Deleted scenes
Set-pieces that were cut from the original Jurassic Park include one in which the T-Rex terrorises a river ride, and a scene involving a pterodactyl, which was cut for budget reasons. Both of these were incorporated into Jurassic park III .
There was also a planned scene in which young Lex rides a baby triceratops. This was cut and the model dinosaur was later used in The Lost World: Jurassic Park .
Setting a bad example
One of the scariest dinosaurs seen in the first film is the all-frills, all-spills Dilophosaurus. And yet, it’s most memorable features were all made up one way or the other.
Michael Crichton, author of the original novel, invented the dino’s deadly venom-spitting ability, and Spielberg added the terrifying rattling neck-frill. In real life, the Dilophosaurus didn’t have either of these traits. And yet everyone who grew up watching the film now thinks differently. Tsk.
Special effects
While the film has long been praised for advancing computer-animated graphics in order to resurrect all manner of extinct creatures, making the dinos walk and roar weren’t the only things on ILM’s to-do list.
In the scene where Lex falls through the ceiling, the stunt double for actress Ariana Richards accidentally looked directly at the camera, and so ILM had to CGI-paste Richards’ face over hers to cover up the error.
Black and white
It’s no coincidence that Ian Malcolm wears black throughout most of the film, while Hammond wears mostly white. This is to represent the fact that the two are diametrically opposed idealistically.
During production of the film, Spielberg identified himself as Hammond – the dreamer – and author Michael Crichton as Malcolm – the voice of reason.
UNIX system
For all of the resurrected dinos and extreme action sequences, one of the more ridiculous moments in the film comes when Lex recognises the park’s UNIX system.
Instantly dating the film with an ancient computer software program that looks entirely fake, the UNIX system seen in the film is actually a real 3D file management browser called Fsn (‘fusion’). No one has ever found a practical use for it (probably).
Suit up
Everyone knows that ILM worked wonders with the CGI effects, while Stan Winston’s studio made good with the realistic animatronics, but did you know that the dinosaurs were brought to life in another – much more B-movie – way?
Some of the shots of the velociraptors in the climactic kitchen scene were actually achieved by animators wearing rubber suits. Come Jurassic Park III , the animators had specially-made ‘raptor pants’ to wear for shots of the dinos’ legs.
We would give anything to own a pair.
Science wrongs
Sadly, for all the film’s monster blockbuster entertainment, there always has to be someone to come along and ruin the fun. In this case, it’s the scientists who have since proven inaccuracies of many of the dinosaur depictions seen.
For example, velociraptors were actually the size of turkeys, with many palaeontologists believing that they were actually covered in feathers. They wouldn’t be nearly as scary though, right?
The follow-up
Despite the aforementioned corrections that scientists have made about the dino assumptions in Jurassic Park , it seems that this won’t affect how they are portrayed in Jurassic World .
Director Colin Trevorrow is quoted as saying that there will be no feathered dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 4 . He has also tweeted a pic of Kauai in Hawaii along with the word “Nublar”, the island from the previous films.
Other things that have been teased about the sequel include consultant Jack Horner saying that there will be a brand new dinosaur cast as the villain of the film, and Trevorrow clarifying where the film sits in the franchise: “Reboot is a strong word. This is a new sci-fi terror adventure set 22 years after the horrific events of Jurassic Park ”.
Weathering the storm
During the filming of Jurassic Park , the film’s central location – the Hawaiian island of Kauai – was hit by Hurricane Iniki. Thankfully, it didn’t cause too much damage. In fact, for some people, it barely disturbed sleep.
Richard Attenborough awoke the next day, having slept all the way through it. When Spielberg met this with disbelief, Attenborough said: "Dear boy, I survived the blitz!"
Skimping on the goods
If there was ever proof needed that less is more when it comes to showing all your cards in a blockbuster movie, this is it.
Despite having a running time of 127 minutes, Jurassic Park only actually contains roughly15 minutes of actual dinosaur footage. Anyone cheeky enough to ask for their money back?
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