"They heard a crack as a branch broke,
and into the path stepped a tyrannosaur."
— Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
and into the path stepped a tyrannosaur."
— Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
I was four when my dad took me to see Jurassic Park. It was my first time at the movies. I wore my favorite grey sweatshirt with a big stegosaurus across the front, and carried my brontosaurus toy into the dark theater. "Jon," my dad said, as the opening titles began, "If I get scared can I hold your hand?" "...Fiiine," I answered. Two hours later, my love for dinosaurs grew to T-Rex proportions. And now, twenty-four years later, I finally crack open the book. I was worried that it wouldn't hold the same magic as the movie, but it was a spectacular, new yet familiar ride.
Steven Spielberg, who directed and produced JP, once called Crichton "the High Priest of High Concept," and the author's story of a theme park housing genetically-engineered dinosaurs is one of his most ambitious. I've read ten of Crichton's novels now, six for the first time this year, and Jurassic Park is an action-packed techno-thriller that blends fringe science with chaos theory to explore our species' relationship to nature. More concretely, modern science and its potentially unseemly marriage with business are under Crichton's scrutinizing spotlight, in the form of the character Ian Malcolm.
Thankfully, much was changed from the novel in the screenplay. Characters live who die in the movie and vice versa, and there are many incredibly tense, nail-biting scenes dropped from the movie:
Steven Spielberg, who directed and produced JP, once called Crichton "the High Priest of High Concept," and the author's story of a theme park housing genetically-engineered dinosaurs is one of his most ambitious. I've read ten of Crichton's novels now, six for the first time this year, and Jurassic Park is an action-packed techno-thriller that blends fringe science with chaos theory to explore our species' relationship to nature. More concretely, modern science and its potentially unseemly marriage with business are under Crichton's scrutinizing spotlight, in the form of the character Ian Malcolm.
Thankfully, much was changed from the novel in the screenplay. Characters live who die in the movie and vice versa, and there are many incredibly tense, nail-biting scenes dropped from the movie:
- A deadly flight down a T-Rex-infested river and waterfall
- Plenty of witty, thoughtful musings from Ian Malcolm
- Rocket launchers, pterodactyls, and more...
[JG]
ALVARO TAPIA HIDALGO
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
| Michael Crichton (1942-2008) remains the only writer to have a number one book, movie, and TV show in the same year. His novels include Sphere, The Lost World, Eaters of the Dead, State of Fear, and Dragon Teeth among others. Collectively his works have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, been translated into thirty-eight languages, and provided the basis for fifteen films. He was also the director of Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, and Looker. |
FAVORITE QUOTES
5. "We live in a world of frightful givens. It is given that you will behave like this, given that you will care about that. No one thinks about the givens. Isn't it amazing? In the information society, nobody thinks. We expect to banish paper, but we actually banished thought." — Ian Malcolm
4. "The Land Cruisers had stopped at the rise of a hill. They overlooked a forested area sloping down to the edge of the lagoon. The sun was falling to the west, sinking into a misty horizon. The whole landscape of Jurassic Park was bathed in a soft light, with lengthening shadows. The surface of the lagoon rippled in pink crescents. Farther south, they saw the graceful necks of the apatosaurs, standing at the water's edge, their bodies mirrored in the moving surface. It was quiet except for the soft drone of cicadas. As they stared out at that landscape, it was possible to believe that they had really been transported millions of years back in time to a vanished world."
3. "Muldoon worried even more about the velociraptors. They were instinctive hunters and they never passed up prey. They killed even when they weren't hungry. They killed for the pleasure of killing. They were swift: strong runners and astonishing jumpers. They had lethal claws on all four limbs, one swipe of a forearm would disembowel a man, spilling his guts out. And they had powerful tearing jaws that ripped flesh instead of biting it. They were far more intelligent than the other dinosaurs, and they seemed to be natural cage-breakers."
2. "The dinosaur stood forty feet away at the edge of illumination from the [Jeep's] headlamps."
1. "You know what's wrong with scientific power? It's a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are. It never fails." — Ian Malcolm
4. "The Land Cruisers had stopped at the rise of a hill. They overlooked a forested area sloping down to the edge of the lagoon. The sun was falling to the west, sinking into a misty horizon. The whole landscape of Jurassic Park was bathed in a soft light, with lengthening shadows. The surface of the lagoon rippled in pink crescents. Farther south, they saw the graceful necks of the apatosaurs, standing at the water's edge, their bodies mirrored in the moving surface. It was quiet except for the soft drone of cicadas. As they stared out at that landscape, it was possible to believe that they had really been transported millions of years back in time to a vanished world."
3. "Muldoon worried even more about the velociraptors. They were instinctive hunters and they never passed up prey. They killed even when they weren't hungry. They killed for the pleasure of killing. They were swift: strong runners and astonishing jumpers. They had lethal claws on all four limbs, one swipe of a forearm would disembowel a man, spilling his guts out. And they had powerful tearing jaws that ripped flesh instead of biting it. They were far more intelligent than the other dinosaurs, and they seemed to be natural cage-breakers."
2. "The dinosaur stood forty feet away at the edge of illumination from the [Jeep's] headlamps."
1. "You know what's wrong with scientific power? It's a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are. It never fails." — Ian Malcolm
"Keep working. Don't wait for inspiration.
Work inspires inspiration. Keep working."
— Michael Crichton
Work inspires inspiration. Keep working."
— Michael Crichton
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