Things That Bring Back Memories – “Jurassic Park” #MondayMemories 25


Things That Bring Back Memories


jurassic
For this week’s “Things That Bring Back Memories” post, I am going to pick something in the topic of “MOVIES” and go with “Jurassic Park“.  This movie was released in 1993 and is one that so many remember.  They are even coming out with a new one in the next year or so.

Jurassic Park was one that my husband absolutely loved.  I think we watched it about 50 times when it first came out and then after he bought the VHS, even more.  Now we’ve even upgraded to the DVD – getting with the times, right?  The story was a great one, and always made you wonder if there was ever an island like the one they visited.  I would have loved to go to the ride at Universal Studios and see how it was all set up.  It looked great from pictures and video that I’ve seen online.

Here’s the preview for the new Jurassic Park movie – just so you can excited for it, since it will be coming to theaters next month.  Then continue reading, to see where this all came from over 20 years ago.

If, for some reason, you are of an age that makes it difficult to remember the original Jurassic Park movie, here’s a preview of what it was about:

Did you ever watch the Jurassic Park movie when you were younger? or have you seen it on TV later in life?  You have probably seen the previews of the new one coming out, it should be even more exciting and digitally enhanced than ever! Let me know what you thought of it, and if you have any memories of it in your life!


More Info on the Movie:

jurassicJurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the first installment of the Jurassic Park film series. It is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, with a screenplay written by Crichton and David Koepp. The film centers on the fictional Isla Nublar, an islet located off Central America’s Pacific Coast, near Costa Rica, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of cloned dinosaurs.

Before Crichton’s novel was published, four studios put in bids for the film rights. With the backing of Universal Studios, Spielberg acquired the rights for $1.5 million before publication in 1990; Crichton was hired for an additional $500,000 to adapt the novel for the screen. David Koepp wrote the final draft, which left out much of the novel’s exposition and violence and made numerous changes to the characters. Filming took place in California and Hawaii between August and November 1992, and post-production rolled until May 1993, supervised by Spielberg in Poland as he filmed Schindler’s List . The dinosaurs were created with groundbreaking computer-generated imagery by Industrial Light & Magic and with life-sized animatronic dinosaurs built by Stan Winston’s team. To showcase the film’s sound design, which included a mixture of various animal noises for the dinosaur roars, Spielberg invested in the creation of DTS, a company specializing in digital surround sound formats.

Following an extensive $65 million marketing campaign, which included licensing deals with 100 companies, Jurassic Park grossed over $900 million worldwide in its original theatrical run. It surpassed Spielberg’s 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to become the highest-grossing film until Titanic (1997). Jurassic Park was well received by critics, who praised its special effects, John Williams musical score, and Spielberg’s direction but criticized the script. The film won more than 20 awards (including 3 Academy Awards), mostly for its visual effects. Following a re-release in 2011, which made $786,021, and again in 2013 in 3D to celebrate its 20th anniversary, Jurassic Park became the 17th film with total grosses of more than $1 billion. It is the 14th-highest-grossing film worldwide, the 16th-highest-grossing film in North America and the highest-grossing film directed by Spielberg, as well as the highest-grossing film released by Universal until the release of Furious 7.  Jurassic Park is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of the 1990’s and in some cases of all time, as well as a landmark in the vector of visual effects regarding its computer-generated imagery and animatronics.

Jurassic Park was followed by two sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, both of which were box office successes but received mixed critical responses. A third sequel, Jurassic World, is set for release on June 12, 2015.bones

In the years following its release, Jurassic Park has frequently been cited by film critics and industry professionals as one of the greatest movies of the action and thriller genres. The American Film Institute named Jurassic Park the 35th most thrilling film of all time on June 13, 2001. The Chicago Film Critics Association also ranked Jurassic Park as the 55th scariest movie of all time and, in 2005, Bravo chose the scene in which Lex and Tim are stalked by two raptors in the kitchen as the 95th scariest movie moment ever. On Empire magazine’s fifteenth anniversary in 2004, it judged Jurassic Park the sixth most influential film of the magazine’s lifetime. Empire called the first encounter with a Brachiosaurus the 28th most magical moment in cinema. In 2008, an Empire poll of readers, filmmakers, and critics also rated it one of the 500 greatest films of all time. On Film Review‍ ’​s fifty-fifth anniversary in 2005, it declared the film to be one of the five most important in the magazine’s lifetime. In 2006, IGN ranked Jurassic Park as the 19th greatest film franchise ever. In a 2010 poll, the readers of Entertainment Weekly rated it the greatest summer movie of the previous 20 years. The popularity of the movie caused the management of the National Basketball Association expansion franchise founded in Toronto in 1995 to adopt the nickname Raptors.

The biggest impact Jurassic Park had on subsequent films regarded Industrial Light and Magic’s computer-generated visual effects. Film historian Tom Shone commented on the film’s innovation and influence, saying that “In its way, Jurassic Park heralded a revolution in movies as profound as the coming of sound in 1927.” Many filmmakers saw Jurassic Park‍ ’​s effects as a realization that many of their visions, previously thought unfeasible or too expensive, were now possible. ILM owner George Lucas, realizing the success of creating realistic live dinosaurs by his own company, started to make the Star Wars prequels, Stanley Kubrick decided to invest in pet project A.I. Artificial Intelligence, to which he would later bring Spielberg to direct, and Peter Jackson began to re-explore his childhood love of fantasy films, a path that led him to The Lord of the Rings and King Kong. Jurassic Park has also inspired films and documentaries with dinosaurs such as the American adaptation of Godzilla, Dinosaur from the Deep, Carnosaur (in which Laura Dern’s mother Diane Ladd starred), Dinosaur Island and Walking with Dinosaurs. Stan Winston, enthusiastic about the new technology pioneered by the film, joined with IBM and director James Cameron to form a new special effects company, Digital Domain.

The Plot:

jurassic

JURASSIC PARK, 1993. ©Universal/courtesy Everett Collection

John Hammond, the founder and CEO of bio-engineering company InGen, has created a theme park called Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar, a tropical island in an isolated Central American location populated with cloned dinosaurs. After a park worker is killed by a Velociraptor—in spite of an attempted rescue led by the park’s game warden, Robert Muldoon—the park’s investors, represented by lawyer Donald Gennaro, demand that experts visit the park and certify it as safe. Gennaro invites the mathematician Ian Malcolm while Hammond invites paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler. Upon arrival, the group is stunned to see three Brachiosaurus and a herd of Parasaurolophus in the distance.

At the visitor center, the group learns during a laboratory tour that the cloning was accomplished by extracting the DNA of dinosaurs from mosquitoes that had been preserved in amber. The DNA strands were incomplete, so DNA from frogs was used to fill in the gaps. The dinosaurs were all cloned genetically as females in order to prevent breeding.

The group is then joined by Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex and Tim Murphy for a tour of the park, while Hammond oversees the trip from the park’s control room. The tour does not go as planned, with the dinosaurs failing to appear and a Triceratops becoming ill. As a tropical storm approaches Isla Nublar, the tour is cut short. Most of the park employees depart on a boat for the mainland and the visitors return to the electric tour vehicles, except Ellie, who stays with the park’s veterinarian to study the Triceratops.

During the storm, and as night falls, Jurassic Park’s computer programmer, Dennis Nedry, who has been bribed by a corporate rival to steal dinosaur embryos, deactivates the park’s security system to allow him access to the embryo storage room. The power goes out, and the tour vehicles stall as well. Most of the park’s electric fences are deactivated, leading the Tyrannosaurus rex to attack the tour group. Grant, Lex, and Tim narrowly escape while the Tyrannosaurus devours Gennaro, injures Malcolm, and pushes one of the vehicles over an embankment. On his way to deliver the embryos to the island’s docks, Nedry becomes lost in the wilderness, crashes his Jeep, and is killed by a Dilophosaurus.

Sattler assists Muldoon in a search for survivors, but they only find Malcolm before the Tyrannosaurus rex returns. They escape in one of the vehicles. Unable to decipher Nedry’s code to reactivate the security system, Hammond and the park’s chief engineer Ray Arnold opt to reboot the entire park’s system. The group shuts down the park’s grid and retreats to an emergency bunker, while Arnold heads to a maintenance shed to complete the rebooting process. When he fails to return, Sattler and Muldoon report to the shed as well. They discover the shutdown has deactivated the remaining fences and released the Velociraptors; Muldoon distracts the raptors while Sattler turns the power back on. She discovers Arnold’s severed arm and escapes. Soon after, the raptors ambush and kill Muldoon.

Grant, Tim, and Lex discover the broken shells of dinosaur eggs. Grant concludes that the dinosaurs have been breeding, which occurred because they have the genetic coding of frog DNA — West African bullfrogs can change their sex in a single-sex environment, making the dinosaurs able to do so as well. On the way back to the visitor center, the trio encounter a herd of Gallimimus, when suddenly the Tyrannosaurus emerges from seemingly nowhere and kills one. Grant, Tim and Lex reach the visitor center, and Grant leaves them there as he goes searching for the others. After finding the bunker, Grant and Sattler head back to the visitor center, where the children battle two Velociraptors. The four go to the control room, where Lex restores full power, allowing the group to call for help. While trying to leave, they are cornered by the raptors, but escape when the Tyrannosaurus suddenly appears and kills both raptors. Hammond arrives in a jeep with Malcolm, and the entire group flees together. Before they board a helicopter to leave the island, Grant decides not to endorse the park, a choice with which Hammond concurs.

jurassic


Some of the Characters:

Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant) was born in Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New jurassicZealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family returned to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. He has a BA in English Literature. Following his graduation, he worked with the New Zealand Players and other theater groups. He also was a film director, editor and scriptwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit for 6 years. His first feature film was Sleeping Dogs (1977). He then moved to Australia and his performance in My Brilliant Career (1979) was noticed in London by British actor James Mason who lobbied for Neill to get the lead role in The Final Conflict (1981). Because of this, Neill moved to England where he also became famous as the title character in Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983). After his Great Britain stint, he moved back to Australia in the late 1980’s. He now makes films all over the world. In 1993, he achieved “commercial and critical success” with Jurassic Park (1993) and The Piano (1993).

Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Satler) was born on February 10, 1967.  She is an American actress, film director, and producer. Dern has acted in such jurassicfilms as Mask and Smooth Talk (1985), Blue Velvet (1986), Fat Man and Little Boy (1988), Wild at Heart (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), The Baby Dance (1998), October Sky (1999), and I Am Sam (2001). She has won awards for her performance in the 1991 film Rambling Rose, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.  She was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her portrayal of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in the film Recount (2008). From 2011 to 2013, Dern starred as Amy Jellicoe in HBO’s Enlightened. For this role, she won the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.  In 2014 Dern made a return to film work, appearing in The Fault in Our Stars, When the Game Stands Tall, 99 Homes, and Wild, the latter for which  she received her second Academy Award nomination.


jurassic

Did You Know?

When the T-Rex comes through the glass roof of the Ford Explorer in the first attack, the glass was not meant to break, producing the noticeably genuine screams from the children.

All of the cast were given a Raptor model, signed by Steven Spielberg as a gift. It looked very frightening, and Ariana Richards has it in her house to shock anyone coming in, like a guard at the gate. Jeff Goldblum’s model has a prime spot in his house and is a cherished object. Laura Dern put her Raptor model in her son’s room near his crib. When he was older and saw it he screamed like never before. She had to put it in storage but hopes one day the two will be friends.

The Tyrannosaurus’ roars were a combination of dog, penguin, tiger, alligator, and elephant sounds.

The glass of water sitting on the dash of the Ford Explorer was made to ripple using a guitar string that was attached to the underside of the dash beneath the glass.

Harrison Ford was offered and turned down the role of Dr. Alan Grant.

The crew had to have safety meetings about the T-Rex; it weighed 12,000 pounds and was extremely powerful. They used flashing lights to announce when it was about to come on to alert the crew, because if you stood next to it and the head went by at speed, it felt like a bus going by.

The Triceratops dung didn’t smell at all; it was made of clay, mud and straw. It was drizzled in honey and papayas so flies would swarm near it.

Steven Spielberg wanted the dinosaurs to be birdlike, e.g. snapping to attention like a chicken. He wanted the Raptors to turn their heads so they could look behind them to make them have a scarier appearance. Spielberg likened the Raptor tapping its claw to Morse code to any Raptor listening, and it was such a scary sound.

Did you know, when the T. rex throws the goat’s leg onto the car, you can see that it is a hind leg, but when you see the T. rex swallowing the rest of the goat, you see both back legs disappear into its mouth?

Before the T. rex attacks Tim and Lex in the car, the exterior shot shows the previously open door closed, but, when the camera changes to inside the vehicle, Tim closes the door and gains the attention of the T. rex.

jurassic


Thanks for stopping by today.  Please be sure to leave a comment, if this show meant something to you, too.  Or to just let me know what you think of the story in this post!   TigerStrypes claims no credit for any images used on this post, unless otherwise noted.  Images in this post are copyright to their respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please email us with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.  Thanks and have a great day!!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
25 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ellen ThatChicMom
8 years ago

I was never a fan of that movie but I do have several movies that bring back memories. I remember watching South Pacific at my grandma’s house as a kid before she passed away, we always rented old musicals with her!

Lisa from Life with Lisa

We saw the advertisement for this last night when watching AD. It really looks good and my 11 year old said he wants to watch it as a family so I guess we will be watching!

Karen Eidson
8 years ago

My husband and watched this movie together when it came to cable TV! We are thinking about going to see the new one at the movies though.

Avry
8 years ago

So excited to see this movie! Esp. with Chris Pratt – (drooling) 😉

Maria
8 years ago

We absolutely can not wait to go see this movie! I still remember watching the very first one in theaters with my parents! Can’t wait!

Jeannette
8 years ago

I love the original movie and can’t wait to share the new one with my son! These were some fun facts that brought back memories.

Crystal
8 years ago

My husband is so excited about the new Jurassic Park movie. I mean sooo excited. Seeing all of the stuff that’s being released for it, I must admit I’m getting pretty excited too.

Liz Mays
8 years ago

This is one I’m most interested in seeing this summer. I can hardly wait to see what happens! Thanks for all the great info!

Jen
Jen
8 years ago

I remember the movie and am excited for the new one. I love all the little facts and think it is cool that the cast got a Raptor model.

Penelope
8 years ago

We are soooo going to see this, I CAN NOT WAIT! It looks so good!

Jasmine
8 years ago

All of my boys are looking forward to seeing this. I’ll make sure to share all the fun info I read on here. Thanks!

Elizabeth @ Being MVP
8 years ago

Oh I can’t wait to watch this. Definitely nostalgic since I loved the original.

Shop with Me Mama (Kim)

We cannot wait to see this movie! So excited about it! Looks like it is going to be really good!

ARod
8 years ago

wow thanks for all the fun facts. I’m going this weekend to see the new one with my nephews can’t wait.

Carlee C
8 years ago

I am looking forward to seeing the new release. I of course am a HUGE fan or the original and can’t wait to relive them all again!

trackback

[…] Things That Bring Back Memories – “Jurassic Park” #MondayMemories […]