The Jurassic Park Movie We Deserve

What We Got

I guess a good place to start is what we got.

To start off, I love the 1993 master piece Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg. It was a movie I watched from a very young age and instantly fell in love. I mean... who wouldn't, it has everything that makes a great movie. Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs eating Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs eating people. The special effects hold up to today standards in a way that's honestly embarrassing to the Jurassic World series. The actors brought their A game and the story was solid and the movie score is incredible.

I only recently became aware there was a fight over who got to make Jurassic Park. It was between Steven Spielberg and James Cameron. James vision was a "Aliens with dinosaurs" which actually sounds pretty sick. But Steven won the bidding with his vision of a more "family friendly" movie.

Now this is where I made my first discovery. Jurassic Park was actually a book! Written by Michael Crichton in 1990. I've only recently got into books, so the first thing I did was run down to my local Waterstones and buy a copy. It took me a week to read through. I read through it twice so far. It's currently sitting at my fav book of all time. I must say, while the movie is obvs based on the book, the book is not family friendly.

The Missing Out

There were a few plot lines missed in the Movie which are expected to keep within a sensible run time, but there were also changes to plot lines that I feel dampened the story.

Opening

Movie

The movie opens with work men moving a dinosaur into an enclosure. Before the animal could be safely transferred into its enclosure, the animal manages to break free of her restraints and kills a work man. This is what kick starts the movie. Work place accident, investors threaten to pull funding and a lawyer along with experts have to certify the facility.

Book

The book opens on a beach in Costa Rica. There is a medical facility managed by a doctor from America and a local lad. A helicopter branded with InGen shows up with a worker completely mauled. Ed Regis (InGen dude) claims it was a workplace accident involving some machinery, but the doctor is having none of it.

We also find out additional attacks have been taking place in the local area. New born babies are being eaten in their cribs, children attacked by large lizards on the beach. All the evidence points to an extinct dinosaur. InGen is on the offensive to cover things up, but information begins to leak out and investors get itchy feet.

The Point

While the movie version flows very well and sets things up quickly for a movie. I feel it somehow lessens the "evil" that is InGen. From the movie perspective, InGen is looking to secure funding after a horrible workplace accident. From the book's perspective, InGen is actively working to hide the fact that new born babies, children and workers are being injured and some killed. From the set go, they are shown as an entity we cannot trust.

Dennis Nedry

Movie

Dennis Nedry got done dirty in the movies. Dennis is one of the antagonists of the movies. He's the lead developer for Jurassic Park. In the movie he is shown to be financially irresponsible. Disgruntled with pay, he's recruited by Lewis Dodgson (works for InGen competitor Biosyn) to steal dinosaur embryos for £1.5 million or something? That's pretty much his motivation.

Book

Dennis Nedry in the books is built out a lot better. Nedry was hired by InGen to build their computer systems with very vague requirements that changed often. He was expected to build these complex systems, fix bugs as if he knew what he was building. After a while, InGen began making significant changes to the system without additional pay. When Nedry threatened to walk, InGen blackmailed Nedry, threatening to drag his name through the mud so he'll never find another job again. That's pretty much his motivation. He's been forced into his position by InGen

The Point

The movie paints Nedry out to be a greedy, childish, slob, all in the name to protect InGen. The book paints Nedry out with plenty of flaws, but at least they balance it out with motivation. Yes I'm stealing from InGen, but in my defense, they forced my hand by blackmailing me into doing unpaid work.

The Break Out

Photo by Fynephoqus / Unsplash

I'm not going to sit here and pretend the Movie version can be improve with what the book did. Truth is, they both did an amazing job in their own way. But the break out of the T-Rex does put in motion some sub plots that were missed in the movie all together. For good reason as the movie would end up being 3 hours long. But it would have been nice to either include some of the following or imply:

The Escaping Dinos

One of the biggest plotlines removed from the books was the Dinosaurs escaping from the Island via the supply ship that comes around. When the children were playing around with the night vision goggles in the car, they noticed smaller Dinosaurs jumping around the Supply Ship.

They discovered at the time the park communication was down courtesy of Dennis Nedry. The only other version to verify this is Alan Grant, so now not only does Alan Grant and the Kids need to get to the safety of the compound after their cars were trashed by the T-Rex. They need to do it before the cargo ship reaches the mainland.

Alan Grant and the Kids

After the T-Rex escaped from its paddock, the journey from the T-Rex paddock to the visitor center was long and very often dangerous. Two main sequences that stand out (I'm not counting the waterfall, while it was a solid sequence and ties in with the TRex being hunted. It feels like it belongs in its own section)

The Raft

I am sure if you ask anyone who read the books, the biggest crime was the movie not including this scene. Don't get me wrong, I get it. Back in 1993 it would have been a big ask to do it justice. That and we had the T-Rex break out sequence so having two big sequences involving the T-Rex would have been a tall order regardless. But let's break it down.

After spending the night in a fortified equipment bunker, Alan, Tim and Lex spots a boat house that backs onto a river. They suspect the river will flow right down to the visitor center a lot quicker and safer than if they walked. After sneaking past a sleeping T-Rex that's between them and the boat house, the three successfully get a boat in the river and make their way down stream. However, Lex goes into a coughing fit, waking the T-Rex which chases them.

We get a few chapters on the T-Rex swimming in the river, chasing them down the path trying to get at them from behind dense forests. It's a long, tense, scary sequence that ends in the trio going over a waterfall.

I wish I could go more into the sequence, but just trust me when I say it's the highlight of the book. Adding it would have padded out the run time, risked looking silly on screen with the 1993 technology, but would have been a great addition. On the plus side, the sequence was added to the Jurassic World Rebirth movie!

The Bird Cage

While not as exciting as The Raft sequence, the Bird cage is defo worth mentioning. While drifting down the river on their little raft and having a break from the relentless T-Rex hunting them, Alan, Tim and Lex spots the Aviary (or large bird cage). During the tour it was mentioned the Aviary was to house the VIP lodges, so Alan moored the boat in the Aviary and made his way over to the lodges in the hopes he would find a working phone to warn the visitor center about the dinosaurs on the supply ship. However, on their way over they are attacked by the 'Pterosaurs', those flying dinosaurs that turned out to be fiercely territorial.

Overall it's a small sequence, but it does play into their side mission of contacting the visitor center. It's also a tense sequence as they are caught out in the open field within the Aviary with little cover to hide. One of the dinos grabs Lex to take her back to its nest. But she is rescued by Grant. The three of them make it back to the raft to continue their journey down to the visitor center.

Muldoon Hunting The T-Rex With A Rocket Launcher

Out of all the sequences missed, without a doubt the one that would have worked well in the movie was Muldoon hunting down the T-Rex. I got to give a bit of context to this:

• Unlike in the movies, the park does not have an armoury. The dinos were considered too valuable to kill. However, Muldoon did manage to convince the park owner to allow him one rocker launcher that shoots a strong sedative.
• There is only one Rocker Launcher and it was placed by Muldoon in one of the few gas powered jeeps at the visitor center.
• This jeep was taken by Dennis Nedry, he was killed out in the park along with the jeep that has the Rocket Launcher

So there are two parts to this story:

• A progressively drunken Muldoon goes out into the park with the lawyer Donald Gennaro to find Nedry jeep
• Once Muldoon fines the jeep, he retrieves the Rocket Launcher and goes on the hunt for the T-Rex

Muldoon does find the T-Rex, we have a fun sequence where he is out on the open plans. Where the T-Rex is distracted by something on the river (Muldoon doesn't know the thing the T-Rex is interested in is Grant and the kids). Muldoon misses the first few shots, after missing the first shot the T-Rex b-lines for Muldoon and Gennaro. Gennaro is trying to out race the T-Rex in the Jeep while Muldoon is trying to light the T-Rex up.

It's a real tense sequence and one I feel could have been added to the movie. There were two scenes in the movie that could have been removed and this one added.

• The scene where Alan, Tim and Lex are out in the open running amongst a herd of dinos, hiding behind a log just before the T-Rex comes out of the tree line to take one of the animals down.
• The scene where Alan, Tim and Lex wake up in the trees where they meet the herbivores eating. Actually now I'm writing this I don't know about this one being removed. It does give a much needed break and comic relief where Lex is sneezed on👀

The Closing

I could honestly go on and on and on, but at this rate I could honestly write a book on it. I might add a part 2? I don't know.

Don't get me wrong, I do love the movie. But I do feel some characters were done dirty like Dennis Nedry and other characters given too much grace. Like John Hammond being seen as an old man who wants to give the world the gift of Dinos where in the books he is purely out for the money. He's completely blinded by his own arrogance and his goal of maximising profits.

We also miss out on the long dialogs from Dr Malcolm and Dr Wu. Dr Malcolm who goes on long rants about the arrogance of the Wu and Hammon and their lack of respect for what they are doing.

It was Malcom that was able to highlight some of the issues with the park systems (such as the counting of dinos to make sure all dinos are accounted for, but they only account for the expected number of animals, not more animals than expected. Because it never occurred to the system the animals would breed)

Dr Wu having long conversations with Hammon and their different perspectives on the park and the dinos. Hammon is convinced the park is a success and all the short falls are of other people's negligence and more automated systems are needed. He is either not fully aware or he ignores the dangers of the park.

Dr Wu on the other hand is more focused on the technical side of the park. He is less concerned with the park and its safety and more to do with his glory as the scientist that succeeded in cloning the animals.

Starting off as stern supporters of each other, as the story progresses we do get great dialog between the two.

• Hammon who downplays all the dangers of the park blaming people and believe the park will succeed
• Dr Wu who becomes concerned about the park and more over, the realisation they have no idea if they actually created real dinos and the inherent danger of controlling animals they have no knowledge of. Their temperament and what they are capabilities