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Jurassic Park is a book written by Michael Crichton and published in 1990, which was later turned into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg. Written as a cautionary tale on unconsidered biological tinkering (in much the same spirit as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), it explores the consequences of an attempt to re-create certain species of dinosaur to serve as amusement park attractions.

Synopsis (novel)

Template:Spoiler

The novel, in an "introduction", is initially presented as a brief report on the consequences of "The InGen Incident", which occurred in August 1989. This "fiction as fact" presentation had been used by Crichton before, notably in Eaters of the Dead. Shortly after the story begins, a group of scientists (including paleontologist Alan Grant and chaos theory mathematician Ian Malcolm) are invited on an all-expense-paid preview visit to Jurassic Park, a zoo-like amusement park set up by billionaire John Hammond (founder of InGen) on the island of Isla Nublar (near Costa Rica). Hammond wishes to hear the opinions of the scientists and eventually win their approval of the park; Malcolm expresses misgivings from the beginning. The park contains dinosaurs, who have been recreated from DNA found in mosquitos trapped in amber. Hammond (and his genetic engineers) take great delight in explaining the ways that they created the dinosaurs. The scientists grow apprehensive when they discover that the dinosaurs have been breeding, despite InGen's efforts to keep them sterile. The action begins when Dennis Nedry, chief programmer of the Jurassic Park controlling software, tries to steal dinosaur embryos as per a deal with Lewis Dodgson, one of John Hammond's competitors. In order to do this, he has to turn off the electricity to the park's many electric fences, and a number of dinosaurs - including a Tyrannosaurus rex and many velociraptors - escape from their enclosures, and have a number of encounters with the scientists, who remain inside the park. Eventually several of the characters escape the island alive (although many, including Hammond himself, do not) and the island is razed by the Costa Rican Air Force, although there is disturbing evidence that several Raptors may have escaped. The book has one sequel, The Lost World.

One of the themes expressed throughout this story and its sequels is that of homeothermic (warm-blooded) dinosaurs; a recent theory popularized by paleontologist Bob Bakker.

Movie

The book was later turned in to a movie with the same name directed by Steven Spielberg, which was filmed on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Kauai in September 1992 and released in 1993. It starred Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. Many plot points from the novel were changed or dropped, and the cautionary aspect of the novel was less emphasized. Despite this, the film was immensely popular with critics and moviegoers alike and grossed $919,700,000 worldwide, the highest-grossing film ever at the time, and the sixth-highest worldwide box office take for a feature film as of 2004.

Largely credited for the movie's profound success were its revolutionary special effects, created by Industrial Light and Magic. Using computer-generated imagery alongside conventional mechanical effects, the numerous dinosaurs in the film were created with exceptional realism. Even though computer graphics had been utilized many times before in movies (notably by ILM in their previous major effort, Terminator 2), this was the first film that featured computer-animated creatures intended to look and move realistically. Jurassic Park marked the Hollywood effects industry's transition from conventional optical effects to digital techniques, and paved the way for a renaissance in computer animation in the mid-1990s.

The movie won the Academy Award for Visual Effects and spawned two sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001). Jurassic Park IV (IMDb) is currently in production and planned for release in 2006.

Original Ending in the Movie

In the movie the ending was changed. The original ending was supposed to be when the giant T. rex skeleton in the visitor's Center lands on the raptors before they attack Alan Grant, Tim, Lex,and Sattler. Instead the movie put a giant living T. rex that eats the raptors and before the raptors attack Grant and his gang. Quickly they flee from the Visitor Center and escape with Hammond in his jeep to the helicopter

Dinosaurs featured in the movie

External links

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-The novel, in an "introduction", is initially presented as a brief report on the consequences of "The InGen Incident", which occurred in August 1989.  This "fiction as fact" presentation had been used by Crichton before, notably in ''[[Eaters of the Dead]]''.  Shortly after the story begins, a group of scientists (including [[paleontologist]] Alan Grant and [[chaos theory]] mathematician Ian Malcolm) are invited on an all-expense-paid preview visit to '''Jurassic Park''', a [[zoo]]-like amusement park set up by billionaire John Hammond (founder of [[InGen]]) on the island of [[Isla Nublar]] (near [[Costa Rica]]).  Hammond wishes to hear the opinions of the scientists and eventually win their approval of the park; Malcolm expresses misgivings from the beginning.  The park contains dinosaurs, who have been recreated from [[DNA]] found in [[mosquito]]s trapped in [[amber]].  Hammond (and his genetic engineers) take great delight in explaining the ways that they created the dinosaurs.  The scientists grow apprehensive when they discover that the dinosaurs have been breeding, despite InGen's efforts to keep them sterile.  The action begins when Dennis Nedry, chief programmer of the Jurassic Park controlling software, tries to steal dinosaur [[embryo]]s as per a deal with one of John Hammond's competitors. In order to do this, he has to turn off the electricity to the park's many electric fences, and a number of dinosaurs - including a [[Tyrannosaurus rex]] and many [[velociraptor]]s - escape from their enclosures, and have a number of encounters with the scientists, who remain inside the park.  Eventually several of the characters escape the island alive (although many, including Hammond himself, do not) and the island is razed by the Costa Rican Air Force, although there is disturbing evidence that several Raptors may have escaped.  The book has one sequel so far, ''[[The Lost World (Michael Crichton)|The Lost World]]''.
+The novel, in an "introduction", is initially presented as a brief report on the consequences of "The InGen Incident", which occurred in August 1989.  This "fiction as fact" presentation had been used by Crichton before, notably in ''[[Eaters of the Dead]]''.  Shortly after the story begins, a group of scientists (including [[paleontologist]] Alan Grant and [[chaos theory]] mathematician Ian Malcolm) are invited on an all-expense-paid preview visit to '''Jurassic Park''', a [[zoo]]-like amusement park set up by billionaire John Hammond (founder of [[InGen]]) on the island of [[Isla Nublar]] (near [[Costa Rica]]).  Hammond wishes to hear the opinions of the scientists and eventually win their approval of the park; Malcolm expresses misgivings from the beginning.  The park contains dinosaurs, who have been recreated from [[DNA]] found in [[mosquito]]s trapped in [[amber]].  Hammond (and his genetic engineers) take great delight in explaining the ways that they created the dinosaurs.  The scientists grow apprehensive when they discover that the dinosaurs have been breeding, despite InGen's efforts to keep them sterile.  The action begins when Dennis Nedry, chief programmer of the Jurassic Park controlling software, tries to steal dinosaur [[embryo]]s as per a deal with Lewis Dodgson, one of John Hammond's competitors. In order to do this, he has to turn off the electricity to the park's many electric fences, and a number of dinosaurs - including a [[Tyrannosaurus rex]] and many [[velociraptor]]s - escape from their enclosures, and have a number of encounters with the scientists, who remain inside the park.  Eventually several of the characters escape the island alive (although many, including Hammond himself, do not) and the island is razed by the Costa Rican Air Force, although there is disturbing evidence that several Raptors may have escaped.  The book has one sequel, ''[[The Lost World (Michael Crichton)|The Lost World]]''.
 One of the themes expressed throughout this story and its sequels is that of [[homeothermic]] (warm-blooded) dinosaurs; a recent theory popularized by [[paleontologist]] [[Bob Bakker]].