Abandoned Jurassic Park Animated Series Concept Art Revealed

If a film was popular back in the 80s and 90s there was a good shot that you would see it become [...]

By Jay Jayson

If a film was popular back in the 80s and 90s there was a good shot that you would see it become a Saturday morning cartoon, like The Real Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures. But did you know an animated series based on Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park was in development at one point? But it wasn't meant for the kiddies on Saturday morning. They had bigger plans.

Universal Pictures hired conceptual artist William Stout (via fromdirectorstevenspielberg.tumblr.com) to work on the series and he has provided information about look and tone the studio was going for as well as providing some fantastic concept art he created for it.

Stout wrote:

"Towards the end of all of this merchandising I got a call from artist Will Meugniot, asking if I'd be interested in designing a Jurassic Park animated series. This was not going to be a kiddy show (although kids of all ages, including myself, could enjoy it). They wanted the show to be a mature prime time series with top writers and state-of-the-art television animation augmented with quite a bit of CG animation. Universal Cartoon Studios wanted a "graphic novel look" to the series. I came in, showed my portfolio and was hired.

"We made a trailer to communicate the look and feel of the series, also showing how we would combine computer animation with traditional animation. All we needed was Spielberg's approval.

"I heard through the grapevine that he never bothered to watch what we had done. By that time the word was out that he was burnt out on Jurassic Park merchandising and all of the film's commercial exploitation. So, it never got made."

Director Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park masterpiece is one of the most successful films in worldwide box office history and remains a compelling and spectacular experience. This thrilling adventure features Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough. Featuring incredible special effects and action-packed drama, Jurassic Park takes you to a remote island where an amazing theme park with living dinosaurs is about to turn deadly, as five people must battle to survive among the prehistoric predators.

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