Jurassic Park

Something. Will. Survive.


Oh yeah, 'oooh, ahhh.' That's how it always starts. Then later there's running, and screaming.
—Dr. Ian Malcolm, in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, neatly summarizes the three first movies in the series.

Scientists discover the ability to bring extinct animals back to life via a complex cloning process. To make a profit off this technology, the company decides to build a theme park featuring living dinosaurs.

This in itself would not be such a bad idea, except the organizers rush to get it open, build it on a remote island, and have almost no security personnel, deciding to automate the whole thing with unreliable computers - even refusing to tell the software designer what the system is for.

Naturally, everything goes wrong.

The book was written by Michael Crichton, while the 1993 movie was directed by Steven Spielberg. Both were insanely popular then and are considered modern classics now. The film is labeled as having one of the most revolutionary breakthroughs in visual effects that changed movie-making. Despite going to great lengths to create extremely convincing animatronic dinosaurs, this was balanced with groundbreaking realistic CGI ones. The CGI involved essentially killed the use of Muppets and stop motion in modern film. Besides the requisite Hollywood mistakes, many paleontologists and dinosaur fanatics also loved it. The moment in the film where the characters first come across a dinosaur in full view and are just blown away, "...it's a dinosaur!" could be the new generation's equivalent to the Star Destroyer overhead from Star Wars. The movie was named to the National Film Registry in 2018.

Two sequels were made to the original film. While the second film shared the name of the second book The Lost World: Jurassic Park, (1997) it had a wildly different storyline, mostly due to characters that originally died in the first book coming back. Jurassic Park III (2001) came out several years later. While neither rose to the 'classic' status of the first film, both were fairly well received. The same basic story exists in all of the films, only separated by what characters are involved and certain action scenes. There are also a number of computer-game tie-ins, among the most notable being Trespasser (for being one of the most obvious of betas ever released for retail), Operation Genesis (like Rollercoaster Tycoon with dinosaurs) and an episodic series by Telltale Games (like Heavy Rain with dinosaurs).

A fourth cinematic installment has been in Development Hell for nine years and counting - it was even considered that it would not come through after Michael Crichton's death in 2008. But then Spielberg announced in 2011 that JP4 would come out, and Jurassic World (starring Chris Prat) was released in 2015, becoming the first movie to gross over $500 million in a single weekend.[1] Only Star Wars: The Force Awakens managed to beat it in the box office. Jurassic World came in second place.

Tropes used in Jurassic Park include:
  • Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: In the middle of the first film, Laura Dern and Richard Attenborough eat melting ice cream and talk about flea circuses. It's really quite touching.
  • Action Girl: Sarah Harding in the second book. Probably she's the physically strongest character in the book. However, in the second movie, she doesn't quite fit this trope.
    • Kelly Malcom becomes this during the climactic fight within the island interior in the second movie, using gymnastics to knock a full-grown adult Velociraptor over, managing to get it impaled.
  • Adaptational Badass: Inverted with Gennaro. In the novel, he manages to fend off a Velociraptor attack and survives to the end. In the film, he becomes a Dirty Coward who dies a particularly embarrassing death.
  • Adaptational Villainy: In the book, Gennaro the lawyer is braver than his counterpart in the movie, whose worst characteristics are from the character Ed Regis, who is absent from the movie. Also, in the book Dennis Nedry had a more understandable reason to betray Hammond, who had shortchanged him. On the subject of Hammond, see Adaptation Distillation below.
  • Adaptation Distillation: Many side plots from the book are written out in the movie and several characters are combined and their fates change.
    • Most notably, in the film, Hammond's character was a kindly old man who just wanted to share the magic of dinosaurs with people. In the novel, he's a manipulative Jerkass who really just wants people's money, and won't listen to anyone's advice about how dangerous the situation is. Apparently, this was because Spielberg saw a lot of himself in Hammond.
    • And he gets eaten by a flock of chicken-sized Procompsognathus.
  • Adaptation Explanation Extrication: The film is still a very good adaptation, but compressing the book meant removing most of the exposition of the book, which contained some explanations that filled multiple small logic gaps present in the movie, such as why the Triceratops was sick.
  • Aesop Amnesia: In the second film.

Hammond: Don't worry. I'm not making the same mistakes again.
Ian: No, you're making all new ones.

  • Air Vent Passageway: A variant: they climb in between the foam ceiling panels and its supports and the actual ceiling.
  • All-Natural Gem Polish: The bugs trapped in amber come out in nice chunks.
  • All Animals Are Dogs: Nedry assumes this about the dilophosaurus, and tries to distract it by throwing a stick. It doesn't work, so he figures it's just stupid. Then it eats him. Even dogs will prefer a meaty steak to a bone.
  • Alternate DVD Commentary: There's a Riff Trax for the first movie featuring Weird Al Yankovic.
  • Always a Bigger Fish: Grant and co. are finally surrounded by the raptors. The leader of the pack looks right about to pounce... and then the T. Rex comes in.
    • For the third film, the producers wanted a dinosaur that could kick the T. Rex's ass, so they selected the Spinosaurus, which had new material discovered which indicated that it would have been a larger than T. Rex, if only slightly larger. Scientists now know from the dinosaur's anatomy that it would have been a mismatch in the T. Rex's favor. "Larger" doesn't necessarily mean "more dangerous" or "has a bigger bite".
  • Always Female: Initially to prevent breeding all the dinosaurs are made female...but due to their partial frog DNA some of them become male.
  • Amusement Park of Doom: Isla Nublar definitely qualifies. Isla Sorna (in the film continuity, at least) is more of a Wildlife Preserve of Doom.
    • Possibly tempting fate, a (traditional) amusement park was built to cash in on the mantra of the film.
  • Analogy Backfire: John Hammond compares the park's problems to Disneyland not working when it opened.

Malcolm: Yeah, but John, when Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists.

    • Earlier in the film, they both question the moral ethnics of genetic engineering, and science in general.

Hammond: Condors are on the verge of extinction. If I were to create a flock of condors on this island, you wouldn't have anything to say.
Malcolm: Hold on. This isn't some species that was obliterated by deforestation, or the building of a damn. Dinosaurs had their shot, and nature selected them for extinction.
Hammond: I simply don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist! I mean, how can we stand in the light of discovery and not act?
Malcolm: What's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it observes. What you call discovery... I call the rape of the natural world.

  • Artifact Title: Only the first film takes place at Jurassic Park, on Isla Nublar. The second and third films are set on Isla Sorna -- Site B, where the dinosaurs were bred by InGen. This is largely glossed over, even though it's a pretty important plot point in the books.
    • Well, in the book, the Costa Rican Air Force destroys Isla Nublar after the survivors escape. So it's not like you could have a sequel set on the island that included dinosaurs.
    • Discussed in Jurassic Park III:

Dr. Grant: Why me?
Paul Kirby: (indicating Udesky) He said we needed someone who'd been on the island before.
Dr. Grant: I have never been on this island.
Udesky: You mean there's two islands with dinosaurs on them?

  • Artistic License: Biology: Dilophosaurus was actually about as tall as a man and around 20 feet long. The individual in the film was made a juvenile, so it didn't take away from the raptors or the T. Rex. The venom the Dilophosaurus had in the film as well as the frill are completely fictional. Velociraptor were only a few feet tall, had feathers, and held their hands like wings; enlarged, plucked and gangly-armed in the movie for the Rule of Scary combined with Science Marches On for the feathers.
    • Though awesomely enough, shortly after the film's release, a new genus called Utahraptor was discovered, which is somewhat close to the film's Raptors (twice as big). It was originally going to be named Utahraptor Spielbergi, but it ended up being called Utahraptor ostrommaysorum.
    • The Expanded Universe, specifically the Telltale Games, implies that these inconsistencies are likely caused by Dr. Wu's "quick and cheap" use of frog DNA, although given that the comments come from a rival scientist who wanted to sequence all the samples and fill in the gaps with DNA from other the dinosaur genomes where they could, but was shot down because it would be much more time consuming and expensive, it can't be proven either way. The book itself also heavily implies this.
    • In the third movie, this is given a partial handwave - Dr. Grant tells his class that the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar were not real dinosaurs, and that Ingen genetically modified them - while he doesn't go into details it is generally accepted that all the mutations to the dinosaurs were partly because of merging frog DNA with dinosaur DNA.
  • Artistic License Geography: The scene where Nedry makes the deal to sell the embryos is set in San Jose, Costa Rica at a restaurant next to a beach. In reality, San Jose is completely landlocked, surrounded by mountains and isn't near any large bodies of water.
  • Ascended Extra: Gerry Harding, the chief veterinarian from the first film, plays a major role in the Telltale Games game. Ironic, since he also played a major role in the book, but was Demoted to Extra in the movies.
  • Asshole Victim: John Hammond in the first book, as well as Dennis Nedry in the first movie and book. Donald Genarro in the first movie. Peter Ludlow and Dieter Stark in the second movie. Lewis Dodgson in the second novel.
  • Author Filibuster: Ye gods, Malcolm did this a lot in the first book. He does it again in the second, but less frequently and less annoyingly (and high off his ass on morphine). The third movie lampshaded his tendency to ramble when Eric says he preferred Grant's book to Malcolm's for precisely this reason.
    • It seems Spielberg realized how irritating Malcolm was as a character and so gave most of the screentime to Alan Grant. Hammond even remarks, "I really do hate that man" in regards to Malcolm's constant smugness. This may also explain why Malcolm's personality was considerably changed in the second film...
  • Back from the Dead: Robert Muldoon in the Topps comic series. In the new IDW comic series, Peter Ludlow from The Lost World. Ian Malcolm in the second novel.
  • Badass: Roland Tembo is not only the only named character from Ingen who doesn't get eaten, but he also captures a bull T. Rex... alive.
    • In the novel, even before the events on the island occur, Grant breaks his leg when his truck falls a hundred feet into a canyon, yet he walks back to his dig in four days without food or water. Once on the island, he faces down a T. Rex multiple times (once with a plastic oar and dart gun) and kills several raptors using a few eggs and some deadly syringes.
    • In the novel, Muldoon blows apart a couple raptors with a rocket launcher and faces down a charging T. Rex.
    • Subverted in the first movie: Muldoon and Grant try to kill Velociraptors... with a shotgun! It doesn't work either time, with fatal results for Muldoon.
  • Badass Beard: Grant had one in the book.
  • Badass Bookworm: Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, Jack Thorne in The Lost World.
    • Grant might be the most Badass character in the whole first novel, killing three Velociraptors only with his wits, among other things.

' The girl saw the dying Velociraptors and quietly said: "Whoa!" '

  • Bad Vibrations: The famous "shaking glass" scene when the T. Rex realizes the fence is no longer active.
  • Bald of Awesome: Roland Tembo, the bald big-game hunter hired by the baddies to lead the hunt in the second film. He's bald, and middle aged, but he's on the island to hunt the last big-game creature left - a freaking bull Tyrannosaurus Rex.
  • Being Watched: Muldoon and his "raptor sense".
    • It's too late when he's killed by a raptor ambush in the movie. In the book, he survives by backing into a pipe where they couldn't climb in after him. Somehow he survived in one of the comics. He and the raptors knew each other so well that they were essentially just playing around.
  • Big Damn Heroes: In the third, by the Navy and the Marines. Also...
  • Big Damn Villains: ...the goddamn Tyrannosaurus Rex.
  • Bilingual Bonus: When we first see the map of Isla Sorna and the surrounding islands in the second film, we can see them explicitly referred to collectively as Los Cinco Muertes. Apparently, the team didn't actually read the map before landing because anyone with a basic knowledge of Spanish (or heck, anyone who's seen Sesame Street and West Side Story) would immediately be able to translate that as "The Five Deaths".
    • After they land, one of the locals tells them the name.
    • One of the other Islands is Isla Muerta--Dead Island. No, not the one with the zombies.
    • And in the first film, at the beginning, when Gennaro is being pulled on the raft-thing, the miner says, in Spanish, "Betcha a million bucks he falls!"
    • Then he does fall.
    • A group of Japanese business men are running from a T. Rex, and one of them shouts: "We left Japan to get away from this!"
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The compies in the second film, which seem cute and benign, but are downright vicious in large numbers.
  • Black and Nerdy: Arby in the The Lost World novel. Ray Arnold in the first movie.
  • Black Dude Dies First: Played straight in the first movie right off the bat with the nameless black InGen worker who gets eaten in the first scene. Later averted when Arnold is among the last to die after everything goes to hell.
    • Averted again in the second film, where a Velociraptor pounces on a black Ingen hunter, and in the third film, where the black mercenary is the second one to die.
  • Brick Joke:

"One, two...
The fence activates and Tim is blown off. After a scene cut and a few tense moments of reviving him by CPR...

  • coughs* ...Three..."
    • Alan at the end of the first movie:

Mr. Hammond, after careful consideration I have decided not to endorse your park.

Tim: And we're back... in the car... again.

    • In the second film, Sarah, Ian and Nick Van Owen somehow survive through a falling dual-trailer RV as they dangle off a cliff edge. Even with the front windshield smashed open, you'd figure something in the vehicle would hit them on its way down...
  • Call Back: In the second film, when Ian, Nick and Eddie are searching for Sarah, they call out her name repeatedly. At one point, Nick shouts out "Sarah Harding!", which warrants a sarcastic response from Ian. Later on, when he, Kelly and Sarah are searching the abandoned center for Nick, Ian calls out for him, at one point shouting "Nick Van Owen!".
    • There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Call Back in the first Jurassic Park film. When the Jeeps carrying Gennaro, Lex, Tim, Grant, Ellie and Malcom are approaching the paddock containing the sick Triceratops and the tropical storm is just starting to trickle down on them, Malcom offers Grant a flask of whiskey, which Grant politely refuses. Later in the film, as the Jeeps have stopped at the Tyrannosaur paddock due to Nedry's computer virus and the rain is now pouring heavily, Grant offers Malcom a bottle of water, which Malcom politely accepts.
    • One that took a few viewings to catch in The Lost World: When Ian ducks into the car to hide from a pursuing raptor, he locks the car door with his foot.
  • Captain Obvious: Sarah in The Lost World when the parent T. Rexes show up at the trailer.

Sarah: This isn't hunting. They're here for their infant.

  • Casual Danger Dialog: When Muldoon is about to shoot a raptor and another one ambushes him from the side, he says his "Clever girl" line calmly and even with a bit of admiration. Hardly the reaction one would normally expect if a large bloodthirsty dinosaur suddenly popped out of the brush, snarling menacingly just inches from your face before it's about to pounce.
    • This is lampshaded earlier by Ellie, when Muldoon tells her they're being hunted.

Muldoon [very calmly]: It's all right.
Ellie [near panic]: The hell it is!

Ian: Does anyone feel that? That's an impact tremor, that's what is. I'm feeling pretty alarmed right here.

      • He does this several times in The Lost World movie most notably when the T. Rexes are about to attack the trailers:

Ian: Mommy's very angry.

      • And speaking from experience minutes later:

Ian: Hang on, this is gonna be bad.

  • Chekhov's Gun: A couple in the first novel and movie; a considerable number in the second novel; the most egregious being Kelly's gymnastics in the second film. The frog DNA is the most consistent one across the literature and film.
    • The model of the raptor voice box in the third film is one of the most straight-forward examples of this trope in any of the films.
    • In the third film, when they escape the Bird-Cage, we see Amanda left the door unlocked and half-open. At the end, we see the Pterodactyls found their way out of the cage and are flying into the sunset.
  • Chekhov's Hobby: One in each movie. Lex was savvy with computers. Kelly mentions being cut from the the gymnastics team. Billy has experience in base jumping.
  • Chekhov's Skill: The raptors' "Distract with one, flank with another" plan that Grant describes, and that Muldoon falls victim to. Grant probably should've told him about that...
    • The speech that Grant uses to describe this plan also qualifies as a Chekhov's Gun.

Grant: And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side -- from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there.

    • In the first novel, the raptors are often referred to as pack hunters, to the point where four of them distract Ellie just so that a fifth could start a sneak attack from the roof.
  • Child-Hater: "Babies smell". Grant does get better during the course of the first movie, enough to not mind the kids sleeping on him. In the book, the Child-Hater is Regis. Worse, in the book, Grant loves kids. He finds their fascination with dinosaurs to be heartwarming.
  • Chewing the Scenery: How Robert Muldoon is introduced in the first film. "SSSSHOOOOOOOOOOOOT HHHHHHEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!"
  • Closer Than They Appear: The Trope Codifier is the view of the charging T. Rex in the rear-view mirror, with the hilarious Lampshading caption "objects in mirror may be closer than they appear".
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Levine does this in the second book, saying that (specifically) Thorne was driving too recklessly from the charging Tyrannosaur, and (generally) that he was doing all right on the island and didn't need help anyway. Bear in mind this is after his panicked, static-filled phone call begging for help. His rescuers are not pleased.
  • Composite Character: Two examples from The Lost World novel that were mixed into one for the movie: the precocious twelve year-old Kelly and black Child Prodigy Arby, Levine's pupils, were merged into the single character of Kelly, Malcolm's daughter. The rugged, badass Doc Thorne and his younger (but very capable) employee, Eddie Carr, were similarly combined into the movie's relatively mousy Eddie, while book!Eddie's physical appearance was transferred to new character Nick Van Owen. In the first, Gennaro was basically Ed Regis (a Jerkass publicist from the book), with book!Gennaro's name and law degree.
  • Continuity Nod: Dr. Sarah Harding in The Lost World, who helped nurse Malcolm back to health and dated him for a while, is the daughter of Jurassic Park's resident veterinarian Dr. Gerry Harding. The second novel makes a deliberate Call Back; the movies make no such connection. This is probably because the elder Harding's role was so reduced in the film that audiences could be forgiven for not remembering that was his name.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Hammond was noticeably more corrupt and uncaring in the book, where he suffers a Karmic Death. The movie version is more Walt Disney-esque (well, Walt Disney's charming public persona at any rate). It helps a lot that he was played by Richard Attenborough. The Lost World has Hammond's evil, greedy nephew. Additionally, Lewis Dodgson, head of InGen's rival company Biosyn, precipitates the plot of the first book/movie by hiring the disgruntled Dennis Nedry to steal embryos for him... then goes to Isla Sorna to do the job himself in the second novel. He and Hammond's Nephew suffer the same fate, turning into a baby T. Rex snack.
  • CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Tim is revived easily after being shocked by the electric fence. Also, it somehow puts his hair back in perfect order between scenes.
  • Creator Cameo: The character credited as "Unlucky Bastard" that the T. Rex eats in The Lost World is David Koepp, assistant screenwriter to Michael Crichton in the first movie and screenwriter of the second.
    • Steven Spielberg's reflection can be seen in the TV screen at the end of The Lost World, when Kelly is watching the news. He's eating popcorn.
  • Creator In-Joke: "You're out of a job", "Don't you mean extinct?" was originally an exchange between Spielberg and Phil Tippett, after seeing an ILM cinematic proving that Tippet's go-motion dinos wouldn't be necessary (Tippett was still kept as an adviser).
  • Credits Gag: In the credits of The Lost World, the name of the character who is devoured by the T. Rex in front of the video store is given as "Unlucky Bastard".
  • Crap Saccharine World: In the first film, in the second the pretense is dropped.
  • The Croc Is Ticking: The Spinosaurus eats a satellite phone and later deposits it in a giant pile of poo.
  • Curiosity Killed the Cast: The death toll would have been significantly lower if some of the characters just stayed put.
  • Danger Takes a Backseat: Well, technically, a passenger seat.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Ian Malcolm.

Ian: Now eventually you might have dinosaurs on your, on your dinosaur tour, right? Hello? Yes?
Hammond: (watching on camera feed) I really hate that man.

    • Later:

Ian: (After surviving being knocked down by a T. Rex) Remind me to thank John for a lovely weekend...
Ian: (During the famous Rex chase) Must go faster.
Ian: (after being chased by a T. Rex) Do you think they'll have that on the tour?

    • And let's not forget this classic:

Hammond: This is just a delay. That's all this is; every major theme park has delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!
Ian: Yeah, but John, when the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists!

    • Or:

Grant: You married?
Ian: Occasionally. Yeah, I'm always on the lookout for the future ex-Mrs. Malcom.

    • Dennis Nedry also uses this trope, but whenever people, especially Hammond, touch upon financial issues or if he completed a task.

Hammond: I don't blame people for their mistakes, but I do ask that they pay for them.
Nedry: Yeah thanks, dad.

  • Demoted to Extra: Tim and Lex, now much older, only get a few lines in The Lost World and are never seen or heard from again, despite having major roles in the first film.
  • Death by Adaptation: Gennaro and Muldoon survive in the first novel but are killed in the first film. Whereas, Hammond and Dr. Wu are killed in the novel but survive in the film. Ian Malcolm supposedly dies in the first book, but survives thanks to Costa Rican surgeons and is in the second book.
  • Death by Genre Savviness: Subverted in the first film, where Ian Malcolm, who has been predicting disaster from the start, is attacked by the T. Rex but survives. Played straight with Muldoon, who knows exactly how dangerous the dinosaurs are, and is killed by a Velociraptor. In the novels continuity this is averted with Muldoon, who survives the events of the first novel, and subverted with Malcolm, who looks like he's going to die but then in the sequel he is shown alive.
  • Death World: The dinosaur-filled islands themselves, which are even known to Costa Rican locals as "Las Cinco Muertes" (the five deaths). We only get to see Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna though. From Jurassic Park III:

Alan Grant: That's just great. Here we are on the most dangerous island on the planet and we're not even getting paid.

  • Description Cut: "We'll be all right as long as they can't open doors."
  • Deus Rex Machina: In the first film, it appears the protagonists are about to be killed by the raptors when the T. Rex appears and attacks the raptors, allowing them to escape. This in itself isn't that far fetched, but what is is the fact that the T. Rex appears rather suddenly and is already in the visitor center, despite there being no way it could have appeared by surprise the way it did.
    • It's easy to miss when watching the film, but the wall of the Visitor's Center is actually unfinished, with a conveniently dino-sized hole in it covered only with some plastic sheeting to keep rain out. Presumably, construction was running behind schedule, much like everything else in the park. Not only that... but right after the T. Rex appears, the sheet is ripped to shreds... and considering the heroes didn't have any glasses around to notice the tremors... and were busy looking over raptors, there was DAMN good attempt to justify this. It maybe failed, but they tried!
  • Did Not Do the Research: In-universe examples: InGen's scientists used frog DNA to complete the strands of several of the island's most significant species without researching the properties of said amphibians or verifying the long-term effects of the modification. The original genetic engineers at the Isla Sorna facility fed the carnivores ground-up protein mixtures, not knowing that this is a prime source for prion infection; all the animals ended up infected across the island, and seem to die relatively young. The heroes make a point of stating how stupid that was.
    • Not to mention they thought they were being clever when they made the dinosaurs lysine dependent. It fails, constantly. Mainly because so are most modern vertebrates (like humans). If we manage to take it up just by eating, why wouldn't the dinosaurs?
  • Different World, Different Movies: The Lost World has a poster for a film version of King Lear starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  • Digital Head Swap: Possible Trope Codifier for stunt effects, CGI was used to put an actress's head on a double's body.
  • Dirty Coward: Ed Regis, who abandons the Hammond children in a car with the door open to save his own ass when the T. Rex shows up and gets eaten for his trouble. Donald Gennaro takes on the role in the movie.
  • Disney Death: Twice in the third film.
  • Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The novel was intended as a warning about the dangers of playing God and tampering with nature. Yet, let's be honest. When it was adapted to film, how many people walked out of the theater after seeing it thinking, "Awesome! I wish we could bring dinosaurs back to life! Get cracking, scientists. Increase dinosaur DNA research!". This is, of course, because Ian Malcolm's message on why it was bad in the first place was not the focus of the movie.
    • It also doesn't help that with all of InGen's lack of planning, one could easily interpret the real message as, "If you're going to play God and tamper with nature, do it right." Two of the games, Park Builder and Operation Genesis, actually use this pitch in their advertising.
      • Not when you consider a lot of the so called planning failures in the book, like the way the dinosaur counter works were set up that way for a purpose; it would have been easy for InGen to look for some extra dinos just to be safe, but they foolishly thought there was no need. In fact, one of the running theme in Crichton's novels is the failure of humanity to live up to the potential of technology. This is even lampshaded in the second film of all places.

Hammond: Don't worry. I'm not making the same mistakes again.
Ian: No, you're making all new ones.

  • Dramatic Landfall Shot
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Gennaro in the first film. Book!Gennaro doesn't fare any better, dying between Book 1 and 2 of dysentery, of all things.
  • Dropped Glasses: Nedry is killed in this way in the first movie. Combines with Tempting Fate when he arrogantly states that he can afford new glasses right after dropping them.
  • Dynamic Entry: Any large carnivore, like Tyrannosaurus and Spinosarus, as well as the Velociraptors, practically codify this trope.
  • Eaten Alive: Too many times to count.
  • Extreme Graphical Representation
  • Expy: Roland is basically a Jerkass-ier version of Robert Muldoon. Think of it: both have British accents, both have a personal vendetta against specific species, Muldoon's was the Velociraptor, and Roland's was the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The only difference is that Muldoon had knowledge and respect for his prey, while Roland, even though he had the knowledge, used rather ruthless tactics when bagging his quarry.
    • If referring to the broken leg of the baby T. Rex, the deleted scenes on the DVD (and pretty much every print adaptation of the second film (i.e. trading cards, comics, junior novelizations, etc)) indicate or directly state that it was not Roland at all who broke the baby's leg, but Ludlow, who broke it while positively hammered. If anything, Roland expresses contempt for a man who would do such a thing. On that note, Roland is actually a fairly honorable, and classy hunter, if aware that his profession is gradually losing relevance (a discussion with Ajay in another cut scene shows that both of them are running out of work, and that Roland wants to take on the Tyrannosaur by his own merit).
  • Famous Last Words: "Clever girl..."
    • "Stick, stupid - stick! Ah, no wonder you're extinct... I'm gonna run you over when I come back down". Cue Poetic Justice.
  • Fantastic Nature Reserve: The park.
  • Foil: Alan Grant and Ian Malcom in the first film. Both are well-respected scientists in their individual fields, but Malcom is in his 20's/30's, is just experiencing the beginning of his success and popularity. loves kids, and is highly sociable. Grant is a grade-A Child-Hater (at least, in the beginning), is probably in his mid 30's to 40's, has already passed the peak of a successful career, and shows some antisocial tendencies.
  • Filk Song: "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Jurassic Park", a parody of "MacArthur Park".
    • Benjamin Newman's "Jurassic Park Sunset" Lyrics, mp3
  • Finger Wag: "Ah-ah-aah... you didn't say the magic word."

"PLEASE! Goddammit! I hate this hacker crap!"

  • Flippant Forgiveness: In the second movie, Dr. Malcolm tells Peter Ludlow "When you try to sound like Hammond, it comes off as a hustle. I mean, it's not your fault. They say talent skips a generation. So, I'm sure your kids will be sharp as tacks."
  • For the Funnyz: When Grant touches the (inactive) T. Rex paddock fence in the first film and acts as if he's being electrocuted. Alexis is not amused, but Tim thought it was funny as hell.
  • For Science!: The motivation of InGen's geneticists, and Ian Malcolm's main beef with them.
  • Foreshadowing: In the third film, when Mr. Kirby tells Grant that he can pay him any amount of money, the song in the background plays the line, "And I lie, lie, lie..."
  • Fossil Revival
  • Freudian Trio: With Hammond as the Id, Malcolm as the Superego, and Grant as the Ego.
  • Genre Savvy: In the first film, when Nedry shut off the power to the park, he intentionally left the raptor fences powered because he knew how dangerous they were.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: "Is this... auto... erotica?"
  • Giant Flyer : The various pterosaurs that feature as background characters. The Pteranodons get A Day in the Limelight in Jurassic Park III.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Well into the park's collapse, Wu reflects that the dinosaurs' breeding means he's succeeded at recreating these creatures of the past, enough that they can even reproduce themselves.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: The series loves the "character gets attacked by a dinosaur and dragged offscreen, where a bloodcurdling scream (and maybe a trickle of blood) is used to show that they've been horribly killed" method. Nearly every death that isn't caused by a big dino happens this way.
  • Great White Hunter: Robert Muldoon from the first movie, and Roland Tembo from the second. Muldoon dies; Tembo survives.
  • The Greatest Story Never Told: The Telltale Games series takes place during and shortly after the events of the first film, from the perspectives of one minor film character and a whole bunch of new ones.
  • Guns Do Not Work That Way: In the third movie, one of the amazingly short-lived mercs has a Barrett M82A2 anti-material rifle, which he fires during one scene. Apparently due to noise ordinances where the scene was filmed, they couldn't actually fire the weapon; the CGI muzzle flash isn't hugely convincing, and the weapon's action rather conspicuously doesn't cycle.
  • Hacked by a Pirate: Probable inversion, as the hacker screen came up only after Samuel Jackson's attempt at hacking Nedry's computer to restore security.
  • Hands Go Down: In Jurassic Park III, when Dr. Grant is giving a lecture:

Grant: Does anyone have a question?
(all hands in the room go up)
Grant: Does anyone have a question that does not relate to Jurassic Park?
(most of the hands go down)
Grant: Or the incident in San Diego, which I did not witness?
(several more hands go down)

  • Have You Tried Rebooting: When the operators are locked out of the computer system, they restart it entirely and manage to gain access again.
  • Heroic BSOD: Roland from The Lost World experiences one after learning of Ajay's death.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Eddie Carr; Robert Muldoon, arguably.
    • Billy Brennan and Paul Kirby narrowly avert this to Disney Death status.
  • Hidden Depths: In The Lost World, Roland Tembo. Although working for InGen, he shows concern for the safety of Kelly, and his own crew, and at the end seems to realize he's been on the wrong side.

Peter Ludlow: I remember the people who help me, Roland. There's a job for you at the park in San Diego, if you want it.
Roland Tembo: No thank you. I believe I've spent enough time in the company of death.

  • Idiot Ball: Sarah Harding manages to blow off every single one of Ian's warnings throughout the second movie until people actually start dying.
  • Iconic Logo: Illustrated on top of this page. The third movie replaces the T. Rex with a Spinosaurus.
  • Infant Immortality: Except for that poor dog in the second movie and possibly the boy of the family that owned said dog who took a flash photo of the T. Rex. Chances are, the boy and his parents were killed, though this is never shown explicitly in the movie.
    • This is in the movies only. Sucks to be the baby that gets its face ripped off by compies in the first book. It extends past humans, too, when Tim tried to distract two Velociraptors that followed him and Lex by sending a baby raptor found in the InGen lab to them. The adult raptors immediately slaughtered the baby. This scene was roughly adapted for the screen... by an episode of Primeval.
    • The little girl in the intro of the second movie was obviously seriously injured, judging by the mother's screams. Hammond later mentions her to Malcolm and has to assure him that she survived.
  • Instant Sedation: Subverted: Two characters in the book use a Tranquillizer Dart on a T. Rex, twice, and nothing happens. They think it might not have worked, but follow it anyway, and it finally blacks out just in time to save a character. The characters seem surprised. Strangely, one of them is a wildlife expert, and should know better.
    • Muldoon, the character who does the tranquilizing, actually does mention that the effects of tranquilizing agents depends partly on weight and partly on the species; a badly tranq'd rhino is just mad, a rhino simply chased in a car might pass out. Steve Irwin made a career under the logic that it is safer for an angry crocodile to be jumped on by sweaty Australian guys during capture than depend on its finicky metabolism to process drugs correct. Muldoon could only guess at the T. Rex's reaction, and he certainly wouldn't be allowed to use an experimental massive dose on it in case the valuable animal dropped dead from it.
    • Subverted again in the second movie, when InGen's mooks accidentally give the T. Rex too much sedative, causing it to go into cardiac arrest. Their attempts to save the dinosaur cause it to wake up and spend the next thirty minutes trashing San Diego.
  • Ironic Echo: In the first movie, Hammond repeatedly tells everybody very proudly that "We've spared no expense." After the park goes completely to hell and his grandchildren and Dr. Grant go missing, he talks with Dr. Harding. She compliments him on the ice-cream and he once again says, rather sadly, "We spared no expense..."
  • It Can Think: Muldoon demands that the Velociraptors be killed as they're far too intelligent; testing the electric fence for weaknesses (but never the same spot twice; "They remember," he warns) before they were moved to their high-walled prison. They seem to realize when the power is cut and claw their way through the electrified wire at the top (it's mentioned they test the fences for weaknesses). Even Muldoon underestimates their intelligence - as he's stalking one Velociraptor, another ambushes him from the side. His Famous Last Words are a genuinely admiring, "Clever girl!" And of course there's that Tempting Fate scene: "We'll be all right as long as they can't open doors."
    • And, of course, the bit with the raptor climbing the mesh door in the third movie.
    • And setting a trap for the Kirby's and Grant's protégé, using the last mercenary as bait.
  • It Got Worse: The situation is bad enough with most of the dinosaurs running wild and no way of contact with the main land. Then the Velociraptors get loose
    • In general, the movies love the "frying pan -> fire" approach. Interestingly, in all three movies there's at least one instance where it involved Velociraptors: In the first, as noted, the bad situation gets worse when everyone realizes the raptors are loose and very intelligent. In the second, the camp is attacked by two Tyrannosauruses at once, and the entire Redshirt Army runs for the hills... directly into a colony of raptors, which makes short work of the survivors. In the third, the troupe is lost on the island and has no way of knowing where they are, and things only get worse when one of them steals raptor eggs, and another colony of raptors starts tracking them throughout the island. And that's not getting into all the times they run with the "our machinery is messing up when suddenly the T. Rex shows up to make things worse" angle.
  • Justified Tutorial: Jurassic Park for the Sega CD contains information kiosks which play video footage of Robert T. Bakker, who explains various dinosaur behaviors, cluing the player in on how to deal with them when encountered.
  • Karmic Death: In the films, almost everyone who gets killed is guilty of some unscrupulous or evil act that put them in such a predicament (Nedry's death is a particularly obvious example). Only two or three victims are wholly innocent. In the book, a lot of nameless staff die when the raptors invade the compound.
  • Kill All Humans: Tyrannosaurs and Velociraptors come running for the great taste of human!
    • In the first novel, the Tyrannosaurus appears to always be a step ahead of every move Grant and the kids make.
  • Killer Rabbit: "Squeeeeeeeee-hoo-hoo?" Come on, it's only a stupid spitting dilophosaur-- ARGH I'M BLIND!
    • This could also be said of the virus Nedry implanted into the computer that killed all the systems, called: whte_rbt.obj
  • Lampshade Hanging: The second book takes an entire chapter to point out how stupid it is to assume a T. Rex can't see you if you don't move, killing a character who tries it. It also handily suggests another explanation for the fact that it apparently worked in the first film.
    • Ian's Genre Savvy line in the second movie: "Oooh, ahhh. That's how it always starts. But later there's running, and screaming."
  • Lego Genetics: The main reason why the park fails - they used amphibian DNA, the closest thing possible to insert into the damaged DNA code without causing mutations. Except it did. The type of amphibian used can change sexes in unequal-gender conditions.
    • And using it is kind of stupid when you think about it, given that amphibians and reptiles share different classes, as compared to say chickens and dinosaurs, which start differing at the sub-order level (i.e. about 6 evolutionary steps closer).
      • It sort of makes sense in retrospect. If they tried to use something that was genetically closer (which may or may not have been known as such at the time, considering how much research the movie itself spawned) like a chicken, it might have resulted in feathered dinosaurs... an idea that was probably largely considered ridiculous when the movie was made, despite now being an idea that's taken for granted. Since we know InGen was already considering the idea of further modifying the dinosaurs to meet the common cultural perception of the time (slow, plodding, stupid), it may be that after one of the early batches of bird-DNA altered dinosaurs came out "wrong", they decided to switch to something that definitely wouldn't invoke feathers: frogs.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Malcolm's signature all-black ensemble. In the novel, he jokes about how his clothes are all grey and black, so he can get changed in the dark.
    • He also said something about not wasting any time choosing what color to wear.
  • Literary Agent Hypothesis: Both novels.
  • Little Stowaway: Kelly in the second movie (Kelly and Arby in the novel version).
  • Living Motion Detector: Tyrannosaurs, though only in the first movie. In the book, a paleontologist named Roxton theorized this was the case, and Grant acts on it to protect him and Lex from one. It's stated that all the park's dinosaurs have this problem, due to the frog DNA used to patch holes in their genetics.
    • This became a subject of discussion in The Lost World. It's pointed out that Grant was working off really bad data out of sheer desperation, as there really wasn't any other way for him to have gotten out of that situation alive. Levine, a more well-read genius, states that, "Roxton is an idiot. He doesn't know enough anatomy to have sex with his wife." The reason the T. Rex didn't chow down on Grant and Lex was because the goat it had eaten moments before was enough to fill its appetite for several hours. Baselton isn't aware of this, and tries the same stunt with a hungry T. Rex. While stealing eggs from its nest. It eats him whole.
  • The Load: Lex in the book, dear God. She doesn't even like dinosaurs, so why did she even get invited to the island? It should be noted that she is much older in the movie; in the book, she is younger than Timmy is in the films, one of the things the movie improves.
    • Kelly in the second film.
    • The parents in the third film.
  • Look on My Works Ye Mighty and Despair: Hammond at the end of the first film is particularly sad, for every reason you can think of.
    • Appropriate, as there was an alternate ending for Jurassic Park: Trespasser where Hammond reads this poem in voiceover.
  • Lost in the Maize: "DON'T GO INTO THE LONG GRASS!"
  • Lowered Monster Difficulty: The third movie has an particularly bizarre moment where the Spinosaurus, who was so hellbent on eating them that it bust through a massive reinforced fence 10 seconds previously... is suddenly unable to break through an ordinary metal door and decides to give up after a few bangs on it.
  • Made of Iron: Tim in the first film. That kid goes through a lot , and while he's a limping, frazzled mess by the end of the movie, many of the things he endured would have killed a grown man.
  • Mama Bear and Papa Wolf: The two T. Rexs in The Lost World (novel and movie) are not going to let anyone hurt or take their babies away.
    • Considering how determined the raptors in the third film are to get back their stolen eggs, one can only imagine how fiercely protective they must be of their young...
    • Lady Margaret the Triceratops in the Telltale game.
  • May-December Romance: Applies to the movie, which made Alan and Ellie a couple. Sam Neill and Laura Dern are twenty years apart, so it'd be easy to assume their characters would fall here.
  • Men Are the Expendable Gender: Every human death is male - at least, in the film. It's only implied in the novel.

"Dinosaur eats Man; Woman inherits the Earth."

    • To be fair, there is only 1 woman in each film (and 1 girl in the first and second films) the chance that one of the very few women being killed are statistically lower than that of the 8+ men in each film.
  • Minion with an F In Evil: Howard King in the second novel; he considers it part of his job to rein in Lewis Dodgson's ruthless side, seems truly horrified when Dodgson seemingly murders Sarah Harding, and is the first to acknowledge that maybe this whole egg theft isn't a good idea. It doesn't save him.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Velociraptor bones in Montana. Acknowledged in The Lost World and in the novel.
    • Kookaburras are heard in the second film, even though these birds are native to Australia and the characters are supposed to be in Costa Rica. Also, in the third film, gibbons (native to South East Asia) can be heard.
      • This may have been another case of Hammond importing wildlife for aesthetic reasons (as in the conversation in the first about the poisonous plant life that's there because it looks nice).
  • The Mole: Dennis Nedry, designer and administrator of the park's IT systems, is hired by a competing biogen firm to steal embryos which the rival will then reverse-engineer.
  • Never My Fault: Hammond does this near the end of the book, blaming the park's failure on everybody who came to the island except for himself. Cue Karmic Death.
  • Night Vision Goggles: Relatively realistic ones, too.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Paleontology example: Bob Bakker was namedropped in the first book and film, but got Expied into the character of "Robert Burke" in the second film.
  • Non-Indicative Name: In-universe example: the park is called "Jurassic" despite the fact that several of the dinosaurs didn't live in that period (such as the T. Rex and the raptors that lived in the Cretaceous period).
  • Non-Malicious Monster: The dinosaurs aren't evil, just hungry and/or territorial.
    • Except raptors - at least in the first book, where it's stated that they kill even when they are not hungry, just for pleasure. This was later explained as the result of the raptors being bred artificially, thus lacking the social development they'd have gone through if raised in a natural environment, with the benefit of a parent and other peers teaching them proper dino social skills. In short, they were basically creating intelligent sadistic sociopaths with sharp teeth and big claws.
  • Nose Nuggets: The scene where they're in the tree petting the brachiosaurus and it sneezes on Lex, covering her in snot.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Throughout the first movie, the T. Rex's approach is announced by earth-shaking steps. At some point, she apparently takes a few levels in Ninja, since she somehow manages to sneak up on the survivors and the Raptors at the end.
    • In fact, creatures being invisible offscreen is pretty common; Jurassic Park's big reveal of the Brachiosaurus has a massive dinosaur hiding just off-screen until Grant and the others notice it, whereupon it starts making loud calls and huge, thumping footsteps they couldn't possibly have missed; even if they could, there turns out to be an entire herd of dinosaurs just off to one side they would have to have seen on the drive in.
  • Oh Crap: Mama and Papa T. Rex retrieve their infant and gently put it out of harm's way... then ROAR AND CHARGE FULL-SPEED at the trailers. Malcolm and Sarah's reaction is understandable.
    • "You've bred raptors?"
    • The look on Grant's face when the jeep starts to slide out of that tree. Not to mention the looks on everyone's faces when they realize what happened to the goat...
    • The first book has its major Oh Crap moment following Ian's Wham! Line: the security system is designed to count each species of dinosaur up to the expected number of said species, and then stops. It can tell instantly if an animal's gone missing. It doesn't say if the animals increase their numbers. They reconfigure it to do so, and Oh Crap ensues when they realize the dinosaur population is over 50% bigger than expected.
    • In the movie, the two kids have gotten back to the main buildings, and are tucking into food... when the girl looks up, and has a classic Oh Crap moment when she realizes she's looking at the shadows of raptors in the next room, moving around.
    • The book has a whole string of these after the T. Rex is sedated. Alarms go off in the Control Room announcing that the Auxiliary power is running out. After the power goes out, they realize that they have been running on auxiliary power ever since they rebooted the system, which means that all the fences including the raptor cage have been offline for 8 hours.
    • Tim realizing that the herd of Gallimimus was suddenly "flocking" into their direction in the first film. "They're, uh... they're flocking this way", indeed.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Roland Tembo evokes this trope as his reason for wanting to hunt the male Tyrannosaurus.

Roland: "Somewhere on this island is the greatest predator who ever lived. Second greatest predator must take him down."

  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In the first movie, Sam Neill's American accent holds up pretty well, except for one line during the scene where he throws the stick at the fence.
  • Parachute in a Tree: In the third movie, a character falls victim to this and is later found half-eaten and still dangling from the canopy.
  • Peek-a-Boo Corpse: In both versions, a hand falls on Ellie and they both think the man the limb belongs to is alive... until they turn around.
    • Would Amanda Kirby's last encounter with Ben Hildrebrand count too?
  • Phlebotinum Dependence: The dinosaurs are deliberately deprived of lysine. It doesn't work.
  • Precocious Crush: In the film version, Lex has one for Grant.
  • Precision F-Strike: Ray Arnold's reaction to Nedry's hacker picture.

(Hacker picture comes up on another monitor)
Nedry portrait: (Wagging finger) Ah ah ah, You didn't say the magic word. (repeats "ah ah ah")
Arnold: Please! Goddamn it! I hate this hacker crap!

  • Ptero-Soarer: The Pteranodons.
  • Raptor Attack: Trope Maker and Trope Codifier.
  • Reaction Shot: A wild Raptor appeared!
  • Reality Is Unrealistic: From the book: Wu points out that it would be safer to get rid of all the small dinosaurs and just breed the big, vegetarian and stupid ones, which are what many people expect to see anyway (this was written before the "Dinosaur Renaissance" popularized precisely by this book and movie). He even points out that with their knowledge in genetics, they can easily alter the dinosaurs to behave a certain way, just in case they don't. Hammond refuses however, declaring that he's giving people the real deal or nothing.
    • Which Wu tries to tell him is a stupid idea: the dinosaurs are already genetically engineered and modified, so are already not "real" dinosaurs, but rather, genetically engineered monsters. The dinosaurs had never and would never act like real dinosaurs did, simply because they had been born in captivity, without adult dinosaurs to raise them - the equivalent of feral children. Instincts without a compatible environment resulted in unpredictable - perhaps even suicidal behavior. A huge pack of raptors settle in a particular area simply because a large number of half-grown dinosaur corpses were dumped there after they died of a prion disease - they're there to eat infectious carrion. Similar problems occur when exotic reptiles are hatched from eggs in zoos.
  • Redshirt Army: The bad guys in the second movie show up with a fairly large one. Surprisingly, while it's always obvious that they're there for cannon fodder, they make it through quite a bit of the movie unscathed before dying wholesale within the span of a few minutes.
  • Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Malcolm in the book series.
  • Revision: Why the T. Rex in Jurassic Park "couldn't see" people standing still. The second novel explains why she probably could, and why she didn't chow down on the immobile buffet.
  • Riff Trax: See Alternate DVD Commentary above.
  • Roar Before Beating: Each movie has at least one scene that exists pretty much just to show off the dinosaurs (the "Ooh, aah" part of Malcolm's above quote), usually set to the main theme.
  • Rule of Scary
  • Scenery Porn: It was filmed in Hawaii.
  • Schrödinger's Cast: Several characters, most notably John Hammond.
  • Science Is Bad: Stronger in the book than the movie, though not as strong as some of Crichton's later novels.
  • See No Evil Hear No Evil: It fails in the first movie, and it's Lampshaded in The Lost World book.
  • Shout-Out: The T. Rex rampage in San Diego is so much Godzilla that it even has Japanese Tourists.
  • Shown Their Work: The book takes an excruciatingly long time explaining the genetic science in-depth, before any of the main characters show up or the first hints of the park are mentioned. It is legitimately fascinating, though. Crichton also spends a fair amount of time on computer science and chaos theory. This is a storytelling device of Crichton's in every one of his books, however, with whatever the book is centered on.
    • Also, while most of the information pertaining to the dinosaurs is very out of date, a lot of it was considered to be very accurate when the book was written, with a couple of deviations for Rule of Cool, such as dilophosaurus being able to spit venom; this was also likely Rule Of Plot to help illustrate that they simply couldn't know everything about the creatures they were recreating, since there might be no way to tell the creature had a venom sack from its bones.
  • Slasher Smile: One of the raptors makes one as he catches sight of the kids escaping the kitchen and gets ready to follow in the first film.
  • Slow Electricity: In the first film, when the main switch is turned back on, the hall lights come on one at a time.
  • Smug Snake: Dennis Nedry in the first film.
  • Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying: Justified. InGen had to extrapolate from the decayed DNA. The third movie and the book even acknowledged that what was created weren't true dinosaurs. This is also mentioned in the second novel.
    • It could have even been intentional, given the conversations between Hammond and Wu in the novel about intentional alterations to the genetic code to produce "domesticated" dinosaurs: basically, what visitors would expect based on existing pop-cultural depictions of dinosaurs. It would explain the big raptors, frilled, venom spitting dilophosaur, and noticeably featherless dinosaurs.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The main theme song is a grandiose and adventurous piece fitting for Hammond's vision for the theme park as a whole. Completely ignoring the real horrors that happen such as feeding live animals to the dinosaurs and of course what happens when the power gets switched off.
  • So Last Season: How do we truly know the Spinosaurus means business? He kills the T. Rex without much effort!
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Hammond and Wu, die in the first book, but survive in the first movie. Also Ian Malcolm, until the second book retconned his death.
  • Stan Winston: The genius responsible for the live-action dinosaurs when the computer guys are taking a break.
  • Starring Special Effects
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Hammond to Sattler in the first book/movie. Although in the movie, it was more his old fashioned values instead of being a jerk.
  • Stock Dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops and Brachiosaurus all make appearances, and Velociraptor itself became a stock dinosaur because of the movie. In the novels, they were specifically chosen to appeal to people.
    • In the first novel, Wu explicitly states that they didn't breed the largest sauropods because, well, they would have been too huge for the park. So instead of Brachiosaurs, they chose Apatosaurs, which aren't much smaller.
  • Stupid Scientist
  • Super-Persistent Predator: Goes between subverting and using quite a lot in both the novel and film. In the second novel, it is mentioned that the raptors, born without a pack mentality and "code" due to no preexisting raptor to teach them on Site B, are cruelly intelligent and kill for sport - and often kill each other over food.
  • Surprisingly-Sudden Death: The Velociraptors first kill Muldoon by springing a decoy trap, eating him alive with the obligatory screaming, to show they have managed to escape their pen.
  • Suspiciously Stealthy Predator: So who, exactly, told that T. Rex it needed to avoid getting spotted by all the little screaming things when it left the docks to search for water?
  • Take That: In the third film, Grant and the others are being attacked by the Spinosaurus, so Grant uses the satellite phone to call Ellie for help. Her toddler son picks it up, and he would have gotten it to his mother a lot quicker were he not distracted by another dinosaur....
    • In The Lost World, there's notable diss to paleontologist Robert T. Bakker. Quick history lesson: Dr. Bakker has been a longtime rival of Dr. Jack Horner, the Jurassic Park series' official paleontological consultant. Horner is well known for having a massive ego (he proudly states that he was the inspiration for Dr. Grant's character), and always seemed to be in a perpetual state of bickering with Dr. Bakker, even on the most petty of speculative topics (such as the T. Rex's eyesight, which there is no way of actually studying). And thus in The Lost World, Dr. Bakker is given his very own Captain Ersatz, a bumbling poser who gets scared out of hiding by a snake, and into the jaws of a T. Rex. Bakker seemingly loved the scene, though.
    • Dr. Bakker is also dissed in the first film, when Tim is pestering Dr. Grant about books that he read written by Bakker and Grant himself. Tim is shut up when he first mentions Bakker by Grant promptly slamming the car door of the jeep Tim is inside of closed.
    • Some of the sting was probably taken out of all this by the fact that book!Grant is an Expy of Bakker himself.
  • Techno Babble: Doctor Wu's tour. Justified -- they're explaining how they did it.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: The Jurassic Park theme kicks in for T. Rex herself, who proceeds to kick raptor ass and save the day.
  • There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: In Jurassic Park III:

Dr. Grant: There are two kinds of boys: Astronauts and Astronomers.

  • This Is Sparta: "People - are - dying!"
  • This Way to Certain Death: Yes, Dr. Malcolm, continue to shout for Vince Vaughn's character in the middle of a run-down and suspiciously quiet complex. No Velociraptors here, no siree.
  • Toilet Humour: "Dino...droppings?" -- "That is one big pile of shit." said by Ian as another scientist goes arm-deep in a gigantic pile of Triceratops feces, looking for traces of poisonous berries:

Ian Malcolm: I hope you remember to wash your hands before you eat anything.

    • Turned Up to Eleven in the third film, where everyone has to go digging in Spinosaurus dung to find the satellite phone. Not to mention Eric keeping a flask of T. Rex urine in his trailer. This, in turn, was turned Up to Eleven by Will Marshall.
  • Too Clever by Half: Ian Malcolm accuses Hammond and his team of genetic scientists of this.

Ian Malcolm: I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you, you've patented it, and packaged it, you've slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it! You want to sell it!
John Hammond: I don't think you're giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody's ever done before...
Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn't stop to think if they should!

  • Too Dumb to Live: Quite a few.
    • Lex in the first film, turning on the flashlight while the T. Rex is approaching the jeep.
      • Partially justified, as she is quite young and was in a state of panic, so not thinking clearly. The other characters do tell her to turn off the flashlight, but at first, she's too panicked to listen and then can't find the off button due to the aforementioned panic.
    • Arnold, the engineer who goes alone to push the button while everyone else, including a wildlife hunter, hide into the bunker, waiting for the power to come back.
    • Sarah Harding in the second film. She is supposed to be a wildlife expert, yet she foolishly allows Nick to bring the injured T. Rex baby back to their camp, resulting in the total loss of their fortified, radio-equipped campsite and the death of Eddie Carr. She also foolishly wears the jacket covered in the baby T. Rex's blood while crossing the island, which once again brings one of the T. Rexs to the camp, killing multiple people, and chasing other straight into the raptors. Made even worst by the fact that not only had she stated how bringing the infant to camp had widened the T. Rexs' territory, but she had also been the one to originally warn about the T. Rexs' extremely acute sense of smell. Could be explained by the fact that her character was merged with that of Richard Levine from the book, who exhibits Too Dumb to Live behavior at times. Especially considering she spent her first few scenes admonishing everyone that they couldn't interfere, interact, contaminate the environment, get involved and were were merely observers on the island...
      • Not just the baby T. Rex. The audience should have known she was an idiot the moment she approached the baby Stegosaurus. You do not do this to any wild animal's baby, especially if its a social animal that spends a lot of time in a herd and raising its young. They call them Mama Bear and Papa Wolf for a reason, lady.
      • Nick Van Owen, as mentioned above. Bringing the injured infant to camp right after loosing all captured dinosaurs on the InGen base led directly to the loss of both campsites.
      • It's hard to comprehend the fear and panic that one would feel upon waking up and discovering a T. Rex right by you; however, it would have been a good idea for the hunters to remain still and not run.
    • In the third film, Mrs. Kirby seems to genuinely not understand why Grant is advising her not to shout through a megaphone while wandering aimlessly through a jungle full of giant feral predators. Mr. Kirby too; at one point, he tells his wife to shut up because "Dr. Grant says this is very dangerous territory." Obviously, being chased by a Spinosaurus and a T. Rex within seconds of each other wasn't enough for him to realize that by himself...
  • Understatement:
    • "Mr. Hammond, after careful consideration, I've decided not to endorse your park." Neither does Hammond.
  • Un Paused : When Tim is stuck on the fence, he gets ready to jump on "three". He gets blown off on "two". When he comes to, he finishes the countdown.
  • Viewer-Friendly Interface: In the first movie, Lex is able to lock down the visitor center's doors by a highly-visual UNIX program[2]. The book's version is more practical, but still unfriendly to uninitiated users. Of course, anyone who would be using it was presumably expected to have some sort of training.
    • The Lost World book parodies this when the InGen OS turns it into a useless cube that angers the characters, who are trying to escape feral raptors, more and more. The character eventually gets the bright idea to just follow the cables the computer is running on, which are, quite logically, in a crawlspace so they can be serviced. By the time the raptors get in, they're gone.
    • Averted in the first movie with Arnold's terminal and his attempted bypass of Nedry's sabotage. That was all command-line.
  • Viewers are Morons: Justified. Back when the first movie came out, DNA wasn't a household term, so the lengthy explanation was necessary at the time. Modern audiences, however, probably feel like the movie is insulting their intelligence.
    • This is also justified in universe as well. It's supposed to be for the kids, as Hammond explicitly points out. Very simplistic, lots of dramatic music and cool animals. Y'know, just like the movie.
  • Villainous Rescue: In the first film, Grant, Sattler and the kids are cornered by the Velociraptors, who are just about to attack when the T. Rex comes out of nowhere and slaughters them.
    • The villains from the second film save Ian and the others from dangling over a cliff and help them to escape the island. Ian and the others are extremely ungrateful for this... some of his group murderously so.
  • What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Really, what could possibly happen if you were to let giant animals you know nothing about inhabit an entire island and show them as part of a theme park? (And rely entirely on automation to keep it safe?) Surely, they wouldn't bite anyone if they had the chance.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Vince Vaughn's character Nick from The Lost World disappears from the film before the T. Rex makes it to the city. His disapearance is never explained.
    • It's possible that he just got the hell out and never looked back.
    • It's never mentioned what happened to the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar after the events of the first movie. In the book, they were all killed by Costa Rican Air Force, but in the movie... they were just left free? In the second film, it is implied that everyone expected the dinosaurs to die by themselves after a short time, them being lysine dependant and all that.
      • The junior novelization also mentions Alan internally lamenting that the dinosaurs "would have to be destroyed", thus one can assume this does indeed happen. Of course, keyword here being junior, that's probably because it omits the discussion about the lysine contingency.
    • In a deleted scene in the second film, we see Ludlow addressing the InGen board about the lawsuits associated with the deaths of Nedry, Muldoon, Gennaro and others. He also mentions the costs of dismantling the Isla Nublar facility.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The Robert Bakker Expy gets killed when his aversion to snakes get him eaten by the T. Rex. Every Oh Crap moment from Alan Grant is based on this, too. The worst part is that the snake was a completely harmless milk snake.
  • A Winner Is You: Many Jurassic Park games don't bother with endings and just show players a lame and often lazy cutscene of the hero escaping the dinosaurs' island.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: Arby and Kelly in the second book. Justified in that Arb is a child prodigy, albeit naive, and Kel is very smart and enjoys being with smart people. Eric from the third film is smarter than most of the other characters put together.
  • The Worf Effect: The T. Rex suffers an epic one in the third film from none other than the goddamn Spinosaurus, which would have been physically incapable of killing a T. Rex in Real Life - at the very least, not without sustaining extremely serious injury. Somewhere a Paleontologist Is Crying indeed!
    • The raptors also qualify. They kill Muldoon the Great White Hunter in the first film and almost all of Ludlow's Mooks in the second... which would probably make it all the more embarrassing that they are defeated by Lex and Timmy in the first film, and Kelly in the sequel.
  • The Worm Guy: Alan Grant in the first installment, and Dr. Levine in the second novel.
  • You Do NOT Want to Know: Eric says this in response to Grant's question about how he got a jar full of T. Rex pee in the third movie.
  • Zerg Rush: The compies use this move in the second movie, turning poor Stark into...

Malcom: Did you find him?
Roland: Just the parts they didn't like.

  1. ↑ Wikipedia article, "Box office" section
  2. ↑ Which is a real file system, but in reality one made for display, not use.
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