Matt Martyniuk at DinoGoss wrote about it, with this nice turn of phrase: "it's a bit sad that JP has eaten its own tail and become the self-perpetuating font of inaccurate science the original film was designed to destroy."

Andrea Cau doesn't really care either way, and invites those who might be losing sleep over scaly raptors to worry about more important things.

At the increasingly super Walking With Dinosaurs blog, Mike Taylor offered his opinion on what might make for a more interesting sequel than another trip to Nublar or Sorna.

Michael Marshall at New Scientist wrote a summary of the news, with a perturbed quote from Tet Zoo's Darren Naish, which I saw pop up in a few places going for the "paleontologists' reaction" angle.

John Conway wrote a great piece at his blog on Jurassic Park 4 and "AWESOMEBRO!" culture, which I'm sure we'll all agree is typified in John's lurid and gory work.

I'll wrap up this section with Mark Witton, who wrote about the resistance to feathery dinosaurs at his blog, doing a nice job of explaining how feathery integument might undercut an animal's monstrous nature.

"If popular depictions of dinosaurs are anything to go by, they were only vulnerable to two things: other dinosaurs, and giant rocks from space. Anything else can bugger right off: they're that freakin' hardcore. Modern animals, by contrast, struggle when someone redirects a river or we drive our cars too much. Dinosaurs could take that, and they'd eat your mother just for even suggesting otherwise."

Friend of LITC and super-terrific artist Sharon Wegner-Larson has added some super-terrific art prints to her Etsy store, including her incredible Dimetrodon piece entered in our All Yesterdays contest.

At The Bite Stuff, Jaime Headden wrote about the twin sides of his brain, the artist and the scientist, and how they work together in the process of reconstructing prehistoric forms.

You've surely seen it all over, but hear straight from Emily Willoughby the story of her fish-eating Microraptor illo.

Darren Naish visited the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival, and brought us the skinny at Tet Zoo.

At the Dinosaur Toy Blog, our own Niroot covered the new Collecta Diplodocus figure. And Marc wrote about that popular newish ceratopsid, Diabloceratops.

In response to the passing of Dr. Larry Martin, both Jason Brougham and Mickey Mortimer have written posts about his legacy in paleontology.

Happily having joined up with ART Evolved, frequent LITC commenter Herman Diaz as been writing some great stuff, including book reviews and a piece on his fun alvarezsaurid for our contest.

Marc and Niroot are admirers, and Trish Arnold also implores you (and me, I'm afraid), to get off our duffs and pick up Katrina Von Grouw's The Unfeathered Bird.

We've had notice of some dinosaur-related Kickstarter projects in the last week, and I share them here for your consideration. First up, Andy Nguyen's Dinosaur Poster project.
See more at the blog dedicated to his project.

Next, a short film called "Dino Hunt" has an Indiegogo campaign running.

You can keep up with the campaign and production at the official Twitter and website, as well.

Finally, check out a Kickstarter by the More Dinosaurs folks to fund a new dinosaur art website.


If you've got some spare nickels knocking around your pockets, there's never a shortage of dinosaur goods at which to pitch them, is there?

In the midst of our recent featherless Jurassic Park posts, I recollected this drawing of mine, which I now offer as my utterly trivial contribution to the discussion.  

Perhaps it panders too much to the 'Awesomebro' culture so aptly elucidated upon by John Conway, but for the present at least, I think it serves a small, if not especially profound, purpose. 

I posted this drawing over on Himmapaanensis and elsewhere last summer and under quite different circumstances, a while before David very kindly invited me on as a contributor here, so I apologise to those who are seeing it again once too many times. 

N

Jurassic Park 4: The Lost Cause

Photo by Juliana Cortés, via Flickr.

I don't hate Jurassic Park. I may have a complicated relationship with it, but that's pretty common. Even if Colin Trevorrow had announced feathered theropods would be part of JP4, anyone would be wise to keep their expections low for a long-delayed continuation of a franchise of such severely diminishing returns. If you're one of those who has no problem with naked dromaeosaurs in the next movie, more power to you: I hope you enjoy it. I really do!

Andrea Cau's comment on my recent post about the latest JP4 news is one that I've seen others raise in other places on-line. I'll quote it here fully:

There is no reason to show feathered raptors in JP4, because in the world of JP raptors are those seen in JP1 (and I'm not among those mentioning genetic mutations or frogs as a justification of that look: simply, JP is a 1993 movie and represents that epoch iconography).

I hated the "crested" raptors in JP3 because they differed from those in the first movies. I'm happy dinosaurs in JP4 will retain the look of the first movies: JP is not a documentary, and should not be forced to be "updated" to the "real world". In the JP-verse the dinosaur look is the one shown in JP1 and must remain that one until the end of the saga.

Sequels must follow the original style, since they are part of the same "universe". Otherwise, they are not sequels.

Do you want feathered dinosaurs based on 2013 science? Ask for a reboot.

These are fair enough points, and as I said above: if this is your expectation for a new JP movie, I hope this one satisfies you. For my part, I don't really care about the Jurassic Park universe or canon or iconography (now that I think about it, changing the design of the Jurassic Park visual identity would offend me more than altering creature design). In his post at Laelaps, Brian Switek ably shows that neither, apparently, do the filmmakers.

...the franchise has already changed its dinosaurs several times with no explanation. The first sequel introduced new color palettes for the dinosaurs, as did the third film. (Not to mention the fact that Jurassic Park III raises the mystery of why Site B contains species that InGen didn’t clone, and never actually resolves this point.) If the dinosaurs are changing from film to film to start with, why not take a jump and show audiences something they have never witnessed before?

If it's intricate world-building I'm looking for, I've got plenty of other places to find that these days. Still: there are plenty of ways that a good writer could not only incorporate the new science of feather origins in Jurassic Park 4, he or she could make it work thematically. One general scenario that springs to mind would be that the film could use changing science as a way to mirror uncertainty and progress in the lives of human characters. The characters are now faced with animals that blur the line between "reptile" and "bird," animals InGen rejected and hid from the public. How would Grant - if he was part of it at all - react to this? How would he transition from his "I'm out of a job" attitude to a realization of just how twisted from reality the animals he faced on Isla Nublar were? What wonder would he feel faced with a resurrected but abandoned ecosystem of feathered, fuzzy, prickly, spiny, dinosaurs?

Though Andrea dismisses it, the fact is, Jurassic Park contains the seeds of changing creature design in the canonical fact that the animals were engineered to satisfy public perception. There's terrific stuff there to write for! After all, suspense and fear are a huge part of the cinematic experience of Jurassic Park, and fear of the unknown, of the ground shifting under our feet, is a big reason a large part of the public distrusts, rejects, and ignores science. If you think this is all too heady for a Jurassic Park film, I'd disagree: a book and film that introduced me as a teenager to paradigm shifts and chaos theory has plenty of room for such philosophical content. The fact that Jurassic Park III lacked this element is part of what makes it such a forgettable movie. Trying something like the concept I sketched in broad strokes above could result in a Jurassic Park movie as meaningful to its time as the first one. That's not something worth shooting for?

The fact that I've written three posts about this new revelation about JP4 should show how much I really do love the original Jurassic Park. I was a confused, awkward kid when the book came out. I read it repeatedly during the summer of 1992. In the summer of 1993, I saw the movie repeatedly. I was in love with the SNES game. As I wrote almost three years ago, regarding the scene at the lagoon right after the party arrives on the island,

The moment seared into my memory, when a movie actually made me see the world differently, was the first time I saw that shot. Certainly, Mr. Brachiosaurus showing off by standing on two legs was impressive. Absolutely marvelous. But it was just a set-up. When that shot was projected onto the screen, it was a punch to the gut. Suddenly, dinosaurs were alive again, and how I'd always dreamed of seeing them: casually going about their lives. Moving like animals move, with weight. Rendered a bit hazy by the distance. Put into better perspective by little white specks of birds flying over sparkling water. As if I was out hiking, and happened across the scene upon cresting a hill. It was a rush. A deep, satisfying realization of a wish I knew was foolish. And I realized it as it was happening: this is the closest you'll ever get to it.

In my brain, I'd be happy for JP to die and let someone new figure out a way to make a big Hollywood dinosaur movie. Forget reboots, forget sequels, leave Jurassic Park trapped in the amber of the 1990's. Reinvent big dinosaur adventure totally. In my heart though, I'd like to return to Jurassic Park. I just think we've grown apart.

Unfeathered Jurassic Park Wishlist

I'm one of those sticks-in-the-mud who is disappointed that I won't get to see gloriously feathered theropods in Jurassic Park 4, but I also must give director Colin Trevorrow the benefit of the doubt: after all, his promise that there wouldn't be any feathers in JP4 may have simply meant that he plans on not including any feathered taxa in the film.

Why, that would be perfectly fine! I'm no theropod chauvinist. And wouldn't you know it, I've got a little wishlist for just how the humans-on-dinosaur conflict could play out, excluding those pesky feathered animals that have devoured the news for the last two decades.

1. Marauding bands of drunken, surly Plateosaurus.
2. Pachycephalosaurus rodeo catastrophe!
3. Sonic-blasting, fire-breathing Parasaurolophus.
4. Ever see Attack of the Killer Shrews? That, but with Fruitadens.
5. Oryctodromeus totally, like, burrowed... so maybe they were like Mesozoic myrmeleontids (or graboids)? Why not.

While some of these would arguably bear quills or fuzz or whatnot, leaving those out are probably more forgivable than sad, nekkid dromaeosaurs. All the drama, suspense, and spine-tingling action we've come to expect from the esteemed franchise, none of the dinosaur nerd whinging. Win-win!

No Feathers

I really enjoyed Safety Not Guaranteed, so my hopes for the fourth Jurassic Park were raised a smidgen when Colin Trevorrow was confirmed as the director.

Then this happened:

Among the many worries from fans for Universal's Jurassic Park 4 was the possibility that we could see dinosaurs covered in feathers, as opposed to dinos in their classic form. The last installment in the series, 2001's Jurassic Park III, featured velociraptors with feathers. However, Safety Not Guaranteed director Colin Trevorrow, who was recently hired to helm Jurassic Park 4, has taken to his Twitter account to confirm that there will be "no feathers" in the sequel. Trevorrow was reportedly chosen due to his love of the original trilogy and knowing how the world works. Are you happy with the decision to not include feathers?

No, comicbookmovie.com, I'm not. No use for this franchise anymore. Give the dinosaurs to someone who actually cares about them. Glad the fans are relieved, though.

Reverse Jurassic Park

What if it was Velociraptors - in all of their feathered, pint-sized glory - digging up the fossilized remains of humans? TKToons has an idea of how it would go. Two episodes of Reverse Jurassic Park, AKA Quarternary Park have been shared at Youtube.





I wholeheartedly approve. Bobbing, fully feathered Velociraptors. Enough to bring a tear of joy to my eye. Son of a Baryonyx, they've done it!

Sixteen Bit Saurians

I am not a gamer. I've got a bunch of Nintendo systems, some games I like, and not nearly enough time to justify turning any of them on. But I spent many a wayward teenage hour immersed in video games, and one of my favorites of all time was the Super Nintendo version of Jurassic Park. I don't know what made me remember it recently, but I started googling, and you know how that goes.


Photo by Filthfiller, via Flickr.

That's how it goes. It was a huge kick to find the score shared on YouTube, and listening to the music brought all of those memories flooding back in. Running around as Alan Grant, grunting and jumping and firing bolas into packs of compys. Stuffing my virtual pockets full of dinosaur eggs to save the world from John Hammond's nightmare. Getting messages from heavily pixelated likenesses of the JP cast. Wandering into T. rex territory and shooting wildly at it, only to end up its dinner. The game was split between a top-down, freely navigable exterior world and frequently dark and claustrophobic interiors where you were liable to get jumped by a raptor or hit by a Dilophosaurus loogie.

The only other JP game I've played was the one in which Minnie Driver's arms don't work, and I've always assumed I was the only person who actually liked the SNES version. So I was surprised to find that it's gained a cult following. Mostly though, I'm writing this because of the music. It shreds.

For instance, "Triceratops Trot."


"Raptor Rap."


Or this one, from the Visitor's Center.


Ah, memories. Now, where's that SNES...

More: Flying Omelette, Nintendo3DS Community, an unenthusiastic review from Alex Kidman. Download the score, too!

Interview with Jurassic Park Legacy's Terry Alan Davis, Jr.

Ever since visiting the Dinosaur Journey museum in Fruita, CO when he was three, Terry Alan Davis, Jr. has had dinosaurs on the brain. That love has come to manifest itself in running Jurassic Park Legacy, a huge Jurassic Park website that's full of everything you'd need to know about the franchise in all of its forms. To that end, he also created the Jurassic Park Encyclopedia. In this interview, we delve into the world of Jurassic Park fandom and discuss where it's been and where Terry hopes it will go.

Terry at the Burpee, IL Paleofest this year

When did you first become aware of Jurassic Park? For me, I remember reading a preview in Entertainment Weekly, then I read the book in anticipation of the movie.

It was about 1989/1990, my mother was taking me to get a new dinosaur book and we saw a little ad for a new release for the Jurassic Park book. I so wanted it, but being five years old I was dino-crazy and she insisted it was a book for big kids and that eventually I could read it when I was older. Then when I was about seven I ran into the ad at a theater and subsequent teaser for Jurassic Park the motion picture. Immediately I was thrilled and wanted to see it. I was nine when it came out and my first toys were Robert Muldoon and Young Tyrannosaurus rex. My T. rex kicked my Batman and Aliens toys' butt as any dinosaur toy should have at that point.

How did JP Legacy get its start? How has the community grown? Has it taken any extra effort from you to make it grow?

I used to be a Moderator on a Jurassic Park site called inGenNET back from early 2000, then switched to Jurassic Park Database from 2001/2002 to 2003 and '03 was when I started JPL with the Encyclopedia as our flagship feature. The Encyclopedia actually has changed a lot of hands from over the years before finally settling on JPL. I joined up and had a good idea for the Encyclopedia project at inGenNET essentially; I got the project practically handed to me. I began this when I was 15 and the mission was a clear "what's on Isla Nublar? What are all the fifteen species present?" and it became something more after I realized what I was attempting to do. The Encyclopedia project essentially has grown from that simple question to being something more of "What are the canon definitions for the JP universe?" and so forth. At the moment we're focused on identifying and educating the public on the key differences between the film animal and the real life animal essentially as the original mission I feel has been satisfied essentially.

The community has grown considerably since the state of despair it was originally in, amazingly. A lot of the fandom was crushed in regards to Jurassic Park 3 and what it did to the franchise and it did turn fan against fan for the longest time. So I set JPL out to be that beacon of hope to unite the fans and restore that kind of peace the community had before JP3. I believe JPL still remains the beacon of hope today for people to come and discuss Jurassic Park and all things prehistoric in a nice friendly environment. Another sort of hampering presence in the community is the lack of Jurassic Park 4. Some fans have given up hope of JP4, but where that's happened JPL has inspired a lot of efforts of fan-created ventures to catch the eye of Universal and let them know we would like a fourth film or a tv series at this point. I personally would love a JP TV series. I have an idea I'd love to put to use.

It's taken a lot of effort on my staff and me to make it grow. Like I said with the negative state of the fandom and the franchise not expanding and being a relatively under utilized license a lot of fans have just fallen out of it or developed a harsh opinion towards the powers that be or with each other for those reasons. I think the biggest challenge though, but it was also JPL's success in a lot of ways was to overcome the hostile viewpoints of the fans and remember the good and get people to remember the good of it. We try to encourage a friendly environment because a lot of people still come on here to escape from life's hostilities though and talk about what they love.

The Jurassic Park Enyclopedia, one of Terry's creations

Concerning dinosaur projects on television, do you think that Terra Nova will be a good way to gauge the viability of a JP series?

I think Terra Nova stands a good chance to attempt to bring back at least the dinosaur vibe to the public eye and maybe that might be enough to bring back Jurassic Park. The only problem is that it's on FOX and shows on FOX usually don't last long sadly. Sci-fi shows on Fox have just not done well save for The X-Files and Fringe. I hope this one does well though, and I think it will from what I've seen of the previews it does look promising. I can't say for certain what kind of effect it would have on Jurassic Park and the franchise's movement (or lack there of) at this point. Terra Nova though is certainly a viable property at this point to gauge that definitely.

The truth is, I wish Terra Nova was a Jurassic Park television series because of the story-telling possibilities with it and the fact that JP needs to go a different direction. If the franchise is to continue, that's where it needs to go to keep active interest, break new ground like the first movie did, and reach a new audience of fans, a television series with Jurassic Park is probably best. Speaking of which, I have a wonderful idea for a JP TV series also if someone from Universal is reading your site. They should call me!

The world is really lacking dinosaur entertainment though. It feels like the dino-craze has come and gone, but here's hoping it gets resurrected. Terra Nova is hopefully going to bring the dino-craze back. Kids have Dinosaur Train, Dino Dan, and a couple small things in there, but it's not enough as it's all geared towards preschoolers and young kids. I grew up when Dino-Riders, Dinosaucers, things like Dink (which ripped off The Land Before Time in a big way) and a couple other cartoons were the big thing. I also recall that it felt like there was a documentary on A&E, Discovery, or PBS practically every day concerning dinosaurs. Terra Nova is a good idea to try to push for in terms of "dino-tainment" and in some capacity who knows the fan following it might spawn might bring people over to another Spielberg-dinosaur franchise to back that into returning, but I'm cautiously optimistic about it. I heard there's going to be "fictional" dinosaurs in it and that might be interesting - all I can say is I hope they follow scientific plausibility with that. Time will tell on that one, though. Personally most of the JP community wants to see Reign of the Dinosaurs more so because of the realistic nature of it.

Where do you fall on the JP3 spectrum? Love it, hate it, tolerate it?

Truthfully, my view is mixed on it and it varies from month-to-month. I consider it an experiment in another's hands that could have been done better, but did alright as a summer film in total. I guess my biggest issue aside from the hyper-intelligent JP Velociraptors and the barbarian Spinosaurus is story-telling wise it has little to offer when compared to the original and the subsequent sequel. A lot of people complained about The Lost World: Jurassic Park because it differed from the source material, but in a way The Lost World was good in the aspect because it did provide an interesting and layered storyline. The biggest problem with JP films is you know who is going to end up a meat snack and who isn't basically and that's a problem in all three. There should be an element of surprise here and there. What would have been better for the third film is the original idea involving Grant being a really darker character and some experiences on the mainland in a Costa Rican village involving, you guessed it, dinosaurs. This idea? Great! It showed Dr. Grant going into a down hill spiral and coming back up, the repercussions these "real" dinosaurs were having on the world with people going to Costa Rica to try to see them and other little things. One problem though is I think the influence of one of the producers was to do another "rescue mission" and this idea they had was abandoned for something that just didn't work and seemed like it took a basic plot you saw in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, a re-hash - but not as sophisticated as the second film in regards to plot. It slapped the fans in the face when Jurassic Park was meant to be a "grown-up and intelligent" franchise.

As a result with this new idea the script suffered through a majority of problems from suspending belief on down to just circumventing pre-established film canon without explanation for the changes on-screen save for props scattered throughout the previous two films, with some similarities to paleontology of having a keen eye you have to move through the frames of the film and knowledge of the science from the novel. If you don't have a good eye and read the novels to understand the science, you miss the explanation for things like the JP Velociraptor (Deinonychus) and Pteranodon changes present in the third film. Does the general audience care? No. That's also probably why they didn't make the time to tell much of a story in JP3. A lot of fans just loathe it because of how things were frankly as well as the over-exaggeration of the Raptor intelligence to the whole thing with Eric Kirby (Trevor Morgan's character) being stranded on Isla Sorna for eight weeks and how unlikely that would be for his own survival.

Now I give due credit where it should be given in this next part. I'm glad there's a third film from the fan viewpoint, but again we got cheated on plot. I do feel that Joe Johnston did a lot of saving though with Sam Neill's reprisal of Dr. Grant. It makes the film bearable to watch and had a good idea for Spinosaurus to be included as the new "antagonist" if even some of the behaviors were overdone and the introduction was poorly executed as it made the rest of the film rather anti-climatic. In retrospect, JP3 set out to do what it did. It was a popular summer flick to catch the audience in the mid-summer and offer them dinosaurs it also did better than Planet of the Apes did that summer. To me and the other fans it'll never compare completely to the other two films as anything spectacular. There are others though that praise it and love it completely and totally. More power to them is all I can say there.

Is it safe to assume that you were horrified by the supposed JP4 script treatment that went around a few years ago? The one with the enhanced raptor super soldiers? I don't know how close that ever came to reality, but it seems that the franchise has dodged a bullet.

I really was considering writing an angry letter to all those involved with it and saying how the fandom would boycott it. We want a fourth film, yes, but it has to have quality in it and not just be a SyFy original movie basically. So in other words I was very thoroughly utterly horrified that the franchise was considered for such a terrible and gross abomination. We saw the concept art and while the artist is good at what he does we think the concept was too mad scientist-ish and really does not do the original idea of Jurassic Park justice in the slightest. One fan on the JPLegacy Boards, Dinoslayer, called them "Homocraptor saylensis" in jest, but the name has stuck to them by all rights. The etymology is a funny story when you think about it: "Human Plunderer (Crap) from Sayles" was essentially a way to slap John Sayles for the idea. JPIV was heading in the B-movie direction at this point and I'm glad the concept died and hasn't resurrected itself since. Thankfully it's gone back to the pit from where it came, but the idea should be literally lit on fire and shot into outer space at this point for the unbelievably cheesy terrible lameness it offered.

In your opinion, what have been the best "spin-offs" of the franchise?

Aside from The Lost World: Jurassic Park I've loved a lot of stuff, but I'd love to see something that's told within the Film canon and uses it instead of going about it for all intents and purposes it's "own way". Telltale Games's approaching "Jurassic Park: The Game" seems to be looking better and better for that. Some of the worthy games I enjoyed, despite the canonicity issues, are like Trespasser and Operation Genesis. I even enjoyed "Jurassic Park" for Sega CD and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" for Playstation. Comics wise? JP hasn't really had the best reputation in. Redemption flopped and the Topps Comics that were out were just plain wacky with Hyper Intelligent Raptors and Great Apes in the Amazon. I haven't done much reading into Devils in the Desert by IDW, but some are hailing it as a good comic that expands the film story line possibly. We're pending data evaluations on that for sure to analyze and see if it fits the canon at all. There hasn't been much in the term of books for Jurassic Park aside from the original two novels and the pre-teen adventures starring Eric Kirby (shudder). The problem with Jurassic Park is despite the popularity it's heavily under-utilized by people and kind of just forgotten about, but loved by all at once. Only lately has it started to come back. The problem is a few of the fans, knowing this, gave up on the market and we at JPL have been trying to lure them back - but that's hard when there so few properties out there. I'd love to see Jurassic Park get the "Star Wars treatment" essentially and it would be popular if people would hype it. The market is there, it just needs to be approached properly.

Do you think one problem is that Jurassic Park lacks its own Roddenberry or Lucas? Crichton seems to have not cared about being caretaker of a franchise, and Spielberg has far too many interests to be the "Jurassic Park Guy."

YES! I mean err... yes. It is exactly the problem and that is why I am sort of the de facto one for it at the moment. I've come in to take over that role with my enthusiasm and knowledge of the franchise and story and what Crichton I felt intended. Many-a-time I have said Jurassic Park as a whole gets treated as the step child franchise where it seems like nobody really cares about it and yet everybody knows about it at the same time. JP in the '90s had the potential to be as big as Star Wars and more or less was the "Star Wars of the '90s" but something happened. I have heard stories about Spielberg just being over-saturated with the merchandising and throwing things out, but again these are rumors to me. Rumors can be wrong of course.

The problem is the idea for that has been abandoned. Did you know at one point it was considered for an animated series? I think William Stout was attached to it briefly and did some sketches, I recall seeing some work with a plesiosaur somewhere and it being in Prehistoric Times at some point. The whole concept and franchise itself has been abandoned much like the idea of the dinosaur park is in the film and it's just a darn shame. Sure we have IDW producing the Jurassic Park comic series now, TellTale and their awesome efforts to revitalize the franchise, the 2009 toy line that the only plus point was the huge T. rex of it. The point is it'd be nice if a collector series of JP figures would be released and the films did make it back to a more public consciousness again either re-playing for the 20th anniversary coming up or what have you. The fandom is there, waiting - Universal just needs to see that. As I said I'd love to work on a JP TV show if given the opportunity even though I don't have the experience, but I love to write and spin ideas with people for that concept. I'd personally love to see a novel related to the films written or a book series even at this point. JP also serves a dual-purpose and it could even educate the public about paleontology and all things prehistoric as a whole or serve as a launch point for some to elevate the interest in the field.

It must be a great feeling to be taken seriously by Telltale. Understanding that you can't give away too much, what about the new game do you feel is particularly faithful to the core of the franchise? Do you think it could revitalize the franchise?

The extent of our involvement is really small, but mostly we've been doing contests and I got invited out to San Francisco for the Jurassic Magnitude event. I got to play a demo of the game and quite enjoyed it. I found out that they've mostly been checking the encyclopedia and the research on the site I started oh so long ago. That's actually really cool in my book that the fans matter so much to them. I hope it helps them make an awesome game in the end. Right now I saw recently they're delayed until the fall and while that's too bad and I'm saddened by that, but I see it as a good thing. I see it as that they are taking their time and they have mine as well as JPL's support there.

Years ago, "Trespasser" was supposed to be released as the digital sequel to "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and due to the complexity of the engine, the mechanics of the game, and the overall movie/novel hybridization the game itself flopped. You can see the game as an addition to the films, but when you look at the details is when the game gets problematic in terms of the canon. I love "Trespasser" despite the problems, and for a while it was considered one of the best Jurassic Park games out there. "Operation Genesis" is also a fan favorite in the mix too. I do find myself wishing that extra care had been taken into making "Trespasser" fit in the film canon, but it disrupts the film canon as it tries to alter the continuity with the contradictory nature of the island map and some of what Hammond says in it, making it more like it borrowed stuff from the novel without making it work first.

Telltale's JP game is promising to not "overwrite" the canon as all these previous titles have, but more or less supplement the canon with the game itself. I think this is going to be a hit personally either way, but I do like the precision they're taking at this point. In the end we're going to know for sure how loyal it is, but from the demo I played in San Francisco back in February it does look like they took a lot of attention to canonical elements such as the uniforms the park staff wear to the jeeps (some issues there, but it's barely noticeable), and on down to the coloration of the dinosaurs. I was only upset about one thing and that was the T. rex roar, which at the time was borrowed from the Dino-Crisis/Carnivores games. Thankfully they've changed this from what I heard/saw recently in the new version of the trailer.

Telltale's aim though, as it was expressed to me, was to revitalize the franchise with this title. JPL has been doing what we can to help them with that and Telltale has been helpful in allowing us. Mostly they've been cooperative with our contests with offering a free game code for folks to receive a copy. Even after the delay was announced we were pleased to hear the codes will stay good for "Jurassic Park" and this is great. We thank them for helping us fans and we hope to find ways to promote the game for them if even it proves itself not to be film canon from when we do our analysis of it. We have a research ethic after all that we do take seriously and who knows maybe they can help retcon it if we notice any problems, which would be nice for once to have some sort of explanation out there officially for things instead of "digging through evidence" without clear connections.

Terry's take on Dryptosaurus

How did your partnership with Project Dryptosaurus come about? What are your goals?

I met Gary through an e-mail one day about a link exchange for JPL. He and I began talking about my desire to help out more with the actual science even though my qualifications are an associate's degree in computer programming. The fact is I want to put my skills to use working in the field and to further paleontology as a whole. Project: Dryptosaurus I feel as an excellent opportunity for this as I help manage the social media aspects of the site and promote Dryptosaurus. I've desired to be a paleontologist since I was three or four. That was after of course I found out I couldn't be a dinosaur. As time goes on and financial situations change you begin to step away and face the reality of life. I had that and I didn't ask the questions I probably should have asked when I was in high school, due to people giving me strange looks about being a paleontologist. I encountered that a lot and it's a shame.

The idea with helping with Project Dryptosaurus is I like to educate the public as well about dinosaurs and Gary's mission is similar to what I want to do with Megalosaurus eventually. Dryptosaurus is possibly one of the most important fossils in American history though, and it's a piece of American culture that should be more recognized in my opinion. I do make it a point more than ever before to go beyond and learn about the actual animals because they're more stunning than anything we see produced for dramatic license whether it is film, video game, or even novel. To help me I've been independently reading The Dinosauria Second Edition on my own as well as numerous other paleontology books. Some of them have been a difficult (and often long) reads for someone who's highest biology level was in high school. Thankfully I remember enough of biology and that being my major then that I understand a lot of what's being thrown at me in that book. Skeletal terminology I've had to go out and search for diagrams of how things relate in order to help as I'm a visual person that responds better to having essentially a diagram in front of me.

In my spare time, I actually draw paleoart and I'm honing my skills here and there to be better. A put one piece I really liked on the Dryptosaurus Fan Art album to show off. A good resource to help me is SkeletalDrawing and Greg Paul's work inspired me a bit despite the issues there as of late. I do the art for me and friends and I don't take commission. I can easily learn the anatomy without paying oodles to go out and study the fossils myself which on a shoe-string budget is practically impossible for me presently. I learn and make my own style though. For instance I have this habit to feather mane my male Tyrannosaurs. Why I do this I just don't know.

Terry's Chasmosaurus

I seem to have gotten off tangent a bit here, so I'll conclude. I think learning the history of this planet is important in order to understand where we're heading down the line from here. I hope to help contribute in the future of the field in any way I can and I eventually plan to go back to school to work into the long-term idea of getting my masters and eventually even getting my doctorate to do the work that I so enjoy as a hobby at this moment. I am always looking though for volunteer opportunities in the interim until I can do that though. It's just a shame that I haven't got the museum up in Cleveland to get back in contact with me about it as I understand they're busy and I try not to pester people. I admit, with them not getting back in contact with me I have found other ways to help, but I would welcome the opportunity to work even in the prep lab in Cleveland or giving tours in that wing of the museum. Something more so I don't just seem like a guy who likes dinosaurs and Jurassic Park only.

* * *

Thanks for sitting in the virtual interview chair, Terry! Head over to JP Legacy to check out the wealth of information they've gathered there, stay up to date with the Jurassic Innards blog, and take part in the forum. All images provided by Terry, and are his property.

A Slow, Horrible, and Fascinating Death

Last week, G4 featured a brief post about the upcoming Jurassic Park: The Game, including this new trailer:

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2011 - Jurassic Park: The Game

Folks may quarrel with the accuracy of the dinosaurs, but the real point here is to continue the franchise, and these are unmistakably denizens of Jurassic Park. I've waxed nostalgic about the film here before, and can imagine how much time I would have spent playing this game had it come out around the time of the first film. Unfortunately, I don't think I have a system that will be able to run it, so I'll play vicariously through Youtube.

My guess as to the nocturnal mystery dinosaur? Troodon. Those big lantern eyes seem to give it away. I like the silent nod towards the Compsognathus of the Jurassic Park novel, which had a venomous bite with narcotic qualities. But maybe the developers have something else up their sleeve. What do you think?

Jurassic Park in 60 Seconds

H/T to Brian Switek.

Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical

Yesterday at Superoceras, David Tana posted about something incredible: a stage musical based on Jurassic Park.

Here's a plot summary for Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical from StageBuzz.com:

To say that the musical tells the story of "Jurassic Park" is a bit of an overstatement. In fact, it takes a small plot point from the movie, the fact that some of the dinosaurs were able to turn male thanks to the addition of frog DNA to fill in the blanks in the dinosaur DNA, and expands that into a meta-musical that touches on faith vs. science, gender roles, love, betrayal, finding a home, and the enduring, almost mythic appeal of Morgan Freeman.

The show was part of the New York International Fringe Festival, wrapped up its run on August 27. It seems to have received plenty of good reviews, and won the festival's Overall Excellence Award for a Musical Production. There are detractors, however, such as an outraged Jurassic Park fan who writes "Don't turn the one franchise I hold sacred into a vehicle for some annoying political agenda. Hell, I'm gay, but I don't expect my dinosaurs to be." Honestly, I'm nonplussed by the high dudgeon of this JP fanboy. He needs to chill out. The way a Barbasol can stocked with dinosaur embryos chills out.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical performed again. Theater, like life, always finds a way.

Wackity schmackity doo...

Chip Kidd

I can't help but dig it when two of my big obsessions are smashed together. I design book covers all day, and today I learned that a guy who is a legend in the profession, Chip Kidd, designed this:



Yep, the iconic Jurassic Park cover, which then became the basis for the movie's JP logo. "The trick there was figuring out how to show a dinosaur without actually showing one, and the answer was to do a sort of X-ray silhouette of a dino-skeleton. The producers of the movie obviously agreed, because they bought it and ran with it." Don't know how that little factoid eluded me this long.