Jurassic Park

So I finally got around to doing something that I don’t know why I never got around to before, which is reading the books that one of my favourite movies is based on.

IIRC, Spielberg bought the film rights before Michael Crichton had actually published his novel.  But the plot in both is pretty much the same in both – rich businessman clones dinosaurs for a theme park.  Dinosaurs get out and start killing, and ‘life finds a way’ (albeit with the help of horrifically incompetent geneticists and park planners, and one disgruntled employee).

Some of the characters are different.  Grant actually likes kids in the book, Lex is the younger of the kids and shockingly doesn’t know anything about Unix systems, Hammond is less of a cuddly Santa Claus type figure, Gennero is less the kind of person who would run and sit on a toilet when trouble starts, and Ian Malcom is incredibly far more annoying in the books.  He hasn’t any of Jeff Goldblum’s stammering charm and just seems to talk constantly.  He foresees everything going wrong, but whenever asked to actually explain how he just basically goes:

‘Ahhh… do you not see?’

Er, no Ian we don’t… that’s why we’re asking.

‘Ahhh…’

No.  Not ‘ahh’.  Actually explain what you mean, and then maybe we’ll be able to avoid the disaster you keep insisting is inevitable, or at least mitigate it somewhat.

‘Ahhh…’

Oh… f*** this…

But at least he dies (although he does come back in the sequal… maybe I’ll talk about that some time as well).

Incidentally, Michael Crichton also wrote and directed Westworld, I believe, which is also about a park in which the attractions start killing people.  I don’t know if he just had a really bad trip to Disney World when he was young or something.

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