# Jurassic Park (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325 "2010-05-30T22:46:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/41 "2010-06-04T01:52:59Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Actually, more maddening than that is the idea of using frog DNA to complete the gene sequences for the dinos; why?? A crocodile or bird would have been much more appropriate. Using a frog makes very little sense. It’s been years since I read the book, but it’s my memory that the geneticists used DNA from a variety of different animals, including birds and reptiles, to fill in the gaps in the dinosaur DNA samples. So it wasn’t that they thought frog DNA would be the best, it was just one of several different things they included in the mix. I don’t remember if there was any reason given for why they decided to use DNA from different kinds of animals, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/42 "2010-06-04T11:25:43Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > I think **Maus Magill** meant \*Crichton’s \*reason for choosing frog DNA, not Hammond’s. IOW, the plot Crichton created demanded that InGen make a stupid and illogical decision, and he was not a sufficiently talented writer to come up with either a solid explanation nor a good alternative. Exactly. > [@Darwins\_Finch](#): > > Regardless whether the decision was the author’s or one or more of the characters’, it was stupid 😛 > > Especially since crocodiles still make a [more reasonable option](http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/29/3/973). He gets his sex changing dinos, and the readers don’t get lame movement-based vision for _T. rex_. Not challenged. Jurassic Park is one of those books and movies where you can really enjoy it, as long as you don’t think about it. Like The Three Stooges. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/43 "2010-06-04T12:06:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Or, as the movie calls them, “STEGASAURUS” Maybe they meant a **STEGOCERAS** , but didn’t spell it right: > **[Stegoceras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegoceras)** > > Stegoceras is a genus of pachycephalosaurid (dome-headed) dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous period, about 77.5 to 74 million years ago (mya). The first specimens from Alberta, Canada, were described in 1902, and the type species Stegoceras validum was based on these remains. The generic name means "horn roof", and the specific name means "strong". Several other species have been placed in the genus over the years, but these have since been moved to o... 😛 ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/44 "2010-06-04T18:58:56Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > The single biggest problem I had with the movie is the ending. … Cue the T. Rex to eat the velociraptors and the humans run like hell like the pathetic, maladapted evolutionary holdovers they are. But you forget another classic Spielberg visual moment: the living T-Rex smashing the skeleton of the fossil T-Rex and bellowing in triumph as a tattered banner flutters in front of him, reading WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/45 "2010-06-04T19:30:11Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > The single biggest problem I had with the movie is the ending. It remarkably altered the meaning of the book. > > I’m not going to spoiler things here so avert thing eyes if necessary. > > 1. In the book, which I quite like, the velociraptors are largely dealt with by Grant through his use of **his brain**. It’s the advantage humans have over the velociraptors: a better use of knowledge and manipulation of data. > > Grant is trapped. He has eggs. He knows velociraptors eat eggs. He injects poison in the eggs gets the raptors to eat them. BANG, brains and knowledge win out. > > 1. In the movie humans are screwed. Reduced to nothing more than running away into an ever-decreasing refuge. Cue the T. Rex to eat the velociraptors and the humans run like hell like the pathetic, maladapted evolutionary holdovers they are. > > The book summed up that we have advantages over our opponents. The movie made us into scream-queens suitable for kidnapping and being rescued. > > Feh. Pointless. I always thought the whole egg thing was kind of lame in the book. The raptors don’t notice Alan hiding and injecting eggs and then as soon as an egg pops up they just eat it instead of wondering where the hell it came from? It felt straight out of a video game. And the raptors just didn’t seem that scary. Were they meant to be smaller, more realistic raptors in the book, like the way velociraptors really were? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/46 "2010-06-04T19:42:29Z")
thread hijacking Why did that guy in Jurassic Park III die, the other guy who was parasailing? He was talking in the video they found on the camera, so he survived the crash. Did he just sit up in that tree until he died? ---
**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:** [June 4, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/47 "2010-06-04T19:44:48Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > thread hijacking > > Why did that guy in Jurassic Park III die, the other guy who was parasailing? He was talking in the video they found on the camera, so he survived the crash. Did he just sit up in that tree until he died? Probably eaten by the tricycloplots. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/48 "2010-06-04T19:56:27Z")
But they find his skeleton still in the parachute, still all together ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/49 "2010-06-04T20:23:24Z")
I think that was a joke. In any event, maybe an animal attacked him up there but didn’t tear him apart or only killed him. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/50 "2010-06-04T20:38:20Z")
Acid. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/51 "2010-06-04T21:30:35Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I always thought the whole egg thing was kind of lame in the book. The raptors don’t notice Alan hiding and injecting eggs and then as soon as an egg pops up they just eat it instead of wondering where the hell it came from? It felt straight out of a video game. And the raptors just didn’t seem that scary. I doubt many animals would waste time wondering where a tasty treat came from. Even young human children aren’t very careful when it comes to eating whatever they find that looks good. The raptors were said to be fairly intelligent, about as smart as parrots, but while that’s smart enough to be _surprised_ I don’t think it’s smart enough to be _cynical_. > [@](#): > > \*Were they meant to be smaller, more realistic raptors in the book, like the way velociraptors really were? \*IIRC in the book they were significantly smaller than humans. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/52 "2010-06-04T21:53:47Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I doubt many animals would waste time wondering where a tasty treat came from. Even young human children aren’t very careful when it comes to eating whatever they find that looks good. The raptors were said to be fairly intelligent, about as smart as parrots, but while that’s smart enough to be _surprised_ I don’t think it’s smart enough to be _cynical_. But they were supposed to be super smart and have a great sense of smell–that’s what Grant was relying on, right? That they’d smell the eggs. It just seemed bizarre that they’d see/smell the eggs but completely miss the adult human tossing eggs at them just because he was behind a table 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:** [June 4, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/53 "2010-06-04T22:11:13Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > But they were supposed to be super smart and have a great sense of smell–that’s what Grant was relying on, right? That they’d smell the eggs. It just seemed bizarre that they’d see/smell the eggs but completely miss the adult human tossing eggs at them just because he was behind a table or something. Wouldn’t the raptor have been able to _smell_ him from behind the table? And were the turkey raptors really that frightening in the book? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/54 "2010-06-04T22:16:47Z")
Yeah, they make a HUGE deal out of the raptor’s scent of smell in the movies. Especially the second one. I don’t think they were as scary in the book. I think they were meant to be smaller. Also there’s a scene where they go into the raptor den in the first JP book because they need to count the raptors. And the raptors sort of notice them but don’t do anything because they’re relaxed or something. I have no idea why they would be more relaxed if humans are near their babies, but there’s a lot about Michael Crichton I don’t quite get… ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/55 "2010-06-04T22:28:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > But they were supposed to be super smart and have a great sense of smell–that’s what Grant was relying on, right? That they’d smell the eggs. It just seemed bizarre that they’d see/smell the eggs but completely miss the adult human tossing eggs at them just because he was behind a table or something. They were supposed to be super smart compared to other animals, not super smart by human standards. I don’t believe there was anything to suggest they’d be capable of suspecting that the eggs had been tampered with. That would not only require a pretty advanced theory of mind, but knowledge that it was possible for food to be poisoned. The raptors wouldn’t have had any experience to let them know that food that seemed fine could be dangerous. I don’t remember about their sense of smell in the book, but Grant didn’t need them to smell the eggs since they could easily see them. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/56 "2010-06-04T23:53:14Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > They were supposed to be super smart compared to other animals, not super smart by human standards. But they didn’t have to be super smart to be smarter than _actors_. Or people nit-picking a classic movie, instead of doing what a raptor would be doing: getting out and enjoying what’s left of the day. (Thanks, Veelo! I’m on my way! “Clevah girl…” indeed.) ---
**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:** [June 5, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/57 "2010-06-05T02:19:51Z")
> [@](#): > > getting out and enjoying what’s left of the day… OK, I’m back! What’d I mi… Oh, I guess nothing. Umm, why aren’t there more people discussing \*Jurassic Park? \*It’s THE movie that made Science look like Fun to my very-young-at-the-time kids. And now one of them’s going into medicine. I just asked, and she said that “the only real JP movie” made dinosaurs (and, by extension, Zoology) real to her. So maybe I should have more of that “Gee, whiz” attitude, and less cynicism with regards to sci-fi movies. Y’know, those dinosaur effects do hold up. That first shot of Dr. Grant seeing the… apatosaurus? and other dinos is still great. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/58 "2010-06-05T02:58:55Z")
> [@digs](#): > > That first shot of Dr. Grant seeing the… apatosaurus? [Brachiosaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachiosaurus). ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/59 "2010-06-05T13:50:55Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > They were supposed to be super smart compared to other animals, not super smart by human standards. I don’t believe there was anything to suggest they’d be capable of suspecting that the eggs had been tampered with. That would not only require a pretty advanced theory of mind, but knowledge that it was possible for food to be poisoned. The raptors wouldn’t have had any experience to let them know that food that seemed fine could be dangerous. > > I don’t remember about their sense of smell in the book, but Grant didn’t need them to smell the eggs since they could easily see them. No, I didn’t mean they would be smart enough to realize that the eggs were tampered with, or that they’d need to smell the eggs. Wouldn’t they smell the person who was throwing eggs and them and then just go for him directly? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325/60 "2010-06-05T14:42:05Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > No, I didn’t mean they would be smart enough to realize that the eggs were tampered with, or that they’d need to smell the eggs. Wouldn’t they smell the person who was throwing eggs and them and then just go for him directly? I don’t remember how good their sense of smell was supposed to be, but the raptors liked to eat eggs and they weren’t on a deliberate mission to kill all humans. I don’t find it difficult to believe that a raptor or any other kind of animal would be more interested in the tasty treat that had just appeared than they would be in immediately identifying where that “human smell” was coming from. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-spoilers/541325.md?page=4)