Jurassic Park

[BigbyWolf]

Regarding the second book, Lord Inquisitor, why else do you believe the second book was written as a sequel to the movie and not the book? I'm not disagreeing with you, I figured the same when Malcolm was brought back, I just never noticed any other indications.

I think even Crichton admitted it was a sequel to the movie.

[Badbones777]

I actually thought it stuck very well to the book, unsurprisingly since Crichton was involved in the screenplay. Very minor differences like substituting a triceratops for a stegosaurus really didn't bother me, indeed I never noticed! The differences were really very small between book and film and many of them just elements edited out quite reasonably in the interest of time and some I felt were improvements.

Well I think it's fair to say there were a couple of major deviations-like Jeff Goldblum and Dickie Attenbrough' characters actually dying and the ending being totally different (and much darker) in the book version (in fact if they'd stuck to the book there wouldn't have been a sequel possible!). Also, Hammond being essentially pecked to death by a swarm of the little chicken-like dino's automatically makes the book better than the film just based on hilarity!

[Arnizipal]

Some of the changes, off the top of my head, that I really didn't like include: 1. Role reversal for Tim and Lex. Why? What was the reason for that? As far as I can tell it was simply gratuitous.

From what I recall from an interview I read nearly twenty years ago, Spielberg was really impressed by Ariana Richards' audition (particularly her screaming parts) so he hired her, despite the fact that she was too old for the little sister role. To make up for it he switched the parts around so Lex was the eldest.

[Ultimate Life Form]

From what I recall from an interview I read nearly twenty years ago, Spielberg was really impressed by Ariana Richards' audition (particularly her screaming parts) so he hired her, despite the fact that she was too old for the little sister role.

What a shame, the whiny (or should I say screamy) little brat always annoys the heck out of me. You want to make the movie better? Here's a hint; feed her to the T-Rex. On the earliest occasion.

[huitzilopochtli]

From what I recall from an interview I read nearly twenty years ago, Spielberg was really impressed by Ariana Richards' audition (particularly her screaming parts) so he hired her, despite the fact that she was too old for the little sister role. To make up for it he switched the parts around so Lex was the eldest.

Taken from IMDB
"After Joseph Mazzello was turned down for a role in Steven Spielberg's Hook for being too young, Spielberg told Mazzello that he was still impressed with his audition and would try to cast him in a future project. Mazzello was then cast as Tim in this movie. His casting led Spielberg to reverse the ages of the children, as he decided that casting a girl younger than Mazzello would be too young to be placed in danger."

Regarding comments that the movie stuck well to the book, I agree it certainly did to a greater degree than the second film, but it deviated enough for IMDB to have a section 900 words long to describe the differences. And they only cover the differences in characters.

@ULF - Yep, I hated her so much in the film. She's too old to be that stupid. In the book, she's 7, and still fairly cute. Her uselessness adds a little tension to Grant's efforts to see them safely through the park. She's allowed to scream. She's seven. In the film, a 13/14 year old should know better than to scream for half a movie. Both as an actor and if they happen to be in the audience of a film.

Having just rewatched the film for the first time in years, I take back much of what I said about the animatronics. Some of them were pretty good, particularly the trike (why couldn't it have been a steg, still?) and the rex. The only one I still can't like is the raptors. They didn't have enough fluidity, their necks didn't duck and bob, they didn't look elegant enough. Plus, while I can better appreciate the scenes where they appear out of nowhere (they scared my brother, who hadn't seen the movie), they acted more like bad guys than animals. They always took a moment to poke their head out, narrow their eyes and pose dramatically. Megalomaniacs do that, not dinosaurs.

[Arnizipal]

Onto my point: Wouldn't it be great if they remade that movie? I'm not interested so much in whether it's likely or whether it would be profitable for those involved, but wouldn't it be great? Would you or would you not like to see a Jurassic Park made today, as a movie that kept to the book and took advantage of modern special effects etc.? Sure, we probably wouldn't get Jeff Goldblum or Sam Neill for their respective roles again, but we could have a movie that included the potential ecological disaster in Costa Rica, the perilous position InGen was in regarding investors, Ed Regis, the volatile and ruthless personality of John Hammond (why didn't he die at the end?), modern CGI dinosaurs that will put the puppets to shame (lets not get sentimental for the sake of it) and the benefit of decades of new dinosaur information*. I want to see Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurs with feathers that look terrifying. At the very least we could fix the errors.

Jurassic Park is a classic movie from the nineties.
Generally speaking classic movies don't get remade (I think Spielberg wouldn't agree to it anyway).

I don't recall Hammond being particularly ruthless or volatile in the book, but it's been years since I read it.
Dinosaurs with feathers look stupid. My image on how they should look was shaped by Jurassic Park and if they ever do a remake I hope they'll stay true to the old look of the dinosaurs.

Also, there's only one sub-species of tyrannosaurus that apparently had feathers, and it was a fairly small creature.
The JP one was a different type.

I actually thought it stuck very well to the book, unsurprisingly since Crichton was involved in the screenplay. Very minor differences like substituting a triceratops for a stegosaurus really didn't bother me, indeed I never noticed! The differences were really very small between book and film and many of them just elements edited out quite reasonably in the interest of time and some I felt were improvements.

The movie ends right after the storm has passed. Wasn't the book only half-way when the storm hit?
IIRC in the book the park personnel gets the power back on and a lot of escaped dinosaurs are captured and put back in their enclosures.

Especially nowadays where to me as an adult the unbearable comic relief scenes and the cheap showmanship of the movies really stand out in a very, very bad way.

Unbearable comic relief? Cheap showmanship?
Examples please.

What a shame, the whiny (or should I say screamy) little brat always annoys the heck out of me. You want to make the movie better? Here's a hint; feed her to the T-Rex. On the earliest occasion.

@ULF - Yep, I hated her so much in the film. She's too old to be that stupid. In the book, she's 7, and still fairly cute. Her uselessness adds a little tension to Grant's efforts to see them safely through the park. She's allowed to scream. She's seven. In the film, a 13/14 year old should know better than to scream for half a movie. Both as an actor and if they happen to be in the audience of a film.

I think you over-estimate the bravery of a teenager when faced giant man-eating lizards
Why do you think she's stupid? She did restore power and security to the park on the "linux" computer.

[Ultimate Life Form]

I think you over-estimate the bravery of a teenager when faced giant man-eating lizards
Why do you think she's stupid? She did restore power and security to the park on the "linux" computer.

She wasn't completely useless in the end, but her considerably younger brother seemed to be twice the man (and brain) she is. Probably a leftover from the books.

Unbearable comic relief? Cheap showmanship?
Examples please.

Cheap showmanship:
Pretty much self-explanatory: It's the "look, wesa got dinosaurs, wesa no need logical story" approach. Pretty much everything else is secondary to that.

Examples: They got gazillions of dollars as budget but still can't afford someone who knows how to write 'Tyrannosaurus' and 'Stegosaurus'? I mean, Even I could write these when I was about 6 years old. Probably every kid in the world could. But Mr. Spielberg, apparently, not.

Fun Facts: These are too numerous to list so check out these links if you're interested

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi..._Jurassic_Park
http://geolor.com/Jurassic_Park_Movi...us_Fiction.htm

but basically what I'm getting at is:

1. Velociraptors are the size of a Chicken
2. Dilophosaurs don't fit into a car
3. It is anatomically impossible for a T-Rex to move in the way it is presented in the movie.

And everyone knew it. The fun thing is, Spielberg hired an actual scientist (biologist/paleontologist, don't exactly remember) to assist him in these matters. The scientist pointed out that all this was pretty much impossible. What did Spielberg do? He did it anyway because he thought his vision was cooler than reality. Well, I suppose that's what Hollywood is all about. It's not a discovery channel docu after all. But why hire a scientist to begin with if he does what he wants anyway?


Unbearable Comic Relief scenes:

A select few Examples:

Jurassic Park:

Sick Triceratops by the roadside: Dr. Sattler jumps out of the car and starts digging around in a humongous pile of dung to determine the cause of disease. Uh-huh, actually that's what biologists do. However it was clearly depicted in such a way as to make it as ridiculous as possible. I don't want to know what happened in the cinemas every time this scene was screened.

Gennaro is hunted by the T-Rex and tries hiding in a toilet. As the beast approaches, the entire building around him explodes and leaves only him, exposed, sitting on a toilet in the middle of nowhere. Slapstick comedy at its best again.

Lex tries to pet a Brachiosaurus. It sneezes and splatters its snot all over her. Haha. Ha.

Tim is electrocuted by a 10.000 volt electric fence. Now common sense would suggets that he burn into a crisp at once. Instead, he gets a spiffy afro hairstyle. Wait, this isn't a saturday morning cartoon show?!? Really?


Jurassic Park 2:

Sarah Harding: This woman is a joke in and on herself. She is supposed to be a scientist, but she acts like a sweater-knitting hippy greenpeace activist instead. The entire movie. She has no common sense, no objectivity, no nothing that would qualify her as a scientist. God only knows how she ever passed the exams. But she has a good heart; she takes good care of an injured baby T-Rex. Aaaaaw, how cute. Despite its maddened parents going on a rampage nearby. Yes, really clever.

Later: Sarah, Malcolm and Kelly are chased to a building by the raptors. One raptor corners the adults and is about to maul them. At that moment, from the sidelines:
Kelly "Hey!"
*bloodfrenzied raptor turns around confused*
Raptor "What?"
*little girl employs gymnastics while Raptor stands puzzled and rooted to place for several seconds. little girl swings herself over the gap in the floor right into the still motionless raptor and sends the beast that must easily be 2-3 times her weight flying out of the window.*
Uh-huh. It actually happened. Super Girl to the rescue! And what a witty entrance, too!

T-Rex eats lapdog in dooryard: Okay, I have to admit, this actually was funny.


Jurassic Park 3:

The Kirbys acting like total buffoons on a dinosaur infested island. The entire time. While their son managed to survive for several weeks all on his own. Apparently his intelligence was not inherited from his parents. Don't be so noisy you idiots!

Spinosaurus eats cell phone and its ring tone is clearly audible from its belly through several cubic meters of solid flesh. Everyone turns around. Oh, look, it's Spinosaurus standing there, and what a cool ringtone he has recently! Clearly he's one of the cool guys now!

Movie ending: Lone man in black standing at the beach. "Hey, are you the Kirbys?" Now Kirbys at their best again: Shuddup you frigg'n idiot, don't be so noisy on an dinosaur infested island! It was only after this that the group realized that by this time pretty much the entire US army had begun invading the island. In a completely silent and stealthy matter apparently. Ha ha, yet another knee-slapper! This Mr. Spielberg is a comedy genius!

[Chaos and Evil]

This Mr. Spielberg is a comedy genius!

Someone else directed the third film.

Also, I like the third one - it distills Jurassic Park down into its pure elements - people running, and dinosaurs chasing them. Awesomeness!

Generally speaking classic movies don't get remade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttF5HVYtlQ

[Arnizipal]

She wasn't completely useless in the end, but her considerably younger brother seemed to be twice the man (and brain) she is. Probably a leftover from the books.

Tim has so much common sense that would have been crushed by Gallimimus (or eaten/stepped on by the T-Rex). He also got a near fatal shock because he didn't dare to jump from the fence.
His part was a typical "over-excited little brother" role. No more, no less.

Lex was supposed to be a book-worm who liked being indoors, reading and computers.
Admittedly she didn't look all that geeky, but she played the "hate the outdoors" bit pretty well I think.

Neither of the children were particularly annoying or stupid in my opinion.

Cheap showmanship:
Pretty much self-explanatory: It's the "look, wesa got dinosaurs, wesa no need logical story" approach. Pretty much everything else is secondary to that.

Examples: They got gazillions of dollars as budget but still can't afford someone who knows how to write 'Tyrannosaurus' and 'Stegosaurus'? I mean, Even I could write these when I was about 6 years old. Probably every kid in the world could. But Mr. Spielberg, apparently, not.

Fun Facts: These are too numerous to list so check out these links if you're interested

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi..._Jurassic_Park
http://geolor.com/Jurassic_Park_Movi...us_Fiction.htm

but basically what I'm getting at is:

1. Velociraptors are the size of a Chicken
2. Dilophosaurs don't fit into a car
3. It is anatomically impossible for a T-Rex to move in the way it is presented in the movie.

And everyone knew it. The fun thing is, Spielberg hired an actual scientist (biologist/paleontologist, don't exactly remember) to assist him in these matters. The scientist pointed out that all this was pretty much impossible. What did Spielberg do? He did it anyway because he thought his vision was cooler than reality. Well, I suppose that's what Hollywood is all about. It's not a discovery channel docu after all. But why hire a scientist to begin with if he does what he wants anyway?

That's not cheap showmanship. It's expensive showmanship

1. At the time of the novel, some scientists speculated that Deinonychus was a subspecies of velociraptor. Crichton based himself on this train of thought and it made it into the movies.
2. The Dilophosaurus in the movie is a young creature. Nedry even says so when he spots it, commenting that he's relieved it wasn't one of its bigger brothers.
3. I know there were issues with the T-Rex keeping up to speed with the jeep during the chase scene, but that's the only thing AFAIK. Besides, that scene was cool so I'm ok with the fact they sacrificed realism for it.

Unbearable Comic Relief scenes:

A select few Examples:

Jurassic Park:

Sick Triceratops by the roadside: Dr. Sattler jumps out of the car and starts digging around in a humongous pile of dung to determine the cause of disease. Uh-huh, actually that's what biologists do. However it was clearly depicted in such a way as to make it as ridiculous as possible. I don't want to know what happened in the cinemas every time this scene was screened.

Gennaro is hunted by the T-Rex and tries hiding in a toilet. As the beast approaches, the entire building around him explodes and leaves only him, exposed, sitting on a toilet in the middle of nowhere. Slapstick comedy at its best again.

Lex tries to pet a Brachiosaurus. It sneezes and splatters its snot all over her. Haha. Ha.

Tim is electrocuted by a 10.000 volt electric fence. Now common sense would suggets that he burn into a crisp at once. Instead, he gets a spiffy afro hairstyle. Wait, this isn't a saturday morning cartoon show?!? Really?

You think that is unbearable comic relief?
I thought it was funny, though I first saw this movie when I was 13. It doesn't break up the pacing of the movie or invades on the scary parts so I really don't see the problem

Not going to comment on the other movies as they are nowhere near as good as the original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttF5HVYtlQ

High profile movie, won several oscars, still famous and well-loved after nearly twenty years.
I can't recall any movie with these qualifications that has had a remake (or is up for one).

[Ultimate Life Form]

Oh yeah, as a kid, I loved the movie, too. Which is obviously the way it was intended. These days it simply gets on my last nerve. I want to enjoy the dinosaurs, but whenever I hear Lex scream my remote control finger twitches nervously. And she screams an awful lot.

[Verm1s]

Jurassic Park is a classic movie from the nineties.
Generally speaking classic movies don't get remade (I think Spielberg wouldn't agree to it anyway).

Yeah. Not like King Kong, Planet of the Apes, Magnificent Seven, etc...

Dinosaurs with feathers look stupid. My image on how they should look was shaped by Jurassic Park and if they ever do a remake I hope they'll stay true to the old look of the dinosaurs.

Oh now you did it.

...but as far as I can see, Jurassic Park marked the end of palaeontology for big parts of the general public (or at least, parts of the internet-going public) and the most you can hope for from there is "Oh noes raptirs and teerex look like big chikkins now ablooblobloo!". As if palaeontologists (or the dinosaurs themselves) are the GW of science, changing the 'fluff' around every so often, just to annoy a random person's sense of childhood and nostalgia.

It's like... I dunno. Watching a movie with rhinos in it and having a sulk because they don't look like Durer's woodcut. "Rhinos with no unicorn horn on their shoulders look stupid!"

Also, there's only one sub-species of tyrannosaurus that apparently had feathers, and it was a fairly small creature.
The JP one was a different type.

If it was a subspecies (Tyrannosaurus rex pennatus or something) then it would practically stamp 'certified feathered!' on Tyrannosaurus. As it is, the genus Yutyrannus (30'/9m - same as Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus - no shrimp!) is a pretty solid reference for inferring some amount of feathers or quills in other large members of the tyrannosauroid lineage.

giant man-eating lizards

There's your problem right there. Eyebrows indeed.

1. At the time of the novel, some scientists speculated that Deinonychus was a subspecies of velociraptor. Crichton based himself on this train of thought and it made it into the movies.

Less heinous, but you still need to read up on your species concept.

2. The Dilophosaurus in the movie is a young creature. Nedry even says so when he spots it, commenting that he's relieved it wasn't one of its bigger brothers.

Or, he's relieved it's not a Tyrannosaur or Velociraptor.

Or Metriacanthosaurus.

[Arnizipal]

Yeah. Not like King Kong, Planet of the Apes, Magnificent Seven, etc...

Point taken...

Oh now you did it.

It's like... I dunno. Watching a movie with rhinos in it and having a sulk because they don't look like Durer's woodcut. "Rhinos with no unicorn horn on their shoulders look stupid!"

What, you can hand-wave the fact that it's silly to hunt raptors with a rocket launcher because it's cool, but I don't get to keep my featherless dinosaurs?

If it was a subspecies (Tyrannosaurus rex pennatus or something) then it would practically stamp 'certified feathered!' on Tyrannosaurus. As it is, the genus Yutyrannus (30'/9m - same as Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus - no shrimp!) is a pretty solid reference for inferring some amount of feathers or quills in other large members of the tyrannosauroid lineage.

Info over here. Skin impressions of Tyrannosaurus remains in Montana show mosaic scales.
The Yutyrannus lived in a colder clime, so it's speculated that was the reason it developed feathers.

There's your problem right there. Eyebrows indeed.

Honestly with half of your comments I don't know if you're kidding or insulting me.

Less heinous, but you still need to read up on your species concept.

I'm just repeating what it says here.

Or, he's relieved it's not a Tyrannosaur or Velociraptor.

Or Metriacanthosaurus.

Or, he's relieved that it's not an adult Dilophosaurus.

[huitzilopochtli]

Regarding the authenticity of the dinosaurs in the book -

The dinosaurs were never real. They were always the artificial creations of Wu's genetic manipulation. That is given as the reason for numerous factual errors in the representation of the dinosaurs and one I'm happy to live with. That said, factual errors in the film that deviate from the book (brachiosaurus chewing, anyone?) are a heinous crime against a brilliant story.

Regarding the raptors in the movie - yes, they are three times bigger than an actual velociraptor ever was. But they are described as being 6' tall in the books, too. While there is speculation that this may have been due to a mix between velociraptor and deinonychus DNA, even deinonychus wasn't that big. It'd have to be a utah raptor to be that big. But, small dog sized raptors aren't scary. I'm happy to chalk this up to Wu's genetic manipulation and preserve the terror.

Regarding Tyrannosaurus and feathers, yes, only one example was discovered to have feathers, while other examples of pebbled, reptilian skin impression have been discovered. However, Xu et al put forward the idea that protofeathers may have been present either only in juveniles (as a form of thermoregulation) or only on parts of the animal. This idea has received a lot of acceptance and as such I'd like to see it included. As for them looking like oversized turkeys, well the babies are supposed to. Plus I'm not suggesting they get covered in 6" feathers. Make the feathers thin and more quill-like. Quills were added to the raptors in the third movie (again, I liked the effects, not the film) and they still looked amazing. Just add a few more in select areas and you have a more accurate specimen that still looks scary.

[Ultimate Life Form]

The dinosaurs were never real. They were always the artificial creations of Wu's genetic manipulation. That is given as the reason for numerous factual errors in the representation of the dinosaurs and one I'm happy to live with.

Yes, it's the type of explanation we fans are forced to come up with to cover up the huge and gaping holes in our beloved franchises to stay sane. It somehow reminds me of a certain miniature manufacturer we all are very familiar with.

But is that also what Mr. Hammond would say? I'm just imagining the park opening here:

"Ladies and gentlemen, and the mutated abomination to your left is our Dilophosaurus. Its ancestors used to be majestic 6 meters long predators, but our chief geneticist mixed in a bit too much frog DNA and now it's a stunted frilled lizard. What do you mean I'm playing god? No, lady, my name is Hammond, not Frankenstein!"

- insert tabloid headline here -

*huge media outrage, park closes doors forever, Hammond ruined*

[x-esiv-4c]

Want an updated Jurassic park?

Dino-Riders.

Everyone would watch that. It would be a 3 hour stop-start epic using the original toys with Michael Bayism explosions and Uwe Bolls ability to turn any movie genre into a silver screened paragon.

[huitzilopochtli]

Yes, it's the type of explanation we fans are forced to come up with to cover up the huge and gaping holes in our beloved franchises to stay sane. It somehow reminds me of a certain miniature manufacturer we all are very familiar with.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but we've already covered a big gaping hole by deciding that dinosaur cloning is possible at all. With the exception of the raptors Crichton made bigger, the remaining factual errors are largely due to more information being unearthed post-novel.

As for the dilos, they were only 3' tall in the film. In the book they were the correct size.