Category: Opinion Piece

Opinion: Jurassic Park 3’s Importance to the Franchise

Posted on by Marcus McCowin

I was eight years old when Jurassic Park III was released.

I can vividly remember jumping in the car with my mom and dad and heading to the theater. It was hard to believe they had made a 3rd movie. Dinosaurs and the Jurassic franchise were my thing. My sister had Disney princesses, my brother had NASCAR —I had dinosaurs. I loved JP 3. I still do. For a long time after the movie’s release, it was by far my favorite of the three in the franchise. I can remember opening a huge (but very light) box on Christmas morning in 2001 to find that silver VHS. I couldn’t have been happier.

Over the years I began to love each of the three films equally, because I love the individual personalities that they bring to the screen. Jurassic Park brings wonder and awe of these amazing animals. The Lost World brings a feeling of wilderness and safari while exploring the dinosaur universe. Then Jurassic Park III came along and delivered a type of big-action, jungle vibe that was altogether different from the first two. I’m not saying that any of these three films are perfect. There are flaws in them as there are in every movie. However, they are darn good and entertaining. The question still stands — was Jurassic Park III a good stand-alone movie and solid addition to this franchise at the time? Maybe not. What is awesome, however, is that with the addition of a new trilogy and backstory, fans may want to take another look at it and its newfound place in the Jurassic universe.

Once I became more in touch with the internet as I got older, I realized something that both surprised and bothered me. There was some serious hate (and still is) being thrown JP 3’s way. I couldn’t believe it and had no idea why. Once I dug further, I realized it came from two main sources — Spinosaurs killing a T-rex (not even our beloved Rexy,) and the Kirbys.

The fight between the Spinosaurus and T-rex is something that will live in Jurassic infamy for fans. At that point in paleontology, Spino was considered the biggest and most ferocious animal to walk the Earth. I don’t think everyone properly understood at the time, but the T-rex in JP 3 is young. This information comes from the Wiki information of the Jurassic franchise, as well as the dinosaur size charts for the films. This rex was more than likely an inexperienced fighter as well. This fight could have absolutely been handled better by the screenwriters. But to hate the movie over a fight? That doesn’t make sense to me.

Dr. Grant said that Spinosaurus “wasn’t on InGen’s list,” and it made him wonder what else they were up to. Flash forward 14 years to Jurassic World — we can now venture a guess as to what InGen may have been dabbling in at that time. When Grant said that in JP 3, no one had any idea that the franchise was going to carry on, and the movie ended with hardly any other mention of InGen. We now know the origin of Spinosaurus, thanks to the Dinosaur Protection Group (DPG). Spino was one of several secret experiments by InGen, which began after Masrani acquired them in the late 90’s. DPG gave extra meaning to JP 3 by explaining where its main antagonist came from. No longer do we need to be confused as to why this beast seemingly fell from the sky.

Dr. Grant also gives a chilling warning in JP3 that now seems to foreshadow Jurassic World. He tells Billy “some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions.” In Jurassic World, Vic Hoskins makes me believe that he has good intentions, even though his end game is more than likely making big money from his Indoraptor idea. In the end he loses his life, but before that, a large part of his concern is saving the lives of soldiers via militarized raptors. Grant’s words can really resonate with you when you see clips of the Indominus and Indoraptor wreaking havoc. In fact, I would get chills if they inserted his quote into the Fallen Kingdom trailer.

If the new Jurassic World trilogy did not exist now, would you care whatsoever about what InGen was up to back in the early 2000’s? Or care to wonder where Spinosaurus came from? Most likely not. If you look back at the movie now and listen to the confusion in Grant’s voice, it’s interesting to think (and now know) what Masrani’s acquired InGen team was working on somewhere in the world.

Jurassic fans should be happy with how much raptor intelligence was explored in the third film. We learned about their communication, their ability to set traps and their fierce loyalty to keeping their young in their possession. Jurassic Park let us know the preliminary information on these animals, but JP 3 really dove in. For this reason, it allowed me to be able to buy into the fact that they can be trained. Raptors are supposed to be brilliantly smart creatures. If dolphins, gorillas and whales can be trained, why couldn’t raptors? This is especially true when they come in contact with their alpha from birth, just like Owen. I totally bought into the idea that raptors could be trained, and a large part of that reason was because of how smart they were portrayed to be in JP 3.

In the movie, the Kirbys may have been slightly annoying, but at the end of the day they’re supposed to be parents scared to death that their son is dead. Amanda also did something that had a roundabout effect on what is going on in the Jurassic universe today. When escaping from the Pteranodon enclosure, she doesn’t take the time to fully shut the door. This allows the Pteranodons to escape their cage and flee from the island. It is now a known fact that those Pteranodons ended up in Canada. Who was tasked with the job of corralling them up? Vic Hoskins. And because of the excellent job and manner in which he presented his team in Canada, he was hired by Simon Masrani. A few years later, with his job at InGen, Hoskins would be plotting with Henry Wu to make an ultimate weapon of war — the Indoraptor.

It’s my theory that Hoskins and Wu worked to come up with something like the Indominus. They made it. They wanted it to escape. And when it did, Hoskins knew that he could exploit Owen’s raptors’ intelligence and tracking ability to hunt it. Then after their success, he could really push the idea of a shrunken Indominus without the T-rex DNA to use for war.

So now go back to Amanda running from the Pteranodon enclosure. If she stops to shut that door properly, does any of this ever take place? I think that’s a fair question. Would there be hybrid dinosaurs? Probably. In the late 1990’s, Wu was successfully creating hybrid plants. I think it would have only been a matter of time before he went to hybrid dinosaurs. However, would he have been corrupted in the way he was after Hoskins got to him? Hard to say for certain.

Is Jurassic Park III perfect? No. But, I find it highly entertaining, with great-looking dinos and fantastic graphics. Standing as a third and potentially final installment of the franchise, I would say this movie is lackluster. However, being the middle piece of the puzzle that fills in some gaps gives it meaning and value. When you watch this movie today, you can relate it to the future of the Jurassic franchise much better than you could have for the last 17 years. Today, its dialogue and premise makes sense and should be appreciated more for what it is.

What are your thoughts on what Jurassic Park 3 adds to the franchise? Sound off in the comments below!

Opinion: Who Should Direct Jurassic World 3?

Posted on by Maggie Rachael


It’s official: we now have a release date for the third film in the Jurassic World franchise! Set to be released on June 11, 2021, this third film has fans everywhere excited. However, the announcement of a third film begs one very large, very important question:

Who’s going to direct it?

Who can bring about those classic Jurassic Park sensibilities and inject those intense elements that fans love so dearly, while still putting their own mark on the film? By no means is directing a franchise of such a large caliber an easy job, but there are many directors out there who have proved that they are more than capable of reining in a few wayward dinos (and a few more wayward actors).

But, it takes something special to create a truly unique film that appeals to everybody, and with the clear sign that diverse movies sell well, it’s high time that the directors and stars of a franchise as big as Jurassic World change to reflect the vast fanbase.

So, we present (in no particular order), a list of five diverse, talented people I believe would serve the Jurassic franchise well:

(Source: IMDb)

Ava DuVernay

Arguably the biggest name on this list, DuVernay is one of the spearheads of a new era of Hollywood blockbusters: those that are diverse, and tell diverse stories. And that’s exactly what the Jurassic franchise needs. While we’ve always had women at the forefronts of these tales, and they’re certainly not just there to look pretty, bringing someone like DuVernay in could open up endless opportunities to put people of color in the spotlight in one of the biggest film franchises in history. From the success of films like Black Panther, it’s clear that diverse films sell, and it feels like it’s time for the Jurassic franchise to catch up.

Projects like Selma prove that DuVernay has the determination and the intense ardor needed to create a great film, as well as tell a story that it is far more than what it seems to be on the surface. DuVernay is devoted to creating a n entire experience within her films – an admirable quality that gives her a seat at the table of Hollywood’s best contemporary directors.

And of course, the director’s previous work shows excellent examples of the whimsy and nostalgia that everyone feels when they watch (or rewatch) the original Jurassic Park – just look at what we’re expecting to see from A Wrinkle in Time. DuVernay tells very human stories while balancing it with the magic we all want to feel, and could bring something totally different to Jurassic World 3 that would change the game entirely.

(Source: IMDb)

Karyn Kusama

Having won awards from both the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals for her films, Karyn Kusama certainly has the experience necessary to helm a Jurassic film with the poise and determination it takes to make a great film.

Her work on the horror-comedy Jennifer’s Body is highly underrated, and like DuVernay, Kusama is a woman of color who could bring a much-needed lens of diversity to the film. (When making her debut, Girlfight, she insisted that the protagonist be Latina rather than whitewashed to become a white actress’ star vehicle.) And, in addition to that, Kusama’s roots in horror with works like Jennifer’s Body and The Invitation can lend an unsettling quality to the Jurassic films – one that could bring the grit back around that Crichton’s original novels offer so effectively.

Kusama’s work with female-centric works like Girlfight, her breakout film, and the all-female horror anthology XX, also indicate a perspective that the Jurassic franchise could use. The idea of strong, independent, Sexy Lamp Test-passing females has been a staple of the films for the past twenty-five years, but we could always use more. Third film’s the charm, right?

(Source: IMDb)

Ana Lily Amirpour

Amirpour is perhaps best known for her 2014 vampire drama, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, as well as 2016’s The Bad Batch, a post-apocalyptic story featuring Keanu Reeves, Jason Momoa, and a one-armed Suki Waterhouse. She’s straight and to-the-point with her storytelling – there’s no creatively masking violence or insecurity, and the directness helps to build the brave new worlds her characters exist in and interact with.

Her work is delightfully bizarre, but also carries with it a heavy sense of sharpness and honesty that few other filmmakers can display in such intense genre films. She tells compelling stories using the bare minimum amount elements, and it’s clear that she knows exactly what she’s trying to achieve with each new project.

Amirpour only has two feature-length credits to her name – plus a directing credit on an upcoming episode of Legion – but other franchises have had clear success pulling directors from small, indie film backgrounds (see: Taika Waititi’s successful turn directing Thor: Ragnarok) and Amirpour’s style is perhaps exactly what the franchise needs. A bit strange, more than a bit dramatic, and pointedly different.

(Source: IMDb)

Sarah Adina Smith

Sarah Adina Smith is a woman known for her off-the-wall takes on the human psyche and the human experience. These tales have won several awards, including multiple Best Film awards for 2014’s The Midnight Swim, the story of three women unable to let go of the death of their mother. Off-the-wall is precisely what the Jurassic films need to continue pushing the envelope of the sci-fi genre, so why not put Smith in the driver’s seat?

Like Amirpour, Smith is also directing an upcoming episode of Legion, suggesting her propensity for stretching the limits of audiences’ imaginations to create an unbelievable world of sci-fi and fantasy – much like Michael Crichton did when he originally published Jurassic Park.

The indie director says that her approach to film is not intentionally unconventional – in an interview with Daily Dead, she said that “it’s all about listening and seeing what [the] movie wants to be, and letting the movie have a life of its own, and letting it dictate where it wants to go, and being less controlling about the process”. What would happen if she were made head of a large film like Jurassic World 3? Perhaps the story would go in a direction that no one ever imagined it could go, slipping down a rabbit hole that could reinvigorate the entire franchise with something fresh and different.

(Source: IMDb)

Julia Ducournau

Many of the women on this list are those who work in horror and have no qualms with getting their hands dirty to make a good film. Julia Ducournau has perhaps the dirtiest, bloodiest history of any of these directors, diving straight into body-horror with her first film. But, that type of blood, sweat, and tears in her work betrays a true, deep humanity that could lend incredibly well to the characters in Jurassic World, making them more than simply characters in an action film.

Her breakout film, Raw, examines the human condition through a very inhuman lens, taking the audience to new extremes to discuss something very close to them. Ducournau’s narrative of a teenage cannibal at veterinary school deconstructs the way people – specifically women – are looked at and how society treats them, turning a genre film from simply something that makes viewers faint to a dark commentary on social politics.

Cannibalism and dinosaurs aren’t exactly the same thing, but Ducournau’s method of storytelling is one that could apply well to the Jurassic franchise. The politics of genetic cloning and animals rights are being hotly debated in today’s society, and offering someone like Ducournau the opportunity to take the reins of a big budget sci-fi franchise could take audiences down a yellow brick road of genre horror – replacing the glitter on the audience’s ruby slippers with a bit of blood, of course.

What do you think? Who are your picks to direct the third Jurassic World installment? Let us know in the comments below!

‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ Viral Website Answers Questions While Creating All New Mysteries

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Get ready for a deep dive into Ingen’s secrets and inconsistencies.

Alongside the ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ Super Bowl trailer earlier this month, the viral website for Dinosaur Protection Group formally launched with a trove of new information and images. The DPG is a fictional organization introduced in the upcoming Jurassic Park sequel founded by Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), with the goal of gaining public and financial support to save the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar from the ‘extinction level’ eruption of the once dormant Mount Sibo.

Claire’s ambition to save the dinosaurs is driven by not only an empathetic bond to animals in need, but the moral responsibility of those who created the dinosaurs to save them from a doomed fate – a fate humanity dictated due to their unnatural forced containment and isolation. The DPG argues mankind must be held accountable for the life they’ve created, for better or worse, and it’s their obligation to save the dinosaurs via relocation or other means.

Thus, the ‘in-universe’ intent of the Dinosaur Protection Group website is to educate the world not only about the prehistoric life created through de-extinction, but to also help the public better understand the history of InGen’s actions, and the range of impact the epochal company has induced.

In a new DPG update today, the groundwork is set for explaining many of the mysteries of the Jurassic universe (such as why was the Spinosaurus not on InGen’s list, for starters). But before we go that far, it’s best to understand the lay of the land – after the San Diego incident in 1997, the Gene Guard Act was passed by the US House Committee in collaboration with InGen. The act rewarded currently existing dinosaur species the same rights as naturally existing endangered species, protected the islands from outsiders, and outlawed furthered creation of extinct prehistoric fauna.

This act was put into place before John Hammond passed away, and at the time InGen was fully committed to upholding a greater standard of ethics, standing as guardians of these majestic animals from the past. The restrictions would remain enforced when Masrani Global acquired InGen in 1998, though it was later discovered the company neglected the law well before the sanctions were dropped in 2003 (note: those sanctions were later discovered to be removed under illegal pretenses such as bribery).

The breaches in the Gene Protection Act began as soon as 100 days after Masrani Globals acquisition of InGen, and led to the creation of the Spinosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Corythosaurus* (all new species which first appeared in Jurassic Park 3). Curiously, the Jurassic Park 3 Ankylosaurus varies from that seen in Jurassic World – perhaps it’s an example of sexual dimorphism, where the males of the species have a different body structure and a splash of red on their face. The aformentioned file leak dates to 1997, prior to the acquisition; presumably any new variation of dinosaur seen in ‘World’ not listed as illegally cloned was created after 2003.

*Note: Despite what the DPG says, the Corythosaurus was not cloned illegally, and existed on Isla Sorna prior to the Gene Protection Act. It can be seen as part of the species list in ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’.

The files also point to the breeding Velociraptors, and much like Grant did, assumes Frog DNA is to blame. However, this does not take into account that modern reptiles and birds have been observed changing sex, and breeding in nature. As birds are a direct decedent of dinosaurs, and share the common archosaur ancestory with reptiles, it can be assumed that particular genetic ability evolved naturally. Hence, even without the frog DNA, dinosaurs would likely find a way to breed in certain circumstances. This is further evidenced by the documented breeding of Stegosaurs, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurs, Gallimimus, Pteranodons, and in all likelihood, numerous other species (for example sexual dimorphism can be observed in Parasaurolophus with green females, and orangeish males).

What the InGen file leak does not account for is the curious omission of Proceratosaurus, both a species on the Jurassic Park map, and a viable embryo stolen by Dennis Nedry – perhaps this can be explained by carelessness in InGens archival of information, or it was scrubbed from record for even more nefarious motives. Further anomalies that are yet to be explained are the separate sub-species of Velociraptor, Brachiosaurus, and Pteranodon observed on Isla Sorna during the events of Jurassic Park 3.

The latest DPG blog entry is vague on the status of Isla Sorna – it’s alluded that InGen at least claimed they moved all species to Isla Nublar, however the likelihood of that being true or possible seems slim at best – especially as many of the species of Sorna are nowhere to be found on Nublar. While one may account that to population extinction, earlier DPG updates suggest the only known extinctions are Metriacanthosaurus and Edmontosaurus on Isla Nublar only.

There is a lot more to dig into on the Dinosaur Protection Group website, such as dinosaur population counts from 1993 to 1997, illustrating the various survival rates and hunting patterns of the animals on both islands. Further, it showcases that some of the new dinosaurs seen in ‘World’ were species InGen aspired to create via incomplete genomes during the ‘Park’ era, such as the Dimorphodon and Allosaurus.

This is an exciting time to be a Jurassic Park fan, and further dig into the canon of the films. Be sure to check the website out, and sound off on what you think of this latest lore expansion!

Source: Dinosaur Protection Group

The Next ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ Trailer Should Allude to More yet Show Less

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Forward:

Before we dive in, I want to give some perspective and context to my mindset while writing this article. I worry that perhaps the intent may be lost due to a lack of eloquence of writing on my part while crafting this, so this forward of sorts felt necessary. While this article will surely be interlaced with personal opinion and critique, it’s not a sanctimonious attempt to make a statement of authoritative opinion. Rather, it’s meant as an explanation for my and so many others reactions to the Fallen Kingdom trailer, and most of all, to pose my worries that the followup will try to answer these concerns by showing far too much of the film, rather than addressing these concerns in a more graceful fashion.

I do not think a poor trailer equates a poor film, and am not judging the film off of the trailer itself. But promising words from filmmakers can only go so far, especially when you’re shown the exact opposite in execution. That is why this trailer failed to resonate with me – but make no mistake, I’m still looking forward to the upcoming sequel, and cannot wait to see JA Bayona’s vision put on screen.

Now, let’s get to the point. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt seen the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Trailer which released online early this month, making waves across the internet. For posterity’s sake, we’ve got you covered:

After viewing this trailer, I’ve come to the conclusion whomever cut it loves Jurassic Park for very different reasons than most others – this trailer was all the most controversial parts of Jurassic World, multiplied with far too common elements of modern Hollywood blockbusters; the hybrid nobody asked for. Now one can argue that it’s a matter of taste and personal opinion, but there is no getting around that it so strongly conflicts with the messaging the filmmakers pushed prior to its release.

So why didn’t that trailer work for me?

What Was Promised:

Well, for starters the entire awareness lead-up to the trailer was virtually nonexistent, seemingly cornering Universal into a position where they felt forced to show too much from the film (I’m looking at you, stampede setup and payoff, plus the Carnotaurus and T. rex showdown). In what appeared to be a further reaction to the lack of longterm lead-up, they also released almost everything from the trailer in a week-long awareness campaign. While it was certainly fun during, it took the wind out of the trailer, showing most of its bigger moments prior to release. However, the real issue as stated prior, was it completely went against everything the filmmakers promised with this film.

Colin Trevorrow and director JA Bayona have promised numerous times that Fallen Kingdom would be a return to Jurassic Park form, delivering on more intimate thrills and character drama. Rewinding back, Colin Trevorrow shared this about the Jurassic World sequel a little over a year ago in our interview with him (paraphrasing):

‘This movie doesn’t need to be ‘bigger’. It’s not about ‘bigger better dinosaurs’ or ‘bigger action sequences’. Colin brought up Raptors in the Kitchen scene vs Indominus Rex Helicopter explosion, and how the simplicity of the former is just as effective – if not more.’

Colin went on to say:

“It will be more suspenseful and scary. It’s just the way it’s designed; it’s the way the story plays out. I knew I wanted Bayona to direct it long before anyone ever heard that was a possibility, so the whole thing was just built around his skill set.”

Speaking to El Mundo, Colin had this to say:

“The dinosaurs will be a parable of the treatment animals receive today: the abuse, medical experimentation, pets, having wild animals in zoos like prisons, the use the military has made of them, animals as weapons. [Fallen Kingdom] will be a very different, more complex movie that will explore new paths. For that reason, it was clear that it needed to be Bayona who would direct it, in order to have it grow and evolve with his very personal vision.”

“You need to be faithful to the legacy, while bringing new exciting [things]” – JA Bayona:

‘Will Fallen Kingdom be more Jurassic World 2, or Jurassic Park 5’?

JA Bayona:

“That’s a good question! I think somehow it’s both. It’s a very good question, and what we’re doing is a sequel to Jurassic World, but it’s definitely the fifth chapter of a longer saga. It’s very interesting. It’s always tricky, but you need to find a balance in what people expect to find, and the new stuff you’re bringing to the story. And I think the story is looking for a connection between Jurassic World and Jurassic Park — more than what Jurassic World did.”

Finally, Colin Trevorrow set the groundwork of our expectations in 2015, while speaking to JurassicCast Podcast:

“It will get to be a different kind of film. The audience has given us permission to a certain extent to take this to the next level, and I don’t necessarily mean in scale, I feel very strongly that it’s not about more dinosaurs or bigger and better dinosaurs, it’s about using this as a starting point for a much larger story about our relationship with these animals and about animals in general and the dynamic created by bringing them back to life.”

“We’ve seen a lot of ‘dinosaurs chasing people around on an island’ movies. I think you guys and also the general audience is going to be down to explore where else we can go.”

“[Owen and Claire] opened Pandora’s Box in Jurassic World, and each of them are responsible for different elements of it in different ways, and I think the way that these characters are connected to the circumstances of what’s happening it’s different than the previous films. It’s not ‘Let’s manufacture a way to get them somewhere.”

There are plenty of other quotes out there pushing similar messaging, but that should suffice as a crash course for everything Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom prior to the trailer drop. Full stop – it’s intermission time. As a palate cleanser, check out the behind the scenes piece, which does a far better job selling the movie and its themes:

Where Things Stand:

Movie trailers are more than a marketing tool, they’re an art form, and they’re very easy to get wrong. Movie trailers in themselves should serve as a thematic short story, leaving you both satisfied, yet wanting more. The first, and arguably most important element is how to open it, and grab the audience; the hook. For reasons I’m unsure of, the hook for this trailer is not the status of the dinosaurs, Jurassic World, or the impact the events of 2015’s film had on the world… but rather Owen and Claire, particularly their hamfisted and less than nuanced romantic issues.

“Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur?”

The behind the scenes trailer companion piece opens on an entirely different hook (above), and arguably one infinitely more successful. Mystery, intrigue, wonder, and nostalgia interlaced with a tone both fresh, yet familiar to fans of the franchise dictates the flow of that piece. It opens on new a locale, recognizable music, and catches the attention of the audience with a pertinent question invoking familiarity, while promising the unknown off the cusp.

Movie trailers, once they catch your attention, should begin to ramp up in the scale of events – and there is no denying the trailer does that, as things become rather explosive and bombastic. However, they should also expand in themes and story elements, and despite the disembodied voice asking if dinosaurs deserve the same rights as animals, we’re treated to a visual spectical meant to look cool, rather than tragic or terrifying. For a movie about animal rights, it sure shows a lot of them die terrible deaths, and nothing about the execution implies the heavier themes promised on the surface level.

The way the trailer frames the movie implies a simple point a to point b plot: recruit for a rescue mission, debate the ethics of saving the dinosaurs, arrive on the island and begin capturing dinosaurs, and the volcano erupts during the climax putting our heroes in peril. So many people took to social media to complain not only about the simplicity of the plot, but the fact that they felt whole thing was spoiled that Colin Trevorrow shared this tweet to ease minds:

I land in the ‘less is more’ camp for trailers, but this trailer didn’t show less, it just showed a whole lot more about one particular element of the film, and did a poor job selling the vision and story the filmmakers wish to take us on. Strangely, the easy to miss synopsis of the film handled the themes at play in a much better way, promising more to the story with the final sentence:

It’s been four years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles.

When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who’s still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times.

Conspiracy that pits the themes of conservation and empathy against greed and exploitation? Now you’re speaking my Michael Crichton infused language. The best part is, the synopsis doesn’t spoil who or how that conspiracy plays out, we simply know that not everybody plans to save the dinosaurs for the right reasons. Is every character who they say they are – and just what is that conspiracy – and what happens if those less than savory sorts succeed? That is what the trailer should be hinting at.

The next trailer has its work cut out for it: it needs to show the grander themes at play, without spoiling the finer details of it. It needs to deliver on the promises of a more intimate and suspenseful film akin to Jurassic Park. It needs to excite, and show something new, without giving away the plot elements. Most of all, it needs to wash that generic big budget CG flick vibe away, and not show anymore spoilers like the Carnotaurus scene. (Seriously, way to make the most anticipated dinosaur by fans since 1996 feel pointless now that we know how its big scene plays out.)

“What we tried to do was find the animal in the dinosaur, as opposed to the monster in the dinosaur. The idea was not to make them any less threatening, but rather to keep them from doing as much monster ‘schtick’. For our human characters, we wanted their situation to be more like they were being stalked by an animal that is a carnivore, as opposed to something that is psychopathic and just out to get them.” – Production Designer Rick Carter in ‘The Making of Jurassic Park’

Ultimately, for me dinosaurs are animals, not monsters. That was the defining element of Jurassic Park, and was no accident, as every behind the scenes interview or feature from that film will assert. The movie executed the concept beautifully, from the design to the behavior. One of my holdups, and this is something that some others share, is that Jurassic World depicted most of the dinosaurs as heroes, villains, or set pieces. Pets, or monsters. I had hoped Fallen Kingdom would perhaps handle those concepts in a more subtle way, and while it is certainly too soon to judge, scenes like ‘Deus Rex Machina’ didn’t quite bring me where I hoped to be.

We know the next trailer is coming during the Super Bowl, and we know those trailers are usually quite bombastic, so this message is to the marketing team: please do not spoil the movie. We’ve already seen too much, yet not what I wanted. I know I’m personally excited for the film, and can’t wait to see more – but that first trailer was like jumping into ice cold water, it was not what I expected or hoped for, and I needed time to adjust.

While many members of the Jurassic Outpost team share these opinions, it’s worth noting we’re a diverse site with differing opinions – and I am not asserting every opinion of mine reflects that of the entire site. Nor am I asserting it reflects that of the readers – so sound off, join the discussion, and let us know what you think!

The Jurassic Park Trilogy is Getting New Blu Ray Covers So Bad We Thought They Were Fake

Posted on by Jurassic Outpost

The Jurassic Park name means something – whether it’s the seal of quality only Spielberg can bring, pushing the boundaries of visual effects, or the iconic dinosaur designs. It’s a mega franchise running over 25 years if you count the novels, and its name is synonymous with quality. So why does the franchise seem to lack any real quality control (or at least the budget for good Photoshop artists)?

Welcome, to B-movie quality cover art park. To truly appreciate the travesties on display above, you should first look at them at full size and resolution, because the compressed picture just doesn’t do it justice. Snarky jokes aside, those covers just are not good – and for more reasons than poor photoshop skills.

First up, Jurassic Park – conceptually it is a great cover (they all are – in concept), and Alan Grant and the Ford Explorer do look fantastic. Unfortunately, they look more like a previs concept. The Tyrannosaurus stands out of place, featuring a strangely modified male Tyrannosaurus head from The Lost World, not the female from Jurassic Park (plus it’s just poorly composited). In fact, the head used here is the bizarrely malformed head used on the 2015 Jurassic World products.

Wait. Is that a thumb on the Tyrannosaurus!? A moment ago we were going to point out Alan Grant wasn’t looking at the Rex, but now that issue seems Compsognathus sized. That’s not the only issue at play – the Tyrannosaurs right leg and foot are larger than the left, meaning they should be in front – however, the rear left leg has been photoshopped to land in the front.

The Lost World cover is plagued with just as many issues (ignoring the ugly logo, which would be an issue on its own). First off, the photoshop composition is just bad – which is frustrating, as the base image used (above) is a great choice. Of course the Stegosaurs pictured are far too large (even by The Lost World’s standards), but the idea behind the cover is fun. However, as Jurassic Park teaches us, intention doesn’t overrule execution.

The other issue is the two Stegosaurus’ on display aren’t from The Lost World: Jurassic Park – they’re the drastically different design from Jurassic World. In fact, the two renders on the cover are from Fallen Kingdom, and have already been spotted on early merchandise images. At least this can answer the raging question – do Jurassic World Stegosaurs have beaks like TLW and the real animal? Apparently not.

The Jurassic Park 3 cover is easily the least offensive. The composition of the overall image looks good, the Pteranodon is mostly accurate to the film, and it captures the feel of the movie. It’s just stuck with an ugly logo, and a really poorly photoshopped Billy Brennan face on the cover (perhaps he’s reacting to the other two covers).

Minus the logo, this one at least looks like a professional film studio released it, even if it’s a bit sloppy. Though we have to wonder – why is it Billy on the cover (or wait – is that actually Nicholas Cage)? Further, why not the Spinosaurus? Those aren’t really issues, but the choices stood out as discussion points none the less.

It’s not just us scoffing at the new covers and initially questioning their legitimacy. In fact, the whole community seems to be having the same overall reaction:

For more community reactions see our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter comments plus this Reddit thread.

So, how exactly did this new cover lineup pass quality control? While we can’t answer that, we can say it’s not the first time something like this slipped by for Jurassic Park. In fact, it’s not even the worst. The worst would be the 2013 Jurassic Park 3D IMAX Poster.

 

Art is subjective, but when it comes to meeting the quality and established designs from the base material, the line is crossed to objectivity. To be blunt, the poster and covers above are just not good. In fact, they’re awful, and a poor representation of the source material. This isn’t a case of a fandom entitlement complex (which is a real issue), but simply a poor look for the films overall. When talented artists put out better unofficial work on a daily basis, there is a big issue.

While the above artwork looks like it came from the studio that brought you Sharknado, the next point is something more subjective. The Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary key art looks more like a child’s coloring book cover than the celebration of the longstanding legacy of the film franchise.

The cartoony art style for the fossil backdrop is nothing at all like the visuals on display in Jurassic Park, nor does it mirror or celebrate the artwork used in 1993. 1993 used simple black backdrops, or the iconic jungle sunset motif. If they must insist on a fossil backdrop, at least go minimalistic and inspired by the pillars in visitors center (and actually illustrate dinosaurs depicted in Jurassic Park).

Though, as we said prior, this one is subjective – at least the artwork for Jurassic Park 25th looks professionally done, even if it does seem out of place. At the very least, it’s not another case of Velociraptor toys being released without sickle claws.

Nor are they the frog faced, green Jurassic Park 2011 Blu Ray statue (the original female Tyrannosaurus is brown, and certainly doesn’t look like this):

In the 2010’s the Jurassic brand hit an awkward stride, with products and images that don’t reflect the brand they belong to. With 2015’s Jurassic World, most chocked it up to rapid growing pains – but over two years later, the excuse seems a little less genuine. Perhaps a lack of a visual style guide and story bible has led an inability to properly vet creative outputs (but that doesn’t explain poor composition – that simply looks cheap and rushed).

This isn’t meant to be an attack piece – Universal Pictures releases some of our favorite films, and their offices are filled with talented, kind, smart, and enthusiastic people. This isn’t personal – just an observation of the some of the high profile Jurassic misfires. We digress. Rant over.

The Blu Rays are listed on Amazon.com, and judging by the back covers are simple releases of the other standalone Blu Rays, with no new content. Considering the cover art, these are easy skips, unless you’re an absolute completionist collector. If you’re on the market for Jurassic Blu Rays, be on the look out for these – they have great covers, and the same content:

This begs the question – if there is no new content on the Blu Rays, will Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary get its own release with new content in the coming months? The demand is there for a 4K release, and the 25th anniversary would the perfect time!

Sound off in the comments below, and let us know what you think of the covers! If you’re a photoshop wizard, perhaps you can take a stab at making your own custom covers and share them with us. As always, stay tuned for the last news – with the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom trailer coming within a month, things are sure to get exciting soon.

Source: Amazon.com (Via @gencinexin and Blu-Ray.com)

New official picture teases Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom dinosaur – could it be the recently trademarked “Indoraptor”?

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Yesterday, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom wrapped principal photography, finishing filming in Hawaii. While the number of days filmed has yet to be officially confirmed, we believe it to be 91 (versus the 78 spent on Jurassic World). To commemorate this exciting milestone that the fifth Jurassic Park film just crossed, writer and producer Colin Trevorrow tweeted a mysterious new image:

Pictured is director JA Bayona between the open jaws of a ferocious looking dino, seemingly inside of a cage. The first thing I did upon seeing that image was to download it, and brighten it, revealing more visual information than what was immediately discernible. I was hoping to be able to tell if it was an animatronic or something else, but there just isn’t enough shown to say either way.

What can be seen is the mystery dinosaur has Crocodilian like teeth, growing straight out of the skin — very much like the I.rex. Further, the skin texture seems to be similar to that of the hybrid seen in Jurassic World, though its color appears to be a deep black color, as opposed to the white of the Indominus Rex. Further, while at first glance the gaping maw appears to be that of a large dinosaur, it’s simply a matter of perspective – realistically, it’s probably slightly larger than a Jurassic Park Velociraptor.

So, could this be a new hybrid?

Signs point to yes! It’s always possible that we’re simply looking at a creepy museum statue, like the one image Frank Marshall tweeted, but the Indominus Rex similarities seem too many to be a coincidence. While I’m not particularly thrilled with another new hybrid, I do think there is a lot of potential with the concept of a smaller, more Raptor like Indominus (though I would have preferred to just see a new Velociraptor variation with camouflage abilities).

Indominus Rex maquette – Jurassic World

Time will tell if the image shared by Colin Trevorrow is a new hybrid – but given the story in previous film, it’s a fair bet Fallen Kingdom will have hybrids in some degree, and recent evidence all but confirms it will be called the “Indoraptor”.

A few days ago, producer Frank Marshall made a tweet to commemorate three years since filming the Indominus escape in Hawaii – however, on his first attempt, he called it the “Indoraptor”, which was later deleted. This certainly caught our and other fans attention – the name seems perfectly applicable to what Hoskins alluded to at the end of Jurassic World.

“Imagine. That one, a fraction of the size – deadly, intelligent, able to hide from the most advanced military technology. A living weapon unlike anything we’ve ever seen.” – Hoskins

Some waved off the tweet as a genuine typo, and while I considered the option, it admittedly that was not the first time I heard that name. When we were given our Mattel scoop, we were told one of the toys was referred to as the Indoraptor, though we have heard no descriptive details, nor were told if it was a hybrid or something else. We choose to sit on that info, as it was too speculative and leaky, especially considering Universal has made no acknowledgement of the name publicly – however, that just changed.

As pointed out by Jurassiraptor on Twitter, Amblin Entertainment just took out four trademarks on “Indoraptor” for toys, books, clothes, and video content. There is no doubt this name is to be used for the Jurassic World franchise, and odds are it’s a hybrid seen in Fallen Kingdom, though there is always a chance it’s simply a merchandise thing like ‘Dino Hybrid’. However, given Frank Marshall’s tweet, that seems incredibly unlikely.

We may have to wait until Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom releases in theaters to learn more about what the Indoraptor is, or what it looks like, but the concept does sound quite cool – and scary. Even that small tease tweeted by Colin Trevorrow, should it be the Indoraptor, looks like the stuff of nightmares. I’m very curious to see what the final design will look like, and if it will have traits like the camouflage of the Indominus Rex. Until then, I’m sure there will be plenty of speculative fan art, like that below!

Ultimately, we’re left with more questions than answers at this point, and that’s the way I like it.

Let us know what you want to see from the Indoraptor, and if you think that’s what is pictured in Colin Trevorrows tweet, and if you make any speculative art, be sure to share it with us! As always, stay tuned, as more news is surely around the corner.

Source: Twitter, Trademarkia

Jurassic World’s Claire Dearing – A Character Study

Posted on by Jennifer

Claire Dearing. Who is she? Where did she come from and what gives her the right to lead (yes, I said lead) a Jurassic film? In the words of John Hammond, “I’ll show you.”

I would like to present you all with a challenge. Your attitude toward Claire Dearing will be improved after reading this character analysis, whether it be loathing to hatred or love to further adoration. I challenge you not to be affected by this study. You’ve accepted the challenge? Great! Let’s go…

Claire is complex. She is a multifaceted character with deeply layered undertones and intricately placed certainties mixed with uncertainties. Jurassic movies have always been character pieces with a moral glimpse at human nature. The Jurassic franchise may be famous for featuring dinosaurs, but it has never been about the dinosaurs. It has always revolved around the choices made by humans and how they deal with the circumstances from playing God. The humans are always trying to clean up the moral mistakes they’ve made based on their own fatal flaws. That is the basis of the Jurassic franchise. The dinosaurs have always acted as props in this cautionary tale.

Jurassic World is no different. Claire is a deeply flawed character with specific character traits that evolve throughout the entire two hours and four minutes. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Jennifer, I saw the movie, tell me something I don’t know’. Ok. Jurassic World is actually Claire’s journey of self-discovery. The foundation behind this 4th installment is the story of someone who did not conform to the standards of a stereotypical hero, but instead stayed true to oneself by finding their own INNER strength and knowledge to save the day.

When we are first introduced to Claire, she immediately displays several emotions and you can already see a crack in her armor. She holds this high position and does what is expected of her, but is still uncertain of herself when no one is watching. Claire goes through many tones just in this introduction. There is a vulnerability and softness that comes through, but only for the viewer to see, before we’re introduced to who Claire was trained to be. She is always wavering on the struggle between what’s right and what should be done; this can be said for all the Jurassic ‘heroes’.

Claire reminds me of someone who grew up playing with dinosaur toys, someone who had a huge imagination with constantly flowing ideas and a strong mind for executing them. This is why she chose the career she did. However, the corporate ladder can be a damaging place. Once she began climbing, those characteristics from childhood were quickly frowned upon. She was trained consciously and unconsciously of what was acceptable and how to act in this setting. The higher she climbed, the more she lost touch with her inner self and forgot why she wanted to work at Jurassic World in the first place.

While we may forget a piece of ourselves, it never forgets us. It’s always there trying to peak through the cracks. Here, in this story, we get to watch as the cracks are broken and Claire’s true self is revealed. She is insecure, she is unsure, she is scared, but her compassion and her connection with her humanity shines through and it is that vulnerability and staying true to one’s self that is refreshing.  She is not a superhero, she is a regular person in an extreme circumstance brought about by her own fatal flaws.

The first important scene for Claire is when she jumps to the conclusion that the Indominus Rex has escaped. This is a case of Claire showing that she is not as confident as she led on. The uncertainty displayed in her first introduction is surfaced once again, but so is the pressure to ‘make it happen at all costs’. Once again, she’s pulled between who she is and what she is supposed to do and maintain. The audience is also pulled with her in both directions due to having been let into her vulnerability early on. However, her corporate built ego and status cannot allow for such an error as this, so she must act in haste. This could come across as an unintelligent move, but understanding the stakes weighing on Claire and her already displayed lack of true confidence to the viewer, the viewer can follow her decision and understand it. Much like trying to solve a quick mishap at work before the boss finds out. We’ve all been there and we’ve all made that reckless decision. When things start to implode around her, all she knows is her assets and her park. She did not plan for there ever to be a catastrophe of this magnitude. Her initial reaction to the dinosaur’s false escape demonstrated exactly that.

This decision spirals out of control, rapidly growing into a company-wide problem which is now all on Claire. Deep down, Claire is not heartless and she is not cold. One of the most important scenes for Claire is when the Indominus is ripping through the ACU team. Masrani continues with the façade of ‘company first, park first, asset first’. “It was an eventuality” he says, fully unaware of this moral compass. Claire tries to maintain that same level, but it is now evident that she is losing that inner battle between what’s right and what she was trained believe is right. You see her start to break down and show concern for the park’s operation, the safety of the guests, the safety of the employees, the safety of her assets, amongst her own worry of what others will think of her. She has to be in charge, she has to make another rash decision, but this time, she begins to question what that even means in this situation. She has a quick glimpse of ‘wait a minute, what are we doing?’ which makes the delivery of “YOU ARE NOT IN control…here” one of her best lines in the film. She is not in control, but is still keeping the façade, for now. Masrani doesn’t give it a second thought when making the best corporate decision, but now Claire is giving everything a second thought. The inner battle between her two worlds is colliding. Here she is truly concerned for human life, she remembers her nephews, her perspective and priorities are changing.

This all leads to the most important scene for Claire, the dying Apatosaurus. Here in this scene, Claire sees what she’s become. She sees the consequences of her corporate actions, not on a spreadsheet, not in the stock market, but in real flesh and blood. Here Claire remembers the dinosaur loving girl with a big imagination. The emotional flood of mistakes, regret, and compassion comes flooding back and her tears were not only for the Apatosaurus, but also for what she has become and who she has forgotten.

Throughout the film, Claire showed weakness, uncertainty, fear, but she also displayed extreme bravery. She was out of her element and didn’t back down. She didn’t give up. She didn’t leave with everybody else. Claire is the true hero of the story and should be a hero to young girls. Claire proved that you don’t have to sacrifice your identity to be a hero. You can find your own inner hero by using your own personal strengths to their advantage.

Claire is an average person using average person strengths to deal with the extreme circumstances happening around her. She is not a superhero, but she is resourceful. She will do whatever it takes to save her park and those in it. It is extremely refreshing to see someone who comes from strictly an education/business background take charge and save the day WITHOUT losing who she is. She didn’t change her clothes, she didn’t find boots, she didn’t even put her hair up! Claire did not change for anybody. She stayed true to who she was and what she knew. THAT is a true hero in my book. She did not conform to the standards of a stereotypical hero. Claire remained herself completely, and through her own INNER strength and knowledge, she saved the day. That is an empowering message. Claire showed that you don’t have to take on boy-like traits to do incredible things.

Releasing the T-Rex was Claire using the strengths of what she knows best. She knows her park assets and she knows what the right asset would be to counter the current problem. Instead of magically becoming a dinosaur expert, she used her problem solving skills and the knowledge acquired from her job. She stayed true to herself no matter what obstacles were being thrown at her and she handled them the best way she knew how in the business that she knew. This was a key point in her reliability factor. By cutting to the heels while running, that’s reminding the audience who Claire is. It reinforced to them that she is still the same business Claire we met in the beginning, but now she’s finding her inner strength through her area of expertise.

Director, Colin Trevorrow, didn’t try and change her character to fit the hero mold. It would have been unrealistic if all of a sudden she became a fearless superhero by the end. There are going to be three movies in this trilogy and this is just part one. If Claire changed that drastically in just this one film, not only would she have nowhere to go in the next two, but it would have been highly unrealistic and not relatable at all. Her transition has just begun.

It was a brave choice to put a character like Claire in an action film and not make her the villain, and then to take it a step further by showing the audience her inner battle and journey of self-discovery. Claire found the strength she never knew she had and that’s more inspiring than any hero-type character. At the end, Claire was defeated, broken, and lost. She never once expressed joy that it was over, she didn’t smile and cheer that they survived. She was traumatized by the end of this film. That is realistic and a testament to Claire’s true character. She was fragile and scared, but she found her inner strength and persevered.

I believe Claire is a regular girl who grew up with a love for dinosaurs and a limitless imagination. She got lost along the way, but through Jurassic World, we get to watch her unfolding journey of self-discovery. We get to peek through the cracks and then watch as new cracks appear and discover who that real person is underneath. However, the viewer might not like that person underneath, and that’s ok, but you can’t deny that there IS a complex person there. One filled with insecurities, conditioned a certain way, but due to her own fatal flaws, found herself in circumstances that required her to rise above higher than she knew she could. Claire is very human, she makes human mistakes, she loses control, she finds the strength, but remains broken at the end. Keep this in mind the next time you watch Jurassic World. Listen for the vocal cracks, the uncertain looks masked in certainty, the constant inner battle, and the rediscovery of one’s self only to find that she’s lost and broken.

Claire’s journey is about moving past the illusion. John Hammond build Jurassic Park based on an illusion. The franchise’s moral basis focused on man creating an illusion. Man created Claire’s illusion. Man created dinosaurs. Claire broke through that illusion, because of dinosaurs, and found herself.

What are your thoughts on Claire? Are you excited to see her transition through the next two movies? Do let us know in the comments section below.

Unboxing the March 2017 Primal Loot Crate with a Jurassic World surprise!

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Ah, Loot Crate – I’m addicted already. While this was my first foray into this popular geek delivery service, I can say it wont be my last. For those unfamiliar, Loot Crate is a monthly subscription service where you are sent a box full of surprise goodies, many of them exclusive. For March 2017, the theme was ‘PRIMAL’ and it included a very nice Jurassic World surprise! Check out the unboxing and review below:

Ok, we can safely say I won’t be making a career out of unboxing and review videos, but I think this serves its purpose well enough! I really hope Loot Crate does more Jurassic Park and Jurassic World items in the future – or even consider doing a strictly Jurassic themed crate, which is something they do for franchises like Halo. While you’re here, check out this fun video Loot Crate put together for this months box… featuring Ty Simpkins of Jurassic World!

Interested in Lootcrate? Check out their website now! You can buy the crates individually, or subscribe to receive them each month. At the low price of $15.99 a month, you really can’t go wrong! What are you waiting for, subscribe now!

Huge thanks to Loot Crate for sending this my way!

Happy New Year from Jurassic Outpost!

Posted on by Jack

Wherever you are in the world, the team at Jurassic Outpost wishes you a Happy New Year!

happy-new-year-2016-2

We have had a wonderful year launching our new website and we wanted to thank you all for following us and for your support over the past couple of years. This year especially has been filled with Jurassic news and exclusives, including our interview with Colin Trevorrow (and J.A. Bayona!) which you can listen to here!

We also wanted to thank all of you who listen to the InGeneral Podcast – we have a lot of fun recording it and we hope it’s just as fun listening.

2017 is going to be a great year and it will be filled with Jurassic news! Jurassic World 2 starts filming, the recently trademarked video game will be released, a new series of Jurassic World comic books will be released and we will be there to cover all of it! We can’t wait to experience Jurassic World 2 (or Jurassic Park 5) with you all.

Thank you to the filmmakers who have brought this franchise back – Frank Marshall, Colin Trevorrow, J.A. Bayona. The dream team.

On a personal note, I wanted to thank my team for all of their hard work this year. The launch of our new site was a big and challenging one, but all of us pulled together to make it work. Our graphic designer James McQuade could quite possibly be the best thing to come out of Australia, and continues to impress us all with his work. Chris is my main man – thank you for all you have brought to the website. Asees – we will never quite understand why you love Jurassic Park 3 so much, but hey, we love you for it. Ryan “Crash McCreery” – your artwork, that is all I need to say. Alex – better known as the encylopedia wizard, and Josh who recently joined our team, perhaps one day the world will be able to retweet you. One day.

Here’s to 2017! Now go and celebrate!

Jurassic World website update adds new sections and never before seen pictures

Posted on by Chris Pugh

As all living things do with time, the Jurassic World website has continued to evolve – this time adding sections for ‘Community’, ‘Films’, and perhaps most excitingly: ‘Intel’. Finally, JurassicWorld.com houses the entire Jurassic Park franchise, and not just the movie of the same name. Intel being the most feature rich addition has pages for each major character, actor, and dinosaur* (*more on this later in the article) – and some of these pages showcase awesome new images from the past.

websiteupdatenov2016

Intriguingly, the section for the ‘Exhibition’ has been changed to ‘Events’, although it still only houses information about Jurassic World the Exhibition. This does seem to imply that other events are planned, though have yet to be announced. Another new addition is a Snapchat icon, so expect more from JurassicSnaps in the future – I know I’d like to see some fun Jurassic themed filters in conjunction! Also of note: the Jurassic Park facebook page has been folded into the Jurassic World facebook page, and the link for JP’s now defunct page has been removed. This is continued indication that the ‘Jurassic World’ branding will house the franchise moving forward for the time being.

biosyn

While the website doesn’t add much new material for the connoisseurs of canon, for the first time in the film franchise, ‘BioSyn’ is mentioned by name. Readers of the books know BioSyn as the company that hired Dennis Nedry to smuggle embryos off the islands. However, the films never acknowledge or confirm that Dodgson actually represents the nefarious company in question – that is until now! Dennis Nedry’s intel page directly confirms they do exist in the film universe as well. Fingers crossed they make an appearance in Jurassic World 2!

jwcomcountdown
Don’t get too excited – this is a hidden placeholder, and isn’t functioning!

If you’re like me, one of the first thing you’re probably doing is sleuthing through the website and looking for unintentional hints of what’s to come. While I didn’t find much (I’m admittedly not a pro at dissecting websites at that level), I did find something cool buried inside: a countdown timer. Now, before you freak out and think Jurassic World 2 news is inbound – the timer is placeholder and counting UP, not down. Still cool to see something is planned eventually!

I’ve got to say, the website is incredibly slick and features all the right types of pages with ample room to grow from. Whomever designed this certainly deserves some praise, and it’s great to finally see a site visually worthy of the franchise it’s attached to. However – and this is a larger however – the content on the individual pages could use a lot of work. Many of the facts are awkward, some of the bios are missing outright, and the amount of content per ‘intel’ page is severely lacking. Most potently, the dinosaur pages are riddled with errors (and many species are completely MIA).

apatoissues

No, Apatosaurus wasn’t in The Lost World – the sauropod seen in that movie was Mamenchisaurus (which is lacking a page) – and for some reason the Apatosaurus page shows an image of a Brachiosaurus (also missing a page). Further: Pachycephalosaurus was not featured only in Jurassic Park – it wasn’t even in Jurassic Park! But as a reader, I’m sure you already know that (if you don’t, they appear in both The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic World). Strangely, another key missing player is JP3’s Spinosaurus – though for unknown reasons the Suchomimus is listed as being in Jurassic Park 3; it wasn’t. The list could go on and on, so I’ll end it there for now (perhaps the update went live too soon?), but Universal: if you need help generating and fact checking content (or more), just give us an email!

Now that I got that out of the way, I want to close off on some more of the many positives. While the information on the intel pages need some work, let’s talk about how cool some of those featured pictures are! Although nothing unknown is outright revealed, many of the photos are completely new to the web. One cool shot is an HD picture of Udesky holding a stick – this was from a never released deleted Jurassic Park 3 scene where he fights off the Velociraptors before being killed. Check out some of our favorite images below, or hit the intel section to explore yourself!

udesky_1440x653

dieter_1440x653

muldoon_1440x653

lowery_1440x653

Honestly, I cannot wait to see where this all leads. I hope the website continues to evolve, and becomes something as feature rich as Starwars.com or Halowaypoint.com. While it will take some time to get there, they’re on the right path now and I’m optimistic about the future. Hopefully the franchise begins to get an expanded universe, and the website can serve as a point of reference/encyclopedia of sorts. It will also be quite interesting to see what the ‘community’ section evolves into – personal interests aside, I know I would love to see more interaction with the fanbase and I believe it could really turn into something special.

As always, stay tuned for the latest news and be sure to sound off in the comments below!