#dinosaur island t rex movies

[inkskinned]

i hate how commodity and capitalism has ruined so much storytelling . i hate how sequels and prequels and whatever else all ring like merch sales; i hate that i as an author have to include any social media following i have as a marketable trait; i hate that everything feels like a xerox of a copy of a dream of a memory.

i hate that my nostalgia has been turned into profit. i hate that companies fear consumer backlash so no real commentary may be made; i hate that companies care more about quantity over quality. i hate that so many artists and creators are being overworked to the point of complete collapse rather than being allowed to tell the story their way. i hate that every point of representation has to be fought for. i hate it i want us all to go back to living in a cave .

when you sit with friends over a bonfire and the night is getting long and people start telling this slow, almost hypnotic story - in this quiet voice, like they don't expect you to listen while they say the most fucked up shit you've ever heard - that is storytelling. who cares if the punchline is car hand hook door. storytelling has always been about community, about us all sitting in the dark, choosing to fill the silence while the last embers are dying. we forgot that storytelling is spellwork. hallucinating together, our breaths held, waiting for the ending we already knew was coming.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

Idea for an animated kid's movie/comedy.

So there's this dinosaur park that's a thinly veiled Jurassic Park knock-off (call it Cretaceous Island), and it's a bit of a toy story situation, in that the dinosaurs can talk and communicate when the humans aren't looking, mostly at night.

The dinos don't really want to break out since they like their cushy zoo lives and five-star treatment from the staff, so they're willing to get oggled by a bunch of twelve year olds to keep the food coming.

Out main characters are a T-Rex, two raptor sisters, and a wise old triceratops. The raptors are bored with their lives and long for adventure, the triceratops is a wise-old mentor figure, and the T-Rex is lonely since the park won't engineer any other T-Rex's for safety reasons.

Through magical shenanigans they get sent back to the actual Cretaceous period.

Now these pampered genetically engineered dinos have to survive in the savage dinosaur era. To underscore the differences between them, the future dinos are animated as pretty standard cartoon dinosaurs, a la Land Before Time, while the dinosaurs from the past are animated to be as scientifically accurate as possible.

The dinos go through shenanigans, amke friends in the past, evade predators, and eventually make their way home through magic portal stuff, except for the T-Rex who elects to stay behind since he's fallen for a female T-Rex he met in the past. His friends are sad to leave him behind, but go to the present anyway.

Back in the present, the dinos think nothing has really changed, but they find that the exhibit in the visitor's center, previously a single roaring T-Rex skeleton, has been replaced with two T-Rex's, famous for being found fossilized together called "The Deadly Lovers", and its their friend and the mate he found in the past. It ends on the bittersweet note.

[whathorselegs]

Been rewatching Jurassic Park so obviously now I'm imagining a silly SKK Jurassic Park AU for the fun of it.

Dazai is the hotshot arrogant chaotician who is adamantly against opening a dinosaur park and spends most of his time flirting with Chuuya, the disgruntled but secretly full of wonder paleontologist, who is at first taken in by the miracle of dinosaurs being back until they get attacked by them.

The Akutagawa siblings are the children they end up having to protect from dinosaurs. Little Ryuunosuke has read Dazai's book on Chaos theory and follows him around like a puppy. Gin is terrified of dinosaurs after the T-rex until Chuuya shows them dinos aren't monsters and they pet the Brachiosaurus together.

Dazai tries to have a stand off with a T-rex and gets his shirt ripped open so he can lay sluttily across a table and tease Chuuya for looking.

Oh and years later Atsushi is the kid from the third movie that survived on dino island all by himself for three weeks because he read Chuuya and Dazai's books on dinosaurs.

[mediasaurs]

TRM Round 1: King Kong 1933 (Tyrannosaurus rex) vs. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Tyrannosaurus Dinozord)

King Kong 1933 (Tyrannosaurus rex) – King Kong is, at least in part, another lost world story. The main difference is, of course, in addition to surviving prehistoric creatures, Skull Island also features an enormous gorilla. While the 2005 film opts for making up its own dinosaurs, and Kong: Skull Island prefers purely imagined creatures, the 1933 original does include many actual dinosaurs, unaltered from how they were envisioned at the time. Though the T. rex does not feature in much of the movie, it nevertheless makes an impact when it is bested in combat by Kong, after attempting to eat Ann, the object of the big ape’s affection.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Tyrannosaurus Dinozord) – Piloted by Jason Scott, the original Red Ranger, the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord is a giant robotic vehicle in the shape of a T. rex that is used to do battle with the various villains and monsters that cross the Power Rangers’ paths. Like the other Dinozords, the Tyrannosaurus can be combined to form the Megazord, an even bigger and more powerful robot piloted by the entire team. Interestingly, while the other Dinozords are rarely, if ever, used on their own, the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord is able to defeat opponents in a solo fight and has done so on various occasions in the show.

[finnofamerica]

What to Expect When You're Expecting - Dr. Alan Grant x Reader || Fluff

Summary: You tell Alan that you're expecting a baby, shortly after the deadly events of Jurassic Park 1993 take place.

Word Count: 811

Date Posted: 08.25.2022

TW: Mentions of nausea and sickness, pregnancy, and first aid to wounds.

Note: This is pretty short, it's also my first time writing for Jurassic Park. Admittedly I do tend to struggle when following the direct plot of a movie or show. If this does not meet your expectations, I truly apologize and would love another request if you'll take a chance on me 💚

|| Masterlist || Request Here || Fandoms/ Characters || Req by Anon

The island was beautiful when you arrived, though the landing was a bit rough. You gripped Alan’s hand through the turbulence. You’d been nauseous all week, and the rocking of the helicopter was certainly not helping. 

You were a paleobotanist team with your sister, working with the highly respected Alan Grant. That’s how you met, though you were on boarded late. Turns out that it does well to finish college first. You were easily 8 years younger than Dr. Grant, but that didn’t stop him from falling for your energy and passion anyway. In fact your presumed innocence was one of the things that drew him to you, all the things about the world that you could learn from him. Three years together and you were affianced. Grant’s proposal was simple, and he had your engagement ring carved out of bone. 

You wondered slightly how you’d ended up here, on dinosaur island - Jurassic Park as John Hammond called it. It was an opportunity you couldn’t pass up, and you doubted Alan would go with out you. 

“You okay, Y/n?” Alan asked you as he helped you from the helicopter. 

“Yeah, just a little motion sick, I’ll be okay.” You affirmed, though you knew the truth. You’d been sick every morning for the past week, and the test you took while Alan and Ellie were talking to Hammond proved what you’d already suspected. You were pregnant with Alan’s baby. Alan gave you a suspect look, but let you be. 

When you came across the sick triceratops, just like Ellie, you couldn’t resist your investigation. Wanting to stay behind and figure out the source of the sickness. 

“Wait, Alan,” You tugged on his shirt, pulling him aside, “Before you continue with the tour. I’m -“ 

You took a deep breath. 

“What is it?” Alan caressed your cheek. 

“I’m pregnant.” You blurted. You weren’t sure how Alan was going to take it, as far as you know he never wanted kids. His face was expressionless. 

“That is unexpected,” He nodded, “Okay. Stay with Ellie. We’ll talk more when I get back okay?” 

You took a deep breath again, watching him rejoin Dr. Malcolm and the tour group. 

“What happened there?” Ellie asked, noticing the shift in your attitude when you joined her. 

“It’s nothing, Ellie,” You forced a smile, “Just not fond of separating is all.” 

You were safely back at the compound when the shit hit the fan. A t-rex had escaped its paddock and god knows what else. Immediately you panicked. 

“Alan is still out there, Ellie,” You cried, crocodile tears pouring down your face, “I need to go find him, I can’t let my baby grow up without a father.” 

“You’re pregnant!” Ellie gasped. “You’re staying here. You first priority is the safety of your baby, stay here.” 

You nodded. Though you were never the type to sit around. You were perpetually pacing until your sister came back, empty handed. John was off hit wits worried for his grand children. 

“Ian, what happened to my fiancé?” You begged of him. 

“He went to save the kids, before I got knocked out. We haven’t found any evidence that he or the children are hurt.” Ian assured as you went about tending to his wounds. 

“It’s a good thing I went through those first aid certification courses. You never know what’ll happen in a dig site.” You mused to yourself, trying to take your mind off your worries. 

“I’m sure Dr. Grant will be fine.” 

You hated waiting, not being able to do much to help aside from tending to wounds. They’d moved the group to an emergency bunker, making you feel more useless to the situation by the minute. When you weren’t tending to Ian you were rubbing your sick belly, or throwing up in the nearest receptacle. You were sick with your baby, sick from the stress you were under, and most importantly sick from the worry about the love of your life and your sister who’d gone off again to save the day. 

You cheered to yourself as they managed to get everything back online. Soon enough, you, John Hammond, and Ian were in a jeep heading to rescue the rest of your surviving party to be airlifted the fuck out of dodge. You embraced Alan fully once he joined you in the jeep, sobbing in relief. 

“I’d thought I’d lost you, Alan. I thought I’d never get to see you again,” You sobbed holding on to him. He held you equally tightly, soothing your fears. 

“I wouldn’t leave you to raise our baby on your own,” He whispered kissing your forehead. You sobbed harder. 

“You changed your mind?” 

“My dear, my mind was made up the moment you told me,” He rubbed your back, “I was shocked is all and I’ve had my eyes opened to the possibilities.” 

Tags: None

[coulsons-fullmetal-cellist]

Clara and the Bad Dinosaur

(Dieter x horror loving female)

Words: 1, 687

Summary: playing the wrong movie results in a disaster of the toddler variety (artwork can be found here)

Warnings: poor little toddler cries, Dieter gets sad, mild angst but lots of happy fluffy stuff at the end, mild spoilers for Jurassic Park 3 and Jurassic World

Check out masterlist here

Parenting had its good and bad days, its ups and downs. Today was one which had both. You had gone out for a simple errand but as soon as you walked in the door, you were bombarded with tears as your daughter ran up to you crying.

“Mummy! The bad dinosaur!”

“Bad dinosaur?” you looked to your husband for context. Dieter was looking like he had committed possibly the worst crime and immediately regretted it.

“I accidentally put on Jurassic Park 3 instead of Jurassic Park,”

“Rexy dead!” she wailed. Now it all made sense.

“Oh, my sweet little pumpkin,” you cuddled her close to you, “Rexy isn’t dead.”

“No?” Her voice had calmed a little.

“No. Dr. Grant went to a different dinosaur island. So the Spinosaurus killed a different T-Rex. Your Rexy is still alive.”

“Rexy not dead?”

Dieter chimed in, “She shows up in Jurassic World.”

“World?” Clara asked and now you knew that she would want to watch this film. You sighed away the frustration of this upcoming task.

“We can watch that later. You went through a big sad emotion, and I think you need a nap to feel better,” you kissed her little face which was showing signs of being tired. You scooped her up and, after washing her face, put her down for a nap. Coming out of her bedroom, you found no signs of your husband. Eventually you found he had retreated to the bathroom. Dieter was lying in the empty bathtub, hoping to drown himself in his sadness.

“Dieter, what’s going on?”

“I’m a terrible father,” he sounded so convinced.

You tried to reassure him, “No you’re not.”

“I made our daughter cry.”

“You didn’t mean to though,” you hopped into the bathtub and snuggled close to him, “You made one silly mistake. I’m sure I’d put on the wrong Land Before Time, which is the one she likes?”

“The second one. She’s not ready for the first one, and Chomper is her favourite.”

“Why does our daughter love T-Rexes so much?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know, they both have tiny arms?” the mood lightened as you both chuckled.

“You’re a great father,” before you could deny this, you continued, “You can play with her for hours, I’m exhausted after 10 minutes. And you make her laugh so much. I swear she’ll burst into bubbles of giggles from how much you make her laugh.”

Dieter smiled, “Well, you’re good at dealing with her when she’s being difficult or sad.”

It was your turn to shrug, “I’m used to dealing with difficult clients. It’s a lot more understandable with toddlers, they’re so much easier to deal with.”

“They’re also so much cuter.”

“Dieter, your hand is on my butt.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it means I know you’re feeling better.”

“I’m feeling a lot better,” his hand wandered over the rest of your body, getting higher and higher until you gave him a warning grumble, “So you don’t want to get naked?”

“Not right now. Clara will be up from her nap soon and she’ll want to watch Jurassic World, so you’ll have to distract her while I fast forward through any sad parts.”

“Can we skip through the dialogue? Some of it’s worse than Cliff Beasts.”

You nodded, “Who talks like that? And I’m skipping that kid staring at that girl because it’s downright creepy.” You both got out of the bathtub, “Do you want to wake her or make a snack?”

“I can wake her if you want.” You parted in the hallway. Dieter gently woke up Clara.

“Cupcake, time to wake up,” she slowly opened her eyes, “Hey, I’m sorry I put on the wrong dinosaur movie.”

“It’s okay.” She got up and wrapped herself around her father’s neck like a baby sloth and he carried her out to the living room.

“So, do you want spaghetti or meatballs for dinner?”

“I have both?”

“You want both?” he gave a silly dramatic sigh, “I guess you can.”

He put her down and she immediately ran over to where you had put some snacks on the coffee table. As you all settled on the couch, you put on the movie.

“I was offered a part in this film.”

This fact surprised you, “Were you?”

“Yeah, but I hate franchise films and there was too much green screen.”

You would have furthered enquired about this, but you needed to be the parental guidance for this film. You reassured her that the pig definitely didn’t get eaten by the Velociraptors and shielded her from seeing it actually getting eaten.

Clara was very much like her mother and loved a scary movie, but even some things were too much for a little one. “That the bad dinosaur?” Clara asked about the Indominus Rex.

“It’s not a very nice dinosaur pumpkin.” You were worried this would be too scary a dinosaur, but she was distracted as her eyes lit up over the baby dinosaur petting zoo and lit up even further when the film took everyone to the Tyrannosaurus enclosure. “Look, it’s Rexy.” But there was not enough of her favourite dinosaur to see.

You all watched the Indominus break through its habitat and started eating people, Clara felt it needed telling off.

“Bad dinosaur.” It was so funny and cute the both of you couldn’t help but laugh at your daughter.

The display of herbivore carnage lay ahead so you gave Dieter the toddler distraction signal and he bent down to be eye level with her, blocking the TV, protecting her from any potential sadness.

“Do you think a T-Rex would like spaghetti and meatballs?”

“No.”

“No? If I gave Rexy a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, would she eat it?”

“She’d eat you!”

“She would?” she giggled in response, “Well, that’s rude of her.”

The flying dinosaur scene was going to be a potential source of sadness, so another toddler distraction was in order and Dieter went right ahead with it.

“Do you think dinosaurs like ice cream?”

“I don’t know.”

“Would long necks like ice cream?”

“They like tree stars!”

“Oh, so they would like tree star flavoured ice cream.” Clara thought her daddy was being very silly and giggled accordingly.

Once all the human aspects were taken out of the equation, Jurassic World ended up being quite an enjoyable film. And you both didn’t have to voice the various plot holes which displayed a tremendous amount of human stupidity. Now it was the final battle between Indominus Rex and good old Rexy. It looked like the poor girl was going to lose and Clara was ready to bury her face into your side in concern. But suddenly, Blue came to her rescue, they displayed a surprising amount of teamwork and the Indominus was finally dispatched by the Mosasaurus. T-Rex and Velociraptor, usually foes, came together to fight a common enemy, simply nodded to each other that their paths may cross not this day, but another time.

As Rexy step onto the platform overlooking her kingdom, she gave a triumphant roar making her rule noted and marking the end of the movie. Clara roared in response.

She spent the rest of the evening reenacting the final dinosaur fight with her dad and her various soft toys. Dieter was roped into playing the part of Rexy while she was Blue and the director.

“Rahr?”

“No, Rahr!”

“Rahr! Is that right?”

“Yeah!”

He popped the toddler onto his shoulders, “Come on Blue, let’s get that bad dinosaur!”

“Rexy don’t talk,” she corrected.

“Sorry: Rahr!”

Mr. Lobster played an appropriate Mosasaurus and after defeating the bad dinosaur, tried to chomp your leg while you were making dinner. It took a while for Clara to shake off the part of her role while her dad, a seasoned professional, could go back to be adorable old Dieter.

“Oh no, our daughter has turned into a dinosaur.”

Dieter towered behind her, “Well, I guess you don’t want dinner.”

“No,” she looked up at him and seemed so upset, “I want besketti!”

“You can most certainly have besketti little missy!” He picked her up in a cuddle and put her in her chair. You all ate with a dinosaur appetite, thankfully without the mess they would usually leave. Dieter washed up while you gave Clara a bath. She peeked her little head from beneath the bubbles and motioned her arms to snap together biting some invisible prey.

“Are you the Mosasaurus?”

“Yeah, I’m the Momosaur!” she exclaimed. “I eat bad dinosaurs!”

It was at this point that Dieter came in with her pyjamas. “Am I a bad dinosaur?” he asked.

“No, you’re daddy!”

As you dried her off and put her in pyjamas, not dinosaur themed, she was starting to droop in exhaustion. You tucked her into bed and gave her a little kiss on the nose.

“I love boo!”

“Love boo!”

You stood by the door as it was Dieter’s turn to say goodnight.

“I guess after all those dinosaurs, you want a dinosaur song.”

She shook her head, “No.”

“No?”

“I want my song.”

“Your song?” he gave a silly dramatic sigh, “Okay.”

She cooed in excitement as her father got his hands to dance tickles over her while he sang.

“Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh. Chubby, little, stubby all stuffed with fluff” he chuckled her tummy like she was stuffed with fluff,“he’s Winnie the Pooh,” he booped her nose, “Winnie the Pooh. Willy, nilly, silly old bear.”

“Daddy.”

“Yes cupcake?”

“I love you.”

“I love you,” he kissed her forehead as she fell into a peaceful sleep and quietly shut the door and moved into your waiting arms.

“Do I need to say I told you so?”

“Okay, I’m a pretty good dad.”

“Pretty good? I’d say you’re the best, most amazing, most handsome dad ever.”

“Well, I can’t do it without the best, most amazing, most beautiful mama ever.”

“Your hand is on my butt again.”

“Sorry.”

“It can stay there.”

“So can we…?” he asked, and you nodded, “Oh, I’m going to show you how sexy a mama you are!”

Films referenced: Jurassic Park (1993), Jurassic Park 3 (2001), Jurassic World (2015), The Land Before Time (1988), The Land Before Time 2 (1994)

Lovingly tagging @boliv-jenta @simpingcowboy @ellenmunn @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi @brilliantopposite187 @chaithetics @myloveistoolittle @cevans-is-classic @glshmbl

[bonkwosher]

Hello everything is fine? are you still getting requests? if so, i'll do mine, can i ask alan grant for something? (there's so little about this man on Tumblr 🥺). It would be in the 3rd movie, where Alan's wife and him are having a lazy morning and then they're already in the mess of the movie, maybe Alan's sweetheart ends up getting hurt and he blames himself... Idk, do whatever comes to that brilliant mind of yours, sorry, too much information for you! Kisses

A/N: I am so madly in love with Alan Grant & am convinced he's heavily neurodivergent. I'm going to watch the third movie while I write this.

Pairing(s): Alan Grant x GN!Reader

Contains: Reader gets injured, DINOSAURS, being Alan's partner (marriage), death, a lot of movie content due to the request

You & Alan had just gotten home from another one of his speeches. He was drained, all they wanted to hear about was Jurassic Park. You pulled him into the bedroom & fell asleep in his arms. He was definitely not complaining, you kept him sane. That morning was slow. He finally had a break from speeches & was able to get back to his digs. Digs made him happy so you too were happy. He didn't have a nightmare, he just peacefully slept. The fact that Alan woke up long before you & stayed in bed, not even getting ready to go amazed you. Don't get me wrong, he loved you to death, but he was also so desperately in love with his dig. You enjoyed breakfast together & spent the morning cuddling on the couch while Alan read. Finally, around noon, he left for the dig site.

You were surprised that night when Alan brought you to dinner with himself, Billy, & two strangers. They seemed like rich snobs just looking for a new thrill. Either way, the dinner was nice. That is, until the couple brought up bringing Alan back to the island.

You put your hand on Alan's lap & spoke sternly, "I'm sorry but you have the wrong man, Alan will not be going back to the island."

Alan held your hand & agreed with you, but when the man pulled out a checkbook offering to write any number... Alan was convinced. His dig was in desperate need of funding & with this he could have it forever. The only way you would let him go was if you came with him. It sparked an argument that night but in the end, he let you come along.

That all felt like yesterday, but it was far from that. Alan felt a wave of guilt hit when they said they would land the plane. He thought you would be safe, he had to ensure that they didn't land. Needless to say, that plot failed when Cooper knocked him out cold. You rushed to his aid, he was okay, just unconscious. When they landed the plane you directed Billy to stay with your husband while you encouraged the Kirbys to come back inside. It went from Spinosaurus to T-Rex in a matter of seconds. The plane was totaled & two men had already died. You were now, more than ever, amazed that your husband had made it through Jurassic Park.

You ended up together inside what seemed to be a research lab. Snacks in hand, courtesy of Billy breaking the vending machine, you were now exploring.

"Is this how you make dinosaurs?" Ms. Kirby asked softly.

"No, this is how you play god," Alan's signature pessimism shone through, not that you could blame him in your situation.

Screams drew everyone's attention to Ms. Kirby, a raptor among the group. Alan grabbed your hand & led you down a hallway, everyone else following in tow. Billy & Ms. Kirby ran into one cage while the rest climbed into the other. The former two managed to trap the raptor & everyone ran outside.

"Oh my god, it's calling for help," Alan noted, making chills run down your spine.

Alan directed the group into a herd of parasaurolophuses. Billy dropped his camera bag, only for it to be picked up by Alan.

"Into the trees!"

You managed to climb into a tree with the Kirbys, hearing Udesky yell out in pain. The raptors must've got him. Silence hung over you for a moment.

"Mr. Kirby!" Billy yelled out.

"Billy?!"

You could see Billy in an adjacent tree, "Is Alan with you?"

"Oh god," you spoke softly.

Alan was gone & you had no idea where he was. You froze & spaced out as the Kirbys tried to help Udesky. The raptors had created a trap, almost killing Ms. Kirby. You tried to help Ms. Kirby & slipped, getting scratched up by one of the raptors. Billy pulled you up while Mr. Kirby helped his ex-wife.

"Oh god, Y/N. Are you okay?" Billy quickly got behind you to check your back.

You winced as Billy moved your shirt, three long claw marks dragged down your lower back. You were lucky they had their eyes on Ms. Kirby & 'grazed' you. Billy grabbed some bandages from his pack & dressed your wound.

"Alright, is that better?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, thank you."

You & Billy decided to call around for Alan while the Kirbys stayed in a tree & talked. When it got too dark to see five feet in front of you, Billy placed a hand on your shoulder.

"We need to rest, Y/N," he didn't let his voice go over a whisper.

"No, Alan is out there alone!" You did quite the opposite.

"I know he is, he survived Jurassic Park. You think he won't make it through this?"

"I'm staying here till he gets back."

"No, Y/N. It's not safe down here. Let's go back in the tree, we'll keep searching in the morning. I promise."

"But-"

"Alan would kill me if I let you get in any more danger, or worse. Please spare my life, Y/N," Billy tried to bring a little levity.

A small smile formed, hell, you'd kill to hear Alan say anything. Even if it had to be him yelling at Billy. You agreed & followed Billy up into the tree.

It was the next morning, Billy was leading the group through the trees. You stopped at a river to drink some water. Billy pulled the Kirbys aside to talk outside of your earshot. After a moment, Billy called for you to follow again. The forest was thick & the only sound that floated amongst you was the leaves hitting everyone's body as they brushed past.

A distant yelling caught the group's attention, "Mom! Dad!"

Mr. & Ms. Kirby ran off towards the yelling, causing the rest of the group to follow, "Eric!"

You arrived at a fence & saw a boy running with Alan. The Kirbys dramatically hugged their son while you did the same with Alan.

"I thought you were dead!" You cried, Alan's touch forcing a wave of pent-up tears out at last.

"Don't worry, hon. So did I, but we're together now."

"Boy am I glad to see you," Billy spoke as you pulled away from your husband, "Hey, you got my bag."

"Yeah... Lucky strap," Alan smirked before stepping back.

"Want me to carry it?"

"'Have to find a gap here," Alan seemed to miss Billy's question, or maybe he wanted to have extra luck on his side.

The three of you looked around for a second, finally hearing the Kirbys.

"How did you find us?" Mr. Kirby asked.

"The phone, that stupid jingle from the store! I heard it!"

"My phone?"

"Yeah, your satellite phone!"

Ms. Kirby seemed confused, "Where is it?"

"I don't have it!"

"Well, when did you use it last?"

"Oh! Uh... On the plane! I got a call on the plane."

Mr. Kirby paused, causing Ms. Kirby to get scared, "What? What?!"

"I lent it to Nash, he must've had it when he-"

Mr. Kirby looked past his son with fear in his eyes, causing everyone to join him. The spinosaurus was staring hungrily at Alan & Eric, the phone ringing from deep within its stomach.

Alan's whisper made your stomach drop, "Run!"

The two ran off to their left & the group followed on the other side of the fence. Alan followed Eric through a hole in the fence & narrowly escaped a headbutt from the spinosaurus. Once you were a decent amount away from your prehistoric assailant, everyone paused to catch a breath. It only lasted a matter of seconds before the spinosaurus backed up, then lunged through the fence, chasing you all down again. The group found a short-term sanctuary in a building not far from the fence, Alan & Mr. Kirby closing & locking the door.

You fell into Alan's arms, surprised that the chase had you so winded. Alan's hands slid down your back & you jumped, crying out in pain. Alan froze thinking he hurt you somehow & began to apologize. You cupped his face in your hands.

"No, it's okay. It's just-" You paused & looked up at Billy, "I got hurt."

"What? Where? How? Fuck, I knew I shouldn't have brought you to this fucking island," Alan cursed himself as Ms. Kirby covered Eric's ears.

"When the raptors chased us to the trees I was good, well, until they got Udensky. He was hurt & Ms. Kirby went to try to help she fell. I tried to help & slipped, catching myself on the branch & they may have..." your voice fell to a murmur, "Scratched down my back."

"What?" Alan looked up at Ms. Kirby then back to you.

"I got hurt but I'm fine, don't worry. It can wait till we get off this island."

"Y/N, let me see."

You sighed & turned around bringing your hands behind your head to grab the hem of your shirt. You pulled it up slowly, trying to not irritate the wound. The bandages were a little bloody but the wounds seemed to have closed. Alan's voice caught in his throat. He wanted to say a million things at once. 'I'm so sorry for taking you here,' 'it should have been me,' 'Fuck you Ms. Kirby,' 'Billy how the hell did you let this happen,' etc. Alan stepped forward & pulled your shirt down over your wound, bringing you back to face him. He hugged you tightly, avoiding the wounds, & let his head rest on yours.

"I love you," he mumbled into your hair.

"I love you too, darling. Do you mind if I sit down, I'm a bit tired."

Alan pulled away, "Yeah, be careful."

He decided to look out the window to see if there was another way out of this building. His eyes kept finding their way back to you despite his new mission.

"Alan d'you wanna give me the bag back?" Billy more insisted than asked.

Alan clearly thought it was just a question, "It's okay Billy, I got it."

"Please give me the bag," Billy insisted, causing Alan to turn around, "It's not safe."

Alan opened the bag slowly to reveal two raptor eggs. You looked up at Billy & swallowed thickly.

"Raptor eggs. Did you steal raptor eggs?" Alan asked, the dumbfounded look almost immediately being replaced by a smirk, "Now it all makes sense."

"I swear- if I'd known that you were going to end up with them-" Billy paused, "I took them on an impulse, they'd be worth a fortune, I thought they'd be enough to fund the dig site for another ten more years... Look you have to believe me this was a stupid decision but I did it with the best intentions."

As Billy talked, the gears only turned faster in Alan's head, "With the best intentions. Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions," Alan paused & looked at you, "I left my partner with a bumbling idiot. If you didn't grab those eggs they'd be fine!"

"Alan, I couldn't have known-"

Alan gritted his teeth, "Billy, as far as I'm concerned, you're just as bad as the people that built this place."

Well, you surely jinxed it. Alan did end up yelling at Billy. Alan walked to the window & held the eggs out, he paused. Alan turned to look at the group before bringing the eggs back inside.

"What are you doing, those things are after us because of those," Mr. Kirby began.

"Those things know we have the eggs. If I drop them in the river, they'll still be after us."

"What if they catch us with them?"

"What if they catch us without 'em?" Alan asked, always a flare for the dramatic, "There's a boat at the bottom, down river, we can try to make it to the coast at least."

Alan grabbed your hand & took you to the front of the group with him, you'd be considered 'lucky' if you managed to escape his gaze ever again. He led you down a rusty, metal spiral staircase, hellbent on getting you out of there alive.

You never did end up being able to escape his gaze. Everyone made it out & Alan forgave Billy... it took a lot of convincing from you. You picked up the job of getting sponsors for the dig & were actually really good at it. You kept the dig up & running & Alan got to see you more. It was perfect, the one good thing you got out of that stupid trip to Isla Sorna. It would be safe to say he blames himself for ever getting separated from you on the island. You've picked up giving Alan little shoulder squeezes as you walk around the dig or sitting & reading while he's hard at work. Alan didn't have enough words in the world to describe how you amazing you made him feel.

A/N: I'm obsessed with Alan Grant & made this in one sitting. Please, anyone, request more for him &/Or Ian Malcolm. I beg of you.

[ratsandfashion]

I love J.urassic P.ark so much but every time I listen to the audiobook it just drives me crazy how very BLATANTLY that the Park doesn't fall because of "c.haos t.heory" or "life finds away" or "inherent instability" or ANY of that, it falls because of very intentional human sabotage combined with cost-cutting. A disgruntled employee is the one who shuts down all the security and fences, that didn't happen on its own.

And the reason it's such a disaster when that happens is really hammered home in the book in a way it wasn't in the movie---for instance, H.ammond didn't want to allow any weapons that could hurt the dinos, so they have almost no guns or anything similar that can fight the T-rex. There is a single rocket launcher he allowed but N.edry takes it with him when he goes into the park (M.uldoon does get it later and uses it against a raptor in the book, and unlike the movie he does not die!) but that's it. They also have insufficient tranqs for the bigger animals; the T-rex nearly eats Tim before it sets on. There's also the fact that they "streamline" things to have minimal staff on the island, meaning minimal people to handle a disaster.

In fact, N.edry's betrayal is spurred on by cost-cutting; in the movie, he's simply stated to have financial problems and it's implied they're his own fault, but in the book his mistreatment by Hammond is chronicled to the point his stealing the embryos is as much about revenge as money. Speaking of N.edry, a point is also made that neither he nor W.u actually bothers to learn much about the dinosaurs, even their names. This is probably true of much of the staff, with the exception of M.uldoon and H.arding (the vet, who features more heavily in the novel than the movie)

The movie doesn't include all this, but the point still stands in the film that the failure of the park came from human sabotage and human error, not the whole "you cannot control living things" point that the film and characters try to CLAIM. We do find that the dinosaurs are breeding (and, in the book, escaping the mainland) but that's not what makes everything go under, and in fact doesn't even factor into the failure at all. It's more used to support the "life finds a way" message, but it ends up being very inconsequential. There's nothing about what happened that couldn't have been prevented by having a better staff and not cutting corners, it was in no way "destined to fail" at all.

Like. In most ways I consider it a perfect movie (and a good book) but I can't help being driven crazy by how it fails to execute its point.

[bellarkeselection]

Hi! If you havent already would you mind making an Owen Grady fic where the reader gets hurt(it dosent have to be fatel or it can. Its up to you) while training with one of the dinosours or hurt during the events of the first movie? It can be ether full angst or angst/fluff I just need smthing to feed my Owen Grady addiction. I hope you have a good day/night!

You ask and I shall write for him always ❤️

We're never really Done

"Stop trailing me, Grady. I don't want to talk to you!" I shouted slamming my truck door with him following my trail. Owen and I had been dating a couple months before I got a call to become the T-Rex trainer at the new dinosaur theme park. We decided to break up because he thought I deserved to be happy and not worry about him being gone in the Navy. But he was an idiot to think that was a good idea and just my luck two weeks later he started working here the same day I did. "Can we please stop and talk for a second?" He asked throwing his arms out away from his sides but I just scoff pressing a button and the code opening my dinosaur paddock still not talking to him. Owen followed after me still baffled that they had found someone to train the T-Rex. It was almost a death mission in his eyes considering she was the biggest meat eater on the Earth.

Clapping my hands together in front of me I call out into the air while Owen stands closer to the door in fear. He rarely ever went inside a paddock with the raptors unless they were in the metal head brasses. The trees moved where I see her big head peaking through as she lowered it letting my hand press right in between her eyes. "Hey there, Girly. I told you I'd come to see you." I whispered seeing her eyes flickered up in the direction of Owen where I turned my head holding out my other hand for him. "Come here Grady. Don't be a stranger or she might stomp on you." He slowly walked up arms out in the stance he used on the raptors until I take his right hand in mine pressing it against where mine was. "I'm sorry about leaving you the way I did. I just thought you - in case I died Y/n. I didn't want you to-" I cut him off glaring up at him since he's taller than I am where Rexy blows some air from her nose making a warning sound. "I don't want to hear your excuses. They won't do you any good. It didn't help me at all. While we were apart all I thought about was if you were with someone else in the Navy, sleeping with them and saying I love you!"

"Is that honestly what you think of me. How you see me as a one night stand guy and nothing else!" He whipped his head around raising his voice where Rexy made a noise showing some of her back teeth to me. "Owen, I uh wouldn't-" But he cuts me off getting louder where her tail starts swinging back and forth slowly. "No just throw your insults at me, Y/n. I know I've made a bad reputation around the island but all the others were because you wouldn't talk to me. Spare me a glance or time of day and I can't take it!" I slowly try pulling him away from Rexy when her tail moved closer to him where she might knock him to the ground and possibly eat him if I'm not careful. "Owen, keep your voice down please..." He shoves me a little letting some tears slip that finally caused Rexy to swing her giant tail right at him. Without thinking I tackle him to the ground feeling the tip of her tail scrap my back where I screamed out grabbing it as I fall onto his chest. Rexy roared into the sky until I glanced over my shoulder struggling through tears needing her to be calm. "I'm okay, Rexy. Owen won't hurt me...i promise. You're Alpha's fine." Reaching up with my freehand I press my fingers underneath her chin and she never moves her gaze from mine giving me the okay.

Owen was flat on his back with a clear view of the claw mark going down your back. It didn't look too bad but it hurts his heart that he's the cause of it. Whipping my head around slowly my hair falls over my shoulders into his face but I shiver lightly feeling him tuck it behind my ear, green eyes trained on mine perfectly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I broke up with you. You're the only one for me and that won't change. I love you, Y/n." I grinned down at him resting my hands on either side of him so I'm not putting my whole weight on him. Rexy released a deep breath turning and leaving the scene disappearing off into the paddock. "I love you too. It's just - you promised forever and then walked away. I want you still Owen but only if you're all in for good." I whispered even though we were basically alone now so I sit up and help him up. Once we're standing he dropped on a knee making me gasp when he takes my hands in his. "I'm all in Y/n M/n L/n. This isn't a proposal but a promise to you. I love you, I'll always love and if I'm being honest we were never really done anyway." He smirks until I yanked him up crashing my lips onto his and he immediately responded back with a kiss wrapping his arms around me. "Be real, Grady. You wouldn't know what to do without your T-Rex girlfriend." He grinned shaking his head. "You were already awesome. Training the T-Rex just makes you more badass."

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[m3zzamorphic]

So I rewatched all of the Jurrassic Park movies this week and here are SOME of my thoughts:

Old man shaving cream will always have dinosaur DNA in it.

The special effects in the first one hold up to today and I will not accept any arguments to the contrary. Shit is terrifying

Parasaurolophus are the kangaroo ponies of the Cretaceous period

Why does the green jello in the first one look so GOOD

Human beings are stupid. No seriously we never learn.

Rich men prove yet again that they need to be eaten

If you build a facility to hold dinosaurs it will inevitably be destroyed by them in a shower of t rex or something else with too many teeth

Dinosaurs chasing or stalking me is literally my worst nightmare. Honorable mention: when they are slowly breaking through a door/fence/grate and narrowly missing your extremities like a scaly wood chipper

Man running with margaritas while being dive bombed by flying Pterosaurs is forever iconic

They literally broke up Dr. Grant and Sattler just for the movie and it wasn’t canon in the book and I hate it

New kink: Motorcycle ride with running velociraptors

Are the dinosaurs really that out of pocket here?

Dr. Henry Wu you genius bastard you’re grounded

LEAVING THE BRACHIOSAURUS ON THE DOCK WHEN THE ISLAND WAS BEING DEVOURED BY LAVA😭 WHY

Oh okay velociraptors aren’t too scary Blue is cool

NOPE NOPE VELOCIRAPTOR SCARY

Well baby raptors are cute.

Team raptor✊🏻 Team t rex✊🏻

[thefifthsister]

With A Roar

Post Series

“You should have seen her,” Castle beamed with pride. “Oh I wish you could have seen her. She didn’t even think about it. Just put that woman in her place.”

Kate smiled at her daughter, her fierce little girl who definitely was learning what she liked and didn’t like.

“Just like you would have done. Fierce and independent,” Castle told her. “You really nailed your T-Rex impression, Sweetpea.” 

Kate chuckled. “I’d have maybe used words instead making dinosaur noises. Nope, she’s just like you. You get your weird side from Daddy, right Lily?”

“Mommy, that lady was so mean,” Lily grumbled from her spot at the island colouring with her new cuddly triceratops dinosaur next to her. “Dinosaurs are girls too. Susie is a girl. Cera is a girl.”

“I know baby,” Kate reassured her, knowing she’s talking about the dinosaurs at the museum she loved to look at whenever they went, having since named them with the help of her father and older sister. 

“I like them,” Lily continued. “And Lex does and you do. We watch our movies all the time.”

“You can go right ahead and love whatever you want,” Castle reminded her. “We’re proud of you for how you handled yourself today.”

“Tilly wouldn’t hurt her,” Lily grumbled, switching crayons and pushing some more towards Kate who was helping her with the page in front of her. “Tilly only likes plants. But not brocoli. That’s yucky.”

Kate laughed, exchanging a look of pride with husband. 

“Want to watch Land Before Time after dinner with me?” Kate asked, watching the last of the incident fade from her daughters mind as excitement took over.

“Ooh, please Mommy!” Lily cheered.

Kate had loved the film as a kid and it was something she was really happy to share with her kids now. She hadn’t realised just how many of them there were now though. It was fun to work their way through them and knew when the boys were a little older they’d be just as excited by them as Lily was.

“Okay, but you have to help with the table and get into your pyjamas real quick  and then we’ll watch it while Daddy reads to Reece and Jake. Deal?”

Lily smiled, turning to Tilly to tell her all about the movie.

________

A few days late but Happy National Daughters Day Lily Castle

[unnuancedbookreviews]

Jurassic Park

Author: Michael Crichton

Series: Jurassic Park (#1)

Rating: 9/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads: 4.1/5

Date Read: October 2023

'Because the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.' ----------------------------------

Plot Summary: A large cast of characters including archeologists, mathematicians, lawyers, and a computer expert are invited to an island owned by an eccentric millionaire. Using preserved dinosaur DNA he has recreated magnificent extinct species of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. the island is under strict security control and all of contingencies have been planned for. Nothing can go wrong. Until it does and hungry carnivorous T. Rexes and Velociraptors escape captivity and start hunting the human visitors. A mixture of bravery and cunning is the only thing that can save the visitor's lives and some are luckier than others.

TL:DR: A book perfectly at the intersection of hard science fiction and action-adventure thriller. The fame and success of the movie, has this book to thank for a solid plot full of action and characters that you love to love and love to hate. The occasional philosophical/scientific rambling can be intimidating, but is balanced by the constantly evolving story.

Characters

John Hammond - the eccentric elderly founder of InGen and Jurassic Park, Hammond is blinded by his ambition to create the biggest spectacle in history by bringing back dinosaurs. He is determined to open an elite amusement park that will attract wealthy patrons. He single mindedly believes that the systems on the island cannot possibly fail and that his experiments are completely safe.

Ian Malcolm - a cynical and biting sarcastic mathematician famous for his teachings on chaos theory a concept that claims that nature is essentially uncontrollable and unpredictable due to the complex systems underlying the natural world. He has made the trip to Jurassic Park to see if his theories are true and to watch John Hammonds 'perfect system' fall. He's surprisingly charismatic for a mathematician and he is an iconic character for a reason.

Alan Grant - famous archaelogist who is known for huge discoveries that uncovered some of the complex group behaviors of ancient dinosaur species. He doesn't see himself as a particularly brave or heroic man, but ends up proving himself to be one of the most reliable, intelligent, and brave visitors on the island.

Ellie Sattler - a paleo-botanist who studies the fossils and records of plant life, she works closely with Dr. Grant She is a woman of action and is always ready to make decisions. She is cool under pressure and willing to take risks

Tim and Lex Murphy - the grandchildren of John Hammond, invited to Jurassic Park as props for Hammond to prove that the park is perfectly safe. Unfortunately they suffer from annoying child character syndrome. Lex screams at the hint of danger. Tim does his best and is a very intelligent boy, but he's a kid and he's useless.

Thoughts and Feelings: This is one of the most iconic science fiction thriller books for a reason and it is one of my favorite books of all time for the same reasons. Crichton's books can swing widely from amazing to terrible, but with Jurassic Park he found a perfect balance between realistic scientific detail and action packed sequences that leave you flipping pages late into the night. I have a special place in my heart for this book because I'm an animal geneticist and this book expounds at length about the genetics of creating dinosaurs and the kind of veterinary care and consideration that would go into making sure they stayed alive. I live with a veterinary student and several times she would ask me something along the lines of "But do they think about how they would vaccinate dinosaurs against modern diseases?" and I had the pleasure of turning to her and saying "In fact, they do." Is it all 100% right. No of course not. It's a book about using DNA found in mosquitoes, slapping some other random animal DNA in there and creating living breathing extinct animals. It's never going to be 100% right. But that's what makes it fun. It's about imagining a world that feels possible. Like the existence of dinosaurs is just around the corner of scientific discovery. If you have never read this book and you loved the movie or you like books that lean more towards hard science fiction than you should absolutely give this book a try.

The characters are enjoyable (for the most part. Children characters in these crisis books are always a bit of a disaster, but what can you do). The action is good. The science is good. There's corporate espionage, dinosaur hunting, dinosaur vet care, high stakes and no holding back when it comes to the vicious strength of top predators.

Ian Malcolm really likes to wax poetic and go on philosophical rants. IF that's your sort of thing than this book has plenty of it for you. If you find yourself zoning off while he talks about chaos theory and the state of humanity in the world, I encourage you to just skim a little bit and get back to it. Just let him ramble.

[mediasaurs]

T. rex Madness Round 2: King Kong 1933 (Tyrannosaurus rex) vs. Fossil Specimen (Rexy AMNH 5027)

King Kong 1933 (Tyrannosaurus rex) – King Kong is, at least in part, another lost world story. The main difference is, of course, in addition to surviving prehistoric creatures, Skull Island also features an enormous gorilla. While the 2005 film opts for making up its own dinosaurs, and Kong: Skull Island prefers purely imagined creatures, the 1933 original does include many actual dinosaurs, unaltered from how they were envisioned at the time. Though the T. rex does not feature in much of the movie, it nevertheless makes an impact when it is bested in combat by Kong, after attempting to eat Ann, the object of the big ape’s affection.

Fossil Specimen (Rexy AMNH 5027) – AMNH 5027, colloquially known as “Rexy,” has been a fixture of the American Museum of Natural History for over a century. Rexy was discovered in 1908 by Barnum Brown and was the first specimen to provide a complete skull and neck vertebrae, thus advancing our knowledge of T. rex. Besides its value to science and the museum, this specimen also served as the inspiration for the skeletal T. rex in the Jurassic Park logo, as well as the animated T. rex skeleton in the Night at the Museum series.

[balanceoflightanddark]

It's arguably one of the most famous sequences in an already famous movie. Trapped on a mysterious island, the beautiful actress Ann Darrow (played by Fay Wray) is menaced by a gigantic predatory dinosaur. Her only hope of survival comes in the form of King Kong, the massive titular ape that battles the carnivore in a brutal fight to the death that ends with the ruler of Skull Island dispatching the tyrant via breaking its jaw.

Time and again, this battle has been homaged and parodied by many knock offs and media throughout the years. The image of a gorilla battling a dinosaur may as well be ingrained in pop culture, all the way up to 2021 with the release of Godzilla vs. Kong.

Throughout it all, a single burning question remains:

Just what the heck is this guy?

While general consensus and history has described it as a Tyrannosaurus, there's another popular theory that it might actually be an Allosaurus due to the three fingers instead of the more traditional two associated with T. rex.

Now obviously when discussing stuff like this it's good to look at the words of the creators...except even the creators are divided on what it is. According to King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson by Ray Morton, director Merian C. Cooper referred to it as an Allosaurus. By contrast, stop motion animators Willis O'Brien and Marcel Delgado describe it as a Tyrannosaurus. The script itself doesn't help since it only refers to as a Meat-Eater, a title which was adopted on its page by Wikizilla.

Feel free to take a look at the script with this link if you're interested:

In short, we've got conflicting ideas one what it is, and it's up to the viewer to decide. Personally, I do think it's possible to come up with a definitive answer when you consider the general perception of theropod dinosaurs at the time as well as the real inspiration that went into what we'll refer to as the Carnosaur for now.

These days when you look at a depiction of a Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus side by side, you can tell them apart. Back then though when dinosaurs were still new and were still being properly classified, it was believed that the two species were closely related. This is reflected in contemporary depictions, where the two were depicted as looking a lot like one another.

As seen above in a pair of beautiful paintings done by the legendary Charles R. Knight, both look very similar to one another. There are some key differences of course, particularly with the slimmer build of the Allosaurus and the stubbier arms of the Tyrannosaurus, but to an untrained eye they do look very similar to each other. So, the confusion between the two can be understandable.

What helps us was that these paintings helped inspire Willis O'Brien with his depiction of both species in The Lost World (1925). While the Allosaurus was the primary big carnivore, a Tyrannosaurus DID make an appearance hunting and killing an Agathaumas (a ceratopsid that's now considered a dubious genus).

Again, we can see the difference here. The Allosaurus is a bit slimmer and has longer arms. While admittedly I couldn't find a clearer image of the Tyrannosaurus model, we do see that it is a bit bigger and has much shorter arms.

If we compare these two images side by side, we can see that the Carnosaur from King Kong resembles the Tyrannosaurus from The Lost World. Both have a bulkier build than the Allosaurus, and both have shorter arms. Admittedly they are being depicted with three fingers which has led to some confusion, but this is also easily explained since T. rex was believed to have three fingers at the time. The very first mounted skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex at the American Musuem of Natural History (AMNH 5027), featured the three fingers.

This particular specimen in my mind helps cinch the view that the Carnosaur is in fact a Tyrannosaurus. According to Ray Morton again, this display at the American Museum of Natural History, this was the display that served as a model for the animal seen in King Kong. All the evidence, from a look at the models to how predatory dinosaurs were depicted during the time all points to the animal being a T. rex.

That being said, the confusion between the two species is understandable. They weren't depicted as being as distinct as they are nowadays. But it is important to remember how dinosaurs were depicted back then by the scientific community to better understand how they were depicted in movies and popular culture released at the same time.

A big thanks to Wikizilla for providing a bit of a roadmap for this post.

[mrultra100]

Ultra's Ramblings- The WWD '13 Retrospective

“Every fossil tells a story… even if said story is a bunch of jumbled-up nonsense”

As hard as it is to believe it, this month marks the 10 year anniversary of the Walking with Dinosaurs movie, which originally came out in theaters all the way back in 2013. I’m just as shocked as you all that this damn thing’s been around for an entire decade now, but nonetheless, I feel like a quick article is in order to describe some of my personal thoughts on the movie, and how it could’ve been great.

For those who don’t have context for this mini-retrospective, along with the film in question, this was a movie adaptation of the much beloved Walking with Dinosaurs mini-series made by the BBC. The documentary set out to show off the lives of dinosaurs, along with the other animals that they shared the world with during the time. Unlike later nature documentaries like the Planet Earth series, which focus on various scenes of different animals living in the same type of habitat (Deserts, Islands, etc), WWD’s episodes respectively set themselves in a single location, with the focus being on a central animal. New Blood focused on Coelophysis in Arizona during the Late Triassic, Cruel Sea showing off Ophthalmosaurus living on the Jurassic islands that would one day become Europe, Death of a Dynasty being focused on T. Rex in Hell Creek before the KT extinction, etc.  While the science behind this show hasn’t aged well during the nearly 25 years since its release (coughcough150tonLiopleurodoncoughcough), the storytelling present throughout the 6 episodes were beautifully crafted. And that aspect of the franchise stuck around for the various sequels and spin-offs that would follow in the years since. This thing even got a stage show for Darwin’s sake! It’s safe to say that, as the first big paleo-documentary to come out after Jurassic Park, WWD has left a pretty big impact for paleomedia as a whole, one that we’re still feeling to this very day.

With all of that said… where the hell did the movie go wrong? To answer that question, some history is needed. Back when this film was first announced, the plan was for the movie to have no dialogue (aside from the narrator, obviously). It would’ve been like a theatrical version of the original show, if it wasn’t for the hivemind of brainless, money-grubbing executives at Fox, who saw the movie in its early stages and thought “Hey, why not add in a bunch of unnecessary voice overs, dumb jokes, and pointless pop songs into this film?” It felt like they were trying to cash off of The Land Before Time, despite that franchise being a zombie begging to go extinct at that point. And thus, that’s how this film was hijacked to be nothing more than brainless nonsense aimed at little kids. That just not only feels disrespectful at the franchise as a whole, but it’s also disrespectful towards children. I, along with many others, grew up with the original series growing up, and they had things like a pair of cynodonts eating their own babies, the Liopleurodon suffocating under his own weight on a beach, a recently-hatched Gastornis being eaten alive by a swarm of giant ants, the gorganopid’s mummified corpse during the early Permian segment in Monsters, Chased by Sea Monsters ending with an entire horde of mosasaurs converging on the Ancient Mariner (And possibly devouring Nigel Marven and his crew), among other things. Yes, this movie had a few frightful moments, with the biggest being the forest fire scene, along with Patchi and Scowler watching their own father get killed off by one of the Gorgosaurus during the aforementioned fire (And that scene didn’t felt forced), but a good portion of the time, it’s just unfunny jokes and pop songs.

With all of that said, while much of the film reeks of suck, there are some good things to be had here. Firstly, the animation. As much as I wished they used props and puppets like in the original show, the animation still holds up well even after 10 years. The dinosaurs blend with the live-action environments, and for the most part, they still hold up with scientific accuracy. Another point to bring up is the setting that this movie takes place in. Keeping up with the tradition of the franchise showing lesser-known animals and ecosystems, this film is set in Alaska, 70 million years in the Late Cretaceous. During this time in Earth’s history, the dinosaurs that lived here had to deal with long summers, where the sun didn’t set for months. On the opposite side of that, the winters that followed were freezing, with the moon looming over the dinosaurs’ heads for an equally long time. It was a tough place to live, and the dinosaurs who lived there adapted to live in the cold. Not only are species like Pachyrhinosaurus, Gorgosaurus (which was renamed as the more-fitting Nanuqsaurus in the Prehistoric Planet re-cut), Edmontosaurus, Edmontonia, Chirostenotes, and more were showed in the film, they looked gorgeous with their designs.

And as much as this film’s humor is child-friendly to an excessive degree, I do have to admit that I liked Alex a good bit. Don’t get me wrong, a good portion of his jokes are some of the lowest common denominators I’ve seen in a film, he still had my interest a good bit. The scene where he helps Patchi realize that living for something he loves is better than dying in vain was one of the few times where the film felt genuine and not-forced. If the dialogue wasn’t so riddled with brain dead humor and had a vibe more like a mix of both the original show and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, I certainly would’ve liked it more. Back to Alex for a bit, my final comment about him is how I feel he might actually be a sort of god…

…I know you’re about to laugh at me for saying that one of the characters in a bastardized movie adaptation of a beloved paleodoc is a god, but hear me out a bit. At the start of the film, he telepathy talked to some kid in the modern world as a crow, morphed into an Alexornis and flew off into the Cretaceous somehow, is able to break the 4th wall multiple times, was somehow able to rewind footage of the film itself, even fade out of existence at the end of the film. I might be crazy for this, but Alex might be some sort of all-powerful, telepathic bird god. How else can he talk without his beak moving? That right there is the magic of a literal deity, and we should've all realized this back in 2013 and given him the respect he deserved! THE TRUTH NEEDS TO BE MADE!

Amen, sorry for all of that. I went a bit crazy back there. Getting back to the topic at hand, those are my thoughts on Walking with Dinosaurs 2013; A film based on one of the most legendary paleomedia franchises, but was ultimately wasted potential by out-of-touch parasite executives. They went and turned the WWD brand into a laughing stock, and it still stings to this day. All of this makes me appreciate modern paleodocs like Prehistoric Planet and even Life on Our Planet from Netflix even more. At least they both had visions that weren’t dabbled with alot. All of this were my personal thoughts on the movie, so if you want more in-depth looks into the movie and its history, check out the videos made by Kody Cook and Rickraptor105, along with the Letterboxd review made by IsaiahCTorre. They all made great reviews discussing what went wrong with this fossil. Oh, and speaking of fossils…

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[briangroth27]

A Fandom 30 Years in the Making

Two weeks ago on June 11, my favorite movie of all time turned 30! Let’s talk about Jurassic Park!

I’ve heard it said that this was the Star Wars of my generation–the movie that showed Millennials what movies could be–and that’s 100% true for me. This was formative in both my love of movies & my taste in them: I’ll always believe a crowd-pleasing blockbuster adventure with heart & brains can be just as impactful & important as traditional Oscar fare. JP is the kind of movie that makes me want to make movies, which is the highest compliment I can give. Even before I realized writing & filmmaking are what I want to do for real, it helped stoke my imagination when I’d invent new adventures for my toys.

Jurassic Park was one of my earliest experiences seeing a film in the theater; not the first, but definitely one of the most impactful. My family didn’t see a lot of movies in the theater–Friday nights at Blockbuster (paired with Dominos!) & TV airings were my avenue into most films back then–but seeing Jurassic Park when I was 7 is still one of the most vivid memories of my youth.

JP came out in the early days of my experience with fandoms; when things hit for me they hit BIG. I recall being excited about Happy Meal tie-in toys & promotions for movies before Jurassic Park (going back at least as far as Dick Tracy & Rescuers Down Under; Rescuers was actually the first movie I saw in theaters), but Jurassic Park was–along with the Batmania of Batman Returns the previous year–one of the first true blockbuster experiences I got wrapped up in and obsessed with. Batman (the films & the Animated Series), X-men the Animated Series, Spider-man the Animated Series, Power Rangers, Star Trek the Next Generation, & Goosebumps were some of the other massive fandoms of my youth: I had to have everything related to them and was blessed (& probably a little spoiled) by relatives who obliged. Jurassic Park stood out even among those though, because even in pre-streaming days I had fairly constant access to the shows & movies I loved: VHS copies of older movies like Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, Superman, Back to the Future, and weekly TV episodes kept me regularly engaged with my favorite characters. I had a general fascination with dinosaurs beforehand, but Jurassic Park was a singular experience that was just as earth-shattering as any of those franchises. I only saw it once in theaters in 1993, but I immediately loved it and reenacted the jokes & one-liners more times than I can count. Sure I watched the VHS a ton later on, but for it to have such an impact on me without preexisting build-up & hype or familiarity with the characters is pretty impressive.

After seeing it, I remember trying to collect the McDonalds cups (eBay has since helped me out!), reading the junior novelization & original book in the car while my parents drove me & my little sister around, and playing with action figures that took liberties with a few characters’ likenesses & had oddly intensely battle-damaged dinosaurs in the Command Center Playset. I remember the branded school supplies (maybe my first experience recognizing production/promo images that weren’t in the final movie), stopping my mom in the electronics section of Wal-Mart to watch the first T-Rex attack scene on the display TVs, seeing the dinos on covers of Disney Adventures magazine, and playing as Dr. Grant (& a Raptor!) in the Sega Genesis video game. Years later I worked at Universal Orlando and it was still a thrill to walk through the Jurassic section of Islands of Adventure with the iconic theme on repeat, ride a water attraction only briefly referenced in the background of the movie, wish I could ride the Pteranodon Flyers, meet a raptor, and explore the Visitor’s Center!

Disregarding the careless science and horrific deaths, Jurassic Park still makes me wish a place like that existed (obviously a safe version…clearly I’ve learned nothing haha). If it were real I’d absolutely go, even if I’d only be able to afford it on Coupon Day. Can we at least get a video game that lets you visit, explore, & survive the park on the ground instead of just building it? Let me play as Park Operations (like that excellent demo Universal shut down), a park guest caught in the terror, and a dinosaur too!

Despite how much I love it, I can admit Jurassic Park isn’t technically perfect (no movie is!). There’s a literal plothole–that T-Rex paddock ravine comes out of nowhere!–but plot holes don’t matter & I don’t care that the ravine isn’t established before Grant & the kids flee into it. The movie is better for it. Likewise, there are plot threads that don't get tied up neatly and only display character or pay off themes & theories rather than tying into the narrative: the triceratops illustrates Ellie, Alan, & others’ character while the nest Alan & the kids find proves Ian correct, and both moments show us how little control & understanding Hammond & his team ever had (which also proves Ellie right). And sure, Tim could've grabbed the shotgun for Alan instead of watching Lex figure out the computer, but that's a character panicking, not a plot hole. Some might call these moments messy, but none of it is distracting or damaging to the movie.

Even with these technical “flaws,” Jurassic Park is perfect. I love the mix of wonder, adventure, horror, found family, humor, & sci-fi social commentary at play. It’s a fantastic balance masterfully pulled off by Steven Spielberg, David Koepp, and all the actors (who will forever be Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm, Ellie Satler, etc to me). The mix of practical puppetry & CGI is still mind-blowing, the characters are well-crafted & the actors have excellent chemistry, the pacing is superb, and John Williams’ score is one of my top 5 movie themes of all time.

I went back and saw it twice in theaters for the 25th anniversary, making JP the movie I’ve seen most in theaters (I know 3 times isn’t anything compared to some people, but even pre-pandemic when I was going to the theater almost every week I didn’t have the time or money to see anything more than once). And I love that I’m still finding new things in it! As I learned more about filmmaking, I recognized that the character intros are a master class in brilliantly & succinctly telling you exactly what you need to know about every one of these people. Despite never kissing onscreen, Alan & Ellie’s body language & how comfortable they are touching each other (there are even some literal “hold on to your butts” moments in their early scenes) gives more evidence that they were at least friends with benefits if not full-on dating (I always got the impression they were together, & I totally disagree with the discourse from last year that she was his subordinate or significantly younger than him in the movie: even though Laura Dern is much younger than Sam Neill he looks young enough that the characters could be relatively the same age, she acts & is treated as the co-lead of their dig–& she’s got a doctorate too so she’s not a grad student or anything–and you can see how Alan actually does relate to a subordinate in Jurassic Park 3). I’ve seen Nedry’s clothes called out as recreations of the Goonies kids’ attire and that’s fun, but to me it’s cleverer that Tim wears the kid version of his hero Dr. Grant’s outfit. I love the little moment where Hammond (“accidentally?”) puts the map down on Ian’s injured leg when they’re guiding Ellie through the power station. Hammond also mutters a line when the storm is approaching about how he should’ve built in Orlando which was cool to hear since I grew up around there, but is really another example of how he has no idea how to control or escape nature since tropical storms hit Central Florida a lot too.

None of the sequels have lived up to Jurassic Park, but I still enjoy them all (Camp Cretaceous did the best job of recapturing the feel of the original IMO). A problem I had going into Dominion was that I didn’t want either humans or dinosaurs to go extinct, so trying to wrap up this saga in some final battle for dominance was never going to fly for me. Locusts weren’t the answer either, but just give me a streaming show about life in a world with widespread dinos and we’re set. That’s how I want to see this franchise grow: a wide variety of episodes exploring all genres from Espionage to RomCom to body horror to Amblin-styled "kid sneaks a dinosaur into their room" family fare, exploring how life finds many different ways. They could also catch up with classic characters and explore the implications of dinosaurs in any modern setting as well as dig into the misuse of cloning technology & effects of capitalism on scientific advancement without feeling pressured to put a narrative bow on it!

Regardless of where the franchise goes in the future, every time I watch the original I’m immediately swept up and I’m a kid again. “It’s…it’s a dinosaur!” will make me tear up with joy. Every one-liner will land. The T-Rex and Raptor attacks will have me on the edge of my seat. John Hammond failed to create an authentic spectacle he could control with the park, but everyone involved in this movie absolutely created real magic.