JURASSIC PARK FAQ (VERY PRELIMINARY!)
Lewis Stiller
Otto J. Makela <ot...@jybox.jyu.fi> wrote:
>This is a very preliminary version of a JP FAQ file I'm writing.
Good idea to do a FAQ, lot of work though.
>
>1. How accurate to nature are the descriptions of the dinosaurs in
> the movie? What do we *really* know of these animals?
...(paleontology deleted)...
You should credit public, refereed sources for all paleontological and
other scientific information you use in the FAQ. Several accurate, in
depth, public paleontological references in your FAQ would be much
more useful than a lot of scientific information garnered from Usenet,
email and the popular press. As a general rule, I think it is a very
bad idea to use scientific data in a FAQ without giving the reader
enough information to verify this data for him or herself. You might
point readers to the Gould review in NYT Review of Books, but don't
use any information from that, get all your information from refereed
professional journals and publications, and fully cite them. If you
refer to graphics or to chaos theory, you may want to crosspost to the
appropriate newsgroups.
>B. PLOT HOLES
>-------------
>
>1. There was no talk of cloning also plant life at any time, but
> Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) was marveling a plant leaf she said
> had been extinct for millions of years just before they see
> their first brachiosaur.
How is this a hole? They obviously cloned plants as well. I think you
should be chary about including interpretive elements. Jurassic Park
in particular seems to attract casual theorizing by dilettantes.
>
>2. Open plotline: they never figured out what was wrong with the
> triceratops (in the book Ellie Sattler figured how its periodical
> sickness was due to ingesting a plant that had the same cycle
> of blooming, but this was specifically checked for in the film
> by examining the animal's, er, "droppings" -- don't remember
> specifics, and my book is on loan with a friend).
I'm surprised that someone put one of the best parts of the film in the
"hole" category. Enough information was given for the user to figure
out what was going on and why Ellie was confused, I mean, there was a
clear shot of the gizzard stones next to the lilac, a discussion of
the toxicity of the lilac, what more do you want? If Ellie had
verbally figured this out, it would have been much less interesting
than seeing her confusion and letting the viewer figure it out. This kind
of limning is one mark of a great movie, not a plot hole.
>
> CONNECTION MACHINE (CM-S) SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM
CM-5.
Here's my file Notes on Jurassic Park:
\documentstyle[12pt]{article}
\title{Notes on Jurassic Park}
\author{Lewis Stiller}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
Many aspects of the film {\it Jurassic Park} are difficult to notice on
first viewing. This document lists some points that hopefully will increase
the casual viewer's enjoyment of the film. They have been taken from {\it
The Making of Jurassic Park} by Don Shay and Jody Duncan, Ballantine Books,
1993, the Michael Crichton novel, other viewers comments, and of course the
film itself.
\section{Sound}
Sound effects are a critical aspect of the film. The film is intended
to be watched in a DTS-6 theater, that is, a theater using a 6-track
DTS sound system. DTS-S should be avoided. DTS encodes digital timing
information on the film, which a microcomputer uses to synchronize
with a CD-ROM containing the actual encoded sound. DTS tends to be
cheaper than competing digital systems, and results in more accurate
sound reproduction than conventional analogue reproduction. It is
unfortunate that many viewer's negative impression of the sound is
formed from listening in inferior theaters.
Here are some points to listen for:
\begin{itemize} \item After the initial loud drum sound, there are
pairs of deep drumbeats that come throughout the opening credits, like
far off heartbeats.
\item When the thumper fires the slug at the Montana dig, the sound
travels rapidly but smoothly from the front to the rear of the
theater, concluding in a fading roar behind the viewer.
\item The waterfall noise pans right as Gennaro walks past it at the
mine.
\item When Sattler and Grant are walking up the hill after looking at
the velociraptor image, there is a low roar left off screen: this is
the helicopter.
\item The sound of the raindrops on the car comes from all 6 tracks in
the theater, giving a particularly realistic ``in the rain'' effect.
\item The tyrannosaurus attack on the car from the left is heard from
the left speakers.
\item When Tim watches the tyrannosaurus eating the gallimimus, and
says ``so much blood,'' the viewer can hear the eating sounds coming
from the rear of the theater.
\item When Grant finds the dinosaur eggs the score plays the hatching
of the raptors song.
\item When Sattler and Muldoon are walking in front of the power
station, they look behind them and to their right; in the theater
there is an off-screen bird sound coming from the left front of the
theater. This is salient, as otherwise there is no reason for them to
look in that direction.
\item The tyrannosaurus' roar is made up of elephant, alligator,
penguin, tiger and dog sounds layered together. The raptor sounds use
human, dolphin, geese, horse and African cranes. The dilophasourus
starts out with bird sounds, particularly swan calls; when it attacks
the rattling sound is that of an exotic insect. The brachiosaurs use
sounds from whales and donkeys. The supervising sound editor, Richard
Hymns, traveled to the rain forests of Australia to get some of the
sounds used in the movie.
\item The way in which the orchestra goradually joins in with the
piano theme in the last song, ``Welcome to Jurassic Park'' on the
compact disk, is worth noting.
\end{itemize}
\section{Visual effects} The visual effects tend to be most noticed by
the first-time viewer, so there is little to dwell on here. We remark
only that all the animals have moving eyes, and the tyrannosaurus's
pupil contracts when Tim shines a light on it. There is also a
fascinating shot of a nictating membrane.
The first shot of the brachiosaurus uses a computer-generated
brachiosaurus but a real tree. The animators visited zoos and felt the
muscles of elephants and giraffes to help design the brachiosaurus.
The animators also received training from mimes.
\section{Miscellaneous} Of course, the casual viewer can spend a lot
of time worrying about perceived and real plot and continuity flaws.
\begin{itemize}
\item The cause of the triceratops' illness is described in the novel,
although there it is a sick stegosaurus. Although not explicit in the
movie, there is sufficient information given for the knowledgable
viewer to deduce the etiology, as the gizzard stones can be seen next
to the West Indian lilac.
\item When Grant leaves the Explorer, he does not shut the door. When
Sattler leaves, she shuts both doors; we hear the doors being shut
although we do not see them being shut.
\item The electric jeeps' headlights are on during the tyrannosaur
attack although the power is out. This is implicitly explained by
Arnold when he complains to Nedry about the glitch, earlier in the
film, that the lights are running on car batteries.
\item The large computers in the background of the control room are
CM-5's, massively parallel computers. In the foreground are SGIs and
MACs. The 3D file system Lex uses to secure the control room really
exists, it is called {\tt fsn} and is available from SGI.
\item The leftmost light on the fence just past the main gate in the
first shot past the gate does not work.
\item There are two shots of the sole of Grant's boots: when he is in
the tree with Tim and Lex, and when he is climbing the fence. In each
case his sole is clean, although it should be dirty as he has been
trekking through mud.
\item When Hammond tells Ellie to push the switch turning on the
power, he says ``Push it'' but his lips don't move. (I was told this,
I have not yet verified it. Also I forget who told it to me, but
thanks to whomever did.)
\item Although the lights are out, as, presumably, the electricity is
off, in the dining room where Hammond is eating ice cream, the ceiling
fans are still working.
\end{itemize}
Finally, we remark on some miscellaneous trivia about the film.
\begin{itemize} \item William Hurt was offered the part of Grant and
turned it down without reading the book or the script.
\item Neill (Grant) looks unusually animated when the car almost drops
on his head; this was shot with an actual car almost falling on his
head. In his words: ``This was a top crew and I relied on their
judgment. If they said the car was going to stop six inches above my
head, I was prepared to take their word for it.''
\item After the feeding of the raptors scene, there is a shot of
Sattler looking distastefully at her ``sea bass.''
\item A lifesize model of the triceratops, made from original casts,
can be seen at the Museum of Natural History in New York. In the
movie, not only do the triceratops' tongue, foot, eyes and chest move,
but her nostrils move when she breathes.
\item I am not sure if this is intentional, but when Sattler says
``Something went wrong'' to Jeff Goldblum (Malcolm), I believe Gina
Davis used the exact same words in {\it The Fly} to describe another
DNA-related accident that hurt Goldblum (Seth Brundle in that film).
My memory could be off here, or it could just be coincidence.
\item The dilophasorous is smaller than the fossil record indicates,
and the crest and venom are not supported by the fossil record. The
velociraptors are larger than the fossil record had indicated at the
start of filming, although more recent evidence supports the larger
size for velociraptors.
\item The principal photography for the movie was finished 12 days
ahead of schedule, despite a hurricane on the island that delayed
filming for a day. Spielberg tried to shoot all the dialogue scenes
within 5 takes, and to use less famous actors, in order to save money,
which was spent on special effects.
\item Both Tim and Grant independently mutter under their breath that
they hate trees.
\item A scene in which Lex is pursued by a tyrannosorous was cut
because the tyrannosorous' tongue did not look sufficiently realistic.
\item The sick triceratops was a full-size robot flown to Kauai so it
could be photographed on location.
\item There is religious symbolism throughout the movie. When Gennaro
gets off the raft at the amber mine and almost falls, Rostagno reaches
for him. The camera lingers on them. This seems to be a reference to
Michelangelo's {\it Creation of Adam} at the Sistine Chapel. Indeed,
the name of the amber mine is Mano de Dios which means Hand of God.
Later in the amber mine itself, Rostagno asks for light on the amber,
a reference to ``Let there be light,'' and kneels to hold up the piece
of amber while the light changes and an angelic choir crescendos.
(Thanks to Jim Gillogly for pointing out these references.) John
Hammond's role, white clothing and staff seem to refer to this as
well, as does the long shot of the snake by the raptor after Muldoon
is attacked.
\item Ariadne Richards, the actress who plays Alexis Murphy (Lex), had
here 13'th birthday party on Kauai interrupted by a hurricane. She
said that Spielberg entertained the kids on the sets with ghost
stories while they were waiting for the power to come back on. She
also says that Spielberg is a big dinosaur fan who imitated the
dinosaurs, particularly the velociraptors which he did especially
well, during filming.
\item According to {\it Jurassic News}, Dennis, the Director of
Computer Technologies, graduated from MIT at the age of 19, worked for
the Department of Defense, and later moved to private industry where
he set up worldwide phone systems. Note that ``Dennis Nedry''
anagrams to ``nerdy sinned.'' Chief Engineer John Arnold is a former
systems engineer who worked on the Polaris submarine missile program,
and supervised the construction of Universal Studios Hollywood and
Universal Studios Florida. Game Warden Robert Muldoon was raised in
Kenya and worked as a guide for African big game hunters. He has
worked more recently for conservation groups and as a wildlife
consultant. He is quoted as saying: ``As a child, I remember elephants
and rhinoceroses roaming the land behind our house, so it's not
surprising for me to see a herd of gallimimus running across a patch
of park land.''
\item There are a number of tongue-in-cheek self-referential jokes and
references in the film, as for instance Gennaro's comments about the
marketing tie-ins to the park, Hammond's remark that a loud score
would be filled in to the educational film, possibly Ellie's comments
about reality to Hammond, and so on. Jurassic Park in the movie has
many similarities to {\it Jurassic Park} the film. In the words of
screenwriter David Koepp: ``Here I was writing about these greedy
people who are creating a fabulous theme park just so they can exploit
all these dinosaurs and make silly little films and sell stupid
plastic plates. And I'm writing it for a company that's eventually
going to put this in their theme parks and make these silly little
films and sell stupid plastic plates. I was really chasing my tail
there for a while trying to figure out who was virtuous in this whole
senario---and eventually gave up.''
\end{itemize}
I hope these observations contribute to viewers' enjoyment of the
film.
\end{document}
--
Lewis Stiller
Dept. of Computer Science, The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD 21218-2194
email: sti...@cs.jhu.edu
Otto J. Makela
send email on questions you'd like to see answered (or at least pondered),
plot problems (plenty of those) and anything else you'd like to see added
to this FAQ file. Everyone taking part in the writing will be credited.
PRELIMINARY JURASSIC PARK FAQ FILE -- VERSION 0.1
=================================================
Prepared by Otto J. Makela <ot...@jybox.jyu.fi> except where noted.
Please send all correnspondance regarding this FAQ to me. Sections
A, B & C sorted more or less in the order things happened on the film.
A. ANSWERED QUESTIONS
---------------------
1. How accurate to nature are the descriptions of the dinosaurs in
the movie? What do we *really* know of these animals?
Of the fifteen species in the book, they only had seven in the
movie and only six of those were identified (the seventh is the
herd animal with the funny-shaped head seen drinking from the
lake just after they spot their first brachiosaurus -- my guess
is that it's a Lambeosaurus, anyway one of the "duck saurians").
We really know nothing about the coloring of these animals, they
might as well have had chess-square patterns as far as we know.
At one point of making the film, they were thinking of giving the
velociraptors tiger stripes.
Tyrannosaurus Rex ("Tyrant Lizard King")
40 feet (12 meters), Western North America, late cretaceous 65My
Velociraptor ("Quick Plunderer")
6 feet (2 meters), Mongolia, late cretaceous 80My
Scaled up for the film (though now they've found a larger
relative), no reason to believe intellingence in the range
given in film.
Brachiosaurus ("Arm Lizard")
82 feet (25 meters), North America, East Africa, late jurassic 145My
Triceratops ("Three-horned face")
30 feet (9 meters), Western North America, late cretaceous 65My
Dilophosaurus ("Two-crested reptile")
20 feet (6 meters), North America, early jurassic 180My
Scaled down for the film, no reason to believe it could spit poison.
Gallimimus ("Chicken mimic")
17 feet (5 meters), Mongolia, late cretaceous 65My
2. Whatever happened to Gerry Harding (the park veterinarian,
played by the film producer Gerald R. Molen) after he dropped
Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) back at the Park Visitor's Center?
Bret Barrett <bbar...@halcyon.com> &
Zante <za...@stein1.u.washington.edu>:
Harding specifically states that he can drop off Laura Dern
before he goes to the ship that is leaving for the mainland.
So he either got to the ship and left, or something terrible
that we didn't see happened.
3. How many velociraptors were there?
I think four is the correct number, Spielberg noted in an interview
something about "like being stalked by four tigers." Robert Muldoon
(Bob Peck) notes when they visit the velociraptor pen for the first
time that the "new" big velociraptor had killed most of their herd
(except for three? I think he mentioned the number).
One is left in the maintenance shed by Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern),
one is locked in the freezer by the kids, two are killed by the T-Rex
(they all look alike to me -- which one is "the big one"?).
B. PLOT HOLES
-------------
1. There was no talk of cloning also plant life at any time, but
Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) was marveling a plant leaf she said
had been extinct for millions of years just before they see
their first brachiosaur.
2. Open plotline: they never figured out what was wrong with the
triceratops (in the book Ellie Sattler figured how its periodical
sickness was due to ingesting a plant that had the same cycle
of blooming, but this was specifically checked for in the film
by examining the animal's, er, "droppings" -- don't remember
specifics, and my book is on loan with a friend).
3. Why did Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) attempt to steal live embryos
when just stealing a copy of the DNA database would have been a
lot safer, more productive for the competition he was selling them
to (how were they going to get more than one dinosaur per embryo?)
and quite a lot easier to get away with?
4. Doug Shaw <dos...@math.lsa.umich.edu>:
If people were not supposed to leave their tour cars, why was
there a working public restroom off the road where the lawyer
Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) got eaten by the T-Rex?
5. How did Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazello) get shocked by the fence as
he wasn't touching anything grounded while hanging from it?
I don't think it could have been a phase difference between
different wires or grounded wires amongst the "hot" ones, because
of the interconnecting small wires (which prevented them from
crawling between the main wires) which were did not seem to be
insulated in any way from the main wires. Also, Alan Grant
(Sam Neill) had a knife on his belt, why didn't he try cutting
these smaller wires?
C. TECHNICAL GOOFS/CONTINUITY
-----------------------------
1. In the scenes where they are sitting in the electric tour cars,
hoping to see some dinosaurs, there is rain on the windows at one
point (before the storm starts) and a few seconds later with a
shot from another direction there is none.
3. Thomas Hollunder <ro...@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at>:
Has anybody noticed that the fence of the T-Rex area ends (looking
at it from the outside) on the left side right where the trees begin?
So, instead of waiting for somebody to turn off the juice, big T
could've easily made his way through the bushes.
3. When the brachiosaurus comes comes to graze from the tree (they
reused the same "tree" in a sound stage the car fell from, by the
way) Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and the kids are sleeping in, you can
see camouflage net in the upper lefthand area of the screen.
4. In the end, where they are sitting in the helicopter looking at
birds flying away (I guess symbolizing escaping dinosaurs), in
the shots inside the copter where you can see out of the copter
window you see the island foliage going by, though they supposedly
are in the middle of the ocean.
D. FAVORITE QUOTES
------------------
Are some of these paraphrased?
"Here I am, sitting in a car alone talking to myself. That's chaos."
-- Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum)
"Now _that_ is a big pile of shit."
-- Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum)
"Remind her to wash her hands before she eats anything."
-- Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum)
"Mr. Hammond, after careful consideration, I've decided not to
endorse your park." -- "Me too."
-- Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and John Hammond (Richard Attenborough)
E. FILM CREDITS
---------------
PRODUCTION STAFF
Directed by ..................................................STEVEN SPIELBERG
Screenplay by ................................MICHAEL CRICHTON and DAVID KOEPP
Based on the novel by ........................................MICHAEL CRICHTON
Produced by .................................KATHLEEN KENNEDY, GERALD R. MOLEN
SAM NEILL
LAURA DERN
JEFF GOLDBLUM
and RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH as JOHN HAMMOND
BOB PECK
MARTIN FERRERO
B.D. WONG
SAMUEL L. JACKSON
WAYNE KNIGHT
JOSEPH MAZZELLO
ARIANA RICHARDS
Director of Photography ...................................DEAN CUNDEY, A.S.C.
Production Designer ...............................................RICK CARTER
Film Edited by ...........................................MICHAEL KAHN, A.C.E.
Music by ........................................................JOHN WILLIAMS
Associate Producers ...................................LATA RYAN, COLIN WILSON
Unit Production Manager ...........................................PAUL DEASON
First Assistant Director ....................................JOHN T. KRETCHMER
Second Assistant Director .............................MICHELE PANELLI-VENETIS
Full-Motion Dinosaurs by ..................................DENNIS MUREN A.S.C.
Live Action Dinosaurs by .........................................STAN WINSTON
Dinosaur Supervisor ..............................................PHIL TIPPETT
Special Dinosaur Effects .....................................MICHAEL LANTIERI
Casting by .....................JANET HIRSHENSON, C.S.A., JANE JENKINS, C.S.A.
Art Directors ........................................JIM TEEGARDEN, JOHN BELL
Set Decorator .....................................................JACKIE CARR
Stunt Coordinator ..................................................GARY HYMES
Camera Operator ................................................RAYMOND STELLA
Sound Mixer .......................................................RON JUDKINS
Paleontologist Consultant .........................................JACK HORNER
First Assistant Camera ............................................CAL ROBERTS
Second Assistant Camera ........................................JOLANDA WIPFLI
Loader ...........................................................STEVE SFETKU
Still Photographer ...............................................MURRAY CLOSE
Boom Operator .....................................................BOB JACKSON
Cable Operator ............................................TOVE BLUE VALENTINE
Video Engineer ......................................................IAN KELLY
Script Supervisor ..........................................ANA MARIA QUINTANA
Women's Costume Supervisor ..........................................SUE MOORE
Men's Costume Supervisor ........................................ERIC SANDBERG
Costumers ..........................................KELLY PORTER, MITCH KENNEY
Textile Artist .........................................PHYLLIS THURBER-MOFFIT
Property Master ....................................................JERRY MOSS
Assistant Property Masters .........................KEN PETERSON, CRAIG RAICHE
Second Second Assistant Director .......................KENNETH J. SILVERSTEIN
DGA Trainee .........................................................FRED ROTH
Unit Publicist ...............................................MARSHA ROBERTSON
Production Office Coordinator ....................................ANGELA HEALD
Assistant Production Coordinator ..............................SHERRY MARSHALL
Production Secretary .........................................LYNNE CANNIZZARO
Make-up Supervisor ............................................CHRISTINA SMITH
Assistant Make-up Supervisor ...................................MONTY WESTMORE
Body Make-up ....................................................JULIE STEFFES
Hair Supervisor ................................................LYNDA GURASICH
Assistant Hair Supervisor .....................................FRIDA ARADOTTIR
Chief Lighting Technician .......................................MARK WALTHOUR
Assistant Chief Lighting Technicians ...........STEVE CHANDLER, O'SHANA WALKER
Rigging Gaffer ...................................................PAT MARSHALL
Lighting Technicians ............EDWARD THOMPSON, ANTHONY WONG, KEITH ROVERUD,
HENRY "HANK" CHARLESTON, RON WOODSIDE, BEN O. GRAHAM
Key Grip .......................................................RON CARDARELLI
Best Boy Grips .....................................................SID LUCERO
Dolly Grip .....................................................DAVlD WACHTMAN
Key Rigging Grip ...................................................BUD HELLER
Grips ....................STEVE CARDARELLI, MARTY DOBKOUSKY, MICHAEL R. HEATH,
BILL VENEGAS, JOHN O'GRADY, JOHN COKER
Special Effects Foreman ............................................DON ELLIOT
Special Effects Shop Supervisor.......................................TOM PAHK
Special Effects Engineer ......................................JOSS GEIDUSCHEK
Special Effects ........................STEVE BUNYEA, BRUCE MINKUS, KIM DERRY,
MARK T. NOEL, CORY FAUCHER, DANIEL OSSELLO, ERIK HARALSTED,
JON PORTER, TERRY W. KING, E. WAYNE RABOUIN,
LOUIE LANTIERI, BRIAN TIPTON, MATTHEW J. McDONNEL
Special Effects Rigging Foreman .....................................TIM MORAN
Assistant Art Directors .................LAUREN CORY, MARTY KLINE, PAUL SONSKI
Set Designers ......................JOHN BERGER, MASAKO MASUDA, LAUREN POLIZZI
Chief Sculptor ....................................................YAREK ALFER
Illustrators ........................................TOM CRANHAM, DAVID LOWERY
Computer Design ................................................STEFAN DECHANT
Art Dept. Coordinator ..........................................CAROLINE QUINN
Leadman ...........................................................TIM DONELAN
Swing Gang .......................................................SCOTT LESLIE
Location Manager ...............................................STUART NEUMANN
Casting Associate ..........................................MICHAEL HIRSHENSON
Casting Assistant ............................................SUSANNA GRIFFITH
Extras Casting ................................................CENTRAL CASTING
Construction Coordinator .......................................JOHN VILLARINO
Construction Foreman ..............MIKE VILLARINO, DAN PEMBERTON, JOHN ELLIOTT
Head Paint Foreman ..................................................PAT GOMES
Paint Foreman .........................NANCY GOMES, TOM HRUPCHO, DAVE TREEVINO
Stand-by Painter ................................................TONY LEONARDI
Tool Foreman ....................................................ANTHONY FEOLA
Head Laborer .......................................................BRIAN ROCK
Plaster Foreman ..................................................DAVID ROBBIE
Head Greensman..................................................DANNY ONDREJKO
Greens Foreman ...................................................KEVIN MAGNAN
Greensmen .................................JEFF BROWN, BOB SKEMP, HUGO HERRERA
Craft Service ....................................................TIM GONZALES
Display Graphics Supervisor ....................................MICHAEL BACKES
Display Graphics ............................................DAVID NAKABAYASHI
24 Frame Computer Sync ............................JOHN MONSOUR, BRIAN CALLIER
Assistant Editors ....................ALAN CODY, PETER FANDETTI, PATRICK CRANE
Apprentice Editor .........................................MICHAEL FALLAVOLITA
Dinosaur Specialists ...................JOHN GURCHE, GREGORY PAUL, MARK HALLET
Skeletal Display ...............................RESEARCH CASTING INTERNATIONAL
Slide Show Coordinator ..........................................PATTI PODESTA
Goat and Body Parts ............................................LANCE ANDERSON
Additional Video Assist ........................................DEBORAH KELMAN
Production Controller ................................................JANE GOE
Production Accountant ..............................................JIM TURNER
Assistant Production Accountant .............................DEBORAH HENDERSON
Construction Accountant ............................................KAY JORDAN
Payroll Accountant ................................................KRISTEN NYE
Assistant Accountants .........................ELENA HOLDEN, CHRISTINE STEWART
Set Dressing Coordinator ........................................JANINE CAVOTO
Assistant to Mr. Spielberg ......................................BONNIE CURTIS
2nd Assistant to Mr. Spielberg ........................KAREN BITTENSON-KUSHELL
Assistants to Ms. Kennedy ..........................BETH CAHN, LESLIE CHEATHAM
Assistant to Mr. Molen ..........................................DIANA TINKLEY
Assistant to Ms. Ryan .........................................REBECCA CHAIRES
Assistant to Sam Neill ...........................................SIMON MILLAR
Production Assistants ..............................CRAIG BARNETT, JOHN SMITH,
JOSEPH J.M. KENNY, ROBERT WEST
Transportation Coordinator ........................................DENNY CAIRA
Transportation Captain ...............................................HAL LARY
Drivers .......................TINO CAIRA, BECKY RAICHE, DON CROW, LEROY REED,
JAMES FREAR, STEVE SORKIN, GORDON JERNBERG, MARK WESTCOTT,
LORIN JORDAN, WAYNE WILLIAMS, STEVE LUCE, MARK YACULLO
Animal Trainer ................................................JULES SYLVESTER
Teacher ............................................................JUDY BROWN
Safety Coordinator ..............................................TIM LITCHAUER
Stand-ins ......................................DON FELDSTEIN, DAVIDA VACCARO,
JOHNNY JOHNSON, JOE ZIMMERMAN, CYNTHIA MADVIG
2nd Unit First Assistant Director .............................CARLA McCLOSKEY
Additional Photography .........................................LLOYD AHERN II
2nd Unit Gaffer ................................................JACK SCHLOSSER
Helicopter ...........................................BLUE HAWAIIAN HELICOPTER
HAWAII UNIT
Location Manager ...................................................KEN LEVINE
Asst. Location Manager ................................................SAM LEE
Asst. Production Coordinator .................................VICTORIA MATTSON
Office Assistant ...............................................TRACI TATEYAMA
Transportation Captain ..........................................HARRY UESHIRO
Grip ............................................................RUBEN VASQUEZ
Electric .......................................................ROGER THOMPSON
Security ..........................................................MARK TRAVIS
Extras Casting ......................................................SHOWLITES
AERIAL UNIT
Aerial Unit Director .............................................DAVID NOWELL
Aerial Coordinator ...............................................BOBBY ZAJONC
Assistant Camera .................................................JOHN CONNELL
Picture Pilot .................................................DAVID CHEVALIER
Safety Coordinator .............................................CYNTHIA ZAJONC
"MR. D.N.A." ANIMATION
Animation by ................................................KURTZ AND FRIENDS
Movement Design .....................................................BOB KURTZ
Layout Design ...................................................ROBERT PELUCE
FULL MOTION DINOSAURS AND SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
BY INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC
A Division of Lucas Digital Ltd.
Co-Visual Effects Supervisor ...............................MARK A. Z. DIPP\'E
Visual Effects Producer ...........................................JANET HEALY
Lead Computer Graphics Supervisor .........................STEFEN M. FANGMEIER
Computer Graphics Supervisors ......................ALEX SEIDEN, GEORGE MURPHY
ILM General Manager ................................................JIM MORRIS
Computer Graphics Animators ..............ERIC ARMSTRONG, JAMES SATORU STRAUS,
STEVE SPAZ WILLIAMS, GEOFF CAMPBELL, STEVE PRICE, DON WALLER
Computer Graphics Artists ................JEAN M. CUNNINGHAM, JOSEPH PASQUALE,
CARL N. FREDERICK, ELLEN POON, THOMAS L. HUTCHINSON,
STEVEN ROSENBAUM, JOE LETTERI, JOHN SCHLAG, JEFFREY B. LIGHT,
TIEN TRUONG, JAMES D. MITCHELL, WADE HOWIE
Executive in Charge of Production ...............................PATRICIA BLAU
Supervisor of Software and Digital Technology ..............THOMAS A. WILLIAMS
Computer Graphics Software Developers .......MICHAEL J. NATKIN, ERIC ENDERTON,
ZORAN KA\vCI\'C-ALESI\'C, JOHN HORN, BRIAN KNEP, PAUL ASHDOWN
Visual Effects Coordinator ......................................JUDITH WEAVER
Visual Effects Art Director ................................TYRUBEN ELLINGSTON
Visual Effects Editor .........................................MICHAEL GLEASON
Scanning Supervisor ..............................................JOSHUA PINES
Optical Supervisor .................................................JOHN ELLIS
Plate Photography Camera Assistant ...........................PATRICK McCARDLE
ILM Plate Producer ................................................MARK MILLER
Digital Artists ..........CAROLYN ENSLE RENDU, BART GIOVANNETTI, DAVID CARSON,
RITA E. ZIMMERMAN, SANDY HOUSTON, KATHLEEN BEELER,
BARBARA BRENNAN, GREG MALONEY, LISA DROSTOVA
Computer Graphics Camera Matchmovers ..PATRICK T. MYERS, CHARLIE CLAVADETSCHER
Computer Graphics Technical Assistants ............STEVE MOLIN, MICHAEL CONTE,
JOEL ARON, CURT I. MIYASHIRO, EDWIN DUNKLEY, PATRICK NEARY
Scanning Operators ...............RANDALL K. BEAN, GEORGE GAMBETTA, MIKE ELLIS
Computer Graphics Systems Support .......KEN BEYER, LINDA J. SEIGEL, JAY LENCI
Video Engineers .......................................FRED MEYERS, GARY MEYER
Computer Graphics Coordinators .............GINGER THEISEN, NANCY JILL LUCKOFF
CG Department Production Manager ..................................GAIL CURREY
CG Department Operations Manager ......................JOHN ANDREW BERTON, JR.
Senior CG Department Manager ................................DOUGLAS SCOTT KAY
Visual Effects Camera Operators ....................PAT TURNER, TERRY CHOSTNER
Additional Plate Photography .....................................SCOTT FARRAR
Camera Assistants ...................................ROBERT HILL, JEFF GREELEY
Matte Artists .................................CHRISTOPHER EVANS, YUSEI UESUGI
Assistant Editor ..............................................ROBERTO McGRATH
Negative Cutter ..................................................LOUIS RIVERA
Projectionist ............................................TIMOTHY A. GREENWOOD
Editorial Coordinator ............................................DAVID TANAKA
Chief Model Makers ...........................BARBARA AFFONSO, LORNE PETERSON,
STEVE GAWLEY, IRA KEELER, CHRISTOPHER REED
Stage Technicians ............................PAT FITZSIMMONS, TIMOTHY MORGAN,
ROBERT FINLEY, JR., WILLIAM BARR
Optical Camera Operators .......................KEITH L. JOHNSON, JAMES C. LIM
Optical Line Up ............................JOHN D. WHISNANT, KRISTEN TRATTNER
Optical Lab Technician ...........................................TIM GEIDEMAN
Optical/Scanning Coordinator ......................................LISA VAUGHN
Camera Engineers ...............................DUNCAN SUTHERLAND, MIKE BOLLES
Production Accountant ..............................................PAMELA KAY
Courier Coordinator ............................................JERRY SIMONSEN
Production Assistant ............................................TINA MATTHIES
STAN WINSTON STUDIO
Art Department Coordinators ......................JOHN ROSENGRANT, SHANE MAHAN
Mechanical Department Coordinators ........RICHARD LANDON, CRAIG CATON-LARGENT
Concept Artist...........................................MARK "CRASH" McCREERY
Mechanical Design .............CHARLES LUTKUS III, RICH HAUGEN, EVAN BRAINARD,
RICHARD GALINSON, TIM NORDELLA, ALFRED SOUSA,
JEFF EDWARDS, JON DAWE, PATRICK SHEARN, J. ALAN SCOTT
Technical Coordinator T-Rex ........................................CRAIG BARR
Hydraulic Engineer .................................................LLOYD BALL
Master Welder ................................................ARMANDO GONZALEZ
Key Artists .........MIKE TRCIC, SHANNON SHEA, CHRISTOPHER SWIFT, DAVE GRASSO,
JOEY OROSCO, ROB HINDERSTEIN, ANDY SCHONEBERG, JOSEPH READER,
GREG FIGIEL, IAN STEVENSON, BILL BASSO, PAUL MEJIAS
Master Mold Maker ..............................................ANTHONY McCRAY
Dinosaur Skin Fabricators ..RICHARD DAVISON, MARILYN DOZER-CHANEY, KAREN MASON
Art Department ....BETH HATHAWAY, NICK MARRA, MICHIKO TAGAWA, ROBERT RAMSDELL,
DAVID BENEKE, SCOTT "GWIDGE" URBAN, MARK JURINKO, FRANCESCA AVILA,
MITCH COUGHLIN, SEBASTIN CAILLABET, NATHALIE FRATTI-RAPOPORT,
ANTHONY GAILLARD, LINDSAY McGOWAN, PIERRE OLIVIER THEUENIN,
JEFF PERIERA, LEN BURGE, KEVIN McTURK, EILEEN KASTNER-DELAGO,
ERIC OSTROFF, KEVIN WILLIS, BRAD KRISKO, ADAM JONES
Mechanical Department .............................BRIAN NAMANNY, BRUCE STARK,
MATT DURHAM, GREGORY MANION
Production Coordinators ......................TARA MEANEY-CROCITTO, MARK LOHFF
Production Assistants .........................CHUCK ZLOTNICK, KIMBERLY VERROS
TIPPETT STUDIO
Production Supervisor ...........................................JULES TIPPETT
Computer Interface Engineer .......................................CRAIG HAYES
Senior Animator ...............................................RANDAL M. DUTRA
Animator ........................................................TOM ST. AMAND
Computer Systems ..................................................ADAM VALDEZ
Production Coordinator .........................................SHEILA DUIGNAN
Production ...............................SUZANNE NIKI YOSHII, REBECCA SCHIROS
Engineering .....................................NICHOLAS BLAKE, BART TRICKEL,
CONRAD BONDERSON, GARY PLATEK, STUART ZIFF
Animatics ...........ERIC SWENSON, MIKE BIENSTOCK, KIM BLANCHETTE, PETER KONIG
Computer Technicians ...............................STEVE REDING, DOUGLAS EPPS
Post production sound services provided by
Skywalker Sound, a division of
Lucas Digital LTD.
Marin County, California
Re-Recording Mixers .................GARY SUMMERS, GARY RYDSTROM, SHAWN MURPHY
Sound Design ....................................................GARY RYDSTROM
Supervising Sound Editor ........................................RICHARD HYMNS
Sound Effect Editors ...................KEN FISCHER, TIM HOLLAND, TERRY ECKTON
ADR Editor ....................................................LAUREL LADEVICH
Dialogue Editors .................................MICHAEL SILVERS, SARA BOLDER
Foley Editors ..........................SANDINA BAILO-LAPE, MARY HELEN LEASMAN
Asst. Supv. Sound Editor ...........................................RUTH HASTY
Assistant Sound Designer ..........................................CHRIS BOYES
Assistant Sound Effects Editors ..................J. R. GRUBBS, SCOTT GUITTEAU
Assistant ADR Editor ................................................BOB MARTY
Assistant Dialogue Editors ............................DONNA JAFFE, MAIA VERES
Assistant Foley Editor .........................................SUSAN POPOVICH
Apprentice Editor ................................................ANDRE FENLEY
Foley Artists .....................................DENNIE THORPE, MARNIE MOORE
Foley Recordist ...................................................CHRIS BOYES
Music Editor .................................................KENNETH WANNBERG
Music Contractor .............................................SANDY DECRESCENT
Music Preparation ...................................JO ANN KANE MUSIC SERVICE
Music Scoring Mixer ..............................................SHAWN MURPHY
Scoring Crew ....................................SUSAN McCLEAN, MARK ESHELMAN,
GREG DENNEN, RICHARD DEARMAS, BILL TALBOT
Orchestrations ................................JOHN NEUFELD, ALEXANDER COURAGE
Post Production Assistant .........................................ROBERT WEST
ADR Mixer .........................................................DEAN DRABIN
ADR Recordist .....................................................ANN HASDELL
ADR Re-Recorded at .................................TODD-AO/GLEN GLEN STUDIONS
ADR Voice Casting ..............................................BARBARA HARRIS
Music Recorded At .......................................SONY PICTURES STUDIOS
Color Timers .......................................DALE CALDWELL, ART HALISSI
Negative Cutter ..................................................GARY BURRITT
Amblin Projectionist ............................................RENE GONZALEZ
Dolby Stereo Consultant ....................................DOUGLAS GREENFIELD
Titles and Opticals by ..........................................PAClFIC TITLE
Remote Control Camera Systems by ............................NETTMANN/MATTHEWS
Process Compositing by ................................................HANSARD
Crane and Dollies by ..................................................CHAPMAN
Gyrosphere by ..........................................PRESTON CAMERA SYSTEMS
CAST
Grant ...............................................................SAM NEILL
Ellie ..............................................................LAURA DERN
Malcolm .........................................................JEFF GOLDBLUM
Hammond ..................................................RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH
Muldoon ..............................................................BOB PECK
Gennaro ........................................................MARTIN FERRERO
Wu ..................................................................B.D. WONG
Tim ...........................................................JOSEPH MAZZELLO
Lex ...........................................................ARIANA RICHARDS
Arnold ......................................................SAMUEL L. JACKSON
Nedry ............................................................WAYNE KNIGHT
Harding ...........................................................JERRY MOLEN
Rostagno ......................................................MIGUEL SANDOVAL
Dodgson ..........................................................CAMERON THOR
Volunteer #1 ..........................................CHRISTOPHER JOHN FIELDS
Volunteer Boy ...................................................WHIT HERTFORD
Mate ..............................................................DEAN CUNDEY
Worker in Raptor pen ............................................JOPHERY BROWN
Helicopter Pilot ..................................................TOM MISHLER
"Mr. D.N.A." Voice ................................................GREG BURSON
Worker at Amber Mine ...........................................ADRIAN ESCOBER
Jurassic Park Tour Voice ........................................RICHARD KILEY
PUPPETEERS
LLOYD BALL SHANE MAHAN
CRAIG BARR KAREN MASON
BILL BASSO MARK "CRASH" McCREERY
DAVID BENEKE PAUL MEJIAS
LARRY BOLSTER TIM NORDELLA
EVAN BRAINARD JOEY OROSCO
CRAIG CATON JEFF PERIERA
MITCH COUGHLIN JOSEPH READER
RICHARD DAVISON JOHN ROSENGRANT
JON DAWE ANDY SCHONEBERG
JEFF EDWARDS J. ALAN SCOTT
GREG FIGIEL SHANNON SHEA
RICK GALINSON PATRICK SHEARN
ARMONDO GONZALEZ ALFRED SOUSA
AVE GRASSO IAN STEVENSON
BETH HATHAWAY CHRISTOPHER SWIFT
RICHARD HAUGEN MICHIKO TAGAWA
RICHARD LANDON MIKE TRCIC
CHARLES LUTKUS III MATT WINSTON
STUNTS
NATALIE BOLINGER GARY EPPER
LAURA DASH DONNA EVANS
RUSTY HANSON LARRY DAVIS
NORMAN HOWELL GARY McCLARTY
LES LARSON PAT ROMANO
BRIAN SMRZ R.A. RONDELL
PATRICK TALLMAN
Filmed at Universal Studios and Kauai, Hawaii
The Producers Wish to Thank the Following:
GEORGE LUCAS
THE ISLAND & PEOPLE OF KAUAI -- MAYOR JOANN YUKIMORA
KAUAI FILM COMMISSIONER JUDY DROSD
STATE OF HAWAII FILM OFFICE
CALIFORNIA FILM COMMISSION
IRIS INDIGO ELANS AND 4D/440 VGXT COMPUTER SYSTEMS
PROVIDED BY SILICON GRAPHICS
APPLE COMPUTER, INC.
SUPERMAC TECHNOLOGY
3D WEATHER SOFTWARE BY EARTHWATCH
COMMUNICATIONS MINNEAPOLIS
4D CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT PROVIDED BY SOFTIMAGE
ELECTRIC IMAGE
NEWER TECHNOLOGY
KAIMBU ISLAND RESORT, FIJI
TURTLE ISLAND, FIJI
TROPICALS BY GORDON COURTRIGHT (C)1988, BY
TIMBER PRESS
RIXAN & ASSOCIATES, INC.
GENETIC ENGINEERING NEWS, MARY ANN LEIBERT, INC.
PUBLISHERS
CARL ZEISS, INC.
HELICOPTER TOUR OPERATORS OF KAUAI
THE DINOSAUR SOCIETY-DON LESSEM
CONNECTION MACHINE (CM-S) SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM
BY THINKING MACHINES CORPORATION
"QUB MILAGRO CHAPPARITA"
Written by Dolores Ayala Olivares
Performed by Madacy Mariachi Bond
Courtesy of Madacy Music Group
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ON MCA CDS AND CASSETTES
THIS FILM MIXED AND RECORDED IN A THX SOUND SYSTEM THEATRE
FILMED WITH PANAVISION CAMERA & LENSES
Color by DELUXE
DOLBY STEREO in Selected Theaters
THIS FILM MIXED AND RECORDED IN A THX SOUND SYSTEM THEATRE
EASTMAN COLOR FILM
DIGITAL THEATRE SYSTEM
CERTIFICATE NO IATSE
MPAA SEAL INSIGNIA
COPYRIGHT 1993 UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC. AND
AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
All Rights Reserved.
Country of First Publication: United States of America.
Universal City Studios, Inc. and Amblin Entertainment, Inc. are the
authors of this motion picture for purposes of the Berne Convention and
all national laws giving effect thereto.
THE ANIMALS USED IN THIS FILM WERE IN NO WAY MIS-
TREATED AND ALL SCENES IN WHICH THEY APPEARED
WERE UNDER STRICT SUPERVISION WITH THE UTMOST CON-
CERN FOR THEIR HANDLING.
THE CHARACTERS AND EVENTS DEPICTED IN THIS PHOTO-
PLAY ARE FICTITIOUS. ANY SIMILARITY TO ACTUAL PER-
SONS, LIVING OR DEAD, IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS PROTECTED UNDER THE LAWS OF
THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES. UNAUTHO-
RIZED DUPLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR EXHIBITION MAY
RESULT IN CIVIL LIABILITY AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
A STEVEN SPIELBERG FILM
AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT
F. FURTHER READING
------------------
Michael Crichton, JURASSIC PARK
Don Shay & Jody Duncan, THE MAKING OF JURASSIC PARK
/* * * Otto J. Makela <ot...@jybox.jyu.fi> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */
/* Phone: +358 41 613 847, BBS: +358 41 211 562 (V.32bis/USR-HST,24h/d) */
/* Mail: Kauppakatu 1B18/SF-40100 Jyvaskyla/Finland, ICBM: 62.14N25.44E */
/* * * Computers Rule 01001111 01001011 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */
J. Taipale
: This is a very preliminary version of a JP FAQ file I'm writing. Please
: A. ANSWERED QUESTIONS
: ---------------------
: B. PLOT HOLES
: -------------
: C. TECHNICAL GOOFS/CONTINUITY
: -----------------------------
: D. FAVORITE QUOTES
: ------------------
: E. FILM CREDITS
: ---------------
: PRODUCTION STAFF
: HAWAII UNIT
: AERIAL UNIT
: "MR. D.N.A." ANIMATION
: STAN WINSTON STUDIO
: TIPPETT STUDIO
: CAST
: PUPPETEERS
: STUNTS
: A STEVEN SPIELBERG FILM
: AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT
: F. FURTHER READING
: ------------------
--
? J.O.Taipale ! In space no one can hear Your mandolin ... ?
? Jyvaskyla University ! ?
? Finland (west-russia) ! ( P***a haisee ja balalaikka soi ) ?
? jo...@jyu.fi ! - Raaka Arska ?
Mike McCollister
[stuff deleted]
>>
>>2. Open plotline: they never figured out what was wrong with the
>> triceratops (in the book Ellie Sattler figured how its periodical
>> sickness was due to ingesting a plant that had the same cycle
>> of blooming, but this was specifically checked for in the film
>> by examining the animal's, er, "droppings" -- don't remember
>> specifics, and my book is on loan with a friend).
>
>I'm surprised that someone put one of the best parts of the film in the
>"hole" category. Enough information was given for the user to figure
>out what was going on and why Ellie was confused, I mean, there was a
>clear shot of the gizzard stones next to the lilac, a discussion of
>the toxicity of the lilac, what more do you want? If Ellie had
>verbally figured this out, it would have been much less interesting
>than seeing her confusion and letting the viewer figure it out. This kind
>of limning is one mark of a great movie, not a plot hole.
>
I did not interpret it that way. Not knowing much about plants, I
thought that the so called gizzard stones were simply lilac seeds. I
figured that the plant had nothing to do with the sickness of the
triceratops at all. In fact, my wife and I both thought that since the
animal was female and there was a periodic sickness that it would be
acounted to some sort of "famale problem". I have not read the book so
the impression is strictly from the movie.
Mike
] Michael J. McCollister, Senior Engineer
] Harris Corporation
] Government Aerospace Systems Division
] P.O. Box 94000
] Mailstop 100/4823
] Palm Bay, Florida 32905
] Email: mmcc...@comanche.ess.harris.com
] Phone: (407) 729-7054
Joshua Bell
>In article D...@blaze.cs.jhu.edu, sti...@lost-boy.cs.jhu.edu (Lewis Stiller) writes:
>>I'm surprised that someone put one of the best parts of the film in the
>>"hole" category. Enough information was given for the user to figure
>>out what was going on and why Ellie was confused, I mean, there was a
>>clear shot of the gizzard stones next to the lilac, a discussion of
>>the toxicity of the lilac, what more do you want? If Ellie had
>>verbally figured this out, it would have been much less interesting
>>than seeing her confusion and letting the viewer figure it out. This kind
>>of limning is one mark of a great movie, not a plot hole.
>I did not interpret it that way. Not knowing much about plants, I
>thought that the so called gizzard stones were simply lilac seeds. I
>figured that the plant had nothing to do with the sickness of the
>triceratops at all. In fact, my wife and I both thought that since the
>animal was female and there was a periodic sickness that it would be
>acounted to some sort of "famale problem". I have not read the book so
>the impression is strictly from the movie.
Sattler does specifically state (tho I can't quote) that the
Triceratops is suffering from something... damn, can't recall the
word. Anyway, the nodules on the 'cera's tongue point to it being
more than a "female problem". Recall also that Sattler was
concerned (over dinner) at the introduction of dinosaurs into an
enviroment with modern flora (plants had not developed such
advanced chemical defenses during the Cretaceous).
She's also firmly convinced it is the plant's fault. Seemed
rather clear to me that the reason the seeds were not found in
the feces was that the Triceratops was regurgitating them, so
they didn't make it all the way through the digestive tract.
Joshua
--
| "Has it been a bad year, or what?" - Meriadoc Brandybuck, |
| upon returning to the Shire after the War of the Ring. |
David Bromage
>3. Why did Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) attempt to steal live embryos
> when just stealing a copy of the DNA database would have been a
> lot safer, more productive for the competition he was selling them
> to (how were they going to get more than one dinosaur per embryo?)
> and quite a lot easier to get away with?
I think this may be another open plot. You will note that the cannister
with the embryos was buried under a pile of mud when Nedry was attacked.
In the case of a sequel, Spielberg will find some slightly implausable
event which will allow these embryos to mature, at least those were my
thoughts when I first saw it.
As an aside, I thought that it was a nice touch that Nedry was drinking
Jolt.
Cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Bromage br...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
Monash University, a069...@mfs01.cc.monash.edu.au
Clayton, Victoria br...@cloud.apana.org.au
Australia
"I think thinking is so important" - Baldrick
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nathan Elke
:>PRELIMINARY JURASSIC PARK FAQ FILE -- VERSION 0.1
:>=================================================
:>4. Doug Shaw <dos...@math.lsa.umich.edu>:
:> If people were not supposed to leave their tour cars, why was
:> there a working public restroom off the road where the lawyer
:> Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) got eaten by the T-Rex?
Well, it could quite easily have been a restroom for the workers, not the
general public. Perhaps the management of the Park frowned on answering
the call of nature just anywhere.
--
/-------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| 1993: Doctor Who is Thirty Years Old |
| Jethro Tull is Twenty-Five Years Old |
| |
| IAN ANDERSON FOR THE NEXT DOCTOR WHO!!!!! |
| IAN ANDERSON FOR THE NEXT DOCTOR WHO!!!!! |
| |
| Nathan Elke, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada |
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Philip Stephens
David Bromage writes:
> I think this may be another open plot. You will note that the cannister
> with the embryos was buried under a pile of mud when Nedry was attacked.
> In the case of a sequel, Spielberg will find some slightly implausable
> event which will allow these embryos to mature, at least those were my
> thoughts when I first saw it.
Why would he need to! It's not as if any of the dinosaurs were killed off before
the movie ended. The sequel need only to begin where Jurassic Park left off...
As for the scene showing the cannister being buried under a pile of mud, that struck me as been more poetic than anything else ("the cannister becomes fossilised, only to be dug up a few million years from now by a newly evolved intelligent race").
Hopefully whoever makes the sequel will not squander their chance to make a good movie i.e. let's hope they don't go for the obvious route of repeating the original,
but instead do something different...with such a wide open ending, that *shouldn't* be too hard!
Richard Barry Ling
Damn. There's nothing worse than dissecting my favourite movie... I think
it will be some time before I see more convincing effects than those in
Jurassic Park - they are truly awesome (mark that down as the understatement
of the century?). Anyway, here goes...
The leftover dinosaurs was something I pondered on too - 20th century humans
have now succeeded in filling a small island in the Indian ocean with
prehistoric animals. In the final scene, where Grant watches the pelicans
from the helicopter, he seemed to be wondering how long it will be before
they get off the island (the birds evolved from dinosaurs and are shown
heading away from the island). I thought about a sequel involving humans
returning to either exterminate the feral dinosaurs or try to recapture them.
Then I remembered that the dinosaurs had a built-in weakness - an inability
to manufacture lysines, which "results in the animal falling into a coma and
dying". Thus, without the support staff on the island, there'll soon be no
dinosaurs left in Jurassic Park. Not much prospect of a sequel then for
T-Rex, unless that bit of genetic engineering failed. The embryos in the
shaving cream can are history, too - they'll thaw out in the heat of a
tropical rainforest when the coolant runs out.
BTW... the scientists claimed that all the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were
female; Grant later finds the eggs and supposes that the dinosaurs inherited
an ability to change sex from the amphibian DNA. Problem: female animals
have two X chromosomes; males have one X and one Y. It is plausible for a
male to become female, since it has a copy of the X chromosome. But a
female cannot become male since it lacks the Y chromosome. Grant
specifically says that some frogs can change sex, from male to female. I
checked out a few biology books and it seems fairly common among amphibians
and fish. There's no mention of females becoming male though. I can't
resolve this one - maybe I've missed something, but it does seem like a
problem.
Another couple of things...
I hadn't heard of Velociraptor before JP, but they look very much like a
species I remember as Deinonychus (including the sickle-shaped claw). Are
these related species? Different names for the same species?
Whose arm did Sattler find in the maintenance shed? She breathes the
scientist's name, but I didn't catch it. I thought it was the overseer of
the Raptors, but he was later attacked outside the maintenance shed.
Re: what happened to Harding, the veterinarian... he probably left with the
rest of the support staff to the mainland. The fact that he didn't feature
again in the movie is hardly a flaw.
Re: Tim getting zapped by the fence when he's not grounded... they can't
cater for everything. Movies will always have technical flaws to the
specialists in their field. I found the scenes involving the computers
quite funny, particularly the "computer hacker" at work. To the (perhaps)
5% of the population who are well-informed with computers, these scenes were
a joke, with the huge brightly coloured requesters, 3D graphics file system,
and so on. But if they had used a more realistic display they risk boring
or confusing the other 95% of the population, and losing the suspense of the
scene (though I do think it was a little overdone). The same with the
electric fence; I don't know much about electronics and didn't notice at the
time, since I assumed there was a continuous current along the wires that
would pass through Tim's body. The other option would be to change or scrap
an exciting scene for the benefit of the small number of people who'd notice
the hitch.
Just my opinions.
RL.
========================== Generating: .signature
Richard Ling - colour analysis... complete
u914...@cs.uow.edu.au - clipping... complete
========================== - rendering... 37.6%
t...@weasel.csd.sgi.com
the rapters--who can virtually hear people breathe--are caught
by surprise by the T-rex at the end. I'm sorry, but there is
no way the T-rex (which previously could be heard from miles
away) is going to sneak up and surprise them.
-Jason
Greg Bole
(Richard Barry Ling) writes:
> BTW... the scientists claimed that all the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were
> female; Grant later finds the eggs and supposes that the dinosaurs inherited
> an ability to change sex from the amphibian DNA. Problem: female animals
> have two X chromosomes; males have one X and one Y. It is plausible for a
> male to become female, since it has a copy of the X chromosome. But a
> female cannot become male since it lacks the Y chromosome. Grant
> specifically says that some frogs can change sex, from male to female. I
> checked out a few biology books and it seems fairly common among amphibians
> and fish. There's no mention of females becoming male though. I can't
> resolve this one - maybe I've missed something, but it does seem like a
> problem.
I'll agree with your estimate of male -> female sexual transformations
in amphibians and reptlies. I can't think of an example in the other
direction either. Usually it's the largest male in the group that will
make the transformation to female since it has the body size to carry
the young or the eggs. (this has also been documented in a number of species
of fish) While the female -> male might not be as plausible there are quite
a few instances of female parthogenesis: ie. single sex reproduction.
This may have been the basis for Crichton's reproduction theory. All
of the offspring would also be female, but have the ability to reproduce.
Not that I'm trying to scientifically approve of the idea that frog DNA
put into a dinosaur could even *possibly* give those dionsaurs some of
the same abilities of the frog. This is mere psudo-science hand waving.
Perhaps we shouldn't look too deeply into the science of the movie and
try and explain it using real world examples. It just isn't possible the
way it is presented.
> I hadn't heard of Velociraptor before JP, but they look very much like a
> species I remember as Deinonychus (including the sickle-shaped claw). Are
> these related species? Different names for the same species?
Yup, the raptors in the movie were simple scaled up versions of the small
Deinonychuses. But I believe this whole group of dinosaurs have recently
been named under the larger grouping of "raptors". But the exact genus
and species named are of the wrong dinosaur. Someone more knowledgable
in dinos has already posted the exact species named and the proper species
depicted in the film.
> Whose arm did Sattler find in the maintenance shed? She breathes the
> scientist's name, but I didn't catch it. I thought it was the overseer of
> the Raptors, but he was later attacked outside the maintenance shed.
You're right it wasn't Robert Muldoon (the game warden) it was the
black computer-programmer played by Samuel Jackson. (can't remember
the character name) He was the first one that went to shut the power
back on from the maintenance shed (which was more like an under-ground
bunker!) but when he didn't return Muldoon and Sattler set out to try.
> Re: what happened to Harding, the veterinarian... he probably left with the
> rest of the support staff to the mainland. The fact that he didn't feature
> again in the movie is hardly a flaw.
He mentioned a couple of times that he had a gas powered jeep and was
heading to the docks with the others after he looked after the sick trike.
He offered to drop Dr. Sattler back at the compound after they were done
and before he headed to the dock to meet the last boat leaving.
ObJPTrivia: Harding was played by JP producer Gerald R. Molen
Greg Bole "Lord, I'd like to thank you for that
bo...@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu waitress in South Bend. You know the
one, she kept calling your name."
Tom Hanks in _A League of Their Own_
Pat Cameron
>phi...@labtam.oz.au (Philip Stephens) writes:
>
[misc. goofs deleted]
>
>Re: Tim getting zapped by the fence when he's not grounded... they can't
>cater for everything. Movies will always have technical flaws to the
>specialists in their field. I found the scenes involving the computers
Everyone seems to be missing the obvious. Forget about being grounded.
He's holding a wire which is connected to metal poles and/or concrete
which is connected to the ground. No problem there. If indeed he was
shocked at that high voltage (a few 1000 I believe) it would be impossible
for any human to let go. At lower voltages it is a reflex action. At high
voltages your body can't react. Therin lies the goof.
--
Pat
--
"Psst. Hey Guido. It's all so clear to me now. I'm the keeper of the
cheese, and you're the lemon merchant. Get it? And they know it. That's why
they want to kill us! We gotta get out of here before they let loose the
marmosets on us! Don't worry, little missy, I'LL SAVE YOU!" -- Ren Hoek
t...@weasel.csd.sgi.com
(Pat Cameron) writes:
|> In article <2768hj$a...@diamond.cs.uow.edu.au>
u914...@diamond.cs.uow.edu.au (Richard Barry Ling) writes:
|> >phi...@labtam.oz.au (Philip Stephens) writes:
|> >
|> [misc. goofs deleted]
|> >
|> >Re: Tim getting zapped by the fence when he's not grounded... they can't
|> >cater for everything. Movies will always have technical flaws to the
|> >specialists in their field. I found the scenes involving the computers
|>
|> Everyone seems to be missing the obvious. Forget about being grounded.
|> He's holding a wire which is connected to metal poles and/or concrete
|> which is connected to the ground. No problem there. If indeed he was
|> shocked at that high voltage (a few 1000 I believe) it would be impossible
|> for any human to let go. At lower voltages it is a reflex action. At high
|> voltages your body can't react. Therin lies the goof.
Yeah, but to get shocked the electricity must go through you. I doubt it would
have chosen the high-resistance path of going through the kid when
it had those nice poles to travel down. Which would have created one
hell of a short I might add.
-Jason
Douglas Brown
(Pat Cameron) writes:
>
> Everyone seems to be missing the obvious. Forget about being grounded.
> He's holding a wire which is connected to metal poles and/or concrete
> which is connected to the ground. No problem there. If indeed he was
> shocked at that high voltage (a few 1000 I believe) it would be impossible
> for any human to let go. At lower voltages it is a reflex action. At high
> voltages your body can't react. Therin lies the goof.
>
box) usually a preliminary (or primer) current is passed through the circuit
to detect shorts, incomplete grounds or accidental electrocution. This
primer current is an intermittant signal that pulses on and off for several
seconds before the final complete voltage is applied. This intermittant
signal could have hit the kid (constriction of hand which would not leg go)
then dropped (hand relax, kid falls from fence) before the complete 10,000
volts hit him.
It could work...
-dug
Bernd Driegert
There is an other mistake (IMHO):
The scene where the Jeep grounded, there ist one wheel slipping.
The Jeep has a 4 WD with a 'differentail lock' (I don't kown the right
description), the slipping from one wheel ist impossible.
>-Jason
-Bernd
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bernd Driegert Tel.: 49-6109-68860
Am Obertor 6 be...@adamant.robin.de
63477 Maintal
Marco Gualdi
Many thanx
--
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