Media Showcase: Episode 1 (Jurassic Park Franchise: Dinosaurs)

           Easily one of the most recognizable film series of all time, a spot it shares only with titles like Jaws, Star Wars, and Terminator, Jurassic Park continues to inspire the wonder that Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals bring to the minds of humans and the silver screen. Jurassic Park was originally written as a novel by well-known author, Michael Crichton, in 1990 and told the story of the foolishness in recreating animals that have been extinct for millions of years without taking the proper precautions. The original Jurassic Park was directed by the esteemed, Steven Spielberg, and released in 1993. Just going on the title, you can probably guess what the movie is about, dinosaurs! To be more precise, the film and pretty much all of its sequels follows the folly of man in the creation of living breathing members of Dinosauria through the art and magic of genetic cloning (We will disregard the statistical impossibility of this feat, and perhaps leave it for another episode). The first film follows the disaster of a hurricane/storm that wrecks the power system of the park, letting the animals go. The main characters, Dr. Grant, Dr. Sully, Ian Malcolm, John Hammond, and his grandkids survive the incident and escape. On this episode of Media Showcase we will take a look at the inaccuracies and inconsistencies of the animals in not just the first film, but the three sequels it has spawned: Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Jurassic Park III, and Jurassic World. We will be going down the list of dinosaurs alphabetically while analyzing each one to clear up any misconceptions you might have!

Number one: Ankylosaurus

       Ankylosaurus was first seen in Jurassic Park III. It can be seen moving through the forest in one scene and towards a watering hole in another; both in transitional scenes. It was later brought back in Jurassic World with roughly the same appearance. The way this animal is presented is rather accurate. However, there are still inaccuracies. One thing wrong here would likely be the thickness of the animal. The proportions are a tad off. The real animal would have been extremely wide, rather like a turtle. Another would be the animal’s armor. Throughout most of the first half of the 1900s Ankylosaurus was portrayed with spiky armor along its back like that of a porcupine, but this is incorrect. Ankylosaurus would have had very round and flat bony armor embedded in its skin.

Number two: Apatosaurus

       This animal took a while to make it into a film. Apatosaurus was first seen by the group of people that visit the island in the book. However the animal was changed to Brachiosaurus for the film. It was suppose to be in the second film, Jurassic Park; The Lost World, but was again changed to a different species this time being Mamenchisaurus. It was not until 2015, in the film Jurassic World, that the animal finally made it to film. The animal can be seen roaming the prairies, in the petting zoo, and in the scene in which the main characters, Owen and Claire uncover the swath of damage left by the genetically mutated dinosaur. The Apatosaurus featured in Jurassic World is rather accurate suffering only from ultra saggy skin, which could not be proven either way, and shrink-wrapping (the act of stretching the skin of an extinct animal, in fleshed out reconstructions, over the skeleton too tightly), the real animal would have had fat and other outside coverings that would have made its silhouette different from its skeleton.

Number three: Brachiosaurus

            Ah yes, Brachiosaurus, the first moving dinosaur to be seen in the original film, that can also be seen along the river in the third film. It was created using computer generated animation, a great feat for the time. The animators and supervisors got this guy mostly right except for the front feet, which should be U-shaped with only one claw on the first toe of each front foot, kind of like a fleshy hoof. Only three claws would have been visible on the back feet of Brachiosaurus, and as it is not clearly seen in the film, this point will go nowhere. Another possible contention with the anatomy is the nostrils; the film placed the animal’s nostrils on the top of its forehead when in life they would have been near the end of the snout. However, this is an outdated notion and was not completely well understood at the time, so this is understandable. Other than the fact that sauropod rearing is still held in contention, (The debate is still ongoing on whether or not sauropods in general could rear up on their hind legs.) they got this one correct. 

Number four: Ceratosaurus

        One of the most briefly seen animals in the Jurassic Park series is Ceratosaurus. It was shown in only a very brief scene in which the group, consisting of the Curbys, Billy Brennan, and Dr. Alan Grant traversing a river in a boat are frightened by the animal. The animal is then put off by the smell of another animal’s droppings and leaves. This film was made in 2001 and has no excuse for the way they made this animal look. The Ceratosaurus in the film is far thicker than the animal might have been. The real animal was small, at about 18 feet at the longest. Ceratosaurus as it appears in the film sports a single rounded cone-shape horn atop its snout. The real animal did have crests atop its head usually consisting of two over the eyes and on on the snout. However, these crests were thin and wide and were probably used as a display. Another inaccuracy that not only this animal, but all theropods in the franchise suffer from are the placement of the arms. Theropods could not hold their arms curled up with their palms facing downwards due to specialized bones in their wrists. Theropods were forced to place their hands inward at all times. Remember this moniker: "Clappers, not Slappers."

Number five: Compsognathus

         Compsognathus, an animal presented in the second film, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, was shown to be a small and tenacious carnivore that would swarm together to take down much larger prey. This behavior is unknown and could not possibly be known from fossil material so, why not? Compsognathus would most likely have been covered in a coat of feathers in life, for Compsognathus it would likely have been more like proto-feathers (Ancient predecessors to flight feathers, similar to the feathers seen on emus). 

Different kinds of feathers: (Figure I: primitive bristle, Figure II: Primitive Proto-Feather "Dino-Fuzz", Figure III A: Advanced branched feather, Figure III B: Advanced feather seen in flight-capable animals) Figure I and Figure II would likely have been the feathers seen on Compsognathus.

        It was likely that the real Compsognathus had this covering because it belonged to the family known as Coleurosauria. Most, if not all, Coelurosaurians had feathers. Jurassic Park: The Lost World was released in 1997, and the fossil finds that had preserved feathers (giving evidence that many other likely had feathers as well) had not yet been found, so we will give them a break on this one. However, the arm and hand placement is incorrect for this animal and the hands would have faced inwards as previously stated.

Number six: Corythosaurus

          Corythosaurus was seen in Jurassic Park 3 when the pack of Velociraptors runs into a herd of Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus in pursue of the human main characters. Corythosaurus is rather accurate, in fact, one of the most correct animals in the franchise. Nothing can be said negatively on its anatomy.

Number seven: Dilophosaurus

        This animal has been one of the most changed from its real-life counterpart. Dilophosaurus appears in the original Jurassic Park film, in the scene in which Dennis Nedry is in the process of stealing dinosaur embryos ending with him being the main course for a remarkably flamboyant Dilophosaurus. The Dilophosaurus, as it appears in Jurassic Park, suffers from many anatomical issues. The head is way off; In reality, Dilophosaurus had a large long skull with a unique notch near the end of its snout which made the tip bend downwards. 

Dilophosaurus Skull Note: the notch in the snout and the thinness of the head

          The Dilophosaurus in the film has a head shaped like that of a Tyrannosaur. Another inaccuracy is the size of the animal. The film’s Dilophosaurus is very small about the size of a medium dog. This was done to differentiate the animal from the Velociraptors in the film. The real Dilophosaurus was a rather large theropod that could reach lengths of 20ft. 

         However, the contention of which I must concede is the addition of a frill. The animal in the film sports a large fleshy frill around its neck in the same vain as a Frilled Lizard; it uses this frill to display (in the film, it does this to intimidate its prey). This integument (outside characteristics to an animal’s body) is unknown in fossil material, but seeing as this would not fossilize it is possible for this structure to exist; however, evidence for spitting venom, which is a characteristic of the film’s Dilophosaurus, is able to be fossilized and has no evidence behind it. As with the other theropods, the Dilophosaurus should carry its arms facing inwards.

Number eight: Dimorphodon

   

       Here we have reached our first non-dinosaur. Dimorphodon was a flying reptile very loosely related to dinosaurs and was more related to the dinosaur’s ancestors; Archosaurs. Dimorphodon appeared in the newest film in the Jurassic Park franchise entitled; Jurassic World. It acted as a small swarming animal that attacked the visitors of the park in large quantities. The Dimorphodon in the film had a rather boxy shaped head. The real-life animal sported a very oddly shaped head; its head was huge and round like that of a puffin. 

           Dimorphodon in the film had a head like that of a theropod dinosaur; square with large teeth. Its tail can be seen moving about when in flight, in reality the tail of Dimorphodon was rather stiff and would not have been able to move in extreme ways. Other than these flaws, the rest of the animal is still accurate.

Number nine: Gallimimus

          Galli…Galli…Gallimimus! This dinosaur is one of a class of theropod dinosaurs colloquially known as Ostrich Dinosaurs. Gallimimus features prominently in the scene in which a flock are seen running from far away and then towards the main characters Dr. Alan Grant, Tim, and Lexi. They later find out that the Gallimimus were running away from the Tyrannosaurus that was chasing them. In regards to accuracy, for the time, the Gallimimus are rather accurate disregarding the arm position. It has been found that the relative to Gallimimus, Ornithomimus, had extensive feathers covering its body and arms. This find was made many years after the film, and the creators of the film were unaware of the feather evidence, so yeah…

Number ten: Mamenchisaurus

            Mamenchisaurus, an oddly unique genus to have been put into a film that showcases mostly well known ones. Mamenchisaurus can be seen in the stampede scene in Jurassic Park: The lost World when the characters (Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding, Kelly Curtis, Nick Van Owen, and Eddie Carr) first come to the island. Nothing can be said here in terms of accuracy; the neck is held in a 45-degree angle which is a probable angle for Mamenchisaurus.

Number eleven: Mosasaurus

         The next non-dinosaur, and arguably the coolest in the franchise; Mosasaurus! Mosasaurus has appeared in only Jurassic World and was one of the biggest attractions. In fact, far too big, the Mosasaurus in Jurassic World was able to completely engulf an adult shark in its mouth. In reality, Mosasaurus grew no longer than 60ft; the head measures no more than 6ft. The measurement of the animal in the film, being able to swallow an adult shark, is far longer than any specimen of Mosasaurus ever found. 

Another inaccuracy is the scutes along the dorsal side of the animal in the film. The real animal was streamlined and would have had smooth skin. One of the things they did get right on the Mosasaurus is the pterygoid secondary jaws within the mouth and the tail fluke. Evidence shows that Mosasaurs had a fin on the end of their tails like a shark and teeth on the palette; at least it was not completely incorrect.

Number twelve: Pachycephalosaurus

       Pachycephalosaurus was in the second Jurassic park film. It was shown in the scene in which the dinosaur poachers were capturing animals for a new park being built in San Diego. The Pachycephalosaurus shown has nothing inaccurate to point out other than the arms. Pachephalosaurs held their arms in a similar fashion to theropods; facing inwards.

Number thirteen: Parasaurolophus

         Although Parasaurolophus was seen in the brachiosaurus scene in the first film, it was more prominently presented in the second film with a small cameo in the third. The Parasaurolophus seen in the second film has no glaring issues and is very similar in accuracy to the Corythosaurus other than potential shrink-wrappage.

Number fifteen: Pteranodon (LW, III, JW)

Lost World's Pteranodon

Jurassic Park 3 Pteranodon

Jurassic World's Pteranodon

           The only other non-dinosaur seen in the Jurassic park films, and one of the most tenacious is the Pteranodon. Pteranodon is seen in the films, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Jurassic park 3, and Jurassic world and behave roughly the same way. The Pteranodon seen in the second film made a brief cameo in the very end panorama scene. This animal is nearly completely accurate despite the pose it has. This animal is shown sitting on a branch with its wings folded inwards. This position would have been impossible for the real animal, which was constrained to walking on its back legs and the nearly vestigial hands near the ends of its wings acted as forefeet, folding its wings together. Pteranodon did not have the appropriate bones in its feet and ankles nor did it have the musculature required for grasping things for support let alone prey, an inaccuracy suffered by the next two incarnations of Pteranodon. The Pteranodons in Jurassic Park III garner teeth within their beaks, a feature no real Pteranodon had. It is also shown picking up full-grown humans with its feet, a feature previously mentioned as never being physically possible. Another part of the Pteranodon from Jurassic Park III considered inaccurate would be the shape of the snout. The real animal had a long pointy beak that slowly turned upwards to its point; the better to catch fish with. 

        The Pteranodon in Jurassic World, housed in a large aviary alongside Dimorphodon shows a markedly different animal. It shows no teeth in its mouth, it walks on all fours with wings folded, and its beak turns upwards very slightly. However, this animal falls victim to the same thing many prehistoric animal reconstructions tend to do; Shrink-wrapping. The animal in the film is far too thin, and especially for it to grab people and carry them off (an impossible feat as has been stated previously). 

Number sixteen: Spinosaurus

        Ah yes, the intrepid Spinosaurus. This animal is held in very high regard and controversy for many reasons. Summarizing the history of its discovery, it was found in Germany during World War II with only few bones found, the warehouse holding the fossils was bombed, destroying the materials. New material was uncovered in the 90s, 2000s, and then more material was again found in 2014-2015. The animal went from a two-legged spine carrying allosaur, to a baryonyx with a sail, and now is a seen as a four-legged semi-aquatic crocodile-like animal (More material and research is needed for this interpretation to be solidified as correct).

        At the time of Jurassic Park III, Baryonyx was the only other spinosaur known and the Spinosaurus in the film was based heavily off of it. As such, the animal in the film is shown on two long and sturdy legs with a head very much like that of a baryonyx. Spinosaurus in real-life would have had a long thin snout with a bulbous end to it. It also sported a small crest on its head. The fight between the Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus in the film has spawned quite a split in fans of the franchise. However, the fossil evidence would suggest that the bite force of Tyrannosaurus, built for crushing bone, would have easily overpowered an animal that uses its jaws for catching fish. The only other thing wrong with the animal is its arms not facing inwards.

Number seventeen: Stegosaurus

Lost World's Stegosaurus

Jurassic World's Stegosaurus

         Stegosaurus is one of the most well known dinosaurs alongside the last three on the list. Stegosaurus appears in the second and fourth Jurassic park films with a general appearance that aligns rather well with the fossil evidence. However, it is not free from flaws. Stegosaurus, as it appears in the Lost World, shows a low-slung body with a wide trunk and triangular plates. The real animal might have been slightly thinner with a tail higher than the head with a more horizontal position, but this may be up to interpretation. However, in Jurassic world, Stegosaurus was made to have its tail nearly dragging on the ground. This is very incorrect and never would have been possible for the real animal.

Number eighteen: Triceratops

Lost World's Triceratops

Jurassic World's Triceratops

         Triceratops, arguably the second most well known dinosaur, is a favorite to many people but never had much screen time. It appeared in the first and second films, and then again in Jurassic world. The first film had a life-size animatronic for the animal during a scene in which the main characters go to check on it and find that it is sick. The animal reappeared in the second film when the main characters released the animals captured by the dinosaur poachers to wreak havoc on their camp. The Triceratops is briefly seen charging through a tent and is never seen again until Jurassic World. In Jurassic World, it appears alongside stegosaurus and Apatosaurus in the prairie. The triceratops in all of the films should have had feet that did not look like that of an elephant. It had rather unique feet; the front feet had five toes ending in round hoof-like nails and two of these did not touch the ground.

Number nineteen: Tyrannosaurus

          The most famous of all dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus, is the main staple king of the Jurassic Park franchise. This animal has been in each and every film and has tended to play the role of the anti-hero. Tyrannosaurus killed the raptor pack hunting the main characters in the first film, kills the antagonist lawyer in the second film, starts a fight with the much larger Spinosaurus in the third film, and then defeats the mutant dinosaur with the help of a raptor and the Mosasaurus in the fourth. Tyrannosaurus has managed to stay the same throughout the series, unlike many of the other animals shown. Just like all of the other theropods, its hands are in the wrong positions and should point inwards. The head is oddly shaped as well, the film’s Tyrannosaurus has a head in the shape of a tear-drop when the real animal had a rather square skull. The film’s animal has hornlets of bone over its eyes, and the fossils definitely show evidence of bony projections along the snout and top of the head, but it probably did not grow to the extremity seen in the film.

And finally, number twenty: Velociraptor

           Before these films were made, Velociraptor was not a well-known genus. Many specimens were uncovered in Mongolia during the 20s and 30s by Roy Chapman Andrews. Later on, a larger dromaeosaur was discovered, Deinonychus. Michael Crichton used the name Velociraptor for the raptor in his novel but proportioned it to be the size of Deinonychus. Then when the film was adapted, Steven Spielberg wanted the dinosaur to be the size of a man. Ironically it was not until nearly a year after the film’s release that more fossils were discovered of a raptorial dinosaur the size of the Velociraptors in the film. The real Velociraptor was at most 3ft tall and offered no more danger to an adult human than a coyote. Velociraptor is one of the other genera seen in each film in the Jurassic park franchise. Other than the size issue, all the Velociraptors in the film were purported to have an intelligence rivaling that of dolphins and chimpanzees. Although dinosaurs were intelligent, they did not reach anywhere near the comprehension of primates and cetaceans. Due to evidence of quill knobs, the anchorage for feathers, the real-life animal likely had feathers on its arms and covering its body. The arms are in the wrong position and should be facing one another. However, another less recognized inaccuracy present in the Velociraptors in the third Jurassic park film, is the sporting of small crests in front of its eyes. A real Velociraptor had a rather slender snout with no crests.

          Although this may be seen as nitpicking, it is only a good thing to clear up misconceptions in science that the common person may have, no matter the field. Paleontology does have a certain amount of guesswork and speculation in regards to the behavior and look of the animal in life, but a good amount can be inferred from the fossil material. As such, this article and any more that will be made is meant to educate and not to downgrade the material. The Jurassic park series is an amazing feat in art and filmography and has spawned a great interest in Paleontology and further research into what these animals were really like. We here at Er-Roar thank you for watching and we hope you will like or dislike, comment, and subscribe for more or critique us for what you think we should.

Bonus: Indominus Rex "Warning, most of this analysis is opinion"

          Although this animal is entirely fictitious, I wanted to include it here because it serves the purpose for lack of creativity in the designers for the fourth film. This animal is rather lackluster and uncharismatic to the audience. It has greyish white skin abelisaur/carcharodontosaur shaped head, and neck quills. The only unique characteristic is the opposable hands and arms long enough to be legs. The campaign, Make-A-Better-Fake-Theropod came around near the release of the fourth film with the premise to create a mutant theropod dinosaur better than the one made in the film. Results were all fantastic and I will provide some of them down below. The park in the film showed no care in using the animal for entertainment within the park itself as its enclosure was filled with foliage and, unintentionally, given camouflage abilities similar to a cuttlefish. However, as the story progress it is inferred that the animal was created for military purposes from the start, so this statement may be irrelevant.

Brian Engh

Rick Charles

Mark Witton's entry