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OK, let’s face it. Hype can either make or break a movie. Get enough hype and your movie will become a success. Get too much hype and your movie doesn’t live up to expectation. We know what kind of movies these are.
Too much hype…
Just enough hype. Or too much hype but a better product, take your pick.
Jurassic World has been setting up a hype storm, but this is effective because we’ve so far only have gotten bits and pieces here and there, without any footage. Now, the trailer is rumored to drop in December, and when it comes out I’ll make a post about it, but for now i think we should take time to talk about what we know so far.
A fourth Jurassic Park installment has been talked about since JP3. At first it was said that Steven Spielberg had a script, and that several previous cast members were attached. However, several directors, writers, and actors kept on coming in and dropping out. At many points it seemed like production was in full swing, only for it to be completely overhauled. Several release dates came and went, with filming supposedly taking place in 2004, then 2005, then 2007 for a 2008 release date. Then the writer’s strike happened and things got delayed even more. Scripts were written and passed, only to be thrown out. Speculation ran rampant, with no two people saying the same thing. Then, everything kind of felt like it was in a standstill, and pretty much everyone lost hope for another Jurassic Park, no matter what anyone said. This is something the film business refers to as ‘development hell’.
And I haven’t even mentioned some of the plots that were being discussed.
One of the earlier rumors was that the fourth film wouldn’t take place on the island, and that the loose Pteranodons at the end of the last film would be involved.
Well, they didn’t just disappear.
It was later reported that the story would involve dinosaurs set loose on the mainland and breeding on an uncontrollable rate.
Dinosaurs on the mainland. Haven’t done that yet.
After this, some of the plots got really weird.
One of the recurring plots was that dinosaurs would be used as government tools, with raptors being used like war dogs and dinosaurs strapped with weapons for battle.
Harness the power! Dino-Riders!
One of the weirdest plots going around for a while was that dinosaurs would be mixed with human DNA and we would have a bunch of half raptor/half person hybrids running around.
Not that this doesn’t sound like an awesome idea for a movie, I’d pay to see half human dinosaurs with guns taking down terrorists. But for a Jurassic Park movie? I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what Michael Crichton was thinking of when he wrote his novel.
Hmm, you know what this metaphor for the scientific concept of chaos theory needs? Dino Commandos!!!
Yeah, you can see why everyone lost hope.
Around 2010 talk started to emerge that the project was back on its feet, but we were all too smart to believe it. A couple of release dates were thrown about, a director, a writer, and some producers were attached. Same stuff we’ve been hearing for a decade. We didn’t start taking things seriously until we saw this.
We’ve got more than a release date. We’ve got more than a logo. We’ve got an entirely new title. At the time, it felt like wishful thinking still, but in our guts, we knew it. This is finally happening.
The director, Colin Trevorrow, is a big tease, but he knows exactly how to get the fans hyped. He’s been releasing photos since the very beginning, wetting the loyal fans appetites. Even simple photo’s like this are enough to get us rowed up. why? BECAUSE IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!!
A confirmed cast was released pretty early in the game, with several photos of the cast being released to give us a taste. The casting I’m most excited about is the lead of Chris Pratt, playing a JP staff member and a dinosaur behavior researcher.
I absolutely love this guy, and it doesn’t help that he starred in two of my favorite movies this year.
I’m also excited about BD Wong returning as Dr. Wu in the film, as he is a very interesting character in the novel and is very much underused in the film.
Plus BD Wong is a bad-@#$%.
Now, I know Henry Wu also appeared in the IDW Jurassic Park comics. Will I review them. Maybe, but probably not. I haven’t read them, and I’ve heard the story and artwork aren’t exactly of the best quality.
Yes, this artwork is by someone who obviously understands dinosaur anatomy.
But fans don’t want to see the actors. They’re all just potential archosaur chow. We want to see the park. We want to see the dinosaurs! But details have been slow to come, but over the months, we have found out some interesting things. So, I’ve compiled a list of things we currently know about the park and it’s creatures.
First off, the film is once again going to take place on Isla Nublar, but as a fully functioning park.
This is major news, because we can now see what Hammond’s original vision of the park would be, or rather, even better than his original vision. Sure, we all know it’s going to go to heck in the end, but that’s just icing on the cake.
It’s also pretty major that the film is taking place on Isla Nublar, were the original film took place. All subsequent films took place on Isla Sorna, were the dinosaurs were originally bred (I think).
A brochure was leaked I mean released online that showed just what kind of attractions we should expect in the park, and I’ve got to say, it sounds glorious.
Let’s take a look at all of these little attractions individually, shall we?
Gentle Giants Petting Zoo
This attraction promises a chance to feed the friendly herbivores. The image next to it boasts a Triceratops skull, but I certainly hope that’s not the dinosaur they’re putting in the petting zoo.
Because, you know, THAT looks safe.
T-Rex Kingdom
Feeding every two hours? I would say that sounds excessive, but it’s probably a goat every time. May be disturbing to small children?
Translation: Disturbing=Awesome!
Mosasaurus Feeding Show
OH MY GOD.
I’ve heard rumors that the trailer would show them feeding the Mosasaurus a great white shark. If they are feeding the creature every 10 hours, that would get VERY expensive. Not only that, but great white sharks are endangered and if you continued doing that PETA would be all over you. However, I hope those rumors are true just so I can see the pure AWESOMENESS of that. Not to mention that fans have been hoping for an underwater creature in this film since the beginning, and we are getting our wish.
Jungle Trek
A good photo opportunity, where you can see dinosaurs running around in the wild.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t happen again.
Creation Lab
Looks like we’ll get to see the science behind the park again.
Mr. DNA, you better come back.
The Aviary
Finally, a proper place to see the pterosaurs, especially after the fiasco in Jurassic Park 3. I wonder though, will they address those escaped Pteranodons.
Meh, probably not.
The Scrambler
Looks like Jurassic Park is getting into the amusement park ride business.
I prefer the Bone Shaker personally.
Bamboo Forest
Nothing like a good nature trail to calm things down after watching a sea lizard devour a great white shark.
Golf Course
I know this is a resort, and people are going to be staying on the island for a while, but a golf course? Really. I don’t care about a wimpy little golf course while I’m on an island of LIVING DINOSAURS!!!
Gyrosphere
I’m not sure what to expect with this one, because I’m caught up with the instructional video featuring Jimmy Fallon!
I guess Richard Kiley is no longer relevant enough.
The voice you are hearing is Jimmy Fallon. We’ve spared no expense.
Underwater Observatory
We demand more than sea lizards eating sharks! We must see them up close and personal!
Thank you!
Cretaceous Cruise
Well, at least something acknowledges that most these creatures came from the Cretaceous, not the Jurassic. I am intrigued by its boast of offering over 100 species of prehistoric life. Who wants to bet that most of those won’t be very interesting.
If you look to you’re right, you’ll see a variety of ginkgo leaf that hasn’t been around since the middle Cretaceous.
I also love how Coca Cola, Starbucks, Samsung, and American Airlines are all associated with the park. I know it makes things look realistic in universe, bu who else is expecting an onslaught of commercials with raptors drinking soda or coffee and working on computers?
On the opposite side of the brochure we get something even more exciting. A list of species that will be seen in the park. I know we probably won’t see all these guys, but the fact that they are on the island at all is big. Let’s take a look at all of them.
Ankylosaurus
These guys have only made appearances in the third Jurassic Park film, and pretty small appearances at that. I’m not sure if they’ll have a bigger role or not, but I have a feeling these guys will continue to stick to the background.
Apatosaurus
I’m kind of surprised by the inclusion of these guys instead of the Jurassic Park staple Brachiosaurus, but it may be a reference to their appearances in the novels. Nevertheless, I have a feeling we’re going to get a good look at these guys, and I’m eager to discover how they will look like in the Jurassic Park universe.
Baryonyx
Baryonyx is a cool choice, especially since he’s a dinosaur that is mentioned to have been on the original island. I hope we get at least a glimpse of him.
Dimorphodon
This is a pretty odd but cool choice. I’m glad we are adding another pterosaur to the universe. Maybe this guy can be used on stage shows or in a petting zoo attraction?
Edmontosaurus
Cool, another hadrosaur. Who wants to bet it’s not going to have its waddle?
I’ll take a piece of that action!
Gallimimus
A staple JP dinosaur, and I’m glad to see it returning.
Metriacanthosaurus
Victory!!
As much as I would love to see this guy in full in the Jurassic Park universe, I have a feeling this guy will only appear on the brochure and that’s it. You know, for tradition’s sake.
Microceratus
I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed that they used the current and correct name for this creature instead of the more popular and easy to say Microceratops. This is another dinosaur from the books, and I’m hoping these are the guys in the petting zoo area instead of their big cousins.
Mosasaurus
This is the creature I’m most excited to see, as we’ll finally get a marine reptile in the franchise. My only question is, how did they get a hold of Mosasaur DNA? Did a mosquito drink the blood of a beached individual, or did the Ingen scientists just alter a Komodo Dragon to look like a mosasaur? I have a feeling these questions won’t be answered.
Pachycephalosaurus
We only ever saw these guys in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and I say they are a welcomed return.
Parasaurolophus
Parasaurolophus has made appearances in every Jurassic Park film so far, even if they were mostly cameos (with its biggest appearance in The Lost World). It looks like it won’t be breaking its streak.
Pteranodon
I wonder if these Pteranodon’s will more resemble the Lost World versions, the JP3 versions, or create something completely new entirely.
Stegosaurus
Well, I guess we need a few Jurassic animals in a park called Jurassic Park, and Stegosaurus is the perfect candidate.
Suchomimius
Wow, another pretty out of the box candidate. Perhaps it’s a reference to this creature being mentioned in JP3 as a creature on Ingen’s list of dinosaurs that they cloned (despite most of Ingen’s work being done in the 80’s and Suchomimus wasn’t described until the late 90’s. In actuality they probably would have classified this guy as a Baryonyx).
Triceratops
Oh, you can’t have a dinosaur park without Triceratops. You must have this elephant sized behemoth, you know, for the petting zoo.
Tyrannosaurus rex
That is all.
When I look at this list I think of a couple of things. First off, there are only 4 creatures that actually lived in the Jurassic here: Apatosaurus, Dimorphodon, Metriacanthosaurus, and Stegosaurus. Now that’s what I call false advertising.
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Sorry guys, didn’t make the cut.
I also notice that we have two spinosaurs in the park, but not a single Spinosaurus, which has become a fan favorite.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t been looking so hot lately.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, and one other thing: WHERE ARE THE VELOCIRAPTORS?????!!!!
Here I am.
Oh crap!
Of course we’re going to have raptors, it wouldn’t be Jurassic park without them. They were confirmed pretty early on, with Chris Pratt’s character working with them. We also got this awesome poster at this year’s San Diego Comic Con sporting one.
We get a few things from this poster, for one, it’s obvious that they’re going for the classic Jurassic Park look and forgoing the feathers.
Yeah, we kind of expected that.
I kind of hope this something that gets addressed in the films. One of the plot points is that people aren’t coming to the park like they used to. Maybe one of the complaints (especially from scientists) is that Jurassic World isn’t creating actual dinosaurs, but creatures that just look like what the public perceives a dinosaur to look like. This was somewhat addressed in JP3, when a man asks Dr. Grant why he’s still looking for fossils in the ground when people can study living dinosaurs on Isla Sorna. He responds that the creatures there are genetically engineered theme park monsters, nothing more and nothing less, and that the real work is still being done in the ground. He’s basically saying that the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park aren’t real, they’re genetic abominations that happen to look like what we think dinosaurs looked like. If this gets expanded on in the sequel, I’ll be very happy.
Another thing the poster does is show that the raptors will look very much like the ones from the first movie, at least in body shape. It wasn’t until we got the image above that we found out they would be a completely different color.
In the first film and The Lost World, the female raptors were greyish brown while the males were orange with charcoal stripes.
In the third film, the males were a bluish grey (and sported quills on their head) while the females were a sandy beige with black blotches.
This can all indicate different genetic varieties that Ingen has been toying with, looking for the best one to display in their park. It would seem this lizard green version is their latest one.
Now, I haven’t found anything that says the raptor head was a fake, but I would still take all this information with a grain of salt. In fact, all the info here can be fake, and the film may be like nothing we even expected!!!!
Imagine how that makes me feel writing all this for you.
Speaking of genetic tampering, one of the biggest pieces of news regarding this film is a completely new dinosaur that will be wreaking havoc in the park. In order to bring in more visitors, Jurassic World creates a new dinosaur to show off, that is part T. rex, part Velociraptor, part snake, and part cuttlefish. They call it: Diabolus Rex.
Fans prepared for the worst.
Thankfully, it won’t look like a Mesozoic Cthulhu. It’s supposed to have the body of a T. rex. the intelligence of a raptor, the ability to unhinge its jaws like a snake, and the ability to blend into its environment perfectly like a cuttlefish. Not a chameleon. A cuttlefish. And this is why.
They are amazing.
But no, with assurance from the director, D-Rex won’t be some mutant freak, and will look like an actual dinosaur. I believe this image shows the silhouette of the creature.
However, we still don’t know exactly what the creature looks like. We’ve recently gotten a Lego set image with what some claim is the creature, but I haven’t read anything that says it’s official or not.
If this is what it looks like, I’m excited. He looks awesome!
We’ve had some supposed leaked images from the trailer that have been making the internet go crazy that claim to show the beast, but any dinosaur geek like me knows they’re fake.
This image is not from any Jurassic Park movie, but from the Discovery Channel documentary Dinosaur Planet (yet another show to put on the list of things I need to review).
The director of the film has released a lot of exciting images on his Twitter, from pictures of the cast and sets among many other things. The two that get me the most excited however are:
This statue commemorating John Hammond, the face of Jurassic Park. This is especially wonderful, as it also seems to be a tribute to actor Richard Attenborough, who has passed away recently. Not only is the film in universe recognizing this mans legacy, but the film makers are also honoring this great actor.
There is also this image, that isn’t confirmed mind you, that also kind of brings a tear to my eye. It has John Hammond sitting next to a child, with a baby dinosaur in his arms.
It’s a heartwarming pic, but for some reason also reminds me of this.
Another image that gets me excited (for some reason) involves a callback to the original movie.
If you recall, this is the sign that Denis Nedrey knocked over while he was driving in the rain. Whether this becomes a plot point or is just a clever Easter egg in the final film I’m not sure, but it’s still cool to see all these callbacks to the original film (heck, I wouldn’t mind call backs to all three films, even if the other two stink).
There was a leaked description of the trailer to this movie online, and unfortunately I did spoil it for myself (it’s the internet, what am I going to do). I will say that it does sound awesome, but I hope that the actual trailer is a little different just so I won’t see everything coming. Even if it’s exactly the same, I will be excited to see all of it realized on-screen. The trailer is supposed to premiere in December on the next Hobbit movie, but will probably be release officially online a bit earlier. When it drops, I’ll make a post detailing what I think of it.
UPDATE! As of 11/17/2014, a new website has been release detailing the new company that owns Jurassic World, Masrani Global. Here’s the address.
We get several new photos, including a great picture of a dapper lookin’ Henry Wu.
We also get a few pictures of a Suchomimus skeleton, indicating the dinosaur may have a bigger role in the film than I thought.
For more great info, visit the site. I’m really impressed.
So far, the people at Jurassic World have been teasing us with images and hints, making sure our appetite is big enough when the movie hits theaters. I know I’m excited, but I’m just making sure I don’t get my hopes too high. That already happened once this year…
I don’t blame the movie, I just got myself over-hyped and expected Domino’s, only to get Little Caesars.
But I’m still hopeful, and I know I’ll be in that theater when this movie drops, and only then will I know whether this movie was worth the wait, or….
…is another disappointment.
Join me next time as I take a mini look at hurtful dinosaur stereotypes as I do my first mini-review for:
Oh God.
whendinosaursruledthemind 