raywest

15th Feb 2024

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Other than plot convenience, why did Gennaro speak to Rogastno?

Answer: No other reason, except to provide exposition for the plot. It gives the audience information they otherwise would not have.

raywest

5th Dec 2023

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: The second Nedry notices the Dilophosaurus in the jeep with him, why didn't he quickly get out and shut the door, trapping it inside? He had a second or two before the Dilophosaurus started growling and attacking him, plenty of time to get out.

Answer: There are some additional factors that would interfere with his ability to move quickly: He was obese (so not very agile) and his vision was impaired (he dropped his glasses and was sprayed with gunk in his eyes).

KeyZOid

Answer: In addition to what RayWest and LionHead wrote, I would like to point out that it's easy to say what a person should have done. You're watching the situation as an outsider. Granted, this is a fantasy situation in a movie about dinosaurs, but the mentality is realistic: people who are actually in a situation don't always think of something that seems obvious.

Answer: Nedry was incompetent and totally out of his element here, and rather than thinking logically, he reacted in an adrenalin-fueled, frantic panic.

raywest

Agreed, next to that, he had no time to get out. As soon as he would touch the doorknob, the thing would be on him.

lionhead

Answer: The fact that Nedry was in a car could've been giving him a false sense of security. Yes, he could've gotten out of the car, but then he'd be out in the open, making it easier for him to get attacked by any other dinos that were lurking about. In the car, he probably (incorrectly) assumed that the Dilophosaurus would have restricted movement due to how small cars are, making it harder for it to attack.

10th Jul 2022

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: When John and Nedry are arguing in the control room, John tells Nedry "I don't blame people for their mistakes" - What was the mistake that Nedry made?

Answer: Hammond's comment is a reference to what Nedry said about the amount he bid for the project. It's implied that Nedry has financial problems, and Hammond is basically saying that those problems are not his concern.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: There wasn't one specific thing. Hammond was complaining about the number of computer glitches that were occurring while Grant, Ellie, and the others were on the car tour and also about Nedry's generally sloppy work. Nedry tries to blow off Hammond's concerns and makes excuses, falsely claiming the poor work quality is because he was the lowest bidder for the job.

raywest

18th Feb 2022

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Why was Dr. Grant so dismissive of Tim when they first met? I can understand Grant being annoyed with the bratty kid at the dig site but Tim showed a genuine interest in dinosaurs and even mentioned he'd read Grant's book.

Answer: Dr. Grant doesn't like kids. Any kids.

lionhead

That was an issue between him and Ellie Sattler, who wanted to have a family, while he did not. She eventually married someone else and had kids.

raywest

Answer: Grant just has a low opinion of kids in general. He probably thinks Tim is too young to really understand or appreciate the research that Grant has dedicated most of his life to. Also, Tim can come across as a little "too much" at times; he talks really fast and barely gives Grant a chance to get a word in edgewise.

29th Jun 2020

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Why does Alan Grant struggle with his seatbelt in the helicopter ride to Isla Nublar? It looks like a fairly standard airline seatbelt to me.

Answer: This is a foreshadowing of the events to come. He has 2 female parts of the belt. He then over comes this problem by simply tying the two bits together in the same way all the dinosaurs on Isla Nubar are female to stop them breeding and over running the island. However, they over come this as shown when Dr. Grant finds the eggs after spending the night in the tree.

Ssiscool

Answer: In addition to the foreshadowing of the female dinosaurs on the island learning how to breed, I think also works to establish Grant as an unconventional but creative problem-solver, someone who can make the best of an unideal situation. This leads credence to him being able to survive with the children in the park with all the dinos running around. So in that belt buckle scene you have three things going on at once: humor, foreshadowing, and character development. Great writing.

Answer: Alan is not a modern man. Being a paleontologist, he mostly relates to the past and shuns modern technology, as evidenced by his resistance to using the ground-penetrating radar to find buried fossils. He is uncomfortable and out-of-place in today's world and has difficulty using things as simple as a seatbelt.

raywest

So Grant has never been in a car? My dad can barely figure out this iPhone, but knows how to use a seatbelt. It could be as simply as he grabbed two female ends, which has happened to me on an airplane.

wizard_of_gore

Not everyone uses a seat belt in a car or truck. My late mother never could fasten her own seat belt. She would just try to hold the two sections together with her hands. I always had to belt her in. Was rather comical, actually.

raywest

29th Jun 2020

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Whilst I appreciate the comedic value of Jeff Goldblum, why has Dr Ian Malcolm been invited to the island? How is his academic knowledge of chaos theory relevant to deciding whether a theme park is safe?

Answer: Malcolm spoke with Hammond about the idea of Jurassic Park prior to the visit. Hammond dismisses Malcolm's math as "codswallop" and "fashionable number crunching," and complains that Malcolm has "never been able to adequately explain [his] concerns..." But why ask him? Malcolm is an expert in complex systems. His particular brand of scientist is known for modeling "the real world" in mathematics. This is why you hear him refer to the complexity of the system in phase space and chaos (as in chaos theory). Gennaro refers to him as 'too trendy." Hammond likely asked Malcom to analyze the idea of the park as a publicity stunt, but got back a scathing paper. Gennaro has picked someone openly hostile to the park to give it a review. The investors want two experts to sign off. Hammond knows that Malcolm is hostile, so Hammond finds a paleontologist and paleobotanist (Grant and Sattler) in the hopes that they will sign off due to sheer awe and excitement.

Answer: Malcolm was there to calculate the probability of what and how the theme park could go wrong. The park's financial backers are aware the dinosaurs pose an extreme danger to visitors that could result in massive lawsuits. They want to know every conceivable scenario of what could go wrong. It's the old adage of, 'If something can go wrong, it will go wrong.'.

raywest

Answer: From google: Ian Malcolm was invited to the park by Donald Gennaro as an insurance consultant as Donald apparently felt that Ian, as a fiduciary, would be able to notice any dangerous shortcomings the park had.

Ssiscool

Answer: According to the wiki, he is brought along by the lawyer Donald Gennero because he is a parent of several children and thus be able to notice any shortcomings regarding safety to children.

lionhead

2nd Apr 2019

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: When the 2 tour jeeps arrive at the Tyrannosaurus fence, they bring up the goat. Anyone wonder how they got the goat there, how they feed and care for it to stay healthy and alive? Did they dig an underground tunnel for miles through rough hills just to walk the goat through? Would they risk the other side of the fence in T. Rex territory with a goat? It's such an odd possibility because it's just not possible without extreme costs, risks and efforts, just to get the goat there.

Answer: The goat was not how the T. Rex would normally be fed. The keepers put it there as bait to lure the T. Rex to that specific spot at that particular time in order to present it to Dr. Grant and the others. Hammond invited them to the island to evaluate Jurassic Park so he could then assure his investors that it was safe. Hammond is pulling out all the stops to impress them. Also, the paddock would have to be designed to have designated zones that can be opened and closed off and have tunnels running throughout so the keepers can have access to it for maintenance and to corral the animal when needed.

raywest

10th Jul 2018

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: When Ellie was attacked by a raptor in the power shed, she was startled by the hand of Mr Arnold which turned out to be his severed arm when she grabbed it, What happened to the rest of Mr Arnold's body? The raptor's mouths aren't big enough to swallow the whole rest of his body.

adamtrainman@aol.com

Answer: In Michael Crichton's original novel (upon which the movies were based), the Velociraptors didn't consume whole human bodies. A raptor would focus on its victim's abdomen, eviscerating its prey alive, eating only the entrails and internal organs. So, we may assume the majority of Arnold's body was left elsewhere in the power shed.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: There is no way of knowing what happened to his body. The movie would not go into gruesome details like that, and it would add nothing to the story, but most likely he was partially eaten. Ellie probably interrupted the raptor's meal and it then became focused on hunting her.

raywest

Answer: In the book, his body was wedged between the pipes and the raptor ate what it could get to - this was supposed to be in the movie, however filming for that scene was delayed due to a real hurricane so it was cut.

Answer: The creators of the film were not concerned with details explaining scenarios. They simply wanted to create a shocking jump scare type of scene. In reality, the man's hand would not have been severed and left in such a position.

Anthony Lemons

6th Dec 2017

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: If mostly everyone was meant to evacuate because of the storm, then why bring Grant, Ellie, and Ian to the island at all? Seems a little risky as well as pointless; wouldn't they have evacuate soon after arriving?

Answer: The storm unexpectedly became particularly severe, and it turned into an emergency evacuation. Hammond had brought Grant, Ellie, and Ian to the island because he needed their professional endorsement in order to appease Hammond's investors regarding the viability and safety of his theme park. Without their approval, the park would have difficulty being fully financed. Any weather risk was worth it to Hammond to fulfill his dream project.

raywest

22nd Nov 2017

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Why did everyone at the park have to leave? It doesn't make much sense that no one would be there to tale care of everything (i.e. dinosaurs, security etc). I can understand having to leave when things became chaotic, but they were leaving before that even happened; John couldn't handle all this on his own.

Answer: It didn't make any sense that everyone would be evacuated off the island and leave the animals and the systems unattended because of a storm. A facility such as that would have to be built to withstand hurricanes, which in that part of the world, would happen every year. Non-essential staff might leave, but not the caretakers.

raywest

Not everybody left, the essential personnel like Arnold and Muldoon stayed. Probably more stayed and were evacuated later when the animals escaped. The island was evacuated because of a hurricane and no boats would be present to take people to safety, they would have been stuck on the island.

lionhead

6th Oct 2017

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: When the raptors were in the kitchen and one of them chased Tim into the freezer, how did its feet slip on the ground?

wolfpackalpha

Answer: Because there was ice on the ground.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: The island's power had been knocked out by the tropical storm causing the walk-in freezer's contents to melt and cover the floor with slushy water and ice chunks. Earlier, Ellie and Hammond were seen eating the melting ice cream.

raywest

Answer: The ground was visibly covered in ice. One possible scenario is that the people in the kitchens were in a hurry to get to the boat, so they dropped the ice by accident and just left it there.

30th Mar 2017

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: I can't remember if any of this part occurs in the book, it's been years, and this always bothers me. When Hammond takes them on the tour/ride with Mr DNA, the video is made specifically for his interacting live with his clone. What purpose would this serve since eventually the park would open to visitors and he obviously would not be able to host this tour every time?

Answer: It was a specially-made promotional presentation, specifically designed to appeal to Hammond's investors in the park and to gain professional endorsements.

raywest

16th Dec 2015

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Why is the lawyer visiting the mines at the beginning of the film? He ultimately brings along Dr Malcolm so why go see a 'digger' who is not Grant?

strikeand

Chosen answer: Hammond was being pressured to have outside consultants evaluate the feasibility of the park's ability to function in both a safe and profitable manner. Hammond relents to the demands but he wants Dr. Alan Grant, whose research he has been supporting for the past three years, to evaluate the park. Hammond believes Grant will endorse the park, especially after Hammond offers to continue funding Grant's dig for another three years. That potentially makes Grant's conclusions biased, and the other investors want more varied opinions, including one about Dr. Grant, which is why the lawyer visits the other paleontologist.

raywest

28th Jul 2015

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: At the beginning of the movie, Alan grant is at a dig in Montana. They load what looks like a bullet into a chamber and fire it into the ground. What was it they fired underground and why did they do it?

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: They are using a ground penetrating sonar device. A shotgun shell is discharged into the earth. The resulting blast creates sound waves that bounce off any underlying object, like fossils, and are transmitted to a receiver and seen on a TV monitor as images to reveal what is buried underground.

raywest

31st Jul 2015

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Just out of curiosity but in the scene with Nedry's encounter with the Dilophosaurus (or whatever), I was wondering, why would the Dilophosaurus wait until Dennis got inside the jeep to kill him? Why not kill him while he was passed out?

Answer: There is no way to realistically answer that because so little is known about dinosaur behavior. Any answer would be a guess with no way to verify its or any other dinosaur's behavior. From a movie standpoint, this is merely a means to keep the audience in suspense-will Nedry survive or won't he? Just when it appears he is safe, the dilophosaurus fatally attacks.

raywest

In the book, Nedry is killed before getting back in the car. This change was adapted for the film audience.

Answer: Also the producers probably wanted to keep the movie PG 13. If they showed the attack on Nedry it might have made the movie rated R.

10th Apr 2015

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: How did the scientists know what breed of dinosaur they were creating? They couldn't tell which dinosaur's blood they extracted from the mosquito, could they?

Answer: After creating the first dinosaur from a DNA sample, they would then be able to identify the species, then proceed to clone more.

raywest

Answer: In the book it states that they don't really know what dinosaur they're making each time. Just that if it works out it does, if not, back to the drawing board and filling gaps to make it work.

21st Apr 2013

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Why would Alan test an electric fence by grabbing it with both hands? That's like clicking a gun at your head to see if it's loaded. Couldn't he have tried kicking it or maybe tapping it with his hand?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Alan already knew the electricity wasn't turned on when he grabbed it. He first tested the fence by throwing a stick at it and nothing happened. He could also see that the warning lights on the fence post were off. He only touched the fence cables to play a joke on the two kids, to lighten the mood a little.

raywest

Throwing the stick was meaningless and would not have told him a thing. Perhaps, he did so to set the kids up for his questionable joke, given what they'd been through and still were in the middle of.

Answer: The stick testing the fence would not work because wood does not conduct electricity.

Wood contains a good deal of moisture unless it has been completely dried out. That's why electric transmission companies and local electric distribution companies cut branches away from power lines and transmission lines. That said. The stick would have to touch a wire and ground simultaneously. In the movie it was thrown against the fence but was not grounded. I don't think I would have used this test.

18th Feb 2010

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: In the book version the character Lex has short hair that's pushed under her cap. In the film version she has a longish plait. I know that the film makers change many things for many reasons, but does anyone know why they changed this?

Answer: Probably because there was no reason in the plot for Lex to have short hair. It simply did not matter whether it was long, medium, or short; if the actress playing Lex had longer hair, then the film makers must have felt that fit the character just as well as a shorter cut.

raywest

16th Oct 2009

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Hammond gets Grant and Satler to go to Jurassic Park by saying he will fully fund their dig for 3 years. Since Grant says he isn't going to endorse the park, does he still get the grant money? In other words, was the grant dependent on Grant and Satler visiting the park, or on their endorsement?

zephalis

Chosen answer: Hammond's proposal appears to be that Grant only had to visit the park and render an honest opinion about it, although Hammond is confident Grant will endorse it. It was never actually revealed whether or not Hammond continued funding Grant after his refusal to endorse the park (which was sarcasm). However, since Hammond agreed with him, it seems likely he would probably fund Grant's dig in appreciation for everything Grant did (saving his grandchildren) and also to compensate Grant for nearly getting him killed.

raywest

23rd Apr 2009

Jurassic Park (1993)

Question: Wouldn't John Hammond be just a little bit worried at how animal rights activists may react to his park feeding live animals (like goats and cows) to the dinosaurs, and the damage it could do to the park's future?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: There are several factors to consider. First, zoos do feed live food to some exhibit animals that will not otherwise eat, like feeding live mice to some types of reptiles. Also, Jurassic Park is still top secret and is not yet open to the public, and therefore Hammond and the staff are, at this point, unconcerned about that and may change their practices later. Another consideration is that the park is in a foreign country that may have less stringent rules and regulations regarding zoo and aquarium practices; Hammond is likely paying them well to establish his park there and is bringing in tourism dollars. Finally, Hammond simply may be unconcerned about it, convinced that his fantastic park will be such a huge success and public demand to see the dinosaurs so great that it will overrule objections by animal rights groups.

raywest

Answer: In Jurassic World they still use animals so this isn't a concern.

What happens in a later movie is irrelevant to the question.

lionhead

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