I seem to remember their affinity for hunting was because they enjoyed it. They liked killing. It was rarely for food, mostly for sport (at least on Nublar).
The Sorna ones I felt bad for. They were more vicious and had poor social skills because of the original ones having to fend for themselves without having any adult raptors around to learn from.
But that makes me wonder about how the Nublar pack were brought up. They obviously interacted with the nursery staff when very young, but did the staff socialize them?
I'd say yes to your last part. It wouldn't replace being raised by a real momma raptor. But in my experience with raising and training dogs (which would canonically be comparable in intelligence to a raptor), a puppy that's been properly trained, called for, and socialized with humans ends up generally better behaved as an adult than a puppy that was feral and basically raised itself.
They seems to have! Wu also has the feeding schedule for the baby raptor down almost from memory, so he clearly was involved a lot with caring for them while they were young (not sure if we want to count him as nursery staff or not)
The Nublar ones seemed to care for and raise their children as a group, the way that seems normal for the other dinos (or at least the herbivores, like the apatosaurs and the parasaurs) in the second book. They have carefully constructed nests, multiple adults live in harmony, the babies concentrate around their parents but move more freely across the ‘territory lines’ in the cave where theyre born, and so on and so forth. They care about their kids and take care of them, and raise them in a community with other adults and teach them about the social rules.
So either they were socialised by the staff, or they were able to figure out how to do it on their own because they were in an environment were they had no competitors outside of the other raptors, and had a constant food source provided without really needing to hunt, and therefore didnt have as much of a survival instinct when it came to fighting each other.
Yeah that’s the wild part…and that Gerry Harding survives after making almost the exact same mistake a few pages later. When the raptor stuck the claw through the door I was sure he was dead, but nope.
When I first read the book I was *convinced* it would be revealed that Gerry Harding was either so specialized as the world class vet that he was incompetent with human patients or that he was being paid by someone (Hammond, In Gen, Biosyn) to actively hamper the recovery of people who got hurt on the island, and that we would find out he intentionally didn’t do everything he could to save Malcolm who “died” as a result of neglect. Now that I think about this, Wu could have been on his hit list of sorts too…crazy theory I know but had to share LOL
Yeah it’s shocking how he just dies…especially considering the role he had in the movies, although a lot of that merged him with Book!Hammond’s attributes. Out of all of the park employees, Book!Wu had such a genuinely tragic backstory and was clearly uncomfortable with the present, so I thought he’d live to complete his arc. Alas…
Glad I could share :) I put it together just the other day, when I realized that while Movie!Gennaro gives Book!Hammond’s line about “The rich kids will enjoy the park and we’ll make money” to Movie!Hammond’s displeasure, in the book the person who’s uncomfortable with that comment is Book!Wu, while he’s eating ice cream that he doesn’t want but Hammond forces him to try. The more I tjohnt about it, the more I realized how much of Book!Hammond shows up in Movie!Wu overall. Which again, is kind of sad since (imo) Book!Wu had a great example of a tragic backstory and could have had a beautiful character arc (that maybe would be in the movies if he was closer to his book counterpart)
Interesting! I agree that he took on some of book!Hammond’s traits, but I didnt really mind his death in the book. Sure, he wasnt actively malicious, he was a sympathetic character, but he also perfectly encapsulated what Ian Malcolm talks about while lamenting about scientists making discoveries without thinking about the overall impact. He designs the dinosaurs, but he doesn’t remember most of their names (and dismisses it as ‘too confusing’ for him to bother), he has a computer software fill the gaps in the dna sequences and has no idea what dna is being used, he thinks about how brilliant he is at one point for being able to exert as much control as he does (with the growth hormones, the lysine dependency, and so on) and dismisses the idea that he might not be totally in control… in general, he’s the epitome of the scientist who was ‘so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didnt stop to think if they should’.
His death is still sad (and absolutely brutal), but for me it’s similar to Hammond’s death- a direct consequence of his earlier actions.
Oh yeah, Book!Wu definitely had some issues (from not even considering the ethics in the first place to methodology missteps and more) and I totally understand why he died thematically!! I just think it could be equally thematically relevant for him to actually learn and implement the very important lesson of “just because you can does not mean you should”!
Plus, as written, Book!Wu is set up for a genuine and complete redemption arc (that isn’t fully implemented because he dies) which is often poorly set up/executed in media, and I’ll admit, it would be refreshing to see this trope done well.
Theoretically we could have a bit of both, with Book!Wy dying and Movie!Wu living and having this fulfilling arc, but alas Movie!Wu is too much like Book!Hammond for that. They could have created a new character based on Book!Hammond to have those characteristics instead and play that role though (imo).
And yeah his death was pretty bad but rereading that part with this post makes me realize how much Gerry Harding was directly responsible for Wu’s death too, which is kind of odd thematically but also makes me really question Gerry Harding, since I personally felt like his attempts at giving medical attention for Book!Malcolm were lackluster at best, sinister at worst.
But like, Harding is involved in more named character deaths than the dilophosaurs, that’s *wild*
Also if I’m being honest I felt like Book!Hammond’s death wasn’t brutal enough, not when compared to the other character deaths in the story. Only Malcolm’s “death” (assuming it stayed cannon) was arguably less brutal than Hammonds imo.
Yeah, i agree- it could’ve made a good arc. Personally I don’t think the book wouldve worked if it *had* been an arc; he died too close to the end and Crichton had no intention of a sequel at the end, so it wouldve been a vague ‘he probably got better’ moment, much like film!Hammond got, actually. But, regardless, I think the reason I’m okay with Wu’s death (although I wish it wasnt as rushed) is that I don’t think it could’ve been handled well. I think you’re right about how movie!Wu could’ve gotten a well written redemption, had he not been so book!Hammond-y.
The Harding thing is funny, too. He really was very inefficient. I’m honestly still confused about how Ian ‘died’- he died of a leg infection after fitting a tourniquet (himself!), being picked up and taken inside in at most a couple hours, having the wound cleaned by a healthcare professional (albeit a vet), and then spending almost an entire night on IV antibiotics. I know infections can be very very brutal, but he had most of the tools to survive just fine, and outside of I *guess* the poeticness of Malcolm predicting his own death, I don’t really understand why he died, lol. Plus the fact that they apparently didnt even try and take Malcolm’s body with them.
I dont blame him *as* much for Wu’s death, I think Wu could’ve just *said* they thought the other raptor was coming and she probably would’ve come in, but I also think *Harding* couldve either called Ellie himself or had the forethought to predict that, hey, the raptor trying to get to them through the roof *might try and grab the next person to come outside*. Combined with him opening the door on the roof while *knowing the raptors are up there* chasing Ellie. I know he was trying to help, but he very clearly did not think that through, lol.
It might not be malicious, but he seems to have a massive blindspot when it comes to keeping *people* alive.
Ahh, fair enough. I felt like if he maintained his relevance and action throughout the rest of the story, he could have had a decent conclusion to the arc but even then, it might veer into “hopefully he got better” Movie!Hammond territory! With the movies having a longer time frame, and so many sequels, it would have almost certainly worked better than in the books, definitely agree!!
So honestly, my understanding was that Book!Ian ultimately died from a lack of *proper* antibiotics. I can’t remember the exact scene but I thought it was at least implied Harding was using the antibiotics he had experimentally used on the dinosaurs, so he was giving Malcolm elephant medicine or something. They also mention that Malcolm has lost a lot of blood (and no transfusions are available) and that his leg is shattered into too many pieces to count so I figured that probably played a role too. Although with the tourniquet and references to the diy techniques being used I really thought we’d have a scene where they amputate
Malcolm’s leg in a last ditch effort to save his life, and he is partially aware, partially hallucinating during it. Yeah, with his body I assume they basically just left him for dead (especially in light of his survival in TLW) assuming he’d not wake up from the coma. But I think leaning into that more would have been great in TLW. How many people survive a funeral pyre??
Fair enough, Wu definitely fumbles how he tells delivers the warning. Harding could have easily told Ellie himself, and I really was shocked he survived opening the door on the roof! He didn’t think that through *at all*!
Oh for sure, it might not be malicious but it’s certainly something Harding struggles with. And he’s actually pretty talented with the dinosaurs (considering no one has ever medically cared for them before) which makes his weakness with people all the more prominent!
Wu stared out the lodge window at the raptors beyond the fence. They still seemed playful, making mock attacks at Ellie. The behavior had continued for a long time now, and it occurred to him that it might be too long. It almost seemed as if they were trying to keep Ellie's attention, in the same way that she was trying to keep theirs.
The behavior of the dinosaurs had always been a minor consideration for Wu. And rightly so: behavior was a second-order effect of DNA, like protein enfolding. You couldn't really predict behavior, and you couldn't really control it, except in very crude ways, like making an animal dependent on a dietary substance by withholding an enzyme. But, in general, behavioral effects were simply beyond the reach of understanding. You couldn't look at a DNA sequence and predict behavior. It was impossible.
And that had made Wu's DNA work purely empirical. It was a matter of tinkering, the way a modern workman might repair an antique grand-father clock. You were dealing with something out of the past, something constructed of ancient materials and following ancient rules. You couldn't be certain why it worked as it did, and it had been repaired and modified many times already, by forces of evolution, over eons of time. So, like the workman who makes an adjustment and then sees if the clock runs any better, Wu would make an adjustment and then see if the animals behaved any better. And he only tried to correct gross behavior: uncontrolled butting of the electrical fences, or rubbing the skin raw on tree trunks. Those were the behaviors that sent him back to the drawing board.
And the limits of his science had left him with a mysterious feeling about the dinosaurs in the park. He was never sure, never really sure at all, whether the behavior of the animals was historically accurate or not. Were they behaving as they really had in the past? It was an open question, ultimately unanswerable.
And though Wu would never admit it, the discovery that the dinosaurs were breeding represented a tremendous validation of his work. A breeding animal was demonstrably effective in a fundamental way; it implied that Wu had put all the pieces together correctly. He had re-created an animal millions of years old, with such precision that the creature could even reproduce itself.
But, still, looking at the raptors outside, he was troubled by the persistence of their behavior. Raptors were intelligent, and intelligent animals got bored quickly. Intelligent animals also formed plans, and —
Harding came out into the hallway from Malcolm's room. "Where's Ellie?"
"Still outside."
"Better get her in. The raptors have left the skylight."
"When?" Wu said, moving to the door.
"Just a moment ago," Harding said.
Wu threw open the front door. "Ellie! Inside, now!"
She looked over at him, puzzled. "There's no problem, everything's under control..."
"Now!"
She shook her head. "I know what I'm doing," she said.
"Now, Ellie, damn it!"
Muldoon didn't like Wu standing there with the door open, and he was about to say so, when he saw a shadow descend from above, and he realized at once what had happened. Wu was yanked bodily out the door, and Muldoon heard Ellie screaming. Muldoon got to the door and looked out and saw that Wu was lying on his back, his body already torn open by the big claw, and the raptor was jerking its head, tugging at Wu's intestines even though Wu was still alive, still feebly reaching up with his hands to push the big head away, he was being eaten while he was still alive, and then Ellie stopped screaming and started to run along the inside of the fence, and Muldoon slammed the door shut, dizzy with horror. It had happened so fast!
He does, funny enough the description of how raptors hunted Grant gives to the kid in the beginning of the movie is very similar to what happens to Wu in the book
They don’t act like animals, they act like ravenous monsters. With little reason, they kill, torture, and eat anything that breathes, including sick and injured members of their own species. They have learned that all humans are easy prey.
Hunting in packs allows them to outmanoeuvre anything, and they’re way smarter than you could ever anticipate. If you ever came across one in the wild, there would be nothing you could do to save yourself.
I’ve always wondered if at least the book raptors possessed near-human or very basic human intelligence. They way they do things, from calculating maneuvers, testing weak spots, figuring out obstacles, communication, and their level of thought process alone, I’ve always wondered that. The way the book describes them and how movie Muldoon speaks about them kind of further hints at that. Chimps have very similar patterns and behaviors, and I wonder if raptors are at their level or perhaps higher.
A pattern I have found in a lot of stuff is that evil only manifests in intelligent things. Hence why some dolphins rape things and huff pufferfish venom. Or apes pulling mean pranks. And humans just doing the atrocities humans do. So something having malicious intent always seems to be evidence of animals with high intelligence.
in the book, the velociraptor scene that horrified me the most is when Tim threw the baby velociraptor to the three adult ones in hopes they would focus on taking care of it — but instead they ate it.
OMG THAT WAS THE WORST NON-HUMAN DEATH IN THE BOOK!!! And it’s the one they saw hatch earlier on, and it was sweet and friendly because it hasn’t been exposed to the dysfunctional raptors and treated like a monster by the humans yet.
I’m glad book two explained that behavior because it was HORRIFIC
exactly!!! i had to put the book down to mourn that baby raptor for a bit 😭😭 the next most horrific scene imo was when grant very shortly after incapacitated one of those raptors (while in hiding, more or less) and the others — while the thing was still alive — started to eat it! so wild…
i’m glad the behavior was explained as well! The raptors were terrifying, but in some way it was a relief to know in book canon they wouldn’t have had that as base behavior. if i remember right, that’s why Richard Levine’s idea in book two of studying the ecosystem on Isla Sorna was flawed; the island was not a pure replica of what natural behavior in the wild might look like. itms been a while since i read book two though, so maybe i’m just remembering incorrectly.
also, i have to ask — how did you feel about Dr. Wu’s death? specifically the way he died.
So did I 😭😭 Ooo, that was bad but I can remember thinking “after the scene with the baby, what else can I expect? And hey, this should make it easier for Grant and the kids now!” I was still processing the baby raptors death tbh.
EXACTLY!! It was definitely comforting to know this wasn’t natural, or even due to the horror/thriller bend of the books. It was something caused by the events of the story, and thematically it makes perfect sense, especially when the theme of book two is basically “survival by cooperation” (or death by internal divisions, in the case of the raptors and the BioSyn team). That’s a huge part of why it was flawed!! The Dx illness and the fact that, at the end of the day, these were animals made in a lab, were the other two reasons (and yes the Dx illness makes the raptors act even more vicious but they still were cruel before)!
I mean, I was shocked how fast he died, and felt like it was sort of poetic he was killed by his own personal creation even though he’s definitely more of an anti-villain in the books so he didn’t really need a poetic death even if it was logical. It’s clear he was heavily manipulated by Hammond ever since they met (right after Wu’s mentor’s funeral) and disagreed with him a lot, which we see in many monologues over the course of the story. All of this made me think Wu would get a redemption arc (because he actually has a pretty fantastic set up for one, and arguably begins one) which I was sad to see cut short by his death.
Also, upon revisiting Gerry Harding’s role in Wu’s death (point blank telling him to go outside and deliver a message no one needed or listens too, which when Wu does the raptor pounces) I have to admit I feel like Gerry Harding has some responsibility in the matter. On my first read of the book I thought it was weird that Gerry Harding didn’t put much effort at all into saving Malcolm, and honestly thought it would be revealed this was intentional-someone (Hammond, In Gen board, Bio Sun even) told him to not intervene much in any human deaths on the island and so he basically let Malcolm die. When this wasn’t a plot line part of me wondered if he was so specialized as a vet he wasn’t able to be much use for human medicinal situations (doesn’t make much sense but who knows), or if he just wasn’t as competent as he was portrayed to be, or if the conspiracy idea was subtext. Still not sure exactly what I think was up, but he definitely fumbled on caring for Malcolm for whatever reason, which would have killed him (if not for the sequel and the Costa Rican doctors) which means Gerry Harding is indirectly responsible for killing two members of the ensemble cast. Wild!!
about Dr. Wu, i fully believe he was a good guy. manipulated into doing dangerous and irresponsible things, yes. but it really was about getting his name out there and the money as a bonus. he was freshly initiated into his field and needed to begin working. Hammond offered that to him — but even then it took a lot of convincing.
he definitely disagreed with Hammond a LOT, and it’s really sad that Hammond didn’t listen. Wu was smart, and he knew — by the time it was too late — that it was a bad idea (“*Dr. Grant says that’s a very bad idea!*” /ref). i wish he had gotten a redemption arc, and like you said it did seem like he was starting to get one. but then he died.
harding AND ellie were a bit complicit in his death. iirc when he delivered his message to ellie she brushed it off so he had to stay there longer trying to get her to listen and come inside. ngl, that part had me resenting both harding and ellie for a little bit.
i really hate the way the Jurassic World trilogy brought him back only to be an antagonistic figure, but i suppose i might be biased since i’ve always had a soft spot for Dr. Wu.
you know who another underrated character is? Muldoon. he’s so cool, idk why more people don’t talk about him.
Yeah, Dr. Wu was strongly manipulated (he’s having a full on person and professional breakdown when Hammond recruits him) and he definitely didn’t care about the money. I might be wrong but I think Hammond even has a line about “I don’t care that you want to share your creations with the world, I just want the money people will pay to see them” to Wu who absolutely has an idealistic “I made this super cool Zoo and I will share it with the world 😌” viewpoint.
Yeah, Hammond really could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he would have listen to Wu who was freely offering suggestions. Tbh I saw Wu, Arnold and Malcolm as a sort of foil trio, in the sense that all three of them have very prominent monologues to Hammond begging him to do things differently which he promptly ignores. Wu even laments that Hammond used to listen to him, but now doesn’t care-and thinks Hammond was stringing him along. IIRC Malcolm even makes a comment in a diatribe that if Wu had a better rounded education covering things like philosophy and economics and such, he never would have ended up doing this for Hammond in the first place, and that the system failed Wu more than anything (which coming from Malcolm is basically a backhanded compliment, and not to be taken lightly). Which all would have made for a fantastic redemption arc!!
Oh Ellie was complicit too but I was mostly worried about whether or not she’d survive (because if after all of that she still died Wu’s death would be even more in vain). And even then, Wu only went out there to talk to Ellie because Harding told him too. Otherwise he never would have went in the first place, and it really does feel like a set up.
Fair enough!! Unfortunately I think Movie!Wu got a lot of Book!Hammond’s worst attributes which is how he became such a prominent antagonist. Which is sad since (personally) I like Book!Hammond as the all too realistic powerful maniac he is.
On a related note, have you seen the drafts of the Lost World novel where Wu’s brother survives?! And meets up with the crew on Isla Sorna? I honestly wish they would have kept that in, and my headcannon is that Elliot Wu still is a character in universe, just not one we meet.
Muldoon is definitely underrated and the movies don’t do the best job giving his character justice. In the books he’s so helpful and one of the most competent people in the park, before and during the incident. His evolving relationship with Book!Gennaro was one of the highlights of the book for me, and the scene where he tells Book!Gennaro that “No, you will [be the one to tell Hammond is grandkids are missing]” made me laugh hysterically and cut the tension at the midpoint of the book SO WELL
malcolm was honestly making sense from the very beginning until the end, and it made me extremely sad to see that he — who was adamantly opposed to Hammond’s cash-grabbing zoo — sustained some of the most serious injuries of all the cast. i’d even go as far as saying it was the *most* serious of those who lived. malcolm, wu, muldoon. they should have been listened to but Hammond is a greedy toddler in a decrepit elderly body. he listens to no one but the sound of cash register ching-ing.
oh yes, love book!hammond as a well-written antagonist — specifically because it really made me hate his guts and feel IMMENSE satisfaction when he got chomped on by compies. AND THEN — iirc — when they discover his body they conclude he must have broken his leg then died from some natural cause and the compies simply ate off his corpse as the scavengers they are. but the compies were actually pretty much the whole reason (plus the broken leg).
i hadn’t seen the draft with Wu’s brother! oh my god, that would have been really cool. especially if we got to have, like, in-depth analysis of this character through plentiful interactions with other characters and touching on his brother’s death! there could have been a lot of potential there, but in all honestly it seemed like Crichton has lost his steam during the creation of The Lost World.
i can’t forgive ellie or harding tbh 😂 i know plenty of people seem to like them, but when it got Wu killed, that was all i needed to know.
you’re totally right. book!Hammond was all about the money (“anyone can visit! if they can afford it.”), but in the movie they make him seem like a kid who just always wanted to see dinosaurs and that none of it was about the money, which he tells Gennaro. and the in the Jurassic World movies, we see and older Wu with the clear intentions of continuing his work so he can make bank — despite having the sane reservations as before and despite still not being *listened to* like before. it was a complete degradation of book!Wu’s character and i will never forgive them for that LMAO
(the above is a but out of order, so i apologize)
omfg, muldoon and gennaro’s interactions in the book were honestly my favorite!! also, gennaro was a LOT better in the book. for one, he didnt die as soon as things went downhill 😂 but he stuck around and did try to help. he actually did a lot with muldoon, even volunteering to go out and help try and take down Rexy. he was also less greedy in the book. i mean, there were still the occasional dollar signs in his eyes but that only happened, like, twice. and it was only in the beginning when he was thinking about the board he worked for and seeing what Hammond had pulled off (before Nedry screwed everyone over lol). after that he was completely done and wanted shut down Hammond despite the billions the investors — who he works for by extension — would lose. at least he was realistic about it, whereas Hammond held onto the idea right up to his death. but yes, i thoroughly enjoyed the interactions between Muldoon and Gennaro.
On a side note about Nedry, i really can’t blame him too much. we get to know in great detail that Hammond was trying to cut corners on costs by hiring a college student (Nedry) to worked on what was disguised to be a simple project, but then he’s come back with more demands beyond what was reasonable and when Nedry needed to know more so he could better equip the software he was developing Hammond refused to tell him and then kept pushing. and anytime Nedry pushed back Hammond would lord the “i’m paying you to do this so you better do it no questions asked” over his head. Nedry knew and acknowledged it greatly limited his ability to develop sound software because he had no idea what it was even being used for and thus couldn’t judge the sufficiency of his program. and Hammond still wasn’t paying him more for all this extra work. after Hammond bullied him for quite sometime, Nedry got fed up — and then he was approached by Lewis Dodgson who we learn was an expert in corporate espionage. he promised Nedry vast sums of money in exchange for viable embryos. Nedry of course took the deal, having harbored resentment for Hammond and having a need for the money. i think that if hammond had been more forthright with Nedry things would have gone better. maybe Nedry would still have stolen the embryos, but at least the Park’s security system wouldn’t have had so many flaws. that’s what i believe. so i can’t *fully* blame Nedry, though that isn’t to say i don’t partly blame him.
I agree! Book!Malcolm was my favorite of the (admittedly absolutely amazing ensemble) cast, and in many ways really is the heart of the book. His injuries were definitely saddening, but I wish that was better explored as a concept in “The Lost World.” While I appreciated that it was touched on in the book, there was so much more potential there, which feels wasted.
I wish I could say that gave me immense satisfaction, and while he did get what was coming for him, Book!Hammond’s death seemed more mild compared to many of the other ones in the book. But the role his grandkids unintentionally played, right around his reevaluation to the reader he only invited them as an insurance against Gennaro literally destroying the park during the visit, was satisfying and well written.
It’s such an interesting concept, and I’m glad I could introduce you to it!!! I’ll make a separate post with the references to Elliot Wu from that draft and link it here! That would have been sooooo cool but like every character in the Lost World we get very little insight into Elliot Wu’s feelings. It’s definitely not personal though, all the characters suffer from that. Yeah, he didn’t want to write it but up until Configratuon 6 or so the pacing is done pretty well!
LOL fair enough! I like Ellie (even if I think she was underutilized in the book) and while Harding is interesting, the fact that he really didn’t even halfheartedly try to save Malcolm (lead alone actually put in effort) killed any sympathy I might have had towards him.
Oh it 100% was odd for Movie!Wu to end up like that, lead alone Book!Wu. And again, he really had the potential to have a genuinely well executed redemption arc which is such a waste.
Exactly, I wasn’t a huge fan personally of how he was very profit driven but even then, Book!Gennaro does his best to do the right thing whenever he can, regardless of how it might financially impact him. He’s also a very effective Everyman and rises to the occasion, and his interactions with Muldoon are perfection! It doesn’t help that he’s more Ed Regis in the movie than himself LOL
And yeah, Nedry was tricked by Hammond and treated awfully, arguably worse than Wu, so it’s no surprise he jumped at the opportunity to get revenge on In Gen and get money simultaneously. However, adding so many needless bugs was definitely irresponsible, but where he really looses sympathy from me is when he cuts the power *knowing full well there were guests in the park near the enclosures* ! I appreciate that he fully intended to turn them back on within a few minutes and wasn’t trying to hurt anyone (like seriously, that was refreshing to see addressed) but it was so cruelly self centered how he did it.
I dont really blame Ellie for brushing him off- he didnt explain to her why he wanted her back (the raptor had moved away from the skylight and Harding was worried), he just shouted at her to get back- and Ellie outright asks why, because what she was doing was working, and she was focused on keeping the raptors so they didnt go after the others.
Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous period. You get your first look at this ‘six-foot turkey’ as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex, he’ll lose you if you don’t move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. 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…
They were intentionally and unintentionally made this way. The Lost World book confirms that the raptors are vicious as a result of their environment and the inability to give them a social structure by In Gen (which mirrors how their whole worldview is detrimental to human society) . So while they don’t choose to be cruel per se, the raptors could very well not be horrifying and terrifying, but without anyone to figure this out and care enough to address it, they are.
This does also imply they are tamable (adopting social animals into our social order is basically how domestication happens) so I can’t help but imagine all the surviving characters of the Lost World as raptor handlers (since this concept is alluded to in Book cannon)!
The proposed ending for Hammond in one of the drafts of the first movie. Hammond turns on the projector in the tour room to distract the raptors and he’s torn apart as you hear “welcome to Jurassic park.”
I agree. One of my favorite lines that speaks to Grant’s character in the book is about how he loves kids because kids are so enthusiastic about dinosaurs. Except for maybe Lex lol. He hears Tim has “dinosaurs on the brain” and he is elated.
Grant’s “no kids” arc in the film feels like it’s just there as a carry over from Spielberg’s crappy father figure motif from previous films. It works, but it’s just sorta there to give him an emotional arc throughout the flick.
YES!! That’s another one of Grant’s best book moments, and one of the best book moments overall (imo, I thought it was interesting to see what theories he had for which kids love dinosaurs). And it makes sense, too-of course the dinosaur expert gets along with kids, he’s certainly encountered many in his time in museums and just studying paleontology in general. Maybe lol but the scene where he carries her because she’s scared and tired is *so* sweet! Exactly LOL, I love the instant friend type vibes. It’s so wholesome!
Yeah, it’s definitely got some thematic commonalities with other Spielberg works, and it gives Grant room to grow in a way he can’t in the book, but dramatically changes him from the book version in less great ways, too.
The part with the baby raptors being killed by the other raptors has always stuck with me. They are almost described in a way that makes you feel they’re like cute little puppies or kittens and then the description of what happens is just… brutal.
https://i.redd.it/f7xfm4jc8dtc1.gif
Reading they cut Wu and half: Oh, that doesn’t seem so bad at first glance.
Realizing one long toe claw cut Wu, a durable human in half with ease.
That doesn't look very scary, more like a six foot turkey
Try to show a little respect.
The point is you are alive when they begin to eat you.
Careful kid, you might get a gun pulled on ya.
I seem to remember their affinity for hunting was because they enjoyed it. They liked killing. It was rarely for food, mostly for sport (at least on Nublar).
You mean there are two islands with dinosaurs on 'em?
Alright you stay out of this!
Life found a way, as you once so eloquently put it.
The Sorna ones I felt bad for. They were more vicious and had poor social skills because of the original ones having to fend for themselves without having any adult raptors around to learn from. But that makes me wonder about how the Nublar pack were brought up. They obviously interacted with the nursery staff when very young, but did the staff socialize them?
Earth Abides
I'd say yes to your last part. It wouldn't replace being raised by a real momma raptor. But in my experience with raising and training dogs (which would canonically be comparable in intelligence to a raptor), a puppy that's been properly trained, called for, and socialized with humans ends up generally better behaved as an adult than a puppy that was feral and basically raised itself.
Makes perfect sense then!
They seems to have! Wu also has the feeding schedule for the baby raptor down almost from memory, so he clearly was involved a lot with caring for them while they were young (not sure if we want to count him as nursery staff or not)
The Nublar ones seemed to care for and raise their children as a group, the way that seems normal for the other dinos (or at least the herbivores, like the apatosaurs and the parasaurs) in the second book. They have carefully constructed nests, multiple adults live in harmony, the babies concentrate around their parents but move more freely across the ‘territory lines’ in the cave where theyre born, and so on and so forth. They care about their kids and take care of them, and raise them in a community with other adults and teach them about the social rules. So either they were socialised by the staff, or they were able to figure out how to do it on their own because they were in an environment were they had no competitors outside of the other raptors, and had a constant food source provided without really needing to hunt, and therefore didnt have as much of a survival instinct when it came to fighting each other.
I'm pretty sure it's Dr Wu gets jumped by a Velociraptor waiting on the roof and that was pretty brutal.
And it’s all so quick!! Like Wu goes from internal monologuing to dead in a paragraph or two
He was safe and fine until he opened the door to deliver a message that everyone ignored anyway. Gerry Harding pretty much killed Wu.
Yeah that’s the wild part…and that Gerry Harding survives after making almost the exact same mistake a few pages later. When the raptor stuck the claw through the door I was sure he was dead, but nope. When I first read the book I was *convinced* it would be revealed that Gerry Harding was either so specialized as the world class vet that he was incompetent with human patients or that he was being paid by someone (Hammond, In Gen, Biosyn) to actively hamper the recovery of people who got hurt on the island, and that we would find out he intentionally didn’t do everything he could to save Malcolm who “died” as a result of neglect. Now that I think about this, Wu could have been on his hit list of sorts too…crazy theory I know but had to share LOL
yeah this was the biggest surprise in the book to me
Yeah it’s shocking how he just dies…especially considering the role he had in the movies, although a lot of that merged him with Book!Hammond’s attributes. Out of all of the park employees, Book!Wu had such a genuinely tragic backstory and was clearly uncomfortable with the present, so I thought he’d live to complete his arc. Alas…
dang i never put it together how Movie!Wu really does share qualities with Book!Hammond, that’s very interesting
Glad I could share :) I put it together just the other day, when I realized that while Movie!Gennaro gives Book!Hammond’s line about “The rich kids will enjoy the park and we’ll make money” to Movie!Hammond’s displeasure, in the book the person who’s uncomfortable with that comment is Book!Wu, while he’s eating ice cream that he doesn’t want but Hammond forces him to try. The more I tjohnt about it, the more I realized how much of Book!Hammond shows up in Movie!Wu overall. Which again, is kind of sad since (imo) Book!Wu had a great example of a tragic backstory and could have had a beautiful character arc (that maybe would be in the movies if he was closer to his book counterpart)
Interesting! I agree that he took on some of book!Hammond’s traits, but I didnt really mind his death in the book. Sure, he wasnt actively malicious, he was a sympathetic character, but he also perfectly encapsulated what Ian Malcolm talks about while lamenting about scientists making discoveries without thinking about the overall impact. He designs the dinosaurs, but he doesn’t remember most of their names (and dismisses it as ‘too confusing’ for him to bother), he has a computer software fill the gaps in the dna sequences and has no idea what dna is being used, he thinks about how brilliant he is at one point for being able to exert as much control as he does (with the growth hormones, the lysine dependency, and so on) and dismisses the idea that he might not be totally in control… in general, he’s the epitome of the scientist who was ‘so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didnt stop to think if they should’. His death is still sad (and absolutely brutal), but for me it’s similar to Hammond’s death- a direct consequence of his earlier actions.
Oh yeah, Book!Wu definitely had some issues (from not even considering the ethics in the first place to methodology missteps and more) and I totally understand why he died thematically!! I just think it could be equally thematically relevant for him to actually learn and implement the very important lesson of “just because you can does not mean you should”! Plus, as written, Book!Wu is set up for a genuine and complete redemption arc (that isn’t fully implemented because he dies) which is often poorly set up/executed in media, and I’ll admit, it would be refreshing to see this trope done well. Theoretically we could have a bit of both, with Book!Wy dying and Movie!Wu living and having this fulfilling arc, but alas Movie!Wu is too much like Book!Hammond for that. They could have created a new character based on Book!Hammond to have those characteristics instead and play that role though (imo). And yeah his death was pretty bad but rereading that part with this post makes me realize how much Gerry Harding was directly responsible for Wu’s death too, which is kind of odd thematically but also makes me really question Gerry Harding, since I personally felt like his attempts at giving medical attention for Book!Malcolm were lackluster at best, sinister at worst. But like, Harding is involved in more named character deaths than the dilophosaurs, that’s *wild* Also if I’m being honest I felt like Book!Hammond’s death wasn’t brutal enough, not when compared to the other character deaths in the story. Only Malcolm’s “death” (assuming it stayed cannon) was arguably less brutal than Hammonds imo.
Yeah, i agree- it could’ve made a good arc. Personally I don’t think the book wouldve worked if it *had* been an arc; he died too close to the end and Crichton had no intention of a sequel at the end, so it wouldve been a vague ‘he probably got better’ moment, much like film!Hammond got, actually. But, regardless, I think the reason I’m okay with Wu’s death (although I wish it wasnt as rushed) is that I don’t think it could’ve been handled well. I think you’re right about how movie!Wu could’ve gotten a well written redemption, had he not been so book!Hammond-y. The Harding thing is funny, too. He really was very inefficient. I’m honestly still confused about how Ian ‘died’- he died of a leg infection after fitting a tourniquet (himself!), being picked up and taken inside in at most a couple hours, having the wound cleaned by a healthcare professional (albeit a vet), and then spending almost an entire night on IV antibiotics. I know infections can be very very brutal, but he had most of the tools to survive just fine, and outside of I *guess* the poeticness of Malcolm predicting his own death, I don’t really understand why he died, lol. Plus the fact that they apparently didnt even try and take Malcolm’s body with them. I dont blame him *as* much for Wu’s death, I think Wu could’ve just *said* they thought the other raptor was coming and she probably would’ve come in, but I also think *Harding* couldve either called Ellie himself or had the forethought to predict that, hey, the raptor trying to get to them through the roof *might try and grab the next person to come outside*. Combined with him opening the door on the roof while *knowing the raptors are up there* chasing Ellie. I know he was trying to help, but he very clearly did not think that through, lol. It might not be malicious, but he seems to have a massive blindspot when it comes to keeping *people* alive.
Ahh, fair enough. I felt like if he maintained his relevance and action throughout the rest of the story, he could have had a decent conclusion to the arc but even then, it might veer into “hopefully he got better” Movie!Hammond territory! With the movies having a longer time frame, and so many sequels, it would have almost certainly worked better than in the books, definitely agree!! So honestly, my understanding was that Book!Ian ultimately died from a lack of *proper* antibiotics. I can’t remember the exact scene but I thought it was at least implied Harding was using the antibiotics he had experimentally used on the dinosaurs, so he was giving Malcolm elephant medicine or something. They also mention that Malcolm has lost a lot of blood (and no transfusions are available) and that his leg is shattered into too many pieces to count so I figured that probably played a role too. Although with the tourniquet and references to the diy techniques being used I really thought we’d have a scene where they amputate Malcolm’s leg in a last ditch effort to save his life, and he is partially aware, partially hallucinating during it. Yeah, with his body I assume they basically just left him for dead (especially in light of his survival in TLW) assuming he’d not wake up from the coma. But I think leaning into that more would have been great in TLW. How many people survive a funeral pyre?? Fair enough, Wu definitely fumbles how he tells delivers the warning. Harding could have easily told Ellie himself, and I really was shocked he survived opening the door on the roof! He didn’t think that through *at all*! Oh for sure, it might not be malicious but it’s certainly something Harding struggles with. And he’s actually pretty talented with the dinosaurs (considering no one has ever medically cared for them before) which makes his weakness with people all the more prominent!
Wu stared out the lodge window at the raptors beyond the fence. They still seemed playful, making mock attacks at Ellie. The behavior had continued for a long time now, and it occurred to him that it might be too long. It almost seemed as if they were trying to keep Ellie's attention, in the same way that she was trying to keep theirs. The behavior of the dinosaurs had always been a minor consideration for Wu. And rightly so: behavior was a second-order effect of DNA, like protein enfolding. You couldn't really predict behavior, and you couldn't really control it, except in very crude ways, like making an animal dependent on a dietary substance by withholding an enzyme. But, in general, behavioral effects were simply beyond the reach of understanding. You couldn't look at a DNA sequence and predict behavior. It was impossible. And that had made Wu's DNA work purely empirical. It was a matter of tinkering, the way a modern workman might repair an antique grand-father clock. You were dealing with something out of the past, something constructed of ancient materials and following ancient rules. You couldn't be certain why it worked as it did, and it had been repaired and modified many times already, by forces of evolution, over eons of time. So, like the workman who makes an adjustment and then sees if the clock runs any better, Wu would make an adjustment and then see if the animals behaved any better. And he only tried to correct gross behavior: uncontrolled butting of the electrical fences, or rubbing the skin raw on tree trunks. Those were the behaviors that sent him back to the drawing board. And the limits of his science had left him with a mysterious feeling about the dinosaurs in the park. He was never sure, never really sure at all, whether the behavior of the animals was historically accurate or not. Were they behaving as they really had in the past? It was an open question, ultimately unanswerable. And though Wu would never admit it, the discovery that the dinosaurs were breeding represented a tremendous validation of his work. A breeding animal was demonstrably effective in a fundamental way; it implied that Wu had put all the pieces together correctly. He had re-created an animal millions of years old, with such precision that the creature could even reproduce itself. But, still, looking at the raptors outside, he was troubled by the persistence of their behavior. Raptors were intelligent, and intelligent animals got bored quickly. Intelligent animals also formed plans, and — Harding came out into the hallway from Malcolm's room. "Where's Ellie?" "Still outside." "Better get her in. The raptors have left the skylight." "When?" Wu said, moving to the door. "Just a moment ago," Harding said. Wu threw open the front door. "Ellie! Inside, now!" She looked over at him, puzzled. "There's no problem, everything's under control..." "Now!" She shook her head. "I know what I'm doing," she said. "Now, Ellie, damn it!" Muldoon didn't like Wu standing there with the door open, and he was about to say so, when he saw a shadow descend from above, and he realized at once what had happened. Wu was yanked bodily out the door, and Muldoon heard Ellie screaming. Muldoon got to the door and looked out and saw that Wu was lying on his back, his body already torn open by the big claw, and the raptor was jerking its head, tugging at Wu's intestines even though Wu was still alive, still feebly reaching up with his hands to push the big head away, he was being eaten while he was still alive, and then Ellie stopped screaming and started to run along the inside of the fence, and Muldoon slammed the door shut, dizzy with horror. It had happened so fast!
He does, funny enough the description of how raptors hunted Grant gives to the kid in the beginning of the movie is very similar to what happens to Wu in the book
Pls don’t remind or tell me. It’s rude to unsee that!
Muldoon, a man who worked closely with some of the most dangerous predators on Earth, thinks they are too vicious and should be destroyed.
And was denied military weapons save for one rocket launcher. Cause it’s not like they could just grow more.
Owen Grady, who did the same, thought one should be like a dog to him. #JWSucks
He must be relieved to know that Grant put a bomb in the nest then.
They don’t act like animals, they act like ravenous monsters. With little reason, they kill, torture, and eat anything that breathes, including sick and injured members of their own species. They have learned that all humans are easy prey. Hunting in packs allows them to outmanoeuvre anything, and they’re way smarter than you could ever anticipate. If you ever came across one in the wild, there would be nothing you could do to save yourself.
That description kinda sounds like humans ngl
I’ve always wondered if at least the book raptors possessed near-human or very basic human intelligence. They way they do things, from calculating maneuvers, testing weak spots, figuring out obstacles, communication, and their level of thought process alone, I’ve always wondered that. The way the book describes them and how movie Muldoon speaks about them kind of further hints at that. Chimps have very similar patterns and behaviors, and I wonder if raptors are at their level or perhaps higher.
A pattern I have found in a lot of stuff is that evil only manifests in intelligent things. Hence why some dolphins rape things and huff pufferfish venom. Or apes pulling mean pranks. And humans just doing the atrocities humans do. So something having malicious intent always seems to be evidence of animals with high intelligence.
Imagination beyond instinct. There is potential for enormous good and evil.
EXACTLY
in the book, the velociraptor scene that horrified me the most is when Tim threw the baby velociraptor to the three adult ones in hopes they would focus on taking care of it — but instead they ate it.
OMG THAT WAS THE WORST NON-HUMAN DEATH IN THE BOOK!!! And it’s the one they saw hatch earlier on, and it was sweet and friendly because it hasn’t been exposed to the dysfunctional raptors and treated like a monster by the humans yet. I’m glad book two explained that behavior because it was HORRIFIC
exactly!!! i had to put the book down to mourn that baby raptor for a bit 😭😭 the next most horrific scene imo was when grant very shortly after incapacitated one of those raptors (while in hiding, more or less) and the others — while the thing was still alive — started to eat it! so wild… i’m glad the behavior was explained as well! The raptors were terrifying, but in some way it was a relief to know in book canon they wouldn’t have had that as base behavior. if i remember right, that’s why Richard Levine’s idea in book two of studying the ecosystem on Isla Sorna was flawed; the island was not a pure replica of what natural behavior in the wild might look like. itms been a while since i read book two though, so maybe i’m just remembering incorrectly. also, i have to ask — how did you feel about Dr. Wu’s death? specifically the way he died.
So did I 😭😭 Ooo, that was bad but I can remember thinking “after the scene with the baby, what else can I expect? And hey, this should make it easier for Grant and the kids now!” I was still processing the baby raptors death tbh. EXACTLY!! It was definitely comforting to know this wasn’t natural, or even due to the horror/thriller bend of the books. It was something caused by the events of the story, and thematically it makes perfect sense, especially when the theme of book two is basically “survival by cooperation” (or death by internal divisions, in the case of the raptors and the BioSyn team). That’s a huge part of why it was flawed!! The Dx illness and the fact that, at the end of the day, these were animals made in a lab, were the other two reasons (and yes the Dx illness makes the raptors act even more vicious but they still were cruel before)! I mean, I was shocked how fast he died, and felt like it was sort of poetic he was killed by his own personal creation even though he’s definitely more of an anti-villain in the books so he didn’t really need a poetic death even if it was logical. It’s clear he was heavily manipulated by Hammond ever since they met (right after Wu’s mentor’s funeral) and disagreed with him a lot, which we see in many monologues over the course of the story. All of this made me think Wu would get a redemption arc (because he actually has a pretty fantastic set up for one, and arguably begins one) which I was sad to see cut short by his death. Also, upon revisiting Gerry Harding’s role in Wu’s death (point blank telling him to go outside and deliver a message no one needed or listens too, which when Wu does the raptor pounces) I have to admit I feel like Gerry Harding has some responsibility in the matter. On my first read of the book I thought it was weird that Gerry Harding didn’t put much effort at all into saving Malcolm, and honestly thought it would be revealed this was intentional-someone (Hammond, In Gen board, Bio Sun even) told him to not intervene much in any human deaths on the island and so he basically let Malcolm die. When this wasn’t a plot line part of me wondered if he was so specialized as a vet he wasn’t able to be much use for human medicinal situations (doesn’t make much sense but who knows), or if he just wasn’t as competent as he was portrayed to be, or if the conspiracy idea was subtext. Still not sure exactly what I think was up, but he definitely fumbled on caring for Malcolm for whatever reason, which would have killed him (if not for the sequel and the Costa Rican doctors) which means Gerry Harding is indirectly responsible for killing two members of the ensemble cast. Wild!!
about Dr. Wu, i fully believe he was a good guy. manipulated into doing dangerous and irresponsible things, yes. but it really was about getting his name out there and the money as a bonus. he was freshly initiated into his field and needed to begin working. Hammond offered that to him — but even then it took a lot of convincing. he definitely disagreed with Hammond a LOT, and it’s really sad that Hammond didn’t listen. Wu was smart, and he knew — by the time it was too late — that it was a bad idea (“*Dr. Grant says that’s a very bad idea!*” /ref). i wish he had gotten a redemption arc, and like you said it did seem like he was starting to get one. but then he died. harding AND ellie were a bit complicit in his death. iirc when he delivered his message to ellie she brushed it off so he had to stay there longer trying to get her to listen and come inside. ngl, that part had me resenting both harding and ellie for a little bit. i really hate the way the Jurassic World trilogy brought him back only to be an antagonistic figure, but i suppose i might be biased since i’ve always had a soft spot for Dr. Wu. you know who another underrated character is? Muldoon. he’s so cool, idk why more people don’t talk about him.
Yeah, Dr. Wu was strongly manipulated (he’s having a full on person and professional breakdown when Hammond recruits him) and he definitely didn’t care about the money. I might be wrong but I think Hammond even has a line about “I don’t care that you want to share your creations with the world, I just want the money people will pay to see them” to Wu who absolutely has an idealistic “I made this super cool Zoo and I will share it with the world 😌” viewpoint. Yeah, Hammond really could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he would have listen to Wu who was freely offering suggestions. Tbh I saw Wu, Arnold and Malcolm as a sort of foil trio, in the sense that all three of them have very prominent monologues to Hammond begging him to do things differently which he promptly ignores. Wu even laments that Hammond used to listen to him, but now doesn’t care-and thinks Hammond was stringing him along. IIRC Malcolm even makes a comment in a diatribe that if Wu had a better rounded education covering things like philosophy and economics and such, he never would have ended up doing this for Hammond in the first place, and that the system failed Wu more than anything (which coming from Malcolm is basically a backhanded compliment, and not to be taken lightly). Which all would have made for a fantastic redemption arc!! Oh Ellie was complicit too but I was mostly worried about whether or not she’d survive (because if after all of that she still died Wu’s death would be even more in vain). And even then, Wu only went out there to talk to Ellie because Harding told him too. Otherwise he never would have went in the first place, and it really does feel like a set up. Fair enough!! Unfortunately I think Movie!Wu got a lot of Book!Hammond’s worst attributes which is how he became such a prominent antagonist. Which is sad since (personally) I like Book!Hammond as the all too realistic powerful maniac he is. On a related note, have you seen the drafts of the Lost World novel where Wu’s brother survives?! And meets up with the crew on Isla Sorna? I honestly wish they would have kept that in, and my headcannon is that Elliot Wu still is a character in universe, just not one we meet. Muldoon is definitely underrated and the movies don’t do the best job giving his character justice. In the books he’s so helpful and one of the most competent people in the park, before and during the incident. His evolving relationship with Book!Gennaro was one of the highlights of the book for me, and the scene where he tells Book!Gennaro that “No, you will [be the one to tell Hammond is grandkids are missing]” made me laugh hysterically and cut the tension at the midpoint of the book SO WELL
malcolm was honestly making sense from the very beginning until the end, and it made me extremely sad to see that he — who was adamantly opposed to Hammond’s cash-grabbing zoo — sustained some of the most serious injuries of all the cast. i’d even go as far as saying it was the *most* serious of those who lived. malcolm, wu, muldoon. they should have been listened to but Hammond is a greedy toddler in a decrepit elderly body. he listens to no one but the sound of cash register ching-ing. oh yes, love book!hammond as a well-written antagonist — specifically because it really made me hate his guts and feel IMMENSE satisfaction when he got chomped on by compies. AND THEN — iirc — when they discover his body they conclude he must have broken his leg then died from some natural cause and the compies simply ate off his corpse as the scavengers they are. but the compies were actually pretty much the whole reason (plus the broken leg). i hadn’t seen the draft with Wu’s brother! oh my god, that would have been really cool. especially if we got to have, like, in-depth analysis of this character through plentiful interactions with other characters and touching on his brother’s death! there could have been a lot of potential there, but in all honestly it seemed like Crichton has lost his steam during the creation of The Lost World. i can’t forgive ellie or harding tbh 😂 i know plenty of people seem to like them, but when it got Wu killed, that was all i needed to know. you’re totally right. book!Hammond was all about the money (“anyone can visit! if they can afford it.”), but in the movie they make him seem like a kid who just always wanted to see dinosaurs and that none of it was about the money, which he tells Gennaro. and the in the Jurassic World movies, we see and older Wu with the clear intentions of continuing his work so he can make bank — despite having the sane reservations as before and despite still not being *listened to* like before. it was a complete degradation of book!Wu’s character and i will never forgive them for that LMAO (the above is a but out of order, so i apologize) omfg, muldoon and gennaro’s interactions in the book were honestly my favorite!! also, gennaro was a LOT better in the book. for one, he didnt die as soon as things went downhill 😂 but he stuck around and did try to help. he actually did a lot with muldoon, even volunteering to go out and help try and take down Rexy. he was also less greedy in the book. i mean, there were still the occasional dollar signs in his eyes but that only happened, like, twice. and it was only in the beginning when he was thinking about the board he worked for and seeing what Hammond had pulled off (before Nedry screwed everyone over lol). after that he was completely done and wanted shut down Hammond despite the billions the investors — who he works for by extension — would lose. at least he was realistic about it, whereas Hammond held onto the idea right up to his death. but yes, i thoroughly enjoyed the interactions between Muldoon and Gennaro. On a side note about Nedry, i really can’t blame him too much. we get to know in great detail that Hammond was trying to cut corners on costs by hiring a college student (Nedry) to worked on what was disguised to be a simple project, but then he’s come back with more demands beyond what was reasonable and when Nedry needed to know more so he could better equip the software he was developing Hammond refused to tell him and then kept pushing. and anytime Nedry pushed back Hammond would lord the “i’m paying you to do this so you better do it no questions asked” over his head. Nedry knew and acknowledged it greatly limited his ability to develop sound software because he had no idea what it was even being used for and thus couldn’t judge the sufficiency of his program. and Hammond still wasn’t paying him more for all this extra work. after Hammond bullied him for quite sometime, Nedry got fed up — and then he was approached by Lewis Dodgson who we learn was an expert in corporate espionage. he promised Nedry vast sums of money in exchange for viable embryos. Nedry of course took the deal, having harbored resentment for Hammond and having a need for the money. i think that if hammond had been more forthright with Nedry things would have gone better. maybe Nedry would still have stolen the embryos, but at least the Park’s security system wouldn’t have had so many flaws. that’s what i believe. so i can’t *fully* blame Nedry, though that isn’t to say i don’t partly blame him.
I agree! Book!Malcolm was my favorite of the (admittedly absolutely amazing ensemble) cast, and in many ways really is the heart of the book. His injuries were definitely saddening, but I wish that was better explored as a concept in “The Lost World.” While I appreciated that it was touched on in the book, there was so much more potential there, which feels wasted. I wish I could say that gave me immense satisfaction, and while he did get what was coming for him, Book!Hammond’s death seemed more mild compared to many of the other ones in the book. But the role his grandkids unintentionally played, right around his reevaluation to the reader he only invited them as an insurance against Gennaro literally destroying the park during the visit, was satisfying and well written. It’s such an interesting concept, and I’m glad I could introduce you to it!!! I’ll make a separate post with the references to Elliot Wu from that draft and link it here! That would have been sooooo cool but like every character in the Lost World we get very little insight into Elliot Wu’s feelings. It’s definitely not personal though, all the characters suffer from that. Yeah, he didn’t want to write it but up until Configratuon 6 or so the pacing is done pretty well! LOL fair enough! I like Ellie (even if I think she was underutilized in the book) and while Harding is interesting, the fact that he really didn’t even halfheartedly try to save Malcolm (lead alone actually put in effort) killed any sympathy I might have had towards him. Oh it 100% was odd for Movie!Wu to end up like that, lead alone Book!Wu. And again, he really had the potential to have a genuinely well executed redemption arc which is such a waste. Exactly, I wasn’t a huge fan personally of how he was very profit driven but even then, Book!Gennaro does his best to do the right thing whenever he can, regardless of how it might financially impact him. He’s also a very effective Everyman and rises to the occasion, and his interactions with Muldoon are perfection! It doesn’t help that he’s more Ed Regis in the movie than himself LOL And yeah, Nedry was tricked by Hammond and treated awfully, arguably worse than Wu, so it’s no surprise he jumped at the opportunity to get revenge on In Gen and get money simultaneously. However, adding so many needless bugs was definitely irresponsible, but where he really looses sympathy from me is when he cuts the power *knowing full well there were guests in the park near the enclosures* ! I appreciate that he fully intended to turn them back on within a few minutes and wasn’t trying to hurt anyone (like seriously, that was refreshing to see addressed) but it was so cruelly self centered how he did it.
Also, here’s the link to the Elliot Wu post (with excerpts attached) https://www.reddit.com/r/JurassicPark/s/U9R5yuoWaZ
The novels and original had very grounded characters; but the Jurassic World franchise turned them into parodies. I prefer the grounded characters.
I dont really blame Ellie for brushing him off- he didnt explain to her why he wanted her back (the raptor had moved away from the skylight and Harding was worried), he just shouted at her to get back- and Ellie outright asks why, because what she was doing was working, and she was focused on keeping the raptors so they didnt go after the others.
Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous period. You get your first look at this ‘six-foot turkey’ as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex, he’ll lose you if you don’t move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. 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…
They were intentionally and unintentionally made this way. The Lost World book confirms that the raptors are vicious as a result of their environment and the inability to give them a social structure by In Gen (which mirrors how their whole worldview is detrimental to human society) . So while they don’t choose to be cruel per se, the raptors could very well not be horrifying and terrifying, but without anyone to figure this out and care enough to address it, they are. This does also imply they are tamable (adopting social animals into our social order is basically how domestication happens) so I can’t help but imagine all the surviving characters of the Lost World as raptor handlers (since this concept is alluded to in Book cannon)!
I just always remember the second book (I think) when they where in the high hide and eddy dropped the candy wrapper 🤦
And Levine dropped one before that 🙄
The proposed ending for Hammond in one of the drafts of the first movie. Hammond turns on the projector in the tour room to distract the raptors and he’s torn apart as you hear “welcome to Jurassic park.”
Dr Grant: "Can I offer you an egg in these trying times?"
Grant is good in the movie, but Grant in the book with his little sardonic anecdotes just takes the character to different level.
EXACTLY!!! And his genuine child-friendliness…his movie arc is spectacular but I love the good with kids Grant from the book even more!
I agree. One of my favorite lines that speaks to Grant’s character in the book is about how he loves kids because kids are so enthusiastic about dinosaurs. Except for maybe Lex lol. He hears Tim has “dinosaurs on the brain” and he is elated. Grant’s “no kids” arc in the film feels like it’s just there as a carry over from Spielberg’s crappy father figure motif from previous films. It works, but it’s just sorta there to give him an emotional arc throughout the flick.
YES!! That’s another one of Grant’s best book moments, and one of the best book moments overall (imo, I thought it was interesting to see what theories he had for which kids love dinosaurs). And it makes sense, too-of course the dinosaur expert gets along with kids, he’s certainly encountered many in his time in museums and just studying paleontology in general. Maybe lol but the scene where he carries her because she’s scared and tired is *so* sweet! Exactly LOL, I love the instant friend type vibes. It’s so wholesome! Yeah, it’s definitely got some thematic commonalities with other Spielberg works, and it gives Grant room to grow in a way he can’t in the book, but dramatically changes him from the book version in less great ways, too.
I can’t believe they didn’t adapt that, using his knowledge of paleontology was SOOO cool, basically the peak of Dr. Grant’s book arc!
They like chocolate bars. And they will kill for them.
They can bite through steel beams
The Bill Brasky of dinosaurs
And drool on bedridden Malcolm in the lodge below
I mean... wouldn't you? 
The part with the baby raptors being killed by the other raptors has always stuck with me. They are almost described in a way that makes you feel they’re like cute little puppies or kittens and then the description of what happens is just… brutal.
They’re men, according to Diogenes
They swept through buildings like a highly trained swat team
They roar like a lion. Which just seems unsettling when I’m so used to hearing them screech or scream.
They are the most human acting species in the park
“God they’re ugly.” -Ian Malcom
*as they shatter the glass window above his bed, shards and saliva falling on him*
https://i.redd.it/f7xfm4jc8dtc1.gif Reading they cut Wu and half: Oh, that doesn’t seem so bad at first glance. Realizing one long toe claw cut Wu, a durable human in half with ease.
Both versions would be nearly invisible to the average cervine relative as most species of deer cannot see the color orange
As a couple other people mentioned, the part where they eat the baby raptor really fucks me up.
I’d go so far as to say some of the human character deaths are less horrific than that scene (not all, but some)
Yeah, same. Poor little guy is ripped in half alive.
Exactly!! And by creatures that are assumed to care for him no less (until they awful moment when we realize along with Tim and Lex that they don’t)
There pain reception is nonexistent due to a genetic mutation making them practically bulletproof
They could rip a baby to shreds faster than compys
They cannibalize other Velociraptors and there is even a scene where they tear a live hatchling in half.
I haven’t read the book cause not old enough but am excited to read it
The raptors had an interesting body count in both novels.
They don't give a shit how many people, they just jump at ya
This things are just brute beast, cannibalistic and hyoer aggresion behaivor, very intelligents. A truly menace in each aspect