# Jurassic Park question and fingerprints **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982 "2010-08-03T05:54:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/1 "2010-08-03T05:54:30Z")
Nedry touches all the test tubes and stuff in the embryo cold storage room with his bare hands. Do extremely cold temperatures like that affect fingerprints? How well did Nedry think his plan through? My friend wants to know ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/2 "2010-08-03T12:01:33Z")
You can really stop pretending you have a friend. It’s OK. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/3 "2010-08-03T12:28:35Z")
Why would it matter if his fingerprints are on them? He works there, so it’s not that far of a stretch that he might have had to go in there for some reason or another. He’s a computer programmer, so he could easily concoct a lie that he had to check the temperature of the samples because he was testing a new algorithm for the cryo control, or something. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/4 "2010-08-03T12:30:26Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Why would it matter if his fingerprints are on them? He works there, so it’s not that far of a stretch that he might have had to go in there for some reason or another. He’s a computer programmer, so he could easily concoct a lie that he had to check the temperature of the samples because he was testing a new algorithm for the cryo control, or something. I simultaneously don’t buy this explanation and think that it’s sufficient for the film. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/5 "2010-08-03T12:49:59Z")
It doesn’t matter. He’s planning to cash in and will probably leave the island and disappear with his money. They’ll never find him. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/6 "2010-08-03T13:01:21Z")
With the stuff he did to the computer and the cages it’s already not a stealthy crime. He was taking the stuff and fleeing. The fingerprints don’t matter at all. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/7 "2010-08-03T13:05:26Z")
The plan doesn’t seem very thorough. If Dodgson and Nedry were really smart, they would have acquired a bunch of similar-looking cartridges with inviable embryos of something else, so Nedry could pop them into the cold storage slots after he took the dinosaur embryos out (I can’t watch the scene again at this moment, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t do this). Then it wouldn’t matter if his fingerprints were in the cold storage room, because it wouldn’t be obvious that any theft had occurred- it would just look like that batch of embryos was improperly cloned or had gone bad in the power outage. Or maybe the “plan” was for everything that happened in the movie to happen- the theropods notice the fences are turned off, escape and kill some people, the park shuts down permanently, and inGen is more concerned with covering up the whole incident than prosecuting their embryo thief. So much for chaos theory! ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/8 "2010-08-03T16:11:42Z")
It is a stealthy crime. He plans to drop off the embryos on the boat, come back and turn the fences back on, explain it away with something about code compiling, and everyone will think he was at the vending machine for those 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/9 "2010-08-03T16:23:37Z")
Did he plan to return? I guess I assumed he would be leaving with the boat. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/10 "2010-08-03T16:26:31Z")
I assumed he would return. Everyone who works at Jurassic Park is leaving on that boat. Once they realize that Nedry isn’t coming back, that should be the first place they look for him. The point of his plan was he could sell the embryos and keep his job without anyone knowing he had done it. I have always thought that Nedry wanted to return. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/11 "2010-08-03T16:26:45Z")
Nedry ended up as dilophosaurus crap. I think the most cursory examination would show that his master plan, such as it was, could have used more thought. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/12 "2010-08-03T16:28:05Z")
His plan would have worked if it hadn’t been raining and made the road so slippery that he crashed into the sign giving directions to the East Dock ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/13 "2010-08-03T16:34:35Z")
[Nedry had his fingerprints surgically altered in anticipation of the crime. Duh.](http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15482993/detail.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/14 "2010-08-03T16:44:18Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > His plan would have worked if it hadn’t been raining and made the road so slippery that he crashed into the sign giving directions to the East Dock Ooh, rain in a tropical rainforest. You’d have to be some of super genius to see that coming. Too bad Nedry didn’t have access to some kind of weather predicting instrument, like a window. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/15 "2010-08-03T16:46:49Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > > [@PSXer](#): > > > > His plan would have worked if it hadn’t been raining and made the road so slippery that he crashed into the sign giving directions to the East Dock > > Ooh, rain in a tropical rainforest. You’d have to be some of super genius to see that coming. Too bad Nedry didn’t have access to some kind of weather predicting instrument, like a window. He can’t control the boat schedule. Yes, he realized that it was raining, but he had no choice but attempt to reach the ship in time. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/16 "2010-08-03T16:47:52Z")
No wonder he’s extinct. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/17 "2010-08-03T17:35:15Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > Or maybe the “plan” was for everything that happened in the movie to happen- the theropods notice the fences are turned off, escape and kill some people, the park shuts down permanently, and inGen is more concerned with covering up the whole incident than prosecuting their embryo thief. So much for chaos theory! FWIW, Nedry didn’t shut down the fences on the veloceraptor cage. They went down when Samuel L. Jackson tried to reboot everything. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/18 "2010-08-03T17:38:03Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I assumed he would return. Everyone who works at Jurassic Park is leaving on that boat. Once they realize that Nedry isn’t coming back, that should be the first place they look for him. The point of his plan was he could sell the embryos and keep his job without anyone knowing he had done it. I have always thought that Nedry wanted to return. How long a boat ride is it supposed to be back to the mainland? If it’s, say, a two hour boat trip and Nedry programs the phones from the command post to be down indefinitely, he might figure that he’ll be on shore before anyone can call the boat. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/19 "2010-08-03T18:01:51Z")
Nedry was definitely planning on going back to the control center afterwards - he wasn’t being paid enough by Biosyn to drop off the face of the earth or anything. If he disappeared from the island at the same time 15 embryos went missing, Hammond would have found him. He wanted his theft to go unnoticed for as long as possible. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982/20 "2010-08-03T18:10:53Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > The plan doesn’t seem very thorough. If Dodgson and Nedry were really smart… Guy in RayBans and goofy hat: “Don’t use my real name.” “ **Dodgson! We got Dodgson here!** ” My kids still quote that line (I’ll leave it to the good viewer to postulate the situation wherein that exclamation actually fits) hint: No, it never really fits. My point? No, they weren’t “really smart”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-question-and-fingerprints/548982.md?page=2)