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Jurassic Park (film)

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Jurassic Park
Directed bySteven Spielberg
Written byMichael Crichton
David Koepp
Produced byKathleen Kennedy
Gerald R. Molen
StarringSam Neill
Laura Dern
Jeff Goldblum
Richard Attenborough
Joseph Mazzello
Ariana Richards
Wayne Knight
Samuel L. Jackson
Music byJohn Williams
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Amblin Entertainment
Release dates
June 11, 1993
Running time
127 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$62,000,000 (estimated)

Jurassic Park is a novel written by Michael Crichton and published in 1990. It was later adapted as a movie directed by Steven Spielberg. Often considered a cautionary tale on unconsidered biological tinkering in the same spirit as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it uniquely uses the mathematical concept of chaos theory and its philosophical implications to explain the collapse of an amusement park showcasing certain recreated dinosaur species.

Plot summary (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 and The Andromeda Strain. 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, which have been recreated from damaged dinosaur DNA found in mosquitoes trapped in amber that sucked their blood that have been spliced with reptilian, avian, or amphibian DNA to fill in the gaps. 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, who works for one of John Hammond's competitors, Biosyn. 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 eight Velociraptor — 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 do not) and the island is razed by the Costa Rican Air Force, although there is disturbing evidence that several Raptors may have escaped, as well as a number of procompsognathids. The survivors of the incident are detained indefinitely by the Costa Rican government.

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.

The novel is considerably darker in tone and content than the movie, with graphic violence and a higher body count.

Movie

File:Jurassic Park screenshot 3.jpg
Dennis Nedry stealing the dinosaur embryos
File:Jurassic Park screenshot 1.jpg
A mosquito in amber
File:Jurassic Park screenshot 2.jpg
A Brachiosaurus seen by John Hammond, Alan Grant, & Ellie Sattler

Steven Spielberg later directed the Jurassic Park movie, filming at the Hawaiian islands of Maui, Oahu and Kauai in September 1992. Opening on June 11, 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 reduced. A subplot involving animals escaping to the mainland was dropped, and the cast of dinosaurs was made smaller and more manageable. Many secondary characters were also dropped. Many scenes are left intact from the novel, but have the species of the relevant dinosaurs changed. The film was extremely popular though, grossing $919,700,000 worldwide, the highest ever at the time, and the sixth-highest worldwide box office take for a feature film as of 2006.

File:Raptor 5.gif
A raptor from Jurassic Park.

Largely credited for the movie's success were its special effects. Through the use of CGI and conventional mechanical effects, the dinosaurs in the film appeared relatively lifelike, due to the experience ILM had on previous effects films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Jurassic Park marked the Hollywood effects industry's transition from conventional optical effects to digital techniques

The movie won Academy Awards for Visual Effects, Sound Effects Editing, and Sound, and spawned three sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001). Jurassic Park IV (IMDb) is currently in pre-production. There are rides based on Jurassic Park in the Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando, Florida and Osaka.

Trivia

Changes from the novel

Name Status at the end of the book Status at the end of the movie
Ian Malcolm Wounded by tyrannosaurus, taken back to the lodge where he is declared dead despite medical attention given by Harding and Sattler; returns in The Lost World revealing he had simply come near death Escaped with a broken leg; returns perfectly healthy in The Lost World.
Donald Gennaro Survives raptor attack, rescued after radioing to stop raptors from getting to the mainland. Eaten by Tyrannosaurus Rex
John Hammond Killed by compys while denying that his park is a failure, and planning to start afresh elsewhere Left on a helicopter, repenting for his creation
Robert Muldoon Wounded chasing velociraptors with Gennaro; still kills several and is later rescued by Costa Rican forces Killed by velociraptor
Dr. Henry Wu Killed by velociraptors at visitor center Leaves for mainland by boat prior to the disaster
Ray Arnold Killed attempting to restore power to the park (Named John Arnold) Killed attempting to restore power to the park. Death not seen in movie.
Dennis Nedry Got lost trying to get to the east dock. Eaten by a dilophosaurus. Found later by Muldoon and Gennaro mutilated. Got lost, then stuck on a hill and was eaten by a dilophosaurus.
Ed Regis Eaten by an adolescent tyrannosaurus Not mentioned
Alan Grant Escapes with T-rex and raptor-inflicted wounds Escapes barely wounded

A fair number of differences exist between the book and the movie. Some of these differences are the subtraction of characters, an altered timeline, and changes to the novel's depiction of the characters themselves.

  • Ian Malcolm, as he appears in the book, is a rather sardonic but brilliant man who couldn't truly appreciate the accuracy of his failure theories because he is badly injured and immobilized by a dinosaur attack. Malcolm's vitriolic monologues are toned down for the film. In the book, Ian is also described as balding, and much less physically robust than Jeff Goldblum (who plays him in the movie).
  • There's a flashback moment with Tim telling Alan Grant the time he was at the museum and how the people wronged the amount of vertebrae on the T-rex
  • Grant's relationship with Ellie Sattler in the book was purely professional, whereas in the film they are involved romantically.
  • Dr. Grant wears a beard in the novel and is somewhat shorter and paunchy. Whereas the film Grant hates children, the novel Grant likes them from the very beginning of the book.
  • Ellie Sattler is 24 (she appears older in the film) and is engaged to a doctor.
  • Donald Gennaro is described as muscular and athletic in the novel, and is in his early to mid-forties. In the movie, though, he is short, thin, obnoxious and and somewhat stupid, a combination of John Hammond's personality and Ed Regis' actions from the book. Regis, InGen's head publicist in the book, is called to Latin America after workers die and brings in the scientists for PR purposes, then abandons the kids in the car and is killed by a Tyrannosaurus after the vehicle attack (just like Gennaro in the movie). But personality-wise they are different — Regis is tall, red-haired and somewhat charming, whereas it is Hammond who is impatient, out-of-touch and whiny (like the movie's Gennaro).
Jurassic Park display at Times Square location of Toys "R" Us in New York City.
  • In the book, Gennaro is sort of the "everyman" character, alternating between acts of bravery (going to turn the power on, hunting the Tyrannosaurus with Muldoon, entering the Raptor nest and operating the radio after it comes back on) and cowardice (hiding in a truck from compys, abandoning Muldoon). Some Italian-Americans were upset by the changes in the movie, as Gennaro went from being a genuine character to a stereotype whose stupidity, greed and obvious Catholicism (he says the "Hail Mary" right before being eaten) rendered him a caricature and a punchline.
  • The character of John Hammond is also distinctly different — in the book he ultimately dies at the jaws of small dinosaurs ("compys") while trying to climb a hill to his bungalow despite his broken ankle. During this climb, his head is filled with plans to rebuild somewhere else and irritation at his guests and his grandchildren. In the movie, he escapes completely unharmed, humbled and awed by the monstrosity he created. In the book, he is also portrayed as a greedy, foolish old man. He is much wiser and "nicer" in the film.
  • In the novel, Lex Murphy is younger than Tim and portrayed as tomboy, while Tim is a computer hacker with a dinosaur obsession. In the film, Tim is the younger of the two and his hacker personality is portrayed by Lex.
  • In the book, Muldoon is a large, savvy and boistrous man of South African descent with an alcohol problem, who nonetheless dispatches several dinosaurs with a decent amount of weaponry (rockets, guns and lethal poisons). In the movie, he is very quiet, only has one weapon at his disposal (an Italian Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun, not a good hunting weapon) and is immediately outwitted by the raptors. The inability of anyone in the movies to kill the dinosaurs is largely attributed to director Steven Spielberg, who is famous for his reluctance to make heroes of gun users or hunters after Indiana Jones.
  • The group was less enthusiastic at the island whereas the movie version, the group was thrilled
  • In the book, the scene where the T-Rex attacks the stalled Land Cruisers is longer and has a darker, more claustrophobic feel.
  • Dr. Gerry Harding, the vet, has a more important role, surviving a raptor attack and saving Malcolm.
  • The geneticist, Henry Wu, also has more important role. He and Arnold work together get the computer back up, and he spars with John Hammond over the running of the park.
  • In the novel, the Jurassic Park staff and employees do not leave on a boat for the mainland, whereas in the film version they do, resulting in fewer deaths.
  • In the book, Arnold and Wu are able to turn the security systems back on without shutting down the whole system. In doing so, though, they lose the ability to find out what happened to the phones. At Gennaro's insistence (to call for a helicopter for Malcolm) they shut entire system down, and upon reboot get the phones back. They think everything is fine, and Muldoon goes out to re-capture the escaped animals. About twelve hours later, though, right after Muldoon brings down the Rex, the power shuts out again. Arnold and Wu realize that when they re-booted they started on auxiliary power instead of standard, because the main generator needs a charge from the auxiliary to start back up. They were fooled because the lights, computers, video systems and door locks worked, but nobody checked the security fences (which the auxiliary generator isn't strong enough to run). It was during THIS time that the raptors escaped and began to wreak havoc. This is much more true to chaos theory — the notion that there are too many variables in living systems for human beings to account for, and just one oversight can prove fatal. In the movie, though, Wu is a nonfactor, and Arnold can't turn ANY systems back on without completely shutting off the system. After he does that and goes to re-start the main generator the raptors see him and escape, following him into the shed and killing him.
  • In the book, the T-Rex has a prehensile tongue and uses it to nearly devour Tim.
  • Despite the Tyrannosausrus-rex being one of the greatest predators that walked the planet, no one died at the hands of the rex.
  • During the tour, the characters get out of the Land Cruisers to see a sick stegosaurus in the novel. In the movie, it is a sick triceratops.
  • In the novel, the tour group has actually finished the tour and are on their way back when the power goes out.
  • In the novel, Hammond does not visit Grant and Dr. Sattler, but a government worker does. Instead Hammond phones Grant and invites them to Jurassic Park.
  • The novel has many scenes which become part of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, including the beginning incident with the girl and the "compys", the shorter dactyl scene, etc.
  • In the novel Muldoon and Gennaro find Dennis Nedry's body very mangled, in the movie he is forgotten once he is killed.
  • Grant, Lex and Tim all sleep in a tree in the movie but the book places them in a maintenance building.
  • The motion sensors which Grant tried to trip (to get attention) weren't mentioned in the movie.
  • At the end of the movie, the survivors merely flee nature, and the audience has no idea what happened to the remaining dinosaurs. At the end of the book, though, Crichton stages one of his most famous scenes — Ellie, Grant, Gennaro and Muldoon go to investigate the raptor nest in the volcano. In a very haunting passage, it finally strikes the survivors how alien the dinosaurs are when they witness the evolution of the migration instinct ninety million years after it happened — yet for the raptors, it is still new. This drives home Malcolm's point that Earth's systems are the way they are because of the cumulative effects of aeons, aeons which the dinosaurs missed. They, alone among the planet's animals, have no natural reactions to anything that evolved after their respective extinctions and are no longer a part of Earth's processes; hence, they are no more "natural" then Frankenstein's monster or a genetically engineered mythical animal. Jurassic Park wasn't just a zoo — it was a modern-day Island of Dr. Moreau, where things that had no business being in the world were just one human error away from being able to destroy the equilibrium of every ecosystem on the planet.
  • In the book, Dr. Alan Grant loves talking with Tim, whereas in the movie he is rather annoyed by him.

Differences between media

File:I10-57-JurassicPark.jpg
Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Bob Peck in a scene from Jurassic Park

There are key differences between the novels, movies, games, and comics in the Jurassic Park series. The differences are in not only the architectural layout of the island, but also in the dinosaurs, dates, and even the characters used. Therefore each medium should be seen as its own separate version of the same story, not necessarily impacting any other version. Examples of this include:

  • The comics illustrate Isla Nublar with an undetermined amount of dinosaurs, and even bring Robert Muldoon back to life.

The Universal Studios theme park rides themselves act as a kind of sequel to the films, and their storylines are not reflected in the other media. The rides' premise is that Universal Studios ignores the cautionary tales (featured in the films) in an effort to reconstruct John Hammond's park and send visitors on a thrilling journey that includes dangerously escaping menacing raptors and the T. rex himself. They supposedly contact Hammond to rebuild his park in their Orlando or Hollywood locations (depending on the ride location).

Original ending

File:Jurassic Park screenshot 4.jpg
The Tyrannosaurus rex in the Jurassic visitor center with the overhead banner "When dinosaurs ruled the Earth" falling.

Originally, the movie was to end with the T. rex skeleton (in the Visitor Center) to fall, crushing a raptor in the fossil jaws before it could attack Alan Grant, Tim, Lex, and Ellie Sattler. Another raptor would then be crushed in the supports for the cherry picker that the group was standing on as it lowered. Hammond arrives and is then able to gun down the last raptor with a shotgun.

Later when the original ending was seen as too simplistic a resolution, the skeleton was replaced with a living T. rex that attacks the raptors, saving Grant and the others. This ending also eliminates the shooting of the raptors. In both versions, the surviving humans quickly flee with Hammond in his jeep to the helicopter and escape the island.

The original ending was used in the original Sega Genesis Jurassic Park video game. The scrapped ending is used as the ending for Grant's campaign, with a minor alteration, in which the player uses concussion grenades to cause the skeletons to fall. Alternatively, if a player chooses to play as the raptor, the end of the game involves kicking the skeletons' bases, causing them to collapse, thereby defeating Dr. Grant.

These are dinosaurs and other extinct animals confirmed to be on Isla Nublar in the movies:

Dinosaurs and other extinct animals confirmed to be on Isla Nublar in the novels:

Biological issues

Scientists and fans of the movie have pointed out that much of what happens in the film is impossible for various reasons. For more information, see Biological Issues in Jurassic Park.

Notes

While the cinematic incarnation of Jurassic Park used ostrich eggs as vessels to facilitate expression, the novel very specifically utilized "a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell." The plastic was called "millipore", created by an eponymous subsidiary of InGen.[1]

References

Further reading

The Science of Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Or How to Build a Dinosaur. Rob DeSalle and David Lindley. BasicBooks, New York, 1997. xxix, 194 pp., illus. $18 or C$25.50. ISBN 0-465-07379-4.

Video games

See Jurassic Park (video game).

There have been a number of Jurassic Park video games released to act as merchandise for the release of each film. The titles have appeared on a range of platforms including NES, Game Boy, Game Gear, PC:DOS/Windows, SNES, Sega CD, Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive, 3DO, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Music

The musical score was composed by John Williams and orchestrated by John Neufeld and Alexander Courage. Like many of Williams' scores, there is substantial use of leitmotif. Two of its several themes are particularly recognizable: a triumphant brass theme heard when the characters arrive at the park, and a serene piano piece with string accompaniment heard at the end of the film. Among the other themes is one associated with the carnivorous dinosaurs. This can be heared during sequences involving either T. rex or Velociraptor. This "carnivore theme" is featured most prominently in "The Great T-rex chase" and in the final sequence in the kitchen with the Velociraptors. It can also be heard in the cue for "Raptors in the Shed," which went unused in the film but was later heard over the end credits for the "Making of Jurassic Park" video. The track "My Friend, The Brachiosaurus," heard during the scene featuring a sick Triceratops and also the morning when the children and Grant are in the tree, has also been featured in many concerts and recordings.

Commercial Soundtrack

The score for Jurassic Park is commercially available, though it is missing a few cues.

Track listing:

  1. Opening Titles
  2. Theme from Jurassic Park
  3. Incident at Isla Nublar
  4. Journey to the Island
  5. The Raptor Attack
  6. Hatching Baby Raptor
  7. Welcome to Jurassic Park
  8. My Friend, The Brachiosaurus
  9. Dennis Steals the Embryo
  10. A Tree for My Bed
  11. High-Wire Stunts
  12. Remembering Petticoat Lane
  13. Jurassic Park Gate
  14. Eye to Eye
  15. T-rex Rescue and Finale
  16. End Credits

The missing cues are:

  • Incident at Isla Nublar (Ending) - The actual ending of this track is not on the album
  • Amber & Bones - The music that plays in the fade from the discovery of Amber in the mine to showing Alan at the dig site.
  • Que Millagros Chaparita - The Cantina source music from when Nedry meets Dodgeson is believed to have been arranged/performed specifically for the film and the version used in the film is not commercially available.
  • Mr. DNA - the source music from the "Mr. DNA" sequence.
  • You've Bred Raptors - This is the ominous music that plays when Alan asks Wu "You've Bred Raptors"
  • Timmy & Lex - This track plays when the group is about to begin their tour of the Island and Timmy is bugging Alan
  • Storm Clouds - This cue plays when you see the first beginning of the Hurricans arrival and Nedry is speaking to his contact on the boat.
  • Bring Back my Granchildren - This plays when Hammond asks Muldoon to take a gas jeep and to bring back his grandchildren.
  • The Great T-rex chase - This cue plays during the scene when the rex chases the jeep with Muldoon, Ellie, and Malcolm through the woods.
  • System Ready - This short cue plays when the computers show the blinking "System Ready" when they try to reboot. There is an obvious edit though in what is used in the film, so some of the track was never used in the film either.
  • Raptor in the Shed(unused)/Clever Girl - This cue is heard during the end credits to the "Making Of" film. It was originally intended for this scene but was replaced with music edited from other tracks. This track also continues into when Muldoon confronts the raptors. When Muldoon says "Clever Girl," the track ends and the music that plays during the attack scene is released.
  • Hammond's Proposition - This music plays when Hammond is asking Alan and Ellie to go visit his island. The ending of this cue, containing an ominous throbbing string chord plus a solo trumpet playing the first few notes of the "Carnivore Motif" can be heard in the "Making of" film but is never used in the film and is still unreleased.

Conversely, the first 2:22 of the cue "Eye to Eye" are not heard in the film at all. Their intended use was during the T. rex approach - the rippling water - and when she appears, swallowing the goat, before the tour vehicle attack sequence.

In all, most of the music heard in the film appears on the album but as released would require a lot of editing to reproduce the music heard in the film.

Trailer Music

There were three trailers for Jurassic Park.

The first was a teaser, containing no film from the movie excluding a few shots used in the "Mr. DNA" sequence. The music is believed to have been written specifically for that trailer.

The second trailer contained film from the movie (no dinosaur shots), but no Jurassic Park music. John Williams was represented by the cue "Indy's First Adventure" from the score to "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." The rest of the trailer's music consists of "The Arsonist's Waltz" and "Burn It All" tracks from Hans Zimmer's score to Backdraft.

The final trailer featured film and music from the actual movie in the form of "Theme from Jurassic Park." The action music is, again, "Burn It All" from Backdraft.

The film has inspired several bands, both in style and in content, including American punk rock band Jurassic Horror. "Weird Al" Yankovic released a single, Jurassic Park, parodying MacArthur Park.

Sequels

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Jurassic Park (novel).
Wikiquote has quotations related to Jurassic Park (film).

(Book) (Film)

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