More than 30 years on, Jurassic Park remains one of the greatest sci-fi horror movies about the dangers of human hubris, and expert analysis only makes the disaster worse. Despite the shiny technological advances on show, John Hammond never paused to truly consider the possible repercussions of his singular life goal. Had he done so, and not launched himself headfirst into his dream, he might have thought a bit more about the cost of his corner-cutting and lack of preparation.
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Speaking to ComicBook’s Chris Killian on a recent trip to the company’s lab, Colossal Bioscience’s Chief Animal Officer, Matt James, revealed the single biggest problem that sunk John Hammond’s dream. Bemoaning how sci-fi movies are obsessed with the trope that all “emerging technology is evil and will be used for evil,” James proved his credentials by nailing exactly what Hammond’s team messed up:
“Let’s talk about Jurassic Park for a second. Yeah, no expense was spared, right? Yet the man built the park in a hurricane zone that relied on electric fences and didn’t have backup generation! Awfully convenient. And as an animal care specialist, I will tell you, the first thing I would have done is have cement walls in which everything was contained, and then use electric fences to further prevent animals from attempting to escape. And then everything would be on redundant backup generation.”
Obviously, the concrete walls idea was the setup for the raptors, which all still escaped when the electric fences at the top of the concrete walls failed thanks to Nedry, but it’s worthwhile remembering that pen was supposed to be temporary. As the novel revealed, the raptors were only in the concrete pen while their enclosure was reinforced. And really, all that was needed to keep them in was higher walls, as the Indominus Rex enclosure proved in Jurassic World.
The backup generator, on the other hand, would have solved everything and made Jurassic Park an incredibly boring movie. But James absolutely has a point, and you have to wonder why it was never considered.
Real-Life “Jurassic Park” Expert Opinion Is Devastating For One Original Character
When you think about Jurassic Park’s security setup and James’ expert testimony, fingers have to be pointed at game warden Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck), who was in charge of both park security and the welfare of the creatures. Given that he was an alarmist and didn’t trust the raptors even in their reinforced pen, it’s surprising that he didn’t advocate for stronger and simpler measures. Then again, maybe he did, and the real Jurassic Park villain didn’t listen?
Really, Muldoon was merely a symptom of Hammond’s wider disease – a fatal combination of blinkered optimism and underpaying key stakeholders like Nedry (even while claiming “no expense spared.” Of course he wouldn’t have included back-up generators or concrete walls that would hide the attractions: he had no reason to believe the potential nightmares his dream could lead to. He wanted to surround himself with yes men as optimistic as him, as his dismay at the “blood-sucking lawyer” being the only one to back him up proved.
What Colossal Tech Will Be in The Next Generation of Sci-Fi Films
James also spoke about Colossal’s relationships with Hollywood studios, and the potential to consult on upcoming projects. James then explained which emerging technology he expects to see in future dystopian sci-fi movies:
“As we develop this exodiff – this artificial womb technology – I think we’re going to start to see stories written about what humanity is doing with this thing where people aren’t even carrying their own young, right? That type of idea. We’ve just got these disconnected mothers who just don’t even love their children anymore.
But I think, you know, one of the things that people often get wrong, and I think a lot of science gets wrong, Jurassic Park being a good example, is this idea that a company can go out and independently act to go do something as wild as restore species from extinction, dinosaurs from extinction, without any regulatory oversight. People forget all the time that Colossal lives in a highly regulated world with multiple jurisdictions, everything as the USDA, US Fish and Wildlife, FDA, and EPA. So we are constantly in discussions with government regulators. And, you know, Hollywood loves to gloss over the part that government has a pretty huge impact on everything we do.”
So maybe he’s saying the real Jurassic Park was the government that turned a blind eye to regulating what Hammond did? Makes you think. You can find even more information on Colossal’s work on Colossal’s official website.
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